IBM virtual Desktop for Smart...

IBM Virtual Desktop for Smart Business – Solution Overview Implementation Guide

IBM Virtual Desktop for Smart Business Version 2.2

Solution Overview and Implementation Guide

IBM Solutions for Smart BusinessApril 2011

© Copyright IBM Corporation, 2011 1

IBM Virtual Desktop for Smart Business – Solution Overview and Implementation Guide

Table of contentsIntroduction................................................................................................................................1Solution architecture.................................................................................................................3

Supported guest virtual desktop operating systems...............................................................................6

Hardware requirements.............................................................................................................7Concepts and definitions..........................................................................................................8

Gold Image.............................................................................................................................................8Dynamic virtual desktop session.............................................................................................................9Definitions...............................................................................................................................................9

IBM Smart Business user interfaces – Overview..................................................................10IBM Smart Business Web Setup wizard...............................................................................................10IBM Smart Business Administrator Panel.............................................................................................11

Building solutions for Smart Business..................................................................................12IBM Foundation for Smart Business integration benefits......................................................................13

Automated installation....................................................................................................13IBM Tivoli Directory Integrator........................................................................................13Clustering.......................................................................................................................13User management..........................................................................................................13Administration.................................................................................................................14Client download..............................................................................................................14Integrated Backup and Recovery services.....................................................................14Integrated problem determination...................................................................................15Fix distribution and management....................................................................................15Integrated access to solution documentation..................................................................16

Reference URLs.......................................................................................................................16

© Copyright IBM Corporation, 2011


IntroductionEnd users are always asking for more: they want to access their desktop from a variety of mobile devices, ranging from iPad, MAC, Windows, Linux, they want to be able to get to their applications and the data from any location and anywhere. At the same time, IT is under a tremendous pressure to:

1. Reduce the cost when managing and deploying desktops.2. Provide security for all the desktops and application access. 3. Ensure business continuity and mitigate risk in the event of a disaster.4. Satisfy regulatory compliance requirements.

In summary, IT must meet challenging business and end user demands under limited budgets.

6IBM Smart Business

Challenge – Striking the balance

Looking at the history of end user computing, about 25 years ago IBM mainframe ruled the world; IT had full control of the end user computing. But the end users didn’t have mobility and flexibility; they were seating in front of dumb terminals directly connected to the server and accessing the data in the data center.

The traditional PC model brought ultimate flexibility for end users. They were able to install and run any application they wanted and connect their PC to any network but in that paradigm shift IT lost control of the end user computing leading to a dramatic increase in desktop management along with security and disaster recovery concerns.

To address some of the challenges that the PC presented, new technologies were introduced such as Terminal Services which provided some of the centralized control but users could not have all the mobility and personalization aspects of the traditional PC model.



To solve this problem, technology evolved to what now is known as Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). Earlier versions of VDI delivered on the promise of bringing IT efficiency and end user flexibility but as all early technologies, it had limitations. It constraint the user to only access their virtual desktop if they were online, LAN attached to the VDI server and provided no support for high definition applications.

IBM Virtual Desktop for Smart Business with VERDE from Virtual Bridges is introducing the next generation of VDI which provides IT with ultimate control for managing the desktops but at the same time gives end users the choice of devices, access flexibility and personalization features they demand.

7IBM Smart Business

Desktop virtualization redefines end user computing

9/27/10 7

Mainframe

Terminal Services

Traditional PC

Legacy Virtualization

Included below are some the benefits of deploying IBM Virtual Desktop for Smart Business in your organization:

• Lower desktop Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)• Reduces the total number of desktop images using Gold Master provisioning model• Deploys isolated personal and professional workspaces to minimize conflicts and failures• Simplifies on-going patch management and hardware and operating system migrations.• Deploys both Windows and Linux desktops using a common platform to reduce costs• Allows users to simultaneously access multiple desktop sessions from a single client

• Reduces Helpdesk costs• Improves Security and Compliance• Provides native malware resistance for all virtual desktop sessions by requiring users to run a

read-only copy of the Gold Image. • Centralizes desktop images and data in the data center to provide Data-at-Rest security• Provides secure remote access to user desktops and applications with better endpoint security.

