News

Citrix releases XenServer 5

2008-09-15T13:29:00Z

Of course, on the same day as VMware's VMworld. Nice. It will either get lost in a shuffle of announcements from VMware or detract a little from VMware. Who knows?!?!

Anyway, check out http://www.xenserver5.com/ for more info (new features and enhancements).

www.mycitrix.com to download XenServer 5.

Citrix XenApp 5.0 for Windows Server 2008 Release Preview available for download

2008-04-30T16:26:00Z

https://www.citrix.com/English/SS/downloads/details.asp?dID=36239&downloadID=1339921&pID=186#top
Release Date: 4/30/2008

The XenApp for Windows Server 2008 Release Preview will provide you early access to some new features of the upcoming release. See how XenApp leverages the enhancements in Windows Server 2008 to help you plan for your migration to the new Windows platform. A number of resources are available at the Knowledge Base Support Forum to help you get started.

With this release, XenApp leverages new Windows Server 2008 functionality to provide improved system stability, enhanced security and better user experience. XenApp will ease your migration to Windows Server 2008 by supporting mixed server farms, with Windows Server 2003 and 2008 and 32 and 64 bit architectures. Building on the Windows Server 2008 terminal services platform, XenApp offers a best-in-class Application Delivery Solution, suited to any environment. Find out everything XenApp for Windows Server 2008 has to offer.

Preview Exciting Enhancements

Improved maintenance and manageability – XenApp automatically selects server-side or client-side application virtualization to suit the user, the location and the application.
— For applications that are virtualized on the client-side, differential updates will reduce update times by sending only the revised bits.
— Isolation 3.0 will improve application compatibility and enable virtual applications in isolated environments to communicate with each other.
— HTTP(s) protocol support will make streaming applications over the web more secure.
Enhanced end-user experience for Application Delivery – The streamlined web user interface and an updated XenApp Client will provide simple and intuitive access to Windows applications and information. Also, display of ClearType smoothed fonts will make text look as clear as users expect.
Increased performance for users – Administrators will be able to prioritize users and/or applications to guarantee SLA and provide the best possible performance. Additionally, WAN Optimization will extend performance to remote workers and branch offices.

New Method to Download all the VMware ESX Updates

2008-03-25T16:53:00Z

http://support.vmware.com/selfsupport/download/#wlp_s3portal_pages_downloadPatch_page

Without VI 3.5 and Update Manager implemented, downloading all the patches can be a major pain. But with this newly released wizard, it is a major breeze.

Select your product and version. Click go and then wait for the list of patches to appear. Click on the check boxes to select the patches you want and then click the download button at the bottom.

Ths only thing missing is a "Click to download all" button or option, rather than forcing you to select each check box for all the patches individually. I hope that is coming soon.

(Hey, Citrix. Still waiting for a better way to obtain Citrix Updates. Whether it is a Windows Update equivalent or something like this, I don't care. Anything is better than what you have now.)

Novell to acquire Platespin

2008-02-26T06:52:00Z

Highlights from http://platespin.com/novell/

On February 25, 2008, Novell announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire PlateSpin Ltd. The combination of Novell’s platform and automation management with PlateSpin's leading solutions for workload relocation, protection and provisioning will give customers the agility to cross physical and virtual boundaries so IT can work together. Both organizations are focused on helping customers maximize the strategic value of the heterogeneous data center. Novell and PlateSpin will deliver products for complete workload lifecycle management and optimization for Linux, UNIX, and Windows operating systems in the physical and virtual data center.

Novell will acquire PlateSpin for $205 million using current cash.

______Opinion Below_____________________________

That's a huge twist. I was half expecting Citrix to make a bid of some sort for them. Maybe they did but the Novell offer was more. Who knows. Watching the virtualization ecosystem is like watching an episode of some Latin novella or a low end American soap opera. Treachury, Hate, Money being thrown all over the place, long stares from across the tables as employees that used to work for one company and now another... Seriously, this is getting crazy.
Is Novell trying to be relavant again (not that Platespin will make them relevant)? Was Platespin desperate for a buyer or was this just easier then staying private? If Platespin supported Xen will this confuse Novell clients concerning support for Zen (I've already had a few people ask me about how Citrix bought "Zen" from Novell)?

