64bit, ia64 and x64 Windows

Appsense has released AppSense Management Suite 7.1, now includes 64-bit and Vista support

Charles Aunger / www.eviglio.com — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 15:36:47 GMT

AppSense provides User Environment Management solutions that personalize and optimize virtual and physical user environments. User Environment Management is the ability for users to have a consistent, contextual and responsive working environment regardless of the way the environment is delivered to them and to make this easily manageable by IT. Whether delivered via Citrix , Terminal Server, Virtual Desktops, Streaming, Blade PCs or physical desktops, AppSense solutions ensure consistent, contextual and responsive environments to all users all the time.

AppSense Management Suite Version 7.1 extends the reach of User Environment Management by supporting mixed architecture implementations consisting of both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures.

AppSense technology can also be installed on Windows Vista desktop PCs with this release, bringing enhanced environment management capabilities to Vista users. The inclusion of enhanced reporting and auditing of user environment activities provides visibility into how the environment is being used, enabling a more proactive approach to managing the user experience.

click for source

Charles Aunger
charles aunger eknowlogy / eviglio / frameworkx / charles.aunger homepage

Technical Citrix and Microsoft Webinar on Scaling Up and 64 Bit Servers

Charles Aunger / www.eknowlogy.com — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 18:37:59 GMT

Do you want to get more users on your Citrix Presentation Server? Are you ready to learn how 64-bit architecture can remove performance bottlenecks from your server? To find out, sign-up for this month’s Technical Citrix TechTalk webinar with John D’agati, Citrix Engineer and David Hanna, Microsoft Technology Specialist as they discuss the architecture, performance testing and server scalability of 64-bit technology.

Learn firsthand from Microsoft about 32-bit architectural limitations and 64-bit performance capabilities. Discover how to perform server scalability testing and monitoring of your Presentation Server environment and then apply the results to increase the number of users you can support on each Citrix server. Also, learn how Citrix Presentation Server 4.5 and Microsoft® Windows® Server 2003 enables you to leverage 64-bit technology.

Topics include:

* Distinguish the limitations of 32-bit architecture versus 64-bit

* Develop and run a server scalability test

* Analyze and troubleshoot server bottlenecks

* Tune systems to increase performance

* Leverage 64-bit technology to dramatically increase server user density

To learn more and to register for the awesome technical webinar, please visit: www.citrix.com/TechTalk/GetMoreUsers

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 Known Issues with Citrix Presentation Server 3.0, 4.0 and 4.5

Charles Aunger / www.eknowlogy.com — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 19:34:00 GMT

Citrix have released and KB article (CTX113035) about Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 Known Issues with Citrix Presentation Server
extract of the article is below.. Seems that the main issues accur around Application Isolation when under heavy utilization.

Citrix Systems, Inc supports Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2. This article outlines some known issues and their workarounds that users of Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 must be aware of in conjunction with the following Citrix products:

• Citrix Presentation Server 4.5

• Presentation Server 4.0

• Presentation Server 3.0

Citrix has tested the pre-release builds of Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 and the results are listed below. Citrix is actively testing to determine how Citrix products and their components perform on the final release of Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (English). This article will be updated accordingly with the results of our testing.

Issues

• Uninstalling Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 causes links to the Access Suite Console/Access Management Console to break.

Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 upgrades the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) to version 3.0. MMC 2.0 console files (.msc) with user preferences that are opened by MMC 3.0 are updated to the MMC 3.0 format. If MMC 3.0 is uninstalled, MMC 2.0 cannot open the console files that have these updated user preferences.

Workaround
See Microsoft Knowledge Base article 907265.

• Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 Integrated build (slipstreamed) version issues:

Web Interface, Program Neighborhood Agent: You might not be able to connect to the Web Interface or launch Program Neighborhood Agent shortcuts. [#148065]

Access Gateway 4.5: You cannot view logon points created in the server configuration tool after upgrading using a Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 Integrated build. [#148019]

Workaround
See Microsoft Knowledge Base article 933638.

Citrix recommends that you install Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 on a server running Presentation Server 4.5 64-bit Edition to resolve the following potential issues:

The following error messages might appear in the Event Log or while running discovery using the Access Management Console on servers running Presentation Server 4.5 64-bit Edition for Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1:

In the Event Log: "The COM+ System Application service failed to start due to the following error: The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion."