• Increases organizational agility and productivity• Quickly provision new users, devices, and applications• Quickly provision remote access or guest access



• Quick migration to new OS/patches• Disaster Recovery• Provides access to desktops from any client (PC, Mac, Linux, PDA) – anytime• Provisions desktops on portable drives

Solution architectureAt a very high level, the IBM Virtual Desktop for Smart Business solution is built on IBM Foundation for Smart Business which includes the operating system, hypervisor, and integration layer. The integration layer is a framework that provides simplified solution installation, administration, configuration, user integration, problem and fix management, backup and recovery and more.

On top of IBM Foundation for Smart Business lies the solution layer which includes the VERDE from Virtual Bridges application. The VERDE application simplifies desktop management, improving security and compliance by centralizing the administration of desktop images and data.

End users can access their personalized desktops, applications and data from any client machine (PC, Mac, Linux, thin client, iPad, home computer or a portable drive) online at the HQ or branch office and offline at any time.

The figure below shows the main three components of the solution architecture: IBM Foundations for Smart Business, VERDE application and end user access.

IBM Virtual Desktop for Smart Business with VERDE components and unique capabilities What it does

§ Use your personal desktop anywhere from any device

§ Work online, offline, branch

§ Data is protected

§ Dramatically lowers TCO

§ Open Architecture: Directory, Storage, KVM, Windows/ Linux Desktops

IBM Foundation for Smart BusinessSLES 11 with KVM

Integration Layer: Install, Configure, Admin.

Virtual Windows or Linux desktop Gold Masters

Casual Office Power

EMR CRM Media

Server Hardware Storage Hardware

Components: LDAP, Database

The figure bellow shows in more detail the IBM Virtual Desktop for Smart Business solution architecture.



10IBM Smart Business

IBM Virtual Desktop for Smart Business architecture

At the heart of the solution is the Smart Business server (Verde server). The solution deployment can start with a single server. The single server deployment includes high performance hypervisor, desktop manager and connection broker built into the solution stack, and you can work with direct attached storage. You don’t need many different servers to get started. And you don’t need expensive SAN, NAS or any of the expensive external storage options just to get started.

The solution also has distributed connection broker architecture. Each server runs its own connection broker, which authenticates users and then uses the virtual desktop manager to either instantiate new virtual machines or to connect users to existing virtual machines.

Key technologies implemented in the solution stack give IBM Virtual Desktop for Smart Business a competitive advantage lowering cost. These technologies are:

• KVM (Kernel Virtual Machine) is the virtualization/hypervisor technology implemented in the solution stack. It is used to create and run virtual machine containers. KVM is more efficient than other hypervisor technologies especially for virtual desktop workloads providing higher density per core. IBM Virtual Desktop supports on average 10 to 15 users per core on typical workloads compared to 5 to 8 users per core on other offerings.

• KSM (Kernel SamePage Merging) is a memory deduplication (Dedup) technology that is part of the Linux kernel. KSM addresses a problem encountered on systems running virtualized guests. Such systems can have large numbers of pages holding identical data, but the kernel has no way to let guests share those pages. KSM scans through memory looking for pairs of pages holding identical data; when such pairs are found, they are merged into a single page mapped into both virtual desktop locations. The pages are marked copy-on-write, so the kernel will automatically separate them again should one process modify its data. KSM can help the system to save significant amounts of memory.



This allows IBM Virtual Desktop for Smart Business to require less server footprint to run the VDI infrastructure.

• Cache I/O is a technology that caches Gold Images used by virtual desktops into local storage. Storage is the most expensive component of a VDI deployment. By cashing the Gold Image into local storage, much of the I/O goes into the local server dramatically reducing the cost of external storage and improving performance and user experience.

