RAS VDI Agent information

In order to function in a RAS Farm, a VDI provider (hypervisor or cloud-based) needs RAS VDI Agent to be installed in the Farm. RAS VDI Agent acts as an interface between other RAS components and a VDI provider. RAS VDI Agent conducts all communications with a VDI provider through the provider's native API.

Parallels RAS has two types of RAS VDI Agents that can be installed in a Farm:

• Built-in: This RAS VDI Agent is built into the RAS Publishing Agent and is installed automatically when you install Parallels RAS. The agent can handle multiple VDI providers and can also be configured for high availability.
• Dedicated: This RAS VDI Agent is installed manually. It can handle only a single VDI provider. If you want to use this agent type with more than one provider, you need to install a separate instance for each provider.

Both built-in and dedicated RAS VDI Agents are compatible with all types of VDI providers supported by Parallels RAS. Which agent you choose to install depends only on your requirements. When possible, it is always recommended to use the built-in VDI Agent for high availability and business continuity.

What to read next:

• If you are adding a VDI provider that will use the built-in RAS VDI Agent, you may skip to Add a VDI provider.
• If you want to install a dedicated RAS VDI Agent on a server of your choice, read the RAS VDI Agent installation options section, which follows this one.