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PHD Virtual Backup for XenServer
I’ve been contacted by this software vendor to try out their product and make a review, I’ve been interested because I’m always looking for new software, tools to bring to our customer’s offer and complete the option available to backup virtual infrastructures. I know PHD Virtual systems company and what they do but I never had a chance and time to check out their stuff.
In an upcoming blog I will try their Citrix XenDesktop monitoring solution and check what this product can bring to a XenDesktop infrastructure.
For this backup software I won’t be able to go very deep and test everything I would like because my lab is not that big and I don’t have access right now to a biggest environment but as soon as it’s possible I will deep dive into this backup solution. Few month ago I wrote a blog about backing up your VMs using OpenFiler and I will do the same kind of blog to check if using PHD Virtual Backup for Citrix XenServer is a good solution if you have XenServer platinum licenses or if you don’t.
FIrst let’s check what you got with different XenServer editions :
You can click on the image to make it bigger (in fact you can click on any pic on www.archy.net to make it bigger ) and as you can see, the “Automated VM protection and recovery” is now available from the Enterprise edition (needed to be platinum with XenServer 5.6) And Citrix mention that bellow this edition frame : [1] Automated VM protection and recovery is only available for the Advanced and Enterprise editions in the 6.0 release and later.
You can check the XenServer edition page at Citrix website here : link
What is Automated VM Protection and Recovery ?
Utilizing an easy set-up wizard, administrators can create snapshot and archival policies. Regularly scheduled snapshots help to protect against data loss in case of a VM failure. The policies established are based on snapshot type, frequency, amount of historical data that is retained, and an archive location. Recovering a VM is completed by simply choosing the last good known archive.
This is very easy to use and does it’s job integrated in XenCenter administration console. I use this feature to backup all my VMs on my lab but I must admit this is a very basic solution for a basic need and it takes a lot of time.
XenServer’s VM Protection and Recovery (VMPR) feature provides a simple backup and restore utility for your critical service VMs. Regular scheduled snapshots are taken automatically and can be used to restore VMs in case of disaster. Scheduled snapshots can also be automatically archived to a remote CIFS or NFS share, providing an additional level of security.
VM Protection and Recovery works by having pool-wide VM protection policies that define snapshot schedules for selected VMs in the pool. When a policy is enabled, snapshots are taken of the specified VMs at the scheduled time each hour, day or week, and, if configured, the snapshots can also be archived automatically. Several policies may be enabled in a pool, covering different VMs and with different schedules.
Of course there is no compression, every time this is a full snapshot which is copied but the option exist and it can be very helpful.
Now the core of this blog to “compete” with the built-in feature included in XenServer, PHD Virtual Backup for XenServer.
How does it work ?
I won’t invent anything, everything is well explain in their User guide : link I will just extract the essential :
- When a backup is run, the PHD VBA (PHD Virtual Backup Appliance) first reads the target VM metadata and creates a snapshot.
- Next, the virtual disks created with the snapshot are attached to the PHD VBA as new virtual disks and the snapshot is removed.
- The data is then deduplicated, verified, and compressed and sent to the defined backup storage location.
- Finally, the virtual disks are detached from the PHD VBA and removed.
The PHD VBA is cool I mean I don’t know anything in backup software, I left it behind a long time ago with ArcServe 6.5 with tape DAT / LTO etc… Now today we have customer that want to virtualize everything but almost every time think at the end (often too late) that they might need a backup solution for their virtual environment because all their virtual stuff sits on physical servers and fire can still burn everything to the ground ! And water can still be very wet !
Let’s go through the installation of PHD Virtual Backup for XenServer.
Every time I write or say “Let’s go” Dora the Explorer picture popup in my mind because my daughter like her a lot
PHD Virtual give in the file you can download from their website a XenServer appliance. Which means there is zero installation to do. Just import the PHD Virtual Backup appliance to your XenServer host and start it. I really like it, this is simple, it’s up an running in less than 1 minute, it needs to be setup still but you don’t have to worry about database or some other prerequisite to have your backup solution online.
The XenServer Virtual Appliance (xva) file size to import is 1.66GB, it takes 1 vCpu and 1Gb of memory.
Once this appliance is started, you just need to configure it and again, my geek (dark) side always take over and make me do things and clicking everywhere before reading the F manual (RTFM philosophy) but everything went well because that was very simple to set everything up. My ArcServe nightmares faded away instantly !
The PHD VBA is running and if you open your XenCenter to check the console you’ll see that :
There is red, I don’t like it but it means it’s not configure yet. So I checked the IP address of the new appliance and went to browse with my favorite internet browser on the PHD VBA IP address on the 443 port (https). You can download and install the “client” to connect this appliance and begin the setup.
https://appliance_ip
This is a Windows client (msi file) and once installed the configuration begin, let’s go (Dora the Explorer again) though the configuration:
XenServer IP adress and credentials to enter
The console is opening and two options appears in red and need to be configured
By just following the tab, one by one let's configure everything
The backup storage tab is where you chose you remote backup location (NFS, CIFS or attached virtual disk)
In the network tab, you can specify network settings for the appliance
The email tab give you the possibility to send email notification on 3 basis, error, all or critical using smtp
Retention tab, you can plan and chose the retention you want to use for you VM backup
Replication tab, i will cover this feature in a next blog
Use the Connectors tab to enable the Backup Data Connector (BDC) share, which allows you to export backups directly from the PHD VBA.
Support tab to enable disable debuging and having verison number used for PHD Virtual Backup products
And that’s it My PHD Virtual Backup for XenServer appliance is ready to backup. BAck to the dashboard everything looks neat :
New job creation to backup my essential VMs :
The backup job is done and schedule.
While running you can watch a detail of the running job thread by thread and some interesting numbers like deduple ration in real time.
Here is an example of an email notification generated by PHD Virtual Backup for XenServer :
Code block PHD Virtual Backup for Citrix XenServer (5.3.1.10366) VBA Name: 'PHDVBA' Job Name: 'Backup Job Name' Job Summary: Started: Fri Jan 20 10:49:43 2012 Ended: Fri Jan 20 16:50:04 2012 Total VMs: 7 Total Disks: 8 Successful (no warnings, no errors): 1) VM: 'SUOMICAG01' 2) VM: 'SUOMIDC01' 3) VM: 'WIN2008R2' 4) VM: 'Win7_XD5.5_Template' 5) VM: 'WinVista_XD5.5_Template' 6) VM: 'WinXP_XD5.5_Template' 7) VM: 'XenApp6.5_Template' Successful (with warnings): None Failed: None Cancelled: None Stopped: None ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Options: Verify option: None Backup type: Now Quiesce: No Backup powered off VMs: Yes Ignore virtual machine skips: Yes Archive backups: No ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Job Details: Warnings: None Errors: None ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Virtual Machine Details: 1) VM 'SUOMICAG01'; Result: Completed Successfully Disk: '1'; Size: 2 GB Disk: '0'; Size: 10 GB Warnings: None Errors: None ---------- 2) VM 'SUOMIDC01'; Result: Completed Successfully Disk: 'SUOMIDC01 0'; Size: 179 GB Warnings: None Errors: None ---------- 3) VM 'WIN2008R2'; Result: Completed Successfully Disk: 'WIN2008R2 0'; Size: 24 GB Warnings: None Errors: None ---------- 4) VM 'Win7_XD5.5_Template'; Result: Completed Successfully Disk: 'SUOMIWRK01 D'; Size: 8 GB Warnings: None Errors: None ---------- 5) VM 'WinVista_XD5.5_Template'; Result: Completed Successfully Disk: 'PERSONA'; Size: 10 GB Warnings: None Errors: None ---------- 6) VM 'WinXP_XD5.5_Template'; Result: Completed Successfully Disk: 'PERSONA'; Size: 10 GB Warnings: None Errors: None ---------- 7) VM 'XenApp6.5_Template'; Result: Completed Successfully Disk: 'PERSONA'; Size: 12 GB Warnings: None Errors: None ----------I did a small test to compare backup time for 220Gb of VM to my Nas and compare time XenServer with the build in feature VMPR took and compare it with PHDVirtual Backup for XenServer.