Unique features of the IBM Virtual Desktop solution provide wide coverage for end users allowing them to access their virtual desktops from anywhere and from any device. These features are:

• VERDE Cloud Branch: organizations that wish to deploy virtual desktops to branch offices that are connected over a slower and less reliable WAN connection can use the VERDE Cloud Branch server in the branch office. In traditional VDI offerings users connected over WAN have a poor virtual desktop experience. The VERDE Cloud Branch server connects to the central IBM Virtual Desktop server and Gold Image repository to make sure that the users at the branch office are running the latest and authorized copies of the desktop sessions. At the same time, the virtual desktop sessions are served locally from the VERDE Cloud Branch server providing users a LAN-like experience for virtual desktops.

Cloud Branch distributes the processing down to the end point, moving the processing power to the location where it needs to be but not the management responsibilities.

With VERDE Cloud Branch server, an enterprise gets the benefits of higher performance and response times while maintaining centralized control of the desktop images in the data center – and eliminates the need for expensive WAN optimization infrastructures. In summary, Cloud Branch provides the following benefits:

• Achieves native PC experience for the users in the branch. Even if the network between the branch and the central site goes down users are able to maintain native PC experience.

• Reduces network traffic. The workload is transferred over the WAN pushing the process down to the branch and eliminating latency.

• Provides business continuity. If the network goes down the service still runs.

• VERDE LEAF™ – VERDE Live Environment Access Format (LEAF) provides both connected (access to remote virtual desktop sessions) and disconnected (virtual desktop session is locally cached and executed on the client machine) access.

The "Desktop On A Stick" LEAF client is a VERDE pre-packaged and self contained solution that can be installed on a USB stick, a portable drive or locally on the hard drive of the computer. This allows the user to start a full VERDE environment in disconnected mode. When installed on a portable drive, the operating system of the host computer will stay untouched. LEAF simply starts from the external drive.

Note: When LEAF is installed on the local hard drive of a computer, the drive will be reformatted and all the data on that drive will be lost. LEAF will use 1GB of space as its system drive. The rest of the drive will be used to store Gold Images and user data.

The VERDE LEAF client requires an Intel VT or AMD-V enabled host machines.



One of the main advantages of the VERDE LEAF disconnected use capability is that LEAF uses the same centralized Gold Image model. Therefore, if the user's Gold Image is updated on the central server, the same updates are automatically reflected in the user's LEAF environment when they are connected to the central server.

VERDE LEAF essentially provides centralized management, but provides disconnected/local execution that is useful for mobile and offline desktop users.

• SPICE Client: An open-source protocol that facilitates running a virtual desktop by providing client access to remote video and device information such as audio. SPICE off-loads intensive processing tasks to the client, which provides a better multimedia desktop experience to the user of the virtual machine. A high-definition multimedia protocol, SPICE uses lossy and progressive compression and works with Linux and Windows guests. It also supports multiple monitors. SPICE has native bi-directional audio/video and audio/video frame sync. It is certified to work with VoIP and video conferencing applications.

IBM Virtual Desktop eliminates the complexity associated with traditional VDI deployments. The following features help to simplify the deployment and management of the solution:

• Appliance delivery model installs the complete solution, verifies the environment and performs initial configuration tasks removing the requirement for operating system skills.

• The VERDE console provides a simplified environment seamlessly integrated with the Smart Business Administrator panel for configuration and management.

• A Proof of Concept (PoC) can be setup on a single server literally in a few hours allowing customers to achieve short time to value and Business Partners to reduce the sales cycle and focus on helping customer with higher value services.

IBM Virtual Desktop supports WndowsXP, Windows 7 and Linux guest operating systems.

