Setting up VMware View Lab - Making the Connection

Ok, now I am ready to test my Lab by connecting to my virtual desktops over the Internet. (See the previous post for the virtual desktop pools setup).

to imitate an end-user environement, I spun up a fresh WinXP in the VMware Workstation on my laptop. AMAZINGLY, this workstation does not need anything added to or installed on it to be able to take advantage of the VMware View virtual desktops.

Well, that's not exactly the case... because my lab's FQDN is not oficially registered on the Internet, I had to create a host entry in the HOSTS file on the virtual WinXP that points to the IP address of my Bell Sympatico connection and matches that with the FQDN of my Security Server view.esxlab.local (but this would not be necesary in a real-world scenario).

Now, all I need to do is point my Internet Browser to the FQDN of my View Lab:

Provide the credentials: 

Now, this is super cool... Every PC needs a VMware View client to be able to connect to a virtual desktop. However, the View client is automagically delievered (if you don't already have it - it detects it) via a THINAPP package, and automatically installed on the end-user PC:

ThinApp is a super cool VMware technology - I am planning to cover it in a future post!

After accepting the Install request, I can now see my virtual desktops available to me:

I click on Windows 7 (Win7) and voila: the connection starts:

.....

Now, if I launch the WinXP desktop (so I am logged in to more than 1 desktop at the same time), I can switch between both desktops. What a cool idea - I can now test and work with the newest OS (Windows 7) while being able to go back to my existing desktop on Windows XP anytime: