Citrix

Login Consultants benchmarking tool to compare VDI vs. SBC?

Dave Caddick — Tue, 13 May 2008 03:31:03 GMT

My only disappointment is that we are currently in the middle of moving our current Solutions Centre from one Office location to the other so it'll be some while before I get a chance to test this.

It certainly looks quite impressive and it does have some lofty aims, but from a brief look through as well as their well deserved reputation based on Flex Profiles I'm sure this will stand up to it's promises.

Test Scenario’s
With login VSI you can compare many different scenarios:
• VDI vs. SBC
• VMware, XenServer or Hyper-V running virtual desktops or Terminal/Citrix Servers
• Virtualized XP desktops versus virtualized Vista Desktops
• Performance impact of application streaming technologies
• Impact of (different) virus scanners
• Performance impact of tuning parameters
• Different VDI platforms
• Different Storage platforms
• Impact of changes or updates like service packs or security fixes
• Hardware differences
• x64 vs. 32 bits
• Etc…

I'd be very interested in hearing from anyone who does have the facility to test?

Login Consultants develop presentation virtualization benchmarking tool

Monday, May 12, 2008 | 0 Comments |

The consulting firm Login Consultants just opened the beta program of the first benchmarking tool for presentation virtualization: Login Virtual Session Index (VSI).

The product will measures the performance of a remote desktop session served by a Microsoft Terminal Services / Citrix XenApp server or a VDI virtual machine.

To run the tool it's required to have a 4 tiers infrastructure: a domain controller for the authentication a file server for logging user sessions, a server to host the TS/XenApp/VDI service and a workstation to launch the user sessions.

The firm is also working to introduce support for application streaming.

Enroll for the beta here.

virtualization.info: Login Consultants develop presentation virtualization benchmarking tool

Thinstall to be reborn as ThinApp under VMware's new management?

Dave Caddick — Mon, 12 May 2008 22:45:25 GMT

So along with Alessandro I'm curious as to why the name ThinApp has been chosen as it does have more than a passing resemblance to Citrix's new XenApp?

I wonder if this is any indication of the coming marketing campaigns in the push for customers attention in the Desktop Virtualization market? ;-)

VMware ThinApp is the final name for Thinstall technology

In January 2008 VMware, a hardware virtualization company, acquired an application virtualization startup called Thinstall.
The plan is to use the Thinstall technology to stream virtualized applications on the virtual desktops that VMware spawns through its connection broker: the Virtual Desktop Manager (VDM).

So fare VMware has been pretty fast in rebranding the Thinstall Application Virtualization Suite: the beta program for the new version is open since end of February and the testers can already download the beta 2.
The final version of the product, temporarily called Project North Star, is expected for the H2 2008.

The only information missing so far was the final name that VMware wants to use.
Now Micheal Keen, Director and Senior Solutions Architect in the Enterprise Architecture group at Alliance Technologies, reveals that the final name is ThinApp.

Duncan Epping further validates the news reporting that a former Thinstall employee confirmed.

The choice is interesting considering that Citrix just renamed its Presentation Server product in XenApp.

virtualization.info: VMware ThinApp is the final name for Thinstall technology

Future vision of VDI? What if the Hypervisor was cheaper and flexible enough to run on BladePC's/BladeWS's - could vMotion/XenMotion then switch on demand?

Dave Caddick — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 08:58:13 GMT

I am sure this is not really what VMware had in mind when they were touting VMware OnDemand? I'm guessing they had more of an idea that it would combine some of the benefits of ACE with ESX? ;-)

I have just got back from some training in Houston and while listening to a question from a colleague from the UK where he asked if "VDI was going to be able to use the full suite of Hypervisor functionality like vMotion..." and that got me thinking...

Some of the Conventional Wisdom around the place holds that VDI by itself will likely not be able to cover all of any one customers needs and most will more than likely need to look at quite possibly a number of different approaches to cover ALL employees and ALL Applications.

So with this in mind I'd be interested in your thoughts on the following idea?

Just a few thoughts around VDI??

Let's say that we stock a couple of decent servers with loads of resources and allows us to run quite a few VDI instances? OK? So one of the possible issues with the classic VDI so far is that if a user places a bit too much pressure on the resources then it has the potential to impact on all other users, being as it is a shared resource? (This is still one of the classic gotcha's in Terminal Server and Citrix PS - the session is sticky and it stays with the same server unless a logout/login occurs)

So one idea I'm kicking around is the possibility that if a user started something like a 120Mb Excel spreadsheet that might consume quite a bit of CPU then would it be possible to use the vMotion to transfer him to a BladePC, if they started 3 or 4 of them (or they needed more resources?) then transfer them to a BladeWS.....?

Seamlessly!! with the user completely unaware that this has happened!!

Now the fundamentals of vMotion (or XenMotion for that matter?) requires shared boot storage - BUT I don't think it needs to be NFS or iSCSI, etc. - the Citrix Provisioning Server or OS Streaming method like Neoware IM would probably work just as well in this scenario? As this then leaves the Virtual HardDisk/Storage in a common area accessible by the Vitrual Desktops regardless of whether they are running on VDI's, the BladePC's or the BladeWS's.

The other point is the similarity of CPU would possibly cause an issue, and this probably extends beyond just Intel/AMD? This appears to be a fundamental of vMotion/XenMotion? So this might not fly today, but it is possible that with improvements in the Hypervisors this issue might be overcome at some stage soon?

Anyway, what do you think of the *idea/concept*? As a user requires more CPU and resources they might be able to be transferred from shared resources (VDI on ESX) to individual resources (BladePC) and then high powered resources (BladeWS) - once the high intensity workload has finished then the user would be transferred seamlessly back through the stack to a VDI instance on the ESX server.

Please bear in mind that this is only a concept at the moment and there are clearly problems and issues to be overcome - but the main reason for this post is to ask if you think it has legs? What do you think?

Clearly the ESX/Hypervisor would need to be able to run on hardware outside of it’s current Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) but with Xen this might not be such an issue?

Is wonder if this is where XenDesktop is headed? ;-)

Live Demos of VDM2 from VMware and XenDesktop from Citrix

Dave Caddick — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 20:41:02 GMT

In some cases the regular methods of "Going to Market" with a new product is fraught with pitfalls as it is conceived by Marketing and/or Product managers who then seem to loose sight of what the Customer is actually after - I've always thought it better to get the product and solution in front of the customer as quickly as possible and let them make up their mind and give feedback?

In all fairness, with some of the larger Vendor's there is so much red tape and bureaucracy this makes it nigh on impossible to actually create demo sites like this that Gareth has created - so kudos to him for getting this created.

What Gareth has alluded to but possibly failed to qualify was, if you don't have a Citrix ICA client installed then you might also want to think about downloading that elsewhere than from his hosted servers as that will also be quite quicker at over 17Mb for the web client?

Xendesktop or VDM2? Compare them for yourself

When the beta code for VDM2 was first released I wanted to push them both out over the Internet, however there was a red tape / NDA issue.

Now that VDM2 is released I can put both of them out together. All of the components are running as virtual machines on one ESX host. The XP clients are identical in terms of their configuration and resources.

The two URLs are https://oasxendesktop.oas.co.za for the Citrix XenDesktop and https://VDM2.oas.co.za for the VMware VDM2.

username is demo
password is also demo.

The latency is likely to be pretty awful for those abroad. It is slow but usable in South Africa but I am interested in seeing how the performance is from Europe, I think our under-sea cable terminates in Europe so it will probably be even worse in North America.

We have unfortunately also been having to contend with an inordinate number of power cuts, so please bear with our Third World infrastructure. Crises notwithstanding, I will try to give you some more details on the configuration some comparisons on the two different mechanisms tomorrow.

Stop Press:
Whoa, the reason that the Xendesktop demo worked was that most people already had a Citrix client. The VMware VDI agent is 6MB in size and getting that over our slow link will be hopeless.
Try to download and install it from http://garethcharlotte.googlepages.com/VMware-vdmclient-2.0.0-403.exe , this is hosted by google and should come down fairly quickly worldwide.

VMware and CITRIX for South Africa

Developing Applications for Server 2008? How to make sure they are compatible with Terminal Server and the other new features:-

Dave Caddick — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 16:45:05 GMT

Back when I was focused on Citrix Servers and helping people get the best out of existing Terminal Server and Citrix Server installations it was somewhat surprising how many Applications AND Developers all do their own thing in whatever way they like with no regards to Standards like these.

There was similar material from Microsoft regarding Server 2003 and I always kept the details in template email ready for when asked. Anyway, these links below should start you off in the right place?

Windows Server Software Logo Program Online Forum

Participate in the Windows Server Software Logo Program Online Forum where you can chat with other developers, post questions, and discuss technical topics, problems, and suggestions. This forum is monitored by Microsoft staff who can answer both business and technical questions.

