The term desktop refers to an instance of an operating system running on a virtualization host. It is delivered to a user and accessed via a desktop access client. Oracle VDI manages desktops on any of the following virtualization platforms:
Oracle VM VirtualBox
VMware Infrastructure
Microsoft Hyper-V
Microsoft Remote Desktop
Desktops may be created one-by-one for each user, but in most situations there will be groups of users that require the same applications. Oracle VDI allows you to prepare and use a desktop template, and clone as many desktops as needed from the template. For more on templates, refer to the Section 6.3, “About Templates and Revisions” section.
The following table shows the desktop operating systems that are supported for each desktop provider type. Pay particular attention to the notes that follow this table.
Desktop Operating System | Oracle VDI Hypervisor | VMware vCenter | Microsoft Hyper-V |
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Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Windows Vista Enterprise | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Windows XP SP2 and SP3 (32-bit and 64-bit) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Windows 2000 SP4 | ✓ (VRDP only) | ||
Oracle Linux 5.6 | ✓ (VRDP only) | ||
Oracle Solaris 10, at least release 10/09 | ✓ (VRDP only) | ||
Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) | ✓ (VRDP only) | ||
Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) | ✓ (VRDP only) |
Not all editions of Windows 7 include support for remote desktop connections, see the Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection FAQ for details.
The supported desktops for Microsoft Remote Desktop provider are described in Section 5.2.2, “Microsoft Remote Desktop Services”.
The features that can be used with a virtual desktop depend on the RDP protocol selected for the pool and the method used to access Oracle VDI. For more information, see the following:
Not all actions are available for all platforms. VMware has its own management tool VMware vCenter, and Oracle VDI simply accesses the data. Microsoft Remote Desktop is not a virtualization platform like the others, therefore desktops cannot be imported and assigned personally.
Action | Details | Location in Oracle VDI Manager | vda Subcommand | Desktop Provider |
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Import Desktop | Imports a virtual machine into Oracle VDI. After that the desktop can be assigned to any user. Oracle VM VirtualBox and Microsoft Hyper-V hosted machines can be imported from a shared folder. In addition, virtual machines can be directly imported from an Oracle VM VirtualBox host. For VMware vCenter, the virtual machines remain under the control of VMware vCenter, but the user assignment and runtime management is done by Oracle VDI. For more details see: | Desktop Tab → Import (button) | pool-vb-import pool-vb-import-unmanaged pool-vc-import pool-hv-import |
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Duplicate Desktops | Creates an identical clone of any desktop. | Desktop Tab → Duplicate (in Menu) | desktop-duplicate |
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Rename Desktop | Renames the desktop. The name is also visible to the end-user if more than one desktop is assigned to her. | Desktop Tab → Rename (in Menu) | desktop-setprops |
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Export Desktop |
Exports the selected desktop to disk, consisting of an
XML file for the properties of the virtual machine and
a | Desktop Tab → Export (in Menu) | desktop-export |
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Delete Desktop | If necessary, the desktop is stopped. Then for Oracle VM VirtualBox and Microsoft Hyper-V hosted desktops, the iSCSI disk is deleted from the storage. For VMware vCenter desktops, you have the option to keep the virtual machine available on VMware vCenter. All references to the desktop are removed from the Oracle VDI database. | Desktop Tab → Delete Desktop (in Menu) | desktop-delete |
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Convert Desktop to Template | Moves the desktop to the template management of the pool and creates a first revision. | Desktop Tab → Convert to Template (in Menu) | desktop-template |
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Reset Cloning | Regardless of the recycle policy all cloned desktops (that are not currently in use or personally assigned) are deleted and new desktops are cloned. You can use this action to make sure that all desktops are cloned from the same template or the latest master revision, and use the latest settings from the Pools-Cloning tab, like naming conventions or Windows system preparation. | Desktop Tab → Reset Cloning (in Menu) |
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Assign Desktop | Creates a persistent relation between a user and the desktop. This desktop will be reserved for the user as their personal desktop. | Desktop Tab → Assign (button) | user-personaldesktop |
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Remove User | Breaks the persistent relation between user and desktop. | Desktop Tab → Remove User (in Menu) | user-unassign |
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Log Out User | Logs the user out of their RDS session, and the session no longer exists. | Desktop Tab → Log Out User (button) | desktop-logoff |
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Disconnect | Disconnects the user from their RDS session, but the session remains on the RDS Session Host and the user can reconnect to it later. | Desktop Tab → Disconnect (button) | desktop-disconnect |
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Start Desktop | Starts the desktop on the host. If the desktop is not registered on the host, one is selected based on free memory. The desktop is then registered and started. | Desktop Tab → Start (button) | desktop-start |
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Shut Down Desktop | Sends an ACPI shutdown signal to the desktop. | Desktop Tab → Shut Down (in Menu) | desktop-stop
(without ' |
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Restart Desktop | Restarts the desktop on the same host. Equivalent to pressing the reset button on your PC and can cause data loss if files are open. | Desktop Tab → Restart (button) | desktop-restart |
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Power Off Desktop | Immediately powers-off the desktop and unregisters it from the Oracle VM VirtualBox or Microsoft Hyper-V virtualization host. On a VMware vCenter virtualization host, the desktop is only powered off. | Desktop Tab → Power Off (in Menu) |
desktop-stop
(with ' |
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Suspend Desktop | Saves the desktop's state to disk. When the desktop is resumed it will be in the same state prior to being suspended. | Desktop Tab → Suspend (in Menu) | desktop-suspend |
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Open Desktop Console | Opens a new window to access the desktop directly from the browser. | Desktop Tab → Console Tab → Open in Window (button) |
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Mount or Unmount ISO | Mounts or unmounts an ISO image on the virtual machine. | Desktop Tab → Mount ISO Image, or Unmount ISO Image (in Menu) | desktop-mount-iso desktop-unmount-iso |
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Activate Desktop | In some error situations, Oracle VDI will mark a desktop "unresponsive" rendering the desktop unusable. Select Activate to return the desktop to the previous state. | Desktop Tab → Activate (in Menu) | desktop-activate |
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