March 2010 - Posts

Citrix XenApp 6 feature spotlight demo series

Citrix XenApp 6 feature spotlight demo series is brought to you by Citrix's top product engineers, product managers & architects and these videos can be viewed at http://www.citrix.com/tv/#series/170

 

Patrick Lownds

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Citrix and Microsoft Team up for "Hands On Lab"!

Want to play around or test XenDesktop 4 on Hyper-V, but you cannot find the time to build a test environment? Well look no further, Citrix and Microsoft have teamed up to bring you a Hands on Lab. The Hands on Lab is a pre-built environment / training session that is interactive and totally usable for testing and seeing the combined power of XenDesktop 4 and Microsoft Hyper-V.

To try the  Hands on Lab go to https://cmg.vlabcenter.com/default.aspx?moduleid=281742e3-2613-42da-bd58-2c3578f039b4

 

Patrick Lownds

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Virtual Hard Disk Performance Whitepaper

Until now not much has been documented about the performance of VHDs by Microsoft. However Microsoft has published a whitepaper below that should give you a lot of what you have been looking for when it comes to VHD performance.

The paper compares VHD performance on Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2. It uses the new native VHD implementation in Windows 2008 R2 and loopback VHD. You can download the whitepaper at http://download.microsoft.com/download/0/7/7/0778C0BB-5281-4390-92CD-EC138A18F2F9/WS08_R2_VHD_Performance_WhitePaper.docx

 

Patrick Lownds

 

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FREE Citrix XenApp 6 Technology Overview training

A new (free) online training is launched:

 

http://citrixtraining.com/courses/course_view.cfm/course_id:285

 

CXA-101-1W

Citrix XenApp 6 Technology Overview

Self-paced Online

Description      

Explore the new features of XenApp 6 on-demand app delivery today - free!

In this course, learners will be introduced to Citrix XenApp 6 technology and will gain the knowledge needed to execute this application virtualization solution. Through the online learning interface, students will explore the benefits, key components and the architecture of XenApp 6. Also covered are scenarios for migrating to XenDesktop 4 from an earlier version of XenDesktop or XenApp, along with licensing changes.

If you already have a Citrix learning management site account, just log in to get started. New users can create a free account at anytime, and get instant access to this course.

Languages: English

Duration : 1 Hours

 

Patrick Lownds

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Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.6 IPD Guide

The IPD team at Microsoft has released an updated guide for App-V 4.6. This guide provides actionable guidance for planning your application virtualization infrastructure. Updates now include support for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2, including such features as BranchCache, support for 64-bit clients and server-sizing data. Download the IPD Guide for App-V 4.6 at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=182824

 

Patrick Lownds

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It is an App-V Fest

Considering implementing App-V, well here are some useful URLs on App-V, now that version 4.6 is available:

App-V Application Listing Tool
You can use this tool to display a list of virtualized applications that are currently running.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=5da48313-cf6d-445d-af97-594f194ac759
 
Application Virtualization SFT Parser Tool
You can use the Application Virtualization SFT Parser Tool (SFTInfo) to extract information from SFT files.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=e5a7db27-304b-4cd1-9c80-7ba5fdaea97f
 
Application Virtualization Dynamic Suite Composition Tool
You can use the App-V Dynamic Suite Composition tool to edit the Open Software Descriptor (.osd) file associated with a virtual application package to create the inter-package dependencies.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=daa898df-455f-438a-aa2a-421f05894098
 
App-V MSI Compat Transform
You can use the Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) MSI Compat transform to make 4.5 Sequencer generated MSIs compatible for 4.6 Client.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=c704efef-06f0-4b76-97a9-67df1d161ffb
 
Application Virtualization Cache Configuration Tool
You can use the Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) cache configuration utility to configure settings associated with App-V client cache.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=5e7089fa-c6ab-4150-8562-3b5bc14cd881
 
App-V ADM Template
The Microsoft Application Virtualization ADM template allows you to administer App-V client settings via Preferences.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=67cdf9d2-7e8e-4d76-a552-fd82dbbff9bc
 
Application Virtualization Client Log Parser Utility
Use the Application Virtualization Log Parser utility to extract log entries from one or more application virtualization client logs.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=72876c60-3a87-4705-b722-f73eb56219bf
 
MS App-V SFT View
Use Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) SFT View to provide scanners and automated tools with read-only access to .SFT files. You can find both 32-bit and 64-bit versions to download.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=26d8bfe3-02dd-4073-95f8-594bbb12933a
 
Microsoft App-V for RDS 4.6
Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) for RDS helps solve application compatibility on Remote Desktop Session Hosts/Terminal Servers. App-V for RDS 4.6 now supports 64-bit operating systems.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=e633164f-9729-43a8-9149-de651944a7fe

 

Patrick Lownds

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Microsoft App-V 4.6 and MED-V 1.0 SP1 Released

As Windows 7 continues to gain momentum across the industry, enterprise customers are evaluating their desktop Strategy and considering the move to Windows 7. To support that move Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.6, including App-V for RDS, is now publicly available, as part of MDOP 2010. In addition, MED-V 1.0 SP1 RC which provides support for Windows 7 is now available also. Read the full story at http://blogs.technet.com/virtualworld/archive/2010/02/22/app-v-4-6-rtm-and-med-v-1-0-sp1-rc-are-here.aspx

 

Patrick Lownds

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Windows Server 2008 R2 Migration Utilities x64 Edition (KB977336)

The Windows Server 2008 R2 Migration Utilities package (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=5c1ec14a-e9d7-46ea-9c6e-73d6bc4219b4&displaylang=en) works with Windows Server Migration Tools to let you migrate Hyper-V virtual machines (either Windows 2008 or Windows 2008 R2) including the associated metadata from one host to another.

Detailed, step-by-step information about how to use the Windows Server 2008 R2 Migration Utilities package to complete these migrations is available at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee849855(WS.10).aspx

 

Patrick Lownds

 

 

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Best Practices for deploying the HP StorageWorks Enterprise Virtual Array with Hyper-V R2

This whitepaper provides detailed best practices to architect and deploy the HP StorageWorks Enterprise Virtual Array (EVA) in a highly available virtualized infrastructure using Microsoft’s Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V R2. These test-proven best practices were developed in an environment featuring the EVA array deployed with HP BladeSystem Servers, SAN and Networking.

Included are EVA-specific configuration considerations for Hyper-V environments, including LUN sizes and VRAID levels, as well as details describing the various Hyper-V disk types, along with recommendations for their deployment in conjunction with the EVA.

There is also a detailed description of some of the new Hyper-V R2 features such as Live Migration and Cluster Shared Volumes, and information describing how to plan for and deploy these with the EVA.

This whitepaper is ideally suited to IT professionals responsible for implementing a virtualized environment with Microsoft’s Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V R2, and are looking for test-proven recommendations showing how HP’s EVA Array, BladeSystem Servers, SAN and Networking can be used to deploy a complete, cost-effective and easy to manage virtualized infrastructure and can be downloaded from http://h20195.www2.hp.com/V2/GetDocument.aspx?docname=4AA0-1907ENW&cc=us&lc=en

 

Patrick Lownds

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