Ephemeral OS disks are a form stateless disk storage. They are created on the virtual machine’s local storage (as part of the available VM cache, read on below) and are not written/saved to Azure Blob storage. This makes them ideal for stateless workloads, providing lower latency and thus faster read and write times. As always, there are multiple pros and cons to consider.
Continue ReadingThe Windows Virtual Desktop – what we know so far. 83 facts listed
Throughout the last couple of months a lot has been said (and shown) about and around the Windows Virtual Desktop, so much that I thought a summary would be in place. Do note that I’m relying on what’s publicly available or what I’ve picked up from hearsay. In case of the latter I will make note of it. Updated per 25-03-2019 after my visit to Microsoft Ignite On Tour in Amsterdam where multiple announcements have been made. All facts have been verified by a PM of the WVD / RDS team.
Continue ReadingCitrix Call-Home, a potential successor for Scout — here is what you need to know
Average time to read: 4 minutesCitrix Call Home according to the e-docs pages “Call Home collects diagnostic data and then periodically uploads telemetry packages containing that data directly to Citrix Insight Services for analysis and troubleshooting”. A nice summary, but of course there is a bit more to it. Below I have put together a brief ‘did you know that’ overview, a somewhat different format then what you are used here on basvankaam.com — let me know what you think.
Citrix XenApp single machine setup – Cheap, fast and supported!
Average time to read: 8 minutesWe all know that Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop are both well established within larger enterprises. Smaller companies however, also often rely on Citrix (using XenApp mostly) to securely deliver their applications and/or desktops to their end-users. Today I would like to focus on how to deliver XenApp hosted applications and desktops while minimizing costs and maximizing both performance and manageability. Note that this is not going to be a Microsoft RDSH vs. Citrix debate, instead I will assume that XenApp licenses are already in-place.
The Citrix Long Term Service Release vs. the Current Release. What’s (really) new?
Average time to read: 8 minutesNot that long ago (during Summit 2016 to be exact) Citrix introduced two new XenApp / XenDesktop servicing options, the LTRS, which stands for Long Term Service Release and the CR a.k.a. Current Release. And while this is sort of a big deal, it does tend to confuse people on what to expect when it comes to Citrix support. This post is meant to clarify a couple of misconceptions that have been slowly formed during the last two months or so.
Citrix XenApp & Microsoft (online) Lync… Things to be aware of. My findings!
Average time to read: 9 minutesJust recently I was in the process of researching to use Lync online (Office 365) in a XenApp HSD environment for one of our customers. To be honest I expected this to be a relatively straightforward process, install the software, configure, perhaps adjust my sizing numbers somewhat, test and take it from there. But what I found was that using Lync online combined with XenApp has its limitations. Of course some of these limitations can be dealt with, others however, we just have to except or take another route completely.
I’m presenting at the Dutch Citrix User Group… And to me that’s huge!
Average time to read: 6 minutesAfter two years of blogging, hiding behind my MacBook :) and virtually on Twitter, Linked-In etc… the time has finally come to take the next step. On March 6th I will be presenting at the next DuCUG event, or Dutch Citrix User Group in full, taking place at Dell in Amsterdam. In fact if you are reading this, chances are that I’m on stage at this very moment. For me it is an absolute first, not just at DuCUG but also with regards to presenting, or public speaking, in general. I have had multiple opportunities in the past but I just kept making up excuses so I wouldn’t have to go up on stage. Because to be honest, the thought of standing in front of a big crowd and doing ‘my thing’ kind of scares me. And DuCUG can be considered a big crowd, at least in my book. It has been sold out for weeks, as it always is, meaning that no less than 150 IT professionals will be there to hear what I, and others, have to say. It’s an honour to be part of their line-up, check their agenda (screenshot below), there are some ‘big’ names on there.