In the Access Management Console: "Errors occurred when using <server name> in the discovery process. Citrix MFCOM Service did not respond as expected. Make sure that your user account is a member of this computer’s Distributed COM Users group if you are connecting to a remote server. Check the version of Citrix Presentation Server on the computer and ensure that a compatible version of Citrix MFCOM Service is installed and running."

This issue might be caused by an intermittent flaw in Microsoft’s COM+ subsystems that prevents the proper installation of Presentation Server components. For more information, see CTX112182 – The Access Management Console Fails During the Discovery Process After Installing the 64-bit Edition of Presentation Server 4.5.

• Application isolation might stop working after periods of heavy utilization.

Microsoft is working with Citrix on a hotfix to resolve this issue. It should be available shortly.

click for source

check out me homepage at http://charlesaunger.eknowlogy.com

Charles Aunger
charles aunger eknowlogy / eviglio / frameworkx / charles.aunger homepage

Which editions of Windows Vista are 64bit..

Charles Aunger / www.eknowlogy.com — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 12:35:00 GMT

Which editions of Vista are 64bit..

The 64-bit editions of Windows Vista—available for all editions of Windows Vista except Vista Starter

The 64-bit editions of Windows Vista are not for everyone, and require a system with a 64-bit processor and 64-bit system drivers. Confirm you system, applications, and devices are compatible with a 64-bit edition of Windows Vista before installing.

Memory specifications

All editions of Windows Vista 64-bit provide increased memory support beyond the standard 4 gigabytes (GB) available with 32-bit editions. Refer to the specific edition of Windows Vista 64-bit to determine maximum memory capacity.

	Windows Vista Edition	64-bit memory support

	Home Basic	8 GB
	Home Premium	16 GB
	Ultimate	128+ GB
	Business	128+ GB
	Enterprise	128+ GB

What if I brough 32bit Vista and want 64bit Vista DVD

If you bought Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, or Business as a RETAIL (sorry not OEM), packaged product, and you would like a DVD of 64-bit software media to install on your PC.

click here to go to the Microsoft Windows Vista Alternate Media Site.

Note: 64-bit media is included in the box with Windows Vista Ultimate.

Charles Aunger
charles aunger eknowlogy / eviglio / frameworkx / charles.aunger homepage

How many virtual machines can I really get on a VMware ESX server

Charles Aunger / www.eknowlogy.com — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 10:52:00 GMT

How many virtual machines can I really get on a VMware ESX server , may be 70 VM servers ? well might be able to now..

I have been a HP fan for years, but whilst spending time in the Industry and becoming almost agnostic to tin now, I have found myself in the server based computing and new world of virtualisation, were the time of large servers seems to be coming of age.

Published by InfoWorld (Dec 2006) Top five rack-mount servers http://weblog.infoworld.com/tcdaily/archives/2006/12/top_five_rackmo.html

Sun's x86 servers are red hot, and I mean that in a good way. Our list of the top five scorers among the servers reviewed in 2006 includes two from Sun, both from the Opteron-based "Galaxy" series, and they're #1 and #2. HP, Dell, and IBM, watch your backs.

Sun Fire X4600 M2 Excellent [8.9]

Sun Fire X4200 Excellent [8.7]

Dell PowerEdge 2950 Very Good [8.5]

IBM System x3550 Very Good [8.4]

HP ProLiant DL380 G4 Very Good [8.2]

I've been testing the Sun Fire X4600 M2 for the past few weeks and no word of a lie, if you are thinking of virtualisation, server based computing, Citrix , 64 bit and can meet the criteria for a Try Buy go to www.sun.co.uk or www.sun.com "GO GET ONE OR TWO". It ROCKS…

I have done performance testing at Microsoft, HP, DELL and I've not got excited about piece of kit in a long-time. (Sad I know, but way cool)

Seriously I know there are a lot of die hard HP and DELL guys and girls out there, but if you feel GEEKY have a look at these, I don't think you will be disappointed..

