Knowledge workers must be able to create complex documents and have them persist on the desktop. Power users must be able to install their own applications and have them persist. Depending on the nature and amount of personal data that must be retained, the desktop can be stateful or stateless.

For knowledge workers who do not need user-installed applications except for temporary use, you can create stateless desktop images and save all their personal data outside of the virtual machine, on a file server or in an application database. For other knowledge workers and for power users, you can create stateful desktop images.

Use the following pool settings for instant-clone desktop pools:

  • If you use instant clone desktops, implement file share, roaming profile, or another profile management solution.

Use the following pool settings for View Composer linked-clone desktop pools:

  • If you use View Composer with vSphere virtual desktops, enable the space reclamation feature for vCenter Server and for the desktop pool. With the space reclamation feature, stale or deleted data within a guest operating system is automatically reclaimed with a wipe and shrink process.
  • If you use View Composer linked-clone desktops, implement Persona Management, roaming profiles, or another profile management solution. You can also configure persistent disks so that you can refresh and recompose the linked-clone OS disks while keeping a copy of the user profile on the persistent disks.
  • Use the Persona Management feature so that users always have their preferred desktop appearance and application settings, as with Windows user profiles.

Use the following general pool settings for all desktop pools:

  • Some power users and knowledge workers, such as accountants, sales managers, marketing research analysts, might need to log into the same desktop every time. Create dedicated assignment pools for them.
  • Use vStorage thin provisioning so that at first, each desktop uses only as much storage space as the disk needs for its initial operation.
  • For power users and knowledge workers who must install their own applications, which adds data to the operating system disk, there are two options. One option is to create full virtual machine desktops.

    The other option is to create a pool of linked clones or instant clones, and use App Volumes to persist user-installed applications and user data across logins.

  • If knowledge workers do not require user-installed applications except for temporary use, you can create View Composer linked-clone desktops or instant clone desktops. The desktop images share the same base image and use less storage space than full virtual machines.