We all know the issues that VMware brought to the table by changing their license model for vSphere and the opportunity that presented for alternative virtualisation vendors. Well it appears that VMware has listened with its upcoming release of VMware vSphere 5.1.
VMware is removing the vRAM licensing requirements and returning to its previous CPU-based licensing model, which customers preferred.
With only a .dot release of its flagship vSphere product announced at VMworld this week, VMware should expect to get a lot more attention for this release than it normally would have because of the licensing change. And all those vSphere 4.x users who've been waiting to upgrade to 5.0 may now finally make the move.
Wednesday 29 August 2012
What's key in vSphere 5.1
VMware has detailed an abundance of new enhancements to its core virtualisation and cloud products: vSphere, vCenter, the vSphere Storage Appliance, and vCloud Director are all being increased to version 5.1. VMware is also introducing a vSphere Data Protection Appliance.
In adding new features VMware will also knock on the door or 3rd party partners who currently add value to the VMware stack. Such as the moving of SRM host based replication into vSphere, implementing a new backup appliance based upon Avamar.
vSphere Replication
vSphere 5.1 can now perform host-based VM replication, a feature introduced in Site Recovery Manager 5.0 but now part of vSphere. Because it will work across the majority of the vSphere product line, this replication capability should be attractive to smaller businesses that can't afford expensive array-based replication.
vSphere Data Protection
vSphere Data Protection (VDP), is an appliance-based, deduplicating backup package integrated into VMware's vCenter management framework. VDP replaces vSphere Disaster Recovery appliance with deduplication from EMC's Avamar backup line. VDP uses vSphere APIs for Data Protection (VADP).
vSphere networking
This software-based switching architecture adds support for 802.3ad LACP load balancing, RSPAN and ERSPAN remote traffic monitoring, a slew of new automated configuration health checks, VXLAN support, and SR-IOV support. Many of these additions should facilitate software-defined networking initiatives happening in the vCloud Director.
In adding new features VMware will also knock on the door or 3rd party partners who currently add value to the VMware stack. Such as the moving of SRM host based replication into vSphere, implementing a new backup appliance based upon Avamar.
vSphere Replication
vSphere 5.1 can now perform host-based VM replication, a feature introduced in Site Recovery Manager 5.0 but now part of vSphere. Because it will work across the majority of the vSphere product line, this replication capability should be attractive to smaller businesses that can't afford expensive array-based replication.
vSphere Data Protection
vSphere Data Protection (VDP), is an appliance-based, deduplicating backup package integrated into VMware's vCenter management framework. VDP replaces vSphere Disaster Recovery appliance with deduplication from EMC's Avamar backup line. VDP uses vSphere APIs for Data Protection (VADP).
vSphere networking
This software-based switching architecture adds support for 802.3ad LACP load balancing, RSPAN and ERSPAN remote traffic monitoring, a slew of new automated configuration health checks, VXLAN support, and SR-IOV support. Many of these additions should facilitate software-defined networking initiatives happening in the vCloud Director.
VMware vCloud Suite 5.1
As discussed earlier today here VMware at VMworld announced a new suite of technologies called vCloud to simplify the transition to a software defined datacenter or indeed hybrid cloud to a vCloud provider.
The aim of a software-defined datacenter is to abstract all hardware resources, pool them into aggregate capacity to facilitate automation of applications and services deployment.
VMware vCloud Suite 5.1 aggregates all the components customers need to build, operate and manage a modern, cloud integrated, infrastructure:
VMware vSphere® 5.1: with more than 100 enhancements and new features constitutes the foundation of the suite
VMware vCloud Director® 5.1: orchestrates the provisioning of abstracted resources such as storage, networking, security and availability pooling them as software-defined datacenter services
VMware vCloud Networking and Security 5.1: VMware’s software defined networking and security solution, enables the dynamic creation of virtual networks and services decoupled and independent from the physical network hardware
vCenter Site Recovery Manager™ 5.1: simplifies disaster recovery planning and ensures predictable recovery through automated testing and plan execution, can also support datacenter migrations and disaster avoidance, integrates with VMware vSphere Replication and replication technologies from VMware’s partners
The VMware vCloud Suite 5.1 is expected to be available Sept. 11, 2012. It will be offered in three editions – Standard, Advanced and Enterprise – and includes the following products: VMware vSphere Enterprise Plus, VMware vCloud Director, VMware vCloud Connector, VMware vCloud Networking and Security, VMware vFabric Application Director, VMware vCenter Operations Management Suite and VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager. Prices will start at $4,995 per processor.
The aim of a software-defined datacenter is to abstract all hardware resources, pool them into aggregate capacity to facilitate automation of applications and services deployment.
