Redhat ENTERPRISE VIRTUALIZATION User Manual

RED HAT ENTERPRISE VIRTUALIZATION
FOR DESKTOPS

OVERVIEW

With Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Desktops,
complete desktop environments are hosted as virtual
desktops on servers located in a centralized datacenter.
Users connect to these virtual desktops, which can be
either Microsoft
desktops, using either inexpensive thin clients or repur­posed PCs.

Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Desktops is an end-to­end desktop virtualization solution featuring everything an
enterprise needs to deploy virtualized desktops:

Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Hypervisor• —

A standalone, high-performance and secure hypervisor

based on the Red Hat Enterprise Linux kernel with KVM

(Kernel-based Virtual Machine) technology

Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization Manager• — a central-
ized management console with a comprehensive set of
management tools that administrators can use to cre-

ate, monitor, and maintain their virtual desktops

SPICE (Simple Protocol for Independent Computing •

Environments) — an adaptive remote rendering protocol

able to deliver an end user experience comparable to

that of physical desktop

Integrated connection broker• — a web-based portal

from which end-users can log into their virtual desktops

KEY BENEFITS

Improved data security

By moving desktop environments into the datacenter,
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Desktops helps
enterprises safeguard their data and keep pace with
today’s fast-changing environment.

®

Windows® or Red Hat® Enterprise Linux®

Increased manageability

With Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Desktops,
desktop environments can be centrally created, monitored,
and managed — reducing or even eliminating the need for
on-site support.

Increased business agility and continuity

By eliminating the dependencies between the oper­ating system and the underlying hardware, Red Hat
Enterprise Virtualization for Desktops allows enterprises
to defer desktop replacements and their associated costs.

Additionally, this separation allows different operating

systems to be accessed from the same device. Finally,

the centralized nature of Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization
for Desktops makes it possible to easily backup entire
desktop environments, ensuring business continuity in

the event of hardware failure or catastrophic events.

KEY FEATURES

Security and scalability

SSL Encryption• — Ensures secure data transmission

between virtual desktops and the devices used to
access them

Memory page sharing• — Maximizes the number of
virtual desktops that can be hosted on a single hyper­visor, lowering infrastructure and management costs

CPU and Core Abstraction• — Virtual desktops can use
up to 16 virtual CPUs presented as virtual processors
and virtual cores. For example, the maximum 16 virtual
CPUs can be presented as 16 single-core CPUs, 8 dual­core CPUs, 4 quad-core CPUs, or 2 eight-core CPUs.

This allows operating systems like Windows XP that

only support 2 CPUs to take maximum advantage of
virtualization server resources.

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Virtual Desktops

Image Manager

Connection Broker

Provisioning Manager

HA Manager

Thin client or

repurposed PC

SPICE remote

rendering

protocol

Red Hat Enterprise

Virtualization

Hypervisor

STORAGE

DIRECTORY

SERVICES

Red Hat Enterprise

Virtualization

Manager

RED HAT ENTERPRISE VIRTUALIZATION FOR DESKTO PS

2 www.redhat.com

Advanced Desktop Management

Rapid provisioning• — Create new desktop environments

in minutes

Linked images• — Provision new virtual desktops
based on master images, saving up to 90 percent
storage capacity

Exceptional End-User Experience

High-resolution display• — Users experience native

color (32 bit), high resolution displays

(up to 1920 x 1080 each) on their virtual desktops

Streaming video• — Users can view high-quality
streaming video on their virtual desktops

Desktop pooling• — Create groups of virtual desktops
that can be accessed on-demand, simplifying the

provisioning process and increasing exibility

Search-based management• — Easily search for virtual

desktops with specic applications and specic ver­sions, enabling rapid identication of virtual desktops

in need of upgrades or patches

High Availability

Live migration• — Move virtual desktops from one

host to another without any end-user interruption,
facilitating maintenance, scheduled power savings,
and load balancing

Load balancing• — Automatically load balance virtual
desktops across available hosts to ensure optimal

performance

Snapshots• — Capture the state of a virtual desktop
at any given point in time, enabling rapid restoration
of desktop environments in the case of an end point

hardware failure

Flexible storage• — Store virtual desktop images
and data using either iSCSI or Fibre Channel (FCP)
shared storage

Multi-monitor display• — Users can connect up to four
monitors to a single virtual desktop

Bi-directional audio and video• — Users can make VoIP
and video-conference calls from their virtual desktops

USB redirection• — Users can connect any USB 1.0
or 2.0 device to their virtual desktops

Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Desktops increases
the security, manageability, and agility of enterprise desk-

top deployments. Built upon the industry-leading security
and scalability of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, with support
for both Microsoft Windows and Red Hat Enterprise Linux
desktops, Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Desktops

breaks down the barriers that have prevented enterprises
from realizing the promise of desktop virtualization.

Learn more at redhat.com/rhev/desktop

www.redhat.com 3

ABOUT RED HAT

Red Hat was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in

Raleigh, NC. Today, with more than 60 ofces around the

world, Red Hat is the largest publicly traded technology
company fully committed to open source. That commitment
has paid off over time, for us and our customers, proving
the value of open source software and establishing a
viable business model built around the open source way.

Red Hat provides high-quality, affordable technology to the
enterprise. Our solutions are delivered via subscription and
range from operating systems and platforms like Red Hat
Enterprise Linux and JBoss Enterprise Middleware, to
application and management tools, as well as consulting,
training, and support.

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