The result is obvious, VMPR XS feature take a snapshot and copy the full snapshot to the NAS and XS is doing it everytime, PHD Virtual Backup for XenServer is compressing and sending small data block to the NAS and just backing up the differential for the 2nd backup. Only the first complete backup took long time, then the backup time is divided per 3. Those are lab at home result but it show the difference between a build-in feature and a real backup solution, you can easily imagine the impact long and full backup can have in a production environment.
I think this is a good backup solution for SMB and Large company, very easy to setup and maintain, you don’t need to be ArcServe all version certified to understand how this software works and performance are ahead of the one deliver by the build in feature of XenServer. For the large company I still need to read about high availability etc but I won’t blog about it since it’s a bit out of my vPlayground.
If you don’t have time to test PHD Virtual Backup for XenServer, I hope this blog gave you a good insight and encourages you to check further about this solution.
Resources:
PHD Virtual Backup 5.3 for XenServer product page : link
Citrix XenServer editions : link
XenServer Automated VM Protection and Recovery doc : link
PHD Virtual Backup 5.3 User Guide : link
Related Posts:
Citrix ShareFile Tech. Prev, Follow me data
Citrix released few days ago the first public technical preview for Citrix ShareFile part of the Follow me Data strategy announced by Citrix CEO during last Synergy in Barcelona. You can download Windows, Mac, Android and iOS clients and register here : link
Citrix acquired ShareFile last year in October 2011 (link) less than six months later we have a Technical Preview to check out.
What is Citrix ShareFile ?
This is an “add-on / plugin” for Citrix Receiver (iOS, Mac, Windows, Android) and it allows you to access, share centralized data and request files from all your devices. This is a “Dropbox like” but design to be enterprise ready. Citrix likes to compare ShareFile to Apple iCloud but it’s not so “iCloud” because you can control what you want to share, you can easily chose what needs to be “synchronized” across all your devices. With iCloud, I know all my music is in iMatch but I would have like to keep private some of it on my computer, now everything is somewhere in the Apple iCloud…
- Make common data services like search, share, sync, secure, authenticate, open and preview available to a wide range of applications, services and use cases through a set of open APIs.
- Extend secure data sharing services to new and existing apps stored in public and private clouds and accessed from millions of different business and consumer devices.
- Connect data seamlessly to the way people collaborate today, ensuring that the right documents and files are always accessible when needed, and always up to date.
Where my data, personal and professional are stored ?
With this Technical Preview, all your files are stored “in the Cloud” within the Citrix ShareFile infrastructure. I remember what I saw last October (2011) at Synergy in Barcelona we should be able to store data in our own datacenter. I don’t know any detail yet but this is the feature that will kill DropBox (for the companies that use it)
Local : Yes, the data is store on you devices, Windows and Mac in a dedicated folder but not for the iOS and Android devices which you need to download every time you want to look at a ShareFile document.
Datacenter : Not yet (in the Tech. Prev.)
Cloud : Yes, everything is already stored within the Citrix ShareFile infrastructure
I also remember this slide i saw during Mark T (Citrix CEO) keynote at Synergy Barcelona :
Which already change since Citrix delivered a ShareFile piece of software for Mac as well as for Windows computers and it works the same and has the same features. (FMD API = Follow Me Data API), this is a good change
I hope everything is clear for you about this new plugin and the role it have and will have in the Citrix Cloud (Data) strategy. To make it short, bringing all the data you need to work with and need to share on all the devices where you have a Citrix Receiver installed.
Now, let’s go through the installation of Citrix ShareFile plugins for Receiver
First Citrix ShareFile for Apple Mac :
Be careful to don’t use any special character in your ShareFile password like + # or something else because you won’t be able to login.
The menu and icon you got once the installation is done :
Then the Windows Citrix ShareFile plugin installation :
The folder integration in Windows Explorer, it looks like Dropbox
The menu you can see in the Citrix Receiver :
The some iOS (iPad only screenshot)
apps and desktop tab screen, the same
the ShareFile tab
the ShareFile tab to browse the data repository
Citrix Receiver 5.5.1 build 40
configuration panel – note the Docs part
and nothing for iPhone since there is no ShareFile integration (or I didn’t found it yet), for my iPhone ShareFile needs I use the ShareFile apps (you can download here : link)
Here is a video about basic functionality you have in the ShareFile app on the iPhone (Not with Citrix Reveiver tho)
Citrix ShareFile and iPhone from Stephane Thirion on Vimeo.
Let’s make a little Citrix ShareFile “on the filed” scenario to give you some idea the way it can be used.
I’m on my iMac at home and I know I’ll need to work on a PowerPoint presentation for one of my customer, I know I might have to send it and share it with coworkers as well…
Citrix ShareFile from Stephane Thirion on Vimeo.
Those are two small vids I did because some of you won’t have time to play with ShareFile yet and you’ll see how it look like without having to setup a whole lab for that. Of course as it’s a Technical Preview, there is still some issue and many features missing from the original ShareFile app as you can watch in the iPhone video demo.
About the front web hosted by ShareFile, this interface is fully customizable to make it look like your own corporate intranet or website. By just uploading the logo of my company (Activlan), in less than one minute the front web looked nice :
Login window
main screen to access files
other can download this file without having to autheticate if chosen
Twitter integration with the ShareFile (non Citrix) iPhone app
Next screenshot are the mail notification from my company ShareFile account :
Email received to download a file
I made kind of a list about what Citrix should so to improve their product, of course if you some point to add comment and I’ll update the blog !
What Citrix should consider to “make it better”:
- Linux ShareFile plugin is missing
- BlackBerry ShareFile plugin is missing too
- ShareFile for Receiver on iOS look and feel, thumbnail for pictures and pdf files
- iOS support ok but it’s only for iPad, integration of ShareFile with the iPhone and Citrix Receiver would be great
- Windows and Mac notification when file is added or deleted (popup)
- On the Mac ShareFile plugin, when moving out a document, the green synchronize sign remain on the file icon
- Receiver for iOS, possibility to change the background wallpaper
- Give more information on the complete Follow Me Data Fabric architecture and products.
