Archive
Mastering the BYOD trend: The ultimate guide
Have a look at this BYOD guide and get inspired! đ
“Let’s face it: The BYOD trend is a big deal.
IT admins have questions about the influx of personal smartphones and tablets in the enterprise. They worry about it. And they often need help figuring out what to do about bring your own device (BYOD) management, security and application delivery.
It takes a combination of technology, policy and organization-wide strategy to maximize the benefits of a BYOD program and minimize the risks. This comprehensive guide explains the basics and offers helpful, in-depth tips for admins stuck at any level of a BYOD program.”Â
Continue reading here!
//Richard
Citrix Knowledge Center Top 10 â September 2012
Citrix has released the September Top 10 list, ensure you have a look at it!
Citrix Support is focused on ensuring Customer and Partner satisfaction with our products.
One of our initiatives is to increase the ability of our Partners and Customers to leverage self-service avenues via our Knowledge Center.
Find below the Citrix Knowledge Center Top 10 for September 2012.
Top 10 Technical Articles
| Article Number | Article Title |
|---|---|
| CTX129229 | Recommended Citrix and Microsoft Hotfixes for XenApp 6 and Windows Server 2008 R2 |
| CTX129082 | Application Launch Fails with Web Interface using Internet Explorer 9 |
| CTX132875 | Citrix Receiver Error 2320 |
| CTX804493 | Users Prompted to Download ICA File, Launch.ica, Instead of Launching the Connection |
| CTX105793 | Error: Cannot connect to the Citrix server. Protocol Driver Error |
| CTX101644 | Seamless Configuration Settings |
| CTX101810 | Communication Ports Used By Citrix Technologies |
| CTX127030 | Citrix Guidelines for Antivirus Software Configuration |
| CTX133037 | Citrix Receiver 3.2 â Issues Fixed in This Release |
| CTX115637 | Citrix Multi-Monitor Configuration Settings and Reference |
Continue reading here!
//Richard
NetScaler MPX vs. SDX dilemma
Hi again!
Ok, I may be totally off and wrong here but I see a bit of a problem with the Citrix product packaging and offering around the whole NetScaler product.
I love the fact that the product is available as virtual appliances (VPX) and physical appliances (MPX) and the lovely “mix-product” which is the SDX platform. The SDX is a lovely addition and I see so many reasons for why you want to go towards that platform, so bear with me.
The NetScaler product itself is a great product and the feature set it rich! It’s definitely rich in terms of what features it offers from the same appliance! Some of the marketing of the product against competitors is that you can do it all (GSLB, LB, SSL offloading, SSL VPN, Application Firewall, ICA/HDX proxy etc.) on one appliance instead of purchasing several. Have a look at the editions of the product and the rich feature offering;
But I must challenge this whole idea of putting all features/capabilities on one appliance! What if you decide to build a service on the NetScaler product and decide to provide these capabilities;
- Access Gateway
- Network Connect (SSL VPN access)
- Network Proxy (ICA/HDX proxying)
- End-to-end Web Security (AAA etc.)
- Load Balancing (LB, GSLB)
So imagine that if for some reason you need a new version of the NetScaler appliance or if Citrix provides a fix for a bug/issue that is related to one of the capabilities. Then you have to stop your whole service delivery of all of them just to apply a patch/update targeted for one of them. Is that good from an incident, problem, change management point of view? I guess that’s why I like the SDX platform where I then can put the capabilities on different VPX instances on the same SDX HW platform.
This then also leads you to the whole cost of the service if you also like this idea of separation of duties, how much does the SDX cost and what does the VPX instances cost (they are purchased in bundles of 5 where 5 is included with the SDX purchase). And except for the cost of the HW, SW and SA you have the complexity that you have to select which of the SDX platforms to choose (see a more detailed NetScaler Datasheet here). And this is the biggest issue as I see it! I’d like to recommend the SDX platform to more customers than the enterprise segment. But then you have an issue, the SDX platforms starts on the 11 500 appliance.
Why doesn’t Citrix offer the SDX model on the smaller appliances?? I’d like to understand that because I think that most customers out there will not require that much throughput or CCU etc that the 11 500 delivers….
And there are more reasons to why you would like an SDX model other than separation of duties.. but more on that in another post.
Cheers!
//Richard
READ THIS – Demystifying Microsoft virtual desktop licensing: SA vs. VDA vs. CDL
Why can’t you vendors out there make licensing less complex and more “logical”…??
“When it comes to virtual desktop infrastructure, administrators have a lot of choices. You may have wondered about the differences between VDI software options, remote display protocols or all the licenses out there. In this series, we tackle some of the biggest head-scratchers facing VDI admins to help you get things straight.”
Continue reading this great article here!
//Richard
Reference Architecture and Deployment Guide – Citrix XenDesktop 5.5 Built on Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers
For you that are thinking of looking at Cisco UCS and XenDesktop; have a look at this reference architecture document from Cisco…
“Citrix XenDesktop 5.5 Built on Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers, Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switches, and VMware ESXi 5.0: Reference Architecture and Deployment Guide”
Download here!
//Richard
XenServer 6.1 Releases
“Over the past several months, literally hundreds of people have asked me the question âWhen will Tampa release?â I am pleased to announce that earlier today, âTampaâ officially reached GA as XenServer 6.1. Within engineering, this is officially considered a âcloud centricâ release. While on the surface that would seem to indicate a lack of features for traditional server virtualization and desktop, but the reality is quite different. When you consider that a cloud runs in a datacenter, and that cloud workloads typically translate into some pretty large VM densities, all with a requirement for a high degree of workload isolation; âcloud centricâ actually translates into a set of pretty stringent performance requirements. To illustrate the point, letâs consider three key features, live storage migration, network security and VM conversion.
When you look at some of the most successful clouds, youâll quickly see that the concept of resource pools are somewhat limiting. Regardless of the size of the pool, if your cloud is successful, eventually youâre going to have more customers than can fit in your cluster or pool. During the design phase for Storage XenMotion, we accounted for this with the result being a shared nothