Robert Smit MVP Blog   Azure and Microsoft Windows Insider Server Cloud Blog

Lately there are all kind of virtual waves that customers want everything have to be virtual unless..

Well Microsoft does have several guides to do this I pointed out 3 guides that are a good basic to start.

This step-by-step guide walks you through the process of setting up a working personal virtual desktop accessible by using Remote Desktop Web Access (RD Web Access) in a test environment.

Personal virtual desktops are virtual machines that are assigned to a user within your organization and available by using either RemoteApp and Desktop Connection or Remote Desktop Web Access (RD Web Access). In this guide, we will set up a personal virtual desktop and connect to it by using RD Web Access.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0D278F5C-37FA-43FB-8032-614C7BF1D617&displaylang=en

Second :

This step-by-step guide walks you through the process of setting up a working Remote Desktop Services infrastructure in a test environment. During this process, you create an Active Directory® domain, install the Remote Desktop Session Host (RD Session Host) role service, and configure the Remote Desktop Connection client computer.

This guide is considered the basic Remote Desktop Services step-by-step guide. All other step-by-step guides developed for Remote Desktop Services will assume that this guide has been completed first. This step-by-step guide walks you through the process of setting up a working Remote Desktop Services infrastructure in a test environment. During this process, you create an Active Directory® domain, install the Remote Desktop Session Host (RD Session Host) role service, and configure the Remote Desktop Connection client computer. After you’ve completed this process, you can use the test lab environment to learn about Remote Desktop Services technology on Windows Server® 2008 R2 and assess how it might be deployed in your organization. The goal of a Remote Desktop Session Host (RD Session Host) server is to host Windows-based programs or the full Windows desktop for Remote Desktop Services clients. Users can connect to an RD Session Host server to run programs, to save files, and to use resources on that server.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=DA934121-F85D-4827-BB11-E17E9DB5D53A&displaylang=en

Third :

Deploying Remote Desktop IP Virtualization Step-by-Step Guide

Brief Description

Remote Desktop IP Virtualization provides administrators the ability to assign a unique IP address to a program that is available by using RemoteApp and Desktop Connection.

Remote Desktop IP Virtualization provides administrators the ability to assign a unique IP address to a program that is available by using RemoteApp and Desktop Connection. In this guide, we will configure Remote Desktop IP Virtualization and access it as a standard user by using RemoteApp and Desktop Connection.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=11a2145c-0b61-4b98-848e-3c8e80ee736f&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MicrosoftDownloadCenter+%28Microsoft+Download+Center%29#tm

The Microsoft® Application Virtualization Dashboard helps you monitor virtualized software applications across your organization. The dashboard’s built-in charts, gauges, and tables let you track any APP-V dataset in near-real time, so you can easily stay on top of the usage, health, and compliance of all your virtualized applications.

The App-V Dashboard is designed and built on Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 as the application platform by using Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5/4.6.  

Key Benefits

Benefits of the dashboard include:

• Actionable information out of the box. The dashboard comes with a wide range of valuable, built-in reports like top 5 applications used, top 5 users, applications never used, application usage for a specific user, system utilization, and many more.
• Near-real-time access to key information. The graphical dashboard lets customers view any App-V dataset in near-real time.
• Easy to build and configure. The dashboard’s wizard-based tools let customers easily create new dashboards in minutes. 
• Easy to customize. The dashboard can easily be customized to meet the needs of different departments and other groups. Any data set in the Microsoft Application Virtualization database can be presented on the dashboard, in chart, gauge, and table formats.  
• Flexible & interactive. Users can easily filter data and create ad hoc, custom views. Filters allow users to quickly drill down from high-level to more specific data.

Join the Beta Program for the Dashboard

The App-V dashboard is now in beta release. Want to get an advance look at the dashboard, and a chance to provide feedback so it best meets your needs? Join the beta program!

To join the beta program, click here. You can also send your enquires about this Solution Accelerator to satdash@microsoft.com.

How the Dashboard Works

The Application Virtualization Dashboard is designed to work with an existing Application Virtualization 4.5 or 4.6 infrastructure. The Dashboard queries the Application Virtualization database and uses the resulting data set to present key infrastructure metrics in a graphical format.

The Application Virtualization Dashboard uses SharePoint Web parts to manage and display data sets:

• Microsoft Dashboard Configuration Web Part. Use this Web part to create and modify the SQL queries that produce the data sets and the other properties that govern how the Dashboard displays the data sets.
• Microsoft Dashboard Viewer Web Part. Use this Web part to display the data sets. A Dashboard Viewer Web Part displays one data set at a time. The Application Virtualization Dashboard can contain multiple copies of the Dashboard Viewer Web Part at once, each copy displaying a different data set.

The following figure shows how users can interact with the Web parts to retrieve and display data.

Figure 1. Application Virtualization Dashboard Process Flow

The Application Virtualization Dashboard process flow involves the following sequence of activities:

1. An IT Service Manager requests a new data set.
2. The IT Administrator uses the Dashboard Configuration Web Part to define the new data set.
3. The IT Administrator stores the configuration information for the new data set (the information is saved in the Windows SharePoint Services Content database).
4. The IT Administrator adds a new copy of the Dashboard Viewer Web Part to the default Application Virtualization Dashboard and then modifies the Web part to display the new data set.
5. The IT Service Manager browses to the Application Virtualization Dashboard site.
6. Windows SharePoint Services queries the Application Virtualization database as specified by the data set configuration.
7. Windows SharePoint Services renders the new data set using the Dashboard Viewer Web Part.

Sample Screenshot

Requirements for the Application Virtualization Dashboard

The App-V Dashboard integrates with an already functioning deployment of System Center Application Virtualization and has no additional infrastructure requirements. It is assumed that App-V and it’s database are configured in accordance with Microsoft installation guidance.

The following table lists software requirements for the Application Virtualization Dashboard.

App-V Dashboard Software Requirements

Software

• Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 or 4.6
• Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SP2

  Note   Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 SP2 is supported as an alternative to Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.

• Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5

Browser

Microsoft Internet Explorer® 7.0 or Internet Explorer 8.0.