Desktop Virtualization is about user experience and agility, Server Virtualization is about consolidation and cost savings. It's amazing to me how so many people still confuse and believe Desktop Virtualization is just a straight forward extension of Server Virtualization that will just naturally evolve from their existing Server Virtualization infrastructure, without realizing that these are two very different use cases requiring a different approach.

In my second month as CTO of our XenApp business at Citrix, I have been able to talk to a range of people about their desktop and application virtualization strategies. Some are brand new Citrix customers, some are not even aware that Citrix is so much more than thin client remote access and some are real thought leaders who challenge my thinking everyday. Having been a customer at numerous top tier Wall Street firms and implementing Citrix technologies for many use cases including Desktop Virtualization at scale. I've lived through the pain that this sort of thinking causes in the real world and feel it's time to share some experiences and to help my twitter followers decipher some of my cryptic Desktop Virtualization!=Server Virtualization tweets.

In the physical world, do your server administrators manage your desktop infrastructure?
Let's start with a basic question. If you are a very small shop, perhaps a single administrator does it all. However as you scale up, different teams start to form to address specialized use cases acquiring specialized skill sets along the way. Even at the smaller firms I've worked at, the backend operations folks very quickly separate themselves from the front office folks. The workflows and mindsets of these people are quite different. Let's diverge for a second and think about how security teams function in an enterprise vs. let's say the server team. Does the server team care about security? Sure. Would the server team let the security team design their server infrastructure? Of course not! Why? I'd hazard a guess that a super secure inflexible system would be developed by these folks that would be too slow to react to dynamic business needs. In other words overkill, despite the best intentions of a security focused person. This why desktop teams design desktop experiences........

The management workflow for desktops is different.
It has been my observation that even in large enterprises that have invested in server virtualization, they don't reboot thousands of servers at the same time. They usually schedule these events in small clusters during maintenance windows to avoid impacting many users who share servers. Desktops however are a different animal. After every patch Tuesday, I'd want to reboot all of my machines in large batches, just like I do today in the physical world as they impact only single/limited users. This type of reboot scale quickly puts a demand on the virtualization infrastructure that it is usually not designed for in a server world. In other words the Hypervisor workloads are very different and you have to worry more about many VM's performing the same operation at around the same time (e.g. OS/anti-virus updates).

Desktops require a different security model.
Taking the same example, desktops require a lot more flexibility with reboots. A lot more ad-hoc user driven reboots happen. This usually breaks the often rigid administrative and security permission model in the server virtualization world, which serves a different purpose. I recall many a debate as to why reboot permissions on the virtualization infrastructure needed to be allocated to the helpdesk to support Desktop Virtualization users. Something that was a struggle for Server Virtualization teams to accept as they were of a mind set that servers were highly controlled environments. Brut force did the trick in the end

Desktop scale means rethinking your virtualization infrastructure.
Think about the number of desktops you have in your organization vs. the number of servers. If you have 2000 server VMs one would most likely say that's a lot of servers, but would not say that for 2000 desktops. If you had 10,000 desktops that's a decent amount that is not uncommon at many customer sites. However 10,000 servers would be considered to be a very large server site. Therefore if you want to invest in Desktop Virtualization at scale, it's a totally different ball game when it comes to managing and scaling the virtual infrastructure. Regardless of Hypervisor choice, I found I had to split away from the core server team design and develop an infrastructure that would support a desktop experience at scale.

Optimize virtual infrastructure for user experience.
Delivering a desktop user experience requires you to focus on minimizing response time instead of maximizing throughput like server virtualization. There is also a greater burden to support virtual peripherals, and VM Management is far more critical. In my experience this was like talking alien to the server guys, and they just couldn't get their head around it or just couldn't be bothered accommodating this desktop thing in their server virtualization design, I still haven't figured that part out...........

Desktops management is different and does not require the high end features of Server Virtualization that add to cost.
As I was writing this I came across Brian Madden's blog today that touches upon this point. Based on what I have seen I agree most of the bells and whistles that people get excited about with server virtualization, just don't apply to Desktop Virtualization and add to costs and complexity. For example live migration on a desktop is such an edge case that I just don't buy the investment justifies the gain. To me this is a desktop use case. I remember many debates arguing how best to implement Desktop Virtualization. The best piece of advise I got from one of my mentors was to think of this as 'it's a desktop'. Be very clear this is a desktop, and understand that is what you are trying to implement. Don't overcomplicate things that you wouldn't normally do for a desktop. If you get your organization to understand this and behave accordingly I believe it will resolve many debates about how best to implement. Simply put your questions and actions in the context of it's a desktop.

So I hope many of you will now begin to develop an appreciation for why Desktop Virtualization is not Server Virtualization. You can't force a round peg into a square hole. They have different drivers. Desktop Virtualization is about user experience and agility. Server Virtualization is about consolidation and cost savings. With these very different goals in mind it will be no surprise to me that trying to implement Desktop Virtualization with a Server Virtualization mindset is highly likely to result in frustration. Desktop teams know what it takes to deliver a desktop experience. While it's true that there is overlap with traditional server roles, this is just an organizational evolution that will happen over time IMO. Desktops guys after so many years playing PC jockey are relevant again and will need to become empowered to create successful Desktop Virtualization implementations that are designed from the ground up to deliver a desktop experience. Don't forget it's a desktop!

