When evaluating Application Virtualization, what aspect do you think is the most important to look for?

Hi@Evgeny Belenky ​ I hope the below mentioned response is appropriate to your query. VIRTUALIZATION: COMMON CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONSMoving to a virtualized environment means turning one server into a host for a group of servers that all share the same resources. Virtualization eliminates costs for IT rooms, cables, and hardware while providing businesses with many benefits including cost savings, improved efficiency, less downtime, and scalability. Companies may decide to virtualize their network if:There’s a heavy use of technologyAdditional office space is neededThe number of employees warrants a move, and The cost analysis shows a positive return on investment Even though virtualization provides cost savings over networks stored at a physical location, there is an expense for the initial transition and setup. Also, moving to a virtualized environment doesn’t come without challenges. It’s essential to understand the difficulties with virtualization and how to overcome them.VM SPRAWLChallenge: Virtualization sprawl happens when it’s impossible to effectively control and manage all virtual machines (VMs) connected to a network. This often occurs when different departments within a business set up a virtualized instance, and the growing network becomes more than someone can manage. Solution: To prevent virtualization sprawl, first, take an audit of the virtualized machines connected to the network. Then, you’ll want to identify VMs that are no longer being used and need to be archived. From there, implement policies that address thin provisioning so that the amount of resources used is much smaller than allocated. You’ll also want to evaluate the naming convention — typically, what may have worked initially will need to be updated. While this may seem like there are a lot of steps involved, the good news is a Managed IT Service provider (MSP) can assist with the clean up and management of VM sprawl to not only optimize the virtualized system, but to also improve the overall performance and speed of a network.APPLICATION PERFORMANCEChallenge: Once a business has migrated to a virtualized system, they may find that things are not working as seamlessly as they should. Legacy systems may cause problems with newer virtualized software and programs, older software may not be compatible with virtualization, or current applications may not be performing… even with virtualization. Solution: A solution will depend on several factors, including the VM setup and whether there’s legacy software or updated software. Run tests to identify any resources being overutilized or work with an MSP to look for compatibility issues between software and VM. Typically, MSPs will be able to locate and pinpoint areas more quickly than someone on an internal IT team who isn’t familiar with these type of system conflicts. There may be upgrades or workarounds to get everything functioning as it should.BOTTLENECKSChallenge: When users create a high demand on VM resources, bottlenecks will happen. There are various reasons that bottlenecks occur. One of the most common causes is the incorrect configuration of network resources, however, bottlenecks also stem from processing limits, memory deficiencies and storage space issues. In a virtualized environment, these factors interconnect, so changes have a broader impact. Identifying where the bottleneck is occurring and implementing a fix can become very complicated. Solution: Resolving a bottleneck depends on the exact cause. Incorrect network configurations are often the primary reason for bottlenecks. The reason for this is because there are many different areas involved in the setup of network configurations, and as a result there are many steps to troubleshoot a specific area as well as many solutions — which is why an MSP is critical to overseeing proper network configuration. If the system slows down because of the processor, there are two solutions which can help. First, you can allocate processing cores to increase the processing power; or, you can also overlock existing cores… If a VM uses too much memory, set a fixed memory cache limit, or ensure that the VM is using the right amount of memory to maintain optimum performance when using resources. If storage is causing the bottleneck, consider spreading data storage across separate drives.LICENSING COMPLIANCEChallenge: Running licensed software on VMs can create compliance issues, but many software license agreements have now incorporated VMs, multiple CPUs and other resource provisioning tools. Solution: Always review and understand the licensing rules for software and business applications. In most situations, each use of an application on a VM requires a license.

I will give you a seat of the pants experience. I think number one, as with all technology will be cyber security. Virtualization was sort of "hidden" for quite some time and wasn't as easy a target as other technologies. Until last year, quite honestly our VMware on-premise installation has been like a secure vault. And what if someone trashed a VM? I'd just throw it away and spin up a new one.  Now there are more holes than a kitchen sieve. I think LOG4J showed just how vulnerable you can be. Yes, I know there are probably bigger fish to fry, but the mere thought that a common open-source library could bring down the castle started striking fear into everyone. I'm not even sure all of VMware is patched yet. One area where we have been way too complacent as an industry is feature creep. We want the software to do more and more. We want more automation. More bells & whistles. More glitz and chrome. But what has it gotten us? What do you do when all that "stuff" becomes a liability rather than an asset. And the enemy is peaking through the holes?  Whatever happened to KISS. Keep it simple stupid. I think that's one reason I'm thankful I work in a small environment. I don't always have the knowledge or budget to implement the latest, greatest, most automatic whiz bangs. Now that the walls are being breached I'm kind of thankful. I have fewer things to fix.  Go back and figure out what the core part of the technology is. Evaluate what you will get from it and avoid the "options" as much as you can. Generally speaking the less complicated you make your environment, the easier it is to understand, maintain and protect. Even when it's virtual. 

Hi @Abbasi Poonawala, @David Grudek​, @Payman Maher​, @Michal Sadlik ​, @Tonatiuh Torres Zamorano ​ , @JacquesBodenstein, and @Dan Withrow. Can you help @Dante Dano ​with your professional experience? Thank you.

I think VMware Horizon View is a very solid product.  I think it is the most mature product on the whole spectrum. All virtual desktop environments require tuning for performance. Depending on the size of the company you don't need 1/10 of the bells & whistles that the vendors include. For example, I have a small environment - 70 employees. I don't use instant clones, personas, their analysis tools, ... Not only are they expensive (the tools) they overly complicate a complicated process. KISS.  I have honed down the environment to what is just needed. Most of the industry will tell you otherwise. And I do all this as a one-man IT department.