Horizon View - Why Automated Desktop Pools with Full Clones are still a thing

We have to deal with COVID19 for a year now and from the IT perspective, 2020 was a pretty strange year. Many project were not cancelled, but were placed on-hold. But two kinds of projects went through the roof:

• Microsoft 365, and
• Horizon View

As you might noticed I blogged a lot about Exchange, Exchange Online and Horizon this year. The reason for this is pretty simple: That was driving my business this year.

In early 2020, when we decided to move into our home offices, we deployed Horizon View on physical PCs at ML Network (my employer). This was a simple solution and it works for us until today.

Some of my customers also deployed Horizon View for the same reason: A secure and easy way to get a desktop. For some of them, the tech was new and they struggled with DEM, Linked Clones, customization etc. The solution in this case was easy: Full Clones with dedicated assignment.

One customer moved from Windows 7 and floating-assignment and Linked Clones to Windows 10 and Full Clones and dedicated assignment (not my project).

Another customer started to implement Horizon View with Horizon 2006 and he started with Instant-Clones, dedicated assignment and DEM. I told him to go with Full Clones, but his IT-company moved on with Instant Clones. Now he’s complaining about gaining complexity.

My 2 cents

Many customers struggle with Windows 10 and the customization of Windows 10. Tools like Dynamic Environment Manager (DEM) are powerful, but they can be quite complex, especially when it comes down to small IT orgs with 50,100 oder 200 desktops, were each member of the IT has to be a jack of all trades.

I always recommend to start with Full Clones, just to get in touch with the technology. And I always recommend to get the requirements clear with the stakeholders and the user. Things like not working software, missing settings after a logoff/ logon or slow response are the main difficutiles who will force a VDI project to fail.

When you are familiar with the technology, proceed further with DEM, Instant Clones, floating assignment. But you should learn to walk, before you start to run.

Maybe I’m getting old. :D I’m not against modern technology and new features. I’m not a grumpy old senior consultant. But I think I’ve learned the hard way why it’s a bad idea to overburden IT-orgs and their users with new tech, especially in times like these.