The latest version of the Windows™ OS for both desktops and servers are on their way from Microsoft™. As always this news is met with equal shares of excitement and trepidation. Every company has its share of missteps sprinkled in with its successes. Even Microsoft admits that Vista was not the runaway success that they had anticipated. (This is evident by the fact that Windows XP is still the most popular operating system in use. People are even paying extra to have newly shipped systems downgraded to XP instead of Vista.)

Microsoft promised to learn from its mistakes. Windows 7 combined with Windows Server R2 boasts many new features that are specifically designed to address issues that have plagued businesses and consumers who upgraded to Vista.

Microsoft Learns from Past Windows Mistakes

One of the most glaring and annoying issues with Vista was the compatibility between software, hardware and the Windows operating system. Upon Vista’s release, drivers were simply not available for Windows Vista. There were fewer than 20,000 included drivers packaged with the original release and there were over 75,000 included with Windows Vista Service Pack 1.

Remote Connectivity, VPN for Mobile Users: Microsoft DirectAccess

One common problem facing many organizations is remote connectivity for their mobile and off-site users. One of the most widely used solutions for connecting remote users is a virtual private network (VPN) . Depending on the type of VPN, users may need to install VPN client software on their mobile computer and then establish the VPN connection over the Internet.

As most network engineers will tell you, managing a VPN has its own unique set of challenges and these challenges tend to be amplified when you take into account that the majority of your end users are people with limited technical experience with computers beyond the applications that are required for their jobs.

Microsoft has introduced the DirectAccess feature in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 which allows Windows 7 client computers to directly connect to intranet-based resources without the complexity of establishing a VPN connection. The user has the same connectivity experience both in and outside of the office.

Advantages of Microsoft DirectAccess for Remote Access

The primary advantage of the DirectAccess feature in Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 is that it allows for a seamless, always-on remote access solution that removes user involvement and complexity without any security compromises. DirectAccess achieves this through authentication, encryption, access control, integration with NAP (Network Access Protection) and the separation of internet from intranet traffic.

First, DirectAccess authenticates the computer, enabling the computer to connect to the intranet before the user logs on. DirectAccess can also authenticate the user and supports dual authentication using a smart card along with the user’s login.

Second, DirectAccess uses internet protocol security (IPsec) for encrypted communications.

Third, network administrators and IT departments can configure which intranet resources different users can access using DirectAccess. It is possible to DirectAccess users unlimited access to the intranet, or only allow them to access specific servers or subnets. Additionally, you can apply custom security policies to specific applications. For example, you can require an application sending and receiving sensitive data to use IPsec encryption, while requiring that other applications are available with no IPsec protection.

Network Access Protection (NAP) with Windows Server 2008

Network Access Protection (NAP), built into Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7, can be used with DirectAccess to verify that client computers meet your system minimum security requirements, such as having installed security updates and anti-malware definitions, before allowing them to make a DirectAccess connection.

Finally by keeping a separation of intranet and Internet traffic, only traffic destined for your intranet is sent through the DirectAccess server. With a traditional VPN, Internet traffic is typically also sent through your intranet, slowing Internet access for users. You can also change this default behavior to match that of a typical VPN.

DirectAccess Connections Established Before User Login

DirectAccess connections are established before the user is logged on as opposed to a VPN connection which requires handles security upon and after logon. This allows for your IT department to manage a remote computer connected by DirectAccess even if the user is not logged on; for example, to apply Group Policy settings. However, for the user to access any intranet resources, they must be logged on.

When running a network with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 with DirectAccess, your organization should see improved performance and management through the seamless connectivity – DirectAccess is on whenever the user has an Internet connection, giving users access to internal network resources whether they are traveling, at the local coffee shop, or at home.

Best Microsoft Windows 7 Features for Network Administrators

• Enhanced remote management – IT administrators can connect directly to DirectAccess client computers to monitor them, manage them, and deploy updates, even when the user is not logged on. This can reduce the cost of managing remote computers by keeping them up-to-date with critical updates and configuration changes.
• And Enhanced Network security through IPsec – DirectAccess uses IPsec for authentication and encryption. Optionally, you can require smart cards for user authentication. DirectAccess integrates with NAP to perform compliance checking on client computers before allowing them to connect to internal resources. IT administrators can configure the DirectAccess server to restrict the servers that users and individual applications can access.

Ready for Your Windows 7 or Server 2008 Deployment?

DedicatedIT is your South Florida Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. Less than 3% of all Microsoft Partners reach the gold standard. Not only is DedicatedIT Microsoft Gold Certified, we have special endorsements for Microsoft Security and Microsoft Networking. Please contact us today: 561-491-5725.

Microsoft Hyper-V Virtualization Overview

Microsoft Hyper-V is a virtualized server computing environment using a technology that is part of Windows Server 2008. It’s the next-generation hypervisor-based server virtualization technology available as an integral feature of Windows Server 2008.

Hyper-V enables server virtualization. It provides a simplified, reliable and optimized virtualized computing environment to improve the efficiency of your computing resources by utilizing more of your hardware resources. Each virtual machine is a virtualized computer system that operates in an isolated execution environment. This allows you to run multiple operating systems simultaneously on one physical computer.

When to Use Microsoft Hyper-V in your Company

Hyper-V provides software infrastructure and basic management tools that you use to create and manage a virtualized server computing environment. This virualized environment can be used to address a variety of business goals aimed at improving efficiency and reducing costs.

• Reduce the costs of operating and maintaining physical servers by increasing your hardware utilization. You con reduce the amount of hardware needed to run your server workloads.
• Increase development and test efficiency by reducing the amount of time it takes to set up hardware and software and reproduce test environments.
• Improve server availability without using as many physical computer as you would need in a fail-over configuration that uses only physical computers.

They Key Features of Microsoft Hyper-V

• 64-bit native hypervisor-based virtualization.
• Ability to run 32-bit and 64-bit virtual machines concurrently.
• Uniprocessor and multiprocessor virtual machines.
• Virtual machine snapshots, which capture the state, data, and hardware configuration of a running virtual machine.  Being able to revert the virtual machine to a previous state.
• Virtual local area network (VLAN) support.
• Microsoft Management Console (MMC) management snap-in.
• Documented Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) interfaces for scripting and management.

Citrix Essentials to Manage Hyper-V Virtualization Environments

Citrix Essentials for Microsoft Hyper-V provides you with a powerful set of advanced virtualization management capabilities that extend the enterprise management capabilities of  Hyper-V and system center to help make virtualized environments more scalable, more manageable and more agile.
Unlike basic hyperviosrs that have been free for years, XenServer sets an entirely new standard for free virtualization with powerful features such as centralized multi-node management, built-in storage and full live motion.

With the new 5.5 release of Citrix Essentials for XenServer and Hyper-V, providing advanced Server virtualization managementcapabilities for us using Citrix XenServer. Citrix Essentials 5.5 enhances high-growth virtualization platforms by adding expanded storage intergration , automated lab and provisioning and dynamic workload balancing.

“The new XenServer 5.5 release is a clear demonstration that Citrix will continue investing heavily in makeing XenServer the most compelling open virtualization platform on the market today. ”

“We see Citrix Essentials as a powerful extension that enables customers to accelerate their Hyper=V adoption in the enterprise in much the same way Citrix XenApp has extended the Windows Server platform for nearly 20 years in the application delivery arena.”
- Mike Neil, general manager, virtualization strategy at Microsoft Corp.

By combining the free XenServer with the advanced management capabilities in Citrix Essentials, you now have a proven alternative that meets all the requirements for enterprise-class virtualization at a fraction of the cost.

Citrix StorageLink for XenServer

StorageLink is available to you as part of the Citrix Essentials for XenServer and Hyper-V product line, which offers a broad range of advanced virtualization management capabilities for both XenServer and Hyper-V environments.

“With the StoragLink capabilities in Citrix Essentials for Hyper-V, Microsoft customers will be able to obtain even more value from their existing investments.”
“By enabling our customers to use higher performance storage array capabilities with System Center Virtual Machine Manager and Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, it makes it even easier for them to integrate virtualization into their existing IT framework, and allow them to create more scalable, manageable and agile virtual infrastructures.”
-Zane Adams, senior director of virtualization and System Center, Microsoft Corp.

