zPortal Overview
About zPortal
AmZetta zPortal Suite is solution for deploying a secure, cost effective, less power consuming, less space consuming virtualized infrastructure for organizations.
Fact that it can be deployed with VMware (vCenter Server or ESXi), Microsoft Hyper-V or SCVMM and Microsoft RDS makes it suitable for all the organization either organization willing to deploy the fresh virtualized infrastructure or organizations which are already having virtualized infrastructure in place.
The zPortal Suite can be used to serve:
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- Dedicated desktops from virtualization platforms VMware and Microsoft Hyper-V
- Shared hosted desktops and applications from Microsoft Remote Desktop Servers Windows 2012 R2 and Windows 2016).
zPortal Components
The following table lists the core components of zPortal Suite, its necessity in deployment and where can it be installed.
| Component | Is Necessary | Installation Platforms | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| zPortal Controller Service | Must have (installed with zPortal Controller) | Windows Server 2012 R2 or Windows Server 2016 | ||
| zPortal Controller Management Console | Must have (installed with zPortal Controller) | Windows Server 2012 R2 or Windows Server 2016 | ||
| zPortal License Service | Must have (installed with zPortal Controller) | Windows Server 2012 R2 or Windows Server 2016 | ||
| zPortal Upgrade Service | Good to have for automatic upgrade of zPortal DVM Tools (installed with zPortal Controller) | Windows Server 2012 R2 or Windows Server 2016 | ||
| zPortal Session Host Server | Must for application and shared desktop delivery
Can be installed on zPortal Controller or separately |
Windows Server 2012 R2 or Windows Server 2016 | ||
| zPortal Monitoring Service | Must if adaptive load balancing is needed. Can be installed on zPortal Controller or separately | Windows Server 2012 R2 or Windows Server 2016 | ||
| zOS Devices or zPortal Clients | Must have | AmZetta Thin Clients with integrated zPortal Client
zPortal Client – Client software installed on supported Windows/Linux Platforms |
||
| Dedicated VDI | Built-in Connection Broker (Session Provider) | VMware Esxi or vCenter Server | Either of these must be configured for providing dedicated desktops to end users
Recommended – Built-in connection broker |
Please refer to respective documents from VMware of Microsoft |
| Microsoft Hyper-V or SCVMM | ||||
| AmZetta zPortal Hyper-V Connector | Yes, if Hyper-V or SCVMM servers will be used as dedicated session provider | Microsoft Hyper-V / SCVMM server | ||
| AmZetta zPortal DVM Tools | zPortal DVM Agent | Yes, for buitl-in connection broker | On all virtual machines, for configuring remote access and policy management | |
| USB Redirection Software | Optional (required for USB device sharing) | On all virtual machines for redirecting USB) | ||
AmZetta zPortal Controller
zPortal Controller is the core of the zPortal offering centralized management of the virtual desktop infrastructure.
zPortal Controller provides following features:
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- Device management
- Connection broker features – Fetching, provisioning and maintaining Desktops (Desktop Virtual Machines) from Dedicated Session Providers (VMware ESXi or vCenter Server, Microsoft Hyper-V or SCVMM and Microsoft RDS Server)
- Authentication services from Microsoft Active Directory, Workgroup or Novell eDirectory
- Desktop management and assignment to devices or users
- Performance management
- Connection Policy Management
- Licensing
- Centralized Management console (zPortal Controller Management Console, referred as Management Console only)
With zPortal Controller, admin needs to choose the VDI method, manage the devices and create policies to assign desktops to devices or users. Once zPortal Controller is configured, devices and users will connect with zPortal Controller, login and get access to their virtual desktops.
zPortal Controller supports delivering virtual desktop from following sources:
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- Built-in Connection Brokers
- Dedicated virtual desktops running on VMware vCenter or ESXi
- Dedicated virtual desktops running on Microsoft Hyper-V hypervisors
- Shared hosted desktop from Microsoft RDS server
- Built-in Connection Brokers
zPortal Controller comes as a Windows installer and is licensed based on number of devices or number of concurrent sessions.