Validate your knowledge of XenDesktop with the latest Citrix certification - the Citrix Certified Administrator (CCA) for Citrix XenDesktop 3. This certification demonstrates the ability to implement and manage a XenDesktop environment. Get certified today and gain the skills and confidence to perform well, while demonstrating your value to an employer.

CCA for Citrix XenDesktop 3 certification

• Certification requirement: Exam A14 Implementing Citrix XenDesktop 3
• Recommended training (instructor-led or self-paced online):
  • CXD-200-1I Implementing Citrix XenDesktop 3 (instructor-led training)
  • CXD-200-1W Implementing Citrix XenDesktop 3 (self-paced online training)

Learn more about the CCA for Citrix XenDesktop 3

Are YOU ready to Get The Facts about Citrix XenDesktop & VMware View?

Learn how YOU can be the hero!

http://tinyurl.com/CitrixandVMwareGetTheFacts

We look forward to seeing you there!

Jessica Demers

DC & MD Field Sales Manager

I moved to California from London just over 11 months ago. Obviously there is a significant cultural and climatic shift involved and a settling in period is a necessity to find your feet. Having travelled all over the world I have embraced as many aspects of different cultures and enjoyed experimenting.

One such aspect I have noticed here in California and in fact right throughout the US is the love of cheese.  A meal  smothered in cheese is normally accompanied by a side dish of, guess what, MORE cheese. Normally I reserve this dairy delight for a cracker or with some wine but 'Here' it is on everything.

Ordering a Cheeseburger with no cheese always raises a quizzical look from the waitress and a thought process which starts with "You are weird" and progresses to "Is he a serial killer?". Even the lactose intolerant demand that their lunch, dinners and daily snacks have heavy cheese content. Asking colleagues, "why do they have so much cheese on their food?" the simple answer was, "it tastes so good with cheese".

One technically gifted colleague decided to explain this using the analogy that Citrix XenApp and Microsoft Remote Desktop Services(the technology formerly known as Terminal Services) have the same relationship as cheese and hot meals(zzzz). The hot meal is the platform, Microsoft, and the cheese is the value-add, XenApp, which brings the  meal to life. Beating this analogy to a quick death, then Citrix has a number of cheeses, Citrix XenDesktop, Essentials for Hyper-V and Branch Repeater which embrace and extend the Microsoft Platform to supply a sumptuous meal.

All of these great combos can be found here at the New Microsoft/Citrix Community Portal where we've consolidated all related news, blogs, articles, videos, etc... into the feeds section of this page. We've also created an area that highlights all related forum threads and postings. Look for answers to your burning questions, participate in an existing discussion, or you can tell us if our cheese is good or if it stinks - let me remind you that all the best cheeses stink  

PS Does eating cheese in the evening give you nightmares? 

Thinwire is one of the cornerstone components in the HDX technology stack for delivering application virtualization. It is responsible for remoting 2D graphics across the network efficiently to provide a rich user experience. This component has been part of XenApp for many years. Many of the HDX technologies like image acceleration, progressive display, queuing and tossing and super cache are built on top of the Thinwire Virtual Display Adapter. The following video gives you a quick introduction on Thinwire and its role in the HDX technology stack:

Join me and my friends on twitter - Juan Rivera, Derek Thorslund, XenApp Team, XenDesktop Team

When Citrix XenDesktop is brought up in conversation, it is most often in reference to being deployed with a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solution. But XenDesktop is not limited to delivering only virtual desktops - XenDesktop delivers an exceptional user experience with physical desktops just as well. In fact, organizations still utilize physical desktops instead of virtual desktops for niche roles, such as for dedicated, resource-intensive applications like computer-aided design (CAD) and financial trading. Blade PC hardware is often chosen for its benefits in satisfying security requirements, providing desktop hardware consolidation and in serving as a dedicated, high-performance machine. As we discuss in this post, XenDesktop is a perfect pairing for a Blade PC environment and our design considerations whitepaper provides information to IT professionals seeking a smooth deployment.

In this XenDesktop on Blade PCs Design Considerations whitepaper, we provide our experiences from implementing XenDesktop on HP Blade PC hardware within the Worldwide Consulting Solutions lab at Citrix headquarters in Ft. Lauderdale. Within the document, you will find topics such as: 

• The direct applicability of key components of XenDesktop Platinum to Blade PCs, including XenApp, Provisioning Services and EdgeSight for EndPoints.
• A high-level architecture describing the Provisioning Services streaming process to Blade PCs and user access to the XenDesktop environment.
• Setup considerations and configuration information for implementing each XenDesktop component, including the Desktop Delivery Controller, the various Citrix desktop clients, Provisioning Services vDisk creation, management of a Blade PC environment, and more.
• Other in-depth, technical tips for administrators setting up and working with XenDesktop on a Blade PC environment.

Citrix XenDesktop already comes with Blade PCs from vendors. Try out additional XenDesktop features on your Blade PCs and experience the clear benefits for your organization.

