Deploying Applications and System Updates with Instant Clones

Because instant clone desktop pools share a base image, you can quickly deploy updates and patches by updating the parent virtual machine.

The push image feature allows you to make changes to the parent virtual machine, take a snapshot of the new state, and push the new version of the image to all users and desktops on a rolling basis. With rolling updates, the downtime associated with pool maintenance can be minimized. When a user logs off an instant clone virtual desktop, Horizon 7 deletes the instant clone and creates a fresh new instant clone from the latest version of the image, and the new clone is ready for the next user to log in.

You can use this feature for the following tasks:

• Applying operating system and software patches and upgrades
• Applying service packs
• Adding applications
• Adding virtual devices
• Changing other virtual machine settings, such as available memory