By Tina de Benedictis, Senior Technical Marketing Manager, End-User Computing, VMware
No neckties in the paper shredder—what does that have to do with VMware Horizon Mirage Branch Reflectors? By the end of this blog post, you will know.
You have probably noticed those words or an icon on the paper shredder that indicate you should not put neckties in the paper shredder. Who would put a necktie in the paper shredder? It might be someone who was not paying enough attention and let their necktie dangle into the shredder, or it might be someone who hated that particular necktie and thought the paper shredder was the right place to demolish it.
This is where we find the similarity to Horizon Mirage Branch Reflectors. Branch Reflectors are for efficient handling of layer updates coming down from the datacenter to endpoints, not for backups of endpoints going back up to the datacenter. Who would think that Branch Reflectors are for backups? A lot of people do, and they are surprised to find out that they need to think about their WAN instead of the LAN when planning backups of branch-office endpoints.
Figure 1: Layer Updates and Backups of Endpoints in a Horizon Mirage Deployment
To understand the purpose of Branch Reflectors, you need to understand the flow of layer updates and backups in a Horizon Mirage implementation. In this diagram, you see that IT sends down layer updates to endpoints over the WAN. These IT-managed layers are the base layer (with the operating system) and any application layers.
When Horizon Mirage performs backups of endpoints, endpoint images are sent up to the datacenter over the WAN. An endpoint image includes the updated layers sent down from the datacenter, as well as user changes to the endpoint.
The purpose of a Branch Reflector is to reduce bandwidth usage over the WAN by performing layer updates to endpoints within the remote-office LAN.
Figure 2: Layer Updates with a Horizon Mirage Branch Reflector
You can designate one or more existing Mirage-managed endpoints in a remote office as Branch Reflectors. No special setup, installation, or infrastructure is required. With a few clicks in the UI, you have created a Branch Reflector from an endpoint.
Only the Branch Reflector communicates with the Mirage Server. The Branch Reflector downloads the differences between the IT-managed layers in the datacenter and the layers on the branch-office endpoints. Then the Branch Reflector compiles the bits locally to build a new set of IT-managed layers, and distributes these layers to peer PCs over the local LAN.
The Branch Reflector thus serves as an update service for peer PCs in the branch office. Instead of connecting over the WAN to the distant Mirage Server in the datacenter, remote endpoints can connect to the local Branch Reflector over the LAN to receive layer updates.
So, back to no neckties in the paper shredder. Every tool has its purpose. Horizon Mirage Branch Reflectors are for efficient delivery of layer updates to remote-office endpoints, not for endpoint backups. And remember to keep your necktie out of the paper shredder.
For more information about Horizon Mirage layers and Branch Reflectors, see the VMware Horizon Mirage 4.0 Reviewer’s Guide.
