vdis

VDI, or Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, is a technology for delivering desktop environments from centralized servers to end-user devices. In a VDI setup, each user interacts with a virtual desktop running on a data center host, rather than an operating system installed on the local device. The user interface is streamed to the endpoint, while input data travels back to the server.

A typical VDI architecture includes a hypervisor host (such as VMware ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V, or KVM) that runs virtual machines, a management and provisioning layer (connection brokers, desktop pools, profiles), shared storage to host the VM disks, and a network and endpoint client that connects to the virtual desktops. Desktops can be persistent (each user retains a personal VM) or non-persistent (desktops are regenerated from a golden image on each login). Virtual desktops may run Windows, Linux, or other supported OSes. GPU-accelerated instances are used for graphics-intensive workloads.

VDIs are used to centralize desktop management, improve security by keeping data in the data center, simplify software updates, enable remote work, and support BYOD policies. They are commonly deployed in enterprise IT, educational institutions, and call centers. Cloud-based variants, sometimes called Desktop as a Service, deliver VDI-like services from public cloud providers.

Key considerations include latency and bandwidth between client devices and the data center, storage performance, scalability, licensing, and cost. Implementations require careful capacity planning for peak loads, disaster recovery, backup of VM images, and security controls such as multifactor authentication and network segmentation.