VMware to Acquire Thinstall

2008-01-15T16:43:00Z

http://www.vmware.com/whatsnew/thinstall.html

Come on. You knew something was coming down the pipe. So this solves the Application Delivery System part of the stack for VMware (See The Current State of VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure)), but still means that VMware is relying on RDP (or whatever Propero was using before they got acquired.)

Virtual Desktop Stack (in my opnion, since this isn't like the OSI model here).

Remote Display
Application Delivery System
Connection Broker
Virtual Machine Management
Operating System Virtualization

Thinstall packages application into a single .exe that contains all the files. This is not Application Streaming (like Microsoft SoftGrid or Citrix Application Streaming). Streaming downloads the components (.exe's, .dll's, etc) as needed. With Thinstall you download say 18.1 MB of a .exe and then you have a full working firefox. Demo here.

I don't call my self an expert in Thinstall, but I know of a few problems we've run into with some of the other Application Delivery mechanism that rely on streaming or packaging.

Still don’t know how they handle things like profiles and application interaction (if you stream/package Outlook, how does it know where to launch word – unless you package word in the same .exe). Citrix has the same issue with App Streaming right now, but they are working on it. I beleive Softgrid has the app interaction working (or is farther than Citrix on this), but not the profiles (don’t know what MS is doing here).
Sounds like Thinstall assumes roaming profiles to keep track of its settings much like how Citrix/MS currently assume you will be keeping track of its settings.
Also how does deal with applications that have services or have device drivers. Citrix can't solve this either right now, but I believe Microsoft Softgrid has made a lot of progress with these applications.
So it solves the Application Delivery part of the stack, but they are still relying on RDP (or whatever Propero uses) to perform the Remote Display. In my opinion, Citrix still has an upper hand with ICA (with CAG/CSG), for now.

Like I said before, no right answer for anyone when it comes to VDI. Gotta due your due diligence to figure out what matters to your organization, prioritize and then see what technology is the best fit.

Also read Brian's Madden Article as he discusses Managed vs Unmanaged Desktops. http://www.brianmadden.com/content/article/VMware-buys-Thinstall-What-does-this-mean

Also read a pretty article by Ruben Spruijt published in LanVision magazine
http://www.virtuall.nl/articles/PublishedArticles/LanVisionThinstallenglish.pdf

VMware ESX Server Version 3.5 and VirtualCenter 2.5 are released

2007-12-11T07:31:00Z

Release Notes:
http://www.vmware.com/support/vi3/doc/vi3_esx35_vc25_rel_notes.html#whatsnew

Download Link:
http://vmware.com/download/vi/

Highlights from my reading:

Provisioning across datacenters—VirtualCenter 2.5 allows you to provision virtual machines across datacenters. As a result, VMware Infrastructure administrators can now clone a virtual machine on one datacenter to another datacenter.
Batch installation of VMware Tools—VirtualCenter 2.5 provides support for batch installations of VMware Tools so that VMware Tools can now be updated for selected groups of virtual machines.
VMware Storage VMotion—Storage VMotion allows IT administrators to minimize service disruption due to planned storage downtime previously incurred for rebalancing or retiring storage arrays. Storage VMotion simplifies array migration and upgrade tasks and reduces I/O bottlenecks by moving virtual machines to the best available storage resource in your environment.
VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB) enhancements—The VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB) framework has the following enhancements:

iSCSI Storage—The VCB framework now supports backing up of virtual machines directly from iSCSI storage. Previously, the VCB proxy was only supported with Fibre Channel SAN storage.
Integration in Converter—VMware Converter has the ability to restore virtual machine image backups created through the VCB framework. Now that Converter is integrated into VirtualCenter 2.5, you can perform image restores directly through the VI Client.

VMware Update Manager—Update Manager automates patch and update management for ESX Server hosts and select Microsoft and Linux virtual machines.
VMware High Availability enhancements—Enhanced high availability provides experimental support for monitoring individual virtual machine failures. VMware HA can now be set up to either restart the failed virtual machine or send a notification to the administrator.
Management of up to 200 hosts and 2000 virtual machines—VirtualCenter 2.5 can manage many more hosts and virtual machines than previous releases, scaling the manageability of the virtual datacenter to up to 200 hosts and 2000 virtual machines.
Large memory support for both ESX Server hosts and virtual machines—ESX Server 3.5 supports 256GB of physical memory and virtual machines with 64GB of RAM.
ESX Server host support for up to 32 logical processors— ESX Server 3.5 fully supports systems with up to 32 logical processors. Systems with up to 64 logical processors are supported experimentally.
SATA support—ESX Server 3.5 supports selected SATA devices connected to dual SAS/SATA controllers.
10 Gigabit Ethernet support—Neterion and NetXen 10 Gigabit Ethernet NIC cards are supported in ESX Server 3.5.

