Why virtual desktop admins are going to love VUEM

V.U.E.M. stands for VirtuAll User Environment Manager, a product recently released by VirtuAll Solutions that has the potential to handle delivery of complicated settings to virtual desktops.

It works in a client/server based model. The client is installed onto the virtual desktop and can be hidden from the end user if you require, an application based server is replaced by a simple SQL database that the client connects to directly. This is a perfect solution for most virtualization admin's who will already have access to a MSSQL server and if they are anything like me, they will hate adding new services that require patch management to the network.

Where VUEM really excels is the plethora of different settings that can be deployed with the click of a button, many of which would traditionally require complex and time consuming logon scripts. Via the VUEM  console the administrator can deploy a very diverse range of settings including printers, network drives, registry entries, environment variables, file associations and USER DSN database records.

 

Not only are a large number of settings available for deployment but an equally impressive array of rules and filters can be used to apply the right settings to the right user. I particularly like the XenDesktop and XenApp options that allow me to apply specific settings to specific desktop groups with ease.

Taking things a step further, VUEM has CPU, memory and process management options that enable the administrator to black list applications and protect against CPU/memory spiking. I am particularly looking forward to the "fast logoff" functionality, it is currently only available to XenApp but soon coming to XenDesktop. Fast Logoff does just as its name suggests, instantly disconnects the session when the user clicks log off, allowing another user to immediately log back onto the thin client.

 

It is also worth mentioning there is no reason VUEM needs to be restricted to virtual desktops, it could potentially replace your vbscript or kixtart based logon scripts. VUEM is still in its infancy, only being released in July 2011, but it is extremely developed for its age. This project is certainly worth a look, so head over to http://www.virtualdesktops.info/ and check it out.