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.
Sunday, 26 August 2012
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)