VMware vCloud Suite 5.1 aggregates all the components customers need to build, operate and manage a modern, cloud integrated, infrastructure:
VMware vSphere® 5.1: with more than 100 enhancements and new features constitutes the foundation of the suite
VMware vCloud Director® 5.1: orchestrates the provisioning of abstracted resources such as storage, networking, security and availability pooling them as software-defined datacenter services
VMware vCloud Networking and Security 5.1: VMware’s software defined networking and security solution, enables the dynamic creation of virtual networks and services decoupled and independent from the physical network hardware
vCenter Site Recovery Manager™ 5.1: simplifies disaster recovery planning and ensures predictable recovery through automated testing and plan execution, can also support datacenter migrations and disaster avoidance, integrates with VMware vSphere Replication and replication technologies from VMware’s partners
The VMware vCloud Suite 5.1 is expected to be available Sept. 11, 2012. It will be offered in three editions – Standard, Advanced and Enterprise – and includes the following products: VMware vSphere Enterprise Plus, VMware vCloud Director, VMware vCloud Connector, VMware vCloud Networking and Security, VMware vFabric Application Director, VMware vCenter Operations Management Suite and VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager. Prices will start at $4,995 per processor.
VMware Horizon Suite Details
As blogged earlier this week VMware has announced a new product suite known as VMware Horizon Suite,
VMware Horizon Suite is still in Alpha release. Horizon is a platform that will make it easier administrators to manage the challenges associated with consumerisation (mobility, cloud, and employee BYOD) while also providing a simple working environment for your end users, no matter what the device is.
VMware Horizon Suite brings together many of the technologies within VMware – Project Octopus, Project AppBlast, ThinApp, VMware Horizon Application Manager and VMware Horizon Mobile, as well as the management of VMware View. This not only includes VMware technologies, but also software that runs on Windows and applications delivered via Citrix XenApp, for example.
This makes it possible for enterprises to get the consistent governance they need, while workers enjoy separate personal and business workspaces and consistent access to applications and data on any personal device.
Through a central Web management console, the VMware Horizon Suite enables IT to provide a service catalog for all company data and applications. Horizon Suite will understand a user’s context (device, location and connectivity level) and then apply policies across applications, data, and devices no matter where that data or applications resides (Windows, Web, SaaS or Mobile).
With Horizon Suite, end users can also securely access and share their data and files from any device. You can get a feel for what it looks like in the video below:
Horizon manages from the middle, rather than the endpoint, through identity, context, and policy. And through its web console, IT can deliver a customised service catalog to users so they can select delivery of on-demand Windows, Mobile, SaaS, and Web-based applications to end-users on any device.
VMware Horizon Suite provides the security, governance, and manageability enterprises need while also providing all of the freedoms of choice and work style associated with the BYOD and consumerisation of IT trends.
Key VMworld 2012 Announcements
You may or may not be aware that over in America VMware are currently hosting their end user event - VMworld. Like with previous years there has been a slew announcements and Equanet can articulate them into this single blog entry. These are the main announcements from VMware delivered through their key note sessions:
In 2008 25% of workloads were virtualised; today, that figure is estimated to be 60%.
In 2008, everyone was asking, “What is cloud?” Now, according to VMware, we’re asking “How do we build a cloud?”
VMware has an aspiration to increase the number of workloads that are virtualised (aiming for >90%) and the amount of time to provision new workloads (shooting for minutes/seconds). This is what VMware call the “software-defined data center.”
VMware has announced vCloud Suite, which will include vSphere, vCloud Director, vCloud Connector, Site Recovery Manager, vCenter Operations, and vFabric Application Director–all rolled into a single SKU to make it easier to buy, deploy, and use.
VMware also announced that vRAM will no longer be considered a part of VMware’s licensing approach.
VMware also stated its ongoing support of OpenStack by applying to join OpenStack Foundation.
In vSphere 5.1 VM capacity grows to 64 vCPUs, 1 TB of RAM, and 1 million IOPS in a SINGLE VM, so if you have a need for a machine that big I would love to meet you!
VMware announced enhanced vMotion, which is VMware’s ability to perform live migration without shared storage.
VMware discussed Mirage (an acquisition of Wanova) which is built on the idea of layers, allowing organisations to “decompose” images into smaller, more manageable chunks, and allows for synchronisation of images across the network. Mirage is considered complementary to View, and brings VMware functionality for managing physical desktops and adding functionality for offline computing.
Project AppShift was identified to allow you to access traditional mouse style applications on touch based devices.
VMware Horizon Suite has been launched as a single, product suite that assists in managing and brokering desktops, applications, and data between users and devices (very similar to Citrix CloudGateway 2) Project Octopus is now known as Horizon Data and has moved from Beta code to Alpha code. Project AppBlast will be used to deliver desktops to devices. Oh, and Horizon will also be able to manage XenApp based applications.
Horizon also supports mobile applications as well, through Horizon Mobile. VMware announced a "container application" for iOS (Similar to Good Technology) that allows VMware Horizon Mobile to deploy and manage applications to iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad.
So plenty of announcements from VMware and just to recap the main points from the keynotes are:
- vRAM licensing model is to be disbanded
- vCloud Suite is a set of products under a single SKU to help kickstart your cloud projects
- Horizon Suite is again a set of integrated products to help focus on the end user experience
- Project Octopus is now know as Horizon Data
- vSphere 5.1 has been announced
- VMware View 5.1 has been announced.
- Project App Shift
- AppBlast is WIP
- Mobile Application management on iOS via app wrapping
- Horizon will Manage XenApp.