In summary, the IBM Virtual Desktop architecture and technologies described above gives the solution strong differentiators and competitive advantage by:

• Reducing cost• Increasing coverage• Eliminating complexity • Extending support for all versions of Linux as guest operating system (in addition to Windows XP and

Windows 7)• All that while providing native PC-like user experience

Supported guest virtual desktop operating systems

The following guest operating systems are supported when installed in a Gold Image:

• 32-bit and 64-bit Windows XP1 Professional, any service pack• 32-bit and 64-bit Microsoft Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate Editions• 32-bit (i386) Ubuntu 8.04 LTS ― "Hardy" Desktop Linux• 32-bit (i386) Ubuntu 9.04 ― "Jaunty" Desktop Linux• 32-bit (i386) Ubuntu 10.04 ― "Lucid" Desktop Linux• 32-bit and 64-bit Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11, any service pack• 32-bit (i386) or 64-bit (x86_64) Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 and 5.5 Workstation, any updates



• 32-bit (i386) or 64-bit (x86_64) CentOS 5.4 and 5.5, any updates

Hardware requirements

This section describes the hardware requirements to install IBM Virtual Desktop for Smart Business solution. These are minimum requirement to support up to 25 users.

Certain System x Series, Dell or HP server models are authorized for use as IBM Virtual Desktop for Smart Business server hardware. IBM takes all reasonable measures to provide maintenance fixes to ensure the IBM Virtual Desktop for Smart Business software operates successfully with these models. Deployments on any other machine types or configurations are not supported.

Base Platform:

• x3650M3 or x3500M3 or x3550M3 (previous M1 or M2 are not supported)

Minimum Requirements:

• IBM System x3500 M3• Single Xeon E5620 (4 cores, 2.4 GHz, 12 MB Cache, 1066 MHz Bus) (or higher)• ServeRAID 5015 SAS/SATA Controller with battery• 28GB PC3-10600 CL9 ECC DDR3 1333MHz LP RDIMM Memory• 4 x 500GB 7200K RPM 6Gbps SAS 2.5" Slim-HS HDD in RAID 10 configuration• 1 x Bootable DVD Drive (for install)• 1 x Internal or External RDX drive or a USB-attached drive (if backup function is required.)

Recommended:

• ServeRAID 5015 with ServeRAID 5000 series battery kit• Singel Intel Xeon X5670 or higher (for future scalability)• 32 GB PC-8500 memory using 2x 16GB RDIMMs (for future scalability)• 4x 500GB 7200RPM 6GBps SAS 2.5" Slim-HS HDD in RAID 10 configuration. For more than 4

drives, RAID 5 is recommended.• Virtual Media Key

Dell & HP server models

• Dell PowerEdge R610 or R710 server models with PERC H700 integrated RAID controller. HP ProLiant DL360 G6 or ProLiant DL380 G6 server models with Smart Array P410i integrated RAID controller.

Clustering & Network Attached Storage (NAS) requirements

• Customers wishing to cluster Virtual Desktop for Smart Business must have a NFS capable NAS server deployed. IBM will support clusters deployed on IBM n-series 3400 or NetApp FAS 2040 devices. Fibre channel connections are not supported.



Additional hardware guidelines are provided in the following technote including additional users.

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21453733

Browser Requirements:

• IBM Virtual Desktop for Smart Business User Console requires a Browser• Internet Explorer 7 or 8 (Windows)• Firefox (Windows or Linux)• Requires Java to be enabled • Ensure that TLS 1.0 is enabled (steps to enable are in Tips for Demo of this doc)

Concepts and definitionsThis section defines some of the key elements of the IBM Virtual Desktop for Smart Business solution. Refer to the VERDE Administration Guide and IBM Virtual Desktop for Smart Business documentation for more information.

Gold Image

One of the most important features of the solution is its Gold Image provisioning model. A Gold Image is a master or "template" virtual machine installation that can then be deployed to multiple users for dynamic instantiation. A Gold Image combines a guest operating system, applications, system-wide desktop configuration, and policies to later be layered with individual user data when deployed.

With the Gold Image model, you only need to create a few Desktop Images (referred to as Gold Images) with the required OS and the applications that different classes of users need. Users always run a read-only copy of the Gold Master Image with all their personal settings and documents written to a separate user disk.