- Windows and Mac ShareFile plugin are missing a notification system
- Windows and Mac ShareFile plugin are missing Synchronization status (%) and quota utilization
- The search field doesn’t work in iOS when you’re looking for a document
- ShareFile for Receiver on iOS is missing the twitter integration (from the orginal ShareFile app)
At last, here is a collection of weird stuff I saw during those tests
That one is a weird message I got on the ipad while name my file with ï ä and ö
This one is because I had a "+" in my password and there is a bug
the Doc panel become black, I was moving a bit too fast I think
The same issue as on the iPad when using a password with "+"
Resources:
Citrix ShareFile for Receiver registration and download page : link
Dropbox : link
ShareFile : link
Related Posts:
Symantec Enpoint Protection 11 with XenDesktop and PVS
This blog is what you’re looking for if :
- You are using SEP 11 with PVS and XenDesktop 4 / 5 / 5.5
- If your VMs have a “Persona” drive (D: for ex)
- Windows XP VMs (it should work with Windows 7 as well)
- If you don’t want or you cannot use PVS Personality Strings
- The SEP11 administrator is becoming crazy because all the XenDesktop VMs are creating new entries at every reboot.
Using an antivirus software on a VDI plate form is a discussion often see here and there but this time the question wasn’t if I needed to install an antivirus or not, Symantec Endpoint Protection was already installed and running on my customer Citrix XenDesktop 4 / PVS 5.6 sp1 infrastructure. SEP11 (Short name for Symantec EndPoint Protection) was installed and was running well on the PVS distributed pool VMs. Yesterday the SEP administrator came to me and complained about the fact XenDesktop VMs were generating new entry in the SEP11 administration console every time they were rebooted and every morning he was forced to move all the object in the VDI node and delete all the past entries…
But everything was working… I guess this administrator might have fund that a bit boring, he just complained and continued to do this tack every day and when he wasn’t here, no one was taking care of that manual task. XenDesktop VMs needed to be in the VDI node because the exclusion in place were important for VMs performances :
- PVS cache file
- Event logs
- EdgeSight firebird database
- etc etc…
When no one was doing this task, the Vms were generating new object in the default node where no specific exclusion were done… It did bring some performance issue now and then.
First though was to use personality string (PVS feature) but I didn’t want to bring another feature in the game as people managing this infrastructure weren’t really aware of this PVS feature.
All the Symantec technotes (link) about their antivirus and PVS are based on personality string usage so I needed to figure out another way to personalize each VM with their own GUID.
After many tests and many solutions found over the Internet, nothing was working well, every time a very was rebooted, a new entry appear in the SEP11 administration console. So decided to go all by myself and try to find out an automatic solution that doesn’t require any maintenance and manipulation.
After having a look at Symantec Endpoint Protection Client Registration Flow ( link ) the idea was simple :
Generate an unique GUID for each VM, copy this GUID in the registry before SEP11 services start and that’s it.
First thing first, I needed to build a script to generate a GUID and store it in a file on the persona drive (d:) (So we can use it after every reboot and once it had been generated, this script will be skipped.
Code block Option Explicit 'Set Dimension DIM fso, MyFile, WshShell, theString, strAlphaNumeric, i, strChar, cleanedString 'Set Object Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell") Function CreateGUID Dim TypeLib Set TypeLib = CreateObject("Scriptlet.TypeLib") CreateGUID = Mid(TypeLib.Guid, 2, 36) End Function 'Remove all non numeric characters theString = CreateGUID 'msgbox "Before - " & theString & vbcr & "After - " & CleanTheString(theString) WshShell.RegWrite "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\EasyVista\GUID_VDI", CleanTheString(theString), "REG_SZ" Function CleanTheString(theString) 'msgbox thestring strAlphaNumeric = "0123456789abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"'Used to check for numeric characters. For i = 1 to len(theString) strChar = mid(theString,i,1) If instr(strAlphaNumeric,strChar) Then CleanedString = CleanedString & strChar End If Next ' msgbox cleanedstring CleanTheString = CleanedString End Function 'wscript.echo theString Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") 'Create Condition If (fso.FileExists("D:\discovery.txt")) Then 'Alert User 'WScript.Echo("File exists!") WScript.Quit() Else 'Alert User 'WScript.Echo("File does not exist!") Set MyFile = fso.CreateTextFile("D:\discovery.txt", True) MyFile.WriteLine(cleanedstring) MyFile.Close End If Exit Script WScript.Quit()This GUID generator will generate a file named discovery.txt on the root of the D: drive. Once this GUID is existing, I neede to import it to the registry at the following place : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\SMC\SYLINK\SyLink\HardwareID
GUID Reader Option Explicit Dim objFSO, strTextFile, strData, WshShell, objFile, strFile, intLength, strEnd CONST ForReading = 1 CONST ForWriting = 2 'Create a File System Object Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell") Set objFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile("d:\discovery.txt", ForReading) strFile = objFile.ReadAll objFile.Close intLength = Len(strFile) strEnd = Right(strFile, 2) If strEnd = vbCrLf Then strFile = Left(strFile, intLength - 2) Set objFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile("d:\discovery.txt", ForWriting) objFile.Write strFile objFile.Close End If 'name of the text file strTextFile = "d:\discovery.txt" 'Open the text file - strData now contains the whole file strData = objFSO.OpenTextFile(strTextFile, 1).ReadAll 'Split the text file into lines 'arrLines = Split(strData,vbCrLf) 'Step through the lines 'For Each strLine in arrLines wscript.echo strData 'Next WshShell.RegWrite "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\SMC\SYLINK\SyLink\HardwareID", strData, "REG_SZ" 'Cleanup Set objFSO = NothingAfter, I made a batch file to launch the two vbs script, this batch will be the one launch as a service during VMs startup.
Code block cscript.exe C:\localapp\Mgt\Pubtools\Sep11\GUID_Creation.vbs cscript.exe C:\localapp\Mgt\Pubtools\Sep11\GUID_Symantec_Registry.vbsUsing the start-up script to launch this batch didn’t work because SEP11 services were already started and a new GUID had already been generated. I chose then to create a user-define service to start a service using the previous batch file right after event log startup and before SEP11 services.
To do so, you can follow the step on Microsoft website : link
and download the Windows Resource kit here : link
I used the following command to create a service named SEP11VDI
“%Resource kits path%\tools\Instsrv.exe” Sep11VDI “%Resource kits path%\tools\srvany.exe”
Once the service is created, to be started right after event logs and before SEP11 services, you need to add the follonwing registry entries to the service section : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Sep11VDI
Code block Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Sep11VDI] "Group"="Event Log" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Sep11VDI\Application] "Application"="c:\\path_to_the_batch_created_above\\sep11.cmd"
That’s almost it, to make sure everything is clean, I clear the registry key containing the GUID
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Symantec\Symantec Endpoint Protection\SMC\SYLINK\SyLink\HardwareID
and delete the file “%ProgramFiles%\Common Files\Symantec Shared\HWID\sephwid.xml”
Resources :
Symantec Enpoint Protection : link
Symantec : Configuring Symantec Endpoint Protection for deployment as part of a drive image : link
Symantec : Symantec Endpoint Protection Client Registration Flow : link
Symantec : Configuring Symantec Endpoint Protection client for deployment as part of a drive image : link
Microsoft : How to create a user-define service : link
Microsoft Resource Kits download : link
GenV : Symantec Endpoint Protection on XENDesktop and PVS target devices Blog : link
Citrix PVS Personality String : link
Related Posts:
Error while editing VM settings in vSphere
Today I got an annoying issue when I was trying to edit settings from a Virtual Machine. It happens after I converted a template to a VM to make to change but every time I tried to edit the VM I got this error message :
Error:The server fault ‘SystemError’ had no message.