Citrix Going Above and Beyond

In addition to the availability of the 5.5 product release, Citrix also has a XenServer Central community website, a new resource for all things XenServer to help users like us enhance their use of the free enterprise-ready virtualization platform. The XenServer Central website features the latest product information , tips and tricks.

DedicatedIT Implements and Supports Virtualized Networks

We currently have several clients that are hosted using virtualization with Windows Server 2008 and XenServer. Give us a call and we’ll preform a complete network assessment and see if it would benefit your company to move into the next generation of computing. Virtualization and cloud computing is coming, why not get on the boat now and be in-front of the crowd?

Give DedicatedIT a call today: 561-491-5725.

The Mission:

Upgrade three XenServer 5.0.2 hosts in a single Pool with an iSCSI attached Storage Array to the new and improved XenServer 5.5.

The Process:

The first thing we did was install the XenCenter 5.5 Client and, just to be sure, went on to apply the 5.0.3 update (aka update 3) to all of the hosts. After that it requires a reboot (of course). To facilitate this, we were glad we had multiple hosts in the same pool as we were now able to utilize the ever popular XenMotion to ’shuffle’ my VMs around, reboot a host, ’shuffle’ the VMs again, reboot the next host, etc.  This worked like a charm.

After we completed Update 3, we then cleared off the Primary Host (denoted by being the top-most Host of the Pool in XenCenter) using XenMotion.  Using a browser (IE needed unfortunately – alternative with FireFox is IETab Plugin) we connected to each of the HP iLOs from our management server (physical windows host), mounted the XenServer 5.5 Disc 1 in the iLO virtual DVD-ROM drive and rebooted the physical XenServer host. The iLO also equips you with an ActiveX remote KVM for just this purpose, thankfully.  We proceeded with the XenServer installation and even installed the Linux Pack (second ISO image… dismount the XenServer ISO and then mount the Linux Pack ISO all from the Virtual Drive functions in the iLO).  Once the primary is completed, here is a catch: if you XenMotion/Launch a VM on 5.5, you CANNOT migrate it off to an older version host so plan carefully. That being said, we XenMotioned our VMs around several times (yes this does hurt performance on the VMs if you are overloading your hosts… see Noticable Issues) and completed all of the upgrades.

Now that all of the Hosts were done and our VMs were still running, we scheduled outage windows for each set of subsystems to allow us time to upgrade the XenTools on each VM (all 31 of them… yes 31 VMs on 3 hosts).  No, there is not a way currently to mass update all VMs, so you have to do them one at a time.  Watch out here too… see Noticable Issues.

All in all it wasn’t a horrific upgrade process, thankfully we have an excellent team that works well together under pressure.

Proof Positive – XenMotion keeps VMs accessible:

To provide proof positive that I was able to keep Citrix XenApp sessions running while doing this all, I logged into our HostMyIT (Hosted Messaging and Collaboration / Virtual Office) system prior to any work.  My session stayed running throughout the entire process using Outlook 2007 as a published application.  However, new logins eventually stopped… see Noticable Issues for an explaination.

Noticeable issues:

1. One of our Windows Active Directory Servers lost connection to our NetApp SAN (we use CIFS for the file shares) and this caused file access denials.  The simple solution (after wracking our brains) was to redo the NetApp CIFS Setup routine.  Instant access restored.

2. XenTools updates: Caused one of our iSCSI LUNS (used for Exchange’s Database) to be overmapped by the XenServer VCD-ROM.  We had to  remap the CD-ROM drive letter to J:, reconnect the iSCSI LUN to the Exchange Server and map its drive letter back to D:.  Chances are, you will only hit this one if you use iSCSI LUNS mapped to lower drive letters.

3. Overloading your Physical Hosts with too many VMs will be seen by users as a noticable slow down occurs.  Let your users know several thousand times prior to upgrade if you will be doing this while live.

If you are considering/planning a XenServer upgrade, let DedicatedIT be your Team, give us a call (561.491.5725) or drop us a line.

The issues enclosed in this post are just the ones we ran into in this specific upgrade.  There are always snags.  As I said before, it’s not a horrific upgrade process, but it is nice to have that same great team by your side that we do internally.

