VMware View 4.5: No RTO Virtual Profiles – But if it did, would it be enough?

Comments over VMware’s decision to not ship Virtual Profiles (the technology VMware gained through their acquisition of RTO software) with VMware View 4.5 continues to rock around the Internet. There are people who bought RTO Virtual Profiles before the acquisition by VMware, who are now upset about the dropping of support (this can be seen in Bridget Botelho’s article on SearchVirtualDesktop.com – Virtual Profiles customers endure VMware acquisition of RTO Software – where RTO customers have now switched to a User Virtualization solution from AppSense) . There are also people who thought that the inclusion of Virtual Profiles in View would solve their user virtualization problems and who now will have to wait longer to try it out, some of which actually purchased VMware View on the premise that RTO Virtual Profile technology would then be included in VMware View 4.5.

All of this misses the point. Whether the RTO Virtual Profile technology makes if into VMware View or not, simple “profile” replacement/management products are not sufficient to successfully virtualize the user. To understand why this is the case we need to stand back and look at the overall objective of desktop virtualization and hence how it achieves its benefits and also the purpose of Profile Management technology. The overall objective of desktop virtualization is to create a more manageable PC platform. The problem with PCs has been that as soon as it is used it becomes unique, and hence has to be supported as such – a more complex and expensive proposition.

The way in which organizations are achieving cost and service delivery goals through desktop virtualization is through componentization, standardization and automation: Treating the client image as a number of separable components that can be standardized and delivered automatically, on demand. Only by doing this can greater efficiency be achieved in the images users are running, which reduces user management costs by eliminating configuration drift which impacts service delivery.  Those components consist of OS, corporate apps and the user – not just a user profile, but, ALL aspects of the user.

Profile Management focuses primarily on optimizing the delivery user personalization settings.  An important part of the user environment, but by no means is this everything that constitutes you as a user in an organization. In addition, such profile management technology was developed to solve the issues of Roaming Profiles in Server Based Computing environments where profiles were subject to bloat, corruption and lead to increased logon times.  Server Based Computing environments that had a consistent operating system and application delivery mechanism, so the user profile was always compatible with the environment i.e. Server 2003 requires Version 1 Windows Profiles where as Server 2008 requires a Version 2 Windows Profile.   However in VDI, where different operating systems are used, the same roaming profile cannot be shared and so the profile management technology to speed up logon times is rendered useless.  Likewise, with Application Virtualization, not all user settings are saved to the profile, and so profile management is again irrelevant if the profile is not capturing the settings in the first place.

Another way to think of this is that VDI achieves economies of scale across the estate by letting us manage a single instance of each of the desktop components no matter how many users use it. Techniques in use to achieve this include OS streaming and linked clones to deliver the operating system; application virtualization and application publishing to deliver applications; plus user virtualization to deliver all the user-specific aspects of the machine. User virtualization is a critical component in this model because it allows us to deliver a user experience that is familiar and acceptable to the user while giving IT the ability to standardize the underlying components and deliver them as they wish. The user environment consists of all user-specific aspects of the machine and may include user personalization to deliver a familiar look and feel, personal applications where these are allowed, user data, and the ability for the organization to set up the environment as necessary and in accordance with corporate policy. In many ways, the user environment becomes the key to successfully managing in the componentized model because it represents what the user and the business regards as important.  It is also very difficult to standardize the user environment, and this is therefore where the real value-add in future desktop estate management lies; a user-centric approach to client computing, not a device or resource-centric view.  This makes it critical to select a user virtualization solution with high levels of manageability and scalability.

With this context it is easy to see that a simple profile replacement product would not meet the needs of any but the most simplistic of implementations. The question should not be ‘when will VMware have a profile replacement capability?’ but ‘when will VMware customers use View with their user virtualization platform?’.  That platform should allow all aspects of the user to be virtualized and delivered back into the desktop the next time the user logs on. That desktop could be VMware View delivered, Citrix XenDesktop delivered, locally installed, published through Citrix XenApp, virtualized with App-V, ThinApp – or any combination of the above.  This way, users get the familiar and productive experience that they would expect, and IT can more effectively manage the platform regardless of desktop delivery mechanism and configure the desktop based on the user or device context.

Any desktop and application personalization solution that is tied to just one platform, profile management for example, is inevitably inefficient. This is evident in Cox Communications whereby they found even when trialing RTO Virtual Profiles prior to the acquisition with VMware View, found profile management alone to be insufficient and instead invested in AppSense User Virtualization to enable the adoption of their virtual desktop roll out. – click this link for PDF

In short, businesses need to give user virtualization their full attention when selecting a solution and not expect that a simple profile replacement product included with a single platform could meet their needs.

