The last time I wrote about XenServer and XenApp, I focused on a whole set of items like manageability, availability, flexibility and utilization.  This time, I want to focus directly on utilization as based on the feedback I've received it seems it's the one many people are interested in.

Even before the scalability numbers of XenApp and XenServer came out, I had numerous conversations about virtualizing XenApp.  And now that Citrix is showing the XenServer overhead for virtualizing XenApp, those conversations have increased, but I think some critical points are being lost.  A couple of months ago, Citrix did scalability tests to identify that XenServer has roughly a 7-8% overhead when virtualizing 64-bit XenApp, and roughly 20% when virtualizing 32bit XenApp servers.  I was like WOW, 64bit is great, barely any overhead.  But how many people are actually running a truly 64bit environment?

Most people have the hardware, as it has been sold for years. Most people also have access to the 64bit version of Windows and XenApp. So why aren't we all jumping on the 64bit bandwagon? Because it's the applications. Unfortunately, many applications that XenApp environments run are 32bit, and some are still 16bit!  This conversion to 64bit applications will take time (Does anyone else remember the 16bit versus 32bit migration that happened years ago? It wasn't an overnight thing. It took time. And yet there are still 16bit apps out there.)  So this fact makes it highly unlikely that organizations will be able to convert their XenApp environments into complete 64bit setup. This means many will stay with 32bit only or else have mixed 32/64 bit environments.  So let's focus on the 32bit environments, are they virtualization candidates?

Maybe And most likely Yes.

Take a look at many XenApp deployments and what resource do you typically exhaust first?  RAM.  It is because in Windows 2003, we are limited to 4GB of addressable RAM.  So, when we hit that limit, everything else in the system is wasted (processor, IO and networking).  And I've seen some applications take enormous amounts of RAM. Just the other day I was working on some detailed Visio drawings and Visio took 1GB of RAM.  Yes, I said gigabyte.  (Of course the drawing was about the Simpsons and how Homer stays at the forefront of technology - He even had a blog called "Mr X. - All the Muck That's Fit To Rake").  So, a 20% overhead on 32bit systems? I probably wouldn't notice as my entire server is barely utilized except the RAM.  

RAM is easy to install and one of the cheapest things to add to a server.  Use the same hardware and increase the RAM to at least 8GB.  Now, try to run 2 virtual XenApp servers.  You might not double your user concurrency, but you will get pretty close, which will equate to hardware and power savings.

So take a look at your physical XenApp servers. Is the RAM fully utilized? What about the processor utilization levels?  I bet more likely than not the RAM is fully committed and the processors are running at 10-40% utilization. 

Daniel

(Homer Simpson Quote: "I want to share something with you: The three little sentences that will get you through life. Number 1: Cover for me. Number 2: Oh, good idea, Boss! Number 3: It was like that when I got here.")

I just came back from BriForum in Chicago and besides the awesome event that was, one more thing came to attention, half of the Notebooks being carried around by attendees and speakers were Macs.

Carried away by the energy of the event I decided build something for our Citrix Community. A dashboard app that makes easier for our visitors to read the latest posts and collaborate with their comments.

 Meet the Citrix Blogs Widget

 With version 1.0 you get:

• The latest 30 Citrix Blog posts
• Adjust view from Full to Summary
• Collaborate with your comments
• Open posts on Safari or Firefox
• Spotlight Search (Instant search)
• Push updates (no refresh required)
• Watch blogged videos
• Check for updates
• Send feedback

Requirements:

• Mac OS X 10.4 or greater

Download via CDN:

Citrix Blogs Widget

—

Special thanks to Chris Anthony's group for designing our dashboard logo! Thank you guys so much!!!

I met Hal Rottenberg at TechEd this year and found out about his podcast on PowerShell (among the many other things he works on.) He mentioned Workflow Studio on episode 30 (at about 22:50 in):

http://powerscripting.wordpress.com/2008/06/22/episode-30-teched-report/

I am going to do an interview with Hal on Workflow Studio for an upcoming show so stay tuned...

In previous posts I discussed how to build a new workflow from a template we included in the tech preview (see Building Your First Workflow) and how to output objects to an XML file for debugging so you can understand the workflow (see Debugging Your Workflow). In this post I will answer the question posed in that first post of how you could modify the sample workflow to only show services that are set with a Startup Type of something other than Disabled. The answer to this question takes you into one of the areas where you can extend Workflow Studio to do things that aren't "built-in" to the product.

There are 3 main ways that Workflow Studio can be extended:

1. Build templates and share with others - This is the easiest way for you to extend Workflow Studio, all you have to do is build a workflow and choose "File...Save As Template" and then share it with someone else. Citrix has a site set up for you to upload and share the templates you build. Upload Your Workflow Templates
2. Create new Task Libraries - The left side of Workflow Studio is a set of libraries that we include with the product to integrate with Citrix products, Virtual Machine Manager, and Windows in general. There will be tools available for anyone interested to build their own integration to other products. These tools are not available publically yet, so if anyone is interested in building task libraries on top of Workflow Studio please contact me.
3. Leverage support for 'extensible' tasks - Workflow Studio has native support for you to embed PowerShell scripts, call VBScript, and run WMI queries as tasks as well as run Windows applications and command files.

This last area is the topic for this post. Here is a screenshot with these extensible tasks highlighted:

 

From top to bottom in the picture we have:

• Command Script - allows you to run a Windows command (or specify a .bat or .cmd file), optionally specify parameters and get back the text of the command session
• Get WMI Info - allows you to run WMI queries and get back the results
• Launch Process - allows you to run a Windows executable (there is also a Start Process that lets you schedule executables to be run)
• Windows Script - allows you to run VBScript or JScript directly (or call a script file)
• PowerShell Command - allows you to run a PowerShell cmdlet
• PowerShell Script  - allows you to run PowerShell script directly (or call a script file)

As you can see there are lots of ways to leverage Workflow Studio to complete tasks beyond the obvious, included ones. This could allow an admin to document existing scripts by turning them into workflows providing a visual record of how the process flow is structured and making complex scripts more easy to update as the process flow changes later.

Alright, back to the original problem - how do we modify our sample workflow to hide services that are set to disabled? After some searching around we find that the WMI query Win32_Service provides us with the same basic object, but with additional info like the Startup Type. By modifying our workflow to replace the "Get-Service" task with a "Get WMI Info" task and setting its "WMI Class" property to "Win32_Service" we now have an object that provides everything we need. One thing to note - the "Status" property that we were using on Get-Service is called "State" on the WMI object so we need to change our "Where-Object" to reflect that. The new Where-Object filter would be:$.State -eq "Stopped" -and $.StartMode -ne "Disabled"

The syntax for this filter follows PowerShell syntax so any PowerShell guide will help you with the syntax. Play around with this - hook up an "Export To XML" task to the WMI result so you can see all the properties and let me know what you think.
 

I was recently on a panel in Stockholm moderated by Brian Madden and Alessandro Perilli where, with Mike Neil, Avi Kivity, and Lance Berc, I enjoyed an engaging discussion on the future of virtualization.  The event was a great opportunity for the audience to dig into different products and vendor strategies and Brian and Alessandro allowed none of us to wriggle away from the real issues.  Definitely the best panel I've been on - and all due to the two moderators. 

Brian is one of a rare breed that I am seldom lucky enough to meet.   He's about 20 (probably permanently), super smart, and incredibly engaging and friendly. He dresses cool and trendy.  He is an excellent presenter and author. He also knows more about Citrix products than many people at Citrix, me included.  He has found and filled a key niche in the Citrix ecosystem for no-bullshit, hands-on, been-there-and-done-it technology and product expertise that has won him the respect of Citrix and its customers. As an independent advocate to our customer base he has developed a reputation for demanding answers, and getting them. 

So Brian's latest piece predicting the end of Xen should be seen in precisely that light - he's beating the hive with a stick to see whether bees will come buzzing out.   His logic is a little blunt - hence the stick analogy - but I value tremendously his approach  because it gives me an opportunity to clearly state the Citrix virtualization strategy, so that customers understand why an investment in Xen and XenServer is sound.  I guess it also drives clicks to brianmadden.com, which can't be a bad thing, eh Brian?

Brian predicts the end of Xen based on the following claims:

1. Citrix XenServer has "literally zero percent market share"
2. VMware has dominant presence in enterprises,
3. Microsoft Hyper-V will take over SME virtualization, so Citrix will abandon XenServer
4. The open source community will abandon Xen in favor of KVM

His argument is superficially appealing, but unfortunately completely wrong.  That said, I'm grateful that he has highlighted the need for Citrix to clarify its virtualization strategy, and I hope that this long, but rather rapidly prepared response goes some way towards doing so. 

1. XenServer has zero market share:  Setting aside Brian's challenging hyperbole, the XenServer business has been approximately doubling quarter on quarter since its first release - "approximately" only because the transition from XenSource to Citrix meant a new CRM system, new support system, new channel management, wrapping our heads around Citrix licensing and a ton of other overhead that took us a while to figure out, but which will accelerate our business in the back half of 2008. We have somewhere approaching 4,000 enterprise customers, and about 3000 trained channel partners.  (Watch for the inevitable follow up from Mike D at VMware who is still out to prove that he finished high school math).  VMware claims 100,000 customers.  Citrix has about 220,000 customers and about a hundred million users.  The XenServer market share is small, and growing as rapidly as any such product can given the current VMware brand status, and the fact that we started well behind them.  We had a few key blockers for enterprise adoption, four fifths of which are addressed in our forthcoming XenServer 4.2 release.

A recent analyst report that I saw gave us about 4% market share (by customers), which would seem a tad generous, but not far off.   But XenServer is just starting to show up in the market. HP and Dell have just started shipping XenServer embedded into their server hardware.  And with HP stating that XenServer HP Select Edition is HP's preferred embedded virtualization platform there must be something in it.  Yes, this is embedded virtualization done right - In each of our announced OEM deals, our partner gets to offer their customer the tremendous value of  a powerful virtual infrastructure component "built in", while adding their own differentiated value propositions on top.  And uniquely we charge one fixed price per server, not per core or socket.  We are proud to be a completely hidden component of a ProLiant server that is managed using HP's powerful multi-hypervisor VMM 3.5 (also manages VMware and Microsoft), integrated with HP Lights Out management and Systems Insight Manager, and with a compelling graphical ProLiant Virtual Console, whose UI is like my Mac.  After all, a key HP value prop to their customers is out of the box manageability. XenServer is also available integrated into Dell PowerEdge servers and soon with Dell OpenManage, and it is embedded into the NEC Eco Center and other x86 servers, x86 servers from Lenovo, and Egenera PAN Manager for Egenera servers, which is also resold as Dell PAN Manager. Each offers a powerful value-added, XenServer-powered customer experience that is simply not available with VMware or other products. And then there's Marathon EverRunVM and EverRun for XenServer - both of which offer five nines of availability for VMs. (Can others do this? No). Stratus Avance-- a perfect mid market appliance for business continuity on a pair of industry standard servers.  XenServer inside.  Avance is also sold by Dell (gosh, that's right: XenServer is inside three key Dell enterprise virtualization offerings). (Can other vendors do this? No).  Finally, most recently and strategically profoundly importantly, Symantec's Veritas Virtual Infrastructure (VVI) - an incredibly rich software offering from a major enterprise IT vendor that combines the incredible depth of the Veritas storage management suite with the powerful, open storage repository model of  XenServer to create a high-end enterprise offering that application level availability, and performance and management integrated with the industry's leading storage management solution stack. (Can the competition do this? No). 

The army of enterprise class competitors to VMware is growing.  XenServer is inside and it is compatible with Hyper-V. And it's not going away.  It's just that we allow our partners to make money from virtualization, and we don't demand to be the sole value proposition.  What a novel idea!

2. VMware owns the Enterprise: Ignoring Brian's second hyperbole (we all know that VMware has signed up many large enterprises to their ELA), remember that only 10-15% of servers are virtualized, and there is a long way to go yet.  Evidence of imminent change in this regard came a week ago on an ACM sponsored panel with the director of IT for a major F50 who said "We have more Xen in production than VMware.  An open architecture gives us greater scalability and control, and we cannot afford to rely on a single vendor."  There you have it - VMware, for all its success, has inherent weaknesses - the largest of which is its one size fits all, single vendor sells all mentality.  Its arrogance with customers and the channel, and the paucity of rich value-added ISV offerings around it all demonstrate their vulnerability.  It is VMware that will be the Netscape of Virtualization, and not Xen or Citrix.  We have never "wanted it all" and by having an approach that is founded on the notion of a rich, competitive choice of value-added offerings, we explicitly acknowledge that we will partner in key areas, and add value in others.  Citrix is after all a partner-centric vendor.

Our largest partner is of course Microsoft.  And we share with Microsoft and Hyper-V an entirely different view of virtualized infrastructure, one which is embodied in XenServer and Hyper-V: A virtualized infrastructure founded on fast, free, compatible and ubiquitously available hypervisors and a rich ecosystem of value added partners that address all customer needs. So Brian's statement is simply a statement of current market status.  Sounds big and bold, but nothing really new.

3. Microsoft will take the rest of the market:    It is important to state yet again that we are not in a competition for server sockets with Microsoft.   If that were the case, why would we have helped Microsoft to make Hyper-V a better hypervisor, by developing the shims and drivers that will allow Linux to run with optimal performance on Hyper-V?   The founding thesis of XenSource, and the continued strategy at Citrix, is to promote fast, free, compatible and ubiquitous hypervisor based virtualization.  If the hypervisor is free, why worry about who delivers it?  Let the customer pick the implementation method that they want - the real money is in the up-sell with products that make virtualization valuable for customers. 

I personally view Hyper-V as one of the most compatible implementations of the Xen architecture out there, and we guarantee that XenServer and Hyper-V are 100% compatible at the VM level.  So why not drop Xen and go with Hyper-V?  Xen is ahead of Hyper-V in scalability, cross platform support and crucially, support from a rich ecosystem of vendors all of whom stand to benefit from commoditizing the hypervisor, and continuing to make Xen great.   Xen and XenServer offer the industry a ring through the nose of a bull - called Microsoft.  We have a rope through that ring and we tug it from time to time to ensure that the bull goes the right way.  But when the bull charges (as it will now with the RTM of Hyper-V) we will step nimbly aside and watch the effect on our friends at VMware.

Who will use Hyper-V?  Over time, a lot of customers, starting in SME.  Will Hyper-V eclipse XenServer's footprint? Again, yes, over time and often for different use cases.  Microsoft still needs to extend the architecture to deal with live relo, offer better resource pooling than simply re-using Microsoft Cluster Server, and figure out how to deal with storage, but they will do a good job over the next few years. Do I feel threatened by that?  No.  Every implementation of the fast, free, compatible, ubiquitous hypervisor architecture offers us an opportunity to up-sell the customer with rich value-added features. Remember - we're the guys who made the hypervisor free!  Not for nothing have we been beating Microsoft about the ears to get the darn thing to market - it will offer us a terrific opportunity for up-sell.  With what? 

• XenServer Platinum today is already hypervisor agnostic. It can instantly boot and run a VM on Xen, Hyper-V, VMware and even bare metal, with a streamed VHD that offers better performance than local disk.  It even allows us to boot a thousand VMs from a single VHD, which is key to scalability for XenDesktop. 
• Oh, and then there's XenDesktop, our powerful VDI offering that presumes the availability of fast, free, compatible, ubiquitous hypervisors...  I see I'm starting to repeat myself.  XenDesktop is a key area of focus for Citrix, and the inclusion of XenServer as a technology feature is the right way to go about delivering desktops as a service.  No need to be a virtualization administrator - delivering desktops is hard enough already.   Doing it VMware style you have fights between the Desktop guy and the Virtual Center administrator about why a user's desktop disappeared, and no way to figure out why it all went wrong.
• XenApp (Presentation Server) on XenServer already offers a factor of five better performance than on "a leading virtualization vendor's product" (they'd sue me if I used their name, and it doesn't begin with M).
• And yes, there's more coming we haven't spoken about yet.

Bottom line on this point: XenServer today and in the future offers a powerful, Hyper-V compatible enterprise virtual infrastructure that is simply a component of many of the industry's most powerful virtualization offerings, including our own XenDesktop and soon XenApp.  XenServer at the platinum level today extends Hyper-V with powerful value-added features to address some of its key enterprise scalability needs, particularly in dynamic management of storage.  And it will soon be able to be managed by System Center VMM (or any other DMTF equipped management tool).