I was in San Diego last week at the Catalyst Conference 2009 hosted by the Burton Group. Desktop virtualization was one of the main tracks and for some of the Burton Group analysts, desktop virtulization or VDI or virtual deskops were the most frequently discussed topic with their customers.

Personally, I met with over 2 dozen enterprise customers, including some that have already implemented the technology. I also co-presented with Burton Group on the topic of future of desktop virtualization. It was very encouraging to see that customers are increasingly becoming aware of desktop virtualization and are considering desktop virtualization to free themselves up from the PC refresh cycle. I think that we are nearly at the tipping point - where the success from early adopters will spread to the majority of the IT environments.

Here are my top 3 findings:

Virtualizing a desktop is not the same as virtualizing a server

There was a consensus here among all customers who have already implemented virtual desktops. IT often starts with virtualizing desktops with the assumption that it is the same as virtualizing a server. However, it turns out that there are some stark differences. We have talked about this before but Some interesting quotes:

• "2000 virtual servers is a lot of virtual servers but 2000 virtual desktops common for an enterprise"
• "Server VMs - goal is to keep them up, Desktop VMs - goal is to keep them up to date"
• "Server VMs - multiple workloads to virtualize without any personalization, Desktop VMs - Single workload to virtualize but with user personalization"
• "Server VMs - all about up-time (easy to measure - 99999999....), Desktop VMs - its all about user experience (user satisfaction, performance, easy to access)
• "Server VMs - if virtual center is down - no big deal, Desktop VMs - virtual center is down means users are unable to connect!"

Existing customers of first generation VDI are rapidly upgrading and expanding with new virtual desktop solutions

I spoke with customers that started with virtual desktops about 18 months ago and did so with 1:1 user mapping to VMs. It was interesting to learn about how customers were able to make successful business cases in virtual desktops even with those first generation or primitive architectures that involved managing multiple instances of desktops in virtual machines, high storage costs and not the best user experience. Business cases were based on simplifying distributed dekstop management while giving users the flexibility to access their desktop from anywhere.

In the past 12 months, several of the limitations of the first generation virtual deskops have been eliminated. All these early adopters are now rapidly upgrading to these new generation of virtual desktops where they can manage a pool of virtual desktops using a single OS image, and single of instance of apps. Most were planning to start with virtual applications gradually starting from the ones that are the hardest and most complex to manage and update. This will give them the ability to simplify virtual desktop management and cut down the cost of storage infrastructure.

Most of these customers said that they are rapidly expanding their virtual desktop solutions as it will help them migrate to Windows 7 much more easily.

Picking the best desktop for every user helps virtual desktop solutions

During my presentation on the future of desktop virtualization, there were two topics that resulted in many good questions and positive feedback.

1. Best virtual desktop solution for different user types - I have written about this before. I had several conversations with enterprises looking at hosted virtual desktops or VDI regarding how to get the best fit desktop using other technologies including blade PCs, terminal server based or even local virtual desktops. In almost all cases, mapping different options to different user types led to eliminating several barriers to hosted virtual desktop or VDI model, including TCO, user mobility & power user scenarios.
2. Local virtual desktops - Huge interest in Citrix XenClient. Security, manageablity and BYOC became the three top discussion topics with the customers. In fact, Citrix CIO Office presented Citrix's BYOC implementation at the event and it was one of the most popular sessions.

Overall, it was a good event, well attended, with lots of good, in depth discussions. It is great to see the positive momentum of customers moving from physical PCs to virtual desktops.

Get more information on Citrix's desktop virtualization

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Many of you know that Citrix and Microsoft has a rich 20 year history built on XenApp/Remote Desktop Services (Terminal Services) which has grown to over a billion dollar business for both companies.  Now our partnership extends to desktop virtualization as their preferred and recommended VDI partner for desktop delivery.  For the past year, Microsoft and Citrix has been working together to deliver the best VDI solution based on price and value to our customers and partners. 

At Worldwide Partner Conference, Microsoft introduced two licenses for VDI-- the Microsoft Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Standard Suite and the Microsoft Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Premium Suite. 

Before the introduction of these licenses, VDI license from Microsoft consisted of multiple SKUs from multiple products that ranged from annual and perpetual licenses.  At only $21 per year per device, the VDI Standard Suite is about one-third the cost of a corresponding VMware View edition http://www.microsoft.com/windows/enterprise/solutions/virtualization/improve-flexibility.aspx

This recent announcement raised several questions from partner and customer.

What is the cost comparison between Citrix/Microsoft versus VMware?

Many people assume that a partner based solution (1+1) has to cost more that VMware.  In fact, VMware's offering costs 25% more than our joint VDI offering with Microsoft that consists of XenDesktop and the VDI suite (Hyper-V Server, System Center Virtual Machine Manager, System Center Configuration Manager, System Center Operations Manager, Remote Desktop Services (CAL) and MDOP). 

When does Microsoft recommend Citrix?

Microsoft recently posted a blog from Manlio Vecchiet and recommends Citrix for those customers who need an enterprise-ready solution at a cost competitive to VMware.

What are the advantages of our joint solution with Microsoft compared to VMware?

