View5 on myvirtualcloud.net

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.

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 5 Desktop Virtualization Solutions is Available Now

Tue, 12 Jun 2012 10:00:13 +0000

VMware View 5 Desktop Virtualization Solutions [The Book] is Available Now on Kindle and paperback.

I would like to acknowledge the hard work from Jason Langone who has done most of the heavy-lifting and writing for this book, the foreword from Simon Bramfitt, and the review work from Raymond van't Hag.

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.

Automatic IP Assignment and VLAN change in VMware View

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 15:32:00 +0000

A while back I blogged about a scripting automation solution created by few VMware colleagues to automatic change the desktop VLAN in VMware View (here). The solution works great and I have received comments from organizations that have successfully implemented the scripts.

Mitel UC Single SignOn with VMware View

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:54:00 +0000

During VMworld 2011 VMware announced a new set of integrations with Unified Communication vendors such as Mitel, Cisco and Avaya. The so called View Media Services for Unified Communications will deliver integrated UC + virtual desktop experience. UC partners will be able to leverage VMware View API’s and enable UC solutions to detect when they are running in a VMware View remote session.

Automating Desktop in 'Already Used' State in VMware View

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 10:54:21 +0000

Getting a consistent view of the VMware View virtual desktop environment is essential for proper management. However, sometimes non-persistent desktop pools become unusable over time. If a desktop that is set to refresh on log off is reset, the desktop goes into the Already Used state. This security feature prevents any previous session data from being available during the next log in.

How to Access Windows 8 CP via PCoIP with VMware View

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 12:15:00 +0000

I have recently posted a video showing Windows 8 Customer Preview being streamed via PCoIP to an iPad, and I received comments and emails asking for a step-by-step guide to reproduce the solution. If you didn’t have the chance to watch the video go to Windows 8 CP + View 5.0 with PCoIP + iPad [video].

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 [Video]

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:30:00 +0000

Not long ago I published an article entitled the Unofficial VMware View PCoIP Adapter for VCOps. This VMware View adapter provides PCoIP metrics from any VMware View environment and load them up onto vCenter Operations. If you have not had a chance to implement and play with the solution, watch the short demo below.

Unofficial Advanced VMware View Powershell Cmdlets

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:50:00 +0000

What if you could issue any function or feature available in VMware View GUI via PowerCLI cmdlets? What if you could call those cmdlets from a remote server?

Clint Kitson, Chris Horn and I worked together on a project to deliver the next-gen lab environment, and VMware View has been the demand management focal point. The core concept that we are working to deliver is essentially “desktop as a service” for lab environments.

How to get VMware View Desktop Login Count

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:34:00 +0000

I was reading tweets today and someone asked for a way to retrieve how often desktops are used – how many times users log into virtual desktops. I am not sure the reason behind the request but this is possible via the VMware View PowerCLI command Get-EventReport.

How to Access Windows 2K8 Server via PCoIP with VMware View

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:03:00 +0000

Did you ever want to access Windows 2K8 Servers within VMware View using PCoIP? This configuration is not supported by VMware, only Terminal Services. Below you will find a step-by-step guide on how to connect Windows 2k8 R2 servers to VMware View using PCoIP.

PCoIP Host Card with VMware View PSG

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 09:40:00 +0000

My good virtual friend Joshua Spenser (@VirtualSpense) from VMware created an awesome Powerpoint presentation (with Video) outlining the steps required to setup VMware View to broker connections to a physical PC with the Teradici PCIe PCoIP Host Card.

Josh, thanks for sharing with us!

Use Flash Drives (SSD) for Linked Clones, not Replicas

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:24:00 +0000

In my previous article EMC FAST Cache effectiveness with VDI I focused on FAST Cache benefits for VDI deployments. The tests I completed also generated a huge quantity of data that is tremendously valuable for better sizing of VDI environments.

I previously have discussed (here) how IOs suffer severe split between replica, linked clone and persistent disks. Depending on the storage tier serving the data it is possible to have different latencies for different parts of the Guest OS (Windows XP or Windows 7). However, in a linked clones environment the disks are interdependent at GuestOS layer, and a VMDK suffering from latency will also affect a different VMDK that is not suffering. Example: Replica disks that are backed by Flash Drive drives with Linked Clones that are backed by SATA drives.

A Review of VMware View 5.0 Limits and Maximums

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 11:16:00 +0000

A while back I released the a “Review of VMware View Limits and Maximums” and I think it deserves a review and update due to VMware View 5.0 launch.

As an administrator and/or designer you should always make sure that your numbers are within VMware View maximums and limits to be able to get technical support from VMware.

Printing Architectures for VDI – Part 2

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:03:29 +0000

Some articles get stuck and never get published. I wrote this one a while back and for different reasons the publishing was delayed. However, while reviewing some of the new features in VMware View 5.0 I noticed that the Location Based Printing feature has been extended.

