Tips on myvirtualcloud.net

How to Fingerprint existing VMDK/VHD/RAW for De-duplication on Nutanix

Thu, 02 Oct 2014 12:48:52 +0000

In my article How to enable Nutanix De-duplication per VMDK/VHD/RAW I explained how to enable or disable de-duplication and fingerprinting-on-write for individual VMDK/VHD or RAW vdisks via nCLI.

Once de-duplication and fingerprinting-on-write are both enabled for a given vdisk NOS will process every new write with the US Secure Hash Algorithm 1 (SHA1) using native SHA1 optimizations available on Intel processors. The created hashes are then utilized for post-process de-duplication executed by the Curator background process. However, I have omitted a somewhat important information about this process.

How to enable Nutanix De-duplication per VMDK/VHD/RAW

Sun, 28 Sep 2014 08:23:34 +0000

The Nutanix performance tier de-duplication allows the sharing of VM data on premium storage tiers (RAM and SSD). Performance of guest VMs suffers when active data can no longer fit in these premium tiers. Nutanix also provides de-duplication for the capacity tier (HDD) for greater VM density.

How to Establish PowerShell Connection to Nutanix and Execute your 1st Query

Thu, 20 Feb 2014 11:12:15 +0000

In my article Nutanix Automation, Policies and the SDDC I discussed how Nutanix exposes all features and functions via REST API, enabling programmatic access to datacenter services within mainstream enterprises.

The current list of features and services that can be fully managed by programmatic access is long and include the following:

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.

Here is why your Horizon View deployment is not performing to it's max!

Mon, 16 Dec 2013 14:30:32 +0000

In Horizon View 5.1, VMware introduced a feature called PhoneHome. PhoneHome is an opt-In option for anonymous usage statistics collection. All data is anonymized and untraceable, and phonehome will collect information on versions, features used, system architecture choices and deployment scale. This information is used by VMware to provide better support and enhance to the most popular features. In addition to that VMware can use this data collection to better align research and development priorities to match the way customer are actually using Horizon View.

How to Launch Horizon View Standalone sessions via vmware-view URI

Tue, 10 Dec 2013 08:00:47 +0000

Launching Horizon View Client and pointing it to different Connection Servers despite unsupported by VMware is somewhat well known at this point in time. I blogged about it a while back in my article VMware View 4.5 Command Line Usage.

However, the '-standalone' switch can only be issued from the Windows command-line, and I recently have been asked about launching multiple sessions against different Horizon View environments using the vmware-view URI. Coincidentally, there was at similar timeframe an internal VMware thread discussing the subject.

In order to change the Horizon View client when launching it via URI just add the '-standlone' switch to the Windows registry entry responsible for launching the client via URI. On the client device look for HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\vmware-view\shell\open\command] and change make the appropriate changes as described below.

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\vmware-view\shell\open\command]
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\VMware\\VMware View\\Client\\bin\\wswc.exe\" \"%1\""
@="\"C:\\Program Files\\VMware\\VMware View\\Client\\bin\\wswc.exe\" \"%1\" \"-standalone\""

Now all you have to do is launch the desktop using the vmware-uri with your favorite browser. Below you will find an example, but if you are not familiar with Horizon View Client URI I recommend reading VMware View Client URI Scheme by Simon Long.

vmware-view://administrator@BROKER_IP_ADDRESS/management?action=startsession

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

Don’t dismiss the huge benefits of Linked Clones!

Sun, 10 Nov 2013 17:21:34 +0000

Did you know that the quote ‘With great power comes great responsibility” is not an original quote crafted by Ben, the uncle of our Spidey friend? In fact, the quote was first coined by François-Marie Arouet (Voltaire) in 1832.

PowerCLI for the VDI geek with Andre Leibovici - Automate ALL the things #vBrownBag

Sat, 02 Nov 2013 10:41:37 +0000

Last week the team over at vBrownBag invited me to talk about VMware Horizon View and the PowerShell integration during their webcast. During the live session I was able to cover the basic architecture, the PowerCLI implementation and also provide some simple examples. Thanks to the vBrownBag crew for having me over.

PoSh automation for Horizon View manual pools

Tue, 24 Sep 2013 07:42:28 +0000

Automation is system administrator’s best friend. Automating repetitive tasks is a key enabler in most IT environments. Whilst many of the desktop pool administrative tasks in Horizon View can be made via PowerShell, not all objects are exposed.

The POSH scripts below were created by VMware's Jedi Master Engineer Mike Pryor and they allow administrators to manage a Horizon View Manual Pool via PoSh, providing methods to add and remove desktops.

Horizon View Events Notifier Free Tool

Sun, 18 Aug 2013 15:34:21 +0000

My VMware colleague Chris Halstead (@chrisdhalsted), EUC Senior Systems Engineer, just released a new free tool that will help VMware Horizon View administrators to become a little bit more hands-off.

