VMware's new guide focuses on design choices for the storage environment of a production VMware VDI implementation by looking at the protocols involved and the considerations for protocol choice VMware and Long View have released a new document called VMware VDI Storage Considerations. This information guide focuses on design choices for the storage environment that forms the foundation of a production VMware VDI implementation.Within the IT world, there are a number of ways to deploy Microsoft Windows XP and Vista environments out to end-users. The traditional desktop model still exists where each user is provided with the necessary desktop hardware to run one of these operating systems locally; an alternative approach exists where a thin client or low-end desktop is used to access a common server running Microsoft Terminal Services or Citrix; and then there is VDI, a hybrid approach of sorts where each end-user has a thin client and connects to a private Windows XP or Vista image that is hosted on a virtual infrastructure.VDI gives the administrator more control over the user environment by consolidating the Windows images onto server-class hardware. More security is achieved as well because the image is stored and managed in the datacenter. Training is limited because the Windows environment appears to the end-user as a normal local installation. The document goes into a deeper dive to help you understand more about the four protocols of choice supported by VMware ESX 3.0 and later: Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP), iSCSI, NFS, and 10-Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE). And it then details the primary considerations for protocol choice: maximum throughput, VMDK behavior on each protocol, and the cost of reusing existing versus acquiring new storage infrastructure.This document is a good read to help you gain a better understanding of the disk and storage needs and the design choices of a VMware VDI implementation.You can download VMware VDI Storage Considerations from the VMware Resources Web site. Software Development