Dell plans to purchase EqualLogic

2007-11-05T16:09:00Z

EqualLogic has some great mid level tier storage. We've been using it for most of our clients (after they got a large quote from EMC and NetApp) for VMware and non-vmware implementations. Built-in replication software and automatically grows to SAN by adding another tray (very easy to expand on the fly). Anyway, seems like Dell will own them now.. which makes for very interesting as Dell has been rebranding EMC for the past few years. What will happen there? Anyway, here are some news excerpts here.

http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/corp/pressoffice/en/2007/2007_11_05_rr_000?c=us&l=en&s=corp

http://www.news.com/Dell-to-buy-storage-company-for-1.4-billion/2100-1015_3-6216992.html?tag=nefd.top

VMware Acquires Dunes Technologies

2007-09-12T13:47:00Z

<Opinion>
I always thought they had some cool technology at Dunes but they had issues marketing themselves and figuring out what they wanted to be for clients. This will be pretty interesting for provisioning production environments and probably integrate with Lab Manager for better test/develepment environment control.
</opinion>

http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/dunes.html
SAN FRANCISCO, September 11, 2007 — VMware, Inc., the virtualization leader, today announced it has acquired Dunes Technologies, a company that provides IT process orchestration software for virtual environments. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The announcement was made at VMworld 2007.

“As customers move toward large-scale virtual infrastructure deployments, they need solutions that allow them to maintain control over a growing number of virtual machines,” said Raghu Raghuram, vice president of products and solutions at VMware. ”Dunes has developed a powerful orchestration platform that will allow us to automate the entire virtual machine lifecycle from requisition to de-commissioning, while complementing existing VMware management and automation solutions such as VMware Lab Manager and the recently announced VMware Virtual Desktop Manager.”

“We are pleased to be joining with VMware,” said Stefan Hochuli Paychère, co-founder and CTO of Dunes. “As organizations continue to standardize on virtual infrastructure, they must have automation solutions that increase the efficiency of its management. With our products, VMware customers will be able to implement best practice operational processes for virtual infrastructure and ensure strict compliance with corporate IT standards and policies.”

Founded in 2001, Dunes Technologies has been financed and developed under the leadership of Affentranger Associates. Dunes Technologies is based in Lausanne, Switzerland with offices in Stamford, CT. For more information about Dunes, visit www.dunes.ch.

Citrix to Enter Server and Desktop Virtualization Markets with Acquisition of XenSource

2007-08-16T05:09:00Z

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — 8/15/2007 — Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:CTXS), the global leader in application delivery infrastructure, today announced a definitive agreement to acquire XenSource, Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif., a privately held leader in enterprise-grade virtual infrastructure solutions, for approximately $500 million in a combination of cash and stock, which includes the assumption of approximately $107 million in unvested stock options. This acquisition moves Citrix into adjacent server and desktop virtualization markets, expected by Citrix to grow to nearly $5 billion over the next four years. The combination of Citrix and XenSource brings together significant customer, technical, channel and go-to-market synergies. This will allow Citrix to extend its leadership in the broader Application Delivery Infrastructure market by adding key enabling technologies that make the end-to-end computing environment far more flexible, dynamic and responsive to business change. The acquisition will also strengthen each company’s strong partnership with Microsoft and commitment to the Windows platform.

The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2007 subject to the satisfaction of closing conditions.

Excerpt from
http://www.citrix.com/English/NE/news/news.asp?newsID=680808&ntref=hp_article_headlines_US

VMware ESX Server 3.0.2 and VMware Consolidated Backup 1.0.3

2007-08-07T03:50:00Z

Release Highlights

Multimedia support: Wyse Multimedia Support can now be installed into compatible guest operating systems, enabling supported devices to receive encoded video streams via RDP/ICA.

Support for new or updated guest operating systems, backup & restore software, management agents, device drivers, and server hardware and networking/storage controllers.

Simplified patch management: All previously released ESX 3.0.x patches have been rolled up into ESX 3.0.2. In addition, esxupdate ease-of-use has been enhanced in several ways, including permitting updates to be installed out of chronological order, and an added feature that checks for sufficient disk space before an update installation is attempted.

