In a typical company computer system set up, an administrator might determine that the company should have an engineering desktop with a given set of applications (e.g., Outlook, Word, Visio, AutoCad, etc.) and a finance desktop with a somewhat different set of applications (e.g., Outlook, Word, Excel, etc.). The administrator might then determine how many users would be provisioned with a given desktop (i.e., everyone in engineering gets a desktop image based on the engineering desktop and everyone in the finance department gets a desktop image based on the finance desktop). The administrator might also determine that the backend server needs to support such users and applications. For example, the administrator would determine how many servers would be needed to support the email server, how many servers are needed to support the document repository, and so on. Server hardware would then need to be set up in the company and the various applications installed on the servers, desktop or notebook computers would need to be purchased and provisioned with the various desktop images, etc.
When virtual computing resources are used to provide a computing infrastructure to one or more users, much of the backend configuration and administration tasks involved with setting up an IT infrastructure can be reduced or eliminated. Disclosed are methods and systems for at least partially replacing the process of real world company infrastructure provisioning with an automated cloud based service that provides a virtual company infrastructure in the cloud. An aspect of the invention is to provide a cloud based infrastructure provision tool that removes the need for much of that manual process by replicating and virtualizing aspects of the infrastructure in the cloud. To that end, an automated process allows an administrator to define the infrastructure as a cloud service reducing the need to determine the hardware and software infrastructure that are needed within a company. For example, a user may be provided a web interface for subscribing to a cloud computing service. Through the web interface, the user can define an archetypical user role and select an operating system environment and applications. The user may also select the number of role instances that are to be provided. The cloud computing environment automatically deploys the requested environment in a load balanced and scalable manner. The deployed environment may be accessed via the Internet using a URL or an IP address. The underlying provisioning of the infrastructure in the cloud computing environment is transparent to the user.
The systems, methods, and computer readable media for deploying a virtual computing infrastructure in accordance with this specification are further described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Certain specific details are set forth in the following description and figures to provide a thorough understanding of various embodiments of the disclosure. Certain well-known details often associated with computing and software technology are not set forth in the following disclosure to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the various embodiments of the disclosure. Further, those of ordinary skill in the relevant art will understand that they can practice other embodiments of the disclosure without one or more of the details described below. Finally, while various methods are described with reference to steps and sequences in the following disclosure, the description as such is for providing a clear implementation of embodiments of the disclosure, and the steps and sequences of steps should not be taken as required to practice this disclosure.
It should be understood that the various techniques described herein may be implemented in connection with hardware or software or, where appropriate, with a combination of both. Thus, the methods and apparatus of the disclosure, or certain aspects or portions thereof, may take the form of program code (i.e., instructions) embodied in tangible media, such as floppy diskettes, CD-ROMs, hard drives, or any other machine-readable storage medium wherein, when the program code is loaded into and executed by a machine, such as a computer, the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing the disclosure. In the case of program code execution on programmable computers, the computing device generally includes a processor, a storage medium readable by the processor (including volatile and non-volatile memory and/or storage elements), at least one input device, and at least one output device. One or more programs that may implement or utilize the processes described in connection with the disclosure, e.g., through the use of an application programming interface (API), reusable controls, or the like. Such programs are preferably implemented in a high level procedural or object oriented programming language to communicate with a computer system. However, the program(s) can be implemented in assembly or machine language, if desired. In any case, the language may be a compiled or interpreted language, and combined with hardware implementations.
A remote desktop system is a computer system that maintains applications that can be remotely executed by client computer systems. Input is entered at a client computer system and transferred over a network (e.g., using protocols based on the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) T.120 family of protocols such as Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)) to an application on a terminal server. The application processes the input as if the input were entered at the terminal server. The application generates output in response to the received input and the output is transferred over the network to the client
Embodiments may execute on one or more computers.
