Virtualization

XP Thin Client Runs on iPhone

Chris Haaker — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 19:08:51 GMT

in brief Citrix used its thin client technology to demonstrate an Apple iPhone running Windows XP, at the recent Citrix Application Delivery Conference in Melbourne.

Windows XP, seen below running on the iPhone, was loaded using Citrix's thin client desktop software XenDesktop. Using the Citrix ICA client — a UNIX application that allows devices to access Windows sessions on a Citrix server — the presenter was able to run Windows on the iPhone via Wi-Fi.

Hit the link above to see screen shots of the client running. The iPhone’s native touch screen pinches and other controls work as well allowing you to zoom in on the thin client while running. Tres cool.

Technorati Tags: thin client,Windows XP,iPhone,Virtualization,XenDesktop

Windows Server 2008 as a Workstation Part III

Chris Haaker — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 17:46:25 GMT

Mary Jo Foley has an article on ~~bringing back~~ creating Windows Workstation 2008 (Part I) and proposing the idea that in the past there was a “server” version of NT4 and Windows 2000 and a “workstation” version that was the same product with limits on concurrent usage when running IIS, etc. She says that since Windows Server 2008 is the best version of Windows Server ever by a wide margin, why not capitalize on that an offer a “workstation” version.

Some people, especially in the consulting field or who are consulting ITPros, have long run a Server OS as their “workstation” often on laptops as well. I decided to give Windows Server 2008 a shot myself, especially after getting some guidance from the blog of Vijayshinva Karnure, (Part II) a Microsoft employee who wrote a great blog post on how he adapted Windows Server 2008 for his use as a workstation (on a laptop to boot).

I followed Vijay’s instructions for the most part. I started by enabling only the things I needed step-by-step in order to keep as much of the speed savings as possible. It only stands to reason that if you turn on every bell and whistle you find in Vista, you haven't gained very much. There is a debate in the comments of Vijay’s post about how the kernel is identical between Vista SP1 and W2K8. I believe this is true. However, W2K8 flies, were Vista SP1 merely jogged along. Don't get me wrong, Vista SP1 is a big improvement over Vista RTM, but W2K8 is even better.

Of course, there are a couple of things you have to give up. I didn't get the Hyper-V version as my Dell Latitude D620 doesn't have hardware virtualization. I am just running 32–bit Standard without Hyper-V. I turned on Themes and the Themes service so I can use Aero. That hasn't slowed it down yet. I also turned on the WLAN Auto Config service as I need wireless on the laptop. That one took me a second to figure out. Networking showed the adapter as lit up and seeing a signal, but disabled. Easy enough I thought: Just right-click and enable. I did this several times to no avail.

Another PITA is the IE ESC (Enhanced Security Configuration). In W2K3 you went in to Add\Remove Programs and Add\Remove System Components to remove it for administrators. In W2K8 you need to go to Server Manager (which is nice enough to present itself to you every time you log in) and then down to Security and click on IE ESC Configuration.

For some reason I also cannot burn DVD’s with my DVDRW drive. I can read them but it will not burn files from the shell. I haven't had time to try a third party tool yet.

And the final bummer is that no Windows Live components (like Live Writer) will install. I had to go back to BlogJet for this post.

However, I am still quite happy with the speed that this installation is performing at. My boot time, logon time and overall responsiveness is much improved. Let’s see how it looks two weeks from now!

Tags: Windows+Server+2008, W2K8, Vista+SP1, Performance, Windows+Workstation

Microsoft TechNet Briefings in Second Life

Chris Haaker — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:20:41 GMT

Some Microsofties are starting to offer TechNet Briefings in Second Life at the Microsoft Ampitheatre. Michael Murphy has the straight scoop at his blog. Personally, I would like to see more of this type of thing. It add an interesting twist to keep the community engaged over the typical mass-Live Meeting webinar. Those are only a step-up from reading a book. Now and again, you will get an exceptional presenter that engages you or a fantastic demo. I tried Second Life once and found it hard to pick up but I am sure with more practice I would get better. Companies like IBM have been using SL for fostering community for its virtual workforce and consultants for quite some time now.

Here is the brief on the Microsoft briefing:

Group Notice From: RobinG2 Proto

Saturday Feb 23 Noon - 1pm SLT (PST) at the Microsoft Island Amphitheater for Part 1 of a 3 Part Active Directory Primer Series with Michael Murphy of Microsoft TechNet.

Part 1:

AD Logical Components

We’ll take a look at the basic AD components; Domains, Forests, Tress and Organizational Units.

We’ll examine the function of each component, how they can be organized to create a comprehensive directory services structure forming the basis of your network Authentication and Authorization Chain.

Technorati Tags: TechNet,TechNet Briefings,Microsoft,Second Life,IBM,Virtual WorkForce

PostPath Email and Collaboration Server

Chris Haaker — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 05:16:31 GMT

I have recently been introduced to a company called PostPath. They are a new technology company that have created a Linux-based alternative to Microsoft's Exchange. Their proposition is that Microsoft Outlook is the killer application. As long as users can run Outlook and have all the features and functionality that they are used to, it shouldn't matter what is serving it up on the back end. And if that back end can run on cheaper hardware and storage with a highly-flexible open source OS, all the better.

