Ruben Spruijt

Application Virtualization Solutions Overview and Feature Compare matrix - UPDATED -

Ruben Spruijt — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:01:00 GMT

The whitepaper, Application Virtualization Solution Overview and Feature Compare matrix, will provide new and updated information about the various Application- and Desktop Delivery solutions, Application Virtualization in general and the main Application Virtualization vendors. It also includes a matrix with feature details of the different Application Virtualization solutions such as Altiris SVS, Citrix XenApp, Microsoft App-V, Vmware ThinApp, InstallFree Bridge, Endeavors Application Jukebox and Xenocode. It’s important to understand that the vision of application- and desktop delivery and the focus of the vendor is more important than only comparing the features of each solution. Despites of that, comparing features can help in finding the right application virtualization solution that fits in the business and technical requirements of your organization.

Frequently customers are wondering which Application Virtualization solution is the best? it’s impossible to give a general answer to that question. It depends on the demands of IT management, customers needs, business case and the current ICT infrastructure. This whitepaper will help in evaluating which solution fits the best in your organization. Upcoming BriForum together with other awesome presenters, Ruben will give a presentation where all these Application Virtualization solutions will be clarified. This session is called Streaming Smackdown 2009, a must see!. When you have questions, additions or remarks about this whitepaper please leave a comment on Brianmadden.com or give me a tweet

Understanding all the Application and Desktop delivery solutions in 30 minutes 2.0 (UPDATED)

Ruben Spruijt — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 20:14:00 GMT

Last year I created a blog entry "Understanding all the Application and Desktop delivery solutions in 30 minutes". Together with this blog entry a graphical diagram of all the different delivery concepts was created as well. The Application and Desktop delivery market space is rapidly evolving in many ways. I want to share the updated (v2.0) grahical illustration and explanation with you. There are many changes made in this illustration. I am sure this diagram will cover the application and desktop delivery concepts for upcoming 1-2 years.

This “Application & Desktop Delivery Solutions Overview” to provide a full at-a-glance outline of the various application and desktop delivery solutions. Reading this blog entry ent, which accompanies the Overview, will only take about 30 minutes, and will give you a complete outline of the diagram* and all the application and desktop solutions that are included in it. There are so many delivery solutions available on the market that - often due to a lack of knowledge - their functionalities are frequently mixed up. This article does not aim to describe all application scenarios or their technical advantages and disadvantages, but to give a general idea of the state of affairs in the application and desktop delivery segment, independent of vendors. I hope this overview will be of some value to you.

Trusted and Untrusted Work Place Scenarios

Trusted work places are devices that are connected to the existing IT backend infrastructure via wired or wireless LAN/WAN. Untrusted work places are devices that do not have a secure wired or wireless LAN/WAN connection to the existing IT backend infrastructure. This is, for example, equipment that is connected to a separate network segment for security reasons or because it is used from home or at a work experience location.
Each organisation has different work place and application delivery scenarios. For the IT department, it is important to have a good overview of the various work place and application delivery scenarios, since this indicates how the various users work with the applications or what their requirements are

Secure Access

Secure Access solutions provide secure access for untrusted devices to corporate IT. The two parts of the symbol stand for secure (the shield) and access (the traffic light). Depending on the chosen solution, secure access can also be fine-grained. Solutions that can be used to realise secure access scenarios include Cisco ASA, Citrix Access Gateway, Microsoft Intelligent Access Gateway, and Juniper SSL VPN.

Web Application Acceleration

Web Application Acceleration appliances accelerate and secure web-architected applications. We are all confronted with these solutions nowadays: internet applications such as Google, MSN and eBay all use them. Web application acceleration solutions are not just useful for large organisations; however, you could also use them for your own web applications. Solutions that facilitate web application acceleration and security include packages such as Citrix Netscaler en F5 BigIP.

Connection Broker

The connection broker determines which server-hosted remote desktop will be made available to the client. When using a server-hosted virtual desktop infrastructure for this, it is possible to either designate dedicated desktops or a pool of remote desktops. The desktop broker can automatically create, remove or pause remote desktops. There are a number of connection broker suppliers. Citrix with XenDesktop, Microsoft with Remote Desktop Services, and VMware with View are the best-known total solutions. Depending on the supplier, the connection broker may have additional functions, such as a web interface that can create secure (SSL) connections to remote desktops, and also Directory Services integration, Full USB support, support for various display protocols and integration with Terminal Services. Depending on the rules, it is possible to execute applications centrally on a server-hosted VDI or on a terminal server.

Application Streaming and Virtualization

Through application streaming and virtualization, Microsoft Windows applications can be used without changing the local operating system or installing application software at a particular work place. In other words; the application can be executed as if it had been installed locally and can save data and print without the need of any modifications to the local client. Resources such as the CPU, memory, hard disk and network card take care of the execution of these applications.
Application Streaming and Virtualization can make applications available to desktops, laptops, server-hosted VDIs and terminal services platforms. The applications are executed on a “client” platform, without needing to modify the platform.
The advantages of Application Virtualization include: installation, upgrade, roll-back, delivery speed and the ease of application support (management). Installation of applications is no longer necessary, eliminating the possibility of conflicts. The result is a dynamic application delivery infrastructure.
Application Streaming and Virtualization solutions include: Microsoft App-V, VMware ThinApp, InstallFree, Symantec Workspace Virtualization and Citrix XenApp client side virtualization.

OS Provisioning

OS Provisioning allows workstations to boot up and run from a central image. A single image can be used simultaneously by multiple workstations. The advantage of this is that complete operating systems, including applications and clients, can be made available quickly and securely. It is possible to make a single image available to multiple VDIs, TSs and physical desktop environments without causing conflicts. As a result, it is possible to upgrade or roll-back an OS quickly, simply, and without significant risks. When virtual desktops use OS streaming, (valuable) storage is saved, and the management of virtual desktops becomes relatively simple. This means that virtual or physical machines using OS Provisioning can become “stateless devices”. Citrix Provisioning Server and the VMware View Composer are both solutions that facilitate OS Provisioning.