In example embodiments components can be implemented in circuitry that includes a combination of hardware and software an implementer may write source code embodying logic that is subsequently compiled into machine readable code that can be executed by a logical processor. The term circuitry used throughout the disclosure can include hardware components such as hardware interrupt controllers, hard drives, network adaptors, graphics processors, hardware based video/audio codecs, and the firmware/software used to operate such hardware. The term circuitry can also include microprocessors configured to perform function(s) by firmware or by switches set in a certain way or one or more logical processors, e.g., one or more cores of a multi-core general processing unit. The logical processor(s) in this example can be configured by software instructions embodying logic operable to perform function(s) that are loaded from memory, e.g., RAM, ROM, firmware, and/or virtual memory. Since one skilled in the art can appreciate that the state of the art has evolved to a point where that there is interchangeability between hardware, software, or a combination of hardware/software, the selection of hardware versus software to effectuate functions can be a design choice. Thus, since one of skill in the art can appreciate that a software process can be transformed into an equivalent hardware structure, and a hardware structure can itself be transformed into an equivalent software process, the selection of a hardware implementation versus a software implementation is trivial and left to an implementer.
A number of program modules may be stored on the hard disk, magnetic disk 29, optical disk 31, ROM 24 or RAM 25, including an operating system 35, one or more application programs 36, other program modules 37 and program data 38. A user may enter commands and information into the computer 20 through input devices such as a keyboard 40 and pointing device 42. Other input devices (not shown) may include a microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite disk, scanner or the like. These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit 21 through a serial port interface 46 that is coupled to the system bus, but may be connected by other interfaces, such as a parallel port, game port or universal serial bus (USB). A display 47 or other type of display device can also be connected to the system bus 23 via an interface, such as a video adapter 48. In addition to the display 47, computers typically include other peripheral output devices (not shown), such as speakers and printers. The system of
The computer 20 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer 49. The remote computer 49 may be another computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other common network node, a virtual machine, and typically can include many or all of the elements described above relative to the computer 20, although only a memory storage device 50 has been illustrated in
When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 20 can be connected to the LAN 51 through a network interface or adapter 53. When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer 20 can typically include a modem 54 or other means for establishing communications over the wide area network 52, such as the Internet. The modem 54, which may be internal or external, can be connected to the system bus 23 via the serial port interface 46. In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the computer 20, or portions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device. It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are examples and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers may be used. Moreover, while it is envisioned that numerous embodiments of the disclosure are particularly well-suited for computer systems, nothing in this document is intended to limit the disclosure to such embodiments.
Referring now to
In the above example, computer system 100 includes a parent partition 204 that can also be thought of as domain 0 in the open source community. Parent partition 204 can be configured to provide resources to guest operating systems executing in child partitions 1−N by using virtualization service. Each child partition can include one or more virtual processors such as virtual processors 230 through 232 that guest operating systems 220 through 222 can manage and schedule threads to execute thereon. Generally, the virtual processors 230 through 232 are executable instructions and associated state information that provide a representation of a physical processor with a specific architecture. For example, one virtual machine may have a virtual processor having characteristics of an Intel x86 processor, whereas another virtual processor may have the characteristics of a PowerPC processor. The virtual processors in this example can be mapped to logical processors of the computer system such that the instructions that effectuate the virtual processors will be backed by logical processors. Thus, in these example embodiments, multiple virtual processors can be simultaneously executing while, for example, another logical processor is executing hypervisor instructions. Generally speaking, and as illustrated by the figures, the combination of virtual processors and memory in a partition can be considered a virtual machine such as virtual machine 240 or 242.
Generally, guest operating systems 220 through 222 can include any operating system such as, for example, operating systems from Microsoft®, Apple®, the open source community, etc. The guest operating systems can include user/kernel modes of operation and can have kernels that can include schedulers, memory managers, etc. A kernel mode can include an execution mode in a logical processor that grants access to at least privileged processor instructions. Each guest operating system 220 through 222 can have associated file systems that can have applications stored thereon such as terminal servers, e-commerce servers, email servers, etc., and the guest operating systems themselves. The guest operating systems 220-222 can schedule threads to execute on the virtual processors 230-232 and instances of such applications can be effectuated.
