Wednesday, June 18, 2008
BriForum Day 2 XenDesktop Getting Started Session
XenDesktop Getting Started - Rick Dehlinger from iQurious Corporation
Cool company name "iQurirous"
XenDesktop 2 was released in May at Citrix Synergy
ICA to the desktop, none of this double-hop ICA to CPS, RDP to XP BS.
Single instance storage for desktop images via Provisioning Server.
ICA Features Included
- UPD is included
- Session Policies
- SSL Encapsulation
ICA Features not Included
- Functionality that require services interaction
- Speedscreen
- Multimedia
Components
- Desktop Delivery Controllers run the IMA protocol, farm definition, desktop broker, once client is connected to XP the controller is out of the picture.
- Access Gateway is used for Internet access
- Can be used with XenServer, VMware and Hyper-V.
- Includes PVS for image management
- Positioning XenApp as delivery of applications into the VDI image via streaming or published app
Editions
- Express - Free for 10 CCU - Includes Desktop Delivery Controller and XenServer Standard
--- Works with CSG but advertised as not working with SSL tunneling via Access Gateway
- Standard - unlimited CCUs
---Desktop Controller
---XenServer Standard
---Supports ICA/SSL encryption with AG Standard 2010 appliances only or CSG
---$75 per CCU
- Advanced - unlimited CCUs
--- Includes Provisioning Server
--- $195 per CCU
- Enterprise
--- Adds Publishing for XenApp
--- $295 per CCU
- Platinum
--- Full universal VPN license
--- Edgesight for end points
--- EasyCall
--- $395 per CCU
--- One GoToAssist agent per 200 CCU
Setup
1. Setup hardware and hypervisor
2. Setup PVS
3. XenDesktop Setup Wizard for provisioning VMs in XenServer and PVS including AD computer accounts.
4. Setup Desktop Delivery Controllers
5. Publish desktop delivery groups
6. Connect
Cool company name "iQurirous"
XenDesktop 2 was released in May at Citrix Synergy
ICA to the desktop, none of this double-hop ICA to CPS, RDP to XP BS.
Single instance storage for desktop images via Provisioning Server.
ICA Features Included
- UPD is included
- Session Policies
- SSL Encapsulation
ICA Features not Included
- Functionality that require services interaction
- Speedscreen
- Multimedia
Components
- Desktop Delivery Controllers run the IMA protocol, farm definition, desktop broker, once client is connected to XP the controller is out of the picture.
- Access Gateway is used for Internet access
- Can be used with XenServer, VMware and Hyper-V.
- Includes PVS for image management
- Positioning XenApp as delivery of applications into the VDI image via streaming or published app
Editions
- Express - Free for 10 CCU - Includes Desktop Delivery Controller and XenServer Standard
--- Works with CSG but advertised as not working with SSL tunneling via Access Gateway
- Standard - unlimited CCUs
---Desktop Controller
---XenServer Standard
---Supports ICA/SSL encryption with AG Standard 2010 appliances only or CSG
---$75 per CCU
- Advanced - unlimited CCUs
--- Includes Provisioning Server
--- $195 per CCU
- Enterprise
--- Adds Publishing for XenApp
--- $295 per CCU
- Platinum
--- Full universal VPN license
--- Edgesight for end points
--- EasyCall
--- $395 per CCU
--- One GoToAssist agent per 200 CCU
Setup
1. Setup hardware and hypervisor
2. Setup PVS
3. XenDesktop Setup Wizard for provisioning VMs in XenServer and PVS including AD computer accounts.
4. Setup Desktop Delivery Controllers
5. Publish desktop delivery groups
6. Connect
BriForum Day 2 Designing VMware for the Enterprise Session
Designing VI3 for the Enterprise - Ron Oglesby - With Glasshouse
Order of design decisions is most important.
Design is most important.
Get all of the key people together to bang out all of the architectural decisions in one or two days. This includes server, network, storage and security people.
Hardware that gets purchased should be the last decision. You need to know network and storage requirements before you know how many NICs, HBAs etc..
