Aaron: That is a great help. Thank you for your time. I was tasked with finding a system to allow students to "reserve" time slots, and at first glance it appeared AVCL might be a fit. It might now be worth it to add this to the mix for our PoC and see if we can justify some cost-savings.
Thanks! -Nate On Mar 10, 2011, at 11:13 AM, Aaron Peeler wrote: > Hello Nate, > > Apache VCL and VMware View are separate solutions. I'm not an expert on View, > I've seen the sales rep. demo's etc. So I can only comment from a somewhat > biased viewpoint. :) If someone else on the list has more to add on VMWare > View that what's here, please do. > > Differences > > Apache VCL is: > - open source (free) > - community driven support > - community driven development > - built for Edu's by system-admins from Edu's. > - can provision, virtual machines and bare-metal (using xCAT), existing > stand-alone Unix based machines from a lab for non-walkin hours use. > -not locked into a single hypervisor or vendor. > supports vmware products (free server, ESXi, ESX), virtual box > - highly customizable, ability to extend to use other provisioning tools, VCL > development roadmap includes kvm support, maybe others > - ease of scale out - (add more HW) > - Course block allocations - priority allocations for sets of end-users, > courses or workshops, etc > - Current OS support for win7,winxp,win2003,win2008,ubuntu,CentOS, RedHat, - > easy to add more. > - Audit-able, source is open for tracing > - cost of entry is low > - Many more. > > > View: > - Commercial product > - VMWare support available > - One benefit I see is the PCoIP protocol. It would do a better job for video > streaming and probably CAD programs than remote desktop connection. > - requires vcenter licensing. ? $$ > > Hope this helps. > Aaron > > > > On 3/10/11 10:17 AM, Nathaniel McMullin wrote: >> We are currently investigating Virtual Labs for our Students. We'd like to >> deploy VMWare View to complement our existing ESX infrastructure which hosts >> our servers, and eventually allow for thin clients for our Faculty/Staff. >> The short-term, Phase 1, is to allow for more Open Lab space. With that >> said, we need to ensure students can get onto the Virtual Labs and having a >> Reservation System would fill this need. >> >> Looking at Apache VCL I am wondering if this is simply a separate solution >> that would not tie into VMWare View or or Apache VCL simply see VMWare View >> as "physical" computers and that's how it would be best to implement. Does >> anyone have experience tying the two together? Many thanks. >> >> -Nate @ UNH (SA). > > -- > Aaron Peeler > Program Manager > Virtual Computing Lab > NC State University
