You shouldn’t have more than 7 connection brokers for any one pod of VMware View desktops. VMware allows for 7 but 2 are should used for maintenance tasks and should not be accepting connections.
Sep
08
ThinApp Factory
Let’s start pumping out those ThinApps! Most of the information below is directly from the hands on lab from VMworld. I haven’t see a lot of information on ThinApp factory so I thought I would share with the folks that couldn’t attend VMworld. Lots of videos about Project Octopus and AppBlast though.
ThinApp Factory is a Virtual Appliance you install wither on your vSphere environment or on a VMware Workstation. It uses ThinApp to create the Virtual application for easy deployment for easy deployment to end-users. Applications can be deployed by giving access to a file share that has msi’s available or by using feeds. You are able to make your own feeds are use ones provided from 3rd parties. When a new version of an application is made available via feed, ThinApp factory can automatically download and covert into a ThinApp package without any user intervention.
ThinApp Factory offers a self-service portal so end-users can choose which application to deploy.
ThinApp factory also includes a GUI for changing the advanced ini and regisrty settings. It’s very similar to the work done at ThinApp Helper. Sorry for the blurry image but there wasn’t any tools to capture any better while working on the lab.
I hope there is some View intergration and the ability to pick the source type for the packaging machine; for example, to ability to pick Windows XP to ThinApp or the ability to select Windows7. Since it was just a preview, time will tell.
Aug
30
VMware View 5: End User Performance Monitoring
Over the next couple days I hope to bring some of new things of VMware View 5 that might get missed from the Hoopla that is VMworld.
VMware has added WMI based counters that capture what is going on PCoIP stream, the counters breakdown into 5 categories:
- Audio
- General
- Imaging
- Netowrk
- USB
Companines like like Lakeside Software, SPLUNK, and Liqudware Labs are all integrating these into their products. VMware vCenter Operations is also said to be adding the type of monitoring to there overall solution.
- http://www.bradenton.com/2011/08/23/3438738/xangati-and-teradici-collaborate.html
- http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2011/08/23/lakeside-software-enhances-systrack-with-pcoip-protocol-support/
It will be great to finally have a way to see what the user is up to in their session. Any tools that can help prevent “My virtual desktop is slow” is a step in the right direction. Now we will have a way to see if the user is copying a giant file in their session or if they’re listening to streaming audio.
Aug
29
VMworld Big Announcements – vCloud
Here are some of the highlights of VMworld 2011
vCloud Connector 1.5
• New Faster, highly reliable transfer between vSphere, private and public clouds
• Checkpoint and re-start for reliability
• Web access from a compatible browser
• Intergraded with vcloud.vmware.com
vcloud.vmware.com: Gateway to the Enterprise Cloud
• Find a provider, get a trail, transfer your VMs and data and Go!
• Easy to find service providers meeting VMware standards
vCloud Datacenter Expansion
• Dell joining
• Colt expanding coverage across Europe
• All service providers but meet a minimum uptime of 99.9%
• Must comply with VMware architecture
• Allows companies to provide the same level of service even if they are not local to a country
• VMware gives security control set iCERT 7001 & must conduct an audit at least once a year.
• Companies that are VMware vCloud Datacenter must use OVF format.
Jul
26
#VDI TIP 40 :Find your Registry Settings with ThinAppHelper
Ron Olgesby gave me a great idea after seeing him present on why you should use GPO’s(Group Policy Objects) instead of using registry hacks. He mentioned using Systracer from Blue Project Software to figure out difficult registry settings when building your GPO’s. The only problem I had with Systracer is that you have to pay for it. Being a View Premier customer we already had a ThinApp license for packing so that got me thinking. If I use ThinApp with it’s before and after use of snapshots of the system and a free tool from http://thinapphelper.cis.nl/ you can create a winning combination.
ThinAppHelper is GUI based program that gives you a visual view of your packages of instead of going through ini files and the registry. It’s also good at finding install bloat causing your packages to get to big and slow. Though the main thing I want to focus on for this article is the view of the registry it gives you and it’s FREE!!!
The Process
1. ThinApp Prescan
2. Install App
3. Post scan, you can skip the build
4. You can use thinapphelper right away, if there is too many entries for you, go to step 5.
5. ThinApp Prescan
6. Change your settings
7. Post scan, and you will have a much smaller view of the registry settings.
I hope this helps you out.
Dwayne Lessner