Horizon View Events Notifier allow administrators to set up alert and notifications, such as Warnings and Audit failures. The tool utilizes SMTP and allows for addition of multiple addresses in the alert recipients field.

Storage made simple, use the VDI Storage Decision Tree

Thu, 15 Aug 2013 20:52:40 +0000

I have lost track of how many articles about VDI and Storage I have written. It seems that no matter how many times I write about it people are still confused about what type of storage technology to choose from when architecting VDI solutions. Yet this week I had to explain the difference between XtremeIO, Atlantis and FusionIO.

Jack's VMware OS Optimization Tool

Mon, 29 Jul 2013 09:30:28 +0000

VMware colleague Jack McMichael has released the a tool that helps to optimize Windows 7 desktops for use with VMware Horizon View and VDI in general. The optimization tool includes customizable templates to enable or disable Windows system services and features, per VMware recommendations and best practices, across multiple systems. Since most Windows system services are enabled by default, the optimization tool can be used to easily disable unnecessary services and features to improve performance.

Launching VDI Calculator v2 with XenDesktop support

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 10:50:37 +0000

Approximately 10 days ago I launched the new revamped VDI calculator, now using Java Framework, and I am now introducing the Release 2.0 with full support to XenDesktop calculations for VDI environments running on atop VMware vSphere hypervizor. Why? Because most Citrix XenDesktop deployments run atop of the VMware hypervizor platform.

Introducing the New VDI Calculator!

Wed, 05 Jun 2013 10:19:47 +0000

The wait is over... and you can now get access to my new VDI calculator clicking on the link below.

The new calculator is built on Java framework instead of Flash, and run on Windows and Mac computers. There will also be a version specifically built for Android devices that uses native device capabilities. The Android version is coming a bit later.

How to: Windows Server 2012 RDS with Horizon View

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 12:20:53 +0000

Horizon View Connection Server authenticates users through Windows Active Directory and directs the request to the appropriate virtual machine, physical or blade PC, or Windows Terminal Services server. You can use Microsoft Terminal Servers to provide Terminal Services sessions as desktops to View clients.

Horizon View Offline VDI Calculator (Sneak Peek)

Mon, 06 May 2013 12:44:45 +0000

If you are wondering why my blog posting frequency has slowed down in the last couple weeks - worry not!

Many consulting professionals and architects asked for a portable - offline - version of my well-known VDI Calculator. I'm happy to say that the new tool finally coming and I've been busy trying to reach code complete.

How to enable USB 3.0 in Horizon View 5.2

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 12:55:58 +0000

USB 3.0 is capable of transfer speeds of up to 5Gbps (gigabits per second); that's a little over 10 times faster than USB 2.0's 480Mbps. In practice, it won't always be this much faster — mileage may vary depending on hardware configuration — but it will always be much faster than USB 2.0 (USB 2.0 vs USB 3.0)

VMworld Public Session Voting is Open and these are my sessions

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:59:48 +0000

The VMworld Public Session Voting is now Open to anyone and allows VMware to poll the general public on which sessions they want to see presented at the event.

This year I decided submit only co-hosted sessions with people who are specialist in their product areas. People like Mac Binesh, Director for Horizon Performance; John Dodge, Tech Marketing DIrector; and Narasimha Krishnakumar, Horizon View Product Manager.

Yet another reason to move your VDI to Windows 8

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 12:25:45 +0000

Yesterday I published a blog post entitled "Why you should move your VDI to Windows 8" comparing different versions of Windows during IDLE and Login process. One of my readers (John Hardman) suggested that I also should measure disk IO commands issued from multiple Windows OS during boot time.

How to: Automate Horizon Mirage tasks via API and PowerShell

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 09:28:49 +0000

VMware Horizon Mirage is a layered image management solution that separates the PC into logical layers, which are owned and managed by either IT or the end user. Mirage enables enterprise IT administrators to centrally control the base and application layers guarantying a consistent view of the image across all endpoints. Through the Mirage Management Console, the administrator configures and manages clients, base images and app layers, performs operations such as updates and restores, and monitors the system operation through the dashboard and event logs.

New VMware Fling: View Pool Manager

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 12:01:00 +0000

View Pool Manager allow Horizon View administrators to easily manage users across desktop pools and security groups in large deployments.

One of the of the biggest challenges View administrators face in large deployments is the desktop pool maintenance. Commonly each desktop pool has an Active Directory security groups with the correct amount of users a given desktop pool will support. As employees leave or join the organization the security groups become messy, requiring maintenance to ensure that the number of users in each group correctly match the amount of desktops available in each desktop pool.