The figure below shows examples of Gold Image templates combining the guest OS and applications unique to each user or group of users.


http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21453733



Persistent User Data

Dynamic Virtual Desktop Session = Gold Image + Persistent User Data

P e r s i s t e n t U s e r D a t a– D o c u m e n t s

– S e t t i n g s– P e r s o n a l i z a t i o n

User1

User2

UserN

A p p l i c a t i o n s

G u e s t O p e r a t i n g S y s t e m

Dynamic Virtual Desktop Session

Dynamic virtual desktop session

A dynamic desktop session is created by combining the Gold Image with the user persistent data. Every time the user authenticates to the IBM Virtual Desktop server, a virtual desktop is created by combining the Gold Image with the user data. When the user logs off, the OS and application state is flushed from memory but the user’s data (documents saved to the My Documents directory) and user’s personalization are retain.

This feature makes the virtual desktop impervious to persistent malware corruption, it creates a simpler and more elegant deployment and provisioning model, yet it retains all the power of personalization without requiring any additional 3rd party software.

Definitions• Gold Image – A master or ―template virtual machine installation that can then be deployed to

multiple users for dynamic instantiation. A Gold Image combines a guest operating system, applications, system-wide desktop configuration, and policies—to later be layered with individual user data when deployed.

• IBM Smart Business server – The computer where IBM Foundation for Smart Business is installed. It provides the OS and integration functions that enable the ease of management for the solution. It is the same server as the IBM Virtual Desktop server.

• IBM Virtual Desktop server, VERDE server or Server – The computer hosting virtual desktop sessions to remote users or the computer used to administer virtual desktops in a single-node environment. Each server is responsible for authenticating and authorizing users to Gold Images and then running the selected virtual desktop sessions.



• VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) —the mechanism of serving desktop sessions to remote users from servers as discrete environments.

• Dynamic virtual desktop - One instance of a Gold Image virtual machine when started by a user. The guest operating system, application, system-wide desktop configuration, and policies may not be changed by the dynamic user. However, the dynamic user may apply personal settings and documents to the virtual desktop instance to form a full-featured, personalized session.

• Client - Remote access point that connects to a guest on the host; typically this is either an ordinary desktop PC/laptop, or a thin client device running Virtual Bridges access software to display and access a server-hosted virtual desktop.

• Virtual Machine – The container technology that runs desktop environments for remote users. A VERDE server will host many virtual machines, each containing a user desktop session and providing a common set of emulated hardware to the operating system and applications running inside.

• Host - The server hardware and operating system which provide an environment to consolidate virtual desktops.

• Guest - The virtual desktop itself (as a guest of the host). One host may serve many guest virtual desktops.

• Management Console - Web-based graphical interface used to create and manage Gold Images. Administrators can view virtual desktop sessions grouped by user or server or based on type of Gold Image. In addition, the console provides real-time server utilization metrics

• Cluster – A group of servers acting as a single group that serves large numbers of virtual desktop environments to remote users.

IBM Smart Business user interfaces – OverviewThis section describes the IBM Smart Business user interfaces that you will use when installing, configuring and managing the solution.

IBM Smart Business Web Setup wizard



The administrator runs the Web Setup Wizard on the IBM Smart Business Server. You can initiate the Web Setup Wizard by clicking the shortcut on the desktop of the computer upon which you installed IBM Virtual Desktop for Smart Business. The shortcut is named IBM Smart Business Setup Wizard.

The Setup Wizard will attempt to discover networking information in the environment where the Smart Business server is installed providing smart defaults that the administrator can override.

When the Web Setup Wizard has finished, log into IBM Smart Business as an administrator. Provide the name of the IBM Smart Business server that you want to log into, an administrator User ID, and the password for the administrator User ID.

The IBM Smart Business Application Installer starts. Read the information provided in the before you begin text, and make sure that you have all of the prerequisites that are required to run the wizard met. When you are satisfied that the environment you are using has met the prerequisites

Depending on the profile that you selected in the Web Setup Wizard, the choices that you have available for installation are displayed. You might see the following options:

Master (Standalone) Server

Satellite Server

IBM Virtual Desktop for Smart Business

Branch Server.