4. The open source community will abandon Xen for KVM:  Brian, please don't take offence, but I suspect that for many Microsoft MVPs, the workings of the open source community may be a little bit of a mystery. First, there is no such thing as "the (singular) open source community".  [The Xen community] is independent of any vendor, large, growing and vibrant. It is quite different from the [Linux kernel community], though we share a few developers.   Xen is a cross platform, type 1 hypervisor, OS neutral, that runs on ARM based PDAs, x86, PPC and SGI Itanium super computers.  Xen is in BIOS offerings from major vendors, available at point of sale on just about every x86 server, and embedded in network and storage chipsets and appliances. It has tremendous performance and leads in IOV hardware support and performance.  Xen is available from the major Linux Distros, but also in Sun xVM and Oracle VM in their virtualization offerings, and they are very committed to their products.  Xen is or soon will be available embedded in every x86 server.  Xen is used as a standard test on every AMD and Intel CPU, and is the foundation of the planet's largest deployment of virtualization, at Amazon.  Xen is present in or runs every major cloud, including Google (who recently began to host the open source project to develop a Xen equivalent of VM Safe).  And Xen is quietly emerging as an embedded hypervisor on laptops and PCs. At the Xen Summit last week, we had representatives from 12 countries, 14 universities, and 47 vendors - totaling about 175 core developers.  The research and work in progress indicated that the Xen project is stronger than ever, and far deeper and more powerful than "virtualization in Linux" - a role that I'm sure KVM will evolve to fill very well.   The Xen ecosystem is participating in the benefits of secure class 1 hypervisor based virtualization, while still being able to take advantage of the incredible innovation in Linux (which some vendors use as a parent partition / driver domain).  And of course in spite of their marketing fluff, the Red Hat engineering team continues to be a significant contributor to Xen (and we love them for it)  and Red hat has a seat on the project's advisory board. 

KVM is interesting, but rather late to the party - I think the world has already decided that hypervisor based virtualization is the way to go.  That said, KVM is arguably more convenient for a Linux distro - because they don't have to get their hypervisor from xen.org and their kernel from kernel.org, and combine them.  I like KVM a lot.  Great for Linux based developers too. But there's nothing really new in KVM - the technology has been in products such as Microsoft Virtual PC/Virtual Server, Parallels and so on for quite a while.  It's just a VT/AMDV driver added to Linux to allow it to host additional VMs.  Great if your usage model is "first install Linux, then use your Linux skills to install VMs".  None of our customers want that, though I'm sure the adopters of Xen in SLES 10 or RHEL 5 are comfortable with the model.  Unfortunately the KVM project isn't yet addressing any of the other key requirements for virtual infrastructure (virtualization-aware shared storage, snapshotting, cloning, thin provisioning, HA, and much more) it is just another way to do CPU and memory virtualization ... at a time when Xen already offers Linux a typical overhead of under 1% (SPECJBB), and a rich set of value-added features.  To be honest, I'd love to see the two projects working together to have a single extension code base to both core virtualization technologies, but the kernel.org folks are solely Linux focussed (good for them) whereas we tend to look at all OSes with a requirement for OS indepencence.  I also have a strong suspicion too that by the time the KVM folks are done, they will have discovered that they have to re-design many of the core Linux resource management algorithms to take account of VMs, so it's going to be a long and slow road. (There was a new performance comparison of Xen vs KVM at the Summit, which couldn't complete because the KVM test kept crashing, but I've seen earlier work that indicates that KVM performs very respectably).  Can the two projects co-exist? Of  course.   And Linux now contains the key paravirt_ops API for secure dynamic binding to a class 1 hypervisor - Xen, Hyper-V (we've built the shim) and of course VMware, who collaborated on the API development.  Ultimately the open source community will have the benefit of both approaches - type 1 and type 2. 

There is one intriguing aspect of KVM, namely its likely adoption by one or more Linux Distros. I'm looking forward to hearing how those vendors explain the value proposition of a product that contains two incompatible virtualization technologies, and no management framework other than a thin veneer of an API that is incompatible with the ([DMTF]) accepted industry standard for management of virtualization. [Added note, with thanks to follow-up poster: I forgot to mention that there is a project under way to provide the relevant DMTF profile support, but it's a long way off, and there's rumored to be an effort to address the VM incompatibility issue.  It would be a great step forward for open source if these projects would accelerate, and it would be a great way to accelerate the adoption of fast, free, compatible, ubiquitous virtualization by the Linux distros.]

Summary

1. XenServer is growing strongly on its own, and XenServer is inside the industry's most differentiated enterprise virtual infrastructure products from leading vendors.  It offers the greatest price performance, compatibility with Hyper-V, and a rich ecosystem of customer-focused value props for management, availability, dynamism and flexibility.  Get it in your next server, completely built in.
2. VMware has a strong lead, customer confidence, significant presence, and expensive, over priced products that demand customers buy into a single vendor, proprietary, closed, monolithic architecture that has significant architectural and scalability drawbacks.  Next time your VMware sales guy calls, ask him for some of the free stuff, or better, just download XenServer for free.
3. Microsoft Hyper-V is a fine implementation of the Xen architecture, compatible with XenServer.  It has a strong development plan.   XenServer today and in the future will extend Hyper-V to address advanced use cases, and to support specific Citrix/Microsoft product partnerships.  A good example is XenDesktop.  There will be others.  System Center VMM is a great product, and will be able to manage XenServer as well as Hyper-V and VMware.
4. The Xen community is vibrant and growing.   Xen is widely used, massively deployed, core to the product and corporate strategies of some of the industry's largest vendors.  Predicting its demise would be extremely naïve.  KVM is very "in":  interesting, incompatible and incomplete.  The two projects can co-exist independently and happily. 

Now, back to my day job!  And thanks again Brian for banging on the bee hive.  Beer on me.
 

I thought I'd kick off my Citrix blog with a question I get pretty often from Linux enthusiasts: how to install unsupported Linux distributions on XenServer 4.1.

The most common solution people find is to use the "Other Install Media" template, insert the distribution installation CD, and find that the mouse cursor doesn't work when they boot into X11. The reason for this is that they are using the hardware-assisted emulation mode of installing Linux. In this mode (dubbed "HVM"), all input and output is emulated, and in particular the mouse interface uses the USB tablet interface. If the distribution doesn't include a driver for USB tablets, then no mouse will appear.

Windows guests run at high-speed in HVM mode due to the installation of the XenServer tools which install high-speed drivers, but these are not necessary for Linux distributions since they can be run in para-virtualized mode (dubbed "PV"). This involves obtaining a Xen-enabled PV kernel from the distribution, and modifying the VM record in XenServer to boot into this kernel instead of HVM mode. The XenServer built-in templates for popular distributions such as RHEL, CentOS or SUSE Linux already automate all this and are in PV mode from the installer onwards.

In the remainder of this post, I'll explain how to take a distribution without direct support (Ubuntu 8.04), get it installed in HVM mode on XenServer 4.1, and convert it to PV mode with a XenCenter graphical console.

• Download the "Alternative Installation CD". The main installation CD uses graphical mode, which won't install as well in HVM mode due to the use of esoteric 16-bit mode instructions for the graphics operations. The 16-bit emulation mechanisms vary between processors (with better support on AMD chips, and a software instruction emulator required on Intel VT chips). However, the Ubuntu alternate CD uses a text-based installer which works fine.

• Create a new VM on the XenServer 4.1 host using the "Windows Server 2003" template. This template is set up with a sensible set of hardware emulation flags and default disks, and so is a good base for the HVM installation of Ubuntu as well. Attach the Ubuntu ISO you just downloaded to the VM, and proceed to install Ubuntu as normal. You should install it onto the first disk, to make the subsequent steps in this guide easier.

• When the installation is finished, reboot the VM (don't forget to detach the installation ISO first). It should boot up in HVM mode into the graphical login screen. The XenCenter display will show it as not being optimized, which is fine. At this stage, I prefer to work via a remote command-line using SSH. Open up a Terminal from Ubuntu, and run "sudo apt-get install openssh-server". Then find out the VM's IP address with "ifconfig eth0", and then connect to it remotely. Alternatively, you can continue to type in the commands directly into the terminal as well.

• On the Ubuntu guest, you now need to install the latest Xen version of the Ubuntu kernel:
  • Install the Linux kernel virtual package with "sudo apt-get install linux-image-xen". This is a virtual package which pulls in the latest Xen kernel and modules, in my case 2.6.24.19.21.
  • You now need to workaround a bug in grub. Due to the switch in recent versions of Linux to work with the hypervisor-independent paravirt_ops interface, update-grub doesn't update the grub configuration with your newly installed Xen kernel. To fix this:
    • Open /boot/grub/menu.lst in your favourite editor.
    • Scroll to the bottom to the kernel list, and find the entry which looks like:

      title           Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic
      root            (hd0,0)
      kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=UUID=<uuid> ro quiet splash
      initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic
      quiet
      

    • Add a new entry which is similar to this, but change all references to the 2.6.24-16-generic to the Xen kernel. In /boot I have vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-xen, so my new entry looks like:

      title           Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-19-xen
      root            (hd0,0)
      kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-xen root=UUID=<uuid> ro quiet splash
      initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-19-xen
      quiet
      

    • Also edit the default entry in the menu.lst to match the number of the kernel you just added. I set mine to 3, since it is the fourth entry in the list and the indexing starts from 0.

• When this is done, shut down the guest but do not reboot it just yet. You first need to edit the VM record for your Ubuntu VM to convert it to PV boot mode. From the control domain console of your XenServer:
  • Determine the UUID of the Ubuntu VM by using the xe CLI:
    • xe vm-list name-label=Ubuntu params=uuid --minimal : this will print out the UUID of the VM named "Ubuntu". If you are logged into the control domain, pressing the <tab> key will perform auto-completion of UUIDs in subsequent XE commands, so you don't need to keep typing it in every time!
    • xe vm-param-set uuid=<uuid> HVM-boot-policy= : this will clear the HVM boot mode from the VM.
    • xe vm-param-set uuid=<uuid> PV-bootloader=pygrub : this will switch the VM to using to the pygrub bootloader which starts the guest in PV mode by examining its filesystem for kernel.
    • vm vm-param-set uuid=<uuid> PV-args="console=tty0 xencons=tty" : this configures the kernel boot arguments to display the login console on the correct TTY, so that it shows up in the XenCenter console.
  • Next, you need to flag the root disk of the VM as bootable so that pygrub knows where to look for the PV kernel:
    • xe vm-disk-list uuid=<uuid> and look for the UUID of the VBD for the disk. VBD stands for "Virtual Block Device" and represents how to map the virtual disk into the virtual machine.
    • xe vbd-param-set uuid=<vbd uuid> bootable=true will set the root disk VBD to be bootable.

• You should be all set now! If you boot up the Ubuntu VM, it should start up in text-mode with the high-speed PV kernel. If it doesn't work due to an incorrect grub configuration, you can use the xe-edit-bootloader script in the XenServer control domain to edit the grub.conf until it works.

• The next step is to install the XenServer tools within the guest, so that metrics such as the network interface IP addresses are recorded and reported from XenCenter. To do this:
  • Due to a portability issues with the default shell in Ubuntu (dash), you will need to replace it by: sudo apt-get -y install bash && sudo dpkg-reconfigure dash. We've actually fixed this issue in future releases of XenServer, but for XenServer 4.1 you will need to use bash.
  • Attach the XenServer Tools ISO into the VM, and mount it into the guest with sudo mount /dev/xvdd /mnt
  • Install the tools with sudo dpkg -i /mnt/Linux/xe-guest-utilities_4.1.0-257_i386.deb.
  • The warnings about the VM being unoptimized should disappear, and additional information such as the IP address of the guest should appear in XenCenter.

• In order to access the Ubuntu installation via the graphical console, you need to configure it to run VNC on the external network interface. XenCenter polls the guest to see if it is listening on the VNC port 5900, and offers the option to switch to the graphical console if it finds it. I followed the excellent instructions on this forum post. To summarise them:
  • sudo apt-get install vnc4server xinetd : to install the required packages
  • Edit /etc/gdm/gdm.conf and uncomment the RemoteGreeter=/usr/lib/gdm/gdmlogin line, set the key Enable=true in the [xdcmp] section.
  • Install a new service file for xinetd into /etc/xinetd.d/Xvnc with the following contents:

    service Xvnc
    {
      type = UNLISTED
      disable = no
      socket_type = stream
      protocol = tcp
      wait = no
      user = nobody
      server = /usr/bin/Xvnc
      server_args = -inetd -query localhost -geometry 1024x768  -depth 16 -cc 3 -once -SecurityTypes=none -extension XFIXES
      port = 5900
    }
    

  • The major difference from the forum poster is to run it on port 5900, and not to restrict it to just localhost (since XenCenter also needs to connect to it).
  • Finally, restart the xinetd service by running sudo /etc/init.d/xinetd restart.

Once you're done with this installation, you can shut down the VM and convert it to a template. Any exports or clones will continue to run in PV mode, since the XenServer XVA export format records all of the metadata required to re-create the VM records.

Enjoy the Ubuntu on XenServer experience! Remember to report any issues you have with the in-guest packages on the Ubuntu support forums, or just give them positive feedback.

PS: many thanks to Andrew Peace and Ian Campbell for assistance. May their Linux beards remain long and uncut.

For quite a few years, I've developed a set of Visio stencils that I've used, along with many of my coworkers, to create detailed design architectures for a Citrix solution. The stencils have morphed over the years and I have now consolidated them into a single package.  This one stencil has just about everything you will need to create detailed Citrix solution diagrams.  Included are items for the following products:

• XenApp
• XenDesktop
• XenServer
• NetScaler (includes rack-mountable stencils and NetScaler MPX)
• WANScaler (including the new Branch Repeater)
• Access Gateway
• Application Firewall
• Provisioning Server
• EdgeSight
• Password Manager
• Workflow Studio

I'm always looking for ideas on what's missing so there can be one comprehensive stencil set for Citrix solutions. Drop a comment and let me know what else is needed.

Download Visio Stencils here

Now that XenDesktop is out and about, you can certainly tell that users will be experimenting with multiple different settings and scenarios, exposing it to some unknown deltas.

Enabling verbose logging on XenDesktop can help you better understand what goes on behind the scene and troubleshoot issues.

There are three component to be enabled with verbose logging within XenDesktop: Delivery Controller, VM Manager, and Workstation agent.

The procedure is exactly the same for all three components, just follow these simple steps:

Desktop Delivery Controller

1) Create a new directory (ex. "C:\CDS")
2) Change security settings to allow Network Services and Local Service "Full Control" over the new folder.
3) Open the following ".exe.config" files in a text editor:
       C:\Program Files\Citrix\Desktop Delivery Controller\cdscontroller.exe.config
       C:\Program Files\Citrix\VMManagemenet\CdsPoolMgr.exe.config
4) Modify the following section, change the <logFilename> variable, specifying a file within your new directory:
      <appSettings>
      <add key="LogToCDF" value ="1"/>
      <add key="LogFileName" value ="C:\CDS\<logfilename>.log"/>
      </appSettings>
5) Finally, reboot your server to start logging.

Workstation Agents:

1) Create a new directory (ex. "C:\CDS")
2) Change security settings to allow Network Services and Local Service "Full Control" over the new folder.
3) Open the following ".exe.config" file in a text editor:
       C:\Program Files\Citrix\Virtual Workstation Agent\WorkstationAgent.exe.config
4) Modify the following section, changing the <logfilename> variable, specifying a file within your new directory:
      <appSettings>
      <add key="LogToCDF" value ="1"/>
      <add key="LogFileName" value ="C:\CDS\<logfilename>.log"/>
      </appSettings>
5) Finally, reboot your workstation to start logging.
 

Today I have received two new applications to play with; that's exactly what I did.

After installing and playing with both apps, I can say they do exactly what their respective developers advertised. Each can be very useful to deployments and day-to-day admin tasks.

Kudos to both developers. I hope you guys find these apps usefull, if not, let them know where and how they can improve.

As you may have seen in previous blog discussions some of us are very keen on the idea of a device that goes beyond the existing smartphone limitations of small screens and keyboards. The ability to connect to XenApp - XenDesktop from a phone and view it ( & use it ) on a large screen is now possible. This pic shows the Nirvana Phone concept with an iMate 6150 and a standard monitor and BT keyboard. We are not at Nirvana yet, but these devices make it visible we are getting closer.

Do you ever go on trips and wish you could leave your laptop home?	Choose
All the time
Occasionally
Wishfull thinking ..

Let us know of other candidates for the Nirvana Phone, and what you think is still missing.

Adam Jacques gave a brilliant demonstration of project Apollo Accelerated Bitmap Remoting at Citrix's Application Delivery Conference in Melbourne, Australia. Take a look at this 5-minute video on YouTube.