<zportal-overview1.png>
The following components are installed with zPortal Controller:
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- AmZetta zPortal Controller Service
- AmZetta zPortal Controller Management Console
- AmZetta zPortal License Service
- AmZetta zPortal Upgrade Service
- AmZetta zPortal Monitoring Serivce
AmZetta zPortal Controller Service
AmZetta zPortal Controller Service runs as a windows service on supported windows platforms and is the primary control layer for all VDI operations. The core operations of AmZetta zPortal Controller Service are:
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- Registering and managing zPortal Devices (AmZetta thin clients (referred as zOS), zPortal Clients installed in Windows or Linux desktops).
- Managing Sessions.
- Managing Desktops imported from Dedicated Session Providers (Hyper-V, VMware vCenter)
- Desktop Pool Management (Desktop to Client mapping with advance configurations)
- User authentications with Directory Services
- Maintaining logs for all device and zPortal Controller operations
The web interface used for facilitating all above tasks is AmZetta zPortal Controller Management Console.
AmZetta zPortal Controller Management Console
AmZetta zPortal Controller Management Console is a web interface accessible on browsers and provides the interface for administrators to manage the devices, sessions, creation and management of Session Providers, connection profiles and other settings.
AmZetta zPortal License Service
AmZetta zPortal License Server runs as a Windows service on supported Windows server platforms and is the primary controller layer for managing the licensing. zPortal License Server can be deployed in separate system as well to serve as a single licensing unit for multi-zPortal Controller environment.
AmZetta zPortal Upgrade Service
AmZetta zPortal Upgrade Sever is required for upgrading the zPortal DVM Tools on configured Desktops and runs as a Windows service on supported Windows platforms.
AmZetta zPortal Monitoring Service
Monitoring service collects system performance data from zPortal Controller server and reports to zPortal Controller service. The monitoring service information is used for presenting zPortal Controller status on dashboard.
AmZetta zPortal Session Host Server
AmZetta zPortal Session Host Server module is installed on Microsoft RDS Servers to enable them for serving Applications and manage shared hosted desktop sessions.
For enabling real time monitoring of resource consumption on session host servers, zPortal Monitoring service is also installed on session host servers.
AmZetta zPortal DVM Tools
AmZetta zPortal DVM Tools is a combined software package which gets installed on target Desktops (Desktop Virtual Machines: Hosted on Virtualization platforms like VMware ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V servers and accessed by users from registered endpoints).
AmZetta zPortal DVM Tools is comprising of following components:
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- AmZetta zPortal Desktop Agent
- zPortal USB Disconnection Utility
- Built-In USB Redirection Driver Server-side Component
AmZetta zPortal Desktop Agent
The utility ensures that all redirected USB devices gets disconnected appropriately if user session is disconnected abruptly to avoid possible issues with USB redirection.
USB Disconnection Utility
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- The utility ensures that all redirected USB devices gets disconnected appropriately if user session is disconnected abruptly to avoid possible issues with USB redirection.
Built-in USB Redirection Driver Server-side Component
zPortal DVM Tools setup consists of server module of Built-in USB Redirection Driver (to be installed on Desktops) for enabling USB devices redirection plugged on zPortal Devices. The client side component is available with zPortal Clients.
zPortal also supports ‘Enhanced’ type of USB Redirection Driver also but the server side component of Enhanced USB Redirection driver must be installed independently.
Important:
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- Built-In USB redirection is free and best suited for dedicated Desktop environment.
- Enhanced USB redirection requires additional licensing cost and recommended for session hosted desktops (Microsoft RDS)
AmZetta zPortal Hyper-V Connector
zPortal Hyper-V Connector is required to be installed on Microsoft Hyper-V or SCVMM server.
zPortal Hyper-V Connector provides the necessary interface for zPortal Controller to fetch all necessary information from Microsoft Hyper-V or SCVMM servers.
Refer zPortal Hyper-V Connector installation and configuration for detailed information on this component.
AmZetta zOS Devices
zOS Devices or Devices are endpoints running zPortal Client to facilitate necessary controls and settings for end user to connect to assigned desktops.
These devices can either be thin clients with integrated zPortal Client or user desktops running zPortal Client. zPortal supports following types of devices in its environment:
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- SC03150T
- Windows Client
- Linux Client