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October 23, 2007 |
I just updated the template tonight. I'm still working out a few kinks with the bullets and reorganization, but for the most part, it's up. If you notice anything that doesn't display correctly, please let me know either by sending me an email or using the Contact link at the top. More updates to come soon!
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October 23, 2007 |
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 I co-wrote this whitepaper back in the Spring along with a few colleagues of mine. It focuses on some security-realted best practices around VI3 deployments, and offers some additional/different advice from the VMware-published paper. This paper was developed to help network administrators, server administrators, and other individuals specifically focused on security, understand and address the many security implications of Virtual infrastructure. It provides objective guidance for integrating VMware Virtual Infrastructure 3 (VI3) and IT infrastructure without compromising security in the process. The paper can be downloaded from here (below), or from Foedus' web site.
Download:  VMware Infrastructure 3: Security Best Practices (336 KB) |
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Last Updated ( October 30, 2007 )
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October 23, 2007 |
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This two-part article that I wrote for MSTerminalServices.org discusses providing redundancy and high-availability for your Terminal Server License Servers. Part one focuses on establishing redundancy for the licensing infrastructure while part two covers ensuring you have easy recovery in the event of a license server failure. Both segments are available at the following links:
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Last Updated ( March 23, 2008 )
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September 19, 2007 |
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This is another article that I wrote for MSTerminalServices.org detailing the license server discovery process. I have noticed through numerous forum posts that many administrators are still puzzled as to why their license servers are not found by terminal servers in their environment. Part one describes the available roles for your license server and how the discovery process differs based on the role selected, including detailed flowcharts. Part two offers advice on better-controlling the process and some troubleshooting tips when things don't go as planned.
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Last Updated ( March 23, 2008 )
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September 19, 2007 |
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In this two-part article that I wrote for MSTerminalServices.org, I cover the details of how the Terminal Services CAL allocation process functions in both per-device and per-user terminal server modes. Part one covers the overview of CAL types and server licensing modes, while part two details the step-by-step process for allocating CALs, including in-depth flowcharts. Check it out over on MSTerminalServices.org.
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Last Updated ( March 23, 2008 )
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September 06, 2007 |
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Update (10-21-2009): Not sure what happened to Frameworkx, but it appears the download is no longer available (or the company, for that matter). If you ended up here from Google or another search engine, sorry for the confusion.
I made the full head-long plunge into Windows Vista recently, and I must say that I am really, really impressed with this operating system. You need to understand that I'm the kind of guy that is very skeptical of "new and improved", particularly with a new OS from Microsoft. I love XP and it has been rock-solid for years now. So when Vista was released, I figured, "who needs it - XP is fine". Well, have seen the light... I've been converted, Vistaricized - however you want to put it. Even running full Aero, my T60 runs Vista faster than XP. Yes, that's right - faster. One of the cool features is the sidebar. Yes, I realize that you can get a Google sidebar, or a Yahoo sidebar, but the Vista one was my first exposure to is, and it certainly is convenient. A great add-on is from Frameworkx called the "Remote Desktop Sidebar Gadget". It places a small interface in the sidebar to quickly launch an RDP session to any Microsoft desktop/terminal server. I highly recommend checking it out... Download:  Frameworkx Remote Desktop Sidebar Gadget
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Last Updated ( October 21, 2009 )
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September 06, 2007 |
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As I said before, I have been doing a lot of writing for msterminalservices.org. I figured it was time for me to do some "cross promoting", or rather just let everyone know that these articles exist, so I will be linking to all of them as I go.
This article delves into using Windows Performance Monitor (or PerfMon) to create a baseline of your terminal servers/Citrix servers to refer back to when performance problems arise. Too often, performance problems can be difficult to diagnose when issues crop up because no one bothered to examine what the performance stats looked like when things were running normally. In this two-part article, you'll which counters are important and what they mean.
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Last Updated ( March 23, 2008 )
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August 22, 2007 |
Here's some big news (although a few days old now)... Citrix has
announced last Wednesday that they intend to purchase XenSource, the
suppliers of the open-source Xen virtualization hypervisor for $500
million. It's an interesting play that will truely place Citrix
into the virtualization space.
The interesting thing is that this is the second time the Citrix will
have a direct competing product with Microsoft. Citrix has always
had the Terminal Server-to-Citrix value-add, but the first time they
truely competed was with the release of Tarpon (renamed Citrix Streaming Server, which was then incorporated into Presentation Server and again renamed to Citrix Application Streaming feature of Presentation Server,
or something like that). That release became the first time they
had a truely competing product with Microsoft (playing against
SoftGrid). Now, it appears they may be in that same position
again, competing not only with VMware, but also the forthcoming Windows
Server 2008 hypervisor (codenamed Viridian).
It's also interesting that they are now in a position to provide a
complete end-to-end virtualization solution. Xen would provide
the virtualization infrastructure for the hardware virtualization,
which would stream Windows Server 2003 Terminal Server, via Ardence,
running Citrix Presentation Server. Streaming Server (Tarpon)
would then provide the applications instantly to the Presentation
Servers, and all of this would be secured and accessed behind the
Citrix Access Gateway. They can now cover four of the five
virtualization spaces:
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Infrastructure/Hardware Virtualization
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Operating System Virtualization/Streaming
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Application Virtualization/Streaming
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Access Virtualization/Abstraction
The only thing missing is some sort of storage virtualization. Perhaps Citrix would be interested in buying DataCore?
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Last Updated ( October 24, 2007 )
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August 21, 2007 |
Actually, it's been over a year since I last posted any new
content. So what's been keeping me so busy? Well, as a
consultant, there have been numberous engagements that I've been on,
traveling all over, etc. I've also been very active writing that
I haven't had much time to keep this site up to date. I'll be
posting many of these things on the site over the next few weeks along
with new content.
I've been focusing a lot on virtualization and the VMware side of the
industry. There is just so much going on there. There has
also been an enormous amount of activity on the SoftGrid side of
things, particularly since the Microsoft acquisition a year ago.
The site is going to be evolving into covering a lot more than simply
Citrix and terminal services. I'll be focusing on all areas of
virtualization, from the application level, through the infrastructure
layer, all the way out to the presentation layer. I am also
working on an entire revamp of the site, both in the look and feel and
in the organization.
So for all those wondering where I've been, that's where. More exciting news to come! Stay tuned...
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Last Updated ( October 25, 2007 )
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June 19, 2006 |
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 Check out this new white paper on VMware's web site. This particular paper is titled "Getting Started with Virtual Infrastructure" and discusses leveraging VI for simple server roles like File and Print servers. This one was actually written by me, so it is my first "official" publication! The whitepaper can be downloaded from here (below) or VMware's web site.
Download: Getting Started with VMware Infrastructure 3 (2 MB) |
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Last Updated ( October 29, 2007 )
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