Application virtualization is typically used to describe a product that packages applications into network-accessible objects and delivers them to client (or terminal server) operating systems capable of executing the application locally inside of an isolation environment (in order to limit dependency on the underlying OS). Such products include Citrix Application Streaming (a feature of XenApp aka Presentation Server), Microsoft App-V (aka SoftGrid), and VMware ThinApp. Each of them are designed mostly with the same result in mind, though each product has its own ‘quirks’.

Client Application Delivery Methods

Methods of delivering client applications (whether directly installed or virtual) include ‘thick’ clients (local execution), terminal services, VDI or blade computing. Thus, the term ‘application delivery’ relates to how users receive or gain access to their applications.

These technologies (application virtualization and application delivery) are complimentary, not exclusive, and successful solutions typically incorporate more than one product or methodology.

That said, each of the three major application virtualization products have their own benefits, typically related to licensing expenses and the bundling of such products with other solutions already in place. Business drivers and technology initiatives make up the rest of the equation.

Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack from App-V

For instance, an organization who acquires all of their desktop licensing through a Microsoft volume program and also acquires the Desktop Optimization Pack receives use privileges for App-V. Unless this particular organization is under a mandate for SBC, they aren’t tossing out their desktops and as such will utilize the features they have already paid for. Conversely, organizations using XenApp with enterprise or platinum CALs receive usage rights for Citrix Application Streaming and wouldn’t have a need to purchase App-V for TS.

Citrix Application Streaming using XenApp

Citrix has put forth large efforts to incorporate multiple delivery methods into a single consistent interface for users. Application Streaming can be performed directly to desktops or indirectly through a XenApp presentation session using the same web-accessible interface (and the intelligence for ‘dual-mode’ streaming is centralized in the farm to prevent the user from having to figure it out). No one else has accomplished that type of integration yet.

DedicatedIT: Virtualization Experts for Miami to Palm Beach

Virtualization and desktop delivery are specialties within specialties. Make sure your South Florida virtualization consultant has experience in addition to certifications.

We are often asked about the differences in graphics performance between VMware View and XenDesktop. Summary: XenDesktop has better performance than VMware View.

RDP for Terminal Services vs ICA for XenApp

Those running RDP for Terminal Services and ICA for XenApp (formerly Citrix Presentation Server) side by side, can guess which product delivers better video graphics performance. Anyone who has done a comparison will have seen the performance difference. Delivering virtual desktops to remote users requires excellent performance for a seamless user experience. ICA has clear advantages over over RDP.

Third-Party VMware View VDI Accelerators vs Native XenDesktop

Yes, there are third-party products for VMware View VDI delivery and graphics acceleration, but now you’re adding additional expense and complexity. XenDesktop provides the same capability or better in a single product, with a single license and a single cost. Some third-party VMware View products even require the use of specific client hardware. That defeats the goal of dynamic infrastructure doesn’t it? Having to rely on specific hardware as a client isn’t exactly “anytime, anywhere” delivery in practice.

Video Comparison of RDP and ICA for Desktop Delivery

Below are side-by-side RDP and ICA HDX demonstration videos that show which VDI product has the best desktop delivery performance.

Please contact DedicatedIT today, 561-491-5725, if you are interested in learning more about Citrix XenDesktop or other desktop virtualization solutions for your business.

While most transitions to XenServer 5.5 are proceeding seamlessly, there are a few snags being encountered by the bleeding-edge adopters. Contact DedicatedIT today, 561-491-5725, with questions and concerns about your XenServer 5.5 Upgrade.

XenServer 5.5 VDI Sizes

Citrix has always been straightforward about their supported limit of a maximum 2TB size for a single VDI.  However, previously to 5.5, it was possible to create larger LVM-based VDIs.  Users that have upgraded to 5.5 have discovered that they are no longer able to mount those huge VDIs to their VMs.  Citrix has its highest-level engineers on it, but Citrites aren’t promising anything yet.

‘SR Backend Failed’ Errors

Another problem relates to VMs not being able to start after the pool upgrade is complete – XenCenter returns:

The SR backend failed to complete the operation.

Resolutions do not appear to be consistent at this moment.  Some are successful by just forgetting and attaching the SR, while other users find success by refreshing the 5.5 install on the pool master.