Server-hosted VDI

VDI, Virtual Desktop infrastructure = Dedicated Virtual Desktop
There are two kinds of VDI: server-hosted and client-side. A Server-Hosted Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is a dedicated remote desktop solution providing remote access to Windows XP/Vista/Win7 or Linux desktops. The virtual machines are run from the data centre. The virtual infrastructure increases the system’s independence, availability and manageability. The implementation of Server-Hosted VDIs means that desktops are no longer bound to a location or end-user appliance. Each user has his own unique, personalised, fully independent work place. Programs run and data is processed and stored on a centralised personal desktop. The information is sent to the client screen via a remote display protocol such as Microsoft RDP, Citrix ICA, Teradici/VMware “PC-over-IP” or VNC.
The protocol used for displaying the correct information depends on the operating system, bandwidth, the type of application, and the technical facilities. As with other desktop delivery solutions, VDI consist of various infrastructure components that facilitate management, load balancing, session control and secure access to virtual work stations. Microsoft, VMware, Quest and Citrix are all important suppliers within the server-hosted VDI segment.

Server-hosted VDI, GPU Acceleration

The “Graphical Processor Unit (GPU) acceleration” functionality can be added to the server-hosted VDI solution. It provides each (virtual) machine with enough graphic performance to run multimedia, 2D/3D, NextGen and Unified Communications.
Display data is presented to the client device via an optimized remote display protocol. To ensure that the end-users experience the best possible performance, the bandwidth, latency, or local (software) components have to meet extra requirements.

Terminal Services (TS)

Terminal Services (TS) = “Shared Remote Desktop”
Terminal Services is a solution for the remote access to desktops and applications that are run on a terminal server in a data centre, where every user has his or her unique terminal server session. Access to the desktop or application is not tied to a location or end-user machine, and programs are executed centrally on the terminal server. The data appears on the client screen through a remote display protocol such as Microsoft RDP or Citrix ICA. Terminal Services consists of various infrastructure components for management, load balancing, session control and support. It has the advantage that applications are made available quickly and securely, the TCO is low, and applications can be accessed irrespective of location or work place. Suppliers of terminal services include Microsoft, Citrix and Quest

Client-side VDI

VDI, Virtual Desktop infrastructure = Dedicated Virtual Desktop
There are two kinds of VDI: server-hosted and client-side. Client-side Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is a dedicated local desktop. The virtual machines are run locally on the client device. The hypervisor ensures that each virtual machine is hardware-independent, and makes it possible to simultaneously use a number of virtual machines at the same workstation. The hypervisor plays an essential part in client-side VDI solutions. There are two kids of hypervisor: a bare-metal client hypervisor and a client-hosted hypervisor. The client-hosted hypervisor is installed on the Windows, Apple of Linux operating system as an application. The bare-metal client hypervisor is installed on top of the hardware, with the operating system installed on the hypervisor. The main differences between the hypervisors are hardware support, performance, manageability and end-user experience.
Citrix XenClient, VMware Client Virtualization, Neoclus en Virtual Computer are all bare-metal client VDI solutions. Microsoft VirtualPC en MED-V, VMware ACE and Fusion, Parallels Desktop, and Sun VirtualBox are client-hosted VDI solutions.

Client Management

Any self-respecting professional IT organisation is bound to use a Client Management solution, as it is needed to facilitate things such as OS deployment, patch management application and client deployment, asset management, service desk integration, and remote control. Examples of client management systems are Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM), RES Wisdom, Altiris Deployment Solution, LANdesk Client Management and Novell ZENworks Configuration Management. Client Management is one half of the complete picture. The complete picture is User Environment and Client Device management.. (To be continued).

Finally

The solutions given in this overview all provide different ways of making applications and desktops available effectively and dynamically.
Which solution is best for your organisation depends on a number of variables. Each company has different requirements and different technological circumstances, and together they determine which solution is best.

Project Virtual Reality Check's VMware ESX white paper: UPDATED

Ruben Spruijt — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:16:00 GMT

A few months ago, Project "Virtual Reality Check" (VRC) released four whitepapers. These whitepapers cover Citrix XenServer 5.0, Microsoft Hyper-V 1.0, VMware ESX 3.5 and bare metal platforms running Windows Server 2003/2008 x86 and x64 Terminal Services and Windows XP as VDI workload.

The VMware ESX whitepaper has just been updated with AMD's Rapid Virtualization Indexing (RVI) results. The impact of AMD Nested Page Tables (RVI is AMD's implementation of NPT) is benchmarked and analyzed. The outcome of these tests do really have a interesting positive impact in the amount of users on virtualized x86 Terminal Server platform. You can read the impact in the VMware ESX v1.1 whitepaper which can be downloaded from www.virtualrealitycheck.net

During various various webcasts and presentations such as VMworld Europe, Citrix Synergy, Virtualization Congress we explain that “Project: VRC isn't finished…. it is just started! “. This week we started phase #2 of Project VRC. The highest priority in this phase is executing benchmarks using Terminal Server workloads running VMware vSphere using brand-new HP DL380G6 (Intel Xeon 5500 Nehalem) hardware. Also Windows7 as VDI platform will be tested and analyzed. Our goal (no promises) is to present and publish the results before the 22th of July when we present at BriForum. http://briforum.com/html/sessions.html#A19

------------------------------------

Welcome to “Project: Virtual Reality Check (VRC)”!
More and more people ask advice about the hardware virtualization solutions, particularly in a Terminal Server and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure context.
PQR and Login Consultants have decided to compare the various hardware virtualization platforms in relationship to the end-user performance experience using the freely available benchmarking methodology of Login Consultants, VSI. Jointly they will deliver the outcome of the investigations and benchmarks to a broader audience, as part of the joint venture “Project: Virtual Reality Check (VRC)”.
Running Terminal Server workloads on virtual hardware is generally not recommended, but recent developments give grounds to a re-evaluation of current
best practices. By bench¬marking these and the Virtual Desktop workloads on physical servers and various virtualization solutions, Project VRC will give
you valuable and most importantly unbiased experience and insights.

