Manage desktop pools

A desktop pool is a group of desktop resources that have the same attributes. You can bulk deploy desktops from a desktop pool with ease. Depending on the used desktop virtualization technology, a desktop pool can be one of the following types:

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) desktop pool—Allows you to bulk create cloud desktops that use the same system configuration and assign the desktops to users. You can configure a VDI desktop pool to provide static, dynamic, manual, shared desktops, or application servers, depending on the desktop persistence requirement.

Intelligent desktop virtualization (IDV) desktop pool—Allows you to bulk deploy a desktop image to IDV desktop clients for users. You can configure an IDV desktop pool to deploy clients that are each accessible to a single user, multiple users, or anonymous users.

Virtual OS infrastructure (VOI) desktop pool—Allows you to bulk deploy a desktop image to VOI clients for desktop users. You can configure a VOI desktop pool to deploy clients that are each accessible to a single user, multiple users, or anonymous users.

Physical host desktop pool—Allows you to assign physical hosts to a desktop pool for central management. A user can access a managed physical host remotely from a Workspace client installed on an endpoint. Only local and domain users can remotely access a physical host desktop pool.

VDI desktop pool

Figure-1 shows the supported types of VDI desktop pool. For a comparison of these VDI desktop pools, see Table-1.

Figure-1 Types of VDI desktop pools by authorization type

Table-1 Comparison of VDI desktop pools

Pool type	Access control	Data storage	Applicable scenarios
Static	Each desktop in a static desktop pool is assigned to only one user for exclusive use. These desktops are called static desktops. You can assign one or multiple static desktops to a user.	Static desktops are persistent. They save user data and preference settings in the operating system. The saved data and settings will persist through a restart. This persistence feature makes static desktops a good option for business use in offices.
Dynamic	The desktops in a dynamic desktop pool are called dynamic desktops. They are dynamically assigned to users in a preauthorization list. When the system receives a request from a preauthorized user, the system randomly selects a desktop from the dynamic desktop pool for the user. The system releases the dynamic desktop assigned to a user if that user disconnects from the desktop and fails to reconnect to the desktop within the graceful period. Then, the system can assign the released desktop to any other user.	Dynamic desktops are not persistent. When the desktop reboots, any data and previous user settings saved on it are lost.	Dynamic desktop pools are applicable to public service facilities such as public training and teaching and reading rooms in libraries.
Manual	A manual desktop pool is analogous to a dynamic desktop pool except that the administrator can set restore points for future data and configuration restoration. The desktops in a manual desktop pool are called manual desktops. The system releases the manual desktop assigned to a user if that user disconnects from the desktop and fails to reconnect to the desktop within the graceful period. Then, the system can assign the released desktop to any other user.	A manual desktop can be administratively restored to the state when the most recent restore point was created. The data and settings saved on a manual desktop are not cleared when the manual desktop is released. The administrator must restore the desktop to a restore point as needed before assigning the desktop to a new user.	This type of desktop pool is applicable to volatile scenarios that require system rollback.
Shared	Each desktop in a shared desktop pool can be assigned to multiple users for simultaneous use and collaboration. These desktops are called shared desktops. You can assign one or multiple shared desktops to a user.	Each user logs in to a shared desktop with an account name identical to the login username. On a shared desktop, all users use the same C drive and can access only their respective user files in the C:\Users folder. The users share the data disks on the shared desktop. Shared desktops are persistent. They save user data and preference settings in the operating system. The saved data and settings will persist through a restart.	This type of desktop pool is applicable to collaboration between multiple users on a Windows endpoint in the office scenario.
Application server	An application sever desktop pool is used to bulk deploy application servers for providing virtual applications. The processes of the virtual applications run on the application servers, and the application servers are not bound to any users. When you are adding application servers, you can select an application server desktop pool to accommodate the application servers.	When a user uses a virtual application, its local disk is mapped to the related application server, and the virtual application can directly access the data in the local disk. The user can save its data and configuration on the application server. The data and configuration can survive a server reboot.	This type of desktop pool is used to provide application servers that host virtual applications.

IDV desktop pool

Figure-2 shows the supported types of IDV desktop pool by authorization type. For a comparison of these IDV desktop pools, see Table-2.

Figure-2 Types of IDV desktop pool by authorization type

Table-2 Comparison of IDV desktop pools by authorization type

Authorization type	Access control	Data storage	Applicable scenarios
Single (dedicated) user	Each IDV client is accessible to only one user.	The user has access to all drives available on the physical client and the cloud disk assigned to the user at the server end.	This type of desktop pool is applicable to privacy-sensitive scenarios such as home offices, personal desktops, and financial data processing.
Multiple users	All IDV clients in the pool are shared by the specified users or user groups. Any one of the specified users can access an IDV client in the pool to obtain desktop services as long as that client is idle.	The users have access only to the system disk (the C drive) on the client endpoint and the cloud disk assigned to each of them.	This type of desktop pool is applicable to client sharing scenarios such as deployment of desktops for teachers in classrooms.
Anonymous users	Allows anyone to access an IDV desktop as a guest without providing user account information.	Anonymous users do not have cloud disks. They can use only the storage on the client endpoints.	Anonymous access is applicable to public service scenarios such as government service centers, libraries, and nurse stations.

