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3. The Desktop delivery controller authenticates the user using Active Directory (D) and starts the
VM (C) on the Hypervisor.
4. The VM (C) contacts the DHCP server (D) to find an IP address and the location of the boot
image.
5. The VM (C) starts using the boot image received from the Provisioning server (G) through the
network.
6. The Desktop delivery controller (E) assigns the user a VM after verifying the license through the
license server (B) and connects the user to the VM through ICA.
7. The end user can login to the virtual desktop using the Client device (F).
Figure 2 Citrix XenDesktop VDI delivery model
3.3 Provisioning server components
The key components of the provisioning server are:
• PVS vDisk: vDisk exists as disk image files on a PVS stored on a shared storage device. The
vDisk images are configured to be in Private, Standard, or Different Disk mode. Private mode
gives exclusive read-write access to a single desktop while vDisk in Standard or Different Disk
mode is shared with read-only permission among multiple desktops.
• PVS write cache: Any writes made to the desktop operating system are redirected to a
temporary area called the write cache. The write cache can exist as a temporary file on a PVS,
in the memory of the virtual desktop, or on the local hard drive of the virtual desktop.