When layers become a problem

I have seen a lot of discussion on the subject of layering of software images to deliver virtualized client computing. There are some interesting opportunities here but also a number of serious potential issues. This is too big an area for a single blog post so I am going to look at this over a number of post in the coming weeks.

There are number of different ways the word ‘layers’ is used in client computing. Firstly, when we think of our software stack we unsurprisingly think of the layers that make up that stack. Those layers are typically operating system, applications and user environment. We then think about how we manage those layers, either as the complete unwieldy stack or individually. As  such we are thinking about layers as a handy shortcut for what we want to manage individually.

Another way that the word ‘layers’ is being used is as a way of splitting the stack into a large number of separate layers. A number of small vendors are launching early stage products to try and deliver solutions based on a layer per application with those layers being delivered selectively depending on the user. The problem here is that each of the layers then needs to be managed separately including the impact of every combination of layers. Many of the organizations I talk to have thousands of applications in use across the business, that means thousands of layers and a huge combinatorial problem.

The change between the two uses of the word ‘layers’ is dramatic: In one case we are referring to three layers that we want to manage individually in the other case attempting to manage thousands of layers in a way that may well prove to be impossible. As I think of managing all those layers I am reminded of the mess that usually results from my attempts at eating a Napoleon, also known to the French as a ‘Mille Feuille’ – thousand layers.

Entisys Host A Citrix, Microsoft & AppSense Event

Entisys Solutions (a Citrix Solution Partner Platinum, Microsoft Gold Partner and AppSense CSP) are hosting a desktop virtualization event at the Microsoft offices in California -  Join us and explore the technology of XenDesktop, Hyper-V and AppSense.

Discover how Citrix, Microsoft and AppSense provide a simple and reliable virtual desktop for users of Windows Server® environments. Citrix, the leader in Desktop Virtualization, AppSense, the leader in user environment management solutions and Microsoft have the most comprehensive virtualized desktop solution in the industry.  Citrix XenDesktop will deliver a full range of desktop virtualization technologies, ideal for everyone from task workers to mobile/remote employees. With the Microsoft-Citrix-AppSense partnership, there is no easier way to deploy Windows 7.

Seminar topics include:

• Reducing Desktop TCO and gaining the best performance with Citrix XenDesktop™
• Virtual Desktop Architecture – XenDesktop components with Hyper-V
• Citrix Provisioning Server – ease the deployment of your Windows 7 roll out
• Desktop deliver controller and Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager
• Technical deep dive for the engineer and technical savvy IT specialist

Date:
Thursday – December 17, 2009

Location:
Microsoft Corporation – Mercury Room in Building One
1065 La Avenida Street
Mountain View
CA 94041
(650) 693-4000 

Please Click Here To Register Your Place!

Look forward to seeing you there :)

Deleting Orphaned Disks in Citrix XenServer 5.5

Recently I ran out of storage space on a Citrix XenServer because a number of local virtual disks had become orphaned and deleting them proved to be a little difficult, so, I thought it might be useful to share what I found lest others suffer the same issue.

I think the problem occurred because I removed disks which were attached to some VMs which had been created from templates, because I was using them with Provisioning Server and had run the XenConvert stage to copy the hard disk to the vDisk. This was so I could test that they worked without local disks, but didn’t want to delete them in case there was a problem.

I found two methods – the “hard” way and the “easy” way.  Guess which I found first?! ;)

Method 1.

From a console shell prompt run the command:

xe vdi-list

Note that vdi is short for “virtual disk image” in this context. This should result in a display similar to the following with one entry per storage item so will include ISO images as well as virtual disks. Note that this will list all items, not just orphaned ones. Pipe the output to “more” or redirect to a file and use “vi” or similar on the file produced to find the oprhaned items.

uuid ( RO)                : cb5781e0-c6f9-4909-acd6-5fd4b509d117

          name-label ( RW): Vista master for UIA

    name-description ( RW): Created by template provisioner

             sr-uuid ( RO): 72cc0d44-bea7-6c15-cf8d-c2965ca495b2

        virtual-size ( RO): 25769803776

            sharable ( RO): false

           read-only ( RO): false

Fortunately, I knew the name of the disks that were orphaned so passed their uuid values as an argument to the “xe vdi-destroy” command thus:

xe vdi-destroy uuid=cb5781e0-c6f9-4909-acd6-5fd4b509d117

The storage space freed up by deleting the disks will eventually be realized but to force this, you can manually instigate a re-scan of the containing storage repository. For this, we need to know the uuid of the storage repository which we have in in the “sr-uuid” field in the original “xe vdi-list” command above:

xe sr-scan uuid=72cc0d44-bea7-6c15-cf8d-c2965ca495b2

Method 2.

