Managing Linked-Clone Desktops; Reduce Linked-Clone Size With Desktop Refresh - VMware View Manager 4.5 Admin Manual

Managing Linked-Clone Desktops

With View Composer, you can update linked-clone desktops, reduce the size of their operating system data,
and rebalance the linked-clone virtual machines among disk drives. You also can manage the View Composer
persistent disks associated with linked clones.

Reduce Linked-Clone Size with Desktop Refresh

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A desktop refresh operation restores the operating system disk of each linked clone to its original state
and size, reducing storage costs.
Update Linked-Clone Desktops
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You can update linked-clone desktops by creating a new base image on the parent virtual machine and
using the recompose feature to distribute the updated image to the linked clones.
Rebalance Linked-Clone Desktops
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A desktop rebalance operation evenly redistributes linked-clone desktops among available datastores.
Manage View Composer Persistent Disks
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You can detach a View Composer persistent disk from a linked-clone desktop, detach the disk, and attach
it to another linked clone. This feature lets you manage user information separately from linked-clone
desktops.
Reduce Linked-Clone Size with Desktop Refresh
A desktop refresh operation restores the operating system disk of each linked clone to its original state and
size, reducing storage costs.
If possible, schedule refresh operations during off-peak hours.
For guidelines, see
Prerequisites
Decide when to schedule the refresh operation. By default, View Composer starts the operation
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immediately.
You can schedule only one refresh operation at a time for a given set of linked clones. You can schedule
multiple refresh operations if they affect different linked clones.
Decide whether to force all users to log off as soon as the operation begins or wait for each user to log off
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before refreshing that user's desktop.
If you force users to log off, View Manager notifies users before they are disconnected and allows them
to close their applications and log off.
VMware, Inc.
on page 163
on page 168
"Desktop Refresh Operations,"
on page 161
on page 170
on page 162.
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