An Extension of Virtual Computing Laboratories: Scalable Virtual Desktop Infrastructure on Cloud Computing

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) based on virtual computing laboratories (VCL) model has been implemented in a small or medium scale on cloud computing in universities. Conventional physical computing laboratories with thousands of PCs are still widely used and co-exist with the VCL, however, the conventional PCs are not fully utilized in VCL. The demand of VDI is growing but the numbers of VDIs are bounded by the capacities of host servers. To have scale-up VDI, system feasibility in terms of functionality and performance and scalability of virtual machines should be tested. We propose an extended model of VCL that can scale-up VDIs by running on an integrated virtual and physical lab environment. End-users can build their own workspaces on a host server and migrate to PCs in physical lab. The paper concludes with discussions on the benefits, problems, and performances of the extended model of the VCL.