Archive for May, 2010
Hotfix: Citrix XenDesktop Pool Management Version 4.0.4540 (XDE400PM002)
Citrix released the second hotfix for the XenDesktop Pool Management Service a few days ago. The following problems are fixed with this release:
- The Pool Management Service, CdsPoolMgr.exe, can consume excessive memory.
[From XDE400PM002][#212622]
- The System Center Virtual Machine Manager custom property CTXMgtInfo representing the status of the Virtual Desktop Agent can return inaccurate results.
[From XDE400PM002][#225274]
- The Pool Management Service does not recover from a lost connection provided the server and the network are still up.
[From XDE400PM002][#225544]
XDE400PM002 supersedes the previous hotfix XDE400PM001.
The hotfix is available for download at http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX125093.
Citrix Synergy 2010 San Francisco Day 2 Keynote Summary
After we already summarized the first keynote of Citrix Synergy 2010 San Francisco today you get a summary of the second keynote from yesterday. The second keynote was focused on virtualization and the data center. Again we’re focusing on the technical content of the keynote and try to leave out the marketing stuff as much as we can.
Keynote speakers were Mark Templton (Citrix), Michael Dell (Dell) and Frank Gens (IDC).
Frank Gens kicked of the keynote by talking about the five game changers in the enterprise IT: cloud computing, pervasive mobility, social computing, the embedded Internet of things, and the ubiquitous analytics. If you want to know more just watch the recording of the first part of the keynote.
After Frank Gens, Mark Templeton came up on stage and talked about NetScaler and XenServer.
NetScaler
Citrix NetScaler is currently available for the most virtualization platforms (XenServer, ESX) and as hardware appliances as well. Citrix added some new, very powerful hardware appliance called NetScaler MPX 17500, 19500 and 21500. These models support throughput from 20 to 50 Gbps. In a matter of fact all three new models are based on the same hardware and the additional throughput is unlocked by a license key. Citrix calls this “pay-as-you-grow”. The NetScaler MPX family support throughput from 1 Gbps to 50 Gbps and you only have to buy a new hardware appliance if you want so switch from 1 – 3 Gbps to 5 – 15 Gbps or from 5 – 15 Gbps to 20 – 50 Gbps. Of course you could also jump from 1 to 50 Gbps as well. These appliances are already available.
Citrix also announced the PayGrow Burst Pack. You can buy a PayGrow Burst Pack licenses and if you need more throughput then you have currently licensed you just break open your Burst Pack when you need it and then you have more throughput 90 days. The PayGrow Burst Packs will be available in June this year.
The last announcement on NetScaler was the NetScaler VPX for Hyper-V appliance. With this announcement Citrix now supports every major virtualization platform for their NetScaler VPX virtual appliances.
Additionally with the release of NetScaler VPX for Hyper-V there will be a full integration of NetScaler in Microsoft System Center and also the support (through AppExpert templates) to use NetScaler with Microsoft applications like SharePoint and Exchange 2010. The VPX for Hyper-V and the tight Microsoft integration will be available in summer this year.
By the way, did you know that 75% of the internet users passing NetScaler systems every day? No wonder because Google and Amazon, for example, are using NetScaler.
XenServer
In the second keynote XenServer 5.6 was announced and will be available on May 28. XenServer 5.6 is powered by the following new features:
- Better density and scale
- Faster network performance
- Memory optimization (memory over-commitment)
- Host power management
- Role based administration
- Snapshot & revert
- Self service user portal
Also XenServer 5.6 will be available in four versions: free, advanced (1000$), enterprise (2500$) and platinum (5000$). More information on the XenServer release can be found in the official press release.
Mark T. also presented, together with Brad Anderson (Microsoft), the next version of Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) with full XenServer integration. Brad A. demonstrated some really cool features like the VMM design studio where you can manage the roll out for your new servers/applications through drag and drop. This is possible by using stuff like single image management, virtualizing server services with App-V and so on.
After Marks session Michael Dell came up on stage and talked about the future of the desktop and gave a sneak preview of the new Dell “streak” device which will available next month.
If you want to watch all three keynote session just visit citrix.com/tv or access the keynotes directly by using one of the following links:
Synergy Keynote May 2010 Day 2 – The Five Game Changers in Enterprise IT
Synergy Keynote May 2010 Day 2 – Virtualization and the Datacenter
Synergy Keynote May 2010 Day 2 – Dell and Citrix Systems
Citrix Synergy 2010 San Francisco Day 1 Keynote Summary
Yesterday Citrix Mark T. hold the first Keynote of Citrix Synergy 2010 San Fransisco. The presentation was full of live demos and very interesting topics. It also was very Apple-ish and there even was a “One more thing” thingy. If you missed the live keynote Citrix you can watch it on citrix.com/tv right now or read our short summary.
The following summary will only cover technical topic and leave out most of the marketing stuff. The keynote actual was about three topics (XenClient, Dazzle.next and Reciver, HDX Nitro, XenApp 6) which we will cover right now.
XenClient
Citrix today announced the immediate availability of Citrix XenClient (as a release candidate). XenClient is Citrix’s approach of delivery a type-1 hypervisor for clients. XenClient is based on the open source Xen Client Initiative (XCI). XenClient allows you to securely run multiple virtual machines on your local device (a notebook or even a desktop). This allows you for example to deploy a personal VM with all your personal applications like iTunes, Windows Live Messenger, Google Picasa and so on. In addition to that your corporate IT can centrally deploy business virtual machines with all needed business applications and policies to your local device. This is done through Citrix Synchronizer a virtual appliance which runs only on top of XenServer (at least for now).