Understanding all data and system availability solutions in 30 minutes: IT made easy!

Ruben Spruijt — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:32:00 GMT

While storage solutions and virtualization can often become a goal in themselves, in respect to availability, it’s not a simple task to design a datacenter availability solution. All aspects of the datacenter influence one another. To position the products needed for datacenter solutions and to create understanding of the components, a solutions diagram was created. This diagram in no way pretends to be a complete detailed overview of every possible solution but tries to give a general overview of the methods involved.

The Data and System Availability diagram aims to give an overview of all of the components that make up the datacenter and the relations between them.

Advanced IT-Infrastructures made easy

In an advanced ICT infrastructures it's all about Users, Applications, Data and System Availability.

Infrastructures are built to provide users with the applications they need to do their work. These applications produce data and data is provisioned by systems. To allow users to work anywhere at any time, the applications and the desktops they work on have to be delivered to them in a certain way. To give an overview of the possible ways to do that, a diagram was created called ‘Application and Desktop Delivery’ solutions. The components used in this diagram are things like Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, Terminal Server, Bladed Workstations, Application Virtualization and many more.

An advanced ICT infrastructure made easy: "Application and Desktop Delivery" and "Data and System Availability" is key!

Data and System Availability solutions overview

The dynamics of applications and desktops are making them location, device and time independent. Data and systems have completely different availability requirements. They are typically stored in a datacenter that is not dynamically provisioned, although we may see that change in the near future with the upcoming cloud computing initiatives.

(A High Quality version of the diagram can be downloaded here)

Servers

It’s servers that provide users or applications with the services they need. Services can be anything: web services, file and print services, authentication, database services, etc. In a traditional datacenter, these services are mostly executed on physical servers.

These physical servers come with a lot of resources that most services don’t need. They either have way too much storage, CPU power and memory, or too little. When there’s not enough resources available, adding more usually adds too much of the resource, over-dimensioning them.

Also, physical servers with local storage have a few disadvantages that limit their availability. If a physical server fails, the service is no longer available. A new server has to be setup, data restored and settings reconfigured. All in all a process that could take up to several days.

Storage

To cope with these availability problems, it makes sense to start with centralizing the storage. This makes it easier to allocate the right amount of storage to a service and makes it easier for the service to access it from another location, thus enhancing its availability.

Centralizing storage also has some disadvantages. All storage is now on one system that becomes a new single point of failure. If it fails, the whole infrastructure fails.

So this central storage has to be redundant in every aspect. It needs redundant connections, redundant switches, redundant power, redundant hard disks, redundant everything. This is what makes a Storage Area Network (SAN) more expensive than local storage.

Storage Area Network

Connectivity to the SAN can be divided into two main groups: Fiber Channel (FC) and Ethernet. Where Fiber Channel provides the best performance, it’s also the most expensive. A very valid question in designing a storage infrastructure therefore is ‘does the customer really need that high end performance?’. The alternatives aren’t really that far behind anymore.

Ethernet based infrastructures are less expensive because connectivity takes place over regular Ethernet switches and regular Network Interface Cards (NICs).

Not too long ago, iSCSI was the main storage protocol to be used over Ethernet. It allows LUNs to be presented as full disks to a host. With the upcoming virtualization technology however, NAS is a strong contestant now too. Whether it’s NFS or CIFS, a host simply connects to a network share and stores it’s data on the file system that the storage provides. This flexibility has some disadvantages though. Hosts are no longer managing the storage and proprietary file systems like VMFS don’t work on it. On the other hand, a storage solution with a smart file system like NetApp’s Write Anywhere File Layout (WAFL) makes it very easy, with the right toolset, to work with (consistent!) snapshots.

Thin Provisioning

With a SAN, data per gigabyte is more expensive than with local storage. The advantages of having it available independent of the servers make up for a lot of the cost but it’s still better to be conservative with allocating storage. Application developers or server administrators tend to ask for more storage than they actually need.

One solution to this problem is to give them the storage they need, but only actually store what they really use. This is called ‘thin provisioning’. It’s a smart way to dynamically size the LUN on the array as it’s needed.

Linked Clones

Another way to save storage is to use linked clones. The principle of this technique is that it provides one set of data to multiple virtual machines, while keeping track of the differences between them and storing those differences in a separate location. When this is done on the array, the performance impact is negligible.

A physical server can also provide virtual machines with linked clone disks. This is a little bit slower and does take some CPU resources away from the VMs but it doesn’t need an intelligent storage array and is also a very good solution

Deduplication

At the moment, deduplication is mainly used in backup scenario’s. That means that data is first stored on a main storage system and at backup time deduplicated at a separate system or a different tier in the storage system. The reason it is not used on active data yet is mainly because the deduplication process is a very calculation intensive process that, at the moment, simply isn’t fast enough for modern storage demands.

The deduplication process works by first accepting all data. It then either inline or in a background process, first compresses it and then at a block level, checks if that block already exists. If it does, it simply points to that block, if not, the new block is stored. This can reduce the backup data size of multiple backups by 50% to even 90% of a traditional backup data set.

Archiving

Because a central high performance storage system can be quite expensive, a lot of companies decide to move less used data to less expensive high capacity storage. This is typically done by setting up the storage in multiple tiers.

This process can be all inline of the storage system that moves data on block level to a slower, and therefore less expensive set of disks. When the data is accessed again, it is moved back to the fast storage tier. Clients and applications can access all the data as it stays online at all times.

Another way to archive data is to have a data management solution decide what data to move. This is then done at a file-, mail- or database object level. The advantage of this system is that it actually moves data out of the systems, possibly leaving a so called ‘stub’ behind as a reference for clients and applications. This means that when the data is accessed again, it needs to be restored from another location which can be a time consuming process. On the other hand, this significantly reduces the active data size which in turn reduces backup time by large factors.

