Microsoft Teams Administration Cookbook

Chapter 13. Teams and Virtual Machines

A virtual desktop (VD) is a computer operating system that is hosted on a remote server and accessed over a network connection. It is a software-based version of a traditional desktop computer, where the OS, applications, and data are hosted on a remote server and delivered to the user’s device (such as a laptop, tablet, or smartphone) via the internet. The user interacts with the virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) as if it were running on their own device, but all processing and storage are handled by the remote server. This allows users to access their desktop environment and applications from anywhere, using any device with an internet connection.

The recipes in this chapter focus on the concept of media optimization. Teams media optimization plays a crucial role in offloading from the VDI workloads such as device redirection of the camera and microphone to the client, encoding and encrypting media within Teams, and handling all communication with the Teams service.

With media optimization enabled, the VDI environment no longer needs to manage all the intricate processes involved in Teams usage. Instead, specialized optimization techniques are implemented to streamline media handling, encoding, and encryption.

There are a few factors that can make using Teams on a VDI more complex, including network latency, limited local resources, and limited control of the user over the virtual environment.

However, some of these limitations can be ...