Monday 27 August 2012
Helping your CIO yes to BYOD
The Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend is changing the landscape of corporate IT and support models; with the proliferation of mobile devices, corporate networks are becoming more challenging to manage and more at-risk every day. Corporate IT is now forced to react and build a new end user first computing model because the days of pushing technology to the consumer has now ended. Today, IT departments need to become more agile and adapt quickly to BYOD because it is already happening.
Devices need to connect to networks, so they can provide convenient, access to trusted users, IT needs to protect IP but provide agile architectures that are open enough to support devices but align to corporate governance. Saying no to personal devices is no longer an option.
Users are already using the devices with or without permission on your network. With the right BYOD strategy, IT departments can mitigate the risk, say “yes” and even benefit from this change.
The challenge for the CIO, then, is to build and implement a BYOD strategy that supports device diversity while putting the proper safeguards in place and keeping business and personal items separate. Equanet has created a unique approach for providing a comprehensive strategy for device diversity, protecting sensitive data and enabling productivity to create a BYOD environment that works for everyone.
The Equanet approach starts with the end users and moves through all divisions in the business ensuring all issues and opportunities are raised. We link applications to user identities, not devices, so end users can access the data from any qualified device, whether they’re working in the office or remotely. Corporate and personal digital assets are kept separate in a safe and monitored way.
The Equanet approach for BYOD allows IT to think less about devices and more about the user experience and enabling the employee. This shift in focus, from devices to access and activity, makes BYOD improvements more visible and easier to measure.
If you are considering a BYOD strategy and are wondering where you should start, Equanet can help. We have helped many customers through this transition and. Equanet Advisory Services can help CIOs say “yes” to BYOD by:
Leveraging a proven desktop virtualisation model for BYOD
Developing a suitable digital allowance scheme
Ensuring architecture and security excellence
Providing a roadmap to the end user centric computing model
Performing an operational readiness assessment
Defining a ROI and value proposition.
Devices need to connect to networks, so they can provide convenient, access to trusted users, IT needs to protect IP but provide agile architectures that are open enough to support devices but align to corporate governance. Saying no to personal devices is no longer an option.
Users are already using the devices with or without permission on your network. With the right BYOD strategy, IT departments can mitigate the risk, say “yes” and even benefit from this change.
The challenge for the CIO, then, is to build and implement a BYOD strategy that supports device diversity while putting the proper safeguards in place and keeping business and personal items separate. Equanet has created a unique approach for providing a comprehensive strategy for device diversity, protecting sensitive data and enabling productivity to create a BYOD environment that works for everyone.
The Equanet approach starts with the end users and moves through all divisions in the business ensuring all issues and opportunities are raised. We link applications to user identities, not devices, so end users can access the data from any qualified device, whether they’re working in the office or remotely. Corporate and personal digital assets are kept separate in a safe and monitored way.
The Equanet approach for BYOD allows IT to think less about devices and more about the user experience and enabling the employee. This shift in focus, from devices to access and activity, makes BYOD improvements more visible and easier to measure.
If you are considering a BYOD strategy and are wondering where you should start, Equanet can help. We have helped many customers through this transition and. Equanet Advisory Services can help CIOs say “yes” to BYOD by:
Leveraging a proven desktop virtualisation model for BYOD
Developing a suitable digital allowance scheme
Ensuring architecture and security excellence
Providing a roadmap to the end user centric computing model
Performing an operational readiness assessment
Defining a ROI and value proposition.
Microsoft Lync and VMware View 5.0
For those of you who have been using Lync on standard desktop architectures and tried to integrate with VMware View will know issues there has been. Luckily VMware has announced support for Microsoft Lync 2013. With Microsoft Lync 2013 and VMware View, customers will have full access to Unified Communications and Collaboration capabilities, and Office 15 integration.
Naturally, many customers who run Lync 2010 have expressed a desire for support of a combined architecture too. As a result VMware and Microsoft have officially completed validation testing of Microsoft Lync 2010 with VMware View 5.0. Microsoft has updated the Microsoft Lync 2010 Client Virtualisation whitepaper to reflect the addition of VMware View as a supported Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solution.
Customers can now deploy Microsoft Lync 2010 on VMware View infrastructure with confidence, knowing that the solution will be fully supported. With Microsoft Lync 2010 and VMware View, users will have access to features such as presence, instant messaging, application sharing, online meetings, sharing whiteboards and PowerPoint presentations.
Other features such as VoIP calling are only available when a Lync client is paired with a USB desktop IP Phone. A complete list of features supported with Microsoft Lync 2010 and VMware View 5.0 can be found in the Microsoft Lync 2010 Client Virtualisation whitepaper.
Naturally, many customers who run Lync 2010 have expressed a desire for support of a combined architecture too. As a result VMware and Microsoft have officially completed validation testing of Microsoft Lync 2010 with VMware View 5.0. Microsoft has updated the Microsoft Lync 2010 Client Virtualisation whitepaper to reflect the addition of VMware View as a supported Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solution.
Customers can now deploy Microsoft Lync 2010 on VMware View infrastructure with confidence, knowing that the solution will be fully supported. With Microsoft Lync 2010 and VMware View, users will have access to features such as presence, instant messaging, application sharing, online meetings, sharing whiteboards and PowerPoint presentations.
