XenDesktop Deployments…Single or Multiple Hypervisor Infrastructure?

June 28, 2010 by Jarian Gibson 5 Comments

While working on a XenDesktop project in a huge VMware shop, I started thinking if a single hypervisor should be used or if multiple hypervisors should be used in XenDesktop deployments. Then I was on a conference call with Scott Lane, Senior Systems Engineer for Citrix in the Great Plains Area and also a co-author on this post, about the same XenDesktop project and we started discussing thoughts on this. A number of factors came to mind like cost of the hypervisor (VMware licenses for the XenDesktop project are adding a nice chunk of change to the cost of the deployment), hypervisor features, etc. In this blog post I am going to talk about things to consider about different hypervisors for XenDesktop deployments.

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XenServer “Midnight Ride” Features and Thoughts

February 13, 2010 by Jarian Gibson 6 Comments

Citrix has announced some of the new features in XenServer “Midnight Ride”.  This will most be likely be XenServer 6.0.  The public beta of XenServer “Midnight Ride” is targeted for mid March.  In this blog post I am going to go over some of the new features in XenServer “Midnight Ride” and my thoughts on those announced new features.
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Citrix Products 2010: A Wish List (continued) +1

November 12, 2009 by Jarian Gibson 10 Comments

This week Helge Klein started a Citrix products 2010 wish list.  Tim Arenz expanded on Helge’s wish list on his blog earlier today.  I want to expand on both Helge’s and Tim’s additions with my own wishes as well.  I’m sure they both don’t mind since Tim encourages other bloggers to continue adding to this list.  Like Tim, I encourage other bloggers to keep this wish list going.  Helge’s are in black and Tim’s are in red.  So here on are my additions in orange.
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Filed under Access Gateway Enterprise, Citrix Receiver, Merchandising Server, Provisioning Services, XenApp, XenDesktop, XenServer Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

Merchandising Server 1.1 and XenServer Tools Update

November 1, 2009 by Jarian Gibson 4 Comments

Citrix has recently released Merchandising Server 1.1.  Merchandising Server is a XenServer virtual appliance that allows you to centrally manage the setup of the Citrix Receiver, enables Citrix plug-ins and updates, enables access to web-based user support services, and has management reporting features.  I recently downloaded and installed the Merchandising Server virtual appliance in my XenServer lab.  The Merchandising Server virtual appliance comes packaged with XenServer tools 5.0.  In this blog post I am going to go over installing the Merchandising Server virtual appliance and updating the XenServer tools.
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NetScaler VPX Express is a must for all XenServer Environments

September 18, 2009 by Jarian Gibson 12 Comments

Citrix has recently released NetScaler VPX.  NetScaler VPX is the XenServer virtual appliance version of a NetScaler hardware appliance that is installed on the XenServer platform.  With the release of this XenServer virtual appliance, NetScaler VPX Express is must for all XenServer environments.  In the following post I will go over NetScaler VPX and why the Express edition is a must for all XenServer environments.
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Filed under Access Gateway Enterprise, NetScaler, Provisioning Services, XenApp, XenDesktop, XenServer Tagged with , , , , , ,

Have you upgraded to Provisioning Services 5.1 yet? Why Not?

July 29, 2009 by Jarian Gibson 1 Comment

Provisioning Services 5.1 has been out for awhile now and it amazes me how many people are still running 4.5 or 5.0. Why haven’t they upgraded yet? Do they know about the new features?
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