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I have a new client that has purchased 10 thin clients.

The thin-clients are each operating as users of a single Hyper-V virtual machine running Server2012. The VM is running on its own server, also running Server 2012.

Is this a system that has to be scrapped and started from the beginning?

EDIT: Months later, here's a clearer picture of what was wrong:

  1. There was one server doing everything (Domain Controller, SQL Server, Web Server, Hyper-V Server, Application Server)

  2. A problem in one part would cascade throughout the server causing untraceable errors.

SOLUTION

We scrapped it and started from scratch.

Purchased two lightweight Dell R230s - one as primary DC and one as SQL/Web server.

We then reformatted the old server and installed only Hyper-V. We ended up with a single VM and RDS sessions from the thin-clients versus the full VDI.

We also created a VM domain controller for failover protection if the primary suddenly died (which had no backups originally).

So far, so good. Everything is running smoothly. Errors are easy to track. Performance has improved.

MORAL:

Take stock of the big picture before jumping into implementing Hyper-V or virtualization simply because it's cool. The benefits are ABSOLUTELY worth it, but you have to have the right infrastructure to support it. It's not something you just run for fun on an old server you have lying around or as part of a multi-role server.

Craig
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  • It's not really clear what the problem is. Are you saying that the 10 thin clients establish sessions to an RDSH server running in a VM on a Hyper-V host? If so, what's wrong with that? – joeqwerty Aug 31 '15 at 22:13
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    There's not enough here to go on. Describe the requirements the system is supposed to fulfill and how it is failing to do so. Describe the issues the Customer is having with it. Somebody spec'd this stuff based on some kind of requirements. – Evan Anderson Aug 31 '15 at 22:13
  • There is a single server running 2012R2. That server has a VM running Server 2012R2. The users are AD users from the root server who all simultaneously log into the 2012 operating system. The end-user requirement is simply that users should be able to access the Internet and Microsoft Office. – Craig Aug 31 '15 at 22:18
  • A single VM on a physical machine has plenty of advantages - easy to migrate to new hardware (even live, with 0 downtime), easier to backup and restore because there are no driver issues. Can even do things like Hyper-V replica for failover. – Grant Aug 31 '15 at 23:57
  • Thanks for the feedback, good to know you find a solution – yagmoth555 Mar 16 '16 at 18:21

1 Answers1

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It depends!

Does the client need VDI? Does the client want more powerful desktops than VDI can give them?

There's nothing strictly wrong with this environment, though at this scale virtualizing the RDP server isn't getting them anything. Do they plan to scale up? If so, you can probably keep this and prepare to add more servers, virtual and physical. Your architecture is basically the degenerate case of that, so scaling up shouldn't be too hard.

I don't see, based on the information you give, any reason to pave it.

Falcon Momot
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  • I agree. In and of itself this question doesn't provide any useful information. Aside from that, running RDSH hosts as VM's under Hyper-V is a perfectly acceptable undertaking. – joeqwerty Aug 31 '15 at 22:22
  • But what use is Hyper-V here? Couldn't the root server provide desktop virtualization without the need for the Hyper-V VM Server2012? – Craig Aug 31 '15 at 22:24
  • Certainly it could, but then that begs the question: Are you going to deploy a physical host for every service, line of business application or workload you introduce into the enterprise? – joeqwerty Aug 31 '15 at 22:41
  • IMO, I see very few use cases these days for dedicated physical hosts running LOB applications, services and workloads. – joeqwerty Aug 31 '15 at 22:42
  • joeqwerty - thanks for the feedback. Obviously, I'm a novice at virtualization, and I'm not so much anti-VM or Hyper-V, as much as I'm trying to understand the best approach with this configuration. It seemed strange to have a Hyper-V VM running 2012R2 RDS (if indeed it is) on a server with the same operating system when that middle man could be eliminated. – Craig Sep 01 '15 at 00:23
  • The terminals are WYSE units and it just seems simpler to install RDS on the actual server and set up virtual desktops for the WYSE clients. I can't see the advantage of the Hyper-V VM in there. Also, the client is a library and terminals are literally only Internet and Office. – Craig Sep 01 '15 at 00:24
  • It could be that whomever deployed this solution was looking forward and trying to "future proof" the solution so as to be able to provide additional servers if and when needed without the need to purchase additional physical hosts. – joeqwerty Sep 01 '15 at 02:19