VOI desktop pool

Figure-3 shows the supported types of VOI desktop pool by authorization type. For a comparison of these IDV desktop pools, see Table-3.

Figure-3 Types of VOI desktop pool by desktop authorization type

Table-3 Comparison of VOI desktop pools by authorization type

Authorization type	Access control	Data storage	Applicable scenarios
Single (dedicated) user	Each VOI client is accessible to only one user.	The user has access to all drives available on the physical client and the cloud disk assigned to the user at the server end.	This type of desktop pool is applicable to privacy-sensitive scenarios such as home offices, personal desktops, and financial data processing.
Multiple users	All VOI clients in the pool are shared by the specified users or user groups. Any one of the specified users can access a VOI client in the pool to obtain desktop services as long as that client is idle.	The users have access only to the system disk (the C drive) on the client endpoint and the cloud disk assigned to each of them.	This type of desktop pool is applicable to client sharing scenarios such as deployment of desktops for teachers in classrooms.
Anonymous access	Allows anyone to access a VOI desktop as a guest without providing user account information.	Anonymous users do not have cloud disks. They can use only the storage on the client endpoints.	Anonymous access is applicable to public service scenarios such as government service centers, libraries, and nurse stations.

Physical host desktop pool

Figure-4 shows how Space Console manages physical host desktop pools.

Figure-4 Physical host desktop pool management

You can assign physical hosts to a desktop pool for central management, including host boot, host shutdown, host reboot, remote assistance, and user authorization. The local users configured on a managed physical host can access it as usual. On Space Console, you also can authorize local and domain users to remotely access the physical hosts in a physical host desktop pool by using the Workspace client installed on endpoints.

VDI desktop deployment workflow

Create a VDI desktop pool: Create a static, dynamic, manual, or shared desktop pool, or an application server desktop pool depending on the application scenario.

Deploy a VDI desktop pool: Bulk deploy desktops (see "Bulk deploy desktops") and configure desktop pool authorization settings (see "Preauthorize users/OUs to use the desktop pool").

Manage a VDI desktop pool: Edit or delete the desktop pool or its authorization settings and manage the desktops in the pool.

IDV desktop deployment workflow

Create an IDV desktop pool: Create an IDV desktop pool. Configure the pool to use single-user, multi-user, or anonymous-user authorization depending on the application scenario.

Deploy an IDV desktop pool: Add IDV clients to the pool (see "Add IDV clients to an IDV desktop pool") and configure authorization settings (see "Authorize users to use IDV clients").

Manage an IDV desktop pool: Edit or delete the desktop pool, manage its authorization settings, and manage the clients in the pool.

VOI desktop deployment workflow

Create a VOI desktop pool: Create a VOI desktop pool. Configure the pool to use single-user, multi-user, or anonymous-user authorization depending on the application scenario.

Deploy a VOI desktop pool: Add VOI clients to the pool (see "Add VOI clients to a VOI desktop pool") and configure authorization settings (see "Authorize users to use VOI clients").

Manage a VOI desktop pool: Edit or delete the desktop pool, manage its authorization settings, and manage the desktops in the pool.

Physical host management workflow

Create a physical host desktop pool: Create a physical host pool.

Use a physical host desktop pool: Configure the physical host pool, including the following tasks:

Assign physical hosts to a physical host desktop pool

Preauthorize users/OUs to use a desktop pool

Authorize a user to use a physical host

Manage a physical host desktop pool: Edit or delete the physical host pool, or manage the physical hosts in the physical host pool.

Prerequisites

Make sure you have completed the following tasks in Space Console:

Add hosts and cluster resources.

Add users.

Create desktop images.

Edit desktop images for desktop pools

To bulk edit the desktop images bound to desktop pools:

From the navigation pane, select Desktop Pools & Groups > Desktop Pools.

Click the Desktops Pools tab, and then select one or multiple desktop pools.

Click Edit Desktop Image.

Click the Available Desktop Images or History Images tab, select a desktop image, and then click OK.

The History Images tab displays the images that were used by the selected desktop pools.

Click OK.

Export all desktops

Perform this task to export desktop information from all desktop pools.

From the navigation pane, select Desktop Pools & Groups > Desktop Pools.

Click the Desktops tab, and then click Export. The system exports all desktop information in Excel to the default download location of the browser.