Derek Thorslund
Product Strategist, Multimedia Virtualization

The PowerScripting podcast including the interview with myself on Workflow Studio and PowerShell has been posted:

 http://powerscripting.wordpress.com/2008/07/07/episode-32-citrix-does-powershell/

The interview with me starts at 15:30 in.

Enjoy!

I've used the spare time between two projects to create version 2.0 of the XenDesktop VDA Configurator.
This version has a better Active Directory browsing mechanism (faster & more reliable), checks for GPO configurations of the Virtual Desktop Agent (VDA) and shows you all XenDesktop Farms (Name, GUID, AD location) which can be discovered.

The tool itself:

The show farms dialog:

 

Download here

I hope you find it as helpful as I do...

Cheers,
Thomas

PS: If you feel the need for any other tool related to XenDesktop, just drop a comment here and I'll see what I can do for you.

To satisfy the legal guys:

Disclaimer Notice

This software / sample code is provided to you "AS IS" with no representations, warranties or conditions of any kind. You may use, modify and distribute it at your own risk. CITRIX DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WHATSOEVER, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, WRITTEN, ORAL OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, you acknowledge and agree that (a) the software / sample code may exhibit errors, design flaws or other problems, possibly resulting in loss of data or damage to property; (b) it may not be possible to make the software / sample code fully functional; and (c) Citrix may, without notice or liability to you, cease to make available the current version and/or any future versions of the software / sample code.  In no event should the software / code be used to support of ultra-hazardous activities, including but not limited to life support or blasting activities.  NEITHER CITRIX NOR ITS AFFILIATES OR AGENTS WILL BE LIABLE, UNDER BREACH OF CONTRACT OR ANY OTHER THEORY OF LIABILITY, FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER ARISING FROM USE OF THE software / SAMPLE CODE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION DIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHER DAMAGES, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.  Although the copyright in the software / code belongs to Citrix, any distribution of the code should include only your own standard copyright attribution, and not that of Citrix.  You agree to indemnify and defend Citrix against any and all claims arising from your use, modification or distribution of the code.

Installation of the EasyCall Gateway

 
The EasyCall Gateway is an easy to implement and manage solution that communication-enables the enterprise applications.  The EasyCall Gateway appliance is deployed as an adjunct to the corporate telephone system.  The EasyCall Gateway client software is installed, streamed, or published to user desktops to communication-enable Windows XP or Vista applications.   
Note: For detailed information on the EasyCall Gateway features and configuration, refer to the EasyCall Gateway Administrator's Guide.

Unpacking the System

 Inspect the box in which the EasyCall Gateway was shipped and note if it was damaged in any way. If the appliance itself shows damage, you should file a damage claim with the carrier who delivered it. Verify that the contents of the box match the packing list. If an item on the packing list is missing from the box, contact Citrix Customer Care.
 

Materials Needed for Installation

• An ethernet cable to connect the appliance to your network.
• If using QSIG integration with the telephony system, one to four crossover voice DS1 cable(s). Your telephony system vendor can specify the number of cables required.

EasyCall Gateway Implementation Guidelines

EasyCall Gateway implementation must follow these guidelines:
• EasyCall Gateway integration supports only one protocol (QSIG or SIP) at a time. A site that uses more than one protocol will need one EasyCall Gateway per protocol type.
• You cannot share a EasyCall Gateway between two telephony systems, even if the two systems use the same protocol.
• The number of EasyCall Gateways needed for a site is based on the user load and the trunking used for integration. You can implement multiple EasyCall Gateways to support larger user bases.
• In a private network with multiple telephony systems, the EasyCall Gateway can be installed at a central location to serve users at satellite locations
  

Setting Up the Hardware

The EasyCall Gateway connects to your network inside the firewall. The connection can be through a hub or switch. The EasyCall Gateway does not support connection to a server load balancer or a connection that straddles two networks.
"Interface 1" refers to the left-most ethernet port when facing the front of the EasyCall Gateway.

To physically connect the EasyCall Gateway

1.     Install the EasyCall Gateway in a rack if it is rack-mounted.  For more information, see "Rack-Mounting the Appliance" on page 11.
2.     Connect the power cord to the AC power receptacle. For power requirements, see "Appliance Specifications" on page 19.
3.     Physically connect the EasyCall Gateway to your network. The interface used for connection depends on the trunking type and whether you will use DHCP to assign an IP address to the EasyCall Gateway. For SIP trunking, always use Interface 1. For QSIG trunking, use Interface 1 to initially configure the appliance using its default IP address (10.20.30.40) or use Interface 2 to use a DHCP-assigned IP address.
 • To initially connect to the appliance via its static IP address, configure its IP address on the 10.20.30 net (netmask 255.255.255.0) and connect the appliance to your network with an Ethernet twisted pair cable.
 • To assign an IP address to the appliance through DHCP, provision the host name of the EasyCall Gateway on your DHCP server and connect the appliance to your network with an Ethernet twisted pair cable.
4.   To access the administration tool, open https://10.20.30.40:8443 in a Web browser.
      For instructions on changing the preconfigured IP address, see "Configuring TCP/IP  
      Settings" on page 4.
5.   Connect the PRI span in the EasyCall Gateway to your telephony system. Consult
      your telephony system vendor regarding the number of connections required.
6.   Power on the EasyCall Gateway.

We are all used to the familiar commands to configure IP Addressing on *nix and *dows types of systems, however there is a little bit of a trick involved with XenServer. 

Imagine if you had built your XenServer in one location and then transported it to another location where a different IP Addressing scheme was being used.  In order to have XenCenter come in contact with the XenServer again, you will need to re-configure the Management IP Address.  Since you probably won't RTM, and you don't want to rip your hair out trying to figure it out, the steps are outlined in this XenServer Tip.

Download this XenTip.

Tap into the power of AppExpert!

Configuration of the EasyCall Gateway

1	Connect to the Specify server via the default url Https://10.20.30.40:8443 Username = root Password = rootadmin   Click Login.
2	After login completes you will be presented the Dashboard screen.
3	Select the Network Configuration tab on the left menu.  Enter new network information.  At this time you do not need to configure interface 2
4	Select the Static Routes tab which shows information which is entered automatically when the network configuration is completed.  You should not need to enter any data at this time.
5	Select the DNSHost tab is used to enter the network DNS servers.  Enter current data and select the Submit button
6	To specify license server information  *1. In the administration tool, click *License Management.  2. Enter the IP address or the host name of the Citrix License Server.3. If you are using Citrix Presentation Server (XenApp) Platinum Editionlicenses for the EasyCall Gateway, select the Use Citrix PresentationServer Platinum Licenses checkbox.4. Click Submit.For more information, refer to "Pointing to a Citrix License Server" in the_EasyCall Gateway Administrator's Guide_.
7	To define the properties of your trunk  *1. In the EasyCall Gateway administration tool, click *Trunk Configuration.    2. Select the switch type to display the settings specific to the switch and thenenter the settings provided by your telephony specialist.3. Click Submit.For more information, refer to "Configuring the Trunk" in the EasyCall Gateway_Administrator's Guide_
8	The Trunk Configuration Advance tab lets you select external IP, Local network, user name, and secret password.  These fields are not needed at this time.
9	To configure call handling 1. In the administration tool, click Call Configuration. 2. From Country, select the country in which the EasyCall Gateway islocated. 3. The International Dial Prefix will be pre-populated based on the country selected. 4. The Domestic Dial Prefix will be pre-populated based on the Country selected. 5. In Area Code, enter the local area code for the EasyCall Gateway. 6. In Trunk Access Code, enter the prefix that must be dialed to access an outside line from the corporate telephony system. 7. In Voice Mail Extension, enter the access number for the telephony system's voice mail. 8. Click Submit. For more information, refer to "Configuring Call Handling for the EasyCall Gateway Locale" in the _EasyCall Gateway Administrator's Guide_
10	To configure a directory source  *1. In the administration tool, click *Directory Source Configuration.  2. Click Add and then on the Server Configuration tab, select the Source Type that you will configure, either LDAP or CSV. For detailed information on the LDAP and CSV settings refer to the EasyCall_Gateway Administrator's Guide_.
11	Server Configuration tab, select the Source Type that you will configure, either LDAP or CSV. For detailed information on the LDAP and CSV settings refer to the EasyCall_Gateway Administrator's Guide_.
12	Select the Attibute Configuration tab.  This page will show you the current fields and the parameters that are entered by default.  Changes are only necessary if fields do not match current environment.
13	Select Maintenance > Backup/Restore and follow the backup process on that page to backup the system configuration files. Section not needed during POC setup.
14	Select Upgrades tab.  Follow instructions on the page to select the upgrade image and then select Upgrade.  The image will be loaded on the EasyCall gateway and the system will prompt you to reset the gateway.
15	Select Services tab to view current status and also to shutdown or restart the EasyCall Gateway.
16	Select Date/Time tab to set current time for the EasyCall Gateway.  Select Submit to activate the settings
17	Select Password tab if it's needed to change the default password for the user root..

ClearType (aka Font Smoothing) is a software technology developed by Microsoft that improves the readability of text on existing LCDs, such as laptop screens, Pocket PC screens and flat panel monitors. With ClearType font technology, the words on your computer screen look almost as sharp and clear as those printed on a piece of paper.

For the longest time Microsoft ClearType has been working properly inside an ICA session with Citrix Presentation Server running on Windows 2000 Server, but it did not work with XenApp 4.5 running on Windows Server 2003.

As previously mentioned Citrix was working on an update to XenApp 4.5 for Windows Server 2003 to utilize this new Microsoft Update for Terminal Services to provide ICA users with ClearType support.

Well, on July 7th (yesterday) Citrix released a hotfix for XenApp 4.5 on Windows Server 2003 that enables ClearType on its XenApp 4.5 Servers.

Note: This patch also rectifies several other issues in XenApp 4.5. You can find the list of fixes by clicking here.

If you want to learn more about ClearType, I can suggest two great articles on this subject:

• Jeff Muir on ClearType and Terminal Services.
• Helge Klein has written an excellent article on ClearType Bandwidth requirements on Terminal Services.

Cheers,
Gus

The first question that most people ask me after seeing Workflow Studio in action is:

"Wow! That's cool, but what can I do with that?

I would like to use this post to try to explain why I think you should be doing automation in your data center today and then look at some different processes that are good candidates for automation with Workflow Studio.

Why should you automate?
The IT data center of today often includes products from many different vendors and consists of both hardware devices and software. Often, the SDKs that are available for all of these devices and software are quite inconsistent and some of your processes may have been developed by a consultant who is no longer around. Stop and ask yourself this question:

Are all of my processes consistently repeatable by anyone on the team?

If you can't answer 'yes' to that question then you should be looking into IT Process Automation. And if you want an easy way to automate tasks across multiple products/components without the need for complex scripting, then take a look at Workflow Studio.

Here are some broad categories for types of automation you might want to have in your data center:

1. On-Demand Automation - Being able to launch a process that combines several tasks, possibly with some simple user input, in response to something that has happened in your environment (e.g. A call or email comes in that a new user needs to be setup, a new application installed, or permissions modified for a user.)
2. Schedule-Based Automation - Schedule a task to be performed at a set time each day (e.g. Restart your servers every night at midnight.)
3. Event-Driven Automation - Automate a set of tasks based on system events (e.g. When load is increasing bring more servers online and when load decreases take servers offline)

If you download the Tech Preview of Workflow Studio (free download here) you can look at some of the sample templates we include with the product and get a look at some On-Demand Automation out of the box. The Tech Preview doesn't really provide any help with scheduling or event management, but this type of functionality is being added to the product.

Next, let's look at what I think are the 3 key categories of use cases for Workflow Studio and some examples that you could put in action today:

1. Server Resource Management = Dynamic Delivery Center - Transform your data center into a delivery center by creating workflows that tie together your server provisioning process (both physical and virtual) with your web, desktop, and application delivery processes.
2. Power Management = Green Data Center - Being able to power on/off both physical and virtual servers automatically provides the ability to better manage your resources and, ultimately, save $$ by having your power-hungry servers off when they are not needed.
3. User Management = Automated User Provisioning - Every organization has a process for provisioning and de-provisioning user accounts, but often these processes involve multiple manual steps. Automating the process end-to-end ensures that best practices are followed in exactly the same way each time.

I hope this encourages everyone to think about what kinds of tasks you could automate in your environment. Let me know in the comments what kinds of things you would like to automate or you can find my email address in my profile if you want to email me directly.

Citrix Online is continuing this popular free beta until later this year. However, beta users have asked Citrix how GoToAssist Express will be priced once the free beta ends.

After the free beta, GoToAssist Express will be priced as follows:
•Monthly Plan: $69 per month
•Annual Plan: $660 per year (Save 20% off the Monthly Plan!)
•Day Pass: $9.95 per 24-hour period

Plus, everyone (including beta testers) will be eligible for a 30-day free trial.

Beta users will receive a 30% discount - that's $48 a month or $462 a year.

Again, GoToAssist Express is still absolutely free for now, and these prices will not apply until the official launch of GoToAssist Express later this year. Citrix will give plenty of advance notice to users before ending the beta.

All plans will include:
•Unlimited product usage
•One-click session entry and remote diagnostics
•Live Chat and file transfer
•Session reporting (tracks billable hours)
•24/7 support and unlimited product upgrades

Monthly and Annual Plans will include the ability to set up Unattended Support on an unlimited number of client computers. Day Passes do not include Unattended Support capability.

If you have any questions you can also contact the GoToAssist Express team on: 1-888-521-0542 or customercare@gotoassistexpress.com

In the mean time check out: GoToAssistExpress.com and sign-up for the free beta.

cheers,
Gus

I make a living convincing applications to run, that were never "installed".  For this, I have many people to thank. 

I now take this opportunity to personally thank:

• The inventor of the windows Registry
• The inventors of COM and OLE and specifically the COM use of the registry for object registration!  Awesome!
• The person who thought it would be a good idea to share C Runtime DLLs under the \Windows space to save RAM
• Application vendors that don't "get it" that user settings go in the "user" space and that you can't update \Program files at runtime.

The fundamental item that keeps me happily working is that the majority of this stuff entails INSTALLATION TIME configuration activity that arguably shouldn't exist.   Looking back to DOS 3.3, life used to be much simpler.  Here's how I used to do it

• The operating system goes onto drive C:
• Applications and data go on drive D:

Assume you need to reload the OS frequently - or that you move from machine to machine to machine all the time.  Nicely, this hasn't changed.   After installing the operating system, you update PATH in the autoexec.bat and POOF!  You're DONE!

Today (I mean, really today - right now), I'm reloading my primary dev box. I've been reloading it for about a week, an hour here and an hour there.  Writing this blog gives me something to do while the various programs re-install.  Thankfullly, all the "streamed" apps are instantly available.

Why reloading?  Well, something got confused in the registry and it was no longer willing to work right.  I'm a certified expert at this stuff and the best I can come up with to describe the problem is that is it "no longer willing to work right".  Yes, I could probably diagnose why that application install I ran blew the machine away, but it isn't worth it.  I'll just reload the machine and be done.  Machines seem to behave faster after a reload anyway. 

HEY - This is one of the driving factors for application isolation.  Prevent things from getting out of whack. 

Its all my fault though - I messed with it.   I installed something and the machine then requires a reload.  .  Why is this my fault?   I'm struggling with the advancements in computer science that now require even a single application installation to be database driven, update system DLLs and executables, the application space itself and include numerous "registrations" such as COM.  All of this stuff seems superfluous.  In 20 years, I've gone from a 4.88 MHz machine where I could reload the entire machine in 30 minutes to a 2,000 MHz machine * 4 processors machine that now takes about a week to get back into working shape. 

"My Applications"

Consider also that I have to be an "administrator" to install applications.  Why is this?  Most applications are just executables and data files.   If I have a "My Documents" folder, why don't I also have an "My Applications" folder.   My applications should be mine, located some place other than where the OS is and they should be "installable" on another computer with nothing more than XCOPY /S /E.

A Xen World

What I really want is a pristine Operating System image, with a bunch of applications streamed on top of that image and my user data.  I don't really care how  the applications get there.  My administrator should just take care of this.  All of this should be maintained by my administrator because even as a techie, I don't want to deal with updating the applications, or the operating system.   If I were a "real user" I would really have little patience for all this configuration stuff.  Give me an icon and let me do my work.  It should be that simple, but interestingly, the complexity of getting to this centrally managed world is a difficult one do do with low cost and simplified mainteance. Its such a hard problem that Citrix, VMWare, Microsoft and all the vendors in this space are working on exactly this problem as the next big thing in the computer world.

For computer evolution, I dream back to the easy days 20 years ago.  Maybe in 10 more years, life will be as simple as the olden days.