Thoughts?

Thanks.
Gaz

Is Profile Management, really User Environment Management?!

Andrew Wood (Twitter @gilwood_cs) has written a very interesting article over on VirtualizationPractice.com, discussing whether ‘persona management’ (and ‘profile’ management) technology is ‘user environment management’ by another name?

Andrew details how profile management, which is what VMware acquired from RTO to form their Persona Management, addresses the issues associated with roaming profiles such as bloat and lengthy logon times.  However, Andrew then rightly explains that while logon times are important (and profile management only reduces logon times if logon time is caused by large profile, not, the processing of a complex logon script with lots of actions), there is much more to be considered when designing a virtual desktop environment – things such as being able to deliver setting across OS platforms and 32 to 64bit boundaries.  Something only certain 3^rd party specialist solutions can currently support.

You can read (and comment) on Andrew’s blog piece here: http://www.virtualizationpractice.com/blog/?p=4460

Thanks Andrew, great and useful information as always.

Gaz

Reseller News Article – Virtualization: from Server and Desktop to the Network

Well, they do say good news comes in 3’s.  And to that avail, following on from my two previous blog posts this morning detailing articles containing references to AppSense in relation to the adoption of desktop virtualization, skimming through my Google Alerts and I have just found a third separate publication – this time on Reseller News in the article ‘Virtualization: from Server and Desktop to the Network’

This article focuses on how Server Virtualization is a proven technology, and with the enhancements to desktop virtualization solutions, desktop virtualization is set to take off and prove itself also.

AppSense is highlighted as a solution for managing the user element of the desktop through our leading user virtualization solution.  Other vendors referenced as key to delivering desktop virtualization include; EMC, VMware, HP, Microsoft, Citrix, Gen-i and Maxnet.

What is even more amazing, is that yes, this is the third separate article validating AppSense as key to the adoption of VDI, but more so it that this one also agrees with (several) predictions made by our very own Martin Ingram, as he detailed here

Thanks
Gaz.

Citrix In One Breath : Video on YouTube – Provision 80 Desktops in 3 Minutes

You may remember back in August I blogged about a couple of parody style pop music videos Citrix and VMware released as part of some fun viral marketing.  The guys over in Citrix Germany have once again treated us to another video, this time a little harder hitting, especially with the music soundtrack ;)

The video shows Marc Borchert, who as well as being a Citrix Engineer is an Apnoea Free Diver, hold his breath underwater for 3 minutes.  During this time, Oliver Lomberg, a Citrix Systems Engineer, installs XenServer and provisions 80 desktops using Citrix and Microsoft technologies – the theme being “Achieve more for your business in one breath with Citrix Essentials for XenServer and Microsoft Hyper-V”.. a very well thought out and strong message!

Good work guys..

You can view the video on YouTube here

UK Snowfall, home working and virtual desktops

As you may be aware, the UK has recently been subject to some of the coldest weather and heaviest snowfall we have experienced in many year.. while it is not a lot snow compared to what other countries experience, our lack of resources available to clear to snow from the roads has confined thousands and thousands of people to their house, including myself. 

During this time my inability to simply get to work got me thinking about all the (simple) things we take for granted, whether that be the car starts in the morning, the coffee machine works or the PC powers on.  We also take for granted in the most part that we can either get into the office in the car / public transport or that the DSL / broadband connection at home is always on.

So, with the snow that we have been hit with, we were into going into “survival mode” where we stay at home and make the best use of the technologies that our strategists “forced us” us to consider some 12 months back – for example, this thing called hosted Virtual Desktops.  The AppSense business has for long made use of the Server Based Computing technology (with Citrix XenApp) since the day it was born, but only recently has a significant part of the power and knowledge based users of the workforce been able to use this “new stuff” – desktop virtualization. 

It is only now when we can take the benefit of looking back over the last week we can see that it just worked – our users had little complaints because their desktop(s) were still available,  even when at home on their kids gaming PC – OK, so there was a complaint or two about the low quality seat that they had purchased for their children to use while gaming, but the business can hardly be made accountable to those kinds of things?!  Strange though that the local stores have had a surge in deliveries of office chairs to households this past couple of days… 

Anyway, back to it, the only other issue area the AppSense IT team had to deal with was a user who lost telecoms at his home, along with all of his neighbours.  SO, this user was unable to access his online Virtual Desktop since he had no connectivity.  Again, this was no significant issue since the user in question was (fortunately) supplied with a laptop from the office, which as we here at AppSense eat our own dog food / drink our own champagne comes with AppSense Environment Manager and so all of his applications and personalization information was also available on the offline device as well as in the Virtual Desktop (that he couldn’t use).