Indexing service

When data is moved between different storage tiers or systems, clients, applications and backup systems can get confused about where the data is actually stored.
An indexing server keeps track of the location of all the data in a storage system. It interfaces with the archiving solution and provides a transparent interface to clients and applications. The archiving solution on demand moves data back to other tiers.

Virtualization

Once the availability of data is improved, it’s time to do the same for the servers. Having data online is only half the solution. Without services to deliver it to the clients and applications, it is of no more use than a backup.

A physical solution to improve server availability is clustering. Clustered systems require shared storage or have their own copy of the data that is kept in sync by using application level replication.

Another solution to improving server availability is virtualization. Virtual machines are independent of the physical hardware and can very easily be moved from one host to another, whether this host is on the same site or a failover site. Higher server availability can be achieved by a virtualization solution that actively monitors all virtual machines and in case of a physical host failure, automatically restarts the virtual machine on another host. Depending on the management tools available, it’s also possible to load balance all virtual machines across the available physical hosts by implementing live migration options.

There are two main types of hypervisors for virtualization solutions; the thin hypervisor, also called microkernelized hypervisor and the thick hypervisor, also called monolithic hypervisor. Thin hypervisors are used by virtualization solutions like XenServer and Hyper-V whiles ESX uses a thick hypervisor.

The complete whitepaper can be downloaded here

Credits are also for Herco van Brug (hbr@pqr.nl), we developed the Data and System Availability diagram and the whitepaper together.

Virtualization: a Beginner's Guide - New Book

Ruben Spruijt — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 06:00:00 GMT

Virtualization: a Beginner's Guide, is a new book released February 2009.

I know how much it can take to write a book on my own, and today this doesn't fit in my business and private schedule. Working together with Chris Wolf and Duncan Epping, I started tech-editing the book Virtualization, a Beginner's Guide. Danielle and Nelson Ruest spend a lot of time in writing this great book. It's not written for advanced virtualization admins but is useful for anyone new in virtualization. The latest technologies from Citrix, Microsoft, VMware are explained as well as server consolidation, application virtualization and virtual desktop infrastructures are covered. You can view chapter one and six, read the table of contents or buy the book here

People who want to update and broaden their skills in the virtualization arena should read this book. (Although I'm biased!)

Project VRC at VMworld Europe 2009

Ruben Spruijt — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 05:22:00 GMT

This past February 24-26th, I was at VMworld Europe 2009 in Cannes, France.

Our Project Virtual Reality Check presentation was really great and with 200 people in the audience, during lunch, a good session. Our presentation contained:

Test platform and methodology
Baremetal results
VMware ESX results
Future plans

You can download the presentation here. During VMworld, Jessica and Jeremy recorded some great videos. Our interview can be viewed here. For Jeroen van de Kamp and I it was really an honor to present at VMworld. PQR, the company I work for, won the European VMware Authorized Consultancy Partner of the year, awesome.

With al the great content, interesting people, nice conversations and weather it was an awesome event.

Head-to-head performance analysis of App-V, SVS, ThinApp and XenApp

Ruben Spruijt — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 02:41:00 GMT

XPnet created a whitepaper which analyze and describes the performance characteristics of Altiris SVS Pro, Citrix XenApp, Microsoft App-V and VMware ThinApp. Although the tested application set is limited it still gives a nice view of the performance characteristics of different Application Virtualization solutions.

VMWare commission the study, but did not aid or influence the results. VMWare chose Xpnet to study AppVirt performance because they developed Clarity Suite which is a fairly well known Office benchmarking application and because it’s freely available anyone can reproduce their results. This is the first real whitepaper which investigates the performance impact of various Application Virtualization solutions. My personal feeling is that there are more real independent tests to come..

The complete test report can be downloaded here

VDI and TS performance on ESX, Hyper-V, Xen, and bare-metal: head-to-head results are here via Project Virtual Reality Check!

Ruben Spruijt — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 14:01:00 GMT

Jeroen van de Kamp and I are proud to finally announce the official launch of project "Virtual Reality Check” (VRC). This is a independent research joint venture between our companies--Login Consultants and PQR. The primary purpose of VRC is to release multiple whitepapers to provide information about the scalability and best practices of virtualized Terminal Server and desktop workloads. The first phase of Project VRC compares the performance of virtualizing Windows XP and 32-bit Windows 2003 Terminal Services on ESX, XenServer, Hyper-v, and bare-metal hardware.

The four resulting white papers can be downloaded for free from www.virtualrealitycheck.net. (free registration required)

The goal of Project VRC is to investigate, validate, and find answers to the following questions:

How do various Microsoft Windows Client OSes scale when used for virtual desktops?
How does a VDI infrastructure scale in comparison to (virtualized) Terminal Server?
Which performance optimization on the host and guest virtualization level can be configured, and what is the impact of these settings on user density?
With the introduction of the latest hypervisor technologies, can we now recommend running large-scale Terminal Server or Citrix workloads on a virtualization platform?
What is the performance impact of adding Citrix XenApp to Terminal Server?
How do x86 (32-bit) and x64 TS platforms compare in scalability on bare metal and virtualized environments?
What is the best way to partition (memory and vCPU) the Virtual Machines and the hypervisor host to achieve the highest possible user density?

All together, we've carried out over 150 tests! That said, project VRC is not finished, and probably never will be.

Additional publications are planned about virtualizing x64 workloads and the other (Vista and Windows 7) client OSes. We're also looking forward to evaluating new innovations in the hypervisor (ESX v4.0, XenServer 5.1, Hyper-V 2.0, etc. ) and hardware arenas.

Keep a close look on BrianMadden.com for news about when additional white papers will be released,.

Citrix Xen-based client hypervisor video

Ruben Spruijt — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 03:38:00 GMT

A few days ago Brian wrote about Citrix 'Project Independence', a very (very) interesting and useful desktop delivery solution. In my opinion client-side bare metal hypervisors will change the way we delivery applications and desktops to users where applications are executed locally. This is awesome, in the near future we don't need Client-Management solution anymore ...!? ;-)

Gus Pinto posted a video where the Citrix Xen-based client hypervisor is running on a HP Intel Centrino laptop.