Define Critical Success Factors
- What must be true/happen for this design to be successful
Don't use Cisco Etherchannel, the default VMware NIC teaming is best.
Don't use resource pools - he has seen too many cases where resource pools cause slow performance and he has went in and removed the resource pools and it fixed their issues.
Order of design decisions is most important.
Design is most important.
Get all of the key people together to bang out all of the architectural decisions in one or two days. This includes server, network, storage and security people.
Hardware that gets purchased should be the last decision. You need to know network and storage requirements before you know how many NICs, HBAs etc..
Define Critical Success Factors
- What must be true/happen for this design to be successful
Don't use Cisco Etherchannel, the default VMware NIC teaming is best.
Don't use resource pools - he has seen too many cases where resource pools cause slow performance and he has went in and removed the resource pools and it fixed their issues.
BriForum Day 2 XenDesktop Deep Dive Session
XenDesktop Deep Dive - Rick Dehlinger from iQurious Corporation
This session dove into the architecture of XenDesktop.
-IMA Data store
-Citrix Licensing
-ICA/SSL
-Web Interface is required for connectivity
-Single zone, single data collector
-Administered from AMC and PSC (Old style java console) for policy management
-Requires AD but there are no schema updates
-Desktop Delivery Controller DDC
--Server 2k3
--Terminal Service enabled in app mode - doesn't make since, no users connect to this server over RDP. Must have something to do with the IMA being on
there
--.NET 3.5
-Virtual Desktop Agent
--Win XP, Vista
--32 bit only
--single IP address
--Adds 7 services and drivers for ICA, Printing and other services
-Provisioning Server - Not required but definitely makes like easier
-XenServer/VMware ESX - No functionality lost if VMware is used in place of XenServer
-XenDesktop Setup Wizard
-Web Interface - goes on the DDC - Can also use the new Citrix App Receiver or PNAgent - There are also some thin clients - Login Desktop
These two sessions on XenDesktop have gotten me very excited about this product. I want to build a lab with this at the office ASAP.
It would be cool to build a XenServer one and a VMware one to compare the scalability.
This session dove into the architecture of XenDesktop.
-IMA Data store
-Citrix Licensing
-ICA/SSL
-Web Interface is required for connectivity
-Single zone, single data collector
-Administered from AMC and PSC (Old style java console) for policy management
-Requires AD but there are no schema updates
-Desktop Delivery Controller DDC
--Server 2k3
--Terminal Service enabled in app mode - doesn't make since, no users connect to this server over RDP. Must have something to do with the IMA being on
there
--.NET 3.5
-Virtual Desktop Agent
--Win XP, Vista
--32 bit only
--single IP address
--Adds 7 services and drivers for ICA, Printing and other services
-Provisioning Server - Not required but definitely makes like easier
-XenServer/VMware ESX - No functionality lost if VMware is used in place of XenServer
-XenDesktop Setup Wizard
-Web Interface - goes on the DDC - Can also use the new Citrix App Receiver or PNAgent - There are also some thin clients - Login Desktop
These two sessions on XenDesktop have gotten me very excited about this product. I want to build a lab with this at the office ASAP.
It would be cool to build a XenServer one and a VMware one to compare the scalability.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
BriForum Day 1 PVS Session
DAY ONE SESSION ONE - PROVISIONING SERVER IN THE REAL WORLD - PRESENTED BY MICHAEL THOMASON
Michael works for Emory Healthcare in Atlanta, specializing Citrix/Terminal Services.
Session started out very boring, I was wanting some in depth info and some cool stuff I haven't leaned or thought of yet. He went though some uses and case studies on how they use it to deploy Office and a healthcare app called Cerner.
Provisioning Server database - vld.mdb - will be moved to SQL in PVS 5.0. Not sure when 5.0 will be released.
He uses and recommends client HD caching instead of "Cache on Server" or "Client RAM Caching". He has had issues with client RAM and server side caching.
You could tell he had been working with the product before Citrix acquired it because he was going back and forth between using Ardence and Provisioning Server. I have found myself doing this a lot with some of our clients.