Guest Network Performance Problems

Some users have reported a big drop in guest network performance after updating Xen Tools on the guests.  So far, the only resolution has been to uninstall the Tools package.

VM Snapshot Considerations

Many users are making the early jump to 5.5 in order to have the ability to create snapshots of any VM on any SR type.  The downside to this is that your VDIs will be converted to VHD. This will have an impact on performance because a filesystem is being introduced to the SR – how much of an impact is yet to be determined. Additionally, VHD files have a hard 2TB limit. Also, creating the snapshot requires an amount of freespace equal to the size of the VDIs being snapped. It appears that the privileged domain isn’t creating a delta file but instead replicating the base file.

As we discover more, we’ll add them here. Also, if you’ve had any ‘fun’ experiences upgrading to 5.5 in your shop, let us know!

Cheers,
~Phil

“Base installation repository was not found at that location. Please check and try again.“

We’ve seen this one come across a few times, especially with virtual media mounts (DRACs moreso than others). The install routine is probing the wrong storage device paths looking for the installation image on the CD or ISO.

How To Fix XenServer Base Install Repository Error

Jump over to vty1 (ALT + F2) and execute the following command:

modprobe ide-generic

Jump back to vty0 (ALT + F1) and the next media search should find the installation image successfully.

Need XenServer Install Support? Call Us: 561-491-5725

As always, please let us know if you found this helpful! Or, if you are stuck and need help, please contact DedicatedIT for XenServer installation help.

~Phil

When attempting to open the Out of Office Assistant on an Exchange 2007 user mailbox, the following error is displayed:

“Your Out of Office settings cannot be displayed, because the server is currently unavailable. Try again later.”

If you attempt to access the Out of Office Assistant from Outlook 2003, it works fine.  Chances are, more than one user is having the same problem with Outlook 2007.

If you do a search for these symptoms, you will find plenty of forum threads and blogs on how to check/reset IIS permissions, assign an SSL cert, check/reset EWS URLs and all that other fun stuff. Chances are, you’ve already been through it yourself, or have continued searching, because you don’t want to waste your day with all those troubleshooting steps.

[I will give you a shortcut through all that in case you haven't done so yet]

Run ‘Test E-mail AutoConfiguration…‘ from the local Outlook client.  If it completes without errors, you can skip all the other stuff mentioned in those blogs and knowledge base articles.

You are likely experiencing something that I found today.

You’ve probably been affected by a recent update to the .NET framework.  Other side effects on your Exchange 2007 Client Access Server (CAS) could include Outlook 2007 clients not showing free/busy information properly in the scheduling assistant.

Your salvation lies with hotfix 952883.

Desktop Ownership and Management Will Change Drastically

Citrix makes the following predictions:

• Prediction #1 – Your company will no longer own your laptop (go ahead, buy that cool new computer).
• Prediction #2 – Your company will spend more on coffee and office supplies than it does on desktop management.
• Prediction #3 – You will access your corporate desktop from whatever device is most convenient at the time (just like you do with e-mail today).
• Prediction #4 – You will switch back and forth between work and personal desktops on the same device, without thinking twice.
• Prediction #5 – You will never complain about your PC being too slow again.

Citrix and Intel Contribute Heavily to Xen Hypervisor for Clients

I just left a session at the Citrix Synergy 2009 conference titled Bring the Power of Xen to Local Client Virtualization that was delivered by Ian Pratt, founder of Xen open source project. While Project Independence (codename for XenClient) was announced officially in January of 2009, this was the first time I saw it presented at a major event like Citrix Synergy.

Unlike server-based desktop virtualization technologies, like Citrix XenDesktop, XenClient will cache and execute the virtual machines’ operating systems directly on the client for full, off-network mobility for laptop users.

There is a seriously impressive story to tell around security, performance and the manageability benefits that can be brought to client systems when they are virtualized.

