MVUG Blog

RemoteFX Thin Client Prototype

At Microsoft TechEd Berlin earlier in the month, HP had the first public demonstration of its HP thin client prototype, a hardware based Microsoft RemoteFX implementation. 

Microsoft RemoteFX is a feature of Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 that optimizes and accelerates the RDC (formerly known as RDP) protocol to drastically reduce network bandwidth requirements, enabling a rich, local-like user experience for Microsoft virtual desktop customers. HP partnered with Texas Instruments (TI) to develop the RemoteFX hardware-based thin client prototype.

Patrick Lownds

Private Cloud Reference Architectures with Hyper-V and System Center Part 3

Using multiple network adapters or multi port network adapters on each host are a required component of the Hyper-V Private Cloud Reference Architecture. For converged infrastructure designs, network technologies that provide NIC teaming or virtual NICs (e.g. HP Virtual Connect and FlexNICs) can be used to provide multiple adapters, which can then be teamed for redundancy. Then multiple virtual NICs or vLANs can be presented to the host for traffic segmentation and bandwidth control.

If you are using a 10 GbE backbone, each host must have two or more 10 GbE NICs, with the ability to present multiple teamed or virtual NICs to the Parent Partition.

If you are using a 1 GbE backbone, then each host most have a minimum of five 1GbE NICs (1 for Management, 1 for Cluster/CSV, 1 for Live Migration, 2 for production virtual machine traffic).

In the event that you are using a 1 GbE backbone and iSCSI storage, each host most have two additional 1GbE NICs giving a minimum total of seven NICs.

Patrick Lownds

Make way for the DL980

HP has just released a whitepaper "Best Practices When Deploying Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 or Microsoft Windows Server 2008 SP2 on HP ProLiant DL980 G7 Servers"

The HP ProLiant DL980 G7 server is HP’s latest 8 socket, x86-based, 64-bit scale up platform. Available in 4, 6 and 8 core configurations, it can support up to 128 logical processors (with 8 Intel Xeon 7500/6500 series processors x 8 cores x 2 threads per core, with Intel’s Hyper-threading enabled), 2 TB of physical memory (RAM), and up to 16 PCIe/PCI-X I/O cards. In addition, the DL980 utilizes Non-Uniform Memory Architecture (NUMA) and Intel QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) technology.

To download the whitepaper go to http://bizsupport2.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c02577023/c02577023.pdf

Patrick Lownds

Private Cloud Reference Architectures with Hyper-V and System Center Part 2

The host architecture is a critical component of the Private Cloud Reference Architecture. Whether you choose to implement rack mounted servers or blade servers, the key goal is to select a host architecture that will support the right level of virtual machine density.

The four main food groups are CPU, Memory, Storage I/O, and Network I/O. In choosing your host architecture it is important to ensure that the server itself is able to provide the required capacity in each of these categories.

The server, be it a rack or blade mounted, must provide redundant power connectivity (multiple PDUs for racks based servers or multiple hot swappable power supplies for a blade chassis). The server should have between 2 to 8 CPU sockets, with a maximum of 64 logical processors enabled. It goes without saying that the CPUs themselves must be x64 CPU with either AMD Virtualization or Intel Virtualization Technology support.

Each host must have a minimum of 64 GB RAM (typically industry average I see today is around 72 GB) and have a minimum or a 40 GB local hard drive using either RAID 1 or RAID 10 for the OS partition (again most servers ship with disks that are larger than this requirement) and should be connected to either SATA or SAS controllers.

Note that boot from SAN is also supported. If using an iSCSI storage array then two or more 10 GbE NICs or HBAs should be used. If using a FC storage array then two or more 4/8 Gb FC HBAs should be used.

Finally, the following minimum networks are required:

One network dedicated to the host for management
One network dedicated to the CSV/Cluster communication
One network dedicated to the Live Migration
One or more networks dedicated to the guest virtual machines (use of a 10 Gbps network adapter is recommended)
One or more networks dedicated to iSCSI with Multipath I/O (MPIO)

Sample Host Design

Patrick Lownds

Private Cloud Reference Architectures with Hyper-V and System Center Part 1

Microsoft announced last week at TechEd - Berlin that they were teaming up with a handful of server manufacturers to provide validated Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track Configurations. These Fast Track Configurations consist of a predefined hardware setup, as well as Microsoft virtualization and management software.

So what is included in the Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track configuration?