Error Stack
Call “PropertyCollector.RetrieveContents” for object “propertyCollector” on vCenter Server “xxxxxxx.domain.local” failed.
Not very nice message and not very “understandable” for me… Anyway, I needed to edit these settings and to do so, you can follow the next steps.
Use it at your own risk !
First I removed the VM from the inventory, right click on the VM and chose “Remove from Inventory”
Then, browse the datastore where VM files are stored and I right clicked on the .vmx file
To add back into the inventory by following the regular wizard. At the end I’ve been able to edit the VM settings. Related Posts:
Happy new year 2012 !
I wish to every single of you a happy new year 2012, I really wish you all the best as well in your professional life as in your personal one. 2011 will remain in my memory the worse of my entire life (on the personal side) and I just can’t wait to take a fresh start in almost 5 hours now
Next year will be a great year, a lot of work and project, I will work with some of you and I just love to share and learn among you all. The community is growing very fast but there is a core of few people I always meet around the world and it’s always nice to share though on our work and passion.
Enjoy your new year’s eve and Happy New Year 2012 ! Related Posts:
Web Interface, moving forward to Receiver Strorefront ?
This is a new step in application and desktop delivery access point process but Citrix again made it very messy to understand (at least for me…) This is very important to know and understand every component of this new products, but between, Receiver Storefront, CloudGateway Express, CloudGateway Enterprise, AppController and all the past names, some of us can be lost, and our customer are even more lost… (nFuse, Web Interface 2 3 4 5 etc… and Receiver Storefront)
If I remember well, at Synergy in Barcelona last October, CloudGateway had been introduce by Citrix CEO with this slide :
Now when I read documentation about CloudGateway Express and Enterprise release, I think we lost something :
The data “square” (ShareFile & RibgCube (?)) is gone for now… Anyway, with the previous picture you can have a clear view about each component present in Citrix CloudGateway.
First let’s check what is the difference between CloudGateway Express and CloudGateway Enterprise :
The difference is mostly around features, but what’s not shown in Citrix edition and features matrix is a row with the price. CloudGateway Express is free because this product is here to replace the actual Web Interface and Program Neighborhood to give access to Windows App and Desktops. The enterprise edition is here to centralize access between Desktops, Windows Apps, SaaS and web applications.
The upgrade from Express edition to Enterprise edition should be simple and painless, just need to try it out to check how simple it is
Regarding the architecture, the big picture is simple, we had Web Interface, now we have Receiver Storefront and it should be it… But that’s not To simplify user’s life and give a centralized access to apps, again we need to build an architecture more complex than our good old Web Interface.
In the previous image above, there is not that much difference if we consider Storefront is here to replace Web Interface and AppController as a new component to build a bridge between Desktops / Windows Apps and SaaS / Web Apps. The external access is still secured using an Access Gateway, I mean NetScaler Access Gateway (same product, new name), but if we look further, it more complicated than that :
- Same as Web Interface, high availability is possible with an external load balancing mechanism (ie NetScaler or MS NLB)
- Now an external database is required to host users application subscription (Resource subscription database) a Microsoft SQL database
- One database is needed per store, which mean if you want to give access only to a XenDesktop farm for one set of user and XenDesktop + SaaS and Web Apps, you need to create at least 2 stores (two separate databases)
By simplifying access for users, we are getting a more complex solution to architecture and event more when it comes about high availability. As we were use to do with Web Interface deployment and configuration (Web Sites and Services Sites) we need to think and plan things very well to get things messed up here. (Good idea for an upcoming blog)
First thing first, we need to set it up first, installing CloudGateway Express is very easy :
The installation has been done in less than 5 minutes, now let’s start configuring CloudGateway Express :
As I’m using an external SQL database, I cannot chose the first menu and install a single server. You need to install a local database on the same server if you want to proceed with the first option.
Now let’s start the authentication setup, you can use the same authentication point for several store.
Now let’s proceed to store creation, store is where you choose what resources you want to deliver (XenApp, XenDesktop, both, etc…)
During the first time setup, you can use only one server, don’t worry you can go to add some later on.
This is it.
Then you can have fun with the new green interface, Citrix released last week a new Access Gateway version, 5.0.4 which include the possibility to customize the template and give you the ability to have the same look and feel at the Access Gateway logon point (green template). Customizing the Store Receiver is not that easy, I needed to put my hand in the code to begin to work on it. (another good blog idea for an upcoming blog)
Here is my Citrix Access Gateway logon point :
When I logon with sso etc, i arrive on the Store Receiver web site :
There is still some work to be done but it will look good very soon
Back to the blog title, is moving from Web Interface to Receiver Storefront a good idea ? I would say yes and no :
- Yes if you plan to migrate your PNAgent, ICA Client to Receiver, that would make one big change for users but one time change.
- Yes if you are using only Citrix client as “PNAgent like”
- Yes if you need to build a POC to show off your customer
- No if you’re using the Web Interface or if you didn’t plan to migrate your Citrix client yet, because the product is very new and you don’t want to take care of the Receiver part and in a second time the web part.
The final version of Receiver Storefront has been released this week, this is a part of the Citrix CloudGateway Express package which contain Receiver Storefront (Storefront Services 1.0) and Merchandising Server 2.2. You can download everything here : CloudGateway Express and CloudGateway Enterprise download
Links and resources :
Citrix CloudGateway download : link
Citrix CloudGateway editions : link
Citrix Access Gateway 5.0.4 (archy.net) : link
Related Posts:
Citrix XenApp 6.5 Mobility Pack
This pack give you the ability to deliver a XenApp 6.5 touch-friendly interface or applications to mobile devices (iOS and Android). you can download this pack by following the link at the end of this blog (a MyCitrix account is required).
Once you downloaded this pack, just unzip it, and you’ll have 3 msi files :
To install this pack you need to install one XenApp hotfix and one update to the Citrix Group Policy Management engine.
Keep in mind, you’ll need to reboot your XenApp box at the end of this update. Once everything is done and setup, don’t look for change in the start menu, new tool or something like that, most of what has been added is within the Citrix AppCenter console, in the policy node (User tab)
Your shared desktop should look like that after some configuration and GPO setting up :
I will add my own screenshot tomorrow when I got my iPad back
Citrix blog : http://blogs.citrix.com/2011/12/19/mobilize-your-enterprise-with-the-xenapp-6-5-mobility-pack/
Citrix XenApp Mobility Pack download link : http://citrix.com/English/ss/downloads/details.asp?downloadId=2317077
Related Posts:
Citrix Access Gateway 5.0.4
Citrix issued a maintenance release last week for the Access Gateway. This is an important release for what’s coming next with StoreFront and CloudGateway. It gives the possibility to customize the logon point in a very easy way. I took some screenshot to show you how simple it is to customize your logon point.
You have the ability to customize each logon point.
