Due to security, licensing, and networking particularities, as well as a resource-heavy boot and runtime profile, running Windows in a cloud environment poses a unique set of challenges to implementers of OpenStack public and private clouds.
Despite these challenges, enterprises are increasingly looking to deploy Windows virtual desktops and servers in their OpenStack environments - both to replace physical desktops as well as to move their Windows-based server applications to a more economical virtualization platform.
In this talk we present best practices and pitfalls learned over the course of several pilot and production Windows-on-OpenStack deployments, including: - Understanding how Windows works in the context of an OpenStack cloud: images, instances, etc. - Methods for mitigating the "boot storm" incited by booting large numbers of Windows VMs. - Integrating with existing Windows networking services, such as Active Directory. - Desktop personalization, access marshalling, and session management. - License and license key management for short-lived Windows VMs. - Strategies for the reduction of runtime resource usage for large Windows deployment.
