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Hands Down the Ultimate VDI Platform - 2018 Review

Mon, 14 May 2018 08:46:21 +0000

Back in 2014 when I left VMware and joined Nutanix, I wrote two articles entitled "Hands Down the Ultimate VDI platform" (here and here) explaining how hyperconvergence and more specifically Nutanix were the perfect platforms for running VDI - and in all honesty that was one of the primary reasons I left VMware EUC CTO Office. I saw the opportunity to help thousands of organizations struggling with VDI deployments....and I was right, hyperconvergence is pretty much the default deployment model for VDI nowadays.

VDI Calculator 7.1 Available w/ Support for Intel SkyLake, Datrium and more

Tue, 23 May 2017 07:57:35 +0000

Today I am releasing version 7.1 of the VDI Calculator.

This release adds support next-generation Xeon server processor family. The new chips are based on the company's Skylake processor architecture and are manufactured in the company's 14-nanometer+ technology. The calculator now supports processors with up to 24 cores.

VDI Calculator v7 Now Available w/ major changes

Wed, 06 Apr 2016 17:23:16 +0000

CHECK OUT THE NEW WEB VDI CALCULATOR HERE

Today I am releasing a new version on my VDI calculator, V7. This is a major release that include major improvements to the way VDI infrastructures are calculated, while also simplifying the process for people new to VDI sizing. I put a lot of effort into this release and had to make some big code changes to accommodate the desired outcomes. Let's go to What's New!

New 'Acropolis File Services' with Native Support for VMware Horizon UEM and Citrix Profile Manager

Mon, 14 Mar 2016 08:15:46 +0000

Nutanix has been primarily used to host virtual machines in the format of VMDKs and vdisks, but now it is also possible to natively store unstructured files such as user-generated content such as Office documents, and Windows user profiles and settings.

The Definitive Guide to End-User Computing and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Solutions

Sun, 06 Mar 2016 18:41:09 +0000

Back in 2011, in the world of SAN, I wrote an article called “VDI USER EXPERIENCE and USER ACCEPTANCE”. The article iterated through my experiences with many failed VDI deployments due to poor technical designs; mostly driven by storage performance complications.

VMware Horizon View on Acropolis Hypervisor

Mon, 24 Aug 2015 22:21:54 +0000

One of the submissions for the Nutanix Coding Challenge is quite interesting from a VDI point of view. The team at EZDC Automation used the self-service engine from vCloud Automation Center (vRA) to automate the creation and customization of desktops using the Acropolis API's and making them available in VMware Horizon View for use. In this case Horizon View is handling the connection brokering to unmanaged desktops, but both persistent and floating use-cases can be successfully deployed.

How to Recover Linked Clone Desktops in a DR Site

Sun, 08 Mar 2015 19:11:36 +0000

Disaster Recovery for Horizon View has always been a hot topic. To this date VMware still doesn't provide an official methodology to protect virtual desktops. Equally, VMware Site Recovery Manager does not support Linked Clone desktops created by Horizon View Composer. Conversely, Full Clone desktops can be protected using native storage replication or vSphere host-based replication.

Nutanix Shadow Clones Explained and Benchmarked

Mon, 03 Mar 2014 03:20:31 +0000

One of the Nutanix features that drastically improve VDI performance and end-user experience is Shadow Clones. I briefly discussed Shadow Clones in the past. However, before explaining how Shadow Clones work let’s recap how VMware View Linked Clones work (the same is valid for XenDesktop MCS).

CBRC-like Functionality For Any VDI Solution with Nutanix

Mon, 03 Feb 2014 08:47:00 +0000

It is amazing when your world turns upside down and a technology that used to be awesome becomes mostly irrelevant. It amazes me how fast technology evolves and help organizations to achieve better performance and lower OPEX.

For a long time I have discussed the benefits of CBRC (Content Based Read Cache) available with Horizon View 5.1 onwards, allowing Administrators to drastically cut-down on read IO operations, offloading the storage infrastructure and providing greater end-user experience.

Here are few of the blog posts I wrote on CBRC technology: Understanding CBRC (Content Based Read Cache), Understanding CBRC – RecomputeDigest Method, Sizing for VMware View Storage Accelerator (CBRC), View Storage Accelerator Performance Benchmark, CBRC and Local Mode in VMware View 5.1, View Storage Accelerator (CBRC) Hashing Function.