That is a difficult question since comparing the two VDI solutions are like comparing apples (VMware) to fruit baskets (Citrix/Microsoft).  Without getting into the weeds of features and functionality our joint VDI solution offers the following:

-          Industry leading Desktop Delivery Solution with XenDesktop

-          Industry leading Application Delivery Solution with App-V and Remote Desktop Services (RDS)

-          Fastest growing hypervisor platform in the Industry with Hyper-V

-          The only integrated management solution with SystemCenter to manage physical and virtual desktops

-          Lowest VDI TCO with XenDesktop and Microsoft VDI Suite

How can partners benefit from the Microsoft and Citrix partnership?

AT WPC, Citrix and Microsoft launched a new campaign to turbocharge their joint channel with Citrix-Microsoft virtualization solutions. The Citrix-Microsoft Virtualization Partner Campaign (CMVP) provides free and discounted partner program registration, virtualization training, and sales and marketing support to partners looking to drive the broad set of solutions supported by Citrix and Microsoft virtualization products, including presentation, application, desktop and server virtualization. As an added bonus, partners who opt for an additional level of hands-on training will become eligible for Citrix-Microsoft proof-of-concept funding, to support partners' efforts to get these solutions tested in front of customers ASAP.

1. Best User Experience - Wyse http://www.citrix.com/tv/#video/377
User experience has always been a key concern for IT planning to rollout XenDesktop to new users. Increasingly these users are knowledge workers with higher demands and expectations. This includes things like boot-up time, peripheral support and no compromise Multimedia.

Doug Brown : I loved how Wyse was able to show off not only video running through XenDesktop but also a real time video camera! This use case has become more and more needed in today's world! Nicely done!
Sumit Dhawan : The collaboration function demonstrated was impressive. Nicely done.
Chris Fleck : I liked the Wyse demonstration of full Webcam functionality, this is a growing requirement for knowledge workers moving from PC's.

2. Best Management - IGEL http://www.citrix.com/tv/#video/530
A key driver for desktop virtualization is the control it affords IT administrators and the cost savings it achieves. Thin clients form a key component of the broader value equation. Example of demonstrations to illustrate management and TCO can include Management console and functionality

Doug Brown : The video was short and sweat and in the short time IGEL was able to show how simple it is to use their management tools to make changes and rollout users. Impressive!
Sumit Dhawan : The best demonstration on management, and creatively shared.
Chris Fleck : IGEL gave a informative demonstration of their management console and capability that would be useful for Thin Client deployments with XenDesktop.

3. Best Security – HP http://www.citrix.com/tv/#video/688
Security is a key driver in the adoption of desktop virtualization. In a world where security concerns gains increasing importance, please demonstrate how your company's device complements the security associated with XenDesktop. Examples can include, but are not limited to, support for Smart Cards and the ability to harden, lock down and securely manage endpoint devices.

Doug Brown : I thought HP went above and beyond in their video detailing their security enhancements to XenDesktop. By far the best video detailing security along with being very well produced.
Sumit Dhawan : Solid videos showcasing security - no one came close in demonstrating the security capabilities
Chris Fleck : HP added features such as USB port control and Smart Card support are important to many customers considering XenDesktop as a more secure and controlled environment.

4. Best Form Factor 10ZiG http://www.citrix.com/tv/#video/672
Show how your company's device brings the ideals of form and function together to deliver a XenDesktop access device that is not only cool to look at gets users excited about getting their hands on, but is easy and useful, delivers a better user experience, can lower cost of ownership and is more secure.
Doug Brown : Not only are the 10ZiG clients small and pretty but I liked how 10ZiG showed how easy it is to hide them away behind a users monitor. Pretty cool stuff...
Sumit Dhawan : Small, good fit behind the monitor - and a great demo of form factor
Chris Fleck : The 10ZiG devices are small and look good.

5. Best Innovation HP http://www.citrix.com/tv/#video/677
Innovation is a key way for partners to differentiate their offerings to add value above and beyond that provide by XenDesktop. This category is for partners to highlight complementary hardware or software features that have been added to achieve greatest value add to XenDesktop customers.

Doug Brown : I was very impressed with everything HP packed in to their videos. They truly showed us the amazing innovations they are making with their thin clients.
Sumit Dhawan : The video was comprehensive showcasing the end to end approach - a hallmark for innovation
Chris Fleck : HP innovations around multi-monitors, device management and quick-release mounting feature are all great examples of how to enhance Thin Client deployments.

6. Support for Locally Streamed Desktop Devon IT http://www.citrix.com/tv/#video/676/
Citrix has recently highlighted the ability of XenDesktop to be used to stream the operating system to the endpoint for local execution. The submissions in this category will highlight how the partners' solutions are ideally suited to receive streamed desktops. Examples of ways to illustrate value are inclusion of the Operating System streaming client and the ability to include hardware resources (CPU, GPU) required for local execution.

Doug Brown : DevonIT did an amazing job showing us a streamed XenDesktop and they explained it all and showed it all in a really "cool" fashion. Good stuff!
Sumit Dhawan : DevonIT demonstrated this the best - showing the most challenging use case
Chris Fleck : DevonIT makes use of the Citrix Provisioning Server Streaming OS feature of XenDesktop yielding a great admin and user experience.

7. Best overall Video ( Expert Panel Vote ) Devon IT http://www.citrix.com/tv/#video/673

Doug Brown : DevonIT went above and beyond in this video. It was funny, explained their total value add and did I mention it was just downright funny? A must watch and many kudos to them. A stellar video! (Unless you try to steal one of their thin clients and get hit in the face with it!)
Sumit Dhawan : Creative, fun, informative - and excellent use of marketing. Great way to drive traffic by making the front screen of the video appealing for the target audience to click on
Chris Fleck : DevonIT's video presentation was a creative and informative way to highlight the benefits of Thin Clients including XenDesktop and the TC5. A sign of more to come ?

8. Best overall Video ( User Community Vote ) Devon IT http://www.citrix.com/tv/#video/673

The Community spoke with their views, votes and comments, the DevonIT views are at 1028 and counting, with an average of 4 stars.

Congratulations to DevonIT and all the category winners ! Well Done. Thank you for participating in the challenge and thanks to the Citrix community that voted with their views and rankings. ( and thanks Vishal Ganeriwala for putting this challenge together )

Ever got frustrated with how long it takes to email a large report or presentation after incorporating your manager's feedback? Or found yourself in a plane wishing the email downloaded faster when the flight attendant asks you to turn off your 3G-equipped laptop? Or wished for a solution that could deliver email 50 times faster?

Did you know our WAN optimization solution, Citrix Branch Repeater, delivers superior user experience and application performance not only for branch office users but also for remote and teleworkers?

No one feels the need for speed more than a remote user or a teleworker with a low-bandwidth or a high- latency network connection. These users typically use an SSL VPN, such as Citrix Access Gateway, to connect to their corporate network and access email, intranet portals, other applications and data. When your IT augments secure remote access (Access Gateway) infrastructure with Branch Repeater, you can benefit from both secure and accelerated remote access.

Well, now we have two reports that demonstrate ways to use Branch Repeater to augment your Access Gateway infrastructure and the resulting benefits of accelerating secure remote access.

You can download the Turbocharge Access Gateway Performance Report - CTX121034 from the Citrix Knowledge Center. The report explores the benefits of using Access Gateway and Repeater plug-ins for Citrix Receiver together:
• 50x faster Microsoft Outlook and Exchange (MAPI) workflows
• 50x faster Microsoft SharePoint (HTTP) workflows
• 30x faster Windows File Shares (CIFS) workflows

I think you will want to try out the benefits of turbocharged remote access. Check out the Turbocharge Access Gateway Deployment Guide and Reference Architecture - CTX121035 if you want to conduct a POC (proof of concept) or a demo to convince your IT or other decision makers. You will be your end-users hero for providing them with an accelerated yet secure remote access.

Citrix XenDesktop: The Clear Choice for Desktop Virtualization

If you're looking for the best virtual desktop solution or want to improve your existing one, you should know that Citrix XenDesktop™ delivers a host of benefits that VMware View can't, including:
 

* 10X lower bandwidth requirement for LAN or WAN
* Unmatched user experience on any device
* Unique performance monitoring of desktops
* Scalable, single image management                                            
* Lowest TCO with both hosted and streamed desktops
 

Come see XenDesktop in Action - See dual monitor support, apps delivered (streamed) with XenApp, including multimedia, USB device support, virtual remote technical support. And then see the experience when working from home - see the desktop session resumed exactly where it was in the office, and automatically refactored for single display.
        -------------------------------------------------------
Register Now!

Thursday, August 13^th, McCormick & Schmick's Pier 5 Inner Harbor
 

Agenda
11:30 - 12:00 - Registration
12:00 - 1:30 - Presentation, product demonstration and lunch
1:30 - 2:00 - Q&A and Wrap-up 
 

**All attendees will receive the "VDI Comparison Kit". It includes expert reviews and industry insights into what you should consider in choosing a VDI solution.

"Citrix Systems' XenDesktop is a state-of-the-art product for hosted desktop virtualization and may be the gold standard by which other products are judged in a feature-for-feature comparison."  Virtualization Review, April 2009

VM Hosted Apps will be introduced in Q3 2009 as part of Feature Pack 2 for XenApp. This brand new and unique application virtualization capability will extend our reach by delivering applications from a more diverse set of operating systems, further reducing application compatibility issues for our customer base and reducing time to value.

XenApp Enterprise and Platinum customers will be able to host Seamless applications from Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 in addition to Windows 2003 and Windows 2008. Applications will be able to be delivered from hosted virtual machines running desktop OS's and/or physical and blade PCs

I'm pretty excited by this new capability as our customers can now deliver a broader set of applications leveraging their existing XenApp investment. There are applications that couldn't be delivered on Terminal Services due to license restrictions. There are applications that consume too many resources on Terminal Services that make them a poor choice for a multi user operating system. There are applications that require devices like USB, biometric keyboards etc. Now there is a complimentary way to deliver these troublesome applications with XenApp.

It has been my experience, that sometimes you just want to get an application deployed quickly into the field. It could be business critical or something you just need to test briefly. Managing these one offs in distributed environment leads to inefficiencies over time even in organizations who have invested in lots of tools and processes. This is why centralized management has been an ability that has really resonated with customers and driven adoption of our application delivery model. However, application validation for a multi user environment can lead to a longer time to value, and depending on the use case this could mean going back to the distributed model when you need it quickly. So now with VM hosted apps the benefits of a centralized XenApp infrastructure can be realized much faster for a broader set of applications.

Here are some more details. Each user will have a 1-1 mapping to their VM Hosted Apps in the initial release. However in subsequent releases we will enable multiple published apps per user. The management experience will allow you to manage your traditional farms side by side. The infrastructure required to deploy this leverages our desktop virtualization technology. More details will be released as we get closer to the release date, and a number of information sessions are being planned, so stay tuned and check out Vinny Sosa's upcoming blog "TYPE TITLE HERE", pressures on Vinny to get it done.......

At Citrix we want to enable our customers to deliver all their hosted applications with us, and added this to round out the application delivery system.So what do you think? How would you like to see this evolve?

If you have been using provisioning services for any amount of time you have come to realize the benefits of how easy and quick it can be to update a OS image compared to the old school methods. In the past the exception to this would be if you needed to update the PVS client software, nic driver, or some applications that use network filter drivers you would have to "reverse image" your vdisk back to a local hard drive uninstall the pvs client software, install new pvs client software, reboot and then recapture the entire vdisk. For someone with only one vdisk this was not that big of a deal but for those that had 50+ different vdisk this was a major job. In the release of PVS 5.1 we now have a new feature to address these type of vdisk updates "Direct VHD Boot". This feature allows you to take the PVS VHD files and boot them up directly with in Microsoft's 2008 HyperV manager and update your pvs client software or nic drivers without having go through the above mentioned process.
This feature also allows you to maintain a common image between a physical target device and a HyperV VM you might want to stream to for a Xendesktop environment ... so one VHD image for both physical and virtual(streamed and hosted).

Below I will take you through the process of using this new feature.
1. For this example I have taken a windows7 pvs image which I created for a Wyse Rx0 series thinclient ( see below)

2. If you don't already have one go ahead a setup a 2008 server with HyperV enabled. Make sure you have plenty of space.
3. Copy the pvs image over to your HyperV server. You need both the vhd and pvp files.

4. Open HyperV Manager or SVMM on your 2008 server and create a new Virtual Machine.

5. Do not create a virtual hard disk. Select "Use an existing virtual hard disk" as seen below and browse to the location where you copied the VHD and PVP file.

6. Uncheck the box below that says "start the virtual machine after it is created.

7. Under your VM settings for your newly created VM Remove the current network adapter.

8. Add a legacy network adapter.

9. Assign the legacy adapter to the physical adapter on the host. In my case it is "external"

10. Start the new Virtual Machine.

11. Let the system install the new drivers and reboot

12. Uninstall PVS target device software and then reboot

13. Install Hyper-V's Integration services

14. Install Provisioning Services target device software.

15. If you do not get prompted to choose the NIC to Bind to as seen below. You will need to go to the pvs program files directory and run bindcfg.exe manually to get this menu.

16. Shutdown VM
17. Set it to boot to legacy NIC first

18. Now rename and Copy the modified VHD image back to the PVS server vdisk directory.

19. Add updated vhd as a existing vdisk

20. We now assign the new updated vdisk(vhd) to our Physical Client or Virtual Client(hyperv) In this case I am using a wyse Rseries thinclient to stream the windows7 image locally.

21. Set your vdisk to Standard Image Mode if not already.

22. You now should be able to boot your physical device(pxe/iso) and boot up the update vdisk(vhd)

23. Here is a Pic of the Wyse Rx0(no flash drive) booting from the win7 vdisk(vhd). This is booting over the wireless network via a Asus330g bridge. Not something we usually recommend for production but a pretty cool demo.

***If you are going to be upgrading from a 4.x version of PVS you will also need to run VHDConverter.exe against your vdisk to convert to the new VHD vdisk format.

With everybody I speak to and in everything I read it is obvious to me that Windows 7 is the next major Windows desktop OS uplift that is around the corner. Good, bad or indifferent, I don't think most people will argue that many people have skipped Vista, but clearly the sentiment is different with Windows 7. For years investments in desktop uplifts have been put off, and I believe that will change sooner than we expect. I've spoken to a number of key decision makers and ground floor engineers and consistently hear that many are actively planning how to adopt Windows 7 to replace what is now an old but good XP operating system. I hear talk of PC uplifts, application virtualization, compatibility, repackaging, systems management upgrades, the list goes on. I think great! Finally we are on the verge of an uplift that will allow us to move forward. Then I think back to my previous experiences with the realities of migrations and the debate over desktop virtualization.

It's fascinating to see so much debate evolve over whether to adopt desktop virtualization or not. I wonder if the binary debate over desktop virtualization is causing artificial confusion as budgets for 2010 and early Windows 7 adoption start to be planned over the coming months. Does the broad desktop community really understand why some people are implementing desktop virtualization today? Are uninformed myths and legends being created? I believe so. Having lived through this, I thought I'd share some of my experiences.