From the description of the session he was going to cover "How to configure "static configurations" which will survive a reboot (i.e. Citrix local host cache, application data, etc.)" he never went over any of that. I was also hoping he would go into the challenges of getting XenApp to boot properly and having uniqueness for each XenApp server.
He is developing a tool called DPM. Dynamic Personality Manager. This tool automates deploying XenApp with PVS. Doing things like changing the event log paths and some other PVS specific things that he does when streaming XenApp.
Event though I didn't learn anything new, overall he did a good job, it is hard to cover everything in 70 minutes.
Michael works for Emory Healthcare in Atlanta, specializing Citrix/Terminal Services.
Session started out very boring, I was wanting some in depth info and some cool stuff I haven't leaned or thought of yet. He went though some uses and case studies on how they use it to deploy Office and a healthcare app called Cerner.
Provisioning Server database - vld.mdb - will be moved to SQL in PVS 5.0. Not sure when 5.0 will be released.
He uses and recommends client HD caching instead of "Cache on Server" or "Client RAM Caching". He has had issues with client RAM and server side caching.
You could tell he had been working with the product before Citrix acquired it because he was going back and forth between using Ardence and Provisioning Server. I have found myself doing this a lot with some of our clients.
From the description of the session he was going to cover "How to configure "static configurations" which will survive a reboot (i.e. Citrix local host cache, application data, etc.)" he never went over any of that. I was also hoping he would go into the challenges of getting XenApp to boot properly and having uniqueness for each XenApp server.
He is developing a tool called DPM. Dynamic Personality Manager. This tool automates deploying XenApp with PVS. Doing things like changing the event log paths and some other PVS specific things that he does when streaming XenApp.
Event though I didn't learn anything new, overall he did a good job, it is hard to cover everything in 70 minutes.
BriForum Day 1 Keynote
Well I am here at BriForum 08 and I am very excited to be here. This is my first BriForm but it is the 6th BriForum and the atmosphere here is like no other IT conference I have been to. You can tell everyone here is passionate about virtualization. There are no sales/marketing sessions here just in depth technical.
They did a great job of providing long power strips under every other row of chairs for everyone to plug into for laptop power.
The wireless access was good when I first arrived but after about an hour of everyone getting on it became almost unusable. I was going to try to do some live blogging but no Internet access I had to type everything in Notepad then post it to the blog later.
There are close to 500 people here from all over the world. There were around 400 last year so this conference is just going to get bigger.
I have already met three guys from the Netherlands that were very cool. They work for a small consulting company like Varrow.
I am going to try to post a blog entry everyday on the sessions I went to and what I learned at each.
Funny quote that was displayed on the screen before one of the session "Programming is like sex, one mistake and you spend the rest of your life supporting it."
They did a great job of providing long power strips under every other row of chairs for everyone to plug into for laptop power.
The wireless access was good when I first arrived but after about an hour of everyone getting on it became almost unusable. I was going to try to do some live blogging but no Internet access I had to type everything in Notepad then post it to the blog later.
There are close to 500 people here from all over the world. There were around 400 last year so this conference is just going to get bigger.
I have already met three guys from the Netherlands that were very cool. They work for a small consulting company like Varrow.
I am going to try to post a blog entry everyday on the sessions I went to and what I learned at each.
Funny quote that was displayed on the screen before one of the session "Programming is like sex, one mistake and you spend the rest of your life supporting it."
BriForum Day 1 TS Load Balancing Session
DAY ONE SESSION THREE - TERMINAL SERVICES 2008 LOAD BALANCING AND SECURITY - THORSTEN ROOD
65 MINUTES OF DEMO - NO PRE-STAGED CONFIG ASIDE FROM AD AND VMs.
This was a very boring session, not a very good presenter, a very monotone voice.
One thing that was interesting is that he recommended to never use NLB for load balancing TS. He recommends that if you can't afford a hard ware load balancer use DNS round robin.
65 MINUTES OF DEMO - NO PRE-STAGED CONFIG ASIDE FROM AD AND VMs.
This was a very boring session, not a very good presenter, a very monotone voice.
