Nutanix DaaS Solutions with G-Cloud Platform

We are all learning new ways of working remotely and how to manage the IT overheads as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Users are demanding a quicker way to start using the system, where on the other hand, IT Teams are wanting to support the system, more securely.

This can easily be achieved by using Desktop as a Service (Daas) – a cloud computing offering that runs on third party hosted Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). All the resources are managed by the third party such as compute, storage and networking – including the cloud machines. The Daas provider lets the end-user use the desktop anytime, anywhere. The only thing required is a browser, internet connection and user login.

Benefits of considering a Daas?

• Easier to implement and use.
• Minimum to no CaPEX. Only OpEx will incur, unless the organisation chooses to run on-premise.
• Deploying desktops as-and-when required, based on user needs.
• Easy for IT operations to monitor the logs, usage, security of the system.
• BYOD ability.

Below, I will try to explain a specific Daas Service powered by Nutanix.

What is Nutanix?

Nutanix is a company that provides a scalable Desktop as a Service (DaaS) solution to run applications on various platforms including On-premise, On-cloud, and Distributed Cloud. Nutanix is considered to be a secure IaaS Solution, as it is created on Hyperconverged Infrastructure Technology (HCI) which can easily integrate with Compute, Storage, Networking, Security, and more.

Because of that, the application orchestration is in-built, which makes it easy for an IT or Operations Team to manage their systems easily from a remote location. Detailed information can be found in this solution brief. Nutanix claims to make the VDI experience a more modern, straightforward and efficient solution compared to the usual VDI competence in the market from products by Citrix and other competitors.

Which are the major cloud platforms Nutanix can be implemented on?

• Google Cloud Platform
• Amazon Web Services
• Microsoft Azure

The DaaS runs on the XI Frame, which is known to be a secure cloud platform giving flexibility to teams of any size whether they be Enterprise, ISVs to deliver applications, software-based applications to end-users, or desktop solutions.

The major benefit of this framework is that it is very easy for an IT team to automate the provisioning and deprovisioning of resources across IaaS based on the client’s requirements unlike, other VDI solutions like VMware or Citrix – that requires a complete setup of the landscape architecture, devops principles and other activities.
To understand more about the XI Frame, you can refer to their complete documentation.

In this article we will learn more about how Nutanix works with Google Cloud Platform and what are the main actions required for its successful setup.

Example Scenario

To make a common use case for Nutanix clearer, I will explain it with a scenario.

Imagine there is a university called KAN. The university is offering different courses. Students are enrolled across the globe, and considering it is a distance learning environment, the University is struggling with many challenges including:

• Ensuring that the courses they are providing to the enrolled students are secure.
• Course content not being accessed by any external parties.
• The school having control over the data students can access.
• An IT Team not having a centralised location to be able to resolve the issues on students’ workstations, i.e.laptops/desktops.
• Cost incurred to manage operations.
• Time invested by each party – School, IT staff and students.

The main requirement of KAN is to look at a VDI Solution, which must include a rapid provisioning process of Microsoft RDS environment with an easy wizard-based control panel in the browser. To meet these requirements, KAN have started considering a multi-regional, secure implementation of a Google Cloud Platform VDI solution with Nutanix. KAN currently has an IT team responsible for setting up and evaluating a test drive version of the solution.

As a part of the IT administration team, you have been asked to start working on the initial setup and play with the sandbox environment to ensure that this is a secure solution meeting all the requirements of the University. Since this is a Sandbox environment, only key team members are involved in it and the tasks they would do are listed below.

How will it work for IT Admin?

1. Create your Frame login.
2. As a standard authentication process, users will receive a verification email. This process of User account verification and spinning up their instance takes 10-15 minutes ideally.
3. Once the verification step is finished, users are asked to login at a specific link [Product team to be contacted for the org specific VDI links].
4. After successful login, the user will see an admin dashboard console as shown in the screenshot below.