PCoIP on myvirtualcloud.net

PCoIP Log Viewer for Horizon View 5.3 Available

Thu, 16 Jan 2014 07:06:15 +0000

My dear VMware friend Chuck Hirstius @rexremus and blogger at http://mindfluxinc.net released a new version of his PCoIP Log Viewer tool for Horizon View 5.3.

I have been using his tool for a long time and it has definitely helped me to understand PCoIP behaviors for a given virtual desktop based on complex logging information and WMI stats provided in Horizon View.

View Client Device Detector

Sat, 04 Jan 2014 09:22:11 +0000

I came across this desktop utility called 'View Client Device Detector' that allow users to easily collect PCoIP environmental variables from the Windows registry. This could be handy during troubleshooting process as sometimes administrators find themselves trying to located the right end-user terminal.

(Click image to enlarge)

Getting Deeper with View Agent Direct-Connection [Video]

Mon, 02 Dec 2013 08:40:15 +0000

In this new 24 minute video VMware Senior Staff Engineer Mark Benson, describes View Agent Direct-Connection in Horizon View 5.3. VADC allows any View Client to connect to a View desktop without using a View Connection Server.

This can be useful for some specific use cases where the use of View Connection Server is either not possible or not practical. Examples include branch office deployments, DaaS multi-tenancy deployments and simple 1:1 cases where full brokering is not needed.

Using View Agent Direct-Connection Video

Fri, 29 Nov 2013 10:41:56 +0000

VMware Sr. Staff Engineer, Mark Benson, has just published a very informative blog post about using View Agent Direct-Connection in Horizon View 5.3; here is the link to the article. I have also previously written about VADC in details, VMware View Agent Direct-Connection Plugin Explained (here) and VMware View Agent Direct-Connection Plugin NAT/PNAT (here).

Amazon vs VMware, how VMware empowers the UX!

Fri, 15 Nov 2013 10:39:13 +0000

If you are an avid reader of my blog you will know that for the most part I don’t publish competitive analysis or talk about VMware competitors. However I feel that I need to give some attention to this subject and make you aware of the major end-user experience differences between running pure PCoIP and PCoIP with the Horizon View stack.

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure for Greater Good Of Humanity

Thu, 24 Oct 2013 20:33:50 +0000

This is one of those stories that makes me believe that what I do on a day-to-day basis has greater purpose than simply serving large corporations to generate more capital. I believe we have the power today with the technology to solve the toughest human and social problems. That's my hope.

Video demonstrating Horizon View 3D Graphics with vSGA

Thu, 10 Oct 2013 12:42:40 +0000

vSGA stands for “Virtual Shared Graphics Acceleration”. vSGA leverage physical GPUs (Graphics Processing Units) installed locally in each vSphere host to provide hardware accelerated 3D graphics to virtual desktops.

The VMware SVGA 3D graphics driver is currently supported on Windows 7 and 8 virtual desktops for 2D and 3D and is used for both Soft 3D & vSGA. Additionally, this WDDM driver provides support for DirectX v9 and OpenGL 2.1 applications.

Teradici is giving away a trip to VMworld 2013 Barcelona

Mon, 16 Sep 2013 19:23:23 +0000

To celebrate 1,000,000 over 1 million Teradici PCoIP® zero clients shipped to enterprises worldwide Teradici is sending one lucky winner to VMworld 2013 Barcelona, October 14-16th. Teradici will cover flights, hotel and conference pass for 3 days. Thanks to Teradici for supporting the virtualization and EUC communities!

Simple Method to Deliver Multi-Tenant VDI with vCloud Director

Thu, 05 Sep 2013 15:08:00 +0000

In this article I will show you how you can easily create a multi-tenant Horizon View solution integrated with vCloud Director. The interesting thing about this model is that I don't see any reasons for not being supported by VMware, but please not I am not saying it is supported. Please talk to your Sales rep.

Horizon View + GPU + APEX + Leap Motion

Thu, 15 Aug 2013 16:07:31 +0000

Just thought would be nice to share this little video recorded by Gunnar Berger, a Gartner Analyst (@gunnarwb). In the video Gunnar uses a Horizon View VDI session with PCoIP, plus NVIDIA GPU and a Teradici APEX acceleration card. Nothing new here, except that he added a Leap Motion making it a cool demo!