Add the disk to an existing VM and then delete the disk from the “Storage” tab in XenCenter for the VM when it is powered down :)

I hope this is of use to someone?…

 

 

Centralis use Citrix XenDesktop & AppSense for 3,000 users at Dudley PCT

Dudley Primary Care Trust (PCT) has worked with Centralis (a key Citrix & AppSense partner) to deliver a virtual desktop environment to over 3,000 staff.

Using Citrix XenServer, Citrix XenDesktop, Citrix XenApp and AppSense, Dudley PCT are able to provision desktops to their staff from just 16 Virtual Servers.

AppSense enables a single standardize image of the OS and Applications to be stored, managed and delivered as fully configured and personalized desktops to thousands of users at minimal operational cost.

A more detailed account of this project can be found here

Other joint Citrix and AppSense Customers can be found here

Further information on the joint Citrix & AppSense Solution can be found on the Citrix website here

Thanks

Gareth

AppSense Channel on YouTube

A few weeks ago AppSense HQ was the center point for our quarterly Systems Engineering / Pre-Sales Conference..

I thought, while I have 30 or so consultants at my disposal, to take this opportunity to catch them off-guard and have them white-board some of the key AppSense messages and overviews.

Videos / Whiteboard Presentations include (amongst others):

• User Environment Management Overview
• Windows 7 and VDI Overview
• Eliminating the need for Roaming Profiles
• Rolling-back User Personalization Settings
• Automatically Blocking Unauthorized Executables
• Controlling Microsoft Application Per Device Licensing
• Client & Cloud Computing

These videos have now been uploaded to YouTube and are available for viewing here – at the AppSense YouTube Channel

I hope these are of use to people, and where possible, I am keen to read your comments, so please do leave a note of your thoughts on there :)

AppSense on YouTube

Desktop Virtualization Technical Briefing with Citrix, Microsoft, AppSense and more key ISV’s

Learn the difference between just throwing in a VDI solution, and designing a true Desktop & Application Delivery Architecture. Learn why most VDI projects fail, and the best practices that will show a solid ROI to your CFO/CIO.

Don’t try to bolt-on a Frankenstein solution, – come hear from our team of technical experts. You’ll also experience a great networking opportunity to meet your peers, and learn from their projects as well. Some questions we will help you answer…

• Why is desktop virtualization different than server virtualization
• Is VDI the same thing as Desktop or Application Delivery (hint: it is not)
• What architecture/designs are available
• What are the SAN requirements for Desktop Delivery
• How do you handle user profiles
• How is printing different with virtual desktops or Terminal Services
• When do you use Terminal Server based Application Delivery versus Desktop Delivery (or both)
• What licensing is needed from each manufacturer to implement a solid desktop virtualization architecture

A solid line up of technical presenters; from Microsoft, Citrix, AppSense, and AGSI coming to a city near you…

 10/27/09 – Raleigh, NC

10/28/09 – Charlotte, NC 

10/29/09 – Charleston, SC

 More details: http://www.advantec.us/events-dtv.htm

To register: http://www.advantec.us/eventspdtv-reg.asp

DABCC Podcast – AppSense (Martin Ingram) And Doug Brown Discuss Citrix XenDesktop 4 & User Environment Management

Douglas Brown interviews Martin Ingram, Vice President of Strategy at AppSense. Douglas and Martin discuss the recent release of Citrix XenDesktop 4, what this means for the desktop virtualization, AppSense, and VMware. Martin also talks a bit about their upcoming “user installed applications” technology which will allow end-users to install their own applications and have those apps roam with the user while allowing IT to centrally manage these ‘one off’ applications centrally.

The podcast is hosted on DABCC.com and can be found here

DABCC Podcast

AppSense Announces Support for Citrix XenDesktop 4 with Leading User Personalization Technology

The Only Partner Technology Recommended by Citrix to Ensure All Users Receive a Fully Personalized Working Environment at the Lowest Possible Cost

AppSense, the leading provider of User Environment Management solutions for the enterprise, today announced full support for Citrix XenDesktop 4,a groundbreaking new Citrix product designed to make virtual desktops a mainstream reality for hundreds of millions of corporate employees for the first time ever.

“AppSense has been working closely with Citrix and our joint customers for many years and we commend Citrix on this bold and significant move. By combining two market-leading products and introducing FlexCast technology to accommodate every user type, Citrix has been instrumental in further reducing the barriers to mainstream virtual desktop adoption,” said Charles Sharland, Chairman and CEO, AppSense. “As the only enterprise solution recommended by Citrix to provide comprehensive desktop personalization for all users, we look forward to providing our Citrix customers a way to scale their virtual desktop estates at lowest cost and with maximum user adoption.”

AppSense, a Citrix partner of over 10 years with some 4000 joint customers around the world, provides technology solutions that enable low-cost, standard desktop images to be delivered to employees as fully personalized desktops. This ensures maximum user adoption from just a few corporate base images, reducing cost, complexity and risk. Their User Environment Management solution is the only technology to provide on-demand desktop personalization across all delivery methods and operating system versions.

