CMU-CS-23-101
Computer Science Department
School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University



CMU-CS-23-101

Deploying Edge-based Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

James Blakley, Scott Haas*, Victor Firoiu**, Mahadevan Iyer**,
Daniel Beveridge**, Girish Narkhede**, Shilpa George, Thomas Eiszler,
Jan Harkes, J. Ray Scott**, Mahadev Satyanarayanan

January 2023

CMU-CS-23-101.pdf


Keywords: Edge computing, mobile networks, latency, bandwidth, edge-native applications, virtual machines, virtual desktop infrastructure

Carnegie Mellon University's (CMU) Virtual Andrew service uses VMware Horizon Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) in coursework, research, and administration. It provides pre-configured, no-install access to a variety of restricted-license applications, such as computer-aided design (CAD) tools. This service is typically used from on-campus computing clusters and faculty/student offices with LAN connectivity to CMU's private cloud. The Covid-19 pandemic forced most members of the university community to work from their homes, with highly-variable last-mile connectivity. The change from on-campus LAN-access to off-campus WAN-access exposed limitations of VDI as a remoting service. These limitations led to a three-way collaboration between VMware, the CMU Living Edge Lab, and CMU Computing Service to investigate how Edge Computing could enable a better VDI experience. This technical report discusses our learnings.


* CMU Computing Services
** VMware, Inc.

17 pages


Return to: SCS Technical Report Collection
School of Computer Science

This page maintained by reports@cs.cmu.edu