What is MacStadium VDI

MacStadium VDI is a virtual desktop infrastructure solution built on genuine Apple Silicon hardware. It lets organizations provision, manage, and deliver macOS virtual desktops to users anywhere, without shipping physical Macs or managing on-site hardware. Each virtual desktop runs as a macOS VM on a bare-metal Mac host, orchestrated through Orka Engine and automated via Ansible. Users connect through the VDI client of your choice. MacStadium provides primary support for Citrix DaaS, but the architecture works with any compatible VDI tool.

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How it works

MacStadium VDI is built on four layers: Apple Silicon hosts Each macOS VM runs on a physical Mac. Apple’s EULA limits each host to two concurrent macOS VMs, so the host count scales directly with your user count. Orka Engine Orka Engine is MacStadium’s virtualization layer for Mac hardware. It manages VM lifecycle: provisioning, starting, stopping, and deleting macOS VMs on each host. Ansible-based orchestration A set of Ansible playbooks handles everything from engine installation to VM deployment to image management. IT admins interact with these playbooks through a web-based management UI, which provides a browser interface for running and monitoring operations without CLI access. VDI software A VDI agent (such as Citrix VDA for macOS) is installed on each VM and registered with your delivery controller. End users connect through the corresponding client app. MacStadium provides guides and validated configurations for Citrix DaaS; other VDI tools that support macOS can also work with this architecture. See Architecture for a visual breakdown of how the layers connect across deployment models.

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Key capabilities

• Instant provisioning: Deploy macOS VMs in minutes from the management UI or CLI
• Centralized management: Manage VMs, images, and users from a single orchestration layer across all hosts
• Data sovereignty: All data stays on the host infrastructure; no local storage on end-user devices
• MDM enrollment support: MacStadium provides enrollment workflows for Jamf, Kandji, and Intune.
• Scalability: Add hosts to increase capacity without re-architecting your deployment
• Android AVD support: Run Android Virtual Devices alongside macOS VMs for mobile development workflows

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Deployment models

MacStadium VDI supports three deployment models:

• MSDC-Hosted (MacStadium Data Centers): MacStadium owns and operates the Mac hosts in its data centers. You manage VMs and users; MacStadium manages the hardware.
• Self-Hosted (On-Premises): You own the Mac hosts and run them in your own facility. MacStadium provides the software and support.
• Self-Hosted (AWS): You run Mac hosts on AWS EC2 Mac instances. Setup follows the on-premises path with AWS-specific networking considerations.

Not sure which model fits your situation? See Choose Your Deployment Model.

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Next steps