How Can We Help?
You are here:
Print

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:

    • 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:

    • 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:

    • 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

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:

    • 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:

    • 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:

    • 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

    • 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:

    • 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:

    • SC03150T
    • Windows Client
    • Linux Client
Was this article helpful?
4 out Of 5 Stars

1 rating

5 Stars 0%
4 Stars 100%
3 Stars 0%
2 Stars 0%
1 Stars 0%
5
How can we improve this article?
Please submit the reason for your vote so that we can improve the article.
Table of Contents
Top