As businesses grow, they recruit several employees and provide each employee with a computing system so they can conduct day-to-day operations. A large organization relies on virtual desktop infrastructure solutions to provide computing capacity without the need for hardware devices. While the demand for VDI desktop virtualization software has increased, organizations are not fully aware of how to manage it. You should know how to manage your Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) to maintain high service availability. ITOps teams have been using AI for managing VDI for some time now. Read on to know more about VDI and how it can be managed with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Understanding VDI management

The trend for virtual machines increased when businesses realized that they are spending more on computing systems for employees. A virtual desktop infrastructure allows a company to mount business applications on any device. Employees are not restricted to a particular device inside the organization’s premises to access business applications. The functionality of a desktop in your organization can be provided to some other device with virtualization. A dedicated host server is used to deploy VDI desktop virtualization software on different devices. Employees can deploy business applications and operating systems on any device with virtualization.

The demand for virtual desktop infrastructure solutions increased during the COVID pandemic. Since employees could not bring the organization’s hardware to their homes, they relied on virtual machines to run essential business processes. Businesses hosted a VDI that can be used by employees to access business applications and computing capacity on their own devices. Besides investing in a VDI desktop virtualization software, businesses must also manage the virtual infrastructure. VDI management includes several processes which, are as follows:

• Once you have installed a VDI software in your organization, you must provide it with regular updates to make sure it performs effectively. If your VDI desktop virtualization software is outdated, your employees will struggle in completing business operations thus, affecting the service availability.
• Configuration information about a virtual machine is also patched with VDI software. For example, Windows uses registry keys to store configuration information. If you are virtualizing Windows OS, you need to patch the registry keys for the correct configuration on any other device.
• VDI management includes regular monitoring of virtual machines to make sure everything is in order. Any operating system issues can deteriorate your service availability and, you need to get rid of them immediately.
• ITOps teams must identify the performance issues of virtual machines that are hosted. ITOps focuses on finding the performance issues within a virtual desktop infrastructure in real-time.
• CXOs are responsible for implementing a monitoring system that can analyze different layers of VDI. With round-the-clock monitoring of VDI, user issues can be acknowledged and fixed in real-time.

ITOps teams are also responsible for capacity planning of the VDI. If the computing capacity can fall short due to high demand in the future, it needs to be increased beforehand to maintain service availability.

Challenges with VDI management in 2021

VDI management is not an easy task as a slight mistake can reduce your service availability. Just like in-house computing devices, virtual desktops are also important for business continuity if your employees are working remotely. IT teams must overcome several VDI management challenges at present which, are as follows:

• Virtual desktop infrastructure solutions increase the overall size of your IT infrastructure. Businesses must monitor their virtual infrastructure rigorously. It calls for more system administrators in the organization and increases the workload of CXOs.
• For VDI management, real-time user monitoring tools are required. The lack of real-time monitoring tools has hampered the service availability of businesses that use VDI.
• Due to the recent remote work culture, your employees may use their own devices. If you are deploying essential business applications virtually on remote endpoints, you should also protect them from being exploited. Monitoring remote endpoints that access the virtual computing resource is a challenge for businesses nowadays.
• The business demands and needs can fluctuate often in the current scenario. A business needs to make sure it has enough computing capacity to complete future business operations. Businesses face challenges in predicting the computing capacity of VDI based on needs and demands. If you cannot complete daily operations due to a scalability shortage, you will degrade your service reliability.

How to overcome VDI management challenges in 2021?

AI for IT operations is the best solution for VDI management in 2021. An AIOps platform uses predictive analytics models to overcome the VDI management challenges:

• AIOps uses predictive analytics models that can forecast performance issues related to virtual desktop systems. You can learn about vulnerabilities within your virtual desktop infrastructure with an AIOps-based platform.
• Real-time user monitoring tools powered with AIOps can monitor the connected devices across your VDI at all times. You can collect data from numerous endpoints that are connected to your virtual desktop infrastructure.
• AIOps can store user data and study user patterns on virtual machines. Based on that data, it quickly identifies an outlier. If someone is trying to get into your virtual desktop infrastructure, AIOps can notify you quickly.
• If any IT issue occurs within your virtual desktop infrastructure, AIOps will help in detecting the cause of the issue. Any issues within your VDI desktop virtualization software can be fixed quickly with AIOps.
• You can predict the computing capacity required by your employees for day-to-day operations. Based on the predictions, you can virtualize that much computing capacity for your employees. With AIOps, your virtual desktops will keep running and, you will achieve maximum service availability.

Conclusion

More than 40% of business organizations have started using AI for monitoring remote endpoints and virtual desktops. You can also boost your service availability and VDI security with the best AIOPs products and tools for enterprises in the market.