Within the “Management Cluster” there is a two node Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V Cluster, which hosts a number of virtual machines running SQL, Virtual Machine Manager, Operations Manager, Data Protection Manager, Forefront Endpoint Protection and System Center Virtual Machine Manager Self-Service Portal v2. The Self-Service Portal was the formerly known as the Dynamic Datacenter Toolkit (DDTK-E).

Within the “Compute Cluster” there are four or more nodes running Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V in a dedicated Cluster. Here is where you will find computing power/resources that are pooled to serve multiple subscribers, with potentially different physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according to demand.

Patrick Lownds

Deploying RemoteFX on a Remote Desktop Session Host Server Step-by-Step Guide

This step-by-step guide walks you through the process of setting up a working Remote Desktop Session Host (RD Session Host) that uses RemoteFX and is accessible by using Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) in a test Windows Server 2008 R2 environment. Upon completion of this step-by-step guide, you will have an RD Session Host server with RemoteFX that can be connected to by using Remote Desktop Connection.

To download this walkthrough go to http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=d90e841f-d84c-4746-b0f3-3c16e71d1ed1

Want more on RemoteFX? Then check out these links:

What Is New in Remote Desktop Services in Windows Server 2008 R2 http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=821fa300-edb0-4396-a443-64890cc0fcbd

Configuring USB Redirection with Microsoft RemoteFX Step-by-Step Guide http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=4b290885-2da1-4432-baab-87346c96b63c

Deploying Microsoft RemoteFX for Virtual Desktop Pools Step-by-Step Guide http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=c031b617-1c9b-4ccf-bc13-df6199003e9e

Deploying Microsoft RemoteFX for Personal Virtual Desktops Step-by-Step Guide http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=36dfd539-fa39-47de-af89-24f07bd67a7d

Deploying Microsoft RemoteFX on a Single Remote Desktop Virtualization Host Server Step-by-Step Guide http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=dab3196b-97ec-4fbf-86b4-cc8023d8c111

Patrick Lownds

Windows CLI Reference Guide

Working with Server Core? Well this Windows CLI Reference Guide will be invaluable to you! Download it from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=5fb255ff-72da-4b08-a504-1b10266cf72a

Patrick Lownds

Virtualization Overview, Methods and Models

Virtualization Overview, Methods and Models, describes and illustrates how to plan virtualization for your organization. These cool files (see below for an example) can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=884e2e2a-e4d5-43c5-aaaf-5c1e6d793d9c

Patrick Lownds

XenClient Masterclass

Attend this technical webcast to take a deeper dive into Citrix XenClient, hear what's new and interact with XenClient product experts. During this webcast XenClient product experts will present a detailed overview of Citrix Receiver for XenClient and provide you with the tips and tricks you need. To register go to https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/266500576

Topics include:
 
Under the hood of XenClient
Dynamic Image mode
Secure application sharing
Tips and tricks

Patrick Lownds

New Microsoft Desktop Virtualization zone on the Springboard Series on TechNet

The new Desktop Virtualization Zone on Springboard Series on TechNet provides dynamic information and structured resources to help explore, test, pilot, and deploy the latest Windows OS. There is technical guidance on the following:

Plus much more. Take a look for yourself at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/gg276319.aspx

Patrick Lownds

Windows 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 Release Candidate Now Available

Microsoft has made available a Release Candidate for Service Pack 1 for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7. SP1 includes both a roll up of operating system updates and several new capabilities for Windows Server 2008 R2. The notable Windows 2008 R2 SP1 changes are, Dynamic Memory, which lets Hyper-V administrators pool available memory on a physical host and dynamically distribute it to any virtual machine(s) running on that host and RemoteFX, which lets Windows Server 2008 R2 administrators provide a rich end user desktop virtualization experience by delivering vivid content, independent of any graphics stack, to server-hosted virtual and session-based desktops.

To download the RC build and to get a , go to http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/sp1.aspx

Patrick Lownds

What is Office 365?

Microsoft Office 365 delivers the power of cloud productivity to businesses of all sizes, helping to save time, money and free up valued resources. Office 365 combines the familiar Office desktop suite with cloud based versions of the next generation communications and collaboration services. For more information on Office 365 go to http://office365.microsoft.com/en-US/what-is-office365.aspx and for a follow up related article go to http://www.brettblog.com/Office365_and_BPOS/ctl/ArticleView/mid/408/articleId/498/What-is-Office-365.aspx

Patrick Lownds