Why On-Premises VDI Solutions Struggle Without Automation: Key Challenges

Virtualization technology is quickly becoming a staple in professional environments. The level of flexibility and ease of access that these solutions offer business organizations is simply irreplaceable. Of course, services like virtual desktop infrastructure (VDIs) and virtual desktops do not function in a vacuum and require integration with supporting tools and services that enable users to utilize them to the fullest extent.

While technology has evolved even since the inception and widespread acceptance of VDIs to give us cloud-enabled solutions like cloud-based virtual desktops or Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS), VDIs are still extremely commonly used, and for good reason. The primary concern people have with cloud technology is the control over organizational data and applications. Many businesses still prefer on-premises VDI solutions because they offer enhanced control, data security, and compliance with specific regulatory requirements.

However, as businesses scale and their VDI environments grow in complexity, managing on-premises VDI solutions manually can present a number of challenges. Fortunately, technology comes to the rescue once again and presents us with automation solutions. These services greatly simplify VDI management, relieving IT teams of the burden of manually handling a wide range of tasks, including performance monitoring, resource allocation, storage management, user provisioning, updates, security, and backups.

In this post, we’ll explore the major challenges that organizations face when managing on-premises VDI solutions manually and discuss how automation can address these issues to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and ensure optimal performance.

Challenges of Manual VDI Management

The following points highlight the major challenges your IT staff are likely to run into sooner or later if they manage organizational on premise VDI setups without automation solutions streamlining the process.

1. Performance and Scalability

   VDIs are not of much use if they do not perform optimally, especially when multiple users within the organization rely on them for daily operations. As such maintaining optimal performance in an on-premises VDI environment is a critically significant challenge. VDIs require additional processing power, memory, and other computational resources when compared to traditional physical desktop solutions. This is the deciding factor that determines how well these solutions function during peak usage times when multiple users access virtual desktops concurrently.

   This issue is further compounded by the need to scale VDI setups to match business growth. On-premises VDI solutions must be able to scale quickly to accommodate fluctuating demand, especially in environments with remote or hybrid workforces. Without automation, scaling up resources such as storage, RAM, and CPU becomes an error-prone, manual process. Dynamic resource allocation tools, which automatically adjust to user demand, become critical in ensuring the infrastructure can handle peak loads without compromising performance. Furthermore, rigorous hardware testing before deployment is essential to determine the right configuration that can handle both peak and off-peak usage.

   How automation helps: Automated resource scaling tools can dynamically adjust system resources based on real-time demand, ensuring optimal performance during peak times without manual intervention.

2. Storage Demands

   The previous statement noting that VDI solutions are resource intensive extends to its storage needs as well. On-premises VDI solutions require significant disk space to operate on and store user profiles, application data, and the virtual disks that make up the virtual desktops themselves. Now imagine this multiplied by the number of employees in your office, the amount of data that requires safe and efficient storage is simply massive!

   Effective storage configurations play a vital role in managing these high demands. Using RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) for redundancy, SSDs (Solid-State Drives) for faster data access, and employing disk caching technologies can help mitigate performance bottlenecks. Moreover, ensuring proper data replication across various storage locations is essential for minimizing downtime. This way, users can access their data regardless of physical location or the health of any individual storage device. Without automation, these processes—such as setting up proper disk configurations and managing data replication—require substantial manual effort, making them prone to human error.

   How automation helps: Automated storage management can configure RAID settings, manage replication, and optimize disk performance without manual input, reducing errors and enhancing reliability.

   Also read: OneDrive for Business – All you wanted to know about Microsoft’s very own cloud storage

3. Administration and Updates

   Virtualization technology, while fundamentally different from traditional physical devices, is quite similar in terms of the workload required to maintain these solutions. Oftentimes, IT teams are swamped with updating dozens of virtual desktops manually, one by one, which is both error-prone and inefficient. Additionally, IT staff has to be on the lookout for updates that software vendors release periodically, requiring every single virtual desktop to be manually updated, tested and finally redeployed for use. This is manageable for a workforce of less than 50 employees and becomes increasingly cumbersome the larger the organization gets.