The computing resources provided by the data centers 308 may be enabled by one or more individual data centers. The data centers 308 are facilities utilized to house and operate computer systems and associated components. The data centers 308 typically include redundant and backup power, communications, cooling, and security systems. The data centers 302 might also be located in geographically disparate locations. One illustrative configuration for a data center 308 that implements the concepts and technologies disclosed herein for scalably deploying a virtualized computing infrastructure will be described below with regard to
The customers and other consumers of the data centers 308 may access the computing resources provided by the data centers 302 over a network 306. It should be appreciated that a local-area network (“LAN”), the Internet, or any other networking topology known in the art that connects the data centers 308 to remote consumers may be utilized. It should also be appreciated that combinations of such networks might also be utilized.
The user computer 304 may be a computer utilized by a customer or other consumer of the data centers 308. For instance, the user computer 304 may be a server computer, a desktop or laptop personal computer, a thin client, a tablet computer, a wireless telephone, a personal digital assistant (“PDA”), an e-reader, a game console, a set-top box, or any other computing device capable of accessing the data centers 308.
The user computer 304 may be utilized to configure aspects of the computing resources provided by the data centers 308. In this regard, the data centers 308 may provide a Web interface through which aspects of its operation may be configured through the use of a Web browser application program executing on the customer computing system 304. Alternatively, a stand-alone application program executing on the customer computing system 304 might access an application programming interface (“API”) exposed by the data centers 308 for performing the configuration operations. Other mechanisms for configuring the operation of the data centers 308, including deploying updates to an application, might also be utilized.
In one embodiment, the processes 406 may be virtual machine instances. A virtual machine instance may be an instance of a software implementation of a machine (i.e., a computer) that executes programs much like a physical machine executes programs. In the example of virtual machine instances, each of the servers 402 may be configured to execute an instance manager capable of executing the instances. The instance manager might be a hypervisor or another type of program configured to enable the execution of multiple processes 406 on a single server 402, for example.
It should be appreciated that although some of the embodiments disclosed herein are discussed in the context of virtual machine instances, other types of instances can be utilized with the concepts and technologies disclosed herein. For example, the technologies disclosed herein might be utilized with instances of storage resources, processing resources, data communications resources, and with other types of resources. The embodiments disclosed herein might also be utilized with computing systems that do not utilize virtual machine instances, i.e. that use a combination of physical machines and virtual machines.
In the example data center shown in
Cloud computing generally refers to a computing environment for enabling on-demand network access to a shared pool of computing resources (e.g., applications, servers, and storage) such as those described above. Such a computing environment may be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. Cloud computing services typically do not require end-user knowledge of the physical location and configuration of the system that delivers the services. The services may be consumption-based and delivered via the Internet. Many cloud computing services involve virtualized resources such as those described above and may take the form of web-based tools or applications that users can access and use through a web browser as if they were programs installed locally on their own computers.
Cloud computing services are typically built on some type of platform. For some applications, such as those running inside an organization's data center, this platform may include an operating system and a data storage service configured to store data. Applications running in the cloud may utilize a similar foundation.
In one embodiment and as further described in
In one embodiment of a cloud computing platform, a stamp may be implemented and used to define a unit of isolation, e.g., to isolate within a cloud environment one entity from another by way of a security boundary and may be configured to define a remote desktop deployment in accordance with an aspect of the invention. A remote desktop controller component can be provided that maintains customer artifacts and credentials, manages loads across stamps, and provisions and resizes stamps. A remote desktop controller can also create and manage applications and desktops. Whereas a particular end point provides the virtual equivalent of a user's desktop, the stamp (or multiple stamps) provides the virtual equivalent of an companies computing infrastructure.
The layers described above may involve a number of components. Such components may include the following which are further described below.
