Results for: Cache is King
Beware the 50/50 Split with PvD
So you’ve got a use case for Citrix Personal vDisk (PvD) and you want to integrate it into your existing XenDesktop environment with your perfectly architected profile management solution – should be pretty straightforward, right? It certainly can be, but you really need to understand the key design considerations when implementing PvD. I’m going to talk about one of those key design considerations in this ...
Introducing “Windsor”: a new xen-based virtualization architecture
Here in the XenServer R&D group I'm working on a new open-source, xen-based, virtualisation architecture (code-named "Windsor"). The goal is to exploit the awesome capabilities of the xen hypervisor to make a next-generation platform for IaaS cloud computing. Why do I love xen? Xen was originally created in the University of Cambridge Computer Lab's xenoserver project, whose goal was: to build a public infrastructure for wide-area distributed computing. This ...
Networks built on clouds, which are built on networks
Today at Synergy we announced the availability of a technology preview of NetScaler for Amazon Web Services. The formal announcement is here. To get access to the tech preview, start here.We often say "NetScaler was running the biggest clouds before they were even called clouds." What we're getting at is that NetScaler got its start powering the original "dotcom"/"webmonster" data centers. Looking back, we now ...
Creating VMs from templates in XenServer creates a FAST CLONE
Did you know that when you create a VM from a template in XenServer, it actually generates a FAST CLONE of the disk? What's the big deal? This could have a storage impact because this process will generate a linked VHD clone disk. This means that the VM created from a template will have its disk linked to the template’s disk. If you have an operational ...
NetScaler 10 – A Landmark Release with 100s of New Features
NetScaler 10 is a remarkable release which makes world’s best Internet delivery platform the most advanced Cloud Network platform. While Enterprises are transforming their Datacenters to Cloud they need the application acceleration and availability requirements to be taken care of. And beyond that there are several visibility, security and scalability aspects which need to be looked at while they move to Cloud.Talk about Cloud or ...
Clearing The Air – Fixed or Dynamic vDisks?
Have you ever heard conflicting information about a setting or best practice and wondered what was really true or the "real" best practice? Never from Citrix, right? ;)I've recently heard some people saying to use fixed vDisks with PVS and others saying dynamic. So what is the true or real best practice? That's precisely what I'd like to discuss in this article.Before I begin, please note:I'm ...
Citrix Profile Management and VDI – Doing it Right!
For anyone that has ever worked with XenApp or XenDesktop you know that user profiles can be one of the most difficult things to get right. This was one of the driving forces behind Citrix including a profile management solution as a standard component of all editions of XenDesktop.I am not going to go into the details of the various types of profile strategies nor ...
What should companies do before they buy an Ad to run during a Super Bowl game?
There were lots of fun and cute commercials during the super bowl game last weekend. With my friends from all kinds of IT companies all gather it is about watching the commercials for the funniest, dorkiest, etc. Some Ads were more memorable than others and some may get a lot more visits from their websites in real time. This is especially true when we have ...
10 to Xen! (Part 1 of 3)
Happy New Year everyone! As my first blog post of 2012, I’d like to wish everyone a very healthy, prosperous, and productive year ahead. There are sure to be some exciting technologies coming our way!In this three-part blog series I’ll run through a basic XenDesktop environment setup/POC at a high level with pointers on how to save time and streamline the installation process. First, we’ll ...
App Streaming – WinSxS
Windows Side by Side is a complicated beast and a source of much confusion in Windows system administration. Today's post provides a foundation in WinSxS and goes into considerable detail about how this works with Citrix App Streaming. History DLL Hell is the root of all evil and the Microsoft C runtime is the root of DLL Hell. In case anyone is counting, that's "2" statements describing ...