Joe Nord

One of my side projects these past couple of months has been XenAppPrep - a tool that will help you clone XenApp servers. This tool plays a key role in rolling out XenApp via Provisioning Server, XenServer, and other image-based deployment technologies. I've written a blog about this and recommend checking it out if you're interested in cloning XenApp servers. If you have any questions, feel free to leave me a comment. Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated!

In a previous post about use cases for IT Process Automation and Workflow Studio I mentioned building a workflow to facilitate a "Green Data Center". Workflow Studio can help with this by managing the workloads on your servers and turning servers off when they are not needed. In this post I will show you 2 ways that you can shutdown a windows server from a workflow (these are native to Windows, if you are using 3rd party tools let me know in the comments.)

1. "Launch Process" Task - Windows has a built-in utility (shutdown.exe) that can shutdown computers on your network remotely. Using the Workflow Studio "Launch Process" task allows you to call the shutdown command and pass it the arguments you want for your needs. You can see all the arguments by typing "shutdown /?" at your command line and there are several detailed write-ups on Microsoft's site (here and here for example).
2. "PowerShell Script" Task - WMI has a class (Win32_OperatingSystem) that can be used to shutdown computers as well. Workflow Studio has a task called "Get WMI Info" that is designed to query WMI classes, but unfortunately it cannot call methods on the WMI classes. We will need to leverage a scripting environment like PowerShell to be able to call the method (or you could use VBScript.) Fortunately, in PowerShell we only need one line of code to achieve this:

(Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_OperatingSystem -ComputerName <computer name>).shutdown()

Add that line of code to your "PowerShell Script" task and replace the <computer name> with the name of the computer you would like to shutdown.

In this post I looked at shutting down a Windows Server, but in future posts I will expand this and look at how to use Wake On LAN to power machines back on, how you can manage power on a XenServer host machine, and how you can integrate this with logic to monitor when to shut down and start up your servers.
 
Power management is an area that we are working diligently on internally to build out a robust set of tasks for you. Have you tried automating server shutdown processes in your data center? What issues do you face? What kinds of inputs do you want to be able to leverage to determine when to shutdown a server?

Did you know that Citrix has a private Customer Advisory Community that enables global Citrix customers to serve as virtual advisors, providing their perspectives and opinions in an online forum?  The Customer Advisory Community is comprised of 400 Citrix customers who span more than 30 countries and represent a broad cross-section of industries and organizations.

Customer Advisory Community members log in to the site each week, and provide Citrix with a wide range of feedback, including insight into their organization's IT direction, IT industry trends, and feedback on Citrix products, services and marketing, among other topics.

The Customer Advisory Community has a limited number of openings for new members this month, and we would like to offer Citrix customers the opportunity to be considered for membership!   

As a member of the Citrix Customer Advisory Community, you would have the ability to:

• Provide insight into your organization's needs and challenges
• Share your thoughts on a variety of technology industry topics
• Learn early on about new Citrix initiatives and influence their direction
• Interact and network with your peers in a private, online forum
• Receive periodic rewards in exchange for your participation (if your organization's policies allow)

Those chosen to participate in the Citrix Customer Advisory Community will be asked to complete a click-through Non-Disclosure Agreement, create an account, and then log in and contribute their thoughts (via surveys, bulletin boards, etc.) an average of 5-15 minutes per week. Citrix partners with Communispace Corporation, a professional community management firm, to host and moderate the online advisory community.
 
To be considered for membership, please complete this brief, 10-minute questionnaire by July 25, 2008. Customers using one or more Citrix products are encouraged to apply.

Your responses will be kept confidential, and will be used only to determine your membership in the community. You will then be notified within the next few weeks about the status of your membership.  
 
We hope to see you in the community!

Disclaimer

It is the responsibility of the sysadmin to take into consideration the security implications of performing the steps outlined in this article. Knowledgeable readers are invited to provide additional insight, corrections, or suggestions in their comments.

Motivation

Up until recently, the XenApp Unix Admin Guide suggested that the rsh command be used when publishing applications that needed to connect to yet another machine to provide the application. The typical use case for this was when administrators would like to publish an application on a platform that the XenApp Unix server product does not run on (e.g. Linux, FreeBSD, etc.). Due to the lack of security provided by the rsh facility, it is recommended that users use the ssh command instead. This article is meant to act as a tutorial for sysadmins who need to do this and would like a single place to go for a reference.

This update was inspired by an astute response to a previous blog article. 

Setting Up Host Based Authentication

This step is only necessary if your requirements are that users should not re-authenticate when a connection is made from the XAU server to the host providing the application (henceforth the apphost)

When your XAU server's Public Host Keyis placed in the appropriate location on the apphost, the SSH server daemon assumes that any incoming users have been properly authenticated and will not reauthenticate. However, if the incoming userid does not exist on the apphost, access will not be granted.

Configuring the XAU Server machine

1. As root, using ssh-keygen, create a private key file at /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key
   Quite often, this is done at OS installation time, and this step is unnecessary.
2. Make sure that file is only readable by root
3. Copy the file /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key.pub to a secure location on the apphost.
4. Set the ssh client binary to setuid root on the XAU Server.
5. Find ssh-keysign on your machine, and make sure that it is setuid root .
6. In /etc/ssh/ssh_config, set HostbasedAuthentication to yes .

Configuring the Apphost

1. In /etc/ssh/sshd_config on the apphost, set the config option HostbasedAuthentication to yes
   (for Sun's sshd, you might need to add this directive)
2. in the file ssh_host_rsa_key.pub that you just copied over, add the canonical hostname of the XAU Server machine to the beginning of the first (and what should be the only) line in the file, followed by a space. e.g.
   potato.citrix.com ssh-rsa AAAAB3N.../CIMtw==
   Then append ssh_host_rsa_key.pub to /etc/ssh/ssh_known_hosts
3. Append the line
   +<hostname>
   to the file /etc/ssh/shosts.equiv where <hostname> is the canonical hostname of the XAU Server machine.

1. Tell the sshd process to reread its configuration file.
   cat /var/run/sshd.pid | xargs kill -HUP
2. Finally, ensure that any users on the XAU Server that you would like to allow access on the apphost have entries in /etc/passwd on the apphost.

Publishing the remote application

The steps in this section are outlined in the admin guide, but some examples of the contents of the published scripts will be provided for concreteness.

Publishing vi in text mode on the remote machine lettuce.citrix.com

#!/bin/bash
xterm -e ssh -t lettuce.citrix.com vi

Publishing emacs in graphical mode on the remote machine tomato.citrix.com:

#!/bin/bash
ssh -X tomato.citrix.com emacs

References

• the sshd manpage
• the ssh manpage
• the sshd_config manpage
• the ssh_config manpage
• the ssh-keygen manpage

Mein Name ist Danny Wannagat,

 als Lead Systems Engineer betreue ich das Thema Server Virtualisierung in Central Europa.

Dazu gehören die Produkte:
XenServer
Provisioning Server DataCenter Edition

 In diesem Blog versuche ich sie über die aktuelle Technology und Neuigkeiten auf dem Laufenden zu halten.

Viele Grüße
Danny Wannagat

Citrix Online is releasing updated versions of its popular GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar conferencing software with complete support for the Mac, and integrated VOIP and telephone audio capability.

Due to the sharp increase in Mac use among customers, Citrix Online decided the "time was right" to create OS X-native versions of both programs.

Kineon Walker, Citrix Online Product Marketing Manager said in an interview with MacNN that our main customers – smaller businesses – have been more willing to embrace the Mac than larger firms that have huge investments in other computing platforms. Although earlier versions of GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar allowed Mac users to participate in conferences, the new editions allow them host meetings and have the same features as their Windows counterparts.

The integration of VOIP and audio eliminates a major hassle for conferences where some users connect via the Web, while others dial in over traditional telephone lines. Until now, conference moderators had to come up with a way to patch both sets of users together, usually by trying to hold a telephone while using a computer headset at the same time. Kineon says that feature and others are part of a strategy to make both products simple to use, especially for smaller companies with limited IT budgets.

GoToMeeting is designed for smaller conferences and impromptu meetings while GoToWebinar supports presentations to audiences of up to 1000 people. Users can present information, demonstrate products or conduct training using Keynote, PowerPoint, text documents, pictures and other material. Although the company does not directly support it, Citrix says many users also use video in their presentations. GoToWebinar includes tools that allow presenters to monitor the audience, gather feedback and even help determine which participants are paying attention.

Web conferencing software is growing in popularity as business travel costs continue to rise. The product is also useful for "virtual companies" with telecommuting employees scattered across a wide area, and for schools that use the technology for online classes.

 
There is a lot of hype and reality in the world of Cloud computing today. On the hype side there are numerous data points; VC investments, M&A, data centers under construction,  new conferences and events. Adding fuel to the fire is extensive press, analyst and blog coverage ( like this ) plus books like Nickolas Carr's book " The Big Switch ".  It definitely feels like we are in the Hype cycle. On the other hand there are now many examples of reality as well. SaaS offerings like Salesforce.com and many HR applications plus web site Hosting have established themselves as a legitimate part of the IT portfolio of many corporations large and small. 

 Will traditional corporate IT really move dramatically to the cloud as Carr predicts?  I think a lot of the answer comes down to control and customization .... or lack of it. SaaS Clould offerings can work great if the application offered aligns with the business requirement without significant customization or integration. If IT is comfortable without the hands-on control they may even manage and support the project because it's good example of doing more with less. However in most cases there are too many custom requirements and perhaps regulatory controls that make premise based solutions the norm and leave SaaS offerings relegated to specific point solutions. As business requirements continue to grow, premised based solutions grow accordingly  and sometimes disproportionately when centralizing into limited data centers.  A resulting problem that most IT shops now face is a lack of space and/or power. Once the local premise is at capacity a typical next step is to move some or even all the equipment to a dedicated Co-location facility. For many companies this is more of an incremental step because they have already centralized their Application Delivery Infrastructure and may already be using Co-Lo's for back up and Disaster Recovery operations. The definition of "premise" gets blurry, but IT remains in control. The facility is likely owned and operated by a service provider, but everything inside the " cage " is owned and operated remotely by corporate IT.       

For companies that have taken this step of moving some or all of their infrastructure to the "Cage"  the transition seems to have worked well. Co-Lo Data Centers typically have great bandwidth, power, and room to grow. Plus the high cost of specialized facilities are spread across many Co-Lo tenants often lowering the cost compared to providing company managed dedicated Data Centers. IT is remotely managing the infrastructure with perhaps some on site assistance or occasional trips to the Co-Lo. As long as the App Delivery Infrastructure is robust users don't know or care were the servers are, management is happy because it reduces Real Estate dependencies and  facility upgrades like added power, AC and generators. So, if IT is satisfied remotely managing their infrastructure ( except the trips to the cage... ) new applications get implemented, security is enforced , new users provisioned, etc, do they really care about the hardware the server images and storage is running on as long as it stays up with predictable performance ?  I suspect many IT Pros would give up the responsibility, time and burden of acquiring, deploying, cabling, and configuring servers and storage ( and trips to the Cage.. ). As long as they could still architect the solution they need, deploy server images, reboot images, network servers together and generally administer the functions they need to deliver apps and store data, there is a good chance they don't view the underlying hardware as something they really need to own and manage, just like the datacenter real estate.         
 
Perhaps the movement to the Cloud for companies that have already moved to the Cage will not be such a disruptive event. As long as there are Cloud providers that can provide the underlying infrastructure including servers, storage and networking with SLA's, Security, and the appropriate level of administrative control. And if IT can still customize and "control" at the level they need to, they will likely be compelled to make the next transition to the Cloud.  The benefits of Virtualization for rapid deployment and flexibility plus the intrinsic cost benefits of muti-tenancy will win-over converts that are faced with demanding time to deployment challenges and capital cost constraints ( isn't that most of IT ? ). These Cloud service provider offerings will need to overcome some of the SLA challenges that have faced the early adopters like Web 2.0 startups on EC2, plus address security, sustainability and redundancy fears, but these are all curable issues. This will take some time and there are likely scenario's of hybrid models of premise plus Cloud solutions, but the writing is on the wall .. the Cage is just a step to the Cloud.    

It has been a few weeks since I first wrote about drinking the Citrix Kool-Aid and trying for ourselves to turn our lab into a dynamic deliver center.  The first part of this project is to identify what is the purpose of our lab.  After looking at things deeper, we are responsible for mainly 4 things:

Technical Readiness Infrastructure: 

The Tech Readiness group is responsible for creating and delivering technical training to our customer facing people. This includes Support, Consulting, SEs, etc.  This group develops hands-on training that walks the student through setting up, configuring and troubleshooting the product.

As you can imagine, during a new product release, we have classes stacked up one after another all around the world. These classes use prebuilt environments in a remote lab in Ft. Lauderdale.  So if a class is occurring in Singapore, London, Sydney, Paris or anywhere else , the students will connect to Ft. Lauderdale to work on the pre-configured lab environment. Because the focus of the classes is to train on the new features, we don't expect our students to run through installations.  This means the environment must be prebuilt ready for configuration.

As you can expect, this is a challenge, which brings us to our first few requirements:

• Requirement 1: Tech Readiness: Must be able to work with the latest products, whether they be hardware or software, remotely.
• Requirement 2: Tech Readiness: Must be able to refresh environment quickly to a base state with items installed, but not configured
• Requirement 3: Tech Readiness: All previous classes configurations must be removed and devices and servers must be put back to base state (including passwords, accounts, optimizations, etc)
• Requirement 4: Tech Readiness: Environment must be able to allow students to work with all features and products including WANScaler optimizations, NetScaler load balancing, XenApp Progressive Display, Smart Auditor, etc.
  

Worldwide Consulting Solutions

The Solution Center and Integrated Solutions team is responsible for developing best practices and recommendations for integrating Citrix products with other Citrix products and 3rd party products.  For example, these two teams have developed items discussing XenServer and XenApp integration and on how to integrate WANScaler and NetScaler with Microsoft SharePoint.  From project to project, the architecture could look quite different, but there is one common aspect to all projects... There is at least one Citrix solution involved. 

The types of projects can vary wildly from validating an application runs on XenApp, defining deployment best practices for a particular web application with NetScaler to performing scalability testing on the latest version of XenDesktop. All of these items come together to bring us a few more requirements:

• Requirement 5: Worldwide Consulting Solutions - Need to be able to bring up a set of Citrix solutions without requiring installation
• Requirement 6: Worldwide Consulting Solutions - Need to have the different project pods separated from other pods as one test might influence the results of another test
  

Field Teams

Working with our customer, many of our field Citrites find themselves in need of a reference system to be able to look up a setting, perform a quick test based on a customer question, or be able to demo a new feature that is easier to show than to explain.  These types of requests are short lived, but require a fast response. Because of the huge number of potential questions a customer could ask, it is impossible to anticipate every conceivable environment needed or when the requests could occur.  This type of situation brings about the following requirements:

• Requirement 7: Field Teams: Need to get access to a base system (regardless of product) in a short amount of time that can be modified. 
• Requirement 8: Field Teams: Each reference system must be isolated as customers will be seeing the systems in a lab that also contains systems of new, unreleased products
• Requirement 9: Field Teams: Need to be able to extend check-out time if work extends beyond original request date
  

Administration

I haven't hit all of the groups that use the lab because this blog would be longer than the movie script to the Simpsons Movie (which I highly recommend by the way), but most of their requirements are contained within the first three groups.  Before I close out, there are still a final set of requirements focused on the administration of the lab. We must make it easy and automated:

• Requirement 10: Administration: Systems should be in a low-power state unless they are being used.
• Requirement 11: Administration: The systems, when allocated, should be powered on automatically.
• Requirement 12: Administration: Systems should be automatically built, cleaned, decommissioned and assigned.
• Requirement 13: Administration: Hardware assignment notifications should occur through email with all pertinent connection information once the systems are online.
  

I know this was quite a long blog, but this is a big project and I didn't want to gloss over anything. 

Up next, a Proof of Concept.

Daniel

(Homer Simpson Quote of the Blog: "Oh, so they have internet on computers now!")

Since launching XenDesktop, one of the most common questions I have heard from XenApp customers is "Why would I use XenDesktop with my current XenApp implementation?" Well, there are a lot of reasons and this white paper helps answer them. According to the document's description:

The white paper explores these areas:

• Best Practice: Separate Apps and Desktop
• Step 1: Is it an app or desktop problem?
• Step 2: Which workers have this problem?
• Step 3: Identify the solution
• Step 4: Justify with Cost Analysis

Take a read and let us know what you think.