You need to log on your Access Gateway : https://FQDN/lp/adminlogonpoint then click on the Management top menu and chose Logon Points
One you have your Logon Points list, you need to edit the one you want to customize by clicking on the brand new Customization tab :
You can either build your own template easily, chose the default grey Logon Point or the Green Receiver one. You can now switch from the default grey Logon Point :
to the new Green Receiver one in just few clicks :
New features coming with the 5.0.4 maintenance release :
Adding Web Resources for a Basic Logon Point in Access Gateway
When you create a basic logon point, you can add Web resources that users can access when they log on with Citrix Receiver. Web resources define the Web pages, sites, or applications that you want to secure in Access Gateway. For more information, see Adding Web Resources to a Basic Logon Point in the Citrix eDocs library.
Customizing the Access Gateway Logon Page
You can create a custom logon page by configuring the settings in either a basic or SmartAccess logon point. You can use the default Access Gateway logon page, use the Citrix Receiver design for your logon page, or create your own logon page with your graphics and logo. For more information, see Customizing the Access Gateway Logon Page in the eDocs library.
New Version of the Access Gateway Plug-in for Access Gateway 5.0.4
Access Gateway 5.0.4 contains an updated version of the Access Gateway Plug-in. Changes made to the internal framework of the Access Gateway appliance prevent compatibility with earlier versions of the plug-in. Users must install Access Gateway Plug-in Version 5.0.4.
Important: To install or upgrade to Version 5.0.4 of the plug-in, users must be an administrator or have administrator rights on the user device, unless you update the plug-in by using an Active Directory group policy.
You can upgrade the plug-in by using one of the following methods:
- Push the Access Gateway Plug-in to all users by using the Microsoft Installer (MSI) package and an Active Directory group policy. For more information, see the topic Installing the MSI Package by Using Group Policy in the Citrix eDocs library.
- Install the Access Gateway Plug-in from a Web browser. Upgrading to the new version of the plug-in occurs automatically when users download the plug-in from a Web browser if users have administrative rights on either a Windows-based or Mac OS X device.
Support for the Citrix Licensing Toolbox
Access Gateway 5.0.x supports licenses that are available from the Citrix Licenses Toolbox in My Citrix. If you download and install licenses from the new portal on any Access Gateway version earlier than Version 5.0.4, the licenses do not appear on the Licensing panel in the Access Gateway Management Console. The licenses work, however, as Access Gateway installs the licenses. In Access Gateway 5.0.4, the licenses appear on the Licensing panel.
Release notes : http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX127640
Related Posts:Merry Christmas
This year has been special, not very easy on the personal side… Next year will be a better one with many new blogs around virtualization and cloud stuffs. The nice side of 2011 years has been I met lot of you around the world and it’s always nice to exchange and have some fun with you all.
Next year promise to be full of very good events, Synergy in San Francisco and Barcelona, E2E in Vienna, and so many others events around Europe…
Until then, I wish you all a Merry Christmas !
Related Posts:Citrix CloudGateway Express Tech. Preview
Installing Citrix CloudGateway Express (Citrix Receiver StoreFront) was the easy part, setting it up wasn’t that hard. But being able to use it was a bit more tricky.
I tried to install it at first with a remote database, I encounter several issue and I’ve never been able to add application to the dashboard. I got this message every time :
The fact I tried to use and external database didn’t allow my Receiver Web dashboard to be saved, this is the reason why I got this error. I didn’t had time to troubleshot this issue, this is clearly a right issue between the server I chose to install Citrix CloudGateway Express and The server where my SQL database is hosted. So I installed Citrix ClouGateway Express with a local SQL database and everything went fine.
When I tried to add the store I just created on my workstation, I haven’t been able to do it unless I had a https URL, I got this pop-up message :
To be able to add http store URL, you need to change or create the following registry key (old Dazzle trick)
Registry Key : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Citrix\Dazzle Name : AllowAddStore REG_SZ Value : A Related Posts:07-11-2011 weekly tweets
- Today 1Y1-A22 – Citrix XenApp 6.5 Advanced Administration at noon #Exam #Citrixeducation ->
- “@KBaggerman: @WilcovanBragt @archynet I like the sims and 130/140 questions is a fair amount of questions” < +1 ->
- Citrix XenDesktop HDX Optimization Pack for Google Earth available http://t.co/n5kF7OXo ->
- Citrix Blogs : How to Deploy App Streaming MSI using Receiver Updater: Currently CitrixOfflinePlugin.exe can be … http://t.co/y82ZNdYk ->
- Citrix Blogs : XenApp Published Apps In Fashion Again: When starting to transform a desktop, many people get stu… http://t.co/xLqOWYCG ->
- CitrixNews: Citrix User Groups – Northeast Region:
Citrix User Groups – Northeast Region
… http://t.co/kaq6UbvC -> - CitrixNews: Citrix Technology Exchange: Increase Business Agility with Desktop Virtualization:
- CitrixNews: Citrix Technology Exchange: Implementing "Bring Your Own" Devices in the Workplace:
- CitrixNews: Debunking Myths About Windows 7 Migration and Desktop Virtualization:
Debunking… http://t.co/2iXMmIm5 ->
- CitrixNews: Citrix Solution Seminar: Maintaining Productivity and Revenue through the Winter Season:
- CitrixNews: Citrix User Groups – Southeast Region:
Citrix User Groups – Southeast Region
… http://t.co/UZtYMaBu -> - Virtualization News: Release: Pano Logic System 5: Pano Logic has announced the release of version 5 of its Virt… http://t.co/vuTsJMdL ->
- Citrix candy, best before may 2009 ! http://t.co/zDFpw2UB ->
- Citrix Blogs : CloudGateway Express webinar recording available: We had a great turnout for the webinar with ove… http://t.co/DStm9plL ->
- Citrix Blogs : CloudGateway Express installation and configuration: I mentioned in the CloudGateway Express webi… http://t.co/zJbsNlw4 ->
- “@CitrixChannEMEA: http://t.co/ESmrwS8e CloudGateway Express webinar recording available” < thx ->
- “@citrix: Curious about where you're working today: in an office or remote?” < Remote ->
- CTX131400 – Hotfix XS60E002 – For XenServer 6.0 – Citrix Knowledge Center http://t.co/161H6IGO ->
- CTX131214 – Hotfix XS60E001 – For XenServer 6.0 – Citrix Knowledge Center http://t.co/V9z6br6r ->
Citrix Receiver StoreFront alias CloudGateway Express
Citrix WebInterface is dead (soon), welcome CloudGateway ! CloudGateway Express exactly, Citrix Receiver StoreFront precisely… Ok it’s a bit complicated I suggest you to read this excellent blog about difference between WebInterface and Citrix new Cloud products : Web Interface replaced by Citrix Cloud Gateway written by Thomas Koetzing
You can download the Technical Preview here : Citrix CloudGateway Express (MyCitrix account required)
The installation process is very easy and smooth, as usual now the installation is taking care of all the roles and features your Windows 2008 R2 will need before beginning the installation of this product. Here are the screenshot of the very simple installation (I continue to post screenshots because many of you don’t have time to install everything, at least you’ll see it without need to have a VM etc…)
This is it, very fast and everything is now install, when you’ll click on finish the console to setup Citrix Receiver StroreFront will open. You need to have a database created on a Microsoft SQL 2008 R2 Express or Enterprise. Here is the list of requirement
Citrix Server RequirementsReceiver Storefront can be used in conjunction with the following product versions.