Other features such as VoIP calling are only available when a Lync client is paired with a USB desktop IP Phone. A complete list of features supported with Microsoft Lync 2010 and VMware View 5.0 can be found in the Microsoft Lync 2010 Client Virtualisation whitepaper.
Sunday 26 August 2012
Server 2012 Top 5 Features
Microsoft are due to officially launch Windows Server 2012 very shortly, one of the key advancements in this release is Hyper-V 3.0. Equanet have been testing this release of server 2012 for some time now and have identified 5 key features that top our list.
Hyper-V Replica
Simply put it replicates virtual machines between Hyper-V 3.0 hosts. Meaning you can replicate your virtual machines from your production site to your alternate/recovery site – all with the built-in capabilities of Hyper-V 3.0. This should significantly reduce your DR costs.
Storage Live Migration
Migrates Hyper-V virtual disks from one storage array to another without any downtime. It’s built into the base functionality of Hyper-V 3.0, which means you don’t have to pay a premium for the technology.
Shared-Nothing Live Migration
This allows for live-migrating virtual machines between hosts without shared storage. This would be useful for certain businesses and deployment scenarios such as branch office where if you want to virtualise your servers without a SAN and allow for planned downtime you can.
SMB File Share Support
This deploys Hyper-V over SMB (Server Message Block – Microsoft’s file sharing protocol) version 3.0. Hyper-V can now store virtual machine files on your network shares.
This is beneficial for small businesses or simply interested in deploying a POC.
Live Snapshot Management
This merges and purges virtual machine snapshots on the fly.
VM snapshots are very useful, but Hyper-V admins really disliked the fact that with the previous version, you had to take the VM offline in order to manage the snapshots.You can now clean up your snapshots while the VM is running.
Hyper-V Replica
Simply put it replicates virtual machines between Hyper-V 3.0 hosts. Meaning you can replicate your virtual machines from your production site to your alternate/recovery site – all with the built-in capabilities of Hyper-V 3.0. This should significantly reduce your DR costs.
Storage Live Migration
Migrates Hyper-V virtual disks from one storage array to another without any downtime. It’s built into the base functionality of Hyper-V 3.0, which means you don’t have to pay a premium for the technology.
Shared-Nothing Live Migration
This allows for live-migrating virtual machines between hosts without shared storage. This would be useful for certain businesses and deployment scenarios such as branch office where if you want to virtualise your servers without a SAN and allow for planned downtime you can.
SMB File Share Support
This deploys Hyper-V over SMB (Server Message Block – Microsoft’s file sharing protocol) version 3.0. Hyper-V can now store virtual machine files on your network shares.
This is beneficial for small businesses or simply interested in deploying a POC.
Live Snapshot Management
This merges and purges virtual machine snapshots on the fly.
VM snapshots are very useful, but Hyper-V admins really disliked the fact that with the previous version, you had to take the VM offline in order to manage the snapshots.You can now clean up your snapshots while the VM is running.
Windows to Go - Worth Evaluating!
Ok, so Microsoft has now made available Windows 8 RTM and since the launch of the consumer and release previews we have been testing a number of the key features that will make Windows 8 a compelling move. One such compelling reason is Windows to Go.
WTG has been accessible since the previews were made available but needed to be created via command line. Now with RTM Microsoft has enabled the creation of a Windows to Go desktop through the GUI, albeit the HCL for the supported USB devices is restricted to Kingston at the time of writing this. Although the old method of creating WTG via command line still appears to work fine with any USB 2 or 3 device.
Part of the Windows 8 Enterprise edition includes Windows To Go which will enable users to access their Windows 8 corporate image from a USB drive.
IT administrators will have the capability to build their corporate or divisional desktops on USB drives, so they can determine the exact OS experience their users will have. Users can then boot that image from any x64 PC at any location, regardless of whether they are online.
IT administrators are able to control the environment their users work in certainly supporting the BYOD message, all through a single BitLocker encrypted USB device.
Employees should like Windows To Go because their devices will retain the same user interface and provide access the same apps and programs. Plus if there is one thing they are familiar with its USB devices.
No matter what device the user logs on to no data will be stored on their computers. Simply removing a Windows To Go drive from any device causes the system to shut down just 60 seconds later—without leaving a footprint.
So WTG a simple way to deploy, manage and secure desktops that is only restricted by your imagination. Imagine a WTG environment leveraging BitLocker To Go, O365, DirectAccess, App-V and SkyDrivePro managed through InTune. Now there is a compelling proposition to support both corporate assets and personal devices.
Need help on migrating from XP to Windows 8 or defining your EUC strategy then contact us.
WTG has been accessible since the previews were made available but needed to be created via command line. Now with RTM Microsoft has enabled the creation of a Windows to Go desktop through the GUI, albeit the HCL for the supported USB devices is restricted to Kingston at the time of writing this. Although the old method of creating WTG via command line still appears to work fine with any USB 2 or 3 device.
Part of the Windows 8 Enterprise edition includes Windows To Go which will enable users to access their Windows 8 corporate image from a USB drive.