Windows Server 2008 Home page

Home page for the Windows Server 2008 operating system.

Get Windows Server 2008 RC0

Download an evaluation copy of Windows Server 2008 RC0.

Certification Tool for x86

The tool to run Windows Server 2008 certification in-house, the same tool the test vendors use.

Certification Tool for x64

The tool to run Windows Server 2008 certification in-house, the same tool the test vendors use.

Works with Tool

This highly-automated tool will help you quickly determine baseline compatibility with Windows Server 2008

System State Analyzer Tool

Create two snapshots of fixed drives, registry settings, drivers, and services at different points in time and compare them to view differences.

Windows Server 2008 Application Compatibility Cookbook

The Cookbook covers the most common application compatibility issues and provides tips how to modify your applications or redesign them to help provide a quality experience with Windows Server 2008 and/or the Windows Vista operating system.

Top 10 Steps for Developing Applications on Windows Server 2008

This document details the top 10 issues to avoid when developing applications for Windows Server 2008.

Windows Server 2008 Software Logo Specifications

Technical requirements of a server application and its client components must meet in order to become Certified for Windows Server.

Windows Server 2008 Software Logo Test Framework

The Framework describes tests that verify an application's compliance with Works with Windows Server 2008 requirements.

Windows Server 2008 Works with Specifications

Technical specification outlining requirements that allow server applications to receive the Works with Windows Server 2008 designation.

Windows Server 2008 Works with Test Framework

Includes detailed information for technical managers and testers preparing software applications for the Works with Windows Server 2008 program detailed information verification tests.

Windows Server 2008 Technical Library

Microsoft TechNet page with detailed information on Windows Server 2008 technologies.

Developer Curriculum for Windows Server 2008

Designed for software developers and solution architects, this fast-paced seminar series provides on-demand webcasts and labcasts about the new features and technologies in Windows Server 2008.

Microsoft ISV Zone

Portal for ISV developer training and events on MSDN.

Microsoft INNOVATE ON Windows Server

Change of location

Dave Caddick — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 14:08:46 GMT

Hi All,

I have been posting both at this site as well as at my new blogging home of www.techagility.info for a few weeks now, and although I still have some tweaking to do on the graphics side of things, it's time to open the doors for all. I will probably still drop the odd post this way, but essentially all is now going to the new site.

So the home page is at www.techagility.info and if you are after the feed then you can find it at www.techagility.info/feed

See you there? ;-)

Pricing for ESX Server 3i (stand alone) to be less than $500?

Dave Caddick — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 13:28:47 GMT

So Allessandro is certainly well connected in the Virtualization space and as XenSource will be clearly getting some serious airtime in just over 2 weeks time at the newly re-badged iForum (oops, Application Delivery Expo) hosted by Citrix then I'm sure that VMware will be trying to make sure that it has some choice announcements just before and even during the last week of October.

Note to self - must be less cynical ;-)

For those who will be attending iForum 2007 in Las Vegas, please drop me a note if you'd like to have a chat, as I'll be attending as an employee of Neoware Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary of HP)

virtualization.info:
VMware Infrastructure 3.5 and ESX Server 3i to be available since December 2007 with new prices and editions

Wednesday, October 03, 2007 | 1 Comments

The upcoming major update in VMware Infrastructure 3.x, called 3.5, and new ESX Server 3i will be available to general public in December 2007, virtualization.info has learned. An official announcement is expected next week.

virtualization already broke the news about new features and enhancements that will appear in VI 3.5, including ESX Server 3i integration into servers from popular OEMs like Dell, IBM, HP. But the biggest news emerges only now: VMware will also sell ESX Server 3i as stand-alone product, with support for SATA storage devices, at less than $500.

What will change in details with new VI 3.5 offering:

ESX Server 3i becomes the lowest entry-level for enterprise virtualization. It will have just basic capabilities (VMFS and vSMP) and will not be manageable by a VirtualCenter.

more at source...

virtualization.info: VMware Infrastructure 3.5 and ESX Server 3i to be available since December 2007 with new prices and editions

Any chance of an independent ROI Calculator for VDI and Virtual Desktops?

Dave Caddick — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 13:47:21 GMT

Now this is quite interesting because up until now most of the news and information (dare I say Hype?) has been based around the benefits of flexibility and high availability (like VMotion, etc.) but we are now starting to see enough real world examples of Server and Desktop Virtualization that we can have broad benchmarks or rule-of-thumb guidelines that are indicative of the savings that can be gained even at the design stage when details of the intended environment are almost non-existent?