   Centralized update management is crucial for streamlining this process. Automation tools that can push updates across the entire VDI environment allow administrators to apply updates to all desktops simultaneously without requiring manual intervention for each individual desktop. This not only saves time but also minimizes the risk of human errors and ensures that critical patches are applied uniformly across all virtual desktops.

   How automation helps: Automated patch management systems can deploy updates across all virtual desktops simultaneously, ensuring consistency and reducing the time and potential errors involved in manual updating.

   Also read: Optimizing Endpoint Device Management with Microsoft Intune

4. Security Vulnerabilities

   While on-premises VDI solutions do a lot to streamline business operations and workflows, they also add new layers of complexities, particularly security vulnerabilities. Since the entirety of an organization’s data is processed in a centralized virtual environment, it becomes a prime target for cyberattacks. This makes it increasingly important to secure your VDI infrastructure as cracks in your digital environment can be exploited to infiltrate the entire network and expose user data, applications, and network systems.

   

   Implementing strong security measures to mitigate these attacks is essential. Data encryption, both in transit and at rest, ensures that sensitive information remains protected, even if attackers breach the VDI environment. Additionally, robust access controls that limit who can access what data, along with continuous monitoring and auditing, are critical in preventing unauthorized access. Security patches must also be applied automatically to reduce the risk of exposure. Without automation, these security processes can be delayed or mishandled, leaving the system vulnerable to exploitation.

   How automation helps: Automated security patching and access control systems can ensure that updates are applied promptly, and monitoring processes run continuously to safeguard against unauthorized access and threats.

   Also read: Navigating Zero Trust Security: Concepts, Standards, and Applications

5. Backup and Restore Limitations

   Regularly backing up data is an essential part of maintaining the accessibility and integrity of organizational data, regardless of the digital system being used. The complexity of managing the backups for multiple VDIs makes it challenging to ensure that the data can be quickly and easily restored in the event of a failure. This once again falls under the purview of your already overworked IT staff, requiring them to manually initiate and oversee the backup process.

   Additionally, backup data must be protected from both accidental loss and cyber threats like ransomware. Automation can streamline the backup process by scheduling regular backups during off-peak hours to minimize the impact on system performance. More importantly, automated systems can ensure that backups are securely encrypted and stored, and the integrity of backup data can be tested routinely to verify its effectiveness.

   How automation helps: Automated backup systems can ensure regular, consistent backups without manual intervention, guaranteeing data integrity and faster recovery in case of failure.

6. Provisioning Delays

   Onboarding new users or scaling up resources in an on-premises VDI environment without automation can lead to significant delays. Provisioning new virtual desktops and allocating additional resources manually can be a time-consuming process, particularly when the system needs to accommodate fluctuating demand, such as during seasonal business upticks or the sudden addition of remote employees.

   Without automation, provisioning delays can lead to slower user onboarding, reduced productivity, and frustration among employees who rely on immediate access to their desktops. Automated provisioning allows organizations to rapidly deploy new desktops and resources in response to business needs, ensuring a quicker and more efficient process.

   How automation helps: Automation speeds up user onboarding by quickly provisioning new desktops and resources, ensuring minimal delays and maximizing productivity.

7. Downtime and Recovery Delays

   It is hard for the average individual to understand the level of complexity associated with maintaining on-premises VDI solutions, especially without automation or orchestration tools. It is like a watchmaker trying to fit all the small gears and other bits back into the clock without a detailed blueprint to guide them in the process. When issues arise—whether from hardware failure, network problems, or software glitches—the recovery process can be time-consuming and chaotic, particularly when performed manually.

   IT teams often need to diagnose the problem, identify the root cause, and apply fixes, which can lead to extended periods of downtime. This manual troubleshooting not only delays recovery but can also introduce human error, further complicating the process. Automating troubleshooting and recovery processes can significantly shorten downtime by allowing the system to identify and resolve issues in real-time. Automated failover systems, which seamlessly shift user workloads to backup servers in the event of a failure, can help ensure business continuity while IT staff focuses on long-term solutions.

