Topology and Architecture

All Of Our Components Are Virtual.

Our software is an elegant collection of virtual appliances that run on your existing virtual infrastructure. These appliances work together to dynamically composite desktops that look and feel just like ordinary virtual desktops. But you'll soon realize Unidesk desktops are anything but ordinary. Implement Unidesk using the hosts, storage, hypervisor, and connection broker you already have, and you'll soon be provisioning desktops that are completely and utterly customizable by users, while using only a fraction of the storage previously required.

Unidesk Management Appliance - Your Virtual Desktop Control Center.

Our Management Appliance hosts the Web-based management application that is used by administrators to provision, patch, assign, and report on virtual desktops. You only need one Management Appliance for your entire VDI environment. It also manages Unidesk policy and configuration, including information about Unidesk layers, desktops, and users. The Management Appliance can be deployed on any host in your virtual infrastructure as long as it can communicate over TCP/IP with Unidesk CachePoint™ appliances and your server virtualization management platform (for example, VMware vCenter Server).

Unidesk Master CachePoint - Where All Layers Are Stored.

The first Unidesk CachePoint appliance you deploy in your VDI environment takes on the special role of Master CachePoint, storing all Operating System and Application layers. In addition, it hosts all of the Installation Machines used to create Operating System and Application layers and layer versions. The Master CachePoint can also host desktops, but we recommend this only for pilot installations. In typical production VDI environments, you should deploy a dedicated CachePoint appliance on a separate host server to maximize virtual desktop performance.

Unidesk CachePoints - Storage For Your Virtual Desktops.

The Master CachePoint automatically replicates Operating System and Application layers to other CachePoints, where they are cached and turned into the C: drives for your virtual desktops. Layers are replicated only if they are needed by at least one of the desktops associated with a CachePoint. Each CachePoint then delivers the Operating System and Application layers to the desktops it supports. For optimum performance, we recommend locating a CachePoint appliance on the same server that hosts your virtual desktops.

At boot time, each desktop starts by using a small boot image stored in a VMDK file on the same volume where the CachePoint storage resides. This image provides just enough of the desktop operating system to load a small network stack. Once this is loaded, the desktop establishes connectivity to the CachePoint appliance and loads the correct Operating System and Application layers. All desktops assigned to a CachePoint share the same layers for dramatic storage savings.

Your virtual infrastructure and connection broker see Unidesk desktops as standard virtual machines. The only requirement is that Unidesk and your connection broker support the same desktop operating system.