I have been working with the latest version of the PostPath server and it is pretty amazing. It does deliver as promised - full Outlook functionality at a fraction of the software, hardware and storage costs. PostPath has also signed a partnership with VMWare and is fully supported as a virtualized platform. This gives you tremendous flexibility when it comes to disaster recovery and business continuity. They fully (and seamlessly) support Blackberry clients and the Blackberry Enterprise Server. They have enhanced the open source version of Zimbra for their web-based client and added several enhancements. They also offer a mobility server called Sync Server which supports Windows Mobile 6 clients.

The PostPath server can run in a Microsoft Active Directory environment by itself or in co-existence with an already installed Exchange organization. If Exchange is not already present, it can perform a full forest and domain prep to add the correct schema extensions to Active Directory. Once installed, when viewed within ESM, it looks like any other Exchange server. You can create mailboxes on it using ADUC just as you do with any other Exchange server. Users can be migrated to and from the PostPath server using the traditional ADUC move mailbox process. The one downside is, since it is running Linux, it does not respond to WMI calls. Therefor, you cannot administer or browse its resources through ESM and there are some workarounds for commonly performed Exchange tasks. However, enhancements to the product are being added at a rapid clip and the engineering team is very responsive to customer feedback and suggestions for engineering enhancements.

So far it has been a pleasure to work with the product and I look forward to learning more about it and its capabilities as an alternative to Exchange.

Technorati Tags: PostPath,Exchange Alternative,Exchange,Microsoft,Active Directory,Zimbra,Linux

Windows Vista Pre-Built VHD Available

Chris Haaker — Wed, 30 May 2007 19:40:45 GMT

Download the Windows Vista pre-configured virtual hard drive and get a head start on testing applications on Windows Vista.

Exchange 2007 and Virtualization

Chris Haaker — Thu, 03 May 2007 21:01:25 GMT

As of SP2, Exchange 2003 was supported in production in a Microsoft virtual environment. Now that Exchange 2007 requires 64 bits to be supported in production and Microsoft does not have a virtualization platform that supports a 64 bit guest, Exchange 2007 is not supported in production in a virtual environment.

From the Microsoft document Technical Architecture of Exchange 2007:

Exchange 2007 and Virtualization

Exchange 2007 is not supported in production in a virtual environment; however, as stated above, Microsoft Virtual Server makes a great environment for training, labs, and demos. Exchange 2007 is supported in production environments using only the 64-bit version of Exchange 2007, and currently neither Microsoft Virtual Server nor Microsoft Virtual PC support 64-bit guest systems. Exchange 2007 is also not supported in production in a virtual environment using non-Microsoft virtualization software. For details about the Microsoft support policy for third-party virtualization software, see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 897615, Support policy for Microsoft software running in non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software.
The first 64-bit guest support is expected to be included with Hypervisor, which is an add-on for Windows Server Code Name "Longhorn" from Microsoft that is scheduled to ship within 180 days of Longhorn. Note that this is within 180 days, meaning it could ship the same day as Longhorn, or it could ship 180 days after Longhorn ships. For more information about Microsoft's virtualization plans, see the Microsoft Machine Virtualization Roadmap Chat-Transcript.

Run Your Legacy DOS Application in Virtual PC

Chris Haaker — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 20:54:00 GMT

Here is a great post from the Virtual PC team (okay, from Ben Armstrong) on how to run a legacy DOS application under Virtual PC without the end user ever knowing they are running it in a virtual environment. Brilliant!

Technorati tags: Legacy Applications, Virtual PC, DOS

Longhorn Hypervisor Demo

Chris Haaker — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 14:28:00 GMT

From Arlindo's blog I found an awesome Longhorn Hypervisor Virtual Server demo given at Microsoft. This is the new Longhorn server running the server core role with 8 cores! They show a few different things in the demo like hot adding a NIC to a running VM with PowerShell.

Technorati tags: Longhorn, Virtualization, Server Core, Virtual Server, Hypervisor

Virtual Machine for DST?

Chris Haaker — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 13:25:00 GMT

I saw this on the Microsoft Download website and had to take a look. It looks to be a virtual machine with all of the Exchange-based DST tools loaded on it. You then join it to the domain and you have a workstation pre-configured to run all the tools for DST adjustments. At least, I think that's what it is for. The description on the website is a little thin IMO and I don't want to download 1.5GB and then hope there is documentation in there! They should include it as a separate readme or be more verbose in describing what this thing actually does! If anyone fools with it, let me know what you find!

Technorati tags: Exchange, Virtual Machine, DST, Daylight Savings Time

Virtual PC 2007 Released to Web

Chris Haaker — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 19:56:00 GMT

Download here. Official website is here.