I can't wait to get my hands on this technology... what are your thoughts with this technology!?

Application Virtualization Solutions Overview and Feature Comparison Matrix, Reloaded! - UPDATED

Ruben Spruijt — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:10:00 GMT

The whitepaper - Application Virtualization Solutions Overview and Feature Comparison Matrix - is updated to version 2.1. New features are added and with some additional research some vendor functions are changed.

In April 2007, I released the first Application Virtualization Feature Compare Matrix, aka ‘The Matrix’. In December 2008, a new white paper is released. This document will provide information about the various application- and desktop delivery solutions, application virtualization in general, the main application virtualization vendors and a matrix with feature details of the different virtualization solutions. It’s important to understand that the vision of application and desktop delivery and the focus of the vendor is more important than only comparing the features of each solution. Despite that, comparing features can help in finding the right application virtualization solution that fits in the business and technical requirements of your organization.

Frequently customers wonder which solution is the best? it’s impossible to give a general answer to that question. It depends on the demands of IT management, customers needs, business case and the current ICT infrastructure.

This document is created to help people finding their right solution for dynamic application delivery! The complete whitepaper can be downloaded here. This document is part of the Streaming Smackdown (2008 edition) presentation presented @ BriForum

Follow Ruben on Twitter!?

Ruben Spruijt — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 18:25:00 GMT

I have started twittering about my daily activities. Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users' updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. You can follow me at www.twitter.com/rspruijt

The Lonely Planet for Application and Desktop delivery 2008-2009

Ruben Spruijt — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 06:03:00 GMT

With a wide range of application and desktop delivery solutions available, determining which solution can best accommodate your requirements and desires is no simple matter. What are the different Application Virtualisation solutions, which suppliers are operating in the Server Based Computing and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure segment, and which players offer applications and desktops as a service from the cloud? In this article Ruben Spruijt discusses the most widely used application and desktop delivery solutions to give a clear picture of the current situation in this booming market segment.

The art of application and desktop delivery

At many organisations the IT department determines what an end user may or may not use. I believe the IT department not only determines functionality for the end user, it is particularly responsible for access to applications. With this approach the IT department becomes the service provider for users; ’IT @ your service, as-a-service’. I call the conveyance of this message 'The art of Application and Desktop Delivery’. What exactly is application and desktop delivery? Application and desktop delivery is a process with the purpose of being able to offer applications independent of location and workplace so the user can work anywhere and anytime; onsite, online, offsite and offline.

The journey and the destination

To understand the different application and desktop delivery solutions it is very important to interpret the right concepts in the right way. When conducting research answering two questions is of vital importance

1. What is the applications' execution platform? The execution platform uses system resources such as a CPU, memory, disk and network to run the Windows and web application. The most common execution platforms are: Desktop, Laptop, BladePC, VDI and SBC. Well-known suppliers for these platforms are: Microsoft, Citrix, VMware, Microsoft, Provision Networks and HP.

2. How are applications made available on the execution platform? An execution platform can be attractive, certainly with Windows 7 in the pipeline, but if no applications are made available on the platform this platform is of no value to the user. The second question is accordingly how are the (business-critical) applications delivered on the execution platform? There are various solutions to make Microsoft Windows applications available on the execution platform. The most common forms are installation or virtualisation. With installation, applications are installed automatically and unattended at the workplace, where the execution platform or the workplace is adapted. When applications are made available by means of virtualisation they are available ‘On-demand’. The execution platform is then not adapted. The most common application virtualisation suppliers are Microsoft, Citrix, VMware, Altiris and InstallFree.

Making applications available to the end user independent of the technology used is the ultimate aim of an ICT infrastructure. This article gives an overall picture of the various current application and desktop delivery suppliers with associated solutions.

Server Based Computing (SBC)

SBC is a solution for access to desktops or separate applications executed on Terminal Servers at a datacenter. Access to the desktop or application is not bound by a location or end user machine. Program execution and data processing take place centrally on the Terminal Servers. The information appears on the client screen via RDP or ICA. Server Based Computing consists of various infrastructure components for management, load balancing, session control and support.

Microsoft Windows Server 2008

Microsoft made the Windows Server 2008 platform available in February 2008. Its functionality is particularly intended for smaller and less complex environments. This focus ensures that third party suppliers such as Citrix, Provision Networks, Ericom and 2X have room to develop further functionality on the Microsoft platform. Windows Server 2008 is brimming with new functionality, including Terminal Services Web Access. The Windows Server 2008 version is available as a 32- or 64-bit version. The successor to Windows Server 2008, the R2 version, is only available as a 64-bit version. If you want to use Windows Server 2008 as a Terminal Server platform, investigate the advantages and disadvantages of this platform and seriously consider using the x64 version.

Citrix XenApp

After Citrix's take-over of XenSource, all that can be heard from Citrix is 'Xen, Xen, Xen’. In Citrix language Xen is equivalent to ‘virtualisation’. Citrix XenApp offers two possible ways of virtualising applications. Possibility one is also called ‘server-side application virtualisation’. This is a nice name for the well-known and proven Server Based Computing concept. The other form of application virtualisation is ‘client-side application virtualisation’. Here applications are offered at speed and extremely simply on a desktop, laptop or terminal server, where the application is made available on the relative platform in an isolated environment. Citrix XenApp 5.0 ‘server-side virtualisation’ is a new name for (Metaframe) Presentation Server and is the most up-to-date version. This solution is added to the Windows Server 2003 or 2008 platform. Three versions of the platform are available: Advanced, Enterprise and Platinum. A description of the different versions with their associated features can be found at: http://www.virtuall.nl/articles/ProductInformation/Citrix With the introduction of Windows Server 2008 in April this year the Terminal Services platform has been given new and very significant functionality. Citrix WebInterface is one of the updated functions within the XenApp 5.0 solution. With each new or updated Microsoft Terminal Server version a (good) discussion originates about the added value of Citrix XenApp on this platform. Citrix's vision extends much further than only Server Based Computing, even if that is mainly where its history lies. The following article is certainly worth reading to help get a clear picture of the added value of Citrix XenApp on Windows Server 2003 or 2008: http://www.virtuall.nl/articles/ProductInformation/Citrix/CitrixXenApp5TSFeatureCompare.pdf