 XenApp and XenDesktop: Using Application and Desktop Virtualization Together

In a previous post (Shutting Down a Windows Server) I looked at how you can shutdown Windows Servers in a workflow to save power. If you have already moved your workloads to a XenServer environment this task becomes a lot easier to manage. Shutting down a XenServer host is a three-step process:

1. Suspend or Shutdown any VMs that you have running on the host (with either Suspend-VM or Shutdown-VM)
2. Disable the host so new VMs cannot be started (with Disable-Host)
3. Shutdown the host (with Shutdown-Host)

To turn this process into a complete workflow we need to define the logic that determines which hosts to shutdown and what to do with the VMs running on it. For simplicity sake I have chosen to shutdown all the hosts on my server (or in my Pool if a master server is specified) and to first suspend all the VMs currently running on the host(s). Here is what the workflow looks like:

I added in the prompts so that if you download this workflow and run it you are reminded to specify your own XenServer host name, user, and password, but in reality these items would most likely be hard-coded or specified at run time dynamically. Next we are going to have to look into starting Windows Servers and XenServer hosts back up as my server room is a long walk for me.

If you want to download the workflow to try in your environment I posted it to the Script Exchange where you can also post workflows you have built. Click here to download the workflow file.

Viele der Fragen die zu unserem Produkt aufkommen werden in unserem 4.1 FAQ Dokument beantwortet.

 Unter folgendem Link können sie das Dokument herunterladen:

<DOWNLOAD>

Border Gateway Protocol, open-source and it's para-virtualized. No more proprietary software and hardware, you can run as many copies of this as needed on one physical XenServer machine. As a proof point, we used the Vyatta Open Source router to build out our Link Load Balancing network in Santa Clara.  The Open Source Vyatta is running on a Dell server. We configured the BGP routing protocol, but could have have also configured OSPF or RIP and redistributed the routes. This configuration has been proven to outperform the incumbents, and is less costly by a wide margin.  Reduce opex and capex and start rolling this out today.  

What is needed:

• Vyatta Open Source Networking Software
• A Dell Server that supports Virtualization
• XenServer Enterprise 4.1

The Network:

Watch this Video:

Tap into the power of AppExpert!

Citrix Online is going to host a series of three training webinars on GoToAssist Express, register to attend one of the following:

Tuesday, July 15 at 11 AM PDT
Click here to register

Wednesday, July 23 at 4 PM PDT
Click here to register

Thursday, July 31 at 9 AM PDT
Click here to register

During each of these Webinars, they will hold a drawing for a pocket camcorder, here are the details:
- 5.0 Megapixel Video Pocket Camcorder Value: $175
- DXG-567V HD
- 1280 x 720 Video Pocket Camcorder
- Flip USB Connector

Most of what is written on Green IT concentrates on how the IT Department can reduce the carbon footprint of its operations, primarily through reducing Data Center power consumption. While this is important as IT operations makes up 2-3% of global power consumption, our efforts to reduce our environmental impact should not end with the data-center. As well as including the end-point into Green IT planning (something I covered in a previous entry), IT can have a role in enabling Green business practices such as the paper-less office, Remote Collaboration (thus reducing the need for business travel) and Telecommuting.

Its this last practice, Telecommuting, which I want to discuss in more detail. For one thing, its something that we can do as individuals (work and management permitting, of course) as well as on a cross-company, cross-industry and even national basis. It fits in with the "think globally, act locally" mantra, with the emphasis on "local".

The Telecommuting trend has for some time been more tied to employee satisfaction, work-life balance and increasingly recruitment strategies (such as "homesourcing"). However, the rapid increase in the price of oil has made the cost of commuting to work a much larger percentage of household budgets, and therefore more noticeable to the average Joe or Jane. While many of us may wish that people would find other motivations to reduce their carbon footprint other than the hip-pocket nerve, rising costs will probably have the most realistic chance of effecting widespread change.

Increasing the number of employees that telecommute rather than drive to the office can cause a significant reduction in the fuel consumption, and therefore carbon emissions, of those individual employees. While this may seem obvious, you can read a detailed study conducted by the University of California....back in 1988! As well, more recent EPA studies have shown that even a 10% reduction of cars during peak hours can reduce the fuel consumption of those vehicles still traveling to the office, as the improved traffic flow results in less time burning fuel in gridlock. To get an idea of how this works, think about how much better your own commute is during school vacation periods.

While this shows there there would be significant benefits to the environment if a greater proportion of the workforce spent at least some time of the working week telecommuting, how practical is this generally, and in specific job roles? If your job does not involve "face time" with customers, telecommuting is probably a more practical option for you than those involved in regular customer interaction. That being said,  there are a number of organizations allowing call-center agents to work from home, such as Cox Communications.

While I have regularly telecommuted over the last decade or so, as well as introduced telecommuting programs for employees doing Tech Support and Customer Care, I have decided to use a period where I need to work remotely to try to measure (at least to qualify if not to quantify) the effectiveness of the technologies used to enable telecommuting. Over the next few weeks, I will blog on my experience based on the following criteria:

• Voice: How can I remain in verbal contact with staff, colleagues and customers? How do they get in contact with me without having to know whether I am in the office or not?
• Applications: How does my app performance vary when not in the office? What impact does occasional offline access make to this?
• Security: What would happen if my laptop or home PC was stolen or otherwise compromised? How do I set up my physical facilities to minimize security risks?
• Collaboration: How important are those "water-cooler" discussions and other face-to-face formal and informal interactions? If they are important, how do you replicate this when remote?

I have experienced challenges with each of these criterion in my own experiences as well as those relayed to me be customers.
While most of the technologies I will be using come from Citrix (partly because we like to eat our own dog food but mainly because we have been a long-time enabler remote work practices such as telecommuting), I will be also looking at other products and technologies to fill any gaps or compare.

I mentioned earlier that I want to use this as an opportunity to discuss telecommuting. As such, I would really appreciate your comments and suggestions on what I should be testing (technologies, criteria and scenarios), what your own experiences have been, and whether you think an increased proportion of your work time as telecommuting would have a benefit to you, your employer, customers/partners and the environment. Please contribute to this discussion by posting comments to this entry. In a later entry I will add a forum address if there is sufficient interest in this topic.

Test 1 2 3

The XenDesktop Setup Wizard allows an administrator to quickly create a pooled desktop group with virtual desktop VMs for their XenDesktop environment.  I wanted to share more information on what the XD Setup Wizard does along with promoting it as we have had several customers unaware of the benefits of this wizard.  If you are going to create a desktop group of pooled desktops then you should seriously consider using the XD Setup Wizard as it will save you a tremendous amount of time.  Trust me on this as I needed to create 300 virtual desktops on VMware ESX two years ago which led to me creating this wizard.  But I will save that talk for another time.

First let's cover the prerequisites and initial configuration...

Before the XenDesktop Setup Wizard is run you need to have a virtual desktop VM template and a base OS image (aka Provisioning Server vDisk).  For detailed setup information on how to accomplish this please refer to the XenDesktop Getting Started Guide.  This guide describes the configuration for the XD Setup Wizard as well as the other components of XenDesktop.  

When you create your virtual desktop VM template you specify the VM hardware parameters for your base virtual desktop VM.   When the XD Setup Wizard is run it reads this VM configuration information and then creates X number of VMs using the same virtual hardware configuration.  For example if you created a VM on XenServer that has 512MB of RAM, 1 virtual CPU, 1 virtual NIC and no virtual hard drive all your new virtual desktop VMs would have that same configuration.  Keep in mind that you do not need to have a nice round number in terms of RAM.  You could try using something like 460MB of RAM per desktop to try and squeeze one or two extra desktop VMs per server.  Of course that would only help if RAM was your bottleneck.  No virtual hard drive for the VM is possible because Provisioning Server (PVS) dynamically streams the base OS image to the VM which does not require a hard drive in the VM.

However, in advanced cases you may want add a virtual hard drive to the VM that will cache information from the streamed base OS image.  This virtual hard drive will be used as the write back cache for the Provisioning Server (PVS) base OS image and will typically be 1 to 2 GB.  Whether or not you want a virtual hard drive depends on your network configuration and storage.  By moving the write back cache off the network storage that also has the PVS base OS image you reduce the load on your network storage and you balance your network load.  However having your PVS base OS image and the write back cache for each desktop on the same storage device makes the configuration easier and can result in better storage utilization.  These are some of the trade offs to consider when you want to have virtual desktops deployments for thousands of users.  If you need to scale your virtual desktop environment to over a thousand users email me at sunil.kumar@citrix.com.

When you create your virtual desktops you will be asked for the base VM template, the base OS image (Provisioning Server virtual disk),  the base host name along with the number of virtual desktops to create, and the name of the desktop group.  In our case let's use

• "CXD_VM_TEMPLATE" as the base VM template
• "CXD_IMAGE" as the base OS image
• "CXD1, CXD2, ... CXD100" as the name of the virtual desktops.
• "CXD_GROUP" as the desktop group name.

You will be asked for all this information when you run the wizard to create a desktop group.  The attached video walks you through this configuration. 

Now let's look at what happens when the wizard starts creating virtual desktops ...

Step 1: Connect to the hosting infrastructure and create new virtual desktops 

The XD Setup Wizard connects to the XenServer resource pool via the master XenServer.  It instructs XenServer to create X number of VMs.  In our case we created 100 VMs.  A new MAC address is created for each VM that corresponds to the virtual NIC for the VM.  The XD Setup Wizard stores this newly created MAC address for each VM along with the host name specified (CXD1, CXD2, ... CXD100).  The XD Setup Wizard uses the first MAC address for the VM if multiple NICs are used.  However I would avoid this configuration because bad things could happen if you try it.  Well actually the worst that could happen is that your virtual desktop would not boot, but because of the complexities of having multiple NICs I would avoid this configuration unless you could not live without having multiple NICs.  We now have 100 VMs created with the XD Setup Wizard storing the host name for each VM along with the MAC address.

Step 2: Configure virtual desktops in Provisioning Server

The XD Setup Wizard adds a target device in Provisioning Server for each of the virtual desktops.  The client name for each of the target devices is the host name.  When the VM boots it replaces the host name of the base OS image with this client name.  Each target device is uniquely identified by the MAC address which is why we stored the MAC address for each VM in the previous step.  Each target device is then set to boot from the specified base OS image (CXD_IMAGE).  In addition Provisioning Server adds each target device to active directory.  You can either let the XD Setup Wizard add computers to the default location or you can specify a custom OU.  We now have 100 provisioning server target (client) devices that correspond to each of the VMs created in the previous step.

Step 3: Add virtual desktops to a new Desktop Group in a Desktop Farm

The wizard now creates the new desktop group we called "CXD_GROUP".  The 100 virtual desktop VMs created above are now added to this desktop group on the Desktop Delivery Controller (aka the Connection Broker or DDC).  The DDC identifies each of the VMs by their AD host name, but when the VMs are added the DDC can only see the VM name and UUID (Universal Identifier).  The wizard knows the host name for each VM so it informs the DDC of this automatically.  Otherwise the administrator would need to manually associate each VM name / UUID with its corresponding AD host name.  We now have a newly created desktop group with 100 virtual desktops.

Readying the desktop group for use

Once the desktop group is created, the Desktop Delivery Controller takes over and starts the initial setup for the desktop group.  This includes starting the idle virtual desktops.  These idle desktops are used to quickly connect a user to a virtual desktop because the virtual desktop is already running and only the profile needs to be applied when the user logs in.  The DDC informs the XenServer resource pool to start a virtual desktop VM.  When this virtual desktop is started it streams down the base OS image using the Provisioning Server component.  The virtual desktop loads the Virtual Desktop Agent as part of the OS boot process which then registers with the DDCs in the XenDesktop farm.  The desktop group is now ready!

In addition to the XenDesktop Setup Wizard automating all of this for you it only takes seconds per desktop.  Are you now convinced to use the XenDesktop Setup Wizard as opposed to doing everything manually?  You can now run the XD Setup Wizard again to either create a new desktop group or add new VMs to an existing desktop group.  To modify advanced options of the desktop group such as idle pool settings you can run the Access Management Console on the DDC.

Previously I covered an overview of User Profile Manager as well as how it addresses last write wins.  Now I will cover profile bloat which is one of the more common user profile pain points.  Profile bloat creates unwieldy growth in user profiles and resulting storage and management issues (and the performance impact as profiles continue to grow in size).  So let's take a closer look at how User Profile Manager gives you control over this challenge.

Typically when using Folder Redirection or a roaming profile, the user's profile folders follow them as they move from system to system.  In a perfect world all your applications would behave properly and there would be no profile bloat. We know this is not the case and thus certain folders lend themselves to becoming very bloated fairly quickly.  Application Data is one of those folders, as applications may use it as a temporary folder (instead of the system's temp folder) and do not clean up the folder after the application ends.  This folder can become a graveyard of files no longer wanted or needed.  Or become a repository of files not really needing to be kept from one session to the next - temp files or cached data.  This folder can quickly become 100s of MB in size.

In a roaming profile scenario, this is a lot of data to be dragged around with a user.  With folder redirection, this becomes a lot of data to have to store somewhere - particularly if it's not really needed.  This becomes a painful process since the data may be getting copied back and forth with every logon and logoff event (although some optimizations within the profile contain the copying back to only files that changed).  In the case of XenApp servers where profile caches are almost always deleted upon logoff, all this profile data will have to be copied down again upon next logon.  Situations like this compound the pain we experience with unwieldy profile sizes.

With User Profile Manager you configure to exclude this 'extra baggage' causing that data to be ignored.  The payoff will be better management of the central storage resources (not storing extraneous files back to the user's central store) and this can translate to improved logon times since this extra baggage is not processed with the user's profile (which unless it is already cached on the machine the user is logon into, it will be copied down).

User Profile Manager provides the capability to fine tune the files and folders in a user's profile.  Now an administrator can explicitly include or exclude folders and files within a user's profile (and the ability to combine these such as to include a specific folder and exclude a subfolder within that folder).  For example, you might have an application called MyApp that creates and stores a multitude of supporting files in the \Application Data\MyApp directory (of which the subdirectory called '\MyAppStuff' is not needed).  You could include the root MyApp_ directory but then define an exclusion of the _\Application Data\MyApp\Stuff folder and upon logoff these files are left behind and not transferred to the user's central store.  If you have configured local profiles to not be cached, this extraneous data is just deleted at logoff with the cached profile.

By fine tuning and adjusting over time what is kept and not kept in the profile enables the profile size to be managed more efficiently.  For a start have a look at the INI files installed with User Profile Manager (in the target install directory) provided with UPM as they provide some good initial settings. And of course the profile size being reduced and less data being copied back at logoff can contribute to improved logon and logoff time.

In my previous blog entry, I described the Green benefits of telecommuting and my plan to "road test" telecommuting technologies and experience. For my first test, I have chosen voice communications.

My reasons for choosing this over something more obvious such as remote application access, is that most telecommuting scenarios that I have seen or experienced were based on the telecommuter being able to use a mobile phone for making and receiving calls business calls. This is not always the case, and not in my current temporary scenario where I am overseas from my Silicon Valley office. And if my mobile phone did work here, it would be extremely expensive to use for the number and length of calls I normally make. Generally, I also find this reliance on mobile phone a hassle due to the cost when compared to business or even home landlines, and the knowledge that people who want to call me need to know a. that I am not currently in the office and, b. what my cell phone number is.

Here's something else, I strongly believe that talking is still the most efficient and effective form of communication between two people and sometimes more. I have seen way too much misunderstanding, delays, unnecessary stress or conflict through even best written email, as the written word often lacks the nuances you get in verbal communications. While talking on the phone is still less effective than true face to face talking, it still is a big advancement on email or even IM. I'm sorry, but emoticons just don't match body language ?.

So, as I start this particular evaluation, I have three criteria that I want to test:

1. As many of us work in a highly mobile manner, with the "office" now including when working from home, business travel and other mobile scenarios, how do we maintain a consistent way to be contacted by voice as well as email?

2. We all have a single work email address that is constant wherever we are, but what about our phone number? Why is it that we have to guess whether the best phone number to use is the desk or cell phone?

3. How often do you have to be the manual link between two electronic systems when you have to enter a phone number from an email or customer record into a phone keypad? How often do you type the wrong number because of this? I know I have.

4. How expensive is it to use mobile, home or hotel phones to maintain a consistent amount of voice communication? I believe that the frequency of calls to staff, management, colleagues and customers should not diminish just because you are not in the office.

Now the last 2 of these criteria I can test by using one of Citrix's own products, EasyCall. By installing EasyCall, I can make calls from my PC either by entering the number, or using the click to call feature to dial directly from, say, an email footer. Rather than being a VoIP solution, EasyCall connects a call by first calling my own phone (could be my home line or mobile) before establishing the connection to the number I have dialed. It also has a pretty cool corporate directory function, allowing me to search for colleagues by their name in a similar manner to the deskphone I have in the office.