Additional information for ESX 3.0.2 including bug fixes can be found in the ESX 3.0.2 GA release notes: http://www.vmware.com/support/vi3/doc/releasenotes_esx302.html

VCB Support for iSCSI Storage: VMware Consolidated Backup version 1.0.3 now supports iSCSI storage in addition to Fibre Channel storage, resolves several known issues, and expands support for 3rd party backup software.

Additional information for VCB 1.0.3 can be found in VMware Consolidated Backup 1.0.3 release notes: http://www.vmware.com/support/vi3/doc/releasenotes_vcb103.html
Customers may download ESX 3.0.2 GA and VBC 1.0.3 GA bits from VMware’s download site at http://www.vmware.com/download/vi/.

VMware Acquires Propero (Connection Broker Solution)... Is it too late for Citrix?

2007-05-31T14:20:00Z

http://www.virtualization.info/2007/04/vmware-acquires-propero.html

VMware recently announced the acquisition of Propero who developed a connection broker to be used in VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure). I saw them at the VMworld 2006 and it looked very interesting, but there were so many brokers there that it almost became a joke. Some were vapor-ware and others had something, but they all touted the future of VDI and how their solution would play a major part.

Anyway, the next question is "Is it too late for Citrix with Desktop Server?". It was recently announced to no fanfare for some reason. Maybe they are just waiting for the next release which wil support direct ICA to the XP/Vista Desktop.

We will see.

Citrix Acquires thinGenius for Application Load Testing Technology

2007-03-14T21:52:00Z

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — 3/14/2007 — Citrix Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:CTXS), the global leader in application delivery infrastructure, today announced it has acquired privately held thinGenius, Ltd of Edinburgh, Scotland. The technology acquired in this acquisition will provide a leading load-testing solution for any application delivery infrastructure that utilizes the Citrix® ICA® protocol – most notably Citrix Presentation Server™ and Desktop Server environments. This acquisition extends the application performance visibility that Citrix EdgeSight™ currently offers and brings much needed functionality to the more than 180,000 companies utilizing Citrix application delivery solutions.

For the whole story click here.

_____________________________________________
I saw these guys two years and I liked what they were doing. Simple and easy to use interface for non-scripters, but still flexible for any scripter. Everyone saw an acquisition coming here, but didn't know who. Citrix made a good choice here. Working for a partner, that makes 3 acquisitions in the past 2 months that we need to start learning to implement. "Jane, stop this crazy thing!!!"

FrontRange Solutions Acquires enteo Software

2007-03-13T05:55:00Z

FrontRange Solutions™, a global market leader in IT Service Management, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Voice applications for the mid-market and Distributed Enterprise, has signed an agreement to acquire enteo Software, Inc., a developer of market-leading PC Lifecycle Management & Citrix Management solutions (www.enteo.com). Based in Germany, enteo is a recognized leader of Asset Management solutions and has more than 1,200 customers and 200 partners globally. enteo’s product offerings include solutions for Patch Management, software distribution for Operating Systems and applications, License Management and Compliance, and Configuration Management. With solutions from enteo, businesses can easily manage and service network-based endpoints – from mobile devices, laptops and desktops to servers and storage assets.

For more information: http://www.frontrange.com/micro.aspx?id=4540

_________________________________________________________________________________________
My 2 cents. Enteo has some pretty slick solutions. I looked at it for deploying systems (especially when it came to Citrix Presentation Servers), but it had a few uphill battles to fight.

They were not integrated with Citrix developers. Presentation Server for x64 wasn't supported for the longest time for example. The environment took some time to setup, always leaving the consultant open to a snide comment of "I could have built the servers faster". Then you had the the glut of other methods to deploy servers, Altiris, HP Rapid Deploy, etc. that the client had already heard of or had already integrated. Not saying, you should avoid it like the plague, but it was a hard sell to replace an existing method or insert a software solution in a client who didn't have one yet (and probably wasn't thinking strategically in the first place).

Citrix Employees and Partners - Win a Citrix iPod

2007-03-09T15:41:00Z

Citrix employees and partners have a chance to win a Citrix iPod by posting a audio or video message talking about Application Delivery Infrastructure (or other topics from the recent Summit 07). I have mine posted! Do you?

Visit http://youdeliver.citrix.com/ for more information.

Rules are listed here.