Making an Educated Decision on View 5.0 or XenDesktop 5.5

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 15:26:00 +0000

I want to start this post saying that I often try to focus my blogging on the technical aspects of VDI, without putting too much focus on pricing or market. If you are an avid reader of my blog you know exactly what I am talking about. However, discussions about best product, best protocol or most aggressive ROI are often present in my circles.

High-Def Video on VMware View 5.0 with BTL & 3D

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 14:43:00 +0000

While trying to find and identify technical benefits implemented in PCoIP protocol in VMware View 5 I have been taking note of interesting things about the behavior of the protocol that might be interesting for my readers. The average administrator probably won’t have a need to get deep into the technology, however if you are like me you will probably enjoy reading the results of the tests.

Comparing VMware View and XenDesktop on iPad

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 18:00:00 +0000

It was hard to create a title for this article because I normally don’t publish competitive analysis between products, protocols or architectures. I like to talk about products and technology from an optimistic and opportunistic approach. You rarely see me bashing vendors or products. I don’t do that because I believe nowadays every company has potential to quickly improve and innovate surpassing the competition.

The Right Hardware for a 10K VDI solution

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 09:43:00 +0000

I have been involved in many VDI designs over the past years, and recently I have been involved in a design and architecture for a 10,000 user VDI solution. I thought it would be interesting to share here the considerations and decisions that goes behind hardware definition for such a large project.

vSphere 5.0 + View 5.0 vMotion Fail

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 08:51:00 +0000

There is a bug in the way the object buffer cache size is calculated for vMotion. This bug only appears with Hardware version 8 virtual desktops with large screen resolutions, however only if 3D is disabled.

When 3D is enabled ESxi5 takes the necessary screen objects into account in the calculations and allocate sufficient buffer for vMotion to succeed. But with 3D disabled it doesn't calculate the values correctly for the buffers. This is will impact any VM with large screen size.

VMware View 5.0 Video RAM Storage sizing

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 17:44:00 +0000

After my last article VMware View 5.0 3D Reverse Engineered I received couple emails asking for the video .vswp sizes based on resolution and number of displays, rather than amount of video RAM assigned to the virtual desktop.

VMware View has always allowed administrators to select the number of displays and the resolution to be utilized in a desktop pool. With VMware View 5.0 administrators still select resolution and number of displays, however only if 3D is not used.

VMware View 5.0 3D Reverse Engineered

Wed, 07 Sep 2011 14:38:00 +0000

VMware View has always automatically calculated Video RAM based on resolution and color depth. Up to VMware View 4.6 only 24-bit color depth was supported and VMware published few times the vRAM overhead that each resolution type would require. vRAM overhead is part of the VM memory overhead in virtual machines running on ESX/ESXi. The other part of the overhead comes from the number of vCPUs and amount of RAM.

VMware View 5.0 Launch Summary

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 18:11:00 +0000

This morning I have posted multiple articles discussing and covering the launch of VMware View 5.0. During the next couple days and weeks I’ll be dropping additional content that I have specially prepared for this launch. Here is a quick summary list of my VMware View 5.0 posts. Make sure you keep track of my posts because there is more stuff coming down the pipe later this week.

VMware View 5 PCoIP Session Statistics (WMI)

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 08:31:35 +0000

VMware View 5.0 exposes Teradici’s PCoIP session statistics through the WMI interface. Before View 5.0 the only mechanism to identify bandwidth usage and allocation was trough the log files. The log files are still a good source and there are few good applications that will consolidate log files and demonstrate the broad PCoIP utilization and network conditions in your organization. Please refer to App for PCoIP Real-Time Monitoring across your Organisation.

VMware View 5.0 and Composer 2.7 Maximums

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 08:27:00 +0000

I had the pleasure to be part of the VMware View 5.0 Beta program. One thing that still in my mind since the start of program was around the number of hosts in a View Composer enabled cluster. Currently with VMware View 4.6 the limit is eight.

Sneak Peek at new VMware View 5.0 PCoIP GPO

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 08:23:45 +0000

VMware View 5.0 NDA has been lifted and by now VMware and bloggers should have started to announce the new features. VMware View 5.0 is mostly about improving user experience with several adjustments to PCoIP and the addition of a user profile management tool.

View 5.0 Media Services for Unified Communications

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 08:13:00 +0000

Traditionally running VOIP in VDI environments is not a scalable solution due server scalability issues, hairpinning of Real Time Protocol (RTP) media, bandwidth intensive sessions, and specially the lack of Quality-of-Service (QoS) support that guarantees traffic priority for the protocol. The reason being is that VOIP is essentially running encapsulated inside display protocol datagrams.

VMware View 5.0 User Experience Enhancements

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 08:05:47 +0000

VMware View 5.0 is all about user experience enhancements. VMware finally included RTO profiles into the product, and in conjunction with Teradici made several changes to PCoIP display protocol. Those changes aim to provide better user experience for users over slow links.