Referring to
A portal may be provided to allow a developer to submit an application to the cloud service. The portal may be configured to receive configuration information that informs the cloud platform of how many instances of each role to run. The fabric controller component may create a virtual machine (VM) for each instance and run the code for the appropriate role in that VM. Requests from the application's users can be made using protocols such as HTTP, HTTPS, and TCP. The requests can be load balanced across all instances of a role.
Referring to
The cloud storage service may replicate data in order to provide fault tolerance. Furthermore, data can be backed up copy in another data center in a different physical location for redundancy and enhanced availability.
Referring to
In an embodiment and referring to
In an embodiment and referring to
By establishing such connections, a cloud application can access an on-premises database directly. A cloud application can also be domain joined to the on-premises environment, allowing a single sign-on to the cloud application by on-premises users, and the use of existing active directory accounts and groups for access control.
In various embodiments, a remote desktop computing experience can be provided in which a desktop provider can provide an elastic pool of desktops from which an administrator can easily provision and manage numerous user desktops, much in the same manner as provisioning and managing a single user desktop. The remote desktop user can thus be provided with a desktop experience that is always available, free of administrative procedures, and billed based on consumption. For application providers, such a service can enable the application providers, with minimal effort, to provide traditional desktop applications to users in the form of web applications.
As businesses move to adopt remote or virtual desktops as a means to centralize the administration of secure and compliant employee desktops, it would be advantageous for IT administrators to be able to provide a homogenous desktop environment in order to control and minimize costs. Thus a platform that can provide a plurality of remote or virtual desktops can provide scalable and homogenous computing environments at low cost. By architecting a hosted desktop solution on a cloud platform in a manner similar to that of a homogenous computing model, IT administrators can be provided an environment that can significantly lower cost as compared to traditional “Desktop as a Service” alternatives.
A cloud computing platform can be configured to operate with and provide benefits to multiple users and providers. For example, for an application provider that provides applications to an enterprise desktop provider or a desktop reseller, a cloud computing platform may be configured to provision and sell traditional desktop applications in a scalable cloud model. The application provider may be enabled to create an application provider account with payout account information, upload application packages, test uploaded applications on a selected operation system, publish the application on an application marketplace on the cloud, monitor application usage and set user charges per user.
For an enterprise desktop provider who creates and/or manages desktops, a cloud platform may be configured to provision desktops which may include bundles of applications to groups of users with similar requirements. For example, a group of users may all be employees of the same enterprise customer. The desktop provider may be enabled to be able to create an enterprise desktop provider account and provide credit information, e.g., by way of a credit card or other credit facility. The desktop provider may further be enabled to a create desktops by selecting, for example, an OS version and compatible applications from the cloud marketplace, upload additional applications as needed, and choose a delivery mode, i.e., a full desktop experience or remote application delivery. The desktop provider may also be enabled to provide credentials to enable access from desktops to the customers' on-premise active directory, add users to enable access to desktops, set policies to control user access to applications on the desktop, set up a URL for a web page for desktop users, and access connection activity and disable/enable access for users.
A desktop reseller may be an entity who creates and/or manages desktops for sale as a service to users. A desktop reseller may be enabled to perform capabilities similar to an enterprise desktop provider, such as creating a desktop reseller account, creating signup and connection scenarios for remote users, creating one or more desktops by selecting an OS version and compatible applications from the cloud marketplace, and uploading additional applications and choosing a delivery mode. A desktop reseller may also be enabled to set policies to manage user access to applications on the desktop, and provide OS and application updates either automatically or manually. A desktop reseller may also be enabled to view connection activity and disable/enable access, monitor desktop usage, and receive payments from users.
A user may be an identifiable entity who accesses a desktop provisioned by an enterprise desktop provider or a desktop reseller. The user may, via the cloud platform, access desktops from any location, browse to a URL for desktop service, and sign in and access the provisioned services. In some embodiments, the user may be provided a list of desktop environments that the user can log into.
