What is a Virtual Desktop used for?

VDI Basic Components

VDI comprises servers that host desktop operating systems and application software inside guest virtual machines that are accessible from any kind of device. Thus, at its core, VDI allows hardware and software to be abstracted on both the server and client-side.

Hypervisor

VDI uses a hypervisor to install multiple desktop operating systems as virtual machines on a server. This hypervisor, which can be either hardware-based (bare-metal) or software-based (hosted), also manages the VMs, allowing each to operate as a standalone computer with the required, virtualized hardware and software resources, e.g. applications, at its disposal.

Connection broker

The hypervisor is also responsible for brokering the connections of the client devices to the VMs on the servers. The client devices, or virtual desktops, connect to the server, power up a VMs operating system, then run the necessary applications that reside within the same VM.

Operating system instances

As VMs have virtualized the hardware resources serving the operating systems and applications, the actual machines running the virtual desktops can be of any type, e.g. desktop or laptop PCs, tablets, and even mobile phones. They do not even need to meet minimal requirements for running OS and applications anymore. The savings that arise from this capability one of the selling points for VDI.

How does VDI compare with desktop virtualization?

VDI is not synonymous with desktop virtualization as a category. Desktop virtualization consists of a single desktop computer, running a single guest virtual machine. VDI, however, is an alternative to other forms of virtual desktop delivery (like hosted shared solutions that connect endpoints to a shared desktop or local desktop virtualization where desktop environment runs directly on the client). VDI removes the desktop operating system from the local computer and places it in a shared hosting environment.