Now before you think I am just using this blog just to promote EasyCall, there are still the other 2 telecommuting phone criteria that it seems I cannot use EasyCall to evaluate. This means that I still have not re-routed inbound calls so that people calling me, especially from outside Citrix, need not to know that I am in the office or out. In previous telecommuting scenarios I have had to set up, I achieved this by using softphone products such as Avaya IP Agent. In my personal life, I am a heavy user of Skype, so will also be looking at it and other VoIP solutions for inbound calls as well as possibly outbound. The only issue I can foresee with this is that my current connection to the internet has nowhere near the performance I have become used to in California, which may mean the call quality is not to flash. I'll keep you posted on what I try for inbound calls and how it works (or not).

Now back to EasyCall. To use it, I need to install an agent as well as have a EasyCall Gateway installed between the LAN and PBX. Fortunately, the good folks at Citrix IT Services have installed the gateway, allowing me to worry only about the agent. Installing the EasyCall agent is pretty straight forward, the only things I really need to know is where to find the installation files and the host name of my EasyCall Gateway. To see what the installation process was like, check it out at http://www.utipu.com/app/tip/id/2955.

As with all my blogs on Telecommuting, I am eager to hear from you your own views on this topic, or any criteria or scenarios you think I have missed for my evaluations. Just post a comment to this entry.

Hello.

 To make the Blog mor usefull we will switch the language to english. 

Danny

A lot of partners and customer ask about adding drivers to Dom0
Our Dom0 is using Centos 5 and has all XenServers drivers already built-in.

We only support hardware from our HCL, drivers we deliver with the product and Citrix Ready certified partner solutions.

If you add other drivers to your XenServer host its NOT supported!

The main reason for adding drivers to DOM0 is the request to use cheaper hardware or additional devices like a SCSI Backup drive or a ISDN capi controller.

There is one important thing you should know:

If you get the device up and running in DOM0 doesn't mean that your virtual machine can communicate with the device! 

For example: It's possible to install a Linux driver for a ISDN capi card. So the card is available in DOM0, but there is no Xen driver for the guest to communicate with the card in DOM0. 

Also if it works (maybe for Network or I/O cards) you could run into trouble because our high steep PV drivers are not tested with the driver in DOM0 and that could result in problems or slow performance. 

We think, that the time to get it "up and running" is more expensive than buying supported hardware.

 If you want to compile drivers for xenserver you should follow the official way.
Checkout our SDK and DDK documnetation at:
www.citrix.com/xenserver

 Danny

It's almost a year old now but still relevant information

Not too long ago, I posted an article introducing the availability of ClearType on Citrix XenApp.

Helge Klein - one of my favorite bloggers, has taken it to the next level, he wrote a technical article explaining in great details how to configure ClearType on both XenApp 4.5 and XenApp 5.0, along with their respective requirements. Here's a snippet of his post.

With the release of the hotfixes KB946633 and PSE450R02W2K3037 ClearType font smoothing is finally available on both the current and the upcoming Citrix flagship products Presentation Server 4.5 and XenApp 5.0. Remains the question of how to configure it.

Windows has a GUI for configuring font smoothing (well hidden in the display properties). XenApp does not.

Each user of a published desktop can use the Windows GUI for configuring font smoothing. But what about the majority of XenApp users who only use published applications and do not have access to a published desktop? I do not know. Of course, the admin could set the font smoothing type in the registry for them. But even then users have no means of changing their setting.

Enter XenApp 5.0 and ICA client 11. If and when those two are at the server respectively client end of an ICA connection, the whole thing works the other way round: The ICA client reads the font smoothing type of the Windows client and transmits it to the server who then activates the client's setting for the current session. This even works across reconnects: During a reconnect from a different machine the new client's setting is read and transmitted. If it is different from the previous client's setting the font smoothing type of the session is changed on the fly.

This approach clearly has its advantages: No problems with published applications. Additionally, remote applications always have the same look as local programs.

But wait: What if the client is not a Windows client? Then we are back to the pre-XenApp days: Configuration on the server.

Configuration Overview

Just in case you got confused: The following table lists all requirements and configuration options:

Continue reading Helge's blog post here.

I recently came across this chart of the results of a survey of IT decision makers and influencers about where they look for information when evaluating technology solutions.

UPDATE:Thanks for voting in this poll. appreciate so many of our readers taking a moment to share your thoughts with us.

I want to use this blog to post answers to common and/or complex questions I get asked about Workflow Studio. One that has been asked fairly often is how to access the MAC address of a VM running in XenServer. The MAC address for a VM is located in the following object path:

VMList.VM.VirtualInterfaces.MAC

When you call Get-VM you get back a list that represents multiple VMs. Whenever you are dealing with something that returns more than one item in Workflow Studio you are going to need to access the individual items with the "For Each Object" task. As you iterate over this list of VMs you will have a new object that represents an individual VM. This typically has properties on it that you want to access, but in this case there is another list of things named "VirtualInterfaces". Because a given VM can be assigned multiple network cards we have an object that represents each of them, so we need to go down one more level using the "For Each Object Task" to get an individual Virtual Interface so we can access the MAC property. I hope that is clear, but since pictures speak more clearly here is an example:

At the top of the workflow you would call Get-VM and then use For Each Object to iterate over each one returned:

 

 You will notice that the For Each task has the little (s) icon representing it has sub-tasks, so if you double-click on that task you will be able to specify the sub-tasks where you will iterate again on the Virtual Interfaces:

And  then you can access the individual MAC address:

Hopefully that clears up how to get to the MAC address of a VM.

If you could wave a magic wand and have any one single feature in the next release of Citrix XenApp, what would it be?

While XenApp has literally hundreds of features that have been added over the last 10 years as the product has evolved from MetaFrame 1.0,1.8, XP, FR1 though FR3, 3.0, then 4.0 and now 4.5, is there one feature you really want to have but have not seen yet?

I pulled in a few ideas I have received into a poll. If you would like to add others to the list, post them in the comments and I will add your suggestion. I am looking for big home run features, but ideas that help you in your day to day job are fine as well.

From my past experience, many of you just do not have the time to keep up with every feature added to XenApp/CPS over time, especially if you are migrating to every other release. I have a theory about that as well (but I am saving that theory for a later post). It will be interesting to see if any feature ideas are submitted that have already been added in a past release.

Of course, there is no guarantee anything on this list can or will be included in the future (since I am not on the XenApp product team). I do guarantee I will communicate the results of this poll to that team.

This is a very preliminary list based on an informal survey I took recently. Instead of editing it, I am just posting it to get the discussion (and voting) started. If you want to add a feature to this list, post it in the comments and I will add it. Focus on the problem you need to solve.

If you could wave a magic wand, what feature would you put into the next release of XenApp?	Choose
SpeedScreen Multimedia support across all client platforms
Enhanced smart phone integration
Enhanced Mac integration
Live migration of individual sessions
Diff tool for Microsoft and Citrix patch levels on all servers
Integration with third party app virtualization solutions (MAV or SVS)
Greatly enhanced scalability
Security Analysis and Lockdown Tool
Pool of Pre-Launched Sessions for Faster Launching
Management through an Active Directory OU

Follow me on Twitter.

UPDATE:Two Additional Choices offered based on comments.

If there is a lot of interest in this poll, I will post follow ups on the features requested and similar polls for other products. My goal here is to get unfiltered feedback from you about what you want to see in the product and how we can improve the product to solve the problems you face.

UPDATE:The response to date on this poll has been excellent. Votes are still coming into the poll. I have sent a screen shot of the results to date to a member fo the XenApp team to ensure the product team is aware of these requests. I am working to get some members of that team to discuss of these requests and the comments posted here.

In case you haven't heard or seen , I'll be hosting a live TechTalk on Wednesday, July 23rd at 1PM Eastern covering the virtualization of XenApp on XenServer. For those of you who have read my blog, I know there are 5 of you, will know that I've been working on this aspect of server virtualization for some time.  I plan on covering what you should virtualize, how you should do it and how to make dev/test environment better with this solution. So if you want to hear me talk on a great topic, don't forget to register here.

July 23, 2008

1:00 PM Easter

1 hour duration

Daniel

Shipoopi!!

(Homer Simpson Quote of the Blog: "Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try.")

It was a long time in the making but it's finally here! I think I've been seeing requests for how to do this since IE7 came out and up until now many people said it couldn't be done. Once again the "impossible" has been captured and documented. "Isolating Internet Explorer 7.0 for Safe Surfing" is now available in the Application Delivery Best Practices Wiki.

Here's an excerpt:
"You can use application isolation to isolate and publish Internet Explorer 7. You can create a rule that forces all downloaded files to reside in the user profile root. This provides users with the freedom to download files if they wish to do so, but it also prevents them from running downloaded executables on the enterprise network.

Administrators can enforce cleanup policies that delete all session artifacts when the user logs off. Application isolation also enables you to publish multiple instances of Internet Explorer with different configurations, which is very useful when you have users with different usage requirements."

The full article is publicly available here.

Instructions to isolate Internet Explorer 6.0 are available here

In the next few days at Shannon Ma VirtualizedI'll be blogging about the different ways you can install XenApp in an automated fashion. Part 1 is online, Part 2 will be coming tomorrow, and the whole series will be online by Wednesday. Check it out and if you have any questions or feedback don't hesitate to drop me a comment.

If you're like me, you'll like to mentally create pictures to make sense of what you're reading. The underpinnings of Xen networking, as I found out, is not that difficult once you have the correct pictures in mind. Once I'd discovered the secrets, I decided to write a paper explaining it to myself. Hopefully, others will find this useful as well!

"It's important to understand that XenServer networking operates at Layer 2 of the OSI. This means it's independent of any Layer 3 addressing, such as IP. As we'll see, XenServer acts as a Layer 2 virtual switch..." Read more in my Citrix Knowledge Center article.

Many people have asked me how to build custom dialogs in Workflow Studio. Enough people have asked that I have built custom dialogs as native tasks in Workflow Studio and I have also built them in PowerShell (something you could do right now with the tech preview.) Before I post more information on how to do this though I want to better understand why people want to have custom dialogs.

An example that I often hear is that someone wants to modify one of our samples to prompt the user for their username and password in the same dialog instead of using two dialogs. Another example I hear is that people would like a multi-column display tool (like a grid) to display the contents of objects output from other tasks. When people ask me for this I begin to wonder how they plan to use the workflow once they get beyond testing it. When we created those samples we included the user input to ensure that the user is aware of what the workflow is doing and to provide a way for them to input the settings specific to their environment. We expect that most people will deploy workflows with these settings pre-configured in the tasks directly or by using the "Set Variable Value" task and that any output would be to XML files or other tasks.

I wrote a post on IT Process Automation with Workflow Studio that looks at some of the use cases we expect Workflow Studio to be used for. Read through that earlier post for a little deeper look at how I think workflows will be used.  [And if you think I am wrong please leave me a comment or send me an email...]

With that post in mind, I believe that the people requesting richer interaction from a workflow are either looking to do a lot of "On-Demand Automation" or they are looking for Workflow Studio to offer a richer set of debugging tools for desiging and debugging workflows. If you have read this far then take my poll and tell me which you think it is for you?

Why do you want a richer set of Input/Ouput tasks in Workflow Studio?	Choose
To make designing and debugging workflows easier - I would delete them before deploying.
Because I expect to use "On-Demand Automation" type tasks heavily and not schedule workflows to run automatically
I don't need richer user interface options

In Part 2 of the Choosing an Automated Deployment Strategy for XenApp series I will talk about installing XenApp with the UnattendedInstall.exe tool from the server CD.

Simon Crosby has been very popular in the "podosphere" of late. Here are three recent podcast interviews with Simon.

First, Simon did a very interesting interview with Doug Brown of DABCC.com.

Next, Simon participated in a two part interview with Mitchell Ashely of Converging on Microsoft at Network World.

Part 2 of the Network World podcast is entitled "Why Simon Loves Hyper-V".

Welcome to the third installment of the Dynamic Delivery Center.  This time I will be showing you the Proof of Concept (PoC) we built to validate the DDC is possible.  If you haven't done so already, I encourage you to review the first two blogs so you understand our business and requirements.

• Part I - The Need
• Part II - The Analysis

Now, the PoC.  First, let me show you the architecture diagram we've used.  (Visio Stencils for this diagram are located here).

As you can see, it is fairly straightforward. I'm the type of person who prefers things simple. The whole purpose of the PoC is to see if we can use a web front end to dynamically deliver any number of "Test" environments to the users.  Now, as many of you reading this are techies, let's get to the good stuff...

• External Access: Every user will be remote. Even if you are sitting in the office next to the lab, you are considered a remote user (Ever hear of de-perimiterization?).   All users will connect through an HA Pair of NetScaler 7000s with the SSL-VPN functionality enabled in full VPN mode.  We are doing more than ICA so we need a full VPN connection.
• Web Front End: Users will be able to connect to the Web Frontend when they connect with Access Gateway Enterprise .  The Web Frontend will allow the user to request any number of systems from the lab. 
  
  
• XenServer Resource Pool: Currently, the XenServer Resource Pool contains a set of templates that users can request from the environment. Those templates are reflected in the Web Front End, allowing the user to customize their environment.
• XenServer Template Library: For the PoC, the library only includes Windows 2003 R2 servers, XenApp 4.5 servers, Windows Vista SP1 workstations and Windows XP SP2 workstations.  New virtual machines are created based on the templates, which should only take a few seconds.  The library will grow as new requests come in and new systems are required. The longer the DDC is running, the more complete the library will become.
• NetScaler: The NetScaler devices are setup to allow for either a one-arm or two-arm deployment (hence the reason for the two separate VLANs).  If the user only requires a one-arm setup, they just ignore the second connection.
• WANScaler: The WANScaler devices are setup to allow the user to test any number of backend optimizations across any simulated WAN connection with the Apposite WAN Emulator.  The backend contains another XenServer Resource Pool allowing the user to test WAN optimization against any number of resources including file servers, web servers, media servers and XenApp servers, just to name a few.
  

We have the architecture, but how does it work?  How does the Web Frontend do it all?  In the PoC, we chose not to look into Workflow Studio (Sorry WFS Team) as we want to wait for the next beta release. But the lessons learned in the PoC will help us properly develop our workflows in the design phase.  In the PoC, we used the SDKs extensively to do the following:

• Virtual Machines
  1. A user selects one or more templates on the Web Frontend and selects "Provision Servers".
  2. The Web Frontend code will search for a virtual machine resource in the database that has not been marked as in use. Once an open virtual machine is found, the database will be updated and marked as in use by the user for a period of 3 days.
  3. The Web Frontend will establish a session with the XenServer host using root credentials.  The template the user selected will be cloned.  Once the clones are created, they will be sent a start command.
  4. Once the virtual machines are running, the IP address will be obtained. This information is used to generate an automated email to the requester using the SMTP service running on the Web Frontend server.
  5. The user will use the IP address to make a Remote Desktop connection to the console of the server, which is waiting for the user to enter a name for the virtual machine as part of the SID generation process.

• NetScaler
  1. User selects "Provision NetScaler" from the Web Frontend
  2. The Web Frontend checks the database for an available NetScaler. Once one has been found, it is marked as in use by the particular user for a period of 3 days. In the event that all NetScalers are assigned, the user will receive an automated email.
  3. The Web Frontend will establish a session using XML API calls with the NetScaler using the "nsroot" credentials. The reset process involves using the XML API calls to get into the NetScaler shell to remove the ns.config file.  Simply deleting the NS.Conf will completely reset the NS config. That would be bad because that includes the IP Address.  We don't want to go into the lab and connect a serial port and configure the device.  To solve this challenge, we  copy a base ns.config (which includes the NS IP configuration) over the current one.  We also have the code go through and remove any extra files that the previous user might have created (certificates, configuration files, etc).
  4. The Web Frontend will send code that will clear the NetScaler configuration, while keeping the IP address constant, so it is accessible from the network.
  5. The user will receive an automated email from the Web Frontend using the SMTP service.  The email informs the user on the connection information for the NetScaler.

• WANScaler
  1. User selects "Provision WANScaler" from the Web Frontend
  2. The Web Frontend establishes an HTTP session with the WANScaler web console using the "admin" credentials.
  3. The Web Frontend sends a request to reset the WANScaler config back to factory defaults, while still preserving the IP address. Once the WANScaler has been set back to factory defaults, the WANScaler will be rebooted.
  4. The user will receive an automated email from the Web Frontend using the SMTP service.  The email informs the user on the connection information for the NetScaler.
     