How to: Win2K8 w/ PCoIP, Linked Clones, USB, Printing & much more on VMware View (DaaS)

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 11:11:00 +0000

One of the most common requests I get from customer and partners is – When will VMware View support Windows 2K8 as Guest OS?

As most of you probably know Microsoft does not provide SPLA licensing model for Windows 7 to allow customers and service providers to create Desktop-as-a-Service offerings using Enterprise grade VDI solutions such as Horizon View. However, Windows Server 2K8 does provides SPLA licensing model and if those customers and service providers are able to deliver Windows Server 2K8 combined with the new Horizon View Multi-VLAN feature they could effectively service a large part of the DaaS market without incurring into Microsoft licensing issues.

Mapping Replicas to View Desktop Pools

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 14:48:55 +0000

Identifying what replica is assigned to what desktop pool can be somewhat challenging in Horizon View. However, in some cases administrators need to know the object relationship to properly plan desktop and pool migrations across hosts or datastores.

The PowerShell script bellow produces a output that demonstrate this relationship.

To execute save the script below as a .PS1 file in a View Connection Server with the VMware.VimAutomation.Core plug-in installed. The VMware.VimAutomation.Core plug-in is automatically installed with the VMware vSphere™ PowerCLI. Before executing the script you will need to change the vCenter server address at

How to change Horizon View SESparse to VMFSSparse

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 17:30:00 +0000

In my article Clearing up Space-Efficient Virtual Disk questions I explained the most important requirements and constraints when the new SESparse VMDK disk format with Horizon View 5.2.

Just in cased you missed it:

This new feature requires vSphere 5.1 as well as hardware version 9 for the VMs.
The Space Efficient format is only for for linked clone pools; and only for the OS disk.
Horizon View automatically chooses the space efficient format when possible and there is no official way to change this behavior.
The Space Efficient Format is not yet supported for Windows 8.
The space reclamation process is kicked off automatically by Horizon View when the reclaimable space for the VM exceeds the threshold set by the administrator.
The space reclamation statistics (reclaimed amount, reclaimed time) are displayed in the Pool Summary, and Desktop Summary.
SESparse disks ARE COMPATIBILE with the Horizon View Storage Accelerator technology from View 5.1 / vSphere 5.

Desktops in ‘Already Used’ State in Horizon View

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:24:00 +0000

An article by Jack McMichael (@jackmc4)

Starting in View 4.6, a state was added to VMware View to deal with a nagging issue for some administrators who wanted to ensure that a desktop was always clean and never previously used - the introduction of the 'Already Used' state. The issue is simple, a user logs into a non-persistent desktop and something horrible goes wrong. Perhaps a Windows blue screen or an abnormal crash of the View Agent, but ultimately something that left the virtual machine in an unusable state until rebooted.

VMware View Pool Manager (Sneak Peek)

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 12:30:00 +0000

One of the biggest challenges VMware View administrators face in large deployments is desktop pool maintenance. Commonly each desktop pool has Active Directory security groups with the number of users a given desktop pool will support.

As employees leave/join the organization, security groups require maintenance to ensure the number of users in each group correctly match the amount of desktops available.

VMware View Database Sizing

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 09:13:00 +0000

How to size VMware View Composer database is a common customer question and I have recently seen it once again in on of the internal discussion lists. Unfortunately, VMware does not have an official number for View Composer and Event database sizing.

Troubleshooting ThinPrint in VMware View (Part 2)

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 15:54:00 +0000

VMware OEMs a sub-set of the ThinPrint Server Engine full-blown product. ThinPrint is a printing solution developed by Cortado. The ThinPrint Server Engine universal drivers can be found in a range of strategic partnerships with VMware, Citrix, Fuji Xerox, HP, Lexmark, Microsoft, Wyse, and others. ThinPrint has managed to embed ThinPrint agent into a range of devices, from Thin Clients to Printers.

Reduce Windows Server License count in VMware View

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 14:04:12 +0000

One of the many features available in VMware View 5.1 is the ability to implement VMware View Composer in a Standalone Server. VMware View Composer is the software piece responsible for creating Linked Clone desktops and since VMware View 5.1 can be deployed on a server other than the vCenter Server. Read more about View Composer at VMware View 4.5 Linked Cloning explained. This move is aiming towards a highly scalable VMware View architecture.

View VSA Recompose Time Issue & Workaround

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 12:10:21 +0000

The View Storage Accelerator (aka VSA or CBRC) feature is part of vSphere 5 and later and is used by VMware View. VSA helps to address some of the performance bottlenecks and the increase storage cost for VDI. CBRC is a 100% host-based RAM-Based caching solution that helps to reduce read IOs issued to the storage subsystem and thus improves scalability while being completely transparent to guest OSs.