   How automation helps: Automated failover systems and real-time monitoring help identify and resolve issues quickly, drastically reducing downtime and improving system recovery times.

8. Limited Hybrid Work Flexibility

   As hybrid and remote work environments become more common, supporting a diverse set of user access needs becomes more complex. Without automation, organizations can struggle to provide consistent access to virtual desktops for remote users, often resulting in slow performance or difficulties accessing resources.

   Automation can facilitate this by dynamically allocating resources based on user location, device, or connection quality. It can also ensure that users have seamless access to their virtual desktops regardless of their location, optimizing network bandwidth and providing consistent performance.

   How automation helps: Automated resource allocation ensures that remote and hybrid workers have optimal access to virtual desktops, regardless of their device or location.

   

9. Employee Burnout in IT Teams

   The manual management of a VDI environment can quickly lead to burnout among IT staff. The high volume of repetitive tasks, such as patching, troubleshooting, and provisioning, can overwhelm IT teams and reduce their productivity. Over time, this can lead to frustration and mistakes that could compromise the performance and security of the VDI environment.

   By automating routine tasks, organizations can significantly reduce the workload on IT teams, allowing them to focus on more strategic initiatives and higher-value tasks. This not only improves team morale but also ensures that the VDI environment operates smoothly and efficiently.

   How automation helps: Automation reduces the manual workload of IT teams, preventing burnout and allowing them to focus on higher-priority tasks.

Cloud-Based VDI as a Scalable Alternative

Migrating to cloud-based Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) offers organizations the flexibility and scalability that on-premises VDI solutions often lack. Cloud-based VDIs eliminate the need for extensive hardware investments, streamline management, and provide enhanced accessibility for remote teams. By leveraging cloud technologies, businesses can access their virtual desktops from anywhere, at any time, on virtually any device, without the complexity of maintaining physical infrastructure. This solution is particularly advantageous for organizations looking to scale quickly without the burden of significant capital expenditures.

Apps4Rent offers a secure, flexible, and cost-effective cloud-hosted VDI solution that addresses many of the challenges associated with on-premises systems. Starting at just $24.95 per month, Apps4Rent’s fully managed virtual desktops come with a variety of options tailored to suit different business needs. Whether you’re looking for a session-based virtual desktop or a dedicated virtual desktop, Apps4Rent provides a range of configurations that include flexible options for Microsoft 365, GPU acceleration, and super-fast SSD storage.

What sets Apps4Rent apart is the built-in support for Citrix and Microsoft virtualization technologies, ensuring that you can maintain the familiar Windows environment you rely on—whether it’s Windows 10, Windows 8, or Windows 7. Additionally, with daily backups, secure infrastructure, and 24/7 customer support, businesses can rest assured that their virtual desktops are safe and reliable.

For those requiring advanced security and reliability, Apps4Rent also offers the option to host virtual desktops on Microsoft’s Azure cloud. This hybrid approach combines the benefits of public cloud scalability with the enhanced security of dedicated infrastructure. Whether your business operates locally or globally, Apps4Rent ensures a seamless experience with 99.9% uptime, ensuring business continuity.

Why Choose Apps4Rent for Virtual Desktops?

• Convenience and Flexibility: Access your virtual desktop from anywhere, on any device. Customize your setup with preferred applications like Microsoft Office or other business-critical software.
• Cost-Effective: Save money on hardware while benefiting from flexible month-to-month payments. Avoid the upfront costs associated with traditional IT infrastructure.
• Scalable and Secure: With options for GPU acceleration, SSD storage, and encrypted data protection, Apps4Rent ensures your business can scale securely as your needs grow.
• Expert Support: Our Microsoft-certified professionals are available 24/7, providing unmatched support and assistance whenever you need it.

Apps4Rent is backed by over 20 years of experience in delivering cloud-hosted solutions to thousands of customers across the globe. With a focus on customer satisfaction and a deep understanding of cloud infrastructure, Apps4Rent is the ideal partner for businesses transitioning to a virtualized environment.