F5 PCoIP Proxy for VMware Horizon View

Thu, 01 Aug 2013 11:54:52 +0000

I want to share this excellent F5 video that demonstrate hot quick and easily you can configure Horizon View and F5 BIG-IP APM to natively support PCoIP proxy, bypassing requirements for Horizon View Security Servers. The PCoIP proxy combined with the BIG-IP platform will deliver hardened security and increased scalability according to F5. Thanks to Paul Pindell for the explanations.

3D Software Rendering with View 5.2... What's Changing!

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 09:00:52 +0000

When VMware View 5.1 was release I wrote about the changes to storage and memory footprint when the 3D software rendering option was enabled.

Just to recap:

Enabling Horizon View PCoIP with dynamic IP address

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 09:15:06 +0000

Gabrie van Zanten at gabesvirtualworld.com published an updated to his PowerShell script that enables Horizon View to utilize dynamic IP addressing for PCoIP connections using whatsmyip.com. This pretty cool for people installing Horizon View at home for lab purposes.

Update: I have checked the script to work with VMware View 4.6, VMware View 5.0, VMware View 5.1 and VMware View Horizon 5.2. There was an update needed for the URL used to get the external IP address. Now using http://ifconfig.me/ip as URL. In Horizon View 5.2 there is a new URL, called the Blast External URL, to enable HTML5 for View. This URL can use a FQDN instead of IP so you don’t have to change it.

VMware View Agent Direct-Connection Plugin Explained

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 14:30:43 +0000

VMware View Agent Direct-Connection Plugin (VADC-Plugin) is a new extension to VMware View environments which is installed on the virtual desktops to support direct connections from any VMware View client without requirement to go through a View Connection Server or View Security Server.

PCoIP Bandwidth Calculator and Settings Guideline

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 17:10:00 +0000

Teradici’s PCoIP display protocol provides real-time delivery with high fidelity desktop experience for VMware View virtual desktops. To ensure a responsive desktop, the PCoIP protocol must be deployed across a properly architected virtual desktop network infrastructure that meets bandwidth, QoS, latency, jitter, and packet loss requirements.

Engineers Unplugged: Be Kind to Your Protocol

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 13:09:00 +0000

During VMworld Barcelona Amy Lewis (@CommsNinja) from Cisco asked me and Chuck Hirstius (@remexus) to talk during few minutes about any subject. Here is our pitch on PCoIP deployment.

PCoIP Configuration Utility Release – Version 1.0

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 17:50:26 +0000

My colleague Chuck Hirstius @rexremus strikes back, launching version 1.0 of his PCoIP Configuration Utility.

PCoIP Configuration Utility allow users to create personalized PCoIP profiles and apply those profiles to the current PCoIP configuration. Users could setup PCoIP to operate better in LAN or WAN environment; or mimic XenDesktop ICA compression. Additionally, the tool allow users and administrator to monitor PCoIP performance in real-time while connected to the desktops.

Changing Port on PCoIP Gateway

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 09:30:38 +0000

For multiple different reasons organizations may want to change the Default ports used by VMware View. I have previously explained how to modify VMWare View default HTTP/HTTPS ports using the locked.properties file in my article Modifying VMware View Network Ports.

The HTTP/HTTPS listener is part of the sslgateway component, which also supports SSL tunneling. To configure the listening port, create or edit the file %programfiles%\vmware\vmware view\server\sslgateway\conf\locked.properties

VMware View fully virtualized GPU NVIDIA VGX [VIDEO]

Sat, 11 Aug 2012 19:14:27 +0000

The team at the Dell Solution Center recorded this video that demonstrate the power of the NVIDIA VGX virtualized GPU for VDI environment. In this video the display protocol in use is PCoIP.

NVIDIA VGX uniquely addresses the user experience issues of traditional VDI by adding a fully virtualized GPU board into each of your VDI hosts. This now enables up to one hundred users to share a VGX board with GPU-accelerated VDI (GPU-VDI). The result is high responsive windows, multimedia playback, and the ability to execute enterprise applications such as AutoCAD and Photoshop without performance issues. The technology literally convert any average desktop or thin-client into a graphical performance workstation.

Zero Client Touch-Enabled Display Demo [Video]

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 09:40:15 +0000

Last week I blogged about my experiences using a GVISION 19?, a touch-enabled PCoIP Zero-Client LCD Display (Zero Client Touch-Enabled Display). Later on the week VMware SE Desktop Specialist, Bernie Cyplik, shared with me a video where he demonstrate how the touch enabled display could be used in a healthcare environment.

