Archive for the Citirx Category

NetScaler MPX vs. VPX – differences

29. December 2009 by Tony.

The NetScaler VPX virtual appliance has some decisive differences from its MPX hardware counterparts. While the performance differences are well documented, some of the finer networking related points are a bit obscure and not readily discoverable. While none of them are likely to be show stoppers, it’s important to be familiar with the limitations.

Here’s a short table I’ve assembled describing the impact of the hypervisor on the NetScaler virtual appliance as compared to the network stack of the MPX:

MPX VPX
Native 802.1q VLAN Tagging Tagging is defined on the hypervisor. XenServer is limited to 7 tagged networks and 16 on VMware.
Native 802.3ad Link Aggregation 802.3ad is not supported by XenServer. Source Level Balancing (SLB) NIC bonding is the closest parallel and offers NIC redundancy with great performance. But not all switches work well with SLB so be sure to test under load, plug both links into a single switch, or skip SLB entirely in favor of native NetScaler device failover.
Device Fail-over Failover is supported between VPX devices through NetScaler’s native redundancy mechanism. So there’s no need for XenMotion or VMotion support with the VPX.
Dedicated SSL Chipset No SSL chipsets are available to the VPX, but none the less, it is capable of 300 3DES and 1000 RC4 sessions. At double the VPN capacity, VPX makes a great upgrade path from Secure Gateway by providing a full SSL-VPN, Smart Access, and improved security.

Licensing Changes in VPX 9.1 Build 100.3:
For VPX appliances only, the 9.1_100.3 license software will check the MAC address of the FIRST INTERFACE listed. In previous builds, the license software checked the MAC address of the NEWEST INTERFACE. For VPX customers who upgrade to 9.1_100.3, this change will invalidate licenses on VMs which had more than one interface. They will need to revisit MyCitrix.com licensing portal to re-host their license. CTX122426 – NetScaler VPX Licensing Guide has been updated with the rehosting instructions.

VPX owners are allowed to relicense their VPX system up to 3 times.

References: XenServer Administrator’s Guide: Chapter 4, Networking

thanx to Richard Davis for this blog !

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Virtual Desktop Challenge

22. December 2009 by Tony.


Just plain funny:

Welcome to the Virtual Desktop Challenge with Brian Madden. Play this “Jeopardy” style game and test your knowledge in the virtual desktop space. Top point scorers are eligible for prizes so play now and see if you are an expert on virtual desktop!

http://www.virtualdesktopchallenge.com

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E-Guide: Expert Guide to Matching Virtual Desktops with Your Users’ Needs

21. December 2009 by Tony.

ABSTRACT:

Today’s businesses are tasked with providing the most effective work environment for their users, while meeting budgetary restrictions and maintaining security initiatives. In this expert E-Guide, brought to you by SearchVirtualDesktop.com and Citrix, you will discover how virtual desktops can be used to meet the growing demands of today’s businesses. Gain insight into the significant benefits associated with virtual desktop technology and explore the top ways VDI can be used to improve the security of your organization. Learn how to determine whether or not available virtual desktop technologies will meet your users’ needs and enhance their work capabilities. Get it here

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Citrix makes XenDesktop VDI more cost effective for it’s cutomers

6. October 2009 by Tony.


Citrix’ announced today a “Trade Up” program whereby existing Citrix XenApp customers can get XenDesktop licenses at a significant discount. Also, if you trade up 100% of your XenApp licenses you’ll get two for one!

Personally I think this move is a stroke of genius. Strategically; if you already have XenApp (which most enterprises do) why would you consider any other VDI product? Couple this with the fact that XenDesktop is hypervisor agnostic and that you can even run the XenDesktop agent on physical PC’s (see http://vdiworx.com/category/pandemic/) and XenDesktop is a slam dunk!

 

  • Trade-up all active XenApp licenses at once, get 2X the XenDesktop 4 licenses
  • Trade-up your XenApp licenses, save between 50%-80% on XenDesktop 4
  • Trade-up includes 12 months of Subscription Advantage on XenDesktop 4

 Want some more info? Try www.citrix.com/tucalculator and see for yourself then email for a “Trade Up” quote today

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Free Load Balancer!

21. September 2009 by Tony.

Load balancers are required to fairly distribute traffic among multiple servers. Organizations should not have to purchase expensive load balancers to fully utilize their server infrastructures. With Citrix NetScaler VPX, they can evaluate an advanced load balancer for FREE.

NetScaler VPX Express provides a free load balancer that can be used in almost any environment. With the NetScaler VPX Express, organizations can:

Learn More

The free NetScaler VPX Express load balancer enables any company to test the industry’s most advanced load balancer at no cost. Even though it’s a free load balancer, NetScaler VPX Express still provides full NetScaler load balancing and traffic management. As a free load balancer, NetScaler VPX Express can be installed on off-the-shelf servers to provide the most affordable load balancing in the industry. Not only can organizations evaluate the load balancer for free, but they can smartly select the most economical server hardware to meet their particular load balancer requirements. The free NetScaler load balancer is ideal for small and medium size organizations that are just getting started with high-volume web applications.

To download the free NetScaler load balancer, please click here to download NetScaler VPX Express

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