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Sun Virtual Desktop Infrastructure 2.0 Proof of Concept

Tuesday Mar 18, 2008

Hot off the presses we have released our Sun Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Software 2.0 today. My phone has been ringing off the hook about how to get it up and running.

There are several key components to the connector. You must have ESX installed. You must have Virtual Center installed. You must have Sun Ray Server Software or Secure Global Desktop installed.

This guide is in no way meant to replace the documentation. RTFM. Get it, read it, and then use these steps as an augmentation to it.

Prep Work:
There are many steps to getting VDI to work The prep work steps are:
Install ESX.

Install Solaris 10 either on a separate box or a VM
Install SRSS and/or SGD
An example on how to get a Sun Ray POC going can be found here. I would recommend getting this working before you start the with the connector. An example of how to get SGD running can be found here. I again would recommend getting the base SGD product working before moving ahead with the connector.

Install Windows 2003 either on a separate box or VM
Install Virtual Center. Make sure to install the webservices.

Golden Image:
You need an XP image. You can either create it or you can use an existing image that your organization has. If you have an image feel free to use it, but you must make the changes below to it. The XP instance also has to be a Volume License. If you use a non volume license the activation wizard will get in the way of the images coming up and down.

Install XP into a VM. Use 6 GB of disk unless you have a thinstall ISO.

Note XP has no scsi driver so you have to hit F6 to install the VMWARE supplied driver. It is a floppy iso and can be found in the ISO directory of your ESX server

Install VMWare Tools
Turn on VMWare Tools Time Synchronization

Go to Power settings and set system to stand by in 3 minutes
Turn off the index service. Properties on the disk. If index is running it won't hibernate.
Change the Virtual Memory. Control Panel -> System->Advanced->Performance->Advanced make the initial size and maximum size the same. I use 512

Turn on Remote Desktop Connections! If you don't turn this on you will not be able to connect to the machines.
Control Panel -> Performance and Maintenance -> System. Click on the Remote Tab and then click on the check box to allow users to connect remotely.

Install vda-tools in the image

Install another other software you want on the image. Flash? Acrobat Reader. Also start IE and get through its setup process.

Virtual Center:
Install the vda-agent

Copy SysPrep from the VDA to to the Virtual Center Server C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMWare\VMWare VirtualCenter\sysprep\xp

Change the VM to Suspend. Go to edit settings->options->power management-> change to suspend

Clone the image - On clone page select use customization wizard
Take your new clone and clone it to a template

SRSS/SGD server:
copy vda-install and vda_1.0 folder to the server
Install vda ./vda-install
run the configure script /opt/SUNWvda/sbin/vda-config

Create a new pool
Name it
Clone it using the template that was created.
Under Lifecycle policy define your settings for your VM's.

Go back the Sun Ray server admin. You will have a new entry in the kiosk drop down called Sun Virtual Desktop Access. Select it and restart.

Ready to Rumble?:
At this point your POC is set up. I highly recommend the following to make sure things are working. Use the VMWare Infrastructure Client to connect to your Virtual Center. I have attached a screen shot for reference.

If you switch to Inventory view, you will notice that there are a few pools. I have an ESX server named Agile. My pools are vda-dyn-done_rail_pool and vda-static. (extra credit if you can figure out my server naming convention)

In a dynamic pool when the connector gets turned on it will build out as many vm's as you specified. These will be in the factory until they are ready to go. Here is a snap shot of a vm being built.

Once the VM is up and running it will move to the used pool. Click on one of the machines and go to the properties tab. On this tab you will see that it has an IP number. Make sure the machine is on and try to connect to it with a regular RDP client. If you can not connect to it with a regular RDP client you will not be able to connect to it with the Virtual Desktop Connector.

Finally watch your pool. You will notice your machines coming up and down based on the rules you defined in life cycle policy section of the pool in the Connector.

At this point you should be good to go. If you have KIOSK mode turned on for card access go ahead and insert a card into your Sun Ray and watch the new Connector screens appear than you will be connected to a VM!

Now you might be wondering about that vda-static pool? If you go back to the connector website and click on the Virtual Machines tab you will see all of your VM's. You can check one and then click on the assignment action drop down. If you select assign to owner, you will be prompted for the Token ID of a badge. From that point on, when that badge is inserted it will get the VM you assigned. The broker also moved the vm from the dynamic pool to the static one.