IT administrators will have the capability to build their corporate or divisional desktops on USB drives, so they can determine the exact OS experience their users will have. Users can then boot that image from any x64 PC at any location, regardless of whether they are online.
IT administrators are able to control the environment their users work in certainly supporting the BYOD message, all through a single BitLocker encrypted USB device.
Employees should like Windows To Go because their devices will retain the same user interface and provide access the same apps and programs. Plus if there is one thing they are familiar with its USB devices.
No matter what device the user logs on to no data will be stored on their computers. Simply removing a Windows To Go drive from any device causes the system to shut down just 60 seconds later—without leaving a footprint.
So WTG a simple way to deploy, manage and secure desktops that is only restricted by your imagination. Imagine a WTG environment leveraging BitLocker To Go, O365, DirectAccess, App-V and SkyDrivePro managed through InTune. Now there is a compelling proposition to support both corporate assets and personal devices.
Need help on migrating from XP to Windows 8 or defining your EUC strategy then contact us.
Saturday 25 August 2012
Moving to the Public Cloud? Start with your data.
Once you have decided that leveraging the public cloud is right for your business there are many phases that need to happen to ensure that you remain compliant, in control and more importantly your IP (data) remains accessible and relevant. One area that needs to be top of your agenda is data integration.
The most cost effective cloud architecture is built upon public cloud services such as Rackspace and Microsoft. But that means your data now sits on cheap storage and multi tenanted server architectures.
When you move data to a public cloud, you need to appreciate the need for synchronisation with on-premise enterprise systems. Otherwise, users will duplicate data, save to USB and more worryingly have inaccurate data to manipulate. This typically is a stumbling point for cloud deployment and can hold up the project.
Like many architectural issues that need some face time when you move to the public cloud (such as security, governance, and performance), data integration requires upfront thinking and planning. Here's some of what you need to consider:
The amount of data to be placed in the public cloud
The type of data moving between architectures and the rate of change
The logging and auditing requirements
The exception-handling needs
Many enterprises don't like to think about data integration but if you do the upfront work, your public cloud deployment will work well.
The most cost effective cloud architecture is built upon public cloud services such as Rackspace and Microsoft. But that means your data now sits on cheap storage and multi tenanted server architectures.
When you move data to a public cloud, you need to appreciate the need for synchronisation with on-premise enterprise systems. Otherwise, users will duplicate data, save to USB and more worryingly have inaccurate data to manipulate. This typically is a stumbling point for cloud deployment and can hold up the project.
Like many architectural issues that need some face time when you move to the public cloud (such as security, governance, and performance), data integration requires upfront thinking and planning. Here's some of what you need to consider:
The amount of data to be placed in the public cloud
The type of data moving between architectures and the rate of change
The logging and auditing requirements
The exception-handling needs
Many enterprises don't like to think about data integration but if you do the upfront work, your public cloud deployment will work well.
Thursday 23 August 2012
Microsoft to release Smb server by the end of 2012
Equanet were lucky enough to attend a partner briefing session yesterday with Microsoft to discuss Windows 2012; the technologies and the versions. Firstly the technology is a game changer and secondly they have simplified the licensing models completely. One of the server workloads discussed was the new SMB Server.
Windows Server 2012 Essentials is Microsoft's replacement for Windows Small Business Server. The Essentials product is a combination of on-premises/cloud server.
The free RC of Windows Server 2012 Essentials can be downloaded from Microsoft's download site.
The final version of the Windows Server 2012 Essentials will be released to manufacturing and made generally available before the year is over, officials said in this week's blog post.
Windows Server 2012 Essentials is Microsoft's replacement for Windows Small Business Server. The Essentials product is a combination of on-premises/cloud server.
The free RC of Windows Server 2012 Essentials can be downloaded from Microsoft's download site.
The final version of the Windows Server 2012 Essentials will be released to manufacturing and made generally available before the year is over, officials said in this week's blog post.
Wednesday 22 August 2012
Citrix Enriches VDI in a Box
Citrix has announced this week the release of Citrix VDI-in-a-Box™ 5.1, an ideal solution for the SMB markets or discrete VDI projects within the mid market. The latest release of VDI-in-a-Box delivers end-user personalisation with personal vDisk technology that allows end-user applications and data to be preserved while adopting the single master image concept (again saving costs).
This version also includes several feature enhancements to improve ease-of-use, flexibility, and performance such as optimisations for Google Earth, support for Active Directory failover, and beta support for the upcoming
Windows 8 operating system.
VDI-in-a-Box is built upon a grid architecture without any shared storage requirements. The architecture runs on inexpensive off-the-shelf servers. Scaling simply involves adding another server, with nothing to rearchitect or reconfigure. New features within this release are:
Personalised Virtual Desktops:
VDI-in-a-Box 5.1 eliminates the need to create separate static desktops to carry forward end-user customisation by coupling single-instance management with the ability to have individual user workspaces for their applications and data.
Single Instance Management:
IT can maintain one master copy of desktop images while preserving the personalisation of user applications and data. This dramatically reduces maintenance efforts and cuts datacenter storage costs up to 90 percent.
