Good day to all. Today we look at the HP T410 All-in-one thin client and its capabilities in VDI networks. Let's start with the interesting, with the infrastructure.

VDI - Virtual Desktop Infrastructure - involves using a powerful server with reliable storage and virtually “helpless” clients, the only purpose of which is to connect to the server via the network, access the virtualized workplace and allow the user to do what he came to work with.

We have already told in general terms what VDI is and how it differs from RDS . It is time for a close acquaintance with the software and hardware complex! As a device that will demonstrate the work with VDI - our Smart Zero thin client, made in a candybar.

First of all - we look at its specification:
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T-410 All-in-one

Display:

• 18 inches, resolution 1366x768 pixels;
  
• LED lights;
  
• brightness - 200 nits.
  

Hardware:

• ARM Cortex A8 processor, 1 GHz;
  
• 1 gigabyte DDR3 memory;
  
• 2 gigabytes of flash memory;
  
• 4 USB 2.0 ports:
  
• 1 Ethernet port;
  
• 3.5 mm output for headphones and microphone;
  
• stereo speakers
  

Nutrition:

• power supply - 24 watts, 100-240 volts, 50-60 hertz;
  
• the ability to use POE-T1 (Power over Ethernet, Type 1).
  

As you can see, the needs of this client are not great, it has enough power from the network cable (although POE equipment does not belong to the class of cheap and affordable), and its own capacity allows not only to download its service software, but also to connect a wireless mouse with a keyboard to it , external drive (hard disk or flash drive), devices for authorization through biometrics and authentication tools. A micro-OS is stored on the flash drive, which is responsible for the initial setup and storage of some service information, we call this technology Smart Zero - this is not fully Zero-client, our operating system is slightly more complex and functional, but up to monstrous (by the standards of thin clients) Windows Embedded her very, very far.

You can connect this kid's virtual workstations to the server in a variety of ways, from connecting via RDP to a regular workstation or a server running Windows Server 2012 to a full connection to the VDI server, say, through Citrix ICA 12 .

A simple and convenient wizard is responsible for the initial setup:

There is nothing difficult in it, and connecting a new workplace takes 15 minutes, 10 of which are to get the new T410 out of the box and connect it to the network (power supply, optionally), and the mouse and keyboard are included.

Connecting and working in the future is also as simple and fast as possible:

And again inside nothing supernatural. Delivery of settings, environment configuration, reservation of disk space, if specified in group policies. Just for the administrator, transparently and absolutely not to the user.

What is HP T410 now capable of? Depends on what is spinning on the server for "virtualok". If there is Windows 7, then all the software available to it, from an office suite and a web browser to 1C and other accounting applications. If Linux is convenient software development tools that are not demanding on the power of the client machine at the time of writing the code, but actively consume all available at the time of compilation and debugging.

Service cost

A nice bonus to these opportunities is reduced maintenance costs. Several years ago, Russia paid little attention to this item of expenditure, many companies were worried about the starting cost of implementation. They took the cheapest system managers on Celerons, put the cheapest hard drive with the cheapest power supply from the Liao Chashkaris Company at 300 watts (with the corresponding efficiency, noise, and reliability), all this was degraded by Windows XP or Windows 7, the first case pleased the sysadmin with regular “and it broke, I didn’t touch anything”, in the second - “everything slows down” (they saved on pieces of iron). As a result, the fleet of buzzing, regularly failing due to penny savings “at the start”, consuming an impressive amount of electricity, computers, a system administrator (or even a few), who regularly swears and runs from the accounting department, which has hung up to 1C, to managers who have Windows asks to send SMS, and then delete all the data. And at the crucial moment, a cheap RAID controller burns at the server to which the network printer is connected and on which everyone stores shared documents.

Now many have revised their attitude to the cost of maintaining a computer park (after all, it is necessary to update it regularly, and some have changed four sockets during this time, for example, the long-lived 775 has almost completely disappeared from the market, 1136 has fallen into oblivion, 1156 has followed it and 1155 is not a long time left, it will turn into a pumpkin this summer). Thin clients practically do not fail (they simply have nothing to break - all the electronics are primitive, consume little electricity, generate little heat, and do not carry any heavy loads), and server equipment with proper maintenance spends much less administrator nerves, is more reliable and "buzzing" in a separate room, leaving the office quiet and cool.

The reliability of software and hardware

The most important thing is that VDI allows you to build a completely independent infrastructure in which the fall of one virtual machine (there’s little in your office there is a user with the tester’s karma, dropping Windows into the BSOD even with a notebook) doesn’t affect the work of others.

The downside of this solution is the cost of powerful server hardware and, possibly, a separate storage system that will support the smooth operation of several dozen people, flexibly providing access to the necessary computing resources and reliable data storage system that provides uninterrupted access to information and is not afraid of failure. multiple carriers.

UPD from 22 Apr 2012: We launched a special project on Habré, which was described in the zero post of this season. It is located at: habrahabr.ru/special/hp/commercial and there is a lot of interesting information, the form of feedback we promised, as well as a test of knowledge in the field of virtualization. We are waiting for you and your questions!