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VDI, or Virtual Desktop Infrastructure in English, is rapidly becoming a buzzword and is one of the cloud desktop technologies.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is a business-critical workload deployed by many large organizations. It helps to deliver desktops to employees in a more efficient way without having to configure and maintain physical workstations for each employee. In this article, I will compare two leading native VDI solutions: VMware Horizon and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops.
What is VMware Horizon?
VMware Horizon provides Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) capabilities that let you deliver and manage virtual desktops and applications remotely. You can host and manage your desktops and applications in your local data center, in the cloud, and in hybrid or multi-cloud environments.
Here are a few key features of VMware Horizon:
- Simple and automated desktop and application management - Enables you to quickly create and deliver virtualized desktops and applications on demand.
- Secure and centralized control plane - You can define resources per location and profile and use a single control plane to securely deliver desktops to end users. Data can be securely stored according to compliance requirements.
- Flexible and consistent user experience - Virtual desktops can be accessed from a variety of locations, networks and devices. End users can use their personal desktops, personally owned devices such as laptops, thin client devices such as tablets and smartphones, or applications published through remote RDSHs located on corporate laptops.
What are Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops?
Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops is a virtualization solution that enables users to access their desktops from any device or operating system, including personal and mobile devices, while supporting IT control of virtual machines, applications and security.
Key features of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops include:
- Fully managed installation, setup, upgrades, and monitoring, while customers retain full control over applications, policies, and user policies.
- Citrix Cloud Connector provides a communications channel between Citrix Cloud and Resource Locations, the sites managed by your organization that deliver applications and desktops to users. Citrix control planes connect to your local resources without the need for complex network or infrastructure configurations such as VPNs and IPsec tunnels.
- Citrix Managed Azure makes it easy to deploy virtual applications and desktops to the public cloud. Citrix manages the infrastructure used to deliver workloads in the Azure cloud. This can be used to extend local resources to the cloud for hybrid deployments.
Citrix vs. VMware: Which to Choose
Let's compare VMware Horizon and Citrix in a few areas that are important to enterprise VDI deployments.
Hypervisor
Citrix supports multiple hosting options, while VMware only supports its own hypervisor, ESXi. this reduces flexibility, but is also a benefit because ESXi is the industry-leading enterprise hypervisor.
Service Broker
In a VDI deployment, a service broker accepts user connections and matches them with eligible virtualized desktops or applications. the basic broker service is the same for Citrix and VMware. Except for basic functionality:
- Citrix offers Citrix Director. which provides Web-based management for help desk and administrator-level tasks. It provides environment health metrics and convenient troubleshooting tools for diagnosing and processing user sessions. You can also use it to optimize resource utilization on VDI machines.
- Horizon offers the Helpdesk Utility and vRealize for View, which are also powerful management tools, but have only basic functionality compared to the Citrix products.
Provisioning
Citrix offers Machine Creation Services (MCS) and VMware offers Linked Clones, both of which allow virtual desktops to be created from a base image.
The main difference between them is that Citrix offers Provisioning Services (PVS), a streaming technology that automatically delivers patches and updates to virtual desktops from a shared image, and VMware offers Instant Cloning, which allows for the rapid creation of pools of desktops using vmFork technology. The main difference is that PVS delivers updates over the network, while Instant Clone commits resources directly to storage.
Administrator Interface
Citrix offers Storefront, a powerful management interface that gives administrators precise control over the desktop user experience. However, View Connections is less easy to configure and relies on configuration files.VMware offers Horizon Administrator, which lets you configure connection servers and manage desktops and applications, but at a lower level of granularity than Citrix.
Connectivity Gateway
Citrix offers Citrix Gateway, which is a very powerful solution but requires additional licenses and dedicated staff to manage. It is based on NetScaler which requires network expertise to manage. the VMware Security Server is less comprehensive in its functionality but very easy for beginners to use. You can import your appliances and deploy UAG with just a few clicks in the wizard interface.
Citrix or VMware?
Citrix and VMware are both experienced players in the VDI space. Each solution has its own unique value proposition:
- VMware focuses on stability and reliability and is a simplified and easier-to-use solution, but offers less advanced management and communication features.
- Citrix is definitely the winner in terms of features and management options, and it also offers a better user experience thanks to customization options in the desktop environment. However, it is also more complex to deploy and more expensive to maintain in the long run.
Ultimately, the best choice will depend on your strategy and goals. Consider your need for advanced functionality, the total cost of ownership of each solution, and the technical expertise you have on staff. As always, conduct a pilot program to determine technical requirements and receive end-user feedback before proceeding to a full deployment.
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发表于 2022-10-23 22:17:50
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