Issue
You wish to know whether you can run Autodesk and Keysoft Solutions software within a virtual desktop environment.
Solution
Licensing and Support
Please refer to the Autodesk Virtualisation guidelines and Autodesk terms of use as your ability to use the software in a virtual environment depends on what product you're using, how you purchased it, and whether the terms of use for that purchase plan permits virtualisation.
AutoCAD is only officially supported to run on Citrix XenAPP virtual environments. The software may run successfully within other, similar virtual environments but Autodesk, and therefore Keysoft, are not obligated to provide support where the reported incident cannot be reproduced on a physical machine, outside of any virtualisation environment or incidents to the extent caused by or related to any third-party virtualisation software or Your virtualisation environment.
Please refer to the Keysoft terms of use that only allows you to run multi-user (network) managed licences within a virtual environment and not single-user (standalone) software licences.
The Keysoft network licence manager is supported for use on a virtual server.
Configuration
Virtualisation options include:
Fat client – where the application is installed locally and uses the client computer resources to run the software, such as graphics cards, RAM, processors, etc. Files can be saved and retrieved from the virtual server, much like working on a network share on a physical server. In this instance every person that wishes to use the software must install a copy locally
Thin-client – where lightweight devices replace desktop PCs in a virtual desktop environment. The software installation and bulk of the data processing occurs on the server and is served to the terminal, where the virtual desktop resources are used to operate the software, including processors, memory, graphics cards, storage, USB ports and OS.
Zero client – is an ultra-thin computing model that is used in virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) environment. Like thin clients, zero clients are easy to set up and use but need to be constantly connected to the host server. Unlike thin-clients, zero clients process all data on the server and do not need to use any local resources, other than firmware to connect to your remote machine, a keyboard and pointing device.
Performance
This can vary considerably based on your requirements, infrastructure and configuration but graphically intense applications, such as AutoCAD and, by inference, Keysoft Solutions products, may not be suited to run within a thin or zero client setup, especially for high-end users or when managing large and complex 2D and 3D models. Should you wish to deploy either of these options, the ratio of users to processors needs to be fully assessed for setup if you wish to maintain similar performance to that enjoyed when running the software from a traditional desktop.
See also: AutoCAD Performance Recommendations for Citrix XenApp.
The Bottom Line
Please confirm your Autodesk and Keysoft licence type is permitted to run in a virtual environment, test operator performance for users of both software and carefully consider the pros and cons of your chosen delivery method.