RDS Server build questions

[smithse79]

I work in an educational setting at the university level. We've been having issues in one of our labs that need both Linux and Windows. We've tried booting Linux and running Windows VMs inside. That didn't really work out too well.

Now I'm thinking about a RDS server so users can just remote into a server and have a Windows desktop environment to use their Windows specific apps on. However, this is something that I've never had the chance to play with. I have no idea what kind of server requirements are needed. The apps that they will use are relatively memory hungry and moderately compute intensive. I'm looking at a MAX of less than 20 users simultaneously.

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!

 

[Netwerkz101]

No answers...just more questions:
Budget? (Microsoft..I think discounts stuff for Universities right??)
What didn't work out too well about the Windows VMs in Linux?
Might help to specify the stats of the Windows VMs that didn't work out so well (CPU/Memory/Disk Type - SSD???)
Have you done any performance bencharks to determine CPU/Memory memory needs for typical user?

On the surface, 20 users on a single RDS box appears easy .... too easy ... gotta have numbers per user
to size a box for them.

You would be going from a Windows VM (Dedicated OS/desktop assumed) to a shared server desktop.


I was trying to find a guide for you ... I used to have them for XenApp specifically...but RDS only I can only see RDS for 2008R2.

Here is something though that will give you some idea of what you should be looking for:
Infrastructure Planning and Design Guides for Virtualization

Pick/click "Remote Desktop Services" of course

 

[cesmith9999]

What are you really trying to accomplish? what is the purpose of the computers in the lab?

Chris

 

[smithse79]

This is a classroom lab. For clarification's sake, I'm going to mention that our department has 2 labs, an older one that runs Windows (where all classes used to be) and a new one that runs Linux (where we're looking at RDS to replace Windows VMs) There are some program specific apps that require bare-metal access to the hardware in Linux, hence the Windows VMs. The Windows software is much lighter-weight. The problem with the VMs was a from a usability stand-point. It was just very clunky to use for them and difficult to manage for us.

The Linux desktops that we have are all relatively new with an i7-4790 and 16GB of RAM. The windows side of the software has been running on Core 2 Quad computers with 4GB of RAM (our other lab that is being replaced separately) in the past, so obviously we don't need a ton of hardware/user.

As far as budget, there really isn't one yet, we're still in the proposal stage. I configured a Dell R730 with dual 12-core Xeons and 192GB of ram for ~$10k that didn't really get balked at. My inexperience with RDS, however, makes me unsure that this is even a good solution.

 

[cheezehead]

It depends....on a lot of scenario specific variables.

Also depends on what software stack you already have and what agreements you have with Microsoft....ie licensing. Microsoft may want additional per-user licensing to support RDS which depending on how the agreement may cause you some issues.

I've only ever used Microsoft's RDS solution for kiosk scenarios and not actual desktops. Traditional VM's were used sitting with either vSphere or a View deployment depending on what types of VM configs were needed.

Also worth mentioning, take a look at the enhancements with WS2016 there is a Windows 10 VDI solution getting baked into the release (RDVH vs RDS).

Deploying Windows 10 Virtual Desktop Infrastructure on Windows Server 2016 (Technical Preview)

 

[cesmith9999]

You may want to look into Windows MultiPoint Server. which is now a role in Server 2016. that way you can just have a separate windows server that the Linux clients can RDS into... that way you are not dealing with Windows VM's

just a thought.

Chris

 

[smithse79]

Server 2016 is going to be too late to be a viable solution, although it sounds like there is some promising technologies in it.

 

[cesmith9999]

Multipoint server is already a shipping solution. you may use 2016 to start the ball rolling. but look at the older versions for deployment. just to see if it can fulfill your needs.

Chris

 

[smithse79]

I haven't seen Multipoint Server. I'm going to try to get my hands on a demo version...