Zero Client Touch-Enabled Display

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 09:57:58 +0000

For couple months I had a GVISION 19" TFT LCD Display on my work desk. No, it was not my primary display, but it was nice to test it. This display is a Touch Enabled device that runs PCoIP natively using the Teradici chipset and connect directly to VMware View just like other PCoIP zero client displays. The difference is that this one is touch screen.

VMware Fling Boomerang Now supports PCoIP via VMware View

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 12:31:21 +0000

VMware Boomerang is a radically simple client application that allows you to use multiple vSphere servers simultaneously. Simply select "Add a Server..." to connect and login to an ESX server, vCenter server, or View Connection Server and you will be presented with a list of all available virtual machines.

Things you didn’t know about PCoIP in View 5.1

Wed, 30 May 2012 11:45:15 +0000

Over 20 different performance optimizations have been added to PCoIP display protocol in VMware View 5.1. Some of those optimizations you will find in VMware View 5.1 Continues to Improve User Experience by Tony Huynh, and some more in View 5.1 Performance from the VMware Performance Team.

A Review of VMware View 5.1 Limits and Maximums

Thu, 17 May 2012 12:15:12 +0000

Giving continuity to my VMware View Limits and Maximums series (VMware View 4.0 | VMware View 5.0) I am now releasing an updated version for VMware View 5.1.

As an administrator or architect you should always make sure that your sizing's are within VMware View Maximums and Limits in order to be entitled to VMware Support.

Ubuntu Linux with VMware View and PCoIP – How-to…

Mon, 07 May 2012 13:00:37 +0000

I have recently published a video of a Ubuntu Linux desktop brokered by VMware View using PCoIP display protocol. This video received a lot of attention and I received in numerous twits, direct messages and emails asking how one would be able to implements the solution. After all the enquires, one thing is clear to me - the demand for Linux hosted desktops is out there and growing by the day. This growth is not only due to Linux based application requirements, but also because of organizations trying to break free from the vicious cycle of Microsoft licensing nightmare and it's costs.

Ubuntu Linux with VMware View and PCoIP

Sat, 05 May 2012 01:12:00 +0000

Enjoy… in Full HD for better experience.

This article was first published by Andre Leibovici (@andreleibovici) atmyvirtualcloud.net.

Interactive 3D Medical Imaging with PCoIP

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 18:36:00 +0000

Few weeks back I saw Scott Davis, CTO for End User Computing at VMware (@shd_9) demonstrating an interesting application that manages X-Rays and MRI (Magnetic resonance imaging) using 3D technology over PCoIP. It wasn’t the first time I had seen PCoIP delivering lossless images, as this is one of the key attributes of Teradici's protocol. However with this applications and the help of an iPad for the multi-gesturing this application becomes a very powerful tool for doctors to be able to remotely access their patients and make decisions.

Windows 8 CP + View 5.0 with PCoIP + iPad [video]

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 13:50:00 +0000

I dedicated part of my Saturday to get Windows 8 Customer Preview running on ESXi5 with VMware View 5.0 and PCoIP. VMware View 5 doesn’t support Windows 8 CP out-of-the-box, and I had to do some modifications to get that working.

Introducing the PCoIP Configuration Utility

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 11:17:00 +0000

Chuck Hisrtius @rexremus strikes back, launching the Beta version of the PCoIP Configuration Utility. I have been testing the utility for the last couple weeks and find it very useful.

PCoIP Configuration Utility allow users to create personalized PCoIP profiles and apply those profiles to the current PCoIP configuration. Users could eventually setup PCoIP to operate better in LAN or WAN environment; or mimic XenDesktop ICA compression.

Unofficial VMware View PCoIP Adapter for VCOps

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 21:31:00 +0000

VMware View adapter for vCenter Operations is close to GA date. That’s is fantastic; and it will give VMware View administrators the long waited insight on what’s happening with the virtual desktops and virtual desktop infrastructure.

VMware View adapter will provide several metrics. However, the adapter utilize WMI calls available in VMware View 5.0 to post PCoIP data to VCOps. Like many of my customers, you may not be in a position to upgrade to View 5.0, but still want to get the PCoIP statistics in real time. Optionally, you may want to feed different data management system such as Splunk.