VDI-in-a-Box 5.1 continues to simplify management; the new touchless desktop agent automatically propagates upgrades across all the images in a VDI-in-a-Box grid.
Support for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 8 (Beta): VDI-in-a-Box 5.1 manages Windows 2008 R2, Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 8-based virtual desktops).
All features of Windows 8 including the new Metro interface are fully supported. This feature is currently in beta pending the general availability of Windows 8.
Looking at virtual desktops, interested to know more? Contact us to see how we can help.
This version also includes several feature enhancements to improve ease-of-use, flexibility, and performance such as optimisations for Google Earth, support for Active Directory failover, and beta support for the upcoming
Windows 8 operating system.
VDI-in-a-Box is built upon a grid architecture without any shared storage requirements. The architecture runs on inexpensive off-the-shelf servers. Scaling simply involves adding another server, with nothing to rearchitect or reconfigure. New features within this release are:
Personalised Virtual Desktops:
VDI-in-a-Box 5.1 eliminates the need to create separate static desktops to carry forward end-user customisation by coupling single-instance management with the ability to have individual user workspaces for their applications and data.
Single Instance Management:
IT can maintain one master copy of desktop images while preserving the personalisation of user applications and data. This dramatically reduces maintenance efforts and cuts datacenter storage costs up to 90 percent.
VDI-in-a-Box 5.1 continues to simplify management; the new touchless desktop agent automatically propagates upgrades across all the images in a VDI-in-a-Box grid.
Support for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 8 (Beta): VDI-in-a-Box 5.1 manages Windows 2008 R2, Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 8-based virtual desktops).
All features of Windows 8 including the new Metro interface are fully supported. This feature is currently in beta pending the general availability of Windows 8.
Looking at virtual desktops, interested to know more? Contact us to see how we can help.
Monday 20 August 2012
Want to test drive VMware vCloud?
VMware has announced a vCloud Service Evaluation which allows customers to “test-drive” a cloud built on the VMware platform.
The idea is that the vCloud Service Evaluation would give to VMware customers the chance to test drive a cloud built on the VMware vCloud platform as well as support for apps and virtual machines that VMware customers already have.
VMware strategy is to attract more potential customers giving them a free try and allowing systems admins to learn about the capabilities of vCloud.
The vCloud Service Evaluation gives customers the opportunity to add an enterprise cloud to their infrastructure and migrate workloads between existing private cloud, the vCloud Service Evaluation, and VMware’s extensive ecosystem of service providers.
Customers can register for VMware vCloud Service Evaluation, and beta invites will be sent out starting August 27, 2012.
The idea is that the vCloud Service Evaluation would give to VMware customers the chance to test drive a cloud built on the VMware vCloud platform as well as support for apps and virtual machines that VMware customers already have.
VMware strategy is to attract more potential customers giving them a free try and allowing systems admins to learn about the capabilities of vCloud.
The vCloud Service Evaluation gives customers the opportunity to add an enterprise cloud to their infrastructure and migrate workloads between existing private cloud, the vCloud Service Evaluation, and VMware’s extensive ecosystem of service providers.
Customers can register for VMware vCloud Service Evaluation, and beta invites will be sent out starting August 27, 2012.
Sunday 19 August 2012
NetApp and XenServer get closer
NetApp has now released a version of its Virtual Storage Console for Citrix XenServer as a plug-in to XenCenter. The VSC allows you to provision, resize and destroy storage repositories, manage deduplication and provision VMs using FlexClone and then import them into XenDesktop.
One of the architectural principles about XenServer and XenCenter is you create storage at the pool level and it is automatically mounted to all hosts in the pool rather than having to provision the storage for each host individually like you need to do in vSphere clusters. This VSC now makes it even simpler by being able to create the volumes and exports on the array as well.
Need to know more read about it here.
One of the architectural principles about XenServer and XenCenter is you create storage at the pool level and it is automatically mounted to all hosts in the pool rather than having to provision the storage for each host individually like you need to do in vSphere clusters. This VSC now makes it even simpler by being able to create the volumes and exports on the array as well.
Need to know more read about it here.
Thursday 16 August 2012
Citrix takes on Good Technology with CloudGateway 2
Citrix earlier this year announced a mobile email client, that would be native to a device. As time has moved on this year it is evident that Citrix are betting big on CloudGateway with the recent release of CloudGateway 2, and why not the concept is fantastic based upon the needs of an ever diverse workforce and disparate IT infrastructure.
With the latest release Citrix now has technology in their stack that competes with Good Technology leveraging their email client.
Email clients are a necessity on mobile devices yet they are full of security concerns as the clients built into the device are designed to share their information with other applications on the device.
Using a sandboxed third-party email client helps avoid this problem and Good was one of the first companies offering this technology even before the iPhone came onto the market.
Citrix's email client will be "MDX ready," which suggests that it will be able to plug into Citrix Receiver, ShareFile, and be managed using CloudGateway.
When we learn more, we will be able to tell you more. This could be an interesting ride based upon the focus that Citrix has on end user experience and the appetite they have for secure tablet computing.
