How to leverage desktop virtualization in finance

Transcription

1 How to leverage desktop virtualization in finance Written by Greg Shields Abstract Although many organizations are already taking advantage of the benefits of server virtualization, far fewer have implemented a virtualized desktop infrastructure (VDI). While VDI can be an effective way to deliver applications and services to users, it is not the right solution for every application delivery scenario. This paper details several scenarios in which VDI is well suited to meet the special requirements and budgetary constraints of datacenters in finance. Introduction Virtualization has offered organizations a number of strategically and tactically important new capabilities. To date, most organizations have leveraged virtualization primarily for server workloads. The resulting improvements in availability, performance and management flexibility are notable. Fewer organizations, however, have leveraged virtualization for desktop workloads. Desktop virtualization is a more complex undertaking, and projects can fail for a number of reasons. Many fail because the virtual desktop performance is seen as poor by end users; others fail because the management overhead was higher than expected. In the end, though, most VDI failures result from applying VDI to inappropriate use cases. Datacenters in finance must be particularly cautious with technology implementations. The finance vertical, unlike many others, imparts special requirements and budgetary constraints on technology implementation decisions. As a result, finding the fit for VDI can be an even bigger challenge. To assist, this paper documents several use cases that can help those in finance leverage desktop virtualization.

2 VDI is about delivering applications to users. The key to success is applying VDI to the right scenarios. Knowing when VDI works is just as important as knowing how it works and how to deploy it. In the right use cases, VDI presents significant advantages and can have very successful outcomes. It should also be noted that, from a business perspective, virtualized desktop infrastructure does not accurately describe what you are attempting to offer end users. Users rarely care about the desktop per se. Properly conceived, VDI is about delivering applications to users. That idea is central to VDI s long-term success. That applications happen to be delivered atop a Windows desktop is incidental. The most successful VDI deployments never lose sight of the fact that the real goal is to deliver a set of applications and services to users. As a result, VDI is not the perfect solution for every application delivery scenario. This paper will focus on the scenarios in finance for which VDI is well suited. Scenario 1: Standardized shared workstations If there s no need for personalization, VDI is simpler. Financial institutions often have a large percentage of their workforce using standardized workstations, and users often share those workstations with others across different shifts. Telephone call centers, bank teller computers and brokerage trading stations are examples of these kinds of standardized, shared workstations. Such computers are rarely configured to permit any kind of user personalization, typically run a small and well-defined set of applications, and must meet well-documented configuration and security policies. This description constitutes an almost textbook example for VDI. When personalization isn t a concern, many of VDI s more complex aspects, such as user profile composition, diminish in importance or become irrelevant entirely. VDI also delivers scalability and ease of management. In such situations, users can log in from virtually any device, including dumb PC terminals, and be connected to an available instance of the workstation they require. Worker capacity is expanded by adding more VDI hosts to the datacenter. VDI storage requirements are similarly minimized, since users are essentially working with virtual copies of the same master image. That image can be more easily patched and maintained by maintaining a single reference image that can be automatically provisioned to generate new or replacement user workstations. Eliminating personalization from the design offers further advantages beyond mere provisioning. Improper changes made to a workstation vanish when the user disconnects. Malware can be removed with a simple reboot or rebuild. Configuration control is enhanced through image centralization. Most importantly, VDI-based desktop environments offer the flexibility to scale both in and out to meet the needs of an ever-changing workforce. Scenario 2: Enhanced data security Ensuring data security traditionally entails costs to regain necessary functionality. The regulation and oversight applied to the financial sector makes overall computing more difficult, as does the impact of data loss or exposure. In the past, IT in finance organizations has been forced into draconian practices in order to ensure data security. For example, in order to control data disclosure, many organizations incorporate policies that physically remove, block or disable USB and other expansion ports. Doing so reduces the risk of data exposure, but at the cost of increased operational challenges. 2

3 Some IT organizations must then resort to expensive software solutions for managing who can use expansion ports as well as monitor their usage. VDI addresses this problem by moving the physical computer out of the reach of its end user. Even in a backend office environment where users might be allowed a greater degree of personalization and control, a virtual desktop running in the datacenter is physically more secure. VDI makes it easy to not expose USB and other connection options without impacting the ability of administrators to perform necessary maintenance tasks. VDI reduces configuration drift. A second example of VDI s enhancements to security dovetails off the benefits of Scenario 1 above. Configuration drift is arguably one of the biggest impacts on data security. Desktop computers are initially configured to best practices, but over time, they drift from that configuration as they re used. Such alterations from standard configurations can expose vectors for data theft and exposure. VDI s ability to regularly return desktops back to standard configurations reduces the incidence of configuration drift, enhancing the adherence to a financial organization s defined security requirements. Scenario 3: Field offices and remote workers Field offices and remote workers present security risks and suffer from performance issues. Another challenge presented by the financial sector s regulatory realities stems from its widespread need for employees in field offices and remote workers. These workers typically rely on wide-area network (WAN) or virtual private network (VPN) connectivity to the main office, as well as desktop or laptop computers running locally installed applications. Such individuals often work in lesssecure and insecure environments, creating more potential for security incidents via physical access, theft and other means. Complicating matters is the notion that remote workers are often subject to lesser physical oversight and surveillance as well, further easing a malicious insider s nefarious activities. Networks can also be a problem. Many remote workers and field offices are dissatisfied with application performance simply because their applications must access data across latent WAN and VPN connections. VDI can improve both application performance and security. A shift to application delivery via VDI can mitigate these concerns. Remote users on virtual desktops tend to see improved application performance because client applications are physically located near their corresponding servers in the datacenter. Bandwidth needed to transmit the virtual desktop s view of those applications is often far smaller than each application s clientto-server communication. Remote desktop protocols have evolved to offer a superior experience even over low-bandwidth and moderate-latency connections. Security is also improved. Virtual desktop usage is more easily controlled, tracked and monitored. Virtual desktops can t be stolen, can t be left unattended and can t be physically compromised. A disconnected virtual desktop no longer exists at the remote site, thus removing that site s biggest security hole: the computer itself. Scenario 4: Bring your own device (BYOD) Requiring standard clients limits user mobility and flexibility. VDI also eases the strain on organizational IT by enabling BYOD scenarios with significantly reduced expense and overhead. Virtual desktops can t be stolen, can t be left unattended and can t be physically compromised. 3