IBM Smart Business Administrator Panel

The Administrator Panel is a browser-based interface used by administrators to monitor and manage an IBM Smart Business server. The Administrator Panel is used to perform administrative tasks such as starting and stopping applications, enrolling users to the application, back up the server data, perform problem determination, automatically download and apply fixes, etc.

To access the Administrator Panel point your browser to http://<hostname-or-IPaddress>:1080/dashboard/login.



Building solutions for Smart BusinessThe IBM Virtual Desktop for Smart Business solution is built on IBM Foundation for Smart Business. IBM Foundation for Smart Business provides the following features and functions to all the solutions built on it:

• Operating system on which the solution runs and has been tested on• Integration layer which enables several ease-of-use features for solution deployment and

management• Solution package includes the required middleware • “One-click” install, verifies the environment on which the solution will be installed, performs any pre-

requisite tasks, silently installs pre-requisite middleware and the solution software, requires minimum input from the administrator installing the solution, performs post-installation tasks silently.

• Discovery of the network environment where the IBM Virtual Desktop server is installed and easy server configuration

• Integrated problem determination • Integrated backup and recovery• Automated update management for both operating system and the solution fixes• Secure remote server access • Integrated user management• Integrated administration environment• Removes any requirement for OS and middleware administration skills

The figure below shows a high level view of the software layers and benefits provided with all the solutions built on Foundation for Smart Business.


Building Solutions for Smart Business

1. Focus on easy

2. Start with proven applications

3. Add autonomics

4. Pre-integrate and pre-configure

5. No Linux or middleware administration skills required

6. Consistent administrator experience

Proven Applications Fully integrated Self-configuring Self-updating Self-protecting Self diagnosing Self-healing Remotely manageable Backed up automatically Tested by IBM

Organizations with limited IT staff

A p p l i c a t i o n( S o l u t i o n )

Application(Solution)Application(Solution)

M i d d l e w a r e R e q u i r e d b y t h e

A p p l i c a t i o n

I n t e g r a t i o n s S e r v i c e s

F o u n d a t i o n f o r S m a r t B u s i n e s s



IBM Foundation for Smart Business integration benefits

This section describes the main benefits that IBM Foundations for Smart Business integration provides to the IBM Virtual Desktop solution.

Automated installation

The packaging of the VERDE application into a Smart Business solution package and the ease of deployment enabled by the integration layer provide a one click install that saves time and money to both partners and customers. The speedy and simple deployment results in a very short time to value. No Linux skills are required to install and configure the solution

The solution package is installed using the IBM Smart Business Application Installer tool. The installation performs the following tasks automatically:

• Environment and prerequisites verification before the install• “One click” install

The only input the administrator must provide is the password for the default VERDE administrator (mcadmin1)

• Silent VERDE service installation and configuration

IBM Tivoli Directory Integrator

IBM Smart Business provides a Directory Integration Service that is based on Tivoli Directory Integrator 7.1. Tivoli Directory Integrator enables you to synchronize data from various information repositories, such as databases, LDAP directories, and XML files. IBM Smart Business uses Tivoli Directory Integrator to provide an integration with Active Directory. User information is copied from Active Directory to IBM Smart Business to provide solutions with a transparent view of user information, without the need to inter-operate with Active Directory.

Clustering

IBM Virtual Desktop for Smart Business offers a highly scalable clustering mechanism to help serve hundreds, thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of virtual desktops from large arrays of servers. An IBM Virtual Desktop for Smart Business cluster can scale from two to 10,000 servers, and can host up to one million concurrent virtual desktop sessions, given enough storage and network capacity.

User management

User management in Smart Business solution significantly reduces the steps needed to add and remove users.