Back in 2004 is when I began my desktop virtualization journey. I already practiced and knew that remote desktops and applications with XenApp had been around for years, but I had some new use cases to solve for. I wanted to get around many of the constraints of a multi user operating system to enable better 'session isolation'. With this capability my users would be able to connect to their remote desktop sessions from anywhere with a Desktop-like experience. I found that this 'session mobility' coupled with session isolation was well received by mobile users who wanted to travel and were frustrated with the old way due to the time it would take to log into desktops due to roaming profiles and login scripts. Session mobility enabled these users to be more agile so they could travel and make fast, light-weight connections back to their desktops. As this evolved, more light bulbs started to go off. What if large, high power desktops could be removed to enable more user density per floor and lower cooling costs? What if thinner greener buildings could be constructed? What if disaster recovery sites could become easier to maintain? Could central management of desktops enable more efficient support models? Could PC lifecycles be extended? Could this capability enable faster and cheaper expansion into new global markets? So much was possible with this new desktop capability, and really it was not that different from the traditional way of remote apps and desktops, just different in that session isolation was key to deliver a desktop like experience. In addition, the benefits far out weighed the constraints when thinking about the business opportunity, and knowing that things would continue to evolve.  

So heads spinning, ideas buzzing, all the what-if constraints started to be thought through. Very quickly when looking at how to solve this problem, the key issue at stake was what's the best and most mature way to deliver the user experience. To cut a long story short, At the time ICA was the clear choice. So a trip to Citrix HQ was planned, arguments were had, this secret PortICA project was brought to my attention that had no use cases around it. A few months later, after a few drinks a few of us including Citrites were walking past Trinity church on Wall Street. Citrix at the time had an umbrella project called project Constellation, and there were three primary user types being thought of for this new desktop opportunity. "Bingo! we'll call it project Trinity," as a joke and it felt like it was a project Constellation theme. This is a true story, and it was just our internal fun name for the project. I couldn't believe it when Citrix announced it at iForum. I was sitting at the back of the room with a huge grin. I remember the Customer Council sessions at that conference, and enquiries from the Marketing team that there may be religious reasons for this, if only they knew..... The rest is history, and today Trinity has evolved into XenDesktop.

So five years on, I see many customers that are thought leaders beginning to adopt this new model and many more people thinking about it or confused about the use cases. Now that Windows 7 is around the corner, I think the time is now to really sit down and understand the desktop virtualization opportunity, if you haven't already. Understand your use cases, where it makes sense for you, where it doesn't and the big picture. Keep in mind how the industry is investing to enable even more capabilities to drive new use cases and lower TCO. Windows 7 means a fresh opportunity to redefine the desktop after so long. Even in the current economic climate customers continue to invest in desktop virtualization, because they understand the strategic significance that greater flexibilty and agility brings today. Now that may not apply to every desktop environment today, but desktop investments are about to get a shot in the arm. I would hate to be in a position of having to go back asking for budget exceptions if I hadn't thought about how desktop virtualization fits into my organization and invested in the wrong areas during upcoming refreshes.

With the release of Citrix Receiver for iPhone 1.02 including AG and RSA support, the ability to securely deliver any app, anywhere, is closer than ever to reality ( we already cover WinMo, Symbian and close to BlackBerry and Android ). One question I have been pondering with Martin Duursma and few others on the team is what is next ? It's great we can get to all these other Windows and RIA apps, but the app many of us use most is email. The question is, what is missing from the native iPhone email or Outlook ? What features would be most useful for a mobile app that we would use all the time from any device?

The native iPhone email client does a good job, but not everything. Attachment viewing is limited and sometimes crashes if the file is too big. You can't write an email and attach a file from your PC or file server. Also many company IT policies do not even allow iPhone access because of security concerns and lack of data / device control. Many of these obstacles could be overcome if the app was hosted on XenApp provided there was fast access and a great user experience. There are probably many new features that could enhance the email experience but you don't even know you want it or need it. Xobni is a good example of an Outlook value-add that I find useful even though I didn't even know I needed it before I started using it every day. So there must be mobile email features that would make your life easier, more productive, or just provide a better experience. What if you had an app that was optimized for the device real estate and mobile scenario ( ie just the functionality that you are likely to need when using your mobile device vs when using a laptop/desktop). If you could have the Nirvana app that was continuously available as a hosted app. Imagine the possibilities !    

Some things that come to mind are listed below, do you agree or have more for the list ? Please add your votes and comments.

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Big discussions are happening in August and will you be part of it?  Over three days in August a XenDesktop Ask the Architect TechTalk series will be delivered focusing on analyzing, designing and implementing a VDI solution. 

This particular series is focusing on the questions I hear over and over again: # I'm interested in VDI but I'm not sure where to start?

1. I already use XenApp but don't know if and when I should be using XenDesktop instead.
2. I've decided to go with XenDesktop as my VDI solution, but how do I design the environment correctly?
   

I believe many of you have similar questions.  Instead of answering these questions on a one-by-one basis, we've decided to do an Ask the Architect TechTalk series. 

Part 1: Virtual Desktops or Virtual Applications: Selecting Your Best Solution*(August 11 @ 1PM EDT)*

We've heard the debate from numerous people across numerous platforms... Should I use TSE or VDI for my organization? When should I use XenDesktop if I already have XenApp?  What type of virtual desktop do my users require? What options do I even have?