Referring to
A mechanism may be provided for automatically logging into a cloud based system in which a single user authentication and authorization process permits a user to access the resources in the cloud based system where the user has access permission, without the need to enter multiple passwords. Providing single sign-on allows users to log in once and access multiple applications without the need to enter more passwords. Single sign on is desirable for enterprises by increasing security and efficiency by reducing the number of passwords that must be maintained. For cloud service providers, single sign on provide a better user experience by allowing users greater access without additional authentication effort.
A cloud based service may not accept token log-on credentials generated by a single sign-on service. For example, a web-ID provider or single sign on service may prompt a user for sign on credentials, and the service may generate a ticket or tokens that can be used for connecting to other services. Examples of such systems may include Windows, Linux, and iOS. It is desirable to give users in an on-premises enterprise domain, for example, single sign-on access to applications running in the cloud service.
In an embodiment, when a user logs into a cloud based desktop and provides authentication credentials, a one-time password may be automatically generated and persisted. The generated one-time password may be used to log in automatically to additional processes in the cloud based system. In one embodiment, the generated one-time password can be persisted until the user explicitly logs off. Thus, even when the desktop session is unexpectedly terminated, the password can be persisted.
In another embodiment, a user may have an account with a service that provides integrated on line services such as Windows Live or Yahoo. Such a service may provide a set of services and software products such as email and multimedia services that are accessible using a single user ID and password. In an embodiment a user of such an integrated service may also be provided an option to access cloud based computing services as described above. Thus when a user has opted for cloud based computing services as part of such an integrated service, once the user has logged on to the service the user may be presented an option to accessed the cloud based computing service and request a remote desktop session. Because the cloud based service, e.g., the remote desktop, may not accept the credentials from the integrated service, the cloud based service may generate an account with a one time password that allows the user to access the desktop session. The details of the one time password need not be provided to the user since the password only exists for the duration of the session or until the user logs off. In an embodiment the one time password may be persisted so that the user may return to the desktop if the desktop is inadvertently disconnected without having to restart the logon process.
In an embodiment illustrated in
The one-time password may be generated based on the credentials received by the online authentication service. In an embodiment, the password can be stored in a local credentials store in the virtual machine hosting the user session. Thus the password is not persisted with the user in the user's profile, thus allowing for enhanced security and avoiding the need for the cloud service to maintain permanent passwords for each user.
The user can be presented with a number of desktops, e.g., an engineering desktop, a finance desktop, etc. that can be selected and logged into. For example, each desktop can be tailored to a specific functionality. The user may be presented with the specific desktops based on predefined authorization. Once the users selects a desktop, a new desktop instance may be instantiated for that user. If a previous desktop instance is selected the session associated with the previous desktop instance may be resumed. The session for this user and session for other users can be launched as endpoints within a virtual machine that hosts a number of such sessions. A saved profile may be associated with each endpoint that is created or resumed that includes the user's preference and state information from a previous session and other information needed to maintain the user's state so the user's session can be persisted, paused, and resumed. Generally a desktop may consist of an operating system, applications, and settings. A desktop instance generally refers to a desktop plus a specific user profile. In some cases a desktop instance and a desktop session may be used interchangeably.
In an embodiment, multiple sessions can be launched for additional users. Referring to the example embodiment illustrated in
Since the user may be assigned a virtual machine (VM) endpoint from a pool of available VM endpoints, the next time that a user logs in, the user may be connected to any one of the VM endpoints in the pool. In order to create a custom desktop experience for the user, the user's preferences and state data may be saved. In one embodiment, the user's preference and state data may be saved to a set of data that may be associated with the user so that any time that the user logs on and is assigned a desktop, the user preference and state data may be obtained so that the user's previous desktop state can be resumed. So for example, if the users is associated with a session (i.e. end point) on a first virtual machine and later is assigned to a different session on a different virtual machine, the user's desktop state from the first virtual machine would generally not be available to the session on the second virtual machine. However, according to an aspect of the disclosure, the user's state is saved independently of the session and the particular VM endpoint. As described in the present disclosure, such a set of user data may be referred to as a virtual profile. In various embodiments the virtual profile may be implemented and referred to as a virtual hard drive or virtual hard disk (VHD). As such, when the user is connected with a session on a different virtual machine, the previous user's state can be migrated to the new session. This feature allows a single master desktop that is designed to serve a particular Type to have a custom feel for each particular user. The result is that a user of an otherwise generic session environment is perceived by the user as having a personal desktop look and feel.