Provision Networks

Provision Networks is a part of the major Quest Software concern. Provision Networks provides two solutions for the Terminal Server platform. The Virtual Access Suite (VAS) 5.6 Enterprise and Standard Edition. This software adds functionality to the basic Microsoft Terminal Server platform. The price/quality ratio of the Virtual Access Suite is very good, although this solution is not yet so frequently used. Out of sight, out of mind is one of the reasons. The Multimedia Redirection technology offers interesting functionality. This is a technology that enables the use of multimedia applications with RDP. A full summary of the functionality of the Virtual Access Suite can be found at: http://www.provisionnetworks.com/solutions/pmf_ent.aspx

Ericom, 2X, Propalms, Jetro and Sun

The software supplier market adding value to the Microsoft Terminal Server platform is extensive. Ericom PowerTerm, 2X Application Server and Jetro Cockpit are solutions each adding value in their own way. These solutions are not common in the SME+ and Enterprise segment, certainly not in Europe. One solution that is increasingly being used is one from Sun. The Sunray Software solution can offer a combination of SBC and VDI solutions on Windows, Linux and Solaris. The Sunray desktop appliance with its own smartcard and SingleSignOn functionality offers worthwhile applications in education and health care.

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) gives remote access to Windows XP or Vista desktops run centrally on virtual machines at the datacenter. Server virtualisation solutions such as Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix XenServer or VMware ESX Server comprise the infrastructure basis for the virtual (Xen)Desktops. Access to the personal desktop is not bound by a location or end user machine. Each end user has a unique, dedicated desktop environment. Program execution, data processing and data storage take place centrally on a personal desktop. The information appears on the client screen via RDP/ICA or RGS. The protocol for displaying the correct information depends on the operating system, bandwidth, application properties and technical or operational requirements. In essence VDI can be divided into two parts: ‘server hosted’ and ‘client-side’. Server hosted is where the virtual machine is run at the datacenter. With client-side VDI the running of the virtual machine is effected from the desktop or laptop. The ‘Server hosted’ VDI applications most used in Europe are VMware VDM, Citrix XenDesktop and Quest Virtual Access Suite. Parallels Virtuozzo, Sun Ray and HP Consolidated Client Infrastructure (CCI) are solutions worth taking a look at.

VMware VDM

VMware Virtual Desktop Manager version 2.1 is the ‘server hosted’ VDI solution from VMware. The origin of the VDM solution lies in the take-over of Propero in 2007. VMware VDM seamlessly integrates with the VMware Virtual Infrastructure platform. As a result, desktops are created or removed on-demand, and various configurations such as pooled and assigned desktops are options. The close cooperation with Wyse means multimedia applications with RDP can be effectively used locally on the ThinClient. The VDM solution also includes a Connection Broker, a VDM security server and components for integration with Virtual Center. We see that an increasing number of organisations are opting for VMware VDM. With the arrival of ‘VMware View’ at the end of 2008, this solution is a formidable competitor for Citrix XenDesktop. VMware’s strategy and focus chiefly concern datacenter automation. With the addition of VDM and ThinApp to the product portfolio, there is also increasing VMware focus on Application and Desktop delivery, a good thing!

Citrix XenDesktop

The ‘server hosted’ VDI solution from Citrix is XenDesktop. The most up-to-date version is 2.1. This version supports the use of VMware ESX, Citrix XenServer and Microsoft Hyper-V as virtual infrastructure platform. XenDesktop 2.1 can use VMware’s Virtual Center, Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 or Citrix XenCenter. This enables the automatic creation, removal and switching on and off of VMs. With the application of Citrix Provisioning Server 5.0, obtained through the Ardence take-over in 2006, it is very simple to create a pool of virtual machines where one image (vDisk) can be used synchronously by all pooled VMs. The management of 30, 300, 3,000 or 30,000 virtual machines simply entails the management of one single image. Use of Provisioning Server also drastically reduces the storage costs of the VMs to the storage of one single image. As distinct from other suppliers, XenDesktop does not use Microsoft Remote Desktop protocol but the Citrix ICA protocol. The different SpeedScreen Multimedia/Flash/Browser/Latency Reduction and Progressive Display functions with XenDesktop 2.1 are present to a certain extent. Application of this has a very positive effect on the end user experience. Further developments will ensure that 3D, Realtime Communications, Multimedia and NextGen applications will also be very possible via a remote display protocol.

Provision Networks

Besides the two solutions for the Terminal Server platform, Provision Networks also supplies a VDI solution, the Virtual Access Suite. An interesting aspect of the Provision Networks solutions is the ability to manage both a Terminal Server and a VDI infrastructure from one management console. Quest has made an interesting document available in which Provision Networks VAS, Citrix XenDesktop and VMware VDM are compared with each other. http://www.virtuall.nl/knowledge/ProvisionNetworksBrokerComparison.pdf

VDI Smackdown

Brian Madden gave an interesting presentation about VDI on BriForum 2008. The ‘VDI Smackdown’ presentation describes the different protocols, suppliers and solutions. BriForum is a vendor-independent congress, and worth taking the trouble to visit. The presentation can be download here: http://www.virtuall.nl/knowledge/BF2008VDISmackdown.pptx

Client-side VDI

Besides the ‘Server hosted’ applications there are also various ‘client-side’ VDI solutions. With its Assured Computing Environment (ACE), Player and Workstation, VMware accordingly has an interesting set of client-side Desktop Virtualisation solutions. With the take-over of Kidaro at the start of this year, Microsoft has added a very promising client-side Enterprise Desktop Virtualization application to the Virtualisation portfolio. This solution will be available next year as an MED-V part of the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP).