This is a big question and one that deserves the entire time. I encourage you to attend this session as it sets the stage for the rest of the week. If you can only attend one session, then this is the one to attend.

Part 2: Creating an Enterprise VDI Solution with XenDesktop (August 12 @ 1PM EDT)

Once you decided to use XenDesktop as your VDI solution, how do you create your enterprise design?  Would you believe there are essentially 4 things you need to know in order to create your XenDesktop design?  Based on those four items, you can design the entire infrastructure.  We will cover the design decisions for# Virtualization Infrastructure

1. OS Delivery
2. Application Delivery
3. Desktop Delivery
4. Virtual Desktop Design
   

Part 3: Successfully Migrating Users to Virtual Desktops(August 13 @ 1PM EDT)

Once the environment is designed and built, its time to move users over to the virtual system.  The cutover needs to be smooth and seamless for the users or else they will need to recreate their entire personalized desktop environment. This will not only take time, but will also give the users a bad first imipression of the overall solution. 

This TechTalk session focuses specifically on how to migrate user environments into the virtual desktop world. It will cover the options, ramifications, and approaches. 

This should be a great series with lots of good information. Hope to see you there!

Daniel - Lead Architect - Worldwide Consulting Solutions
Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/djfeller
Follow me in the Blogs: http://community.citrix.com/blogs/citrite/danielf

So I finished a round of reboots from having my demo/lab systems up for around 3 weeks. Of course, like any competent admin, I upgraded to the latest MS patches, butt (pun intended) like an incompetant admin, I didn't test (but I don't have a test lab at this point....hmmm, sounds like an excellent use case for XenServer Platinum!).

During the update, I also allowed .Net 3.5 SP1 to update itself. BAD MISTAKE! Read the notes...
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/951847
You see, this contains patches to ASP.Net 2.0, which integrates into some of the technologies Citrix provides.

Eventually what occurred is that the following systems failed, due to the dependencies on ASP.Net v2.0.50727:

Access Gateway Advanced Edition 4.5 HF04
XenDesktop DDC v3.0
Edgesight 5.1

The CPM Service also relies on ASP.Net v2.0, but so far looks stable after the update.

Now I don't fault our products at all, however, I would like is to be able to selectively choose which .Net framework gets updated via Windows Updates, instead being forced to update the entire family. It restricts my choice as an admin. Since MS chooses to bundle the entire family of updates now, I won't be installing .Net updates ever again.

To correct the problem, I went to each server and:
1. Open CMD
2. Navigate to \Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727
3. "aspnet_regiis.exe -i"
4. Reboot

I've also heard this breaks Sharepoint as well until you run the above commands....so go figure, it breaks MS products too!

In this section of the StorageLink Step by Step Series, Steve takes you through how to create Hyper-V virtual machines from storage templates.

In Part 1, Steve Umbehocker reviewed the installation of the StorageLink component of Citrix Essentials for Hyper-V. In Part 2, Steve reviewed the initial configuration of StorageLink after it has been installed. In Part 3 of the StorageLink Step by Step Series, Steve covers connecting to Storage Systems via the StorageLink Manager console. In Part 4, he covers how to create storage repositories (SRs) with the StorageLink console.

Express Edition Download
http://www.citrix.com/ehvexpress

StorageLink Deep Dive Webinar - http://community.citrix.com/blogs/citrite/barryf/2009/04/13/StorageLink+-+Essentials+for+Hyper-V+Deep+Dive+Webinar

StorageLink Demo Videos
http://www.citrix.com/ehv

StorageLink Overview - http://community.citrix.com/blogs/citrite/barryf/2009/02/23/StorageLink+in+Essentials+for+Hyper-V

Provisoning Services Overview - http://community.citrix.com/blogs/citrite/barryf/2009/03/20/Provisioning+for+Hyper-V+with+Citrix+Essentials

Lab Manager Overview - http://community.citrix.com/blogs/citrite/barryf/2009/03/19/Essentials+for+Hyper-V+with+Lab+Management

StorageLink Install Install Guide - http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX120789
StorageLink User Guide - http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX120791

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Within this one page you'll have all information on the Citrix and Intel relationship available at your fingertips...or mouse click so to speak.  

Interested in learning about Citrix's latest activities with Intel? We know your time is valuable and that's why we've consolidated all related news, blogs, articles, videos, etc... into the feeds section of this page. We've also created an area that highlights all related forum threads and postings. Look for answers to your burning questions, participate in an existing discussion, or post a new thread. Epitomizing the true nature of community... this page is here for you!  

Did you know that Citrix and Intel are working together to jointly develop a bare-metal Type-1 client hypervisor? Learn about and stay up to date on our joint collaboration of Citrix XenClient. View demos, read blogs and let us know what you think about this upcoming solution.

But it doesn't stop there! Get information and results on our joint product validation, benchmarking and scalability tests. You can even let us know how you're working with Citrix and Intel solutions together in our Community Verified area.

You're only one click away from all things Citrix and Intel. Stop by the Citrix Community page for Intel and check back often! And don't forget to follow us on Twitter!

To finish off with another Damone line, "isn't this great?"