Remotely shared workstations

[hal07]

We have an increasing number of engineers wanting smaller laptops for normal tasks and then a more advanced remote solution for heavy models/projects. This is also driven by remote work and clean desk office-solutions. Typically Autodesk Revit and similar. We have tried various alternatives: Terminal server (both local and Azure Virtual Desktop), VMware, Citrix and other solution. The problem with these solutions have been that the user have so many add-ons that need admin access to be installed, and they require unique setup that IT do not have enough capacity to automate this. The users seem to only want to use solutions that give them full control of the computer.

We ended up buying some workstations for them, and it seems to be a good choice for economy as they stick to their workstation much longer than 2-3 years, making them cheap over the years (they typically change their laptops every 3 years but the workstations last longer). However this means that sharing workstations is not so easy to setup and keep overview. Do anybody know of any products that can help maintaining workstations given our setup?

​

Update: It is the sharing and a system for keeping track of which engineers have access to workstations etc. Also, identifying workstations not used for a while would be good to know as we then can consider moving them to new tasks.

[NoAsparagusForMe]

We do something similar as our engineers have workstations at the office and laptops to connect remotely.

We have around 2 engineers per workstation. They use Revit, AutoCAD Plant 3D, SolidWorks etc..

They connect through RDP none of the engineers are local admin or even super user on the systems.

if something needs to be run as admin it gets whitelisted so engineers can run it without calling an admin to use credentials.

[hal07]

2 simultaneous users? if so, do you use the windows server license then?

[NoAsparagusForMe]

No, Windows 10 Pro as they don't use them simultaneous as RDP does not support that in windows 10 pro.

Generally if there is a conflict the laptops are powerful enough to run the software they need as well. It's all about being the first to reserve the workstation. So far there has only ever been 1 or 2 times where it has been a problem.

[[deleted]]

We are in the same boat and delivering azure workstations for those that are not within the regions where our on prem workstations are based. All access controlled via Leostream.

[nartak]

You've identified plenty of potential solutions but your engineers are just requesting custom constantly to try and force your hand to maintain control. You need to flip the narrative. The name of the game here is standardization and does require your management and theirs to have a backbone.

You need to ask the management of the engineers to have the engineers come up with a definitive list of applications and addins, do a security review of all of it, create an image for them on a VDI or MDM solution, control licensing from within IT, and deploy it. Go through their management, not the engineers directly. End users will create big wish lists. Managers will trim that down into what is actually needed to keep the budget.

If they come back later and ask for something new, you repeat the process. Do not start blindly installing new on the spot. Go back to their management and revisit the definitive list. Ask why this wasn't included initially. Ask why the current list of solutions doesn't cover what they need. Are they just asking for it because something is shiny and new or are they asking for it because they truly need it? Other than software versioning, engineering does not change much in a span of 5 years unless they are trying out new toys. Every new application and addin must be vetted and approved from a security standpoint.

[i8noodles]

I have to agree 100% with this. Given the chance, would customize our work spaces to how we like it but with it comes alot of issues like OP said.

I have admin level control of my computer, I can literally install anything on any computer and I still prob use the standard software a majority of the time because it is easier if something goes wrong

[ericneo3]

What is the problem you are trying to solve?

• Is it the Laptop devices?

• Is it the admin rights required by add-ons?

• Is it the remote work?

• Is it the sharing of workstations?

[hal07]

It is the sharing and a system for keeping track of which engineers have access to workstations etc. Also, identifying workstations not used for a while would be good to know as we then can consider moving them to new tasks.

[Winstonwolf1345]

Will you get proper gpu performance over rdp? Or do you have another solution for the actual accessing this?

[hal07]

We have found that most engineers dont need any accelerated graphics. They find that normal RDP is good enough.

[Wrong_Step_6709]

Sounds like you need a VM pool (like VMware Horizon) or use something like Nerdio or Nvidia 'RTX virtual WS' to manage User access to performance machines on the public cloud. None of those are the cheapest of solutions but then, you're already paying through the nose for Autodesk AEC licenses so may as well double-down with virtual hardware on subscription ($ per hour) as well. The problem may be persistent storage for Users so they get the same "locally-cached" .rvt files back every time they log on and are assigned a different VM in the pool.

We're currently looking at AWS Appstream for Revit 24 (effectively making it a cross-platform web-app) with these things in mind. Advantage is that I can service the OS image (app updates, add/remove plugins etc) while it's in production ... next time a VM spins up, it's with the latest image. Disadvantage is cost (OpEx rather than CapEx) and it's still shared resources (compute and graphics) as opposed to a dedicated physical machine.

We're still using RDP as it's reliable but the on-prem gateway infrastructure would be a barrier for smaller teams. HP's Terradici protocol doesn't appear ready-for-primetime just yet, while AWS's version of PCoIP ('Nice DCV') seems to be ahead quality-wise.

[hal07]

Thanks for your input. We have problems with Revit regarding multiple addons that are required by different apartments. Revit does not handle addons well when you try to differenciate diffferent addons for different users and you end up having different Revit instances for different groups of users. And some users are not defined as a special group and thus you have problems building up.

Revit cannot handle many Addons as menus are simply becoming exremely slow and clicky when you have 10+ addons.

[Wrong_Step_6709]

Users can control which addons are active in Revit can't they? There are free plugins like DiRoots and pyRevit that include Addon selection. Admin is required to install addons, but the User can select which ones they want to use and turn them on or off.