Users registered into the IBM Virtual Desktop application have the following properties:

• Shared authentication and LDAP directory between the Smart Business server and the VERDE environments

• Desktop Policies are assigned to the users



• Smart Business administrators become VERDE administrators

Administration

The following administration functions can be performed from the Smart Business Administrator Panel

• Start, stop and restart the solution (no need to access the Linux console and enter Linux commands to stop and restart the application)

• Access to VERDE administrator’s console functions from the Administrator Panel: Dashboard Gold Images Desktop Policies Session Settings Administrators Advances Settings User console

• Monitoring functions provided from the Administrator Panel: Summary – New summary data of the reports below Gold Images Monitoring (NEW) - shows how much resources the Gold Images are taking User monitoring Server monitoring

Client download

Users enrolled into the IBM Virtual Desktop application can download the clients to access virtual desktops from the User Programs Catalog. The clients that can be downloaded are:

• IBM Virtual Desktop for Smart Business Client Installer for Linux. This client supports remote display over LAN, WAN, and Internet. This client also supports

printing to local client printers from remote server-hosted desktops, file sharing, and multimedia playback.

• IBM Virtual Desktop for Smart Business Client Installer for MacOSX This client supports remote display over LAN, WAN, and Internet. This client also supports


• IBM Virtual Desktop for Smart Business Client Installer for Windows This client supports remote display over LAN, WAN, and Internet. This client also supports


• IBM Virtual Desktop for Smart Business User Console (supports access to virtual desktops using RDP or NX protocols)

Integrated Backup and Recovery services

You can use the Administrator Panel back-up options to manage system backup and recovery. This includes specifying when backups are run on the system, managing the backup media, running back-ups, and restoring your data. The Backup and Recovery function implements Tivoli storage manager for the backup and restoration of files and directories



The backup and recovery solution is integrated in the Smart Business server and it is configured out of the box. It is designed to minimize user interaction. It includes full and incremental system backup and media management capabilities. Daily backups are configured to be performed every night at 10:00 PM and the schedule can be changed by the administrator.

The IBM Virtual Desktop solution data is backed automatically during regularly scheduled backups. A warning message is sent to active virtual desktop users before backup starts alerting them and instructing them to close their virtual desktop sessions.

You can use the restore function to easily restore the following IBM Virtual Desktop objects:

• Gold Images• User session data• User data

Integrated problem determination

Integrated Problem Determination (IPD) allows the Smart Business server administrator to troubleshoot and fix system and application problems from the Administrator Panel. Messages are displayed in the Message Center and in the Application Details where an icon will indicate a warning or error.

For different types of errors there are automated scripts to walk you through problem resolution and manual step-by-step instructions.

Server and client checklists provide additional items you can check on the server or the client to solve a problem.

Administrators are notified by e-mail of system or application problems and they can follow links in the e-mail to log in to the Administrator Panel and work on the problem.

Gather data for support enables the administrator to collect logs and information needed to report a problem. The solution developers specify the information problem determination that needs to be collected when the application package is built so that there is no need for the administrator to know the individual pieces of information that need to be collected to report a problem. Clicking on the ‘Gather data for support’ link in the Administrator Panel will create a problem package with logs and support information that is placed into a zip file which is sent to IBM support.

Fix distribution and management

You can manage software updates for the operating system and the IBM Virtual Desktop solution with actions available from the Updates service in the Administrator Panel. You can specify that your Smart Business server automatically checks for, and optionally downloads and installs updates at convenient times. Alternatively, you can disable update checking, and get and install updates manually. You can also get a list of all the software installed on your server (called the software inventory), search this list for information, and save the list to your computer.

There is no need for the administrator to check for and identify updates that need to be installed; the system does it for you automatically.



Integrated access to solution documentation

All the IBM Virtual Desktop solution documentation can be accessed from the Administrators Panel.

Reference URLsThe following URLs are links to important information

• IBM Partnerworldwww.ibm.com/partnerworld

• IBM.com Smart Business Customer sitewww.ibm.com/smartbusiness

• IBM Partnerworld Smart Business partner sitewww.ibm.com/partnerworld/pwhome.nsf/weblook/pw_sol_pwd_smb_smart_business.html


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