There are many use cases for XenClient. For example if you have to run some application in a complete secure and locked down environment so that no data inside this VM can get outside you can to this with XenClient.
XenClient is based on the open source Xen hypervisor engine. To run Citrix XenClient you need a device which supports Intel vPro and therefore Intel VT-x and VT-d. The concrete requirments are:
- Intel Core 2 Duo series processor with VT-x and VT-d (Intel vPro)
- 4GB memory or more
- 160GB disk space or more
- Intel integrated graphic 4500MHD
On top of XenClient currently Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 are supported in their 32-bit versions.
Beside some experimental features like 3D graphic support and secure application sharing (publish applications from one local VM to another) it allows you, in conjunction with Citrix Synchronizer, to centrally deploy, restore and backup virtual machines running on your XenClient devices. It also allows you to do some security stuff like control which VM can use which local devices, how they can access the network, how long they can run without contacting the Synchronizer (time bombing) and send a remote kill pill to remotly wipe a stolen device.
You’re going to find more information on XenClient and the actual download on citrix.com/xenclient.
Dazzle.next and Receiver
Citrix finally gets serious about Dazzle and Receiver. At lot is coming to these both components but let’s start with Dazzle. Dazzle is the Apple AppStore for enterprises made by Citrix. While Dazzle has been around for a year the only thing you could do with Dazzle is to allow your users to add the applications they wanted to their start menus. But with Dazzle.next Dazzle get some really helpful feature like request management and a ask, learn and share feature.
Request managament allow a user to request access to a certain application which he wasn’t allowed to access before. The request then can go through some workflow and have to be allowed or denied. If it is allowed it than can be, for example, booked on a specific cost center.
Also it allows the IT personal to set up some kind of FAQ and learning site for your users. They also can ask the support directly or share their experience they made with Dazzle with other users.
Right after Dazzle.next there was some talking about Citrix Receiver. Citrix Receiver also was already around for a year or so. But now there coming lot of cool new plug-ins to Receiver like 3rd party anti virus plug-ins or the Citrix Encrypted Data plug-in.
The Citrix Encrypted Data plug-in allows administrators to encrypt (256bit AES) the data delivery through XenApp and App-V applications at your end point. Users can be forced to safe their data from seamless applications in a specific ecrypted container called SafeZone. Last but not least the administrators can centrally control the access to the SafeZone and also wipe it remotely.
Dazzle.next should be available later this year but if you want to try the Encrypted Data plug-in you can give the technical preview a try.
XenApp 6
There was a quick recap of the features and possilibies with XenApp 6. But as this is nothing now I will skip this part.
HDX Nitro Technologies
HDX Nitro is a bundle of five development projects around Citrix’s HDX protocol starting with HDX Mach 3.
- Project Mach 3 is an optimized kernel (as Mark T. refereed to it) of the HDX protocol which should deliver 3 times the peformance of the actual HDX protocol.
- Project Zoom silently pre-loads a HDX session which then allows you to instantly start published applications.
- Project Laser optimizes the universal printer stack which should reduce the needed printing bandwidth a bare minimum (10% of that what’s currently needed).
- Project Mecury should accelerate the HDX WAN sessions and make them very usable even over connections with up to 300ms of latency by using compression, caching and prioritizing techniques.
- Project Dynamo is an enhancement to Citrix’s adaptive orchestration feature of HDX which allows you intelligent QoS (Quality of Service) and policy-driven configuration to optimize your sessions regarding the quality of your network link and the capabilities of your end point.
Unfortunately there wasn’t any live demo or technical details about HDX Nitro. So check out hdx.citrix.com/nitro regularly to get the latest news about HDX Nitro.
One more thing…
As I already said the keynote was very Apple-ish and so there also was the “One more thing”. At this point Mark T. demonstrated a really cool feature. He showed us how you can push a published application from one Citrix Receiver (in this case an iPad) to another Receiver (a Windows 7 device). This is really cool but useful? I guess time will tell.
So much for the first day keynote. If you still want to know more just watch the recording of the keynote below.
Citrix XenClient documentation is available
Even if XenClient isn’t available as official download yet Citrix already released the documentation for XenClient. According to the release notes the first version of XenClient available for the public will be 1.0 RC.
The documents are available for download in the Citrix Knowledge Center in the XenClient section or below.
Citrix XenClient 1.0 RC Release Notes (http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX125134)
Citrix XenClient 1.0 RC User Guide (http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX125133)
Citrix Synchronizer 1.0 RC Release Notes (http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX125132)
Citrix Synchronizer 1.0 RC Administrator Guide (http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX125131)
Citrix XenClient will be available soon
Citrix Synergy 2010 San Francisco is starting on Wednesday this week but Citrix Summit (partner event) and the CTP meetings have already begun. And it seems the NDA’s finally lifted for Citrix XenClient at least regarding to the latest buzz on twitter.
I’m collected most of the twitter buzz and going to give a short summary.
XenClient
- has only 70 to 80 thousand lines of code
- virtualizes USB, disk, network, graphic and more
- allows you to run multiple VMs simultaneously
- supports sleep mode
- can run as stand alone or enteprise edition (with synchronizer)
- Receiver for XenClient is a service instance (control domain) running on your XenClient for creating and access your local virtual machines
Synchronizer
- is a VM-based (for XenServer of course) management appliance for XenClient
- allows to centrally deploy virtual machines
- allows you to time bomb virtual machines and deploy security policies
- lets you backup virtual machine using full backups and delta backups
- is administrated via a web based interface
- supports local and Active Directory authentication
The best part of the news: Citrix XenClient will be available later this week.