CBRC helps to address some of the performance bottlenecks and the increase of 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 of the storage subsystem while being completely transparent to the guest OS. However, CBRC comes at a cost.

When the View Storage Accelerator feature (CBRC) is enabled, a per-VMDK digest file is created to store hash information about the VMDK blocks. The estimated size of each digest file is roughly:

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)

Why is Content-Based Read Cache (CBRC) so important for Horizon View and VSAN?

Thu, 19 Sep 2013 16:34:43 +0000

This article builds on top of my previous two articles about Horizon View and VMware Virtual SAN. Here are the aforementioned articles: How does VMware VSAN help Horizon View?, and How is Horizon View configured for VMware VSAN?

The CBRC (Content Based Read Cache) was introduced with vSphere 5, allowing Horizon View administrators to leverage it the feature via the Horizon View administrative console. CBRC help administrators to address performance bottlenecks and the increase in storage cost for VDI.

How does VMware VSAN help Horizon View?

Wed, 11 Sep 2013 22:12:36 +0000

During last VMworld US VMware unveiled a new product called VMware Virtual SAN, or VSAN. For those not yet familiar, VSAN leverages local storage from a number of vSphere hosts that are part the same cluster. A distributed datastore is then created leveraging the local storage from each host.

Persistent vs. Non-Persistent Debate Video

Wed, 28 Aug 2013 08:00:37 +0000

Gunnar Berger, research director for Gartner’s IT Professionals service, mediated a debate yesterday at VMworld based on my article Open letter to non-persistent VDI fanboys….

Here is the full video recording

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

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 v3 with Partner support

Tue, 02 Jul 2013 18:23:54 +0000

I am excited to announce the version 3.0 of my VDI calculator. This new version introduces partner support, allowing 3rd party vendors to quickly demonstrate the benefits of their solutions, and allowing consultants and architects to see how those solutions impact their VDI and DaaS requirements. The first partner to be supported is Atlantis Computing with their ILIO diskless solution.

Welcome to the new Transient Desktop deployment model

Mon, 01 Jul 2013 09:56:37 +0000

Last week there was lots of attention to my article entitled “Open letter to non-persistent VDI fanboys…”. There was a wave of comments. Twitter discussions went frantic, and the LinkedIn Desktop Superhero discussion board was the stage for a continued discussion on the subject.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Moving Linked Clone VM to different LUN without Data Loss

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 11:10:00 +0000

This week I received an interesting question from a colleague that I had also been asked in the past. However, in the past I was not able to present a good solution for the problem. Let me present the scenario.

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

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.

VMware View Health Monitoring

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 16:50:23 +0000

Yesterday I read Balance multiple View Connection Servers using HAProxy and realized that I have not published a recommendation for VMware View health monitoring. The most common types of health monitoring are ICMP and HTTP.

HTTP health monitors are optional in a VMware View deployment, however strongly recommended. The Load Balancer appliances issue a GET URL command to retrieve the index.html page from each connection broker in the pool.

VMware View PowerShell AD LDS Set-State Function

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 12:20:25 +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 changes in VMware View can be made via PowerShell, not all objects are exposed.

I created the PowerShell function below and it will change a desktop pool property state in Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services database key. The function uses the PoolID property to receive an object representation and set the new state in the AD LDS database.

VMware View Agent Direct-Connection Plugin NAT/PNAT

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:08:00 +0000

Since my article “VMware View Agent Direct-Connection Plugin Explained” I have received several questions about the use of the plug-in with NAT/PNAT. Most of the questions came from VMware employees, but also from partners.

As you may know NAT/PNAT is supported between the VMware View Client and the PSG component of a Security Server. However, PCoIP will fail and give you a black screen if there is a NAT/PNAT device near the PCoIP Server (on the View Desktop).

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.

View Storage Accelerator and View Storage Tiering [Unsupported]

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 16:43:00 +0000

I recently received a question from a colleague about the use of the View Storage Accelerator (also known as CBRC) not being supported when View Replica Tiering is enabled. He also pointed to an article published on the End-User Computing Blog http://blogs.vmware.com/euc/2012/05/view-storage-accelerator-in-practice.html that clearly states “Use of View Storage Accelerator is not supported when View Replica Tiering is enabled”.