Although it has been around for some time, the Citrix ROI template (available at http://www.acecostanalyzer.com ) is still quite valid, even more so if your environment is still stuck in Client Server mode? Some of these best practice calculations can be applied to a VDI scenario but not all, so it will certainly be of some benefit when we start to see more of these details emerging.

I don't suppose that Citrix, VMware and Microsoft might get together under a Green banner and co-fund a similar ROI tool for VDI in general as part of climate change initiative? Perhaps the Bill Gates foundation should kick this off?

What do you think? Pass it on to Bill for comment?

Analysts: Virtualization to save businesses millions

Butler Group report predicts savings from virtualization as it reduces energy consumption and operating costs.

By Gemma Simpson
Special to CNET News.com

Virtualization could save companies millions of dollars and be the dominant data center technology within the next two to three years, according to analysts.

Virtualization can reduce energy consumption and cut operating costs for companies adopting the technology, according to a Butler Group report released this week on infrastructure virtualization.

The report estimates a company currently operating 250 dual-core servers can save $4 million over the next three years by adopting virtualization technology.

Butler also estimates that a power savings on the order of $157,500 for every 1,000 PCs per year can be achieved by businesses moving from a full desktop PC infrastructure to a server-hosted desktop virtualization setup.

And a further $8,000 per 1,000 help-desk calls per month could also be saved by reducing the number of such calls and encouraging the use of self-service application virtualization technologies, the research reveals.

Many companies initially adopt virtualization to save money through server consolidation, and then start to notice other benefits, so that virtualization becomes part of the overall IT plan, according to the analyst house.

Roy Illsley, senior research analyst with Butler, said companies need to understand what virtualization can deliver--and how it is delivered--to successfully use the technology to manage an organization's IT resources.

The virtualization revolution seems to be slowly marching on, with analysts and industry experts naming the technology as one of the most versatile tools in IT, and analyst house Gartner stating that virtualization will be a key technology to help companies beef up security on corporate mobile devices.

Senior industry figures have also named virtualization as the technology poised to play the most significant role in tackling the challenges many chief information officers face, such as rising energy costs.

Gemma Simpson of Silicon.com reported from London.

Download Server 2008 and get your first look at Viridian?

Dave Caddick — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 00:14:26 GMT

After a wet and wild weekend camping Dugie pulls out all the stops again...

Thanks Dugie, I wasn't aware I needed to install the 64bit version to make it work?

URLs for Windows 2008 RC0 and WSv

WSS, Virtualization September 25th, 2007

If you want to download Windows 2008 RC0 with the Windows Server virtualization preview, the URLs are below:

Windows Server 2008 RC0 Enterprise - 2.6 Gb
Windows Server 2008 RC0 Datacenter - 2.6 Gb

Remember to grab the 64 bit version (6001.16659.070916-1443_amd64fre_Server_en-us-KR1SXFRE_EN_DVD.iso) as it is the only version that will run WSv

John Howard has some great install primers in his post , “How to install the Windows Server virtualization role in Windows Server 2008 RC0“, a snippet is below:

more at source...

Microsoft's Viridian at 1Mb to be significantly smaller than VMware's ESX 3i hypervisor at 32Mb?

Dave Caddick — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 16:17:28 GMT

I was checking some other news over at ChannelRegister and found this interesting little snippet.

I'm sure the Microsoft marketing will make a lot more of this than it's worth? ;-)

Microsoft counters VMware insanity with optimistic frown

I'm pretty sure that this is part of the reason VMware has pushed so hard with ESX Server 3i - a 32MB version of its flagship product that can and will be embedded into the flash memory of servers. Dell, IBM, HP, Fujitsu and others have lined up to include ESX 3i in the memory of at least one system each. So, you can boot right into VMware without touching an operating system, and VMware's hypervisor starts to look like a standard server component.

Of course, VMware would be in better shape with this play if every server from these vendors included ESX 3i or at least presented it as an option at sales time. That may happen one day. In the meantime, Microsoft is content to downplay VMware's actions.

"It is important to understand that Viridian will ship as part of Windows Server 2008," Microsoft's virtualization chief Mike Neil told us. "VMware is in a situation where they are not an OS vendor. They need a distribution mechanism through the OEMs. This is the approach they have taken."

But would Microsoft consider shipping a separate hypervisor that could slot into memory as well? Viridian is less than 1MB, according to Neil.

"I don't know that (an embedded hypervisor) has substantial value today," Neil said.