If you were asked what desktop resources your needed how would you answer? If you ask me what type of desktop I need, I’m going to say, 2+ cores with at least 4+ GB of RAM, 500+GB hard drive, etc. If you look at what I really need, you will see 1 core and maybe 2-3 GB of RAM. In fact, when I look at my resource consumption, I get close to 2.5 GB of RAM by the end of the day due... (more...)
Once upon a time, there was a little school (70,000 users) with a little problem (desktops over 5 years old) with a little idea. The school was trying to find a way to do more with the tax subsidies. The desktop environment was becoming ancient. The newest desktops were 5 years old with many more approaching 10 years. And because the district consisted of many different schools, there... (more...)
“When angry count to four. When very angry, swear”. The wonderful words of Mark Twain. Based on this quote, I know of many users who are very angry because of all of the swearing. It is crazy how one failure in the environment can cause so much distress. How forgetting one design decision can cause so much negativity towards IT.Not only that, forgetting to create a profile... (more...)
One of the main goals with desktop virtualization is to reduce the number of required desktop images. The fewer number of images, the easier it is to support and maintain the desktop environment, which makes desktop virtualization so promising when compared to the traditional desktop approach. The goal is a single image, but oftentimes, other factors play a role in slightly increasing that ... (more...)
Do you ever wonder how much bandwidth you need to do a desktop virtualization implementation? Regardless of the flavor of virtual desktop being implemented (hosted shared, hosted VM-based VDI, local streamed, etc), the network plays a critical role. That should not be surprising (if it is, we need to have an even bigger discussion). If you don’t plan your network bandwidth appropriately,... (more...)
From the words of Ralph Wiggum, I Choo, Choo, Choose You [to be my FlexCast model]. Choosing the correct FlexCast model always leaves people wondering if they made the right decision. The answer to this question requires us to look closer into the user requirements. For example, the ABC School District Reference Design was recently published, and as can be expected from the title,... (more...)
A long time ago, in a blog far, far away, I asked a simple question “What virtual desktop design topics are you interested in?” Thankfully, I got a few comments from Steven Hunt, Faisal Iqbal, and Tyrone Thomas so I won’t be forced to deliver a standard, glossy marketing presentation. Instead, those of you attending the “Designing an enterprise-class XenDesktop solution“,... (more...)
The iPad was released, and people were happy. People brought the iPad to work, and users were excited. Users connected the iPad to the corporate environment and IT got scared. If you went to the Apple store and did a demo of the iPad, you might have noticed the installed Citrix Receiver (honestly, did anyone actually demo these things before buying? I bet most of us just bought it without... (more...)
Fill in the blank if you will. There are many people who are super excited about the upcoming release of the latest tablet PCs (iPad, Slate, etc). I recently received a comment from someone on Facebook related to a previous blog saying that the iPad Will Not Replace Your Desktop. The comment basically said Does the iPad and like devices need to be fully functional to be successful? ... (more...)
Install, stream, host, Oh My!!! Many of you have heard me talk about the different ways to deliver applications into a virtual desktop: installing, streaming, hosting and VM-hosting. As with all options in life, each one of these has their pros/cons. However, I recently found a way to remove one of the cons out of the equation for installed applications. Although we... (more...)
