24. February 2009 by Tony.

The posts are abuzz this morning with new thaton on Feb. 23 Citrix will announce that it will be offering free licenses to its full XenServer virtualization program and new partnering with Microsoft to provide system management, Citrix Essentials, for Hyper-V and, in return, Microsoft’s System Center will support XenServer

Steven Vaughn-Nichols detailed the Citrix plans on his personal blog. Apparently Citrix briefed a bevy of bloggers about its plan under embargo, but the presentation is flying around in various in-boxes. Vaughn-Nichols notes that Citrix won’t open source XenServer, however.

I can’t wait to see VMwares stock price today…..

Posted in VMware, Citirx, XENserver | No Comments »

10. February 2009 by Tony.

CMB-200-1I Implementing the Citrix Desktop Delivery Infrastructure

Covering the core components of Citrix Desktop Delivery Infrastructure, this course provides learners with the skills necessary to install, configure, and manage Citrix XenServer 5.0, Citrix Provisioning Server 5.0 and Citrix XenDesktop 2.0 Enterprise Edition. Through interactive lecture and hands-on exercises, learners gain real-world Citrix Desktop Delivery Infrastructure experience.

Implementing the Citrix Desktop Delivery Infrastructure includes:
CTX-2201AI Citrix XenDesktop 2.0 Enterprise Edition: Administration (select modules)
CXS-200-1I Implementing Citrix XenServer Enterprise Edition 5.0 (select modules)
CPV-200-1I Implementing Citrix Provisioning Server 5.0  (select modules)
*Select modules from each Instructor-led course are covered. Please see the course description for more information

register

5 Days

$4,995.00

Dates:

03/02/2009 - 03/06/2009
04/13/2009 - 04/17/2009
05/18/2009 - 05/22/2009

Posted in Citirx, VDI | No Comments »

10. February 2009 by Tony.

VMware has open sourced its View Client software which enables connections from Linux clients to remote Windows desktops managed by VMware View. VMware would like to see their partners developing the client for non-x86 devices using operating systems other than Windows XP or Linux.

You can get the sources from Google code site. The sources are licensed unde LGPL v2.1

Posted in VMware, VDI | No Comments »

10. February 2009 by Tony.

Desktop virtualization is not a new concept, but it is becoming more popular as enterprise system management becomes more complex. Sun released the Sun Virtual Desktop Access Kit for VMware in early 2007, and will soon be releasing Sun VDI 3.0, which offers a complete Sun stack in addition to the following features:

• Same great VDI product as Sun VDI Software 2.0, including support for Sun Ray devices, traditional PCs, and the VMware back-end
• Integration with Active Directory to allow easy mapping of AD users and groups to pools and virtual machines
• Support for Sun xVM virtualization (based on Sun xVM VirtualBox technology) as an option to VMware VI3
• Improved scalability with support for multiple VMware VirtualCenter servers
• Simplified integration with Sun Secure Global Desktop Software
• Additional access to virtual desktops using RDP clients (for example Windows Terminal Client)
• Enhanced storage mechanism for virtual machines using ZFS file system (in combination with Sun xVM VirtualBox)
• New administration UI and command line interface (CLI)
• Usage of MySQL as configuration database

A virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) is a layered software solution with three fundamental components: a virtualization platform, a broker, and client devices. The end user accesses a full desktop environment via a thin client device or an internet connection, as though they are using a conventional desktop computer.

Sun VDI 3.0 is made up of three functional layers - the virtualization layer, the session management layer, and the desktop access layer.

Virtualization Layer
The basis for the architecture is the virtualization layer (or hypervisor layer). In addition to creating and storing virtual machines the virtualization platform provides the base functionality needed for virtual machine management (starting, stopping, snapshotting, etc.). Sun VDI 3.0 supports Sun xVM VirtualBox and VMware Infrastructure 3.

Session Management Layer
The central component of the Sun VDI is the Sun VDI Core, located in the session management layer. The VDI Core provides all the functionality needed to build and manage large scale virtual machine deployments. In addition to its management capabilities, the VDI Core is also responsible for the brokering of virtual desktops on behalf of clients connecting from the desktop access layer.

By integrating with Active Directory, the VDI Core is able to provide support for assignment of virtual desktops to existing users and groups within an organization. The VDI Core configuration data and runtime information is stored in a MySQL database, which may be shared across multiple VDI Core instances on the network. This ensures access to the session management layer in failover scenarios.

Desktop Access Layer
Virtual desktops can be accessed via three different methods:

Sun Ray Software (SRS) via Thin Clients - A custom Sun Ray Software Kiosk Session is initiated when a user inserts a token card into a Sun Ray thin client. This session uses the Sun VDI Core to request access to a virtual desktop on behalf of the user. Once a virtual desktop has been assigned to the user, the session establishes a Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) connection to the desktop using the Sun Ray Windows Connector.

Sun Secure Global Desktop Software (SGD) via a Web Browser – A web browser is used to initiate a SGD session. SGD, in turn, uses the VDI Core’s RDP redirection capability to establish a connection to an assigned virtual desktop.

Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) Connection – A virtual desktop can be accessed by any device capable of initiating an RDP session (RDP redirection must be supported on the client side to use this method). As with the previous case, the VDI Core’s redirection capability is used to establish a connection to an assigned virtual desktop.

here is the download link for Sun VDI 3.0 Early Access

Posted in VMware, VDI | No Comments »

6. February 2009 by Tony.

While I’v just begun looking at their products I have to admit that the marketing is rather unique…

Check out the movie:

vmSight - the Movie

Posted in Products, VDI | No Comments »