Microsoft – VECD

Understanding the Microsoft software licensing structure is a feat in itself - the fact that there is a separate certification program for licensing already says enough (LOL). VECD, Vista Enterprise Centralized Desktop, is a special licence required when you want to use a number of instances of XP and/or Vista in a ‘server hosted’ or ‘client-side’ VDI solution. VECD is a licence that must be purchased on top of Vista Enterprise, and can only be obtained when users have taken out Software Assurance on Vista Enterprise.

Application Virtualisation

Application Virtualisation enables Windows applications to be made available at a workplace without you having to make changes to the local operating system. Neither do you have to install the application at the workstation. In other words, even if the application is not locally installed you can simply run the application, save data with it and print. The local client does not have to be adapted.

Microsoft - App-V

Softricity, taken over by Microsoft in 2006, forms the basis for Microsoft App-V. Microsoft App-V 4.5 is the Application Virtualisation product from Microsoft. Many new functions were added with the introduction of version 4.5. One of them is the flexibility and scalability using different deployment models. Integration with System Center Configuration Manager 2007R2, the heavyweight and lightweight streaming services and the standalone mode make this a powerful virtualisation solution. Dynamic Suite Composition (DSC) ensures that virtualised applications can communicate with each other, and is a new function in App-V 4.5 Microsoft’s Application Virtualisation solution is available for Desktops, Terminal Servers and in a specially licensed form for hosting providers. The Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) also includes App-V 4.5, and is only available with Software Assurance for Windows Desktops. App-V is a proven virtualisation platform.

VMware – ThinApp

VMware obtained ThinApp with the take-over of Thinstall at the start of 2008. It offers possibilities that other solutions such as Microsoft App-V, Citrix XenApp and Altiris SVS cannot offer. With ThinApp 4.0 Windows applications are run without a local client/agent and without back-end infrastructure at the client workplace. The applications are fully virtualised and can where necessary even be used from a removable storage medium. ThinApp offers an Application Virtualisation Platform with which Windows applications are available as ‘self-contained’ EXE files. Administrator or PowerUser rights can be assigned to these EXE files without any installation. ThinApp can be used on x86 and x64 execution platforms. ThinApp is a ‘straightforward’ Application Virtualisation solution and is being used in projects increasingly often. VMware Thinapp is also made available as OEM via LANdesk.

Citrix - XenApp

XenApp 5.0 ‘Client-side virtualization’ is the Citrix solution to make Windows applications available on desktops, laptops and terminal servers. Application Streaming, Streaming Services and Project Tarpon are other, obsolete names for this delivery platform. Citrix XenApp is the correct name and fits in with Citrix's total vision of converting the datacenter into ‘delivery center’. XenApp is being used in an increasing number of projects, and certainly when a part of the infrastructure already uses Citrix. Compared with other solutions not all functions are available. Citrix is, however, certainly making good progress. The vision and integration with other solutions in the Citrix portfolio do make XenApp ‘client-side’ virtualization a really interesting solution.

Altiris – SVS

Altiris, taken over by Symantec in 2007, has a complete application delivery solution in SVS Professional. With the take-over of Appstream in 2008, Altiris Software Virtualization Solution (SVS) Professional contains streaming technology that is particularly powerful in WAN infrastructures. SVS Professional is a solution that works differently to the solutions from Citrix, Microsoft, VMware and InstallFree, both technically and functionally. As may be expected this has advantages and disadvantages. The big advantage is that the Altiris SVS applications perfectly integrate with other applications and are not, as with applications, insulated in a 100% separate environment. For various organisations this advantage is also a disadvantage because one wants the guarantee that applications cannot conflict with each other. SVS 2.1 is a ‘straightforward’ solution, Altiris SVS Professional is a complete ‘virtualisation’ solution. The Symantec vision as regards application and desktop delivery could be communicated more clearly, and developments seem to have been few in recent times. Maybe this is the calm before the storm…

InstallFree

InstallFree, a new supplier in application and desktop delivery, supplies two products; InstallFree Bridge and InstallFree Desktop. InstallFree Bridge is an application virtualisation solution on steroids. This technically very advanced solution offers client/agentless application virtualisation whereby all applications can also be centrally and extremely simply managed (no marketing fluff). From a technical perspective a very powerful platform on which much R&D takes place. A disadvantage of this solution is that it is still not a proven solution. InstallFree Desktop turns the local execution platform into a ‘portable desktop’. With this newer form of Desktop Virtualisation all OS and application changes are written to a removable storage device or central fileshare. The desktop itself runs in a Virtual Environment, and together with the user-specific information forms a personal ‘portable desktop’. InstallFree offers interesting solutions; a supplier to be watched carefully!

Desktone, Endeavors and Xenocode

Desktone does not actually supply a software product, but VDI as a complete service - ‘Desktop-as-a-Service’. The Virtual-D platform offers a solution to make virtual desktops available as an outsourced subscription service. Different Server Virtualisation, VDI and Application Virtualisation solutions are used for this platform.

Two less well-known Application Virtualisation solutions are ‘Endeavors Application Jukebox’ and ‘Xenocode Virtual Application Studio’. Endeavors Application Jukebox is an application streaming solution where you can meticulously determine if an application must be installed or virtualised. With the advanced streaming technology in combination with licence meeting this solution is mainly known in the Software-as-a-Service market. Xenocode Virtual Application Studio is functionally comparable with ThinApp. From a technical perspective less developed than VMware ThinApp at present. Through an OEM agreement this solution is also known as Novell ZENworks Application Virtualization solution.