Lessons Learned:

• The biggest thing is that it is possible!!  The tricky part of the project was resetting the NetScaler and WANScaler back to factory defaults without losing the IP address. 
• A more complete set of XenServer templates is required to anticipate any number of requests from the field
  

Next Steps:

• Create a more detailed design that identifies the templates required for the initial release
• Create a detailed set of workflows that are required to see how Workflow Studio can be leveraged to make this environment easier to build and maintain.
• Create a way to hide Simpsons "Surprises" within the lab like logging into the lab and receive a warm welcome from Homer saying "D'oh!"
  

Hope you enjoyed this one.

Daniel

Homer Quote for the Blog "Look, the thing about my family is there's five of us. Marge, Bart, Girl Bart, the one who doesn't talk, and the fat guy. How I loathe him."

Part 3 of Choosing an Automated Deployment Strategy for XenApp gives an overview of deploying XenApp via Active Directory.

This is the first episode of the Citrix Delivery Center podcast. Vishal Ganeriwala and I interviewed Daniel Feller of Worldwide Consulting Solutions on the topic of deploying XenApp on XenServer. In part 1 of this topic, Dan talks about where, why and how XenServer and XenApp integration makes sense to deploy in your environment. Scalability will be covered in part 2.

Thanks to Jim West in Citrix Technical Support for voicing the Citrix Countdown and Steve Greenberg of Thinclient.net for the CTP Minute. A special thanks also goes out to Doug Brown for his podcasting advice and help.

MP3 File Download

Subscribe to the Citrix Delivery Center Podcast Feed

UPDATE: Click here to vote on topics for future podcasts.

Here are the documents Dan created regarding XenApp on XenServer -

Reference Architecture: Explains why a 100% physical architecture was reconfigured to include both physical and virtual systems and deciding factors of why XenServer is the best server virtualization solution for XenApp servers.

Implementation Guide: A step-by-step guide showing how to incorporate a XenApp Farm into a XenServer Platinum environment. Demonstrates how to create a golden XenApp image to be provisioned to any number of virtual machines.

Design Considerations: To meet the needs of the business, a solution like XenServer for XenApp must allow for design decisions. This article focuses on a few of the major considerations when integrating these solutions together.

A few people have emailed me recently asking where to find XenServer Express Edition, our free single server virtualization platform with the XenCenter management GUI.   The downloads site recently moved behind the "my citrite" front page, which means that you have to have a login to get it.  This makes sense for resellers dealing with Citrix, but someone must have inadvertently moved Express at the same time.  While we fix this, here is a direct link you can use to download this killer free virtualization platform.  We still rely on your feedback, so feel free to post follow ups!

Download XenServer Express Here!

In the last part of Choosing an Automated Deployment Strategy for XenApp I will discuss installing XenApp via images.

No, the title of this post does not refer to a trip to the Mouse Kingdom.  And it's not the lost Bob Hope/Bing Crosby movie.

Project Orlando is the code name for the next release of Citrix XenServer.  Companies don't just use code names because we think it makes us sound mysterious.  Actually, it's because it allows us marketing types to change the release numbers at the last minute for all sorts of arcane reasons, arousing the ire of engineers and release managers everywhere.

We are within a very short time of releasing the public beta of Orlando.  So between now and then, I'm going to write about one or two significant new capabilities or enhancements in XenServer that you'll find in Orlando.  Then, on the big day, you'll find the announcement here.

One more thing before I do, though: this time around, we're going to be making the beta download available via the download section of citrix.com.  Instead of a separate download request form, you'll need to log in with a My Citrix account.  If you already have one, you're cool.  If you don't, please create one, so you'll be ready to rock the download when the software is available.

OK, that's enough housekeeping.  Let's get down to the goodies.

The first major enhancement to XenServer in Orlando is the availability of automated high availability (HA). The infrastructure of XenServer has offered the ability to script or manually manage availability, and the replicated configuration database has removed the potential single point of failure imposed by external management servers.  But customers have been looking for more automation, and here it is.

You will be able to take the virtual machines in a resource pool (on Platinum and Enterprise Editions) and identify whether you want the virtual machine to be restarted in the event that the server it's running on fails.  You can even identify how high the priority for each one is, so in the case of multiple failures putting resources under stress, your most critical workloads will be returned to service.

We'll also protect the master node of the resource pool, and if it fails, automatically designate another node as master -- no need for manual intervention there either.

In this release, you'll need shared SAN storage to be available -- either Fibre Channel or iSCSI -- to be used in addition to a network connection as the "heartbeat" that determines if your servers are up.  (While it's technically possible to store your VMs on NFS and to configure a separate small iSCSI or FC SR as the heartbeat disk, that approach can potentially cause issues if the connections to the VM storage fail while the heartbeat connection does not.)

The built-in HA capability isn't your only option, of course.  Our partners will continue to provide solutions that also incorporate application-level protection, replication, remote protection, policy-based management, true continuous availability, and more.  But there will be a powerful HA capability that will meet the business continuity needs of most IT organizations right in the box.

(One other improvement will come along as a side-effect: the "automatic placement" capability -- start a VM on any available node -- will get smarter about which system is the best place to start a VM.)

And automated HA is just one of a list of new features and enhancements.  Check in tomorrow for the next stop on the road to Orlando,

 Here is a video demonstration of Microsoft CIFS acceleration over WanScaler. Equipment used for this demo were Microsoft W2K3 server, an XP client, and a Linktrophy Apposite WAN simulator.

Although, the demonstration seems very simplistic CIFS acceleration represents a milestone in WAN acceleration and data networking, in general. CIFS is the protocol that is used by Microsoft Servers and clients to exchange information. The protocol was originally designed to function over a LAN environment with a minimum of 10 Mbps throughput, half-duplex. As enterprises began expanding their data services to remote offices CIFS, designed for a LAN was being used over low bandwidth, high latency WAN's. Performance and end-user experience vary greatly in this enviornment, and the protocol provides a very high, inefficient overhead. With an accelerator between the remote and central office, TCP transmissions are optimized and thus the protocol is streamlined. Users can now experience LAN like performance while being thousand's of miles away from HQ.

h.1 Watch this videotip

This is a great video from Ashish (Principal Design Engineer at Citrix Systems) explaining how does XenApp application delivery process work. Ashish explains different servers involved in the process and then he dives into health recovery and monitoring feature. If you want to understand how HMR prevents blackhole problem then this is a great video to watch.

If you are interested in writing custom HMR test then visit CDN page here

This is the second video in a two part series showing CIFS acceleration over a WAN link using Wanscaler. This video will demonstrate the amount of CIFS optimization that occurs in a Wanscaler environment. 

Configuring the W2K3 server for FTP transfer. This is the first video in the four part series of configuring a WanScaler environment for FTP demonstrations. The first in this series is Configuring the W2K3 machine. The second is configuring the XPclient, third is configuring the Linktropy Wan simulator, and fourth is monitoring the Wanscaler.

Configuring the XPclient. This is the second video in the four part series of configuring a Wanscaler environment for FTP demonstrations. The first in this series is Configuring the W2K3 machine. The second is configuring the XPclient, third is configuring the Linktropy Wan simulator, and fourth is monitoring the Wanscaler

Configuring the Linktrophy. This is the third video in the four part series of configuring a Wanscaler environment for FTP demonstrations. The first in this series is Configuring the W2K3 machine. The second is configuring the XPclient, third is configuring the Linktropy Wan simulator, and fourth is monitoring the Wanscaler

Monitoring the Wanscaler This is the fouth video in the four part series of configuring a Wanscaler environment for FTP demonstrations. The first in this series is Configuring the W2K3 machine. The second is configuring the XPclient, third is configuring the Linktropy Wan simulator, and fourth is monitoring the Wanscaler

We're on to the next stop on our trip to Orlando (Project Orlando, that is, the next version of Citrix XenServer).  Keeping with our road-movie theme, I'm reminded that many of the great road films involve searching for oneself and for truth.  In our journey, our search requirements are more prosaic -- we're looking for resources that have some things in common, so we can manage our growing virtualization environment.

That's where the new search and tagging capabilities in XenCenter come in.  If you want to find all of the virtual machines running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (a simple search), or the ones running Windows that have outdated versions of XenServer Tools  (a complex search), or all of the physical servers with over 32GB of memory (a search on non-VM resources), you can construct those searches as easily as filtering your inbox. You can name them and save them. And you can export them and send them to someone else who can then import them to their copy of XenCenter and use them.

What about grouping your resources in ways we at Citrix haven't predicted -- by application, by location, by cost center, by owner, by lifecycle stage?  Easy!  Every configuration entity -- physical and virtual machines, physical and virtual networks, storage repositories, virtual disk images, and more -- can be given any number of arbitrary tags, based on any schemes you choose.  Then you can build searches based on the tags, too.

Searching and tagging make it possible to view and manage your data center resources more easily and with greater scalability,  enhancing operational agility. And they're available in XenCenter for every edition of XenServer, from the free Express Edition to the dynamic delivery enhanced Platinum Edition.

We'll end today with a reminder: we're going to be making the beta download available via the download section of citrix.com.  Instead of a separate download request form, you'll need to log in with a My Citrix account.  If you already have one, you're cool.  If you don't, please create one, so you'll be ready to rock the download when the software is available.

See you tomorrow with another set of enhancements in Project Orlando.

Microsoft Windows PowerShell command line shell and scripting language helps IT professionals achieve greater control and productivity. Using a new admin-focused scripting language, more than 130 standard command line tools, and consistent syntax and utilities, Windows PowerShell allows IT professionals to control system administration and accelerate automation more easily

With PowerShell, Citrix Administrators can script MFCom Objects to manage and administer  the XenApp Farm. The secret of using COM objects starts with the command: New-Object -COM.

The following PowerShell example creates a new MetaFrame object (do not get confused with the COM Object naming), initializes the Farm and prints out the farmname:

$farm = new-Object -com "MetaframeCOM.MetaframeFarm"
$farm.Initialize(1)
$farm.FarmName

It's not going to be a spectacular script. But look at the following little code enhancement:

$farm = new-Object -com "MetaframeCOM.MetaframeFarm"
$farm.Initialize(1)
$farm.FarmName
$farm.sessions | Format-Table UserName,ClientAddress

Just adding one more lines of code and you will get all sessions within the farm displaying the Username and IP Address.

Setting up your PowerShell / MFCom environment

Beginning  with PowerShell / MFCom Scripting you should install Microsoft Powershell on a Citrix Presentation / XenApp Server in your lab. I recommend downloading the PowerShell Graphical Helpfile which also provides great information's about VBScript to PowerShell conversion.

For creating and editing your PowerShell scripts I suggest downloading the free PowerGui graphical user interface and script editor. Its easy to use and works well with COM Objects.

PowerShell
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/technologies/management/powershell/download.mspx

PowerShell Graphical Help File
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=3B3F7CE4-43EA-4A21-90CC-966A7FC6C6E8&displaylang=en

PowerGui - Graphical user interface and script editor
http://www.powergui.org

Displaying apps in your farm

To give you some basic ideas where PowerShell leverages your daily administrative tasks, I've created the following script:
$farm = new-Object -com "MetaframeCOM.MetaframeFarm"
$farm.Initialize(1)
$farm.FarmName
$farm.applications| where {$_.BrowserName -like "Winword*" {color:black}} | select DistinguishedName

The script above enumerates each application published in the farm and selects all applications where Winword* is contained in the BrowserName.

PowerShell Examples provided by CDN

PowerShell and other scripting examples can be found on the Citrix Developer Network:

http://community.citrix.com/label/cdn/powershell

If you looking to get started with Password manager provisioning server SDK then don't miss this video. Michol Monaghan and George Prado from Citrix explain how to install the Citrix Password Manager Provisioning SDK and run out of the box samples.

Here is the direct link to the video
http://citrix.utipu.com/app/tip/id/3267

If you haven't read my post on whether we should have more customizable dialogs in Workflow Studio please check it out (here) and respond to the poll so I know what you think. In that post I mentioned that you could get custom dialogs today in Workflow Studio by leveraging PowerShell. Building Custom dialogs in PowerShell is not easy right now, but there are some projects out there to automate the process using the Visual Studio designer so it is getting easier. I'm not going to cover the specifics of how to create dialogs with PowerShell, but have a look at this Microsoft article for an introduction and then I will show you how to use this concept in Workflow Studio:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/resources/pstips/feb08/pstip0208.mspx

As I said, the process of building the dialog in PowerShell is tedious, but fortunately getting it into Workflow Studio is not so hard. Workflow Studio has a task called "PowerShell script" that can execute PowerShell script directly:

 
Just drag this task onto your workflow and paste the code from the above article into the "PowerShell Script" property. Now when you run your workflow you will get the dialog to appear. Pretty cool...
 
If you left all the defaults on your PowerShell Command task then you will also have the results of $x (the input string) in your $Output variable and you can use that in subsequent tasks.
 
In future articles I will look at how you can use this concept to create more complex dialogs and pass more complex objects out, but try it out and let me know what you think.

In our latest feature-a-day preview of XenServer "Project Orlando," let's deal with the issue of taking existing server workloads and bringing them to the XenServer platform.  While there are great third-party physical-to-virtual (P2V) migration offering out there, many users want a quick out-of-the-box solution to get started.

This beta release includes the first beta of a new tool, XenConvert.  Users can run XenConvert on their Windows server or desktop systems and export the workload as a VHD format file or as an XVA appliance file, or  they can directly import it into a running XenServer instance.  Registry and device conversions are handled in the process.

Most common versions of 32-bit and 64-bit Windows are supported; the complete list will be in the XenConvert release notes that will accompany the beta.

For production migrations, many customers  may find that the capacity planning features, greater release support, etc. that existing partner products (such as PlateSpin's PowerRecon and PowerConvert, or HP's ProLiant Essentials Server Migration Pack) offer may be an even better solution.  But XenConvert makes it easier to get started, and is a great solution for many users.

Does anyone care about having high-availability for their XenApp farms?  I would envision many of you would say yes.  But what does HA for XenApp really mean?  On the server hosting side, you essentially have HA because you have load balancing at the application level. So if you lose a XenApp server, not too much of a concern as those users can simply restart their application and get load balanced to another server (of course they lose their previous session information, which can be annoying.)   But what other areas of critical to providing a more available XenApp environment?

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, which is probably because my manager has had a lot of meetings and I tend to space out and watch episodes of The Simpsons on my laptop.  Since my DVD player broke, I started to think about HA for XenApp during these meetings (at least I'm now doing work). I was able to come up with the following thoughts:

1. Smart Monitors:  First, I want to know that something has failed or has gone flakey.  I don't want a bunch of messages telling me everything is ok, I just want to know when something is about to go horribly wrong. For example, the XML Black Hole.  I've seen the black hole cause too many issues, so how do we detect it?  You create a smart monitor that does more than pings. It tries to make requests to the XML service. If the expected data comes back, we are good to go. If the request is never answered or the response is junk, then Homer, we have a problem.  
2. HA for the Critical Components: Now if we can detect a failure, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.  As we continue looking at the XML Black Hole, if we see there is an issue, then stop making requests to it. But this requires another XML Brokers to take over the responsibility of the failed one without requiring changes to the environment's configuration.   Sounds a lot like load balancing to me.
3. Business Continuity:  Essentially what I'm saying is that if my XenApp environment at one site fails, I  better have another site already waiting for connections without requiring me to make changes.  Many people have 2 data centers: a primary and a backup. Others have 2+ data centers that are all active.  For those organizations with 2 data centers (primary and backup), how do you fail users over to the backup in the event of a failure?  For those organizations that have 2+ active data centers, how do you tell your users data center is their preferred site?  That is really a trick question (Did I get anyone?).  You shouldn't have to tell your users anything about going to a primary, backup, tertiary site. It should happen automatically.  Users want their applications in the fastest possible means necessary, which could mean that one day it is from data center 1 and on another day it could be data center 2.
   

These three items are all part of NetScaler, and it is easy to setup.  For those of you who know me will notice that I've worked with the integration of NetScaler and XenApp for some time.  Well, the NetScaler product group is actually making my job easier because they are making this solution a lot easier.  I created and maintained a 40+ page document that showed you how to set all of these goodies up. Now that document is about 14 pages (with pictures for each step) because of the new NetScaler for XenApp wizards.  I'm just glad I don't get paid by the word.  Take a look at what I'm talking about. In about 5 minutes you will see me configure and integrate NetScaler with XenApp:

Watch this Video:

Also, take a look at recently released articles  that goes into more detail on this integrated solution: http://support.citrix.com/product/nsad/v8.1/consulting/

• Taking XenApp to the Next Level of Availability - Reference Architecture
• Taking XenApp to the Next Level of Availability - Implementation Gudie

I'm curious what other areas concern you when you are focused on HA for XenApp?   Let me know. Yes, my manager finally ended the meeting, I am outta here.

