On June the 19th (2019) I delivered a presentation on the Windows Virtual Desktop for a company named SBC-Solutions, fitting, right? I had around 75 minutes to deliver including questions and discussion. It all turned out very nicely, my session was well received with tons of interaction from the audience. Below are the slides I used. They are in Dutch, though I’m sure most of it will make sense.
Continue ReadingMy presentation slide-deck on the Windows Virtual Desktop
Last week (April the 11th) I was invited to speak at the Avensus MCS (Managed Cloud Services) networking and technology event. Below you’ll find my slide-deck. Even-though the slides are in Dutch I’m pretty sure you’ll ‘get’ the main point, except for some of the statistics perhaps. If you have any questions, please do let me know.
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 ReadingThe glass is half full… 50+ reasons why I think it might be time to move to XenApp 7.6!
Average time to read: 7 minutesIn this post I’ll list a whole bunch of reasons why I think it might be time to move your current XenApp IMA setup onto the new and enhanced FMA, which, depending on your license, could be either XenApp and/or XenDesktop. I’m sure you’ll find some of my arguments a bit to far-fetched or perhaps plain stupid even, and that’s fine. Feel free to comment. As the title implies I’m trying to take a positive approach here, so I won’t focus on any of the features (still) left out. Eventually we will all migrate, it’s only a question of when. Note that the below comments are in a random order.
Desired State Configuration & the Citrix XenDesktop DSC Tech Preview
Average time to read: 4 minutesDesired State Configuration (DSC)… Ring any bells? No? It should by now. Although it isn’t a technology or concept thought up by Citrix, it is still very much applicable to Citrix components and infrastructures. DCS is a (still relatively) new management platform for Windows PowerShell allowing you to configure, apply and maintain a certain desired state (duh) on a single or multiple machine(s). A desired state can be anything related to software installation and configuration, the management of files and folders, registry entries, local group and account management, adding and removing server roles and the list goes on. Best thing is, as soon as something changes DSC will step in and correct it for you, preserving the desired state. DSC is a PowerShell extension and ships with Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1. Let’s have a closer look at what is needed.
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.
Running Microsoft Security Essentials on Server 2012
Average time to read: 5 minutesJust recently, while configuring my new virtual test setup at home (server 2012), one of the things I though about was what anti virus software to use. I’ve been using my Mac exclusively during the past 12 to 13 months or so, that’s right, it’s all I have, so I wasn’t really up to speed with some of the free AV solutions out there. Before I started using OS X I always used Microsoft Security Essentials, so I thought I’d give it a go on Server 2012 as well. Unfortunately it didn’t work nor is it supported in any way, till I found this useful hack (I know, it’s actually a workaround, hack just makes it sound way cooler). I also ran into an issue with my wireless network card.