4 With VDI, client hardware can become irrelevant. Most IT organizations today impose strict standards on client hardware, often requiring specific hardware and operating systems and specifying other criteria. These requirements ensure that IT can support the device on the organization s network, and that the device can run the organization s required software. Such requirements often go at odds with user mobility and alternative computing demands. They may prefer different hardware, operating systems or devices (such as tablets). VDI can make client hardware irrelevant. With VDI, client hardware can become irrelevant. IT gets a standard, supportable environment in a centrally controlled virtual machine (VM), while users are freed to utilize whatever device they prefer to access that VM. Restrictions on hardware, operating system and device can be loosened because applications are logically disconnected from their ultimate endpoint. VDI ensures data security. Financial services organizations suffer from additional burdens beyond operational issues. Security, accountability, auditing and other requirements often make non-vdi BYOD scenarios impractical. But how can you control the security of data that resides on an employee s personal device? And how can you ensure they haven t improperly disclosed that data? VDI s separation of application from endpoint ensures that data remains inside the datacenter, enabling IT to exercise control over data security, disclosure, access and auditing. When VDI is incorporated into BYOD design, users won t be using personal devices to consume data; rather, each personal device becomes a window into virtual desktop-hosted applications. That virtual desktop acts as a kind of sandboxed, partitioned work environment one controlled by the organization, rather than the user that exists securely beside the user s personal applications. VDI fits finance s special requirements Widespread computing assets and a workforce of decentralized task workers creates conditions that are ripe for data theft and exposure. Combine these with the fact that the business of finance is money itself, and one can easily understand the finance industry s special requirements. Put simply, computing in finance is hard to manage. VDI technologies address many of finance IT s classic problems. Remote desktops are not local desktops, which automatically eliminates a variety of potential problems e.g., connected devices, data theft and exposure, or application delivery while at the same time offering enhancements to the delivery if IT services. VDI is not a solution for everyone, or for every use case. However, it can be an excellent fit for the special needs of a complex and ever-changing financial services industry. About the author Greg Shields is a Senior Partner with Concentrated Technology, and a globally recognized expert in remote application technologies. He has been awarded the Microsoft MVP, VMware vexpert and Citrix CTP for his efforts in helping IT professionals everywhere find the best fit for remote application delivery. Greg is a regular and top-ranked presenter at IT conferences like Tech Ed, VMworld and TechMentor, as well as a columnist and contributing editor for Redmond magazine, TechNet Magazine and Virtualization Review. 4

5 Wyse vworkspace vworkspace is a desktop virtualization and application delivery solution that complements native Microsoft technologies to provide a platform that is not only simple, scalable and extremely flexible - but one that also delivers enterprise-class performance. Simple to install and use vworkspace requires no dedicated specialists for deployment and ongoing management of the infrastructure. Built on mainstream Microsoft technologies, organizations with existing experience in Remote Desktop Services (RDS), Hyper-V and System Center will find vworkspace to have a familiar structure. The vworkspace management interface is designed with the desktop professional - rather than the server professional - in mind, and is therefore geared toward those activities most common to desktop management and application delivery. End-to-end monitoring and diagnostics provide deep visibility into the complete, desktop virtualization infrastructure - all the way down the individual user experience. Simplicity, paired with a robust feature set and exceptional technical support have helped vworkspace maintain a customer satisfaction rating greater than 90%. Scalable and flexible for organizations of all sizes Whether tens of thousands of employees or five employees, vworkspace scales up and down, down and up, based on your requirements. vworkspace flexible profiles enable very granular resource assignment that can be custom tailored to each user based on seemingly endless combinations of over twenty parameters including such things as IP address, location, device type, organizational unit, day of week, time of day and many more. And with increasing interest in desktops hosted in the cloud, it's also important to note that vworkspace also supports multi-tenancy to meet the strict requirements of managed service providers. Enterprise performance Paired with Hyper-V, vworkspace enables the deployment of thousands of desktops in under an hour. Install or upgrade to a new version of Windows across all of your desktops in twenty minutes. In addition, users will enjoy a rich, "like-local," experience leveraging native Microsoft RemoteFX optimized on Dell infrastructure and clients. Learn more about vworkspace Requires no dedicated specialists for deployment and ongoing management of the infrastructure. 5 Whitepaper-LDVfinance-US-VG

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