“Servers are in a safe, contained environment whereas desktops, realistically, are in constant chaos.” David Greschler Director of Virtualization Strategies at Microsoft

Virtualization and Isolation of Personal and Business Computing

Using a bare-metal hypervisor much like we do with servers, two (or more) virtual machines are created: one for your personal stuff and one for business. The two virtual machines are completely isolated at the hardware level by Intel’s VT feature set:

Intel VT includes hardware enhancements that virtualize memory, the CPU, and directed I/O. These features provide a significant level of hardware enforcement for the VMM’s memory manager, and significantly improve isolation of the virtual environment. In turn, this helps improve security for critical processes and sensitive data. [source: Intel Centrino 2 with vPro Whitepaper]

The corporate virtual machine [shown in red in the image, above], managed and locked down significantly by the IT department, has only business applications and cannot be altered by the end-user. The IT department will be responsible for managing this image, backing up the image and all patching and updates. All changes that are made to the system while offline are synchronized back to the data center. A service level agreement and full support for this image will be provided. Although, likely for a lot less than it currently costs to provide this level of support.

The personal virtual machine [labeled desktop VM in the image, above], managed by the end-user, allows the local installation of personal applications, like iTunes. People are free to play with their computer and do whatever they want They are free to break their personal system in any way whatsoever, however their actions will not effect their corporate virtual machine at all. IT can provide a much lower-level (if one at all) service level agreement for this image. The suggestion is to provide the end-user two options: roll the image back to a previous state using snapshot recovery points or push the button to bring it back to a crisp, new OS state.

Desktop Management has Never been this Good

Citrix and Intel have delivered us a very powerful tool. I think it’s up to us to figure out how to use it. Here are some of the use cases that came out of our discussions:

• A desktop image that can be deployed to end-users whether they are virtualized on servers using XenDesktop, or on desktop PCs or laptops, regardless of make/model.
• Centrally update all systems without worrying about conflicts, because everything is based on your gold image.
• Have those updates apply to the systems the next time they are turned on, because you are synchronizing the differences between your gold image in the data center and the end-point. You won’t have to worry about whether your end-users are leaving their systems on at night or not.
• “Lease” policies such as a system must check in every two weeks, or the operating system cannot be launched.
• Remote kill feature for laptops in case they are stolen with the ability to take the user’s desktop image from the data center and push it to a new device or into a XenDesktop server hosted VM until the device is replaced.
• The ability to remotely and very easily virus scan a virtual machine without it being “on” to better catch and clean the pesky ones.

I’ve heard the term out of band management many times thinking that it was just the ability to turn on/off a system remotely. My exposure to XenClient has redefined what I consider out of band management.

Out of band management is the ability to do things to a system [like virus scanning] without it being on. Performing maintenance the way that we do it today is like a mechanic changing the engine in a plane while it’s mid-flight. -Ian Pratt

Official Release is Expected in July of 2009

I have searched all over the Internet trying to find a download to play with. I can’t find one – even over at the xen.org project website.

I LOVE HP Servers

I’ve been using them since they were Compaq servers. HP has kept the servers and the parts that they use consistent enough, that you know what you need without doing a lot of research. And, if you do have to do research, their QuickSpecs datasheets on their servers are amazing. Very rarely do we ever order the wrong part for an HP server.

The Proliant G5 Series was Truly Amazing

The Proliant G5 Series was a stellar series of servers. It was the first generation of HP servers that included Intel’s processor with VT. That feature alone sold more servers for us than any other feature during 2008. Why? Because it was the first chip that supported our primary virtualization technology, Citrix XenServer. In order to virtualize on an HP platform, you needed a Proliant G5 series server. Period.

The HP Proliant DL360 G5 also had a pretty impressive feature with respect to hard drives;  it allowed for as many as six SAS drives. The G4 version only allowed two.

So, What’s New with the G6 Series?

If you want to read yourself to sleep, here is HP’s official Proliant G6 Website.

Here are the highlights:

• Intel’s new Xeon 5500 CPUs
• Power efficiency and cooling
• Shared power supplied across all G6 models

I planned to write a huge explanation of what was awesome. However, Scott Lowe did a great job on his blog. Why reinvent the wheel?

Take note of the section on the RAM slowing down as more is added. That’s something I never knew:

‘Among other things, QPI provides higher memory bandwidth—but how much higher depends on the amount of memory installed. That’s right: the more memory you install in the server, the slower your memory speed will be. This is a “dirty little secret” that many server vendors don’t want to disclose.’