Daniel

(Homer Quote of the Blog "Kids, you've tried your best and failed miserably.  The lesson is, never try")

Citrix is all about virtualization. They have a suite of tools that enable IT departments to virtualize almost everything. Citrix is a Microsoft Certified Partner and, to some extent, a competitor. How does this Partner Competitor relationship work? Microsoft is very interested in virtualization technologies and with the advent of our hypervisor technology, HyperV, and application virtualization software, SoftGrid, you can bet that we'll compete hard with other virtualization vendors.

Here, we meet Simon Crosby, formerly of XenSource now working for Citrix (Citrix purchased XenSource). We discuss the relationship between Microsoft and Citrix, the complexities of building scalable, sercure, reliable and performant virtualization technologies and the future of virtualization. It's a very interesting conversation and Simon is quite the conversationalist. Enjoy.

On August 5th, I am presenting with Microsoft Terminal Services product manager on XenApp and Windows Server 2008. We will talk about Windows Server 2008 platform enhancements, new features in the upcoming XenApp release and some best practice tips that we learned from our early adopters. Click here to register for the Microsoft TechNet webcast.

• Title: Learn Best Practices for Citrix XenApp and Windows Server 2008 from Early Adopters (Level 200)
• Presenters: Sridhar Mullapudi & Max Herrmann
• Webcast Length: 60
• Date/Time: 8/5/2008 8:00:00 AM Pacific
  

In a previous post I posed the question "If you could wave a magic wand and have any one single feature in the next release of Citrix XenApp, what would it be?".
It is clear many of you would like to wave that magic wand. There have been just over 650 votes and 26 comments so far. This post has been in the Top 5 in total post views since it was posted. Clearly there is a lot of interest in this topic.
I guaranteed you in that post I would share the results with the XenApp product team and I have done that. I also promised to follow up on the feature requests.
I am still working on getting a high level developer or software architect to talk about "live migration of individual sessions". I do have some further info on "Speed Screen Multimedia across all client platforms", the second most popular option in our poll.

Derek Thorslund, our Multimedia Virtualization Strategist, has written numerous posts about SpeedScreen Multimedia and related technologies. According to Derek, support for SpeedScreen Multimedia Acceleration on the Linux client is currently being developed. Derek was not able to give me a definitive time line for the general release of this capability, but I think they can see the light at the end of the tunnel. In fact, our Technology Licensing Partners now have access to a Technology Preview of SpeedScreen MultiMedia Acceleration for the Linux client. I will keep prodding Derek to provide more info as this project reaches completion.

In case you are not aware, SpeedScreen Multimedia Acceleration is currently available for the Win32 Client and the Windows CE WBT client (according to the client matrix). You can see in that document that Image Acceleration, Flash Acceleration and Browser acceleration are all support on multiple clients beyond Win32 and Win CE CBT.

Here are a few relevant blog posts on this topic in case you have not seen them -

SpeedScreenMultiMedaiAcceleration and Rave Video

How Do I Know if RAVE is Working?

What is SpeedScreen Image Acceleration?

Secrets of Optimizing Flash Part 1

Secrets of Optimizing Flash Part 2

Secrets for Optimizing Flash Part 3

Secrets for Optimizing Flash Part 4

Secrets for Optimizing Flash Part 5

New HRP Enhances Flash Support

SpeedScreen Progressive Display Delivers PACS Images



For deeper background technical information, here are some Knowledgebase articles on this topic

Troubleshooting the SpeedScreen Multimedia Acceleration Feature

Windows Media Player Cannot Play the file\


And finally, here is a technical video (narrated by Brian Madden) I found on the SpeedScreen topic -

Deep Dive into Citrix XenApp SpeedScreen Technologies

(47 minute video)

SpeedScreen Progressive Display, introduced in XenApp PS 4.5 and also included in XenDesktop 2.0, has really "moved the needle" when it comes to remote delivery of 2D and lightweight 3D graphics. I just saw the results of a recent Citrix Customer Satisfaction Survey and was impressed to learn that 37% of our XenApp Platinum Edition customers are now using this technology! 

Compared to PS 4.0, SpeedScreen Progressive Display speeds up graphics performance by up to 15 times (see the Tolly Group's report). You've probably seen the demo on our web site which illustrates the user experience. And SpeedScreen Progressive Display lowers the cost of delivering graphics applications by dramatically reducing bandwidth consumption (up to 93%) and allowing access from low cost endpoints.   

If you're using this new graphics technology, please send me an email and let me know which applications you use with it and how big an impact you are seeing. Also, let me know if you have any suggestions for future enhancements. Based on customer input, we recently introduced an enhancement to allow users to control the compression level by means of a toolbar (see picture below); this is available as hotfix PSE450R02W2K3037 (32-bit) or PSE450R02W2K3X64012 (64-bit) for XenApp PS 4.5 HRP02. Now the Apollo multimedia virtualization team is looking at other potential enhancements to SpeedScreen Progressive Display as we integrate this feature into Apollo Accelerated Bitmap Remoting for 3D professional graphics, so we welcome your feedback and suggestions.

 
 
Derek Thorslund
Product Strategist, Multimedia Virtualization

For today's look at a XenServer "Project Orlando" feature, let's consider performance. 

Yes, there are a number of performance improvements in this release -- from storage and network I/O for Windows guests, to enlightened Windows Server 2008, to  memory usage for scalability.  But I'm not just thinking about performance -- I'm thinking about how we think about performance.

In previous releases, XenCenter displaced a 15-minute window into server and virtual machine performance.  And those numbers were local to the interface -- if you quit and restarted XenCenter, the counters went away.

Starting in "Project Orlando," XenServer manages performance data at the server, so it's not bound to a XenCenter session.  And it's stored in a self-scaling Round Robin Database (RRD) format, with sampling and reporting every:

• 5 seconds for the past 10 minutes
• one minute for the past 2 hours
• one hour for the past week
• one day for the past year

Statistics can be collected over HTTP in an XML representation, too, so you can import them into your favorite performance management and reporting tool. See the SDK Guide for more details.

Now it's even easier to tell what's going on on your XenServer boxes... and what has been going on, which is at least as important.

In previous posts I have explored using Workflow Studio to Shut down a Windows host and also how to Shut down a XenServer host. Getting the power off is a big step in being greener, but if you could just turn off machines and leave them off permanently then you wouldn't need Workflow Studio Next we have to look at how to get those hosts powered back on.

There are a lot of different options out there for power management, but the one thing that is fairly consistently avaiable is Wake On LAN (WOL). In this post I am going to look at how WOL technology can be leveraged by Workflow Studio. Most modern server NICs have some form of WOL support (though you may have to turn it on in the BIOS.) This allows you to start up any machine that you know the MAC address for. Heare are some details on WOL from Intel and the Wikipedia WOL page has a good overview and a lot of links to free utilities and sample code.

Now that we have an understanding of how we want to start our server we can add it in as a task in Workflow Studio. There isn't a native WOL task in Workflow Studio (not yet anyway), but it is pretty easy to call one of the tools mentioned in the Wikipedia article with a "Launch Process" task. I started with that, but didn't like having to require one of these to be installed, so I went looking at the code samples. I finally found a great implementation of WOL in PowerShell by /\/\o\/\/ The PowerShell Guy. Paste that code in a PowerShell Script task and you have an embedded Wake On LAN task.

The next step is to put all this together into a single workflow with some business logic about when you want to start and stop your servers. I want to hear from you - what metrics would you want to use to drive a "Green" workflow? Is Wake On LAN supported in your data center? What issues do you have that this kind of a workflow could help with?

In a previous postI explained how to leverage the PowerShell Script task (and PowerShell code) to generate your own custom user interfaces in Workflow Studio. I ran across this script and wanted to share in case anyone wanted to get a date from a user:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/resources/pstips/mar08/pstip0314.mspx

I've been encouraged lately by a noticeable rise in interest in Green IT. For some time I have been talking and blogging about the need to reduce the somewhat significant ecological footprint of IT operations, and I can tell you that even little over a year ago the reaction was mostly one of indifference. At some presentations, I could almost hear the whispers of "go back to Berkeley hippy", even though I have never been there and my hair is quite short .Fellow Green advocates  reported similar results, so it wasn't just my presenting skills. Lately though, the questions I get at presentations show not only more interest, but more engagement and a wider understanding of the issue. Mostly this engagement comes from people in Government IT roles, where there are departmental Green directives with real targets  on  a wide range of operational activities, including  IT.

Increasingly it is also businesses that are starting to understand that there can be financial benefits to reducing the amount of electricity being used to power IT, a fairly major factor in ITs environmental impact (the other main factors are hardware making its way into landfills and the hazardous materials used in manufacturing hardware). With average commercial electricity prices rising 12% since 2005 (a figure I worked out from checking out the US Dept of Energy site), coupled with the fact that  we have been throwing more and more servers (each increasingly power hungry due to their increased performance) into our data centers, the cost of powering these data centers must surely becoming more noticeable.

However, when I mention rising power costs to an audience, I like to ask for a show of hands on how many of them, being IT professionals, actually see their power bill let alone are held accountable. Usually the response is about 10% who do. This may go partly to explain the still low adoption of Green IT plans in businesses as the pain points are not being felt by CIOs, and maybe even the CFO/CBCs ("Chief Bean Counters") who get the corporate power bill have not yet put 2 and 2 together.

So, this leads me to my the question I'd like to throw out there - with most of the economic outlooks forecasting a downturn over the next year or so, will the resultant close look at costs be an opportunity to promote Green IT strategies that are goaled on measured on reducing operating and capital costs?

If you are looking for an opportunity to get approval for a Green IT project at work, this may be your chance. Even if you aren't that motivated by the need to reduce ITs carbon footprint, wouldn't you rather have your companies reduce costs by using virtualization to reduce the power bill and hardware costs than having to do something else such as layoffs?

Either way, your Green IT proposal needs to be sold to the CFO as well as the CIO. As such, your plan will need to include real and measurable financial targets  on the amount of electricity cost savings as well as the usual ROI.

I'm planning on creating a calculator that can demonstrate the ROI of Green server consolidation and thin client projects. If you have any ideas or know of similar calculators, please let me know.

Also, if you are in a Government department and want to raise awareness of Green IT with your CIO, we are holding a Virtual Roundtable on Green It in Government on August 12.   A panel of experts from Federal, State and Local Government agencies, as well as Simon Crosby from Citrix will be there to discuss ROI models, existing mandates and what the future may hold. This will be a low time investment opportunity for your CIO to learn more about Green IT. If you are a CIO yourself, I'm glad to see you are choosing to use some of your valuable time to read my blog and please register for the Roundtable  .

You can register for the Virtual CIO Roundtable here.  

In a previous post I covered how to integrate Wake On LAN into your workflow, but how many people are currently using Wake On LAN or at least know that the majority of their servers support it?

Do the servers in your Data Center support Wake On LAN technology?	Choose
Yes, and I currently use it
Yes, I believe so but I am not using it
No, they only support the hardware vendor's proprietary technology
No, they do not support any form of remote power management
I have no Idea

...Not the city, of course, and not the Virginia Woolf book, though I'm sure you can gain a lot from either of these endeavors.

No, it's time to download and check out the new features, enhancements and improvements in the next version of Citrix XenServer, codenamed "Project Orlando."  The public beta release is available now.

Highlights of the release include:

• Automated high availability
• Windows Server 2008 guest support
• Persistent performance statistics and metrics
• Fully integrated Fibre Channel multipath support with configuration via XenCenter
• VM grouping, searching and tagging
• Email alerts
• Disaster recovery for VM metadata
• Active/active NIC aggregation
• Xen hypervisor updated to version 3.2
• XenConvert P2V migration tool
• Wider hardware support
  ...and many more. 

For more details, the release notes are available with the download.

To download the software, you'll need to log in at citrix.com using a My Citrix account.  If you don't have one, you'll need to create one.

Then click on the Downloads link at the top of the page, and choose Citrix XenServer -- it's the last one in the list.  Then you'll see the link to the beta software.

To discuss the beta software, for support, or to report issues, use the new XenServer "Project Orlando" beta forum.

We're proud of this latest step forward in the evolution of XenServer, and look forward to hearing from you.

When doing Infrastructure Assessments of customer XenApp environments it happens very often that we find out that the servers are not consistent in terms of XenApp Hotfixes and / or Printer Drivers. This is, as everybody can guess, definitively not Best Practice. It can make supporting the farm(s) very hard and can annoy the users as their published desktop / published applications behave differently every day.

Our task here is to document the differences, to enable the customer to homogenize their environment. Documenting this is sometimes very time intensive so I've used the spare time between two projects to build two "documentation" tools.

1. HotfixLister: Nothing really new, but it gives you a comma separated file which can be imported into Excel and shows a matrix of the distribution of hotfixes among the farm. The matrix looks like this:

2. PrinterDriverLister: Again nothing really new, but it gives you a similar matrix like the HotfixLister does:

I've tested the functionality within my test farm but unfortunately it is very small (as you can see), so I cannot test how it performs in larger farms.
So please be careful when running it in larger environments, and if possible drop me a note about how it has performed.

The usage is very simple:

1. Copy all files locally to one of the farm member servers.
2. Execute the tools from there.
3. Import the txt file into Excel.
4. Done.

This zip contains the tools (Download here).

Cheers,

Thomas

To satisfy the legal guys:

Disclaimer Notice

This software / sample code is provided to you "AS IS" with no representations, warranties or conditions of any kind. You may use, modify and distribute it at your own risk. CITRIX DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WHATSOEVER, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, WRITTEN, ORAL OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, you acknowledge and agree that (a) the software / sample code may exhibit errors, design flaws or other problems, possibly resulting in loss of data or damage to property; (b) it may not be possible to make the software / sample code fully functional; and (c) Citrix may, without notice or liability to you, cease to make available the current version and/or any future versions of the software / sample code.  In no event should the software / code be used to support of ultra-hazardous activities, including but not limited to life support or blasting activities.  NEITHER CITRIX NOR ITS AFFILIATES OR AGENTS WILL BE LIABLE, UNDER BREACH OF CONTRACT OR ANY OTHER THEORY OF LIABILITY, FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER ARISING FROM USE OF THE software / SAMPLE CODE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION DIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHER DAMAGES, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.  Although the copyright in the software / code belongs to Citrix, any distribution of the code should include only your own standard copyright attribution, and not that of Citrix.  You agree to indemnify and defend Citrix against any and all claims arising from your use, modification or distribution of the code.

One of the features of the Citrix Delivery Center Podcast is called the Citrix Countdown. The Citrix Countdown is focused on giving insight into our Knowledgebase articles and Citrix Technical Support in top five countdowns.

In the first Citrix Countdown on Episode One, Jim West from XenServer Technical Support counts down the top five most popular XenServer Knowledgebase articles over the last 30 days.

Here is the list from the first ever Citrix Countdown -

Listen to the Citrix Delivery Center Podcast to hear Jim cover each article in brief.

Load Balancing

A crucial piece of knowledge to being an Application Expert is providing availability and offload of the backend servers across any TCP port number. Most web applications run on port 80 and 443. Some enterprise applications use custom ports. Either way, if you want to optimize the performance and keep clients connected when one of the servers or applications starts to fail, you will need a Load Balancer such as the Citrix Application Switch.

Load balancing allows you to distribute incoming requests to a particular virtual server (vserver or VIP) evenly across several backend physical servers. This is also known as Server Load Balancing (SLB). The virtual server runs load balancing algorithms within the Citrix Application Switch.

A vserver consists of a combination of an IP address, port, and protocol that accepts incoming the traffic. The vserver is bound to a number of physical services running on physical servers in the backend server farm. Typical physical servers range from apache web servers to high-end enterprise applications such as SAP and Oracle.

The way it works is a client sends a request to the virtual server, which selects a physical server in the backend server farm and directs the request to the selected physical server. Load balancing allows the Citrix Application Switch to choose the physical server with the lowest load and greatest available resources and directs the incoming request to that server. The Citrix Application Switch can select from many different algorithms for balancing the load, the most common being Round Robin.

Different virtual servers can be configured for different sets of physical services, for example TCP and UDP services. The Citrix Load Balancer supports protocol/application specific vservers for HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, SSL, SSL BRIDGE, SSLTCP, NNTP, DNS, SIP and SNMP services.

To with with your understanding and first time configuration, this deployment guide speaks directly to configuring Load Balancing and SSL Offload on a Citrix Application Switch. It was developed for the SAP Application, but the concepts apply to any Web Application.

Citrix Load Balancing Deployment Guide.

Watch this Load Balancing Tip:

Tap into the power of AppExpert!

Read about the Citrix Load Balancer here.

Buy the Citrix Load Balancer here.