Based on this unique level of customer experience, AppSense is well positioned to work in conjunction with Citrix FlexCast to provide centralized management of the user personality for task workers, knowledge workers and power users in both server and client-hosted desktop environments.

“We look at the desktop in a different way at AppSense,” stated Pete Rawlinson, VP WW Marketing at AppSense. “We effectively separate the desktop into three layers; corporate operating system, corporate applications and the user. By managing all aspects of the user independent of the desktop, IT are able to standardize the corporate operating system and applications, delivering them on-demand only when needed. The combination of Citrix XenDesktop 4 and AppSense User Environment Management enables companies to truly eliminate unnecessary desktop management costs while ensuring users of all types receive the very best working experience – even in the most heterogeneous environments.”

This layered model looks to be the way forward for mainstream virtual desktop adoption, as Rachel Chalmers of The 451 Group states:

“Separating out operating systems and applications and provisioning them dynamically means that desktops can be assembled per session and disposed of when the session is over. To make all of this work like a physical PC, though, administrators need to store stateful user settings and preferences elsewhere. Separating out this layer of user data is what we call user virtualization. Citrix ecosystem vendors pioneered the art of maintaining these user profiles in terminal services environments, and AppSense has led the way in adapting it to desktop virtualization.”

AppSense will be a sponsor at the upcoming Citrix global online event on October 20, 2009, “Secrets, Lies and VDI: Dispel the Myths and Uncover the Truth about Desktop and Application Virtualization”.   Click here to register your place…

CSC Dynamic Desktop – Citrix XenDesktop & AppSense

I have just returned from a successful 2 day IPexpo event in London, and was extremely excited to see the many Google Alerts for ‘XenDesktop’, ‘AppSense’, and ‘User Environment Management’ in my inbox.  Upon clicking on the alert I was taken to Daniel Fellers ‘Ask the Architect’ pages within the Citrix Community site.

In this instance, Daniel (a Lead Architect for the WorldWide Consulting Services at Citrix) interviews Sandy Kingdon (a Dynamic Desktop Architect at CSC) on how CSC has designed and is well into the implementation of Citrix XenDesktop, VMware ESX and AppSense User Environment Management to support a 40,000 user environment.

Sandy explains how CSC were able to overcome some notable challenges, including:

• Supporting multiple users across different sites using different language and MUI packs from just 2 vDisks
• Controlling Application Access
• Persisting User Personalization Settings between sessions
• Current and future plans for supporting User Installed Applications in a non-persistent environment

As AppSense are a core component of CSC’s standard offering for Dynamic Desktop, Sandy covers how by virtualizing the user and controlling Policy and Personalization separate from the underlying OS and App components that CSC were able to overcome the above challenges.

The podcast can be found here

Thanks to both Daniel and Sandy for the great podcast and an insight into a real world large scale XenDesktop deployments.

Citrix XenDesktop 4 – Now Includes XenApp.

Today Citrix announced the availability of XenDesktop Version 4, to be released in November 09.  This is a significant announcement as it incorporates the combining of XenDesktop and XenApp into one (marketed) product – XenDesktop 4.  Effectively, XenDesktop 4 is now the Citrix virtual desktop solution for all user types (including task workers on TS) with XenApp providing the application / TS side.

Citrix have made a bold and significant move here.  By combining their new VDI solution with their long-standing and highly penetrated server-based computing solution, they have not only created a compelling product and simplified message, they have also provided a nice VDI on-ramp to their existing XenApp customer base, enabling them to potentially take a decent piece of market share. XenDeskop 4 will provide Citrix customers an easy on-ramp to VDI while maintaining their existing XenApp investment, as well as enabling them to leverage other technologies such as Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware vSphere.

What this move demonstrates is the high importance the major players like Citrix and VMware are now putting on VDI.  We’re starting to see some major moves in the space as companies make a play for market share and I’m sure there’s a lot more to come. 

As Citrix points out in their press release, the quality of the user experience is of paramount importance in the mainstream adoption of this new desktop estate – a desktop estate that will combine terminal server, server- and client-hosted VDI, blade systems, physical desktops and myriad other technologies, to deliver the lowest-cost, highest quality desktop to the employee.  Maintaining a consistent, personal and productive environment to the user regardless of how the desktop is delivered seems set to become a major objective in this ‘new world’.  Using Citrix FlexCast™ to accommodate the needs of all user types could be used in conjunction with a personality management solution to ensure a ‘follow me’ persona across all delivery mechanisms – effectively making the method of delivery seamless to the user.

With Windows 7 on its way, this could be just the catalyst needed for the VDI adoption curve to change its trajectory……….