One of the more tedious tasks as a system administrator is keeping up with system patches. There’s Microsoft patches, Citrix Presentation Server patches, application patches, etc. Adding a hardware virtualiztaion solution in the mix such as Citrix XenServer just adds one more line item to your patch strategy. Fortunately, Citrix is making this easy. Utilizing a “Windows Update” like web service, XenMotion, and some other magic, you will be able to patch XenServers without taking down the Virtual Servers running on them. Pretty cool.

Roger Klorese tells us more in a recent blog post in the Citrix community. Roger states”

Pool-wide patch management has been integrated into the product, and, in conjunction with a wizard in XenCenter, will allow you to:

• Check the Citrix XenServer website for updates
• Download any pending updates to your XenCenter system
• Choose which servers in your managed pools you wish to apply the patches to
• Put each server in maintenance mode (with their VMs kept online on another server via XenMotion)
• Apply the patches
• Bring the server back online and move VMs back to it automatically

…All in a single guided process.”

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Technorati : Citrix, Patch Management, Virtualization, XenMotion, XenServer
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If you are on the “bleeding edge” of technology and testing out Windows Server 2008 Terminal Service RC1, you may have run in to a problem using RemoteApps via TS Web Access with you RDP 6.0 client. Turns out you will need the RDP 6.1 client. How do you get that client? Good question; you can’t download it individually, as Greg Shields points out in his recent article. Greg writes “once you upgrade to RC1, any attempt to connect to a RemoteApp through a TS Web Access web site gives you an error “ActiveX control not installed”. You’re then directed to a Terminal Services Team Blog web site that is supposed to have more information about what happened. …it seems that RDC v6.1 is required in order to use TS Web Access at RC1 and greater. But Microsoft at present will only release the RDC v6.1 code as part of a Vista SP1 or an XP SP3 installation. No independent install is provided.”

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Technorati : RDC, RDP, RemoteApp, TSWeb, Terminal Services, Windows Server 2008
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Windows Server 2008 will be released soon. To help you get up to speed on the new features included in the Windows Server 2008 release, Microsoft recently released a series of “express” videos. The Windows Server 2008 Webcast Express Demo Videos highlights the many different improvements and new features in Windows Server 2008 through some concise videos (most are around 10 minutes long). The videos are screencasts (not a lot of PowerPoint) and straight to the point. This is a great way to get familiar with the many new features and how they will integrate with the improved Terminal Services.

• Branch Office Solutions with Windows Server 2008
• Deploying High Performance and Scalable Networking with Windows Server 2008
• Deploying Remote Programs with Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services
• Granular Password Setting
• Introduction to Server Manager in Windows Server 2008
• Network Access Protection
• Server Core: Running a Minimal Server
• Server Manager
• User Account Controls
• Windows Server 2008 Initial Configuration
• Windows Server Virtualization
• Windows Server Virtualization: Reducing TCO

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For more information on Windows Server 2008 Terminal Service, check out the MSTerminalServices.org archive.

Technorati : Terminal Services, Videos, Windows Server 2008, demo, eLearning
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Today, Microsoft announced their acquisition of Calista Technologies. Brian Madden alluded to this yesterday and it was confirmed today. What is Calista Technologies? Technically, they don’t have a product out on the market currently, but the software they are working on is pretty cool in the virtualization arena. Here is what the Microsoft Terminals Services team states about Calista:

“Calista’s products dramatically improve the end-user experience of 3D and multimedia delivery for Microsoft multimedia applications, virtualized desktop deployments, and server-hosted virtualized desktops or applications using Windows Terminal Services. Their technologies support all file and streaming media type available, and optimize Microsoft’s widely available Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) to reduce the network bandwidth requirements for remote display of rich media content; thus, remote workers can receive a modern Windows desktop experience without the need for dedicated hardware. As multimedia and 3D graphics are becoming more ubiquitous in business and consumer contexts alike, customers expect the full desktop experience regardless of their desktop deployment choice. With the addition of Calista technologies, Microsoft will enable users to enjoy a rich remote experience for server-hosted, virtualized desktops and applications, thus allowing an organization full flexibility in their choice to deploy centrally managed desktops or a local traditional desktop. In fact, in one of our other announcements today we talked about the concept of Windows Vista optimized desktop solutions; the idea behind it is to enable customers to use several Microsoft technologies, such as the rich user interface of Windows Vista, server based applications like Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services or hosted desktop technology like Windows Vista Enterprise Centralized Desktops, for personal computing scenarios that best meet their unique needs. Calista will be key in helping customers to make the right trade-off decisions among these deployment options, by helping to ensure a consistent, rich end user experience in those scenarios where users transition between a local and a server-hosted desktop.”

So, what does all this mean to Citrix? Brian Madden answers this for us in this article:

“How does Citrix respond to this? I [Brian Madden] had a conference call with David Roussain and Mick Hollison (VP, Product Management for XenDesktop) at Citrix. They were tripping over each other to say that Calista did not compete with them, that this just validates the space and Citrix’s desktop delivery approach, and that they’re a strong partner with Microsoft. Their feeling is that Calista is a core technology that Microsoft will build into their platform, most likely for the purpose of remoting WPF apps. They stressed that it’s a raw technology and it won’t make its way into a product for awhile. And when it does make it into a product, it will be another core technology that Citrix can “embrace and extend.”

