Here, we will focus on Server Based Computing environments including Microsoft Windows Terminal Services and Citrix Presentation Server, Application and Server virtualization, Application streaming and delivery technologies such as Microsoft Softricity, and many other server-centric topics. Also, I will point out tools and tips to help you with your Terminal Services environments.
VMworld 2009 is going on this week and there will be lots of advanced technology announcements. But, what if you are just getting your feet wet with this whole virtualization thing? Tom Finnis wrote a nice introduction to VMware vShpere 4 that highlights the core technologies. Tom covers:
This article does a good job of hitting the highlights and is a good starting point to understand VMware vShpere 4.
Technorati : VMware, Virtualization, vShpere
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Amazon has extended their EC2 cloud computing with Virtual Private Clouds (VPC). VPC allows you to create logical instances of isolated (private) EC2 instances and connect them to your existing network using an IPSec VPN tunnel. This bridges the gap between internal infrastructure and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - or cloud infrastructure.
Technorati : AWS, Amazon, Cloud Computing, EC2, VPC
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Michael Thomason presented an innovative session at BriForum US and Europe 2007 titled “Decreasing Windows/Terminal Serve Logon Time - ‘I have a 5-7 Second Login Time, You Can Too!’” I personally attended these sessions presented by Michael and I must say that there is some excellent information presented. Following is a brief description of the session:
“As more and more users rely on Citrix/Terminal Services for application delivery, extremely fast login times have become more and more of a necessity. Not only does it enhance the user experience it also creates less resistance for porting applications. Between profile creation, policy processing, folder redirection, antivirus software, and “roaming profiles” login times seem to be increasing! Users expect consistent, reliable, and fast login times regardless of server user load.”
The Brian Madden Company recently released the video of this session to the general public - meaning you can go watch this video now for FREE!
Technorati : Logon, Performance, Profile, Speed, Terminal Services
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Combining Microsoft Application Virtualization (a.k.a. SoftGrid) with Microsoft Presentation Virtualization (a.k.a. Terminal Services) is becoming more commonplace in today’s environments. However, this combination brings its own unique set of troubleshooting methodologies since applications are not installed - rather, applications run in a virtual “bubble”. The Microsoft SoftGrid team recently published an article detailing troubleshooting high pool memory usages on Terminal Services based clients. The issue involves tuning PTEs and Microsoft Office packages. Since most people try to package Office as one of their first applications in SoftGrid, I thought this article would be helpful.
Technorati : Application Virtualization, Memory Tuning, SoftGrid, Terminal Services
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I have blogged in the past about Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services TS Web Access. One of the little know facts about TS Web Access is that published applications are not filtered - meaning all users see all applications. This is not usually the desired result. Usually, an administrator will want to limit certain applications to Active Directory groups. Fortunately, TSFactory has created an add-on for TS Web Access that accomplishes thus that - it filters applications based on AD user or group. “The administrator maintains a special XML-based configuration file with a number of entries corresponding to published applications. Each entry specifies which users or groups should NOT be shown these particular applications. When a user opens the TS Web Access starting page in a browser, the list of applications are filtered according to the specified rules in the XML configuration file. All applications that have explicit denial entries for the users or groups they belong to are made are hidden on the starting page.” Oh yeah - this add-on is totally FREE!
Technorati : Freeware, Microsoft, TS Remote App, Terminal Services, Windows Server 2008
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Before we get in depth with the particulars of what this blog post is about, it might be a good idea to review what a TS Shadow Registry Key is. In a nutshell, the shadow key keeps up with any keys added to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software during an application install. Since Terminal Services is multi user and HKCU refers only to the current user, a mechanism needs to be in place to distribute these keys to other users when they log on. That is the job of the shadow registry key. The shadow registry key is located at HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Window NT\CurrentVersion\Terminal Server\Install and holds copies of all the necessary keys to distribute. That is what the shadow registry key does in a nutshell - for a more detailed explanation, check out Brian Madden’s article on this topic.
With the introduction of Windows 64 bit and Windows-on-Windows 64 (WoW64), there are some changes to the shadow registry key. For instance, the shadow registry key location for 32 bit applications is located at HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Terminal Server\Install (64 bit applications are stored in the key mentioned above). There is also a merge mechanism in place when settings conflict. Nicholas Dille has explained the changes in an article titled “Shadow Keys on Windows x64″.
Technorati : 64 bit, Install Mode, Shadow Key, Shadow Registry, Terminal Services, Windows
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Dr. Bernhard Tritsch (a.k.a. Benny), author of Windows Server 2003 Terminal Services (among other books), has started a venture to write a new book titled Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services. The book is described as a “…comprehensive online book [that] provides expert guidance to plan for, install and configure Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services. This in-depth reference presents all the details you need to deliver Microsoft Windows-based applications and the Windows desktop itself to remote devices or desktops.”
The cool think about this book is that it is online - and free. The chapters are just now starting to take shape, so there is still a lot of content to be written. But, the table of contents is published as well as some introductory content, so you can get a feel for what the rest of the book will be like. I particularly like the “History and Features” section where things like WinFrame, MultiWin, and Hydra are discussed in relation to the product we know today. Be sure to keep an eye on this site as more quality content is added.
Technorati : Presentation Virtualizatin, RDP, Terminal Services, Windows 2008, eBook
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One of the necessary evils of a Terminal Services environment is testing applications to see if they will work in a TS environment. Usually, this involves installing the application on a test Terminal Server and coordinating user acceptance testing. Microsoft recently released a tool to help with this test process. The tool is called TS Application Analyzer (or tsappcompat for short).
“TS Application Analyzer is a runtime program analysis tool to enable administrators/users to determine if they can deploy an application on TS with confidence. It provides a summary of an application’s TS-incompatible behavior. The classes of application compatibility issues targeted for detection are:
The tool does the following:
Using this tool doesn’t mean you can skip user acceptance testing, but it sure does reveal a lot of potential problems up front.
Technorati : Application Analyzer, Application Compatibility, Microsoft, TS, Terminal Services
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Michel Roth is reporting on the creation of the official Provision Networks (a division of Quest Software) blog. In case you don’t already know, Provision Networks is “…a global provider of presentation and desktop virtualization solutions [whose] solutions embrace and extend the Microsoft Terminal Services platform and Virtualization Infrastructure platforms from VMware, Virtual Iron, XenSource, Parallels, and Microsoft, delivering resilient, scalable and dynamic on-demand desktop deployment and application delivery for enterprises worldwide…”
I personally think this will give greater visibility to Provision’s lineup. Be sure to keep an eye out for content from some of the industry’s well known names from this blog including Rick Mack, Michel Roth, Patrick Rouse, and Jeff Pitsch.
Resources for Provision on BrianMadden.com…
Technorati : Provision Networks, Quest, blog
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