The first is wondering how an admin can do more advanced things with the View Manager Server.  For instance: assign a default desktop out of a pool to a specific user or  listing orphaned desktops (users that no longer exist or have changed permissions and no longer have access to a desktop in a pool but still have one assigned to them) or cleaning up after removing a secondary View Manager server.  All of these items can be performed by a little-known command line utility included in View called vdmadmin.exe. vdmadmin.exe can do all of the things mentioned.  The tool is installed by default with view in the  C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware View\Server\bin directory.  You can read all of the details about the tool and all of the command options here .  "Why is this a command-line tool?" you ask.  When features are requested for the GUI, a programmer has to create and test the GUI options which takes a lot of time.  The product manager has to decide what features will make in into the released product and still keep it on time for release.  Sometime features or controls don’t make it but are still important.  A developer can write a command line executable and they are much easier to test as the command line either works or it does not.  The Quality Assurance process is much easier for command line utilities.

Another tool that’s good to know is sviconfig.exe.  It’s located on the vCenter server where you install composer in the C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware View Composer directory.  This tool allows you to unlock protected entities in vCenter.  For instance, if a user checks out a VM offline, it gets protected in vCenter so that an admin cannot accidentally delete it or power it on and make changes.  If the admin needs to make changes to it for some reason they can use the sviconfig tool to unlock that VM.

There’s also a few other topics that come up frequently.  Here are a few:

Can you protect View Desktops with Site Recovery Manager? Unfortunately, SRM is not "View aware" as yet.  The work is underway however.  Tommy Walker from VMware (one of the best @ VMware) has written a blueprint with EMC on how to accomplish this task (although experimental at this point).  It’s pretty interesting reading and I’m very hopeful that we’ll see native integration coming.  You can read the very detailed blueprint here (registration required).

What features do I get with thin client "x"? With the different number of options available for View Thin Clients there’s also a number of different thin client OS options.  Here is a great matrix of what features you get with each View client that is available.  Good information to know when picking out thin clients

How can I make location-aware desktops? This is a common question.  How can I make a specific thin client map a specific printer, etc based on the thin client location?  The answer: Client Information Variables.  Here’s a nice writeup on some basic scripting that can determine the variables and make appropriate decisions based on their values.

Can I use group policy to control the client or desktop agent? You bet.  You can find the administrative templates for group policy in the C:\Program Files\VMware\View Manager\Server\Extras\GroupPolicyFiles directory.  If you’re not too sure about using adm files, here’s a kb article from Microsoft on how to use and manage them.  There are 4 included with View: vdm-agent.adm to control the agent in the guest OS, vdm_client.adm to control the properties of the View client, vdm_server.adm to control the connection broker and vdm_common.adm for common View components across all of View.  A very detailed list of the options of each can be found in the View admin guide starting on page 176.

• VMware VDI Storage Considerations <-A great paper which discusses which protocol to use, how to lay out datastores, etc for View implementations.
• Running Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 on VMware Infrastructure <-A great paper for those wanting to virtualize Sharepoint.
• Automating SharePoint Provisioning and Deployment on VMware vSphere <- This paper describes how you can setup sharepoint sites in templates for rapid deployment of new sharepoint instances.
• Virtualizing a Windows Active Directory Domain Infrastructure <- I know many have already done this  but it is still a great reference and includes best practices.  Definately want to confirm your settings against this white paper
• SAP Solutions on VMware vSphere: High Availability <- A good white paper on the availability options for SAP implementations and the benefits of each.

Now to get me a demo copy….

VMware’s desktop solution has been significantly updated.  It has now been renamed to VMware View.

You can find all of the infomation on View here .

You can find the downloads here .

For those interested, the What’s New Section of the release notes:

View Composer — Dramatically reduces the amount of storage consumed. Images can be provisioned in a few seconds in a fully automated manner by the VMware View Manager for rapid rollouts or as an immediate response to everyday support issues.

Unified Access — View Manager now brokers connections to physical PCs, terminal servers, and blade PCs in addition to virtual desktops hosted on VI3.

Virtual Printing — Provides end users the ability to print to any local or network printer. Virtual Printing includes a universal print driver, compression for print jobs, and auto detection of local printers from the View Client.

Enhanced User Experience — Extends MMR (multi-media redirection) to all Win XP and Win XPe based clients. Provides increased support for critical codecs- MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4 part2, WMV 7/8/9, WMA, AC3, MP3. Provides granular policies for USB redirection.

Offline Desktop (Experimental) — Provides the flexibility to intelligently and securely move virtual desktops between the datacenter and local resources. Users can check out their virtual desktops onto physical clients, use the virtual desktop locally, and then check it back in.

I’ll be posting some of the technical details on View in the coming weeks, stay tuned.