One thing that was interesting is that he recommended to never use NLB for load balancing TS. He recommends that if you can't afford a hard ware load balancer use DNS round robin.
BriForum Day 1 VDI Smack down
DAY ONE SESSION TWO - VDI SMACK DOWN - BRIAN MADDEN
This was a comparison of all the different VDI products on the market.
Brian thinks that VDI is still not ready for general main stream use like XenApp/Terminal Services is. He think now it is good for point solutions but that in a year our two it will be main stream.
Brian is of the opinion that the management interface, connection broker and web portal are all the same and not a reason to buy one over the other.
Protocols is one of the big bottle necks in deployment of VDI solutions.
He said the only one that has true image management is Citrix via Provisioning Server. All the others use an ugly cloning, linking syspreping process that is not clean like PVS.
He did a survey on how many used ESX/Xen/other from Virtual Iron on Microsoft. Half the room raised their hand for ESX, two people raided their hand for Xen and nobody raised their hand for any of the other products.
Representatives from all venders were in the audience
He compared the 5 mainstream products:
- Citrix XenDesktop
- VMware VDM 2
- Qumranet Solid ICE
- Quest/Provision Networks Virtual Access Suite
- Ericom PowerTerm WebConnect
Citrix XenDesktop
- VDI Only
- XenServer, Hyper-V, ESX or blades for hosting/managing VDI sessions
- Derivative of XenApp - For example if you know XenApp then the learning curve is very small.
- Uses ICA - Port ICA and is a bit different than the XenApp ICA.
- Some of the ICA features are not there - Multimedia features for example
- Same WI as XenApp
- Same farm concept
- etc..
VMware VDI - VMware Created the VDI term.
- VDM is has the lest functionality of the products compared. All of the other products have some sort of wow factor that no one else has.
- RDP+, the + is a multimedia feature add-on.
Qumranet Solid ICE
- Complete solution (hypervisor based on KVM, broker, protocol) - all in one from one vendor.
- Amazing technology
- SPICE Protocol - best one of all - can run full motion high def video.
- SPICE doesn't work over a WAN because it requires more bandwidth for all of multimedia to work.
- For WANs they use RDP because for WAN you can't expect those anyway.
- Has the biggest WOW factor
- KVM designer works for Qumranet
- Higher density of VMs - 52 VDI sessions on a dual quad core/16 GB RAM giving each 1 GB RAM.
- Does memory sharing like VMware
Quest Virtual Access Suited (formerly Provision Networks)
- TS and VDI solution from one management interface
- App and Desktop support
- Can totally manage ESX/Virtaul Iron VMs from creating to deletion to deploying.
- Basic support for other hypervisors
- RDP soon RGS - an HP solution
Ericom PowerTerm WebConnect
- very similar to Quest VAS
- Most Hypervisor agnostic
- RDP, Teradici PC-over-IP
A very informative session. I want to check out the SPICE protocol in action in the demo lab.
This was a comparison of all the different VDI products on the market.
Brian thinks that VDI is still not ready for general main stream use like XenApp/Terminal Services is. He think now it is good for point solutions but that in a year our two it will be main stream.
Brian is of the opinion that the management interface, connection broker and web portal are all the same and not a reason to buy one over the other.
Protocols is one of the big bottle necks in deployment of VDI solutions.
He said the only one that has true image management is Citrix via Provisioning Server. All the others use an ugly cloning, linking syspreping process that is not clean like PVS.
He did a survey on how many used ESX/Xen/other from Virtual Iron on Microsoft. Half the room raised their hand for ESX, two people raided their hand for Xen and nobody raised their hand for any of the other products.
Representatives from all venders were in the audience
He compared the 5 mainstream products:
- Citrix XenDesktop
- VMware VDM 2
- Qumranet Solid ICE
- Quest/Provision Networks Virtual Access Suite
- Ericom PowerTerm WebConnect
Citrix XenDesktop
- VDI Only
- XenServer, Hyper-V, ESX or blades for hosting/managing VDI sessions
- Derivative of XenApp - For example if you know XenApp then the learning curve is very small.
- Uses ICA - Port ICA and is a bit different than the XenApp ICA.
