VDI solution for Proxmox?

[Funar]

I posted this over on /r/Proxmox as well.

The organization I work at where I'm the Director of IT is heavily invested in VMware Horizon View - we have 14 Dell servers with dual EPYC CPUs and 3 datacenter class Nvidia GPUs with GRID vGPU licenses in each server. We host, on average, 200 simultaneous VDI sessions.

We license the VDI cluster using VMware's previous "desktop host" licenses. Broadcom reached out to us about license renewals and came back with a quote that was SIX TIMES higher than last year. Plus, with their recent announcement concerning Horizon's future (or lack thereof), we're looking for other options.

Our primary server virtualization platform has been on Proxmox for about 5 years now with CEPH backend storage (we love 45Drives too). Are there any realistic options for VDI on Proxmox available that supports HTML5-based connectivity to GPU powered virtual desktops?

We have the budget...just not at a 6x premium...insanity.

 

[gurubert]

AFAIK there is not much readily available.
We are using the Apache Guacamole project to serve remote desktops via HTML5: https://guacamole.apache.org/

But this is just the frontend. You have to managed the desktop VMs with your own solution (Terraform, Proxmox API, Ansible).

 

[bbgeek17]

We've had customers use FlexVDI, but I dont have first hand experience with it. It is also not directly integrated with PVE and needs to be managed on its own.

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Blockbridge : Ultra low latency all-NVME shared storage for Proxmox - https://www.blockbridge.com/proxmox

 

[gurubert]

FlexVDI is out of business: https://blog.flexvdi.com/2023/10/11/this-is-our-stop/

 

[bbgeek17]

FlexVDI is out of business: https://blog.flexvdi.com/2023/10/11/this-is-our-stop/

Doh... Thanks for pointing it out!

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Blockbridge : Ultra low latency all-NVME shared storage for Proxmox - https://www.blockbridge.com/proxmox

 

[Dunuin]

FlexVDI is out of business: https://blog.flexvdi.com/2023/10/11/this-is-our-stop/

Really a shame with SPICE without a good replacement.

 

[tom]

See also https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/vdi-options-post-vmware-roadmap-decisions.139233/

 

[VinceMulhollon]

KASM Workspaces aka kasmweb.com has been on my to-do list to experiment with for a long time.
The free version is limited to five users for experimentation purposes.

 

[jmvelez]

I installed Deskpool on Proxmox (very easy to install). Creating the templates of Windows 10 and 11 was not easy due to a driver issue. Once the template is created you can make a pool of up to 25 Windows Virtual Machine. I created a SMB storage on Proxmox for the VDI machines to work. The 25 VDI limit is for the free version. Deskpool is apparently dead since they do not response for any pricing information. It would be a great product if someone pick it up. They have a windows server version that could still be alive by another company. Another VDI product is Virtual Cable from Spain and it works with Proxmox.

 

[Funar]

I installed Deskpool on Proxmox (very easy to install).

Is Deskpool around anymore? They don't seem to be responding to queries.

I'm testing UDS from Virtual Cable right now. It seems to work well with Proxmox, but the UI could use a serious overhaul.

 

[jmvelez]

yes deskpool is not responding. You get a 25 user license for free and it is very well documented. UDS is around $60 per user plus the Microsoft licensing. You have over $250/year in licensing fees. You can buy a laptop with windows pro and it all paid in 2 years. Vdi you need to buy an expensive terminal. The cost of the hardware to run vdi is also high and the support is expensive in terms of the type of training you need to have

 

[Funar]

Not overly concerned about the licensing and cost. I need something commercially supported and is easy to use for the end-user. I'm migrating away from the VMware Horizon View platform and already have a budget for VDI.

 

[louie1961]

I know this forum is all about Proxmox and self hosting, but in the spirit of helping you solve you problem have you considered cloud offerings from GCP, Azure or AWS?

 

[pveuser113]

For multiple reasons, some of which are listed here, I would caution against blindly installing deskpool at this point.

 

[Funar]

I know this forum is all about Proxmox and self hosting, but in the spirit of helping you solve you problem have you considered cloud offerings from GCP, Azure or AWS?

All good options, but cloud-based won't offer what we need. We on-prem everything.

 

[Funar]

For multiple reasons, some of which are listed here, I would caution against blindly installing deskpool at this point.

Absolutely. Shame, though. It had promise.

 

[jmvelez]

For multiple reasons, some of which are listed here, I would caution against blindly installing deskpool at this point.

I agree 100%. My hope is that someone would pick it up or base a product on it because it works well and stable. Too many products are having problems surviving. ClearOS is gone, Kopano is a cloud version that is more expensive than Microsoft and Deskpool support does not answer. VMware is increasing prices, eliminating permanent license and eliminating distribution channels

 

[ghusson]

Hello, did someone tested this ?

https://github.com/joshpatten/PVE-VDIClient
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLatrZBFQrw
https://www.apalrd.net/posts/2022/raspi_spice_vdi/

https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/unofficial-proxmox-ve-vdi-client-initial-release.106107/

 

[justinclift]

... HTML5-based connectivity to GPU powered virtual desktops?

On that note, for the "GPU powered" piece what sort of applications are being run?

Do they need full DirectX 10/11 support, or is OpenGL support "good enough"?

 

[justinclift]

This does look super interesting as a potentially solid VDI solution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLK_i-TQ3kQ