The Licensing Server does not need to be made HA.

Three of those components are servers: a mirrored or clustered SQL Server, an Active Directory domain with multiple domain controllers, and a RDS Licensing Server. RD Virtualization Host servers (physical) in a Hyper-V Cluster with network storageįour supporting components will be needed for this HA VDI configuration (See Figure 2). Each of these could be virtualized as well. RD Connection Brokers in active/active setup (also VMs), backed by a SQL Cluster, a license server, and at least two domain controllers. Remote Desktop (RD) Web Access servers should be load balanced and run on VMs HIGH-LEVEL OVERVIEWīreaking out roles to separate servers allows for performance tracking as you scale out, and provides simple management via the Remote Desktop Management dashboard. There are six required machines – four may be virtual machines (VM) and two Virtualization Hosts must be physical. A HA system will be protected from a single machine failure at any level. Each configuration has its own strengths and limitations, but all three can be made highly available (HA) from the top to the bottom, which is what we’ll focus on in this blog post. Microsoft’s Hyper-V offers three options for VDI: (1) Session-based desktops (formerly Terminal Services) (2) pooled desktops and (3) personal desktops. Any of the three configurations of Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) can be deployed entirely with just one server using local or network storage.

Windows Server 2012 provides a platform for many types of desktops hosted in the datacenter. Instead of one BSoD, there are now hundreds of dead virtual desktops and multiple departments that are offline until the server becomes operational again! What happens to the desktops when a host fails? What can be done to eliminate downtime for desktops during planned maintenance? I’ll answer these questions and build you a plan to keep all of those desktops available for users. One point to consider is how to design a solution to keep hundreds of desktops running when a server goes down for maintenance or an unforeseen event. VDI is becoming a hot topic as IT administrators are looking for more efficient ways to manage desktops, lengthen the PC upgrade cycle, improve security, and go “green”, all while providing a rich user- experience.

Windows server vdi