As discussed above, during the course of a user session, a client may open and close remote access connections to the cloud service, and during any given connection, the client may change settings and preferences in the session. A mechanism is described herein for provisioning remote desktops in a cloud based infrastructure while maintaining user personalization. In cloud based systems, a user may not always reconnect to the same virtual desktop. In one embodiment, the virtual profile assigned to a user may be mounted to the endpoint assigned to the user. The virtual profile may include information such as the user's personal data and personalization information (e.g., settings, profiles, files, application data, etc.).
When the user disconnects or logs off from the remote desktop, the virtual profile is demounted from the endpoint and saved for subsequent user sessions. The virtual profile thus saves information regarding the user's state when the user is disconnected and provides the information as needed for launching the next user session.
Since a user may be assigned a VM endpoint from a pool of available VM endpoints, the next time that a user logs in, the user may be connected to any one of the VM endpoints in the pool. In order to create a custom desktop experience for the user, the user's saved preference and state data may be used to provide the customized desktop experience regardless of the particular VM endpoint to which the user is connected.
While the terms virtual profile and VHD are used to describe a data structure for saving a user's preference and state information, it should be understood that the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to any particular file or data format. In one embodiment a virtual profile or a VHD may be a virtual hard disk file format that is configured as data that is typically found on a physical data disk drive.
Initially, a virtual profile or a VHD may be populated with data operable to configure a user's desktop in accordance with the standard desktop configuration as defined by, for example, a company IT administrator. Thus a virtual profile or a VHD may include data defining the “gold image” of the desktop (i.e., the standard desktop configuration for a user role). Nevertheless, as a user uses a particular remote desktop and begins to customize the desktop by for example, changing the wallpaper, adding music, saving local documents, etc., that information is stored to the virtual profile or a VHD and an each time thereafter that a user is connected to a standard remote desktop, it is populated with the data from the virtual profile or a VHD to provide the look and feel of a custom user experience.
Any combination of user types (i.e., desktop types) may be defined within the boundaries of a single cloud service boundary. For example cloud service boundary 1410 may define a single service boundary as defined and configured for a set of services provided to a particular company and accessible using a predetermined URL which, when entered via a browser, may provide a web interface for logging on to the service and accessing the desktops configured for service.
In an embodiment, when a user session is requested, a connection to a connection broker may initially be requested. The connection broker may determine the stamp associated with the requested user session and select a virtual machine that is hosting user sessions within the identified stamp. For example, if the request indicates that a user session is desired, the connection broker may search a database that includes IP address port number combinations or network identifiers to find a suitable virtual machine being hosted on a cloud server. The connection broker can generate a redirection request that causes the user session to be associated with the identified virtual machine.
Referring to the embodiment described in
In an embodiment, a mechanism is described for creating and deploying a computing infrastructure in a cloud computing environment. A user such as an administrator (who would typically determine the computing needs of a company) may be provided an interface for defining various company computing needs and typical end user desktops.