Wednesday 15 August 2012
Build your own OpenStack Cloud
Rackspace has today released what it calls Rackspace Private Cloud Software, allowing organisations to download a free (yet complete) version of Essex OpenStack that the company runs in its own hosted private clouds.
This is an approach that Citrix took when they released XenServer to the masses FOC in an attempt to gain a foothold in the server virtualisation market, and it was a gamble that paid off.
The Rackspace Private Cloud Software, code-named Alamo, comprises Rackspace's version of OpenStack, which is 100 percent open source Essex. A new version of OpenStack, dubbed Folsom, is expected in September. A new version of the installer that incorporates Folsom will be available about 60 days postrelease, according to the company.
Alamo includes Ubuntu 12.04 LTS host operating system and KVM hypervisor. Components include the Horizon Dashboard, Nova Compute, Nova Multi Scheduler, Keystone Integrated Authentication, the Glance Image Library, and various APIs.
All of the above comes out as a single installer, enabling companies to deploy a private cloud on bare metal in a matter of minutes.
Rackspace won't profit from licensing its Private Cloud Software, but they expect to make revenue through support and services. With this release, Rackspace is offering its Escalation Support services, which include 24/7 ticket and phone support. The company will continue to add more services, such as cloud monitoring, later this year.
This is an approach that Citrix took when they released XenServer to the masses FOC in an attempt to gain a foothold in the server virtualisation market, and it was a gamble that paid off.
The Rackspace Private Cloud Software, code-named Alamo, comprises Rackspace's version of OpenStack, which is 100 percent open source Essex. A new version of OpenStack, dubbed Folsom, is expected in September. A new version of the installer that incorporates Folsom will be available about 60 days postrelease, according to the company.
Alamo includes Ubuntu 12.04 LTS host operating system and KVM hypervisor. Components include the Horizon Dashboard, Nova Compute, Nova Multi Scheduler, Keystone Integrated Authentication, the Glance Image Library, and various APIs.
All of the above comes out as a single installer, enabling companies to deploy a private cloud on bare metal in a matter of minutes.
Rackspace won't profit from licensing its Private Cloud Software, but they expect to make revenue through support and services. With this release, Rackspace is offering its Escalation Support services, which include 24/7 ticket and phone support. The company will continue to add more services, such as cloud monitoring, later this year.
WAAD - Whats that then?
An area of cloud that is critical for maintaining single sign on activities that businesses have been busy implementing for many years is a directory service; welcome to WAAD. Windows Azure Active Directory. One of the biggest obstacles to corporate customers joining Microsoft in the cloud was the lack of an identity management platform that could join cloud and on premise solutions.
There are three major parts of the Windows Azure Active Directory (WAAD) service:
1. A Web service to create, read, update and delete identity information in the cloud. Developers can also use the SSO abilities of WAAD to allow individuals to use the same identity credentials used by Office 365, Dynamics and Windows Intune.
2. The developer preview allows companies to synchronize their on-premises AD with WAAD and support identity federation too.
3. The recently released developer preview supports integration of WAAD with consumer identity networks like Facebook and Google, making for one less ID necessary to integrate identity information with apps and services.
Currently the version of WAAD is a developer edition and so not all functionality is known yet.
WAAD is hosted by Microsoft in its data centers and is used largely by Office 365, the vendor's cloud Office suite. Information about users, groups and services that are part of the Office 365 offering are stored in a cloud-based AD instance that lives as a tenant on Microsoft's services.
Microsoft says that in the future, you'll be able to bring up an instance of WAAD as part of your overall Azure subscription, but for now, Office 365 is the entry point.
Setting up your cloud tenant instance of Active Directory this way allows the users and groups to come straight from your on-premises directory. This happens the first time that you connect your on-premises ADFS2 instance up to WAAD using DirSync.
This is good move by Microsoft and gives plenty of scope for developing and migrating to the cloud. Things that we don't currently know are as follows:
How will Group Policy work across boundaries?
Where does Intune fit in the overall scheme of things?
Will Kerberos be supported?
What's your thoughts on this? We think it is a pretty smart move by Microsoft to help pave the way to their cloud service.
Need help with your cloud strategy then contact us to see how it can take shape.
There are three major parts of the Windows Azure Active Directory (WAAD) service:
1. A Web service to create, read, update and delete identity information in the cloud. Developers can also use the SSO abilities of WAAD to allow individuals to use the same identity credentials used by Office 365, Dynamics and Windows Intune.
2. The developer preview allows companies to synchronize their on-premises AD with WAAD and support identity federation too.
3. The recently released developer preview supports integration of WAAD with consumer identity networks like Facebook and Google, making for one less ID necessary to integrate identity information with apps and services.
Currently the version of WAAD is a developer edition and so not all functionality is known yet.
WAAD is hosted by Microsoft in its data centers and is used largely by Office 365, the vendor's cloud Office suite. Information about users, groups and services that are part of the Office 365 offering are stored in a cloud-based AD instance that lives as a tenant on Microsoft's services.
Microsoft says that in the future, you'll be able to bring up an instance of WAAD as part of your overall Azure subscription, but for now, Office 365 is the entry point.
Setting up your cloud tenant instance of Active Directory this way allows the users and groups to come straight from your on-premises directory. This happens the first time that you connect your on-premises ADFS2 instance up to WAAD using DirSync.