Next test how may Citrix Servers can you run and connect too on an x64 server.. Guess's on a post card.

check out my homepage for more information on http://charlesaunger.eknowlogy.com

Charles Aunger
charles aunger eknowlogy / eviglio / frameworkx / charles.aunger homepage

I have been doing some lab work with the Sun Sunfire x4600 and ESX 3.01. One of the tests we have been running has 35 VM's of Windows Server 2003 - 32 bit using a mix of single CPU, 2 CPU and 4 CPU SMP, running endless full server backup process on each VM, (not recommended in most VM environment due to High I/O) and the server doesn’t even break 50% load… it just keeps giving really keeps giving. Moving up to 50 VM's today and I don't expect to have any major issues. I really think the issue might come for the SAN connectivity. May be you can get 70 VM servers on a HOST...

Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 and Next-Generation AMD Opteron™ Processors Increase the Business Value of Virtualization - Whitepaper

Charles Aunger / www.eknowlogy.com — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 17:34:00 GMT

Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 and Next-Generation AMD Opteron™ Processors Increase the Business Value of Virtualization - Whitepaper
from Microsoft.

click for to download the whitepaper from source

Extract

The Next-Generation AMD Opteron processors offer even more virtualization-specific features including energy-efficient DDR2 memory, which offers greater memory bandwidth, improved memory RAS, and cost savings.

Plus, Next-Generation AMD Opteron processors provide a seamless upgrade path to quad-core, using the same socket set, which provides even greater scalability for Virtual Server implementations and protects hardware investments by doubling processing power through a simple chip replacement in existing servers. The seamless hardware upgrade also dovetails with the forward compatibility of VHDs to Windows Server Virtualization, which together provide a seamless upgrade path for virtual machines in the software layer.

Virtual Server and Next Generation AMD Opteron Processors: Increasing Business Value

To meet the increasing demands of their businesses while simultaneously controlling costs, organizations continually strive for ways to increase efficiencies through streamlined deployment processes, comprehensive consolidation strategies and optimized manageability. Virtualization has emerged as a leading technology enabling exactly those sorts of efficiencies.

Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 running on Windows Server 2003 R2, powered by AMD-V enabled Next Generation AMD Opteron processors provides a compelling virtualization platform for use in click for to download the whitepaper from source

Server Consolidation

Disaster Planning and Recovery

IT Infrastructure Management

List of Native x64 Software from Microsoft

Charles Aunger / www.eknowlogy.com — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 11:06:00 GMT

Ever needed a list of Native x64 Software from Microsoft.
(this list is a Native list and doesn't include applications
that support x64 environments, such as Office)

All of the following Microsoft Windows Server products are available in native x64 versions:

Windows Server 2003 R2

Three Windows Server x64 editions are available:
Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard x64 Edition
Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise x64 Edition
Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter x64 Edition

Windows Server code name "Longhorn"
Windows Server "Longhorn" will be available as an x64 platform, and it is expected to be the last 32-bit Windows Server operating system.

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007
Note: Exchange Server 2007 is an x64-only product (32-bit editions are available for evaluation).

Microsoft SQL Server 2005

Microsoft BizTalk Server 2006

Microsoft Commerce Server 2007

Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2

Microsoft Operations Manager 2005

Oh yes and don't forget there are a few edtions of Windows Vista

Charles Aunger
charles aunger eknowlogy / eviglio / frameworkx

Enterprise x64 - 4 way Opteron Server hardware cost comparison for enterprise applications, hosting, vmware or server based computing.

Charles Aunger / www.eknowlogy.com — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 13:26:00 GMT

Enterprise x64 - 4 way Opteron Server hardware cost comparison for enterprise applications, hosting, vmware or server based computing.

If you are thinking of running large amount of virtual machines, server based computing, enterprise applications, hosting or HPC you need to find the best, bang for buck / price performance.

To this end, I've been reviewing the enterprise 4 way Opteron servers and comparing the exact like for like spec's on vendor websites comparing prices on Opteron boxes.

Some interesting figures come out. Server specification used as a base line..

