Virtual desktop infrastructure, persistence and desktop interaction

When I run a Process using the Studio interfaces everything works perfectly. If I run the Process locally in Control Room, then it also runs to completion. When I assign the Process to run on a virtual desktop, even though I can get a network response from the instance, the Process fails to run or terminates with an error.

Virtual desktops have a range of options available when it comes to deployment. The virtual desktop session needs to preferably have the following qualities:-

• It is a persistent running session which exists when not being interacted with (i.e. when a user logs off)
• The virtual desktop is the same when the user logs back in and setting changes are retained (i.e. it's not a different desktop, or a clone of a master image)

On request Blue Prism can supply a document to existing customers which describes the factors involved in choices related to virtualisation technologies, and the potential suitability for such technologies ("Blue Prism Virtualization Guide").

The reasons why a Process may not run in a VDI scenario include:-

• The application which the VDI relies upon may not be published to the desktop, or available if the desktop is not logged in so that the desktop has a user context to access the third-party application.
• The desktop session itself may not be instantiated. Without being available then the session is not actually "live" and able to run applications or user interactions such as would be possible if a user was logged in.

Testing for virtual desktop availability

In order to test the status of a virtual desktop session a non-intrusive remote viewing capability needs to be employed. This is often referred to as a "console style" remote viewing tool. Blue Prism has more details about the suitability of remote access tools in the document "Remote Access Tools" available from the Documentation section of the Portal.

VDI sessions which are suitable for running Blue Prism processes would be seen as logged in and running when viewed from a console-style viewing tool.