This is good move by Microsoft and gives plenty of scope for developing and migrating to the cloud. Things that we don't currently know are as follows:
How will Group Policy work across boundaries?
Where does Intune fit in the overall scheme of things?
Will Kerberos be supported?
What's your thoughts on this? We think it is a pretty smart move by Microsoft to help pave the way to their cloud service.
Need help with your cloud strategy then contact us to see how it can take shape.
Thursday 2 August 2012
Citrix Releases CloudGateway 2
Citrix has announced the availability of Citrix CloudGateway 2, including its new MDX mobile experience technology.
With the addition of MDX technology to CloudGateway 2 Citrix provides mobile app technologies that enable centralised management, security and control over native iOS, Android and HTML 5 apps.
The four primary components of MDX include an App Vault, Web Connect (a secure mobile browser technology), Micro VPN (an app-specific secure access technology), and Policy orchestration for granular policy-based control over native mobile and HTML5 apps.
CloudGateway also supports not only native mobile apps delivered through MDX, but also integration with Citrix ShareFile. Using CloudGateway 2 with ShareFile, businesses can give employees access to their files on whichever device they choose through seamless role-based management.
Enterprises need to look beyond managing the device to managing the apps and data. With MDX Technology in CloudGateway, Citrix gives enterprises an end-to-end solution that securely manages the apps and data, leaving device choice to the users. The combination of CloudGateway, Citrix Receiver and ShareFile allows for the support of a mobile workforce while maintaining the right levels of security, control and aggregation of services across multiple delivery technologies (SaaS, Web, Mobile and Virtual).
With the addition of MDX technology to CloudGateway 2 Citrix provides mobile app technologies that enable centralised management, security and control over native iOS, Android and HTML 5 apps.
The four primary components of MDX include an App Vault, Web Connect (a secure mobile browser technology), Micro VPN (an app-specific secure access technology), and Policy orchestration for granular policy-based control over native mobile and HTML5 apps.
CloudGateway also supports not only native mobile apps delivered through MDX, but also integration with Citrix ShareFile. Using CloudGateway 2 with ShareFile, businesses can give employees access to their files on whichever device they choose through seamless role-based management.
Enterprises need to look beyond managing the device to managing the apps and data. With MDX Technology in CloudGateway, Citrix gives enterprises an end-to-end solution that securely manages the apps and data, leaving device choice to the users. The combination of CloudGateway, Citrix Receiver and ShareFile allows for the support of a mobile workforce while maintaining the right levels of security, control and aggregation of services across multiple delivery technologies (SaaS, Web, Mobile and Virtual).
Rackspace go OpenStack
Rackspace with a number of other contributing organisations have been developing an open platform for cloud services, this activity has been ongoing for over two years now and Rackspace has started offering its hosted servers and databases using the open source OpenStack suite of cloud software, showing that the organisation that is fanatical about support believes that the platform is ready for adoption.
Rackspace currently has over 180,000 customers of its hosted services. The company offers Windows and Linux servers, content delivery network services, and .Net and PHP hosting, all with associated management and monitoring services.
When new customers log into Rackspace to requisition servers, they will interact with Rackspace Open Cloud services, which is based on the OpenStack Nova compute component. Rackspace has run the Swift object storage component of OpenStack for over 2 years for its Cloud Files storage service; it created the technology in-house and then contributed its code when it co-founded the OpenStack project.
Rackspace is not alone in offering OpenStack cloud services. On Wednesday, Hewlett-Packard launched its HP Cloud Object Storage, also based on OpenStack.
Begun two years ago by NASA and Rackspace, the OpenStack project is an effort to create a stack of open source software that can be used to provide IaaS (infrastructure-as-a-service) cloud services, either to customers or for internal use. The project rapidly gained popularity, attracting
at last count the development efforts of over 3,300 programmers and 184 companies.
The OpenStack suite will allows users to provision resources much more quickly than they could have through Rackspace's previous console. An administrator can launch as many as 200 servers in 20 minutes.
Rackspace currently has over 180,000 customers of its hosted services. The company offers Windows and Linux servers, content delivery network services, and .Net and PHP hosting, all with associated management and monitoring services.
When new customers log into Rackspace to requisition servers, they will interact with Rackspace Open Cloud services, which is based on the OpenStack Nova compute component. Rackspace has run the Swift object storage component of OpenStack for over 2 years for its Cloud Files storage service; it created the technology in-house and then contributed its code when it co-founded the OpenStack project.
Rackspace is not alone in offering OpenStack cloud services. On Wednesday, Hewlett-Packard launched its HP Cloud Object Storage, also based on OpenStack.
Begun two years ago by NASA and Rackspace, the OpenStack project is an effort to create a stack of open source software that can be used to provide IaaS (infrastructure-as-a-service) cloud services, either to customers or for internal use. The project rapidly gained popularity, attracting
at last count the development efforts of over 3,300 programmers and 184 companies.
The OpenStack suite will allows users to provision resources much more quickly than they could have through Rackspace's previous console. An administrator can launch as many as 200 servers in 20 minutes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)