Such a mechanism can allow for at least partially replacing the process of real world company infrastructure provisioning with an automated cloud based service that provides a virtual company infrastructure in the cloud. For example, in a typical company computer system set up, an administrator might determine that the company should have an engineering desktop with a given set of applications (e.g., Outlook, Word, Visio, AutoCad, etc.) and a finance desktop with a somewhat different set of applications (e.g., Outlook, Word, Excel, etc.). The administrator might then determine how many end users would be provisioned with a given desktop (i.e., everyone in engineering gets a desktop image based on the engineering desktop and everyone in the finance department gets a desktop image based on the finance desktop). The administrator might also determine that the backend server needs to support such end users and applications. For example, the administrator would determine how many servers would be needed to support the email server, how many servers are needed to support the document repository, and so on. Server hardware would then need to be set up in the company and the various applications installed on the servers, desktop or notebook computers would need to be purchased and provisioned with the various desktop images, etc.
An aspect of the invention is to provide a cloud based infrastructure provision tool that removes the need for much of that manual process by replicating and virtualizing aspects of the infrastructure in the cloud. To that end, an automated process allows an administrator to define the infrastructure as a cloud service reducing the need to determine the hardware and software infrastructure that are needed within a company. Accordingly, an administrator may be provided a web interface for subscribing to a cloud computing service. Through the web interface, the administrator can define an archetypical end user role and select an operating system environment and applications. The administrator may also select the number of role instances that are to be provided. The cloud computing environment automatically deploys the requested environment in a load balanced and scalable manner. The deployed environment may be accessed via the Internet using a URL or an IP address. The remote desktop configurations can be accessible via the Internet using a URL. For example, after configuring the desktop environments, the desktop environments may be accessible by the individual end users by entering, for example, www.company.com/tech and www.company.com/finance.” The underlying provisioning of the infrastructure in the cloud computing environment is transparent to the administrator.
Referring to
Operation 1504 illustrates processing configuration parameters, received via the user interface, to establish the virtual computing infrastructure comprising one or more user remote desktop configurations. The remote desktop configurations can each correspond to a user role. The remote desktop configurations can be accessible via the Internet using a URL. The remote desktop configurations can each correspond to a user role. For example, an administrator can use such a user interface to define two desktop environments for a medium sized company. The administrator may define a first desktop environment for engineering staff and may select an operating system and version, an email and calendar application, a browser application, office applications, and a drawing application. The administrator may further specify that up to fifty such desktops may be used at one time. The administrator may also define a second desktop environment for finance staff and may select an operating system and version, an email and calendar application, a browser application, office applications, and a database application. The administrator may further specify that up to twenty-five such desktops may be used at one time.
Operation 1506 illustrates installing on the plurality of virtual machines, a plurality of server applications based on the configuration parameters. Operation 1508 illustrates instantiating the virtual computing infrastructure including the one or more end user remote desktop configurations that is accessible to a plurality of end users via a remote network connection. Operation 1510 illustrates enabling a remote end user to instantiate a remote desktop on at least one of the plurality of virtual machines. The remote desktop is configured according to one of the remote desktop configurations to access at least one server application by way of the remote desktop.
Any of the above mentioned aspects can be implemented in methods, systems, computer readable media, or any type of manufacture. For example, a computer readable medium can store thereon computer executable instructions for deploying a virtual computing infrastructure. Such media can comprise a first subset of instructions for causing a user interface to be presented to a user that is operable to allow a user to input computing infrastructure configuration parameters; a second subset of instructions for processing configuration parameters, received via the user interface, to establish the virtual computing infrastructure; a third set of instructions for causing the installation of a plurality of server applications based on the configuration parameters on the plurality of virtual machines; a fourth set of instructions for causing one or more end user remote desktop configurations to be determined that are accessible to a plurality of end users via a remote network connection; a fifth set of instructions for instantiating a remote desktop on at least one of the plurality of virtual machines, the remote desktop configured according to one of the remote desktop configurations to access at least one server application by way of the remote desktop; and a sixth set of instructions for enabling an end user to access the remote desktop configuration over the remote network connection and though that security boundary. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that additional sets of instructions can be used to capture the various other aspects disclosed herein, and that the four presently disclosed subsets of instructions can vary in detail per the present disclosure.