- Some of the ICA features are not there - Multimedia features for example
- Same WI as XenApp
- Same farm concept
- etc..
VMware VDI - VMware Created the VDI term.
- VDM is has the lest functionality of the products compared. All of the other products have some sort of wow factor that no one else has.
- RDP+, the + is a multimedia feature add-on.
Qumranet Solid ICE
- Complete solution (hypervisor based on KVM, broker, protocol) - all in one from one vendor.
- Amazing technology
- SPICE Protocol - best one of all - can run full motion high def video.
- SPICE doesn't work over a WAN because it requires more bandwidth for all of multimedia to work.
- For WANs they use RDP because for WAN you can't expect those anyway.
- Has the biggest WOW factor
- KVM designer works for Qumranet
- Higher density of VMs - 52 VDI sessions on a dual quad core/16 GB RAM giving each 1 GB RAM.
- Does memory sharing like VMware
Quest Virtual Access Suited (formerly Provision Networks)
- TS and VDI solution from one management interface
- App and Desktop support
- Can totally manage ESX/Virtaul Iron VMs from creating to deletion to deploying.
- Basic support for other hypervisors
- RDP soon RGS - an HP solution
Ericom PowerTerm WebConnect
- very similar to Quest VAS
- Most Hypervisor agnostic
- RDP, Teradici PC-over-IP
A very informative session. I want to check out the SPICE protocol in action in the demo lab.
BriForum Geek Out Game Show
To qualify as a contestant you had to take an online quiz of 16 questions. After I took the quiz I felt I had done well, there were a few questions I was unsure of though.
They announced the contestants that night at the party. I was surprised that I scored the highest getting 12 questions correct. The other two contestants both got 11 correct.
As the highest scorer I got to pick the vendor to play for. Each vendor was giving their contestant a different prize. I picked Virtual App Factory because they were giving away a wii.
The Geek Out game show was done in Jeopordy style format except with no double Jeopordy and no final Jeopordy. Just 30 questions with different categories.
I was doing very well the entire game until we got down to the Code Names category. The guy next to me swept up that category and beet me 2100 to 1500. I had 1800 but missed one.
I didn't win but it was very fun.
They announced the contestants that night at the party. I was surprised that I scored the highest getting 12 questions correct. The other two contestants both got 11 correct.
As the highest scorer I got to pick the vendor to play for. Each vendor was giving their contestant a different prize. I picked Virtual App Factory because they were giving away a wii.
The Geek Out game show was done in Jeopordy style format except with no double Jeopordy and no final Jeopordy. Just 30 questions with different categories.
I was doing very well the entire game until we got down to the Code Names category. The guy next to me swept up that category and beet me 2100 to 1500. I had 1800 but missed one.
I didn't win but it was very fun.
BriForum Day 1 VDI vs Terminal Services
DAY ONE SESSION FOUR - VDI vs TERMINAL SERVICES - BERNHARD TRITSCH FROM LOGIN CONSULTANTS AND BRIAN MADDEN
BRIAN MADDEN WAS THE HIP NEW VDI GUY DRESSED IN SHORTS AND T-SHIRT WITH SUN GLASSES
BENNY WAS THE OLD SCHOOL TS GUY IN A SUITE AND TIE.
THIS WAS A FUN SESSION WITH EACH PLAYING THE ROLE
THIS WAS A VERY INTERACTIVE SESSION WITH THE AUDIENCE ARGUING BACK AND FORTH AS WELL.
THE END RESULT WAS THAT EVERYONE AGREED THAT BOTH HAVE THEIR PLACE AND THAT THERE IS NOT ONE SOLUTION THAT WORKS IN EVERY SCENARIO.
BRIAN SAID THAT TO ACCOMMODATE END USERS FOR EVERY SCENARIO YOU WOULD HAVE TO INTEGRATE PRODUCTS FROM 10 DIFFERENT VENDORS.
BRIAN MADDEN WAS THE HIP NEW VDI GUY DRESSED IN SHORTS AND T-SHIRT WITH SUN GLASSES
BENNY WAS THE OLD SCHOOL TS GUY IN A SUITE AND TIE.