4 U Chassis
4 AMD Opteron Model 8218 Processors
64 GB Memory 16 x 4GB DIMMS
2 x 73 GB 10000 rpm SAS Disk Drives
1 DVD-ROM Drive
4 x 10/100/1000 BaseT Ethernet Ports
4 x Power Supply Units
Integrated Lights Out Manager (ILOM)
Warranty 3 Years, 4 Hours, 24x7, Hardware Only
Rack Kit

I've found cost's based on the relevant vendor .com website (US sites)

Results

- HP DL585G2, 64GB RAM four Opteron 8218s two SAS drives, RHEL3, rack kit: $78764.00
www.hp.com

- Dell PowerEdge 6950, 64GB RAM, four Opteron 8218s, two SAS drives, RHEL3, rack kit: $41771.00
www.dell.com

- Sun x4600 M2, 64GB RAM, four Opteron 8218s, two SAS drives, RHEL3, rack kit: $49651.00
www.sun.com

Charles Aunger
charles aunger eknowlogy / eviglio / frameworkx

Microsoft released Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition with SP2

Charles Aunger / www.eknowlogy.com — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 09:28:00 GMT

Today Microsoft released Service Pack 2 for the operating systems listed below.

Windows Server 2003, x64 Editions
Windows Server 2003 R2, x64 Editions
Windows Server 2003 Compute Cluster Edition with Service Pack 1
Windows Server 2003 Storage Server R2, x64 Editions
Windows XP Professional, x64 Edition

Please let us know any thoughts on Service Pack 2, (performance, stability, etc...)

Whats new:

Starting with this version of Windows Server 2003 with SP2, Remote Installation Services is replaced by Windows Deployment Services
This version of Windows Server 2003 SP2 includes an update that enables you to simplify the creation and maintenance of Internet Protocol security (IPsec) policy
Group Policy support for non-broadcasting networks and Wi-Fi Protected Access 2 (WPA2) settings has been added to the Windows wireless client in Windows Server 2003 SP2
The Windows wireless client now supports WPA2, which enables you to take advantage of high levels of standards-based connection and encryption security
Icacls.exe is an upgrade of the Cacls.exe tool in Windows Server 2003 SP2
New options have been added to the Dcdiag.exe Domain Name System (DNS) tests
XmlLite is new with Windows Server 2003 SP2. XmlLite is a fast, low-level, native XML parser with a small memory footprint.
A new event log event has been created to address certain situations in which the Cluster service account becomes excessively restricted by domain policy

View the Service Pack 2 click here to read more

Download Service Pack 2

Charles Aunger
charles aunger eknowlogy / eviglio / frameworkx

Terminal Services Scaling and Performance on x64-Based Versions of Windows Server 2003

Charles Aunger / www.eknowlogy.com — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 20:34:00 GMT

Terminal Services x64 Scaling and Performance of Windows Server 2003 x64 whitepaper from Microsoft.

Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003 Terminal Server lets users run Microsoft Windows®-based applications on a remote computer that is running one of the Windows Server 2003 family of operating systems. This white paper contains results, analyses, and sizing guidelines for Terminal Services on x64-based versions of Windows Server 2003. Hewlett Packard worked in cooperation with Microsoft to perform the initial sizing tests and data collection in the Microsoft Enterprise Engineering Center in Redmond, Washington. The tests were performed using Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise x64 Edition and Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition with Service Pack 1 (SP1).

This white paper explores the potential impact of the new x64-based versions of Microsoft Windows Server 2003 on Terminal Services deployments.

· The 64-bit architecture removes kernel virtual address space limitations that affect the number of sessions that are supported by the operating system in the 32-bit architecture. On a 32-bit system there is an effective limit of 300 user sessions for typical Knowledge Worker scenarios. (The actual user session limit is affected by the number of applications running in the session, resource consumption by each application, and user activity patterns.) On a 64-bit system, the theoretical user session limit is much higher.

· The low overhead in terms of CPU consumption in the x64 architecture makes it possible for Terminal Services deployments to take advantage of the new generation of high performance 64-bit CPUs (specifically the multi-core configurations) to support a larger number of users on a single server. Synthetic benchmark results were able to support as many as 600 users on a single server. This is well beyond the 32-bit architectural limitations.

· Migrating from 32-bit to 64-bit systems while deploying the same set of 32-bit applications requires special attention to memory configuration. (The Knowledge Worker workload test on 64-bit systems required between 1.5 to 2 times more RAM to perform at similar levels with the 32-bit systems.)

· Configurations with a large number of users typically require non-trivial storage support (more than the commonly-used one to two SCSI hard disks for system binaries and application data) that can handle a high level of disk I/O activity from both the operating system and from applications.

click to download