Citrix XenDesktop 4 on Hyper-V R2 Virtual Lab

IT admins that need to get a taste of Citrix XenDesktop 4 running on Hyper-V R2 , now have a streamline testing offering available, which doesn’t require them to go through all the pain associated with building a test environment. This because, Citrix and Microsoft have teamed up in order to make available the Citrix XenDesktop 4 on Hyper-V R2 "Hands On Lab". Users need only top connect to the Virtual Lab website via a browser, preferably IE6, IE7 or IE8 and start testing XenDesktop 4 on Hyper-V R2 almost immediately. The time that testers will need to wait for the XenDesktop 4 on Hyper-V R2 virtual machine to boot up and connect, doesn’t even begin to compare with the actual time and effort that goes into putting together a test environment.

“Citrix and Microsoft have teamed up to bring you the Hands on Lab. What is Hands on Lab, you ask? The Hands on Lab is a pre-built environment / training session that is interactive and totally usable for testing and seeing the combined power of XenDesktop 4 and Microsoft Hyper-V,” revealed Citix’s Tedd Fox. “XenDesktop 4 is the Market leader in desktop virtualization and this lab is an awesome way to take it for a test drive.”

In the video embedded at the bottom of this screen, users will be able to see a presentation of the Citrix XenDesktop 4 on Hyper-V R2 Virtual Lab and get an idea of what awaits them after the jump. Of course, some users might already be familiar with Microsoft Virtual Labs. After all, the Redmond company has allowed customers to test drive both Windows Vista and Windows 7 in virtual labs, such as the one which comes with XenDesktop 4 and Hyper-V R2.

“This lab is intended for IT Professionals who would like to deliver virtual desktop computers using Microsoft Hyper-V Server, Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager and Citrix XenDesktop. Users will work through the steps to simulate deploying multiple virtual desktops, and will first capture a reference image using the Citrix Provisioning Server for Desktops. Next, the user will verify that the computer can be booted from a diskless client computer. The user will create multiple virtual machines using the reference computer as a template. Finally, the user will use the Citrix Desktop Delivery Controller and System Center Virtual Machine Manager to create a group of virtual desktops and deploy them to end devices,” reads the Lab’s description.