Our lessons from this week to belileve  the strategy guys, they after all, were actually responsible for our technology vision and then our IT guys for delivering it using some of the world’s leading Desktop Virtualization software from Microsoft, Citrix, VMware and of course AppSense all coming together to enable my colleagues and I to continue working from remote locations around the country..

Inaugural Meeting of the Northern VMware User Group

On Wednesday 18^th November I had the pleasure of attending the inaugural meeting of the Northern VMware User Group (UK) at the Wellington pub in Leeds. There were about thirty five people in attendance, mostly administrators of VMware infrastructures, including some big ones, which was a pretty impressive turnout given the far from ideal weather conditions. A couple of VMware vExperts also attended the event.

A very informative presentation from Ross Bisby of b2net covering the details of investigating performance issues in ESX/ESXi environments kicked things off. Hats off to Ross for a top job given he was drafted in at the last minute. This was followed by informal breakout sessions covering topics such as VCP certification, iSCSI storage and VDI.  There was certainly a good deal of interest in VDI from many people there with a variety of experience from planning through testing to having, successfully, deployed it. It was encouraging too to find a number of the attendees already familiar with AppSense products.

Many thanks to the committee for organising such a successful event and to VMware and Veeam for sponsoring the bar – when in Rome …

Looking forward already to the next event!

The VDI Penny Is Starting to drop.

Enviroman (Oliver Sills, Product Manager for AppSense Environment Manager) was in the office the other day, pestering me about signing a petition to change the Environment Manager “colour” from green to Tangerine – something to do with some UK footy club. I told him the Budgie Smugglers don’t look any better in Tangerine, so stop sitting on my desk :-)

Just about then the phone rings, it was a Solution Architect from a large software company. “Tell him about Personalization”, Environman whispers in my ear. I covered the phone, told him to go way, and went back to the call.

Turns out one of his clients was trying to deploy 600+ Virtual Desktops, and it had just dawned on them that Policy, Profiles and the User Personality had become a nightmare to maintain when using a Non Persistent Pooled Desktop environment.

Think about it – each user, every time they log in, has a brand new base model PC.

This Client did a Proof of Concept – easy – P To V a couple of desktops, load a client, connect in using RDP – jobs a good’un – look Mum no hands – I’m doing VDI :-)

So then they ticked all the boxes, app compatibility – tick, ease of use – tick, centrally managed and deployed – tick, user acceptance – tick, user personalization – tick – hey, not so fast.

You CAN have a tick in that box if you are talking One to One, dedicated hosted virtual desktops for a small number of users – otherwise, you need to think again.

It’s like when I started talking to the Aussie market about AppSense back in 2004 “Yes I hear what you say, but I’ve only got 5 servers – it’s not a problem” 6 months later “Yes I hear what you say, but I’ve only got 10 servers – it’s not a problem” 6 months later “Our farm is out of control, now we have 15 Citrix servers we now understand what you guys were on about 6 months ago”

As we always say – we don’t hold a grudge – and we don’t ever say “I told you so”.  After all we’re from AppSense – we’re here to help :-)

Virtual Desktops are starting to ramp up, and unfortunately with some clients projects, the devil will be in the detail.

Like the client we are now helping, they thought the “Profile Stuff” built into the VDI solution would be the easy bit. “There’re tools built into the base product” they say – yes there are, but those built in tools can be compared to other in-built free software like NTBackup – yes it will backup a file, but it’s not granular enough, and it just won’t cut it in an Enterprise environment – that’s why companies invest in a Third Party backup products.

AppSense is exactly the same. Built in “Profile” tools or features are o.k. for a simple small deployment where one size fits all, but the reality is most organisations will need more.  The reason for this is simple, profile management tools are there to solve profile issues such as bloat and logon times.. they are not designed to be cross platform, cross delivery mechanism personalization solutions, not to mention the need for policy action control also.

It’s just not as easy as saying “We use Roaming Profiles and redirected folders” – try reimaging every PC in your business, every morning, and see if it causes a few hassles for users.

So we keep plugging away out there – educating the market in advance, some clients “get it” up front and they’re the ones with the smooth running, no surprises VDI projects.

As for the rest of you – we’ll be here, happy to answer questions, happy to show and tell – all with passion and enthusiasm.

After all – we’re from AppSense – we’re here to help :-)