eWeek - February 1, 2010

the platform affords, as well as from the ability to repurpose older hardware. In my tests, I was able to use View 4 to breathe new life into some ancient equipment (circa 2000) to run Windows XP and Windows Vista virtual desktops as if they were top-notch new systems.

In my environment, the VMware View agent communicated with the VMware Connection Server via the newly minted VMware PCoIP protocol. View 4 agent software can also communicate over RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol). When using RDP mode, however, enhanced compression and the new monitor support are not available.

In addition to providing quick desktop response in my LAN environment, PCoIP gave me much greater choice when it came to monitors on end-user systems. I used a new Dell Precision M6500 mobile workstation tricked out with an Intel Core i7-920XM extreme edition processor and 4GB of DDR3-1,333MHz RAM and an NVIDIA Quadro FX 3800M GPU to drive 1,900-by-1,200 display resolution to both the 17-inch monitor on my workstation and a 24-inch external monitor.

The external monitor was an
older Dell 2405FPW on a stand that
allowed me to easily rotate the dis-
play to portrait mode. Using PCoIP,
and after a few simple adjustments
to the virtual machine configuration
parameters, I was able to use both
large screens—one in landscape
orientation and one in portrait ori-
entation. The ability to drive high-
resolution graphics over multiple
monitors broadens the usefulness
of virtual desktop imple-
mentations.

Thin-client tests
VMware View 4
worked equally well on
my HP t554 and IGEL
UD5 thin-client devices.
In both cases, I was up
and running within min-
utes of plugging in the
thin client and making
a connection to my net-
work. The VMware View
Connection Server had
no problem recognizing
the thin clients and pro-
vided my basic desktop
without a hitch.

Creating and maintaining the virtual machines was a straightforward process and remains relatively unchanged from the previous version of VMware View.

I created virtual machine instances that were variously turned into templates or linked clones, depending on the deployment choices

I made for various groups of end users. As with competitive offerings from Citrix, virtual desktops can be created for use by a single user or for mass deployment. Desktops are locked down with needed applications and cannot be changed by the end user. ;

Technical Director Cameron Sturdevant can be reached at csturdevant@ eweek.com.

This story can be found online at: tinyurl.com/ya3vmfc

I used the VMware View Open Client to access the virtual desktops in my test bed. The sessions worked without a hitch.

Tapping PCoIP, VMware View 4 desktop virtualization is seen here supporting two high-resolution monitors (1,900 by 1,200) in two different orientations. The larger, 24-inch external monitor is displaying a Google map image in portrait mode, while the notebook screen shows the virtual Windows XP desktop.