The Matrix – Reloaded

Which application virtualisation solution is best of all!? I am often asked this question in many a form. To be able to provide an answer to this question you must exactly know what the requirements are. The requirements often involve strategy, technology and licensing. A document has been compiled to provide a full picture of the different application virtualisation players in this field. This document is called ‘Application Virtualization Solutions Overview and Feature Matrix’ alias ‘The Matrix – Reloaded’. The article can be downloaded here: http://www.virtuall.nl/articles/applicationanddesktopdelivery/ApplicationVirtualizationSolutionsOverviewandFeatureMatrix.pdf

Conclusion

Access to applications - that is what users need. They need flexibility, mobility and user-freedom at the workplace. An increasing number of organisations are strategically opting for the ‘Bring Your Own Computer’ concept. The user then has freedom at his/her workplace where the core applications are offered as a service. The BYOC concept is being seen by an increasing number of organisations as an important philosophy within the application and desktop delivery concept. Various delivery solutions are available. Solutions such as Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), Server Based Computing (SBC), Application Streaming and Virtualisation and OS streaming are key components of the BYOL concept. The demand for this and other functionality makes the use of different ‘Application and desktop delivery’ technologies crucial. At many organisations there is the need for clarity concerning application and desktop delivery! This means clarity about the different concepts, the solutions within the concept, the vision of the supplier and the advantages and disadvantages of the different products. With all these different solutions it is important have control and an overview of the different delivery services. ‘Access to the application’ is what it is all about for the end user.

This ‘Lonely Planet’ should help you on the journey to the ‘application and desktop delivery’ destination. “Application and Desktop delivery is a Journey, not a Destination ....".

The published article, figures included, is also available in dutch and english

Citrix XenDesktop: Centralization Alone Is Not the Answer

Ruben Spruijt — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:20:00 GMT

Citrix XenDesktop is the desktop virtualization solution by Citrix. In this article, Ruben Spruijt discusses the advantages and disadvantages of desktop virtualization and the role that Citrix XenDesktop plays therein. What is the function of the Citrix Provisioning Server in virtualizing desktops?
Desktop virtualization is developing into a serious, interesting and effective desktop delivery platform. According to Ruben Citrix is at the forefront when it comes to the development and acceptance of this form of virtualization. “War of the Virtual Worlds Part II” has begun! Ruben gives us his vision of the virtual workstation 2010.

Application and Desktop Delivery

Application and desktop delivery is a process whose objective is to be able to offer applications independent of location and workstation so that the user can always work everywhere: onsite, offsite and offline. Citrix XenDesktop is a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solution. This solution ensures remote access to Windows XP or Vista desktops that are centrally implemented on virtual machines in the data center. Server virtualization solutions such as Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix XenServer and VMware ESX Server form the infrastructure basis for the virtual (Xen)Desktops.

Xen Xen Xen

After the take-over of XenSource by Citrix it is “Xen, Xen, Xen” that makes the clock beat at Citrix. In the Citrix dictionary Xen is equal to “virtualization.” XenServer virtualizes hardware, thanks to which desktops and servers are designed to be hardware-independent. XenDesktop virtualizes and provides desktops.
Citrix XenApp virtualizes applications in two possible ways. Option one is called “server-side application virtualization.” A nice name for the known and proven server based computing concept. The other type of application virtualization is “client-side application virtualization.” In this form, applications are quickly and very easily provided on a desktop, laptop or terminal server, whereby the application is implemented on the respective platform in an isolated environment.

What are the pros and cons of Citrix XenDesktop?

There are various advantages of XenDesktop (XD). I describe several of them here below:
User experience: Multimedia and graphically heavier applications must be provided by means of the ICA protocol with an acceptable user experience. By applying various SpeedScreen technologies, applications can even be used over a network connection with a low bandwidth and higher latency.
Safe access to applications: Users have safe and consistent access to applications with every type of connection, every device at every location, both within and outside of corporate networks. All information remains at the data center; only screen information is sent over the network.
Fast provision of desktops: With XenDesktop personal desktops can be distributed, retrieved, supported and maintained much more quickly than local desktops. The XD desktop is available within several seconds.
Several operating systems in one XenDesktop environment: Personal desktops can be provided with a Windows XP or Vista operating system. A determination as to which desktop is intended for which user is made depending on the set rules.
Application compatibility: Each Windows XP or Vista desktop is a complete stand-alone virtual workstation. There are two great advantages of providing applications via XenDesktop compared to Microsoft Terminal Services: Researching compatibility with Microsoft Terminal Services applications is not necessary and the number of applications that can be made centrally available via XenDesktop is higher compared to Microsoft Terminal Services.
User freedom: A XenDesktop solution offers the user Windows XP or Windows Vista. End-users can install applications and easily change configuration settings within their own workstation environment.
Real-time load-balancing: The virtual infrastructure platform monitors the use of system resources and assigns available sources to a number of desktops based on the rules that were set in advance by the ICT department. If the resources are limited, extra capacity is freed up through migration of active desktops to another physical server. In combination with live migration the desktops are load-balanced in real time.
High availability (HA): HA provides high availability for each desktop, no matter the operating system or the underlying hardware configuration. The technical interpretation of HA can differ per hardware virtualization infrastructure.

The complete article can be downloaded here for the dutch readers here

Application Virtualization Solutions Overview and Feature Comparison Matrix, Reloaded!

Ruben Spruijt — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 13:12:00 GMT

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, Old Wine in New Bottles?!

Ruben Spruijt — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:30:31 GMT

Is virtual desktop infrastructure old wine in new bottles?! Will this still be the case in 2010? If there is just one buzzword in the IT industry, then it is “virtualization.” Nowadays we virtualize the network, storage, hardware, desktops and applications. Desktop or workspace virtualization is an application that is gaining in importance. This form of virtualization can, in essence, be divided into to parts: “server-hosted” and “client-side.” The type of desktop virtualization that is receiving the most attention is “server-hosted.” More and more organizations are asking themselves whether they must choose between Virtual Desktop Infrastructures (VDI), Server-Based Computing (SBC) or local desktops. Questions that arise include: Will VDI replace the SBC concept? What are the pros and cons of VDI? What role do application virtualization and OS streaming play in the overall concept?...(read more)