VDI bandwidth management through GPO policies

Administrators can configure GPO policies to set the maximum bandwidth available for thin clients. Bandwidth restriction policies can also be implemented to apply specifically to office devices, allowing home users to take full advantage of personal network capabilities.

For more information, view the VDI bandwidth management chart.

Requirements for VDI bandwidth management through GPO policies

• Account owner or admin privileges
• VDI environment and deployment

MSI bandwidth settings

Administrators configure these settings through the installer or registry (either HKCU or HKLM) using the keys/values below:

SOFTWARE\Policies\Zoom\Zoom Meetings\General

• BandwidthLimitUp - Set the maximum sending bandwidth in kbps (has a minimum value of 800kb)
• BandwidthLimitDown - Set the maximum receiving bandwidth in kbps (has minimum value of 800kb)
• IgnoreBandwidthLimits - Used to ignore the bandwidth limits set by MSI and/or the Web. This setting does not affect Policy Bandwidth Settings.

Web bandwidth settings

These are configured on the account page of the Zoom web portal and will override the MSI bandwidth settings unless IgnoreBandwidthLimits is set to 1.

• They can be applied based on IP address and rules.
• If no bandwidth limits exist or apply, then the value can be set to 0.

Policy bandwidth settings

These registry keys work with thin clients to apply policies based on their bandwidth_config.ini files* and are configured on the VDI client under:

SOFTWARE\Policies\Zoom\Zoom Meetings\VDI\bandwidth\

• Office: These are the "on-premise" settings, which are determined by the bandwidth_config.ini file for the thin client. On the thin client, check the bandwidth_config.ini file in the install folder for the following line:
  [DeviceLocation]
  IsInOffice=1
  If the value of IsInOffice is 1 that means that the office settings are used.
• Home: If the bandwidth_config.ini file does not exist, or the value of IsInOffice is 0, then the home settings are used.

Both office and home values can accept 3 different connection types (ica, udp, and direct) with "up" and "down" values configured for the bandwidth.

If the registry key "GPOBandwidthOverrideWeb=1" is configured, these values are used regardless of whether the value exists under the location and connection type. Since the default value is 0, there is no bandwidth limit if the value is not configured.

*Note: For Linux, which includes "eLux", the implementation is slightly different from the usual bandwidth_config.ini file. Instead, an additional line is needed in a ZoomMedia.ini file located in this directory: setup/ica/ZoomMedia.ini

The additional line is the same:

[DeviceLocation]
IsInOffice=1

Example configurations

To set the bandwidth limit for ICA, UDP, and/or Direct mode when the user is in office (IsInOffice=1), apply the following bandwidth settings in policy:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Zoom\Zoom Meetings\VDI\bandwidth\office\ica
"Up"=dword:00000300
"Down"=dword:00000200

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Zoom\Zoom Meetings\VDI\bandwidth\office\udp
"Up"=dword:00000320
"Down"=dword:00000120

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Zoom\Zoom Meetings\VDI\bandwidth\office\direct
"Up"=dword:00000220
"Down"=dword:00000110

To set the bandwidth limit for ICA, UDP, and/or Direct mode when the user is not in the office (IsInOffice=0) or not defined in the bandwidth_config.ini file, apply the following bandwidth settings in policy:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Zoom\Zoom Meetings\VDI\bandwidth\home\ica]
"Up"=dword:00000300
"Down"=dword:00000200

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Zoom\Zoom Meetings\VDI\bandwidth\home\udp]
"Up"=dword:00000320
"Down"=dword:00000120

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Zoom\Zoom Meetings\VDI\bandwidth\home\direct]
"Up"=dword:00000220
"Down"=dword:00000110

How to change the Office or Home value on the thin client

The thin client office or home setting is decided by the IsInOffice value, which is set based on platform type.

[DeviceLocation]
IsInOffice=1

[DeviceLocation]
IsInOffice=1

How to check bandwidth limitation from the VDI Statistics tab

For the VDI client and plugin 5.10.6 and later, applied bandwidth limitations for the plugin and VDI client can be seen from the VDI Statistics tab during a meeting.

Access Statistics using meeting controls

While you're in a Zoom meeting on the desktop client, you can view meeting diagnostic information.

1. Sign in to the Zoom desktop client.
2. Start or join a meeting.
3. In the meeting controls, click the upward arrow next to Start Video / Stop Video. 
4. Click Video Settings.
5. Click Statistics .
6. Select the VDI tab.

Access Statistics from the main desktop client window

1. Sign in to the Zoom desktop client.
2. Click your profile picture then click Settings .
3. Click Statistics . 
4. Select the VDI tab.

If bandwidth limitations were applied successfully, a note will appear at the bottom of the window: Your IT Team has limited the bandwidth available for this meeting in your location.

The bandwidth limit values for the VDI client and plugin upstream/downstream can be seen by clicking the exclamation icon .