THIS WAS A FUN SESSION WITH EACH PLAYING THE ROLE
THIS WAS A VERY INTERACTIVE SESSION WITH THE AUDIENCE ARGUING BACK AND FORTH AS WELL.
THE END RESULT WAS THAT EVERYONE AGREED THAT BOTH HAVE THEIR PLACE AND THAT THERE IS NOT ONE SOLUTION THAT WORKS IN EVERY SCENARIO.
BRIAN SAID THAT TO ACCOMMODATE END USERS FOR EVERY SCENARIO YOU WOULD HAVE TO INTEGRATE PRODUCTS FROM 10 DIFFERENT VENDORS.
Friday, June 6, 2008
I did my first SAN Copy yesterday. Like anything else in IT once you know how to do something and you do it a couple times it becomes easy.
I am using SAN Copy to migrate LUNs from a CX300 to a CX3-20.
Here are the steps that I followed:
I am using SAN Copy to migrate LUNs from a CX300 to a CX3-20.
Here are the steps that I followed:
- Zoned SPA1 on CX300 to SPA1 on CX3-20
- Zoned SPB1 on CX300 to SPB1 on CX3-20
- In Navisphere update SAN Copy connections on both arrays
- Created a storage group called SAN Copy
- Created a Reserve LUN Pool - this is for doing incremental copies, if doing full copies this is not required.
- Added the RLP LUNs to the RLP Configuration in Navisphere
- Added target LUNs to the SAN Copy storage group
- On the SAN Copy storage group configured the SAN Copy connections between the arrays
- Created a SAN Copy session by right-clicking the source LUN on the CX300, SAN Copy, Create Session from LUN.
- Set the session type of either Full or Incremental. Full is a one time copy and the host has to be offline during the entire copy. Incremental is for when you have a small downtime window. Incrementals can run while the host is online.
- Set the destination LUN
- Set the Session Throttle
- To start the SAN Copy session go under SAN Copy Session in Navisphere, drill down under the SP where the LUN is located, right-click the session and click start
- Monitored the status by right-clicking on the session and going to status
- Once it was complete I ran a few more copies to get any changes
- Power off the host
- Ran one last copy
- Removed the SAN Copy session
- Removed the host from the storage group on the CX300
- Created a new storage group on the CX3-20
- Zoned the host with the CX320
- Added the host to the storage group
- Added the LUN to the storage group
- Powered on the host
- Verified drive access
-
Total up all the LUNs (ie: 4 LUNs at 25gb apiece = 100gb)
-
Determine the change rate. 20% is a good number that covers most environments
-
Take 20% of the 100gb = 20gb
-
Take 20gb (or the # that comes out as 20% of the total space) - divide that by the number of LUNs (4): 20gb div by 4 = 5gb
-
Create 4 LUNs at 5gb apiece for RLP (for SPA)C
-
Create 4 LUNs at 5gb apiece for RLP (for SPB)
Monday, June 2, 2008
XenApp Components part 3
This is the third post on explaining the components of a XenApp farm. In this post I will cover the static configuration database. This database is called the Independent Management Architecture (more commonly referred to as the IMA DB).
The IMA DB stores static configuration information for a XenApp farm.
http://support.citrix.com/servlet/KbServlet/download/12606-102-16435/Administrators_Guide.pdf
Review pages 35-40.
The IMA DB stores static configuration information for a XenApp farm.
- Servers
- Applications
- Administrators
- Policies
- Printer drivers
- Installation Management data
- Microsoft Access. Access is a lightweight database that is included with
Windows server operating systems. The Access database is created on the
first server in a new farm. It is most appropriate for small to mid-sized
farms. - Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition SP1. This type of database
is most appropriate for small to medium-sized farms and can be
administered using standard Microsoft SQL Server tools. - Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle database, and IBM DB2. These are all
true client/server databases that offer robust and scalable support for
multiple-server data access. They are suited for use in farms of any size.
http://support.citrix.com/servlet/KbServlet/download/12606-102-16435/Administrators_Guide.pdf
Review pages 35-40.
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