- Citrix XenDesktop 5.5
- Citrix XenDesktop 5.0
- Citrix XenDesktop 4.0
- Citrix XenDesktop 3.0
- Citrix XenApp 6.5 for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2
- Citrix XenApp 6.0 for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2
- Citrix XenApp 5.0, with Feature Pack 3, for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition
- Citrix XenApp 5.0, with Feature Pack 3, for Microsoft Windows Server 2008
- Citrix XenApp 5.0, with Feature Pack 3, for Microsoft Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition
- Citrix XenApp 5.0, with Feature Pack 3, for Microsoft Windows Server 2003
- Citrix XenApp 5.0, with Feature Pack 2, for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition
- Citrix XenApp 5.0, with Feature Pack 2, for Microsoft Windows Server 2008
- Citrix XenApp 5.0, with Feature Pack 2, for Microsoft Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition
- Citrix XenApp 5.0, with Feature Pack 2, for Microsoft Windows Server 2003
- Citrix XenApp 5.0, with Feature Pack 1, for Microsoft Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition
- Citrix XenApp 5.0, with Feature Pack 1, for Microsoft Windows Server 2003
- Citrix XenApp 5.0 for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition
- Citrix XenApp 5.0 for Microsoft Windows Server 2008
- Citrix XenApp 5.0 for Microsoft Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition
- Citrix XenApp 5.0 for Microsoft Windows Server 2003
- Citrix XenApp 4.0, with Feature Pack 2, for UNIX Operating Systems
- Citrix XenApp 4.0, with Feature Pack 1, for UNIX Operating Systems
Receiver Storefront enables remote user access to desktops and applications in conjunction with the following versions of Access Gateway.
- Citrix Access Gateway 9.3, Enterprise Edition
- Citrix Access Gateway 5.0, Advanced Edition
- Citrix Access Gateway 5.0, Standard Edition
If you configure Merchandising Server to use the authentication service to identify users when delivering configurations for Citrix Receiver, Citrix Merchandising Server 2.1 or later is required. For more information, see Configuring Authentication through Delivery Services.
Web Server RequirementsReceiver Storefront is only supported for installation on Windows Server 2008 R2 with Service Pack 1. Microsoft Internet Information Services 7.5 and Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 with Service Pack 1 are required on the Web server. If either of these prerequisites are not available, the Receiver Storefront installer enables them before installing the product.
In addition, Windows PowerShell 2.0 and Microsoft Management Console 3.0, which are both default components of Windows Server 2008 R2, must be installed on the Web server before Receiver Storefront can be installed.
Database RequirementsReceiver Storefront requires a Microsoft SQL Server database to provide the application synchronization feature. If a suitable database is not available, either locally or on another server in the same Active Directory forest, Receiver Storefront stores cannot be created. Receiver Storefront supports the following versions of SQL Server.
- Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise
- Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Express
To access Receiver Storefront stores, users require a compatible version of Citrix Receiver. A compatible Web browser is also required for users to access stores through Receiver for Web sites.
Receiver Storefront supports the following versions of Citrix Receiver.
- Citrix Receiver for Windows 3.1
- Citrix Receiver for Mac 11.4
- Citrix Receiver for Mac 11.3
- Citrix Receiver for Linux 12.0
The following Web browser and operating system combinations are supported for users to access Receiver for Web sites.
Browser Operating system Internet Explorer 9(32-bit mode) Windows 7 64-bit Editions with Service Pack 1Windows 7 32-bit Editions with Service Pack 1 Internet Explorer 8(32-bit mode) Windows 7 64-bit Editions with Service Pack 1Windows 7 32-bit Editions with Service Pack 1Windows Vista 64-bit Editions with Service Pack 2
Windows Vista 32-bit Editions with Service Pack 2
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition with Service Pack 2
Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 3 Mozilla Firefox 7Mozilla Firefox 6 Windows 7 64-bit Editions with Service Pack 1Windows 7 32-bit Editions with Service Pack 1
Mac OS X 10.7 Lion
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Desktop Google Chrome 14Google Chrome 13 Windows 7 64-bit Editions with Service Pack 1Windows 7 32-bit Editions with Service Pack 1 Safari 5.1 Mac OS X 10.7 Lion Safari 5.0 Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard
Now the console is open, you can process to the configuration of Citrix Receiver StoreFront
You can notice on the screenshot above the top menu is grey because I don’t have a local SQL 2008R2 Express installed on this server. So I’ll chose the “Deploy a multiple server group” option
The basic setup is done and now you can access Citrix Receiver StoreFront using the address the wizard give you in the latest step :
Once the setup is done, the console look like that, XenDesktop 5 style :
Related Posts:
Synergy Barcelona 2011 – Public Cloud 3/3
Part 1/3 Synergy Barcelona 2011 – Personal Cloud 1/3
Part 2/3 Synergy Barcelona 2011 – Private Cloud 2/3
Part 3/3 Synergy Barcelona 2011 – Public Cloud 3/3
Public Cloud
The last cloud of 3 (Personal Cloud, Private Cloud and Public Cloud) has been announced to be used in a very easy way, the same way as the creation of a GMail or a Hotmail email account. The way to make this easy connection available is Citrix CloudBridge, this product allow you to connect your datacenter to any cloud with full transparency, security and performance. Citrix CloudBridge will run on network layer 2 and 3 to provide fast and secure IP transaction. The beta version will arrive soon, no more information for now.
And then another new product (maybe more like a new NetScaler feature) Citrix NetScaler CloudConnectors will secure the connection all the way down to the client devices has been announced but no release date yet.
About what we need to build a cloud, Mark Templeton underline we will soon need to all being ready to build, connect Cloud Infrastructures and Cloud Providers. Most of the enterprise are doing server virtualization ++ built for traditional enterprise apps & client-server compute including a traditional management, then enterprises will need to move on cloud platforms designed around big data, massive scale & next-gen cloud apps with an autonomic management and an open, value added stack. This is where Citrix CloudPortal will enter the game, a layer on to of CloudStack.
Citrix vision for the future is 3 clouds, Personal Cloud to empower people, Private Cloud to aggregate and deliver apps and data, Public Cloud to build and connect infrastructures. The 3 PCs.
Citrix clearly claims to be the number one partner you need to think when you want to cloudify you network, application, data and devices. And want to lead the new IT to impact the business needs.
This is it, I had to live my Synergy remotely from Paris, and this are all the information I could get from Synergy Live and Twitter. Next step will be to digest, analyze and put everything together. I think we have enough new material to play until next Synergy.
Part 1/3 Synergy Barcelona 2011 – Personal Cloud 1/3
Part 2/3 Synergy Barcelona 2011 – Private Cloud 2/3
Part 3/3 Synergy Barcelona 2011 – Public Cloud 3/3
24-10-2011 weekly tweets
- New post: Application integration – After many years going fr ( http://t.co/u3BEcGAL ) ->
- Citrix Exams booked : 1Y1-A22 and 1Y1-A26 10 nov and 17 Nov XenApp 6.5 adv and XenServer 6 ->
- New post: Installing Cacti in my lab – I needed to monitor my La ( http://t.co/oyhB98LS ) ->
- New post: E2E Conference, you should go ! – E2E is a great community ( http://t.co/0i4piqEh ) ->
- Post Edited: E2E Conference, you should go ! http://t.co/0i4piqEh ->
- RT @ Checking Windows Updates Remotely with #PowerShell http://t.co/JPk1hNnk ->
- Post Edited: Application integration http://t.co/u3BEcGAL ->
- http://t.co/Ca1K5hHD Microsoft releases beta of System Center App Controller: Microsoft has released a public bet… http://t.co/JUjI4yQI ->
- Virtualization News: Microsoft releases System Center Orchestrator 2012 release candidate.: Microsoft has releas… http://t.co/VIXcjrm9 ->
- “@thazelaar: “@KBaggerman: I'm still recovering from an awesome #CitrixSynergy, guess I'm getting old ” +1” < come on … ->
- New post: Synergy Barcelona 2011 – Personal Cloud 1/3 – Citrix again made several ( http://t.co/K0aMpwQS ) ->
- Post Edited: Fast Provisioning Citrix Xenapp 6 with Worker Groups and Policies 3/3 http://t.co/PW7K3WTY ->
- Post Edited: Synergy Barcelona 2011 – Personal Cloud 1/3 http://t.co/K0aMpwQS ->
- Citrix Follow-Me data Fabric, this is just brilliant. Can't wait to put my hand on that http://t.co/coUpcos6 http://t.co/OgC6HmJg ->
- Citrix Receiver Storefront error while trying to add application, anyone saw this ? http://t.co/3iQzsnG6 ->
- New post: Synergy Barcelona 2011 – Private Cloud 2/3 – Part 1/3 Synergy Barcelon ( http://t.co/JOJ2LEjf ) ->
- “@ctx4tom: Sunday morning fun – take the Citrix CCSP 2012 online exam – passed ” < same here 10 minutes ->
- “@ctx4tom: @archynet exams for the sales guys so easy. I should think about a role change NOT” < same here ->
- “@drtritsch: New blog "Citrix Synergy Eur 2011 – Impressive and Confusing" http://t.co/np0KRp0g” < very nice blog, but I see where CTX go. ->
- Post Edited: Citrix XenApp / ICA / Online Plug-in Client version numbers. http://t.co/TcWxs4ru ->
Synergy Barcelona 2011 – Private Cloud 2/3
Part 1/3 Synergy Barcelona 2011 – Personal Cloud 1/3
Part 2/3 Synergy Barcelona 2011 – Private Cloud 2/3
Part 3/3 Synergy Barcelona 2011 – Public Cloud 3/3
The gateway between Public Cloud and Private Cloud is an Unified Service Broker to allow access to Windows apps and desktops, web and mobile apps, SaaS apps, Corporate and cloud data, this broker is Citrix CloudGateway.
Citrix CloudGateway Enterprise for Windows apps @ desktops, Web, Saas & Data will be available at first and then Mobiles apps and 3rd party data will come soon. Citrix Cloud Gateway Express will be available for free for Windows apps & Desktops to replace the Citrix Web Interface. The upgrade from the Express edition to the Enterprise will be possible.
Then an App sandbox for mobile devices is shown to give the ability to secure applications and data on every mobile devices, while being able to control (Wipe, disable) from Citrix CloudGateway Enterprise Console.
Citrix XenDesktop 5.5 and Citrix XenApp 6.5 are pushed forward as a single product with the well know Flexcast model.
Citrix Personal vDisk technology (RingCube) is announce as well :
- Personalized apps, data & prefs
- Departmental & user installed apps
- Single OS image management
- Reduce storage by 65%
- Personalized PC experience
The biggest release of HDX in Citrix history :
- 2x number of users on existing WAN
- Flash redirection 1000s of miles
- Local scanning and printing 6x faster
- Guaranteed Quality of Service
- Real time voice and video
Windows 7 Experience for Citrix XenApp to make a server-hosted desktop personal to lower the cost and maximize the user experience. More information HERE
Texas Instrument and Ncomputing have been chosen to build chips with HDX inside, system-on-a-chip. Citrix goal here is to bring HDX to the maximum number of devices.
Citrix Receiver for Microsoft Windows 8 has been shown on stage with a nice Metro interface. Then Microsoft Windows 8 has been accessed remotely through HDX and XenDesktop with an impressive demo playing multi-gesture application using Metro framework.
Next Blog : Part 3/3 Synergy Barcelona 2011 – Public Cloud 3/3
Related Posts:
Synergy Barcelona 2011 – Personal Cloud 1/3
Citrix again made several big announcement around the Cloud Technologies. I haven’t been able to fly to Barcelona this year to attend Synergy so I had to figure out how to know things without being able to go there. Citrix Synergy Live saved my Synergy
Part 1/3 Synergy Barcelona 2011 – Personal Cloud 1/3
Part 2/3 Synergy Barcelona 2011 – Private Cloud 2/3
Part 3/3 Synergy Barcelona 2011 – Public Cloud 3/3
Citrix Receiver is compatible with 1.5 billion devices now, and there is a new version for iPads and iPhone (iOS 5 compatibility)
- 50% faster app launch
- 40% less bandwidth
- Multitasking
- Native experience for keyboard and gesture
Citrix XenDesktop is the number one product to give access to desktop virtualization, after Citrix bought Kaviza, Citrix VDI-in-a-Box is now available for download here : Tech Preview
One of the very big announcement is about App-Dna acquisition, Citrix shows how much stay focus on the application will be the most important part in xVirtualization .
Netscaler SDX is announce to be able to contain 40 instances per box (40:1) with XenServer 6 inside
Citrix XenServer 6 was announce as well will the following statement:
- Enhanced SR-IOV for NetScaler SDX
- HDX 3Pro optimizations for XenDesktop
- Microsoft System Center Integration
Citrix partnership with Cisco is extended to another level
- New multi-year strategic alliance
- Focused on innovation from desktop to cloud
- First delivery from new alliance – optimizing the Cisco network for Citrix HDX
- New Cisco endpoints with embedded Receiver
Mark Templeton leverages consumerization with BYO-3 (3 devices per user), Post-PC, Three-PC (Personal Cloud, Private Cloud and Public Cloud) moving from PC-era to Cloud-era. He also spoke about TCO / TVO (same as in Synergy San Francisco)
Then Mark T. spoke about data, apps, preferences, location, devices and friends and give a seamless access and define it >> mobile workstyle.
Personal Cloud
ShareFile is a new product introduce by Citrix to being able to share files while keeping security and confidentiality. It look like a Microsoft Outlook plugin and a desktop widget, iPad application (Windows, Mac and Linux) seeing the demo, it look like a more visual-user-friendly Dropbox with a completely customizable web interface for everyone.
- Send, request & share files within Microsoft Outlook
- Mobile – your data from all your devices
- Desktop widget & sync tools
- File encryption – at rest and in transit
- Versioning & comment tracking
- File activity alerts & notifications
- Remote wipe & account locking
Working with the data stored in your ShareFile within GoToMeeting will be soon possible with Workspaces for GoToMeeting.