Sources:

Tomorrow’s news today: Microsoft buys VDI vendor Calista Technologies, expands partnership with Citrix - Brian Madden
Microsoft buys Calista Technologies. What will this mean? - Brian Madden
Microsoft Acquires Calista Technologies - Microsoft Terminal Service Team Blog
Microsoft Acquires Calista Technologies - Michel Roth

Technorati : GPU, RDP, Virtualization, Windows Server 2008, hypervisor
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In Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services RemoteApps, most startup programs will not run in every session. Is this a bug, or a feature? It may be a little of both depending on how you look at it. The reason on why this happens is detailed in an article written by Dan Shappir. Dan writes:

“To understand why this happens lets turn again to the excellent AutoRuns utility from SysInternals. AutoRuns not only shows which applications and scripts run at system startup or logon, but also where they are registered to be run. For example, AutoRuns shows me that on my system nod32kui.exe, part of the NOD32 Antivirus System, is registered at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run. This is a common location used by applications that register themselves to always run at logon for all the users on the system. Turning now to another excellent SysInternals utility, Process Explorer, I can see that nod32kui.exe was launched by explorer.exe - Windows Explorer. This then is the root cause of the problem: Windows Explorer is not run at all inside TS RemoteApp sessions. As a result, nod32kui.exe will also not be run in such sessions.”

Since RemoteApps are seamless application (no desktop), there is not explorer.exe in each session. Published desktops in Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services will continue to run startups since there is an explore.exe in each session.

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Technorati : Autorun, RemoteApp, Seamless, Startup Programs, Terminal Services, Windows Server 2008
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Using Microsoft SoftGrid (now Microsoft Application Virtualization) along with Citrix Presentation Server is a great way to standardize your application delivery strategy. For instance, it is a best practice to keep all your Citrix Presentation Servers as close to identical as possible. Using imaging or disk stream (like Ardence), the server piece is easy to take care of. Using Microsoft Application Virtualization, you can keep your applications identical as well (since applications are not physically installed). There are some things to keep in mind when delivering published applications (versus published desktops) via Citrix Presentation Server. Microsoft has published an article on what you need to know.

“To publish a SoftGrid-enabled application in Citrix MetaFrame, follow these steps:

To hide the SoftGrid Client from the notification area, use one of the following options.

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Technorati : Application Virtualization, Citrix, Presentation Server, Published Application, SoftGrid
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There is a lot of information about Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services. One of the best ways to learn is visually. That is why the Microsoft Terminal Services team has put together a set of Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services specific videos.

Terminal Services - Overview
In this video, Matt Hester gives you a general overview of the new features available with Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services.
Watch the video here, Terminal Services - Overview

Terminal Services - Remote Apps
In this video, Matt Hester talks about the remote app. capabilities inside terminal server, that allow us to share out apps across the different areas in our environment.
Watch the video here, Terminal Services - Remote Apps

Terminal Services - Gateway Server
In this video, Matt Hester talks about terminal services gateway service, which enables a secure scenario and authorize remote users to connect to resources on another network.
Watch the video here, Terminal Services - Gateway Server

Terminal Services - Gateway Server Monitoring
In this video, Matt Hester talks about terminal service gateway monitoring capabilities, specifically around the auditing events.
Watch the video here, Terminal Services - Gateway Server Monitoring

Terminal Services - Web Access
In this video, Matt Hester talks about remote app. capabilities built into Windows Server 2008 terminal services, specifically the terminal services web access component.
Watch the video here, Terminal Services - Web Access

Terminal Services - Gateway Server and NAP
In this video, Matt Hester talks about enhancing security within the terminal services gateway server, called the network access policy services.
Watch the video here, Terminal Services - Gateway Server and NAP

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Technorati : Longhorn, Terminal Services, Video, Webcast, Windows Server 2008
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One of the challenges that face Citrix Presentation Server administrators is ensuring consistent server environments. One way to accomplish this is using automated builds. Another way is to configuration packs with Microsoft System Center. One of the features of Microsoft System Center is the Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2007 Desired Configuration Management (DCM) 2.0 module.

Citrix recently released a “Best Practices” pack for System Center. Sridhar Mullapudi explains this pack in his blog.

“The DCM can generate reports containing detailed information about which Presentation Servers are out of compliance and how to correct each configuration setting. Using this information, Citrix administrators can rectify the configuration issues on each reported Presentation Server, thus bringing the entire PS farm back into compliance with Citrix Best Practices.”

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Technorati : Best Practices, Citrix, Configuration, Microsoft, compliance, security
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When using Microsoft Application Virtualization (SoftGrid) in a Citrix Presentation Server environment, you may run in to issues when applications use iexplorer.exe as a help subsystem. This issue is only prevalent in Citrix ICA connections - not RDP connections. The reason for this behavior has to do with Citrix content redirection. Fortunately, Aaron Parker has a solution to this issue. By adding the following to you OSD file, you can correct this behavior:

<REGISTRY>
<REGKEY HIVE=”HKCR” KEY=”HTTP\shell\open\command”>
<REGVALUE REGTYPE=”REG_SZ” NAME=”">”C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE” %1</REGVALUE>
</REGKEY>
</REGISTRY>

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Technorati : Application Virtualization, Citrix, Internet Explorer, Microsoft, SoftGrid, content redirection
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Published on Microsoft TechNet is an older article chocked full of great information that still applies to today’s Terminal Services. The article takes an in-depth look at the architecture of Terminal Services, Terminal Services components, physical structure, component interaction, the Remote Desktop client, licensing, etc. For instance, the TechNet article details the processes involved in a Terminal Services such as:

This article really is a must read for anyone new to Microsoft Terminal Services, or even those that have been dealing with Terminal Services for a while and want to get some more in-depth knowledge about the nuts an bolts going on behind the scenes.

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Technorati : Architecture, Components, Processes, RDP, Session Directory, Terminal Services
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