Think Thin: Thin Client and Server Based Computing Group Blog

Certainly the most feature rich method to deliver VDI is through the use of a "broker" like the Sun Virtual Desktop Connector. This broker is then connected to VMWare Virtual Center and the combination of the two gives the environment all sorts of features like Pooling, VM Lifecycle management, one-to-one mapping, Dynamic Resource Scheduling, and VMotion.

Not all VDI environments need to have all of these features. Maybe the VM's aren't even hosted in VMWare, or maybe they're not even VM's at all as in the case with blade based PC's. Maybe there is no need for Pooling, just a one-to-one relationship. No need to manage the VM's they're already provisioned through another process.

I like to call this the "Point and Shoot" VDI architecture. It should be dead simple and easy to set up. It doesn't matter where the OS images are, just that they exist on the network and that we are going to assign one VM to one user. Here are the steps to do Point and Shoot VDI using Sun Rays.

NOTE: These examples are for SRSS 4.0

Example 1: VM's assigned to a user. The user is identified by their smart card.

vi /etc/opt/SUNWkio/sessions/simple-vdi.conf

KIOSK_SESSION_EXEC=$KIOSK_SESSION_DIR/start-vdi.sh
KIOSK_SESSION_LABEL="Static Assigned VDI"
KIOSK_SESSION_DESCRIPTION="Static VM Assignment"

mkdir /etc/opt/SUNWkio/sessions/simple-vdi

vi /etc/opt/SUNWkio/sessions/simple-vdi/start-vdi.sh

#!/bin/sh
 
# Check for Card or Non-Card session
case $SUN_SUNRAY_TOKEN in
     pseudo.*)
          # Non-Card Session
          zenity --info --text="Please insert your smart card..."
          ;;
     *)
          # Card Session
          # Read Other Info Field
          REG_OTHER=`/opt/SUNWut/sbin/utuser -o | \
               grep $SUN_SUNRAY_TOKEN | awk -F, '{print $5;}'`

          if [ "$REG_OTHER" = "" ]; then
               zenity --error --text="This card has not been assigned a VM"
               exit 1
          else
               # Check for VM Availability
               /usr/sbin/ping $REG_OTHER 2
               if [ "$?" != "0" ]; then
                    zenity --error --text="VM $REG_OTHER is not available for connection."
                    exit 1
               else
                    # Call uttsc Kiosk script with VM name
                    KIOSK_SESSION_DIR=/etc/opt/SUNWkio/sessions/uttsc
                    export KIOSK_SESSION_DIR
                    /etc/opt/SUNWkio/sessions/uttsc/uttsc $REG_OTHER
               fi
          fi
          ;;
esac
#End

chmod 755 /etc/opt/SUNWkio/sessions/simple-vdi/start-vdi.sh

Open SR Admin GUI

Select Advanced->Kiosk

Click Edit

Select Static Assigned VDI from the Session type drop down.

Admin GUI - Tokens Tab

Search for currently used tokens.

You may then pick the token and Edit that token's registration.

You must assign a User Name. (This may be free form "Brad Lackey")

Place the VMs DNS name in the Other Information Field.

Example 2: VM's assigned to a DTU. Identified by MAC Address

1) Setup exactly like Example 1, only with a different start-vdi.sh

vi /etc/opt/SUNWkio/sessions/simple-vdi/start-vdi.sh

#!/bin/sh
if [ `uname` = Linux ] ; then
 theFlag="-P"
fi

theMACAddr=`cd $theFlag $UTDEVROOT ; /bin/pwd | sed 's/.*\(............\)/\1/'`
theVM=`/opt/SUNWut/sbin/utdesktop -o | \
            grep $theMACAddr | \
            /usr/bin/awk -F, '{print $2;}'`

if [ "$theVM" != "" ] ; then
     # Check for VM Availability
     /usr/sbin/ping $theVM 2
     if [ "$?" != "0" ]; then
          zenity --error --text="VM $REG_OTHER is not available for connection."
          exit 1
     fi

     # Call uttsc Kiosk script with VM name
     KIOSK_SESSION_DIR=/etc/opt/SUNWkio/sessions/uttsc
     export KIOSK_SESSION_DIR
     /etc/opt/SUNWkio/sessions/uttsc/uttsc $theVM
else
     zenity --error --text="This Sun Ray has not been assigned a VM."
     exit 1
fi

2) Register Desktop and assign VM name

Admin GUI - Desktops Tab

Search for currently connected Desktops.

You may then pick the Desktop and Edit that it's registration.

Place the VMs DNS name in the Location Field.