For the last several years, virtualization technologies have been the trend. However, they have been popular among companies as demand for scalable, affordable, secure Information Technologies infrastructures soars. Virtual desktops or cloud desktops and virtual machines are the most used concerning virtualization.
Over the years, virtualization has entirely changed the world of computing. Server virtualization has changed how organizations run all their business-critical workloads. Since the age of server virtualization, companies have combined the servers into dense ratios on the physical hardware.
The entire thing has helped bring out new efficiencies and capabilities. This is because virtualization has not restricted itself to the server. Rather it has changed the entire scope of desktop computing.
Virtualization allows many of the similar advantages for the desktop as attainable with server virtualization in lifecycle operations, management, security, and others.
Several terms come up when considering virtualization in the environment of the desktop. First, what is the difference between a virtual desktop and a virtual machine?
What is a Virtual Desktop?
The virtual desktop, popularly the cloud desktops are virtualization of the desktop that leverages the capabilities of the virtual machine technology that manages applications.
In the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, the desktop environment that includes Operating Systems, applications, and desktops are hosted on remote servers in data centers or the cloud and deployed to end-users on request.
Users can access Virtual Desktops from an endpoint such as a laptop or a tablet. They can manage the Operating Systems that include the applications and the files on them as if the whole system is running locally. This gives secured access to corporate files and applications virtually from anywhere and any device.
In contrast to the traditional IT infrastructure, where physical devices are used for computing or access computing resources Virtual Desktops leverages different components to make itself accessible to the end-user.
Some of these components are:
1. The Client Software –
The endpoints can connect to the virtual desktop infrastructure through an application. The Client software leverages remote protocols like the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), PC over internet protocol (PCoIP), or Independent Computing Architecture (ICA) to connect to the server.
2. The connection Broker –
Is an authentication mechanism that authenticates users’ access to the Virtual Desktops. Connections brokers are used when multiple hosts have separate virtual desktop pools. When the user logs in to the pool of virtual desktops through the client software, the Connections brokers rout them to the appropriate virtual desktop.
3. The Load Balancer –
The load balancer distributes the load of accessing the virtual desktop across multiple hosts.
The Hypervisor is an application that creates and runs virtual machines that host virtual desktops. It segments a physical machine into multiple Virtual Machines.
What is a Virtual machine?
Simply put, A Virtual Machine is an application that acts like a physical computer. A virtual machine has its CPU, Storage, Memory, and network interfaces. It is like creating a computer within a computer.
The Virtual Machine uses the hypervisor to emulate the hardware resources like the processor, RAM, Hard Disk, and network interfaces. When a Virtual Machine is created, the hypervisor segregates the virtual machine from the rest of the system.
This creates the opportunity to run multiple virtual machines on the same computer system. And each virtual machine will have its CPU, Storage, Memory, and network interfaces.
To Conclude Modern computing is becoming more advanced every day. With the advancement of cloud computing, cloud desktops are also getting popular. This makes way for new approaches to doing business.
Read Also:
