Small business desktop virtualization

[sancmat]

I work for a very small consulting company (< 15 developers). As each of us works with multiple clients at a time we are considering using virtual machines on our laptop to isolate the software and data from one client to the next.

Basically I want one laptop that I carry from client to client. When I change clients I change virtual machines allowing me to have a clean install of the required software and data for only that client.

We are not specific in what visualization software. However cost and support overhead are major factors in our decision. So my question is in two parts. What technology is recommended for our solution? What windows licensing do we pay for on the virtual machines.

If I am asking this in the wrong area let me know where I should go.

[WebMaster]

Hi Sancmat,

It seems for your small environment, something like VDI in a Box would be a good choice. Are you familiar with that technology from Citrix? What about their XenDesktop product line? As far as windows licensing, it would be same for each machine, you need license for each VM as if you were installing it on physical system.

[sancmat]

Originally Posted by WebMaster

Hi Sancmat,

It seems for your small environment, something like VDI in a Box would be a good choice. Are you familiar with that technology from Citrix? What about their XenDesktop product line? As far as windows licensing, it would be same for each machine, you need license for each VM as if you were installing it on physical system.

I'm not sure XenDesktop is the right kind of solution. Correct me if I am wrong but that is a server based solution. So if I am out at a client site with my laptop and I want to use my virtual server I am effectively passing all of the data from the client site back to my home office then back to my laptop (probably image only for the last part). Also if I were ever offline I could not work at all.

I am looking (possibly incorrectly) for a solution that would run all off of the laptop. Giving me the ability to change the software suite and data based on the client that I am visiting. Sometimes I might be working with two different clients that have incompatible software suites (say two versions of the same software required).

This also leads back to the question of licensing.
Let's say I create a Base Image that has all software that I use for all clients. Create my account on it and do all of the setup work of making it "My Machine". This will be called Base Image.

I start work at Client A. I need a collection of software installed to do work at that site. I open Base Image and install that software. I save this as Client A Image.

I start work at Client B. I need a collection of software installed to do work at that site. I open Base Image and install that software. I save this as Client B Image.

Work at Client A ends. Client A Image is archived or deleted. Never to be used again.

I start work at Client C. I need a collection of software installed to do work at that site. I open Base Image and install that software. I save this as Client C Image.

How many windows copies do I need to pay for (all images would be run by the same developer on the same laptop)?
Possible Answers:
1 - Pay for the base image only. (1)
2 - Pay for Concurrently running images only. (1)
3 - Pay for maximum number of active images. (2)
4 - Pay for all images ever saved (3) if this one how are backups treated?

Would this be a legal and appropriate situation to use a MSDN Operating Systems License (as long as I don't have more than 5 images active at any one point)?


Now I copy Client Image A to a second developer's laptop for them to use.

I'm assuming that this is a license that would need to be paid for. Correct?
1 - Pay for the base image only. (1)
2 - Pay for Concurrently running images only. (2)
3 - Pay for maximum number of active images. (3)
4 - Pay for all images ever saved (4) if this one how are backups treated?

I understand that if MSDN were used each developer would need their own MSDN subscription.

For a small company $350 per developer per client (option 4) becomes a high price to pay. But Paying for concurrent running images (option 2) or even paying for the number of images that are actively used (option 3) is reasonable. Option 1 seems unfair to Microsoft and therefore unrealistic to be legal.