The Infrastructure Planning and Design (IPD) guides are the next version of Windows Server System Reference Architecture. The guides in this series help clarify and streamline design processes for Microsoft infrastructure technologies, with each guide addressing a unique infrastructure technology or...

About 80 percent of server deployments in the Microsoft IT data centers are deployed as virtual servers via Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V technology. To ensure optimal performance, Microsoft Information Technology (Microsoft IT) has developed configuration best practices, based on the application workloads...

At Microsoft, server virtualization has become a primary way to address data-center power consumption, to address space issues, and to rationalize server utilization. To optimize deployment and management of thousands of virtual machines, Microsoft Information Technology (Microsoft IT) has developed...

Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption (BitLocker) is a data protection feature included with Windows Server 2008. BitLocker is an operating system–based software capability that works with features in server hardware and firmware to provide secure operating system boot and disk drive encryption. This encryption...

The same security measures and hardening you would apply to a physical computer should be applied to virtual machines. You should perform hardening steps for the virtual machine's server role as indicated in the “Server Role Security Configuration” section in chapter 1, including consulting the appropriate...

The following recommended best practices can help you enhance security when configuring virtual machines on servers running the Hyper-V role: · Configure virtual machines to use fixed-sized virtual hard disks. · Store virtual hard disks and snapshot files in a secure location. · Decide how much...

By default, new VHD files in the Public profile are stored in the %users% \Public\Documents\Hyper-V\Virtual Hard Disks directory. You can change the default storage location for VHDs by selecting Hyper-V Settings in the Hyper-V Manager. If you specify a different storage location, assign permissions...

The configuration of the physical network interfaces of the computer running Hyper-V can help to improve the isolation of the management operating system from the virtual desktops. Its recommended that you install at least two network adapters on the computer hosting Hyper-V. Dedicate the first network...

You can install Hyper-V with either the Full or the Server Core installation options of the 64-bit editions of Windows Server 2008 (Standard, Enterprise, or Datacenter). Server Core is a minimal server installation option that provides a low-maintenance server environment with limited functionality....

The following considerations and recommendations relate to configuring virtual machines on a computer running Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V. · Determine where to store the virtual machine files and the VHDs . See “Securing Dedicated Storage Devices” earlier in this chapter for guidance. · Decide...

Fei Lu describes the Microsoft Virtual Desktop Infrastructure technology in Windows Vista, and scenarios where organizations can take advantage of the flexibility this technology offers. Windows Springboard Series: Windows Vista Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

Please use the following forum for Microsoft VDI related questions. I will be following this forum regularly http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/windowsserver2008r2virtualization/threads

We did some preliminary VDI capacity testing to identify the maximum VMs per server during the latest PoC and here are some results which can help you.The user is assumed a knowledge worker which runs Office 2007 and a LoB application. Server Configuration running client VMs: DP quad core...

Decent presentation on the Windows Server 2008 R2 VDI extensions and architecture. check out the link What is presentation virtualization and why should you care? Goals for presentation virtualization and VDI in Windows Server 2008 R2 Customizing the presentation virtualization platform...

The low cost of deploying a new VM can actually drive up overall TCO in the long-term. Since the amount of technical and administrative overhead involved in creating a new VM is so low, users think they can ask for lots of them. See this interesting read about common virtualization mistakes and why we...

Future versions of Microsoft'a RDP protocol will enhance the end-user's VDI experience thanks to the integrated Calista technologies. See here key information about Calista’s technologies and how they differ from traditional Windows desktop remoting. Details about Calista Technologies Its provided...

In Windows Server 2008 R2 Beta, RemoteApp and Desktop Connection is a feature of Remote Desktop Services that provides administrators the ability to group RemoteApp programs and virtual desktops and make them available to end users on the Start menu of a computer that is running Windows® 7 Beta or by...

This document describes changes in Remote Desktop Services (formerly Terminal Services) functionality that are available in this Beta release of Windows Server 2008 R2, including changes to the names of role services and management tools. Remote Desktop Services provides technologies that enable users...

This week i am doing a dynamic desktop workshop and ROI study for a leading regional banking group in West and Central Africa. The workshop is based in Accra, Ghana. This customer is growing very fast (operating in 26 countries) and exponentially increasing their desktop base where they are struggling...

This free e-book reviews how to plan, implement and manage virtual infrastructure solutions.The technologies covered include: Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008, Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5, Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization, and Microsoft Virtual...

Great virtualization case study. Also important is the expectation that desktop vistualization will simplfy the deployment of Windows Vista. Ingersoll Rand is a global manufacturing company with diverse product lines. Recent growth by acquisition contributed to an already decentralized, heterogeneous...

On Tuesday, March 31, Microsoft's Edwin Yuen will be hosting a live web chat 11am-3pm EST around the topic of Virtualization. Edwin is a Sr. Technical Product Manager for Integrated Virtualization in the Windows Enterprise Management Division. Sign up here

Paul Wilson has a usefull article on Windows XP Performance Optimizations in VDI scenarios. This one is optimized for Citrix XenDesktop. Windows XP Performance Optimizations for XenDesktop and Provisioning Server vDisks

VDI is attracting our enterprise customers for certain user scenarios. Most common user scenario is the task worker where they want to extend the the hardware lifecycle, improve desktop and application control and centralize the user data. Also contractors and external employees are strong candidates...

Match Technologies to User Needs The following table provides guidance in deciding which desktop virtualization solution is most appropriate for each scenario.