Then about apps, Citrix Receiver with Follow-Me-Data has been announced to users being able to carry apps and data from a device to another. The demo shows the new Citrix Receiver GUI which is the same across devices, and a folder dropbox-like where you can store your documents to make it available across all devices. In addition the CloudGateway willl be able to bring single sign on to SaaS applications within Citrix Receiver with Follow-me-Data
Everything will be available Q4 this year in Technical Preview, and you can register here to be inform about the availability of this Tech. Prev.: http://fmd.citrix.com
After all these announcements one piece was missing to brings this all together, ShareFile has been acquired by Citrix and Mark T. qualify the ShareFile and Follow-me-Data etc of an iCloud (Apple) for enterprise. Follow-Me Data Fabric has been announced as a framework /API to build and being able to put together all these services.
Next blogs :
Part 2/3 Synergy Barcelona 2011 – Private Cloud 2/3
E2E Conference, you should go !
E2E is a great community conference around virtualization biggest actor on the international market, I have speaking engagement about Citrix XenApp 6.5, come and enjoy !
Alex Juschin, internationally recognized Virtualization Expert, Microsoft MVP and Citrix CTP for the last 6 years, invites you to join the next “E2E Virtualization Conference 2011 London” in London Docklands, UK – November 18-20, 2011 in Novotel Hotel @ExCel.
While the Agenda has yet to be finished it already contains over 35 Sessions on most actual topics like XenApp 6.5, XenServer 6, XenDesktop 5.5, Hyper-V v.3, ESXi 5 and many other topic’s! Plus, as usual, great networking possibility with virtualization folks from all over Europe and US. Register today as there are just few places left www.e2evc.com
Installing Cacti in my lab
I needed to monitor my Lab at home and check what I could do with Cacti to monitor Citrix XenServer, XenApp, XenDesktop, PVS, SQL etc… I chose to use a all in one distrib at first, CactiEZ (http://cactiez.cactiusers.org) but I ran out of possibilities very fast and CactiEZ is still based on a CentOS 4 version… If you don’t care about the CentOS version, you do thing a lot more easy by using this distrib. I chose to use CentOS 5 (http://www.centos.org) for some other reasons but mostly because this OS is supported by XenServer.
When you chose to start with a clean OS installation you need to know what you want to install, because either you install everything, including what you don’t need, either you install almost nothing and install only what you’ll need. I tried to make a clean work and chose to start with a clean installation, the lightest possible and install only what I would need.
Minimal installation type, I just posted screenshots to let some of you follow the same step, I don’t have any specific advanced knowledge on Linux stuff :
Then once rebooted, you need to check your network configuration and make necessary change to make it work on your LAN.
Before going with Cacti installation process, I wanted to have my CentOS distrib up to date, so I ran the following command :
yum update
Cacti will use SNMP so this is the command you need to run to install and enable SNMP :
yum install net-smtp
Cacti needs a database, I chose MySQL because this a the one I know the more and it’s very easy to setup :
yum install mysql
yum install mysql-server
Then to install Cacti using a yum command, you need to create a new file named dag.repo in the following directory :
vi /etc/yum.repos.d/dag.repo
past
dag.repo [dag] name=Dag RPM Repository for Red Hat Enterprise Linux baseurl=http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el$releasever/en/$basearch/dag gpgcheck=0 enabled=1 protect=0save this file and run :
yum install cacti
To be able to access Cacti web setup pages, you need to allow web access :
vi /etc/httpd/conf.d/cacti.conf
remove the line “deny from all”
Now you need to start the MySQL service and apache web service and make those two services start automatically at you server boot.
service mysql start
service httpd start
chkconfig –level 345 httpd on
chkconfig –level 345 mysqld on
To configure MySQL for Cacti ,you need to setup the access and create the database and user :
Code block mysqladmin --5.1/en/information-functions.html">user=root 5.1/en/encryption-functions.html">password somepassword mysqladmin --5.1/en/information-functions.html">user=root --5.1/en/encryption-functions.html">password reload mysqladmin --5.1/en/information-functions.html">user=root --5.1/en/encryption-functions.html">password 51&q=CREATE&lr=lang_en">create cacti mysql -p cacti < /var/www/cacti/cacti.sql mysql --5.1/en/information-functions.html">user=root --5.1/en/encryption-functions.html">password mysql 51&q=GRANT&lr=lang_en">GRANT 51&q=ALL&lr=lang_en">ALL 51&q=ON&lr=lang_en">ON cacti.* 51&q=TO&lr=lang_en">TO cactiuser@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'somepassword'; flush 51&q=PRIVILEGES&lr=lang_en">privileges;
Next edit the config.php file in /var/www/cacti/include/
config.php $database_type = "mysql"; $database_default = "cacti"; $database_hostname = "localhost"; $database_username = "cactiuser"; $database_password = "password";save the file and the give proper rights :
chown -R cactiuser /var/www/cacti/rra/ /var/www/cacti/log/
and add this line to your crontab file :
*/5 * * * * cactiuser php /var/www/cacti/poller.php > /dev/null 2>&1
Here is the Cacti web installation process using the address : http://yourcomputer/Cacti/
After to add some plugins you need to change many files in Cacti’s base installation dir, to do so without destroying or missing something, you need to download the Cacti Plugin Architecture (same version as your Cacti version, 8.7h for me)
tar -zxvf cacti-plugin-0.8.7h-PA-v3.0.tar.gz
Then you need to copy the .diff file to your cacti install directory and run :
patch -p1 -N –dry-run < cacti-plugin-0.8.7h-PA-v3.0.diff to test if everything is ok
then patch -p1 -N < cacti-plugin-0.8.7h-PA-v3.0.diff
And you’re all set ! Next work will be on writing a template and script to catch XenApp sessions and XenDesktop metrics.
Related Posts:Application integration
After many years going from a customer to another, speaking with people all around the world, I wanted to share my experience regarding application integration. This is not a new topic but there are so many way to deliver applications today it can become very messy very fast. In many companies I worked for, I had to face many different situations with different technologies and solutions. What I will explain is just one way to get things done, maybe not the best but I think this is the most efficient way to leverage Citrix / Microsoft solutions. This is a simple diagram to materialize what I have in mind when I plan to integrate or migrate a new application into a VDI environment.
When I write VDI I mean : VDI = Virtual Desktops + Shared (Virtual) Desktops (SBC)
So what do you need to know when you want to “virtualize” an application ?
- First thing first : is this application working on a regular OS with a “normal” installation process ?
- Do you need to virtualize this application ? time / cost vs deployment / users
- What are the prerequisite for this application ? (XenApp silo needed or not, specific Streaming profile / AppV
- Is this application need to be use offline, ie roaming users ?
- What is the application size (Mb, Gb) once it’s installed ?
- Is this application supported on a 64bit Operating System ?
These questions are the one you need to ask yourself before deploying your package in production.There are a lot more question you need to ask yourself, it depend of each customer’s environment. The more I look this diagram the more I find some other step to add, this is like a never ending construction and a new puzzle at every new customer’s place. We could continue this schema with application compatibility between each others etc…
This is very important to chose the right solution to deliver the application, when I ear sometimes, “We want to use only XenApp published applications” or “We want to use only App-V streamed applications” I just think this is wrong… You need to use and mix all those solution to adapt to each use of each application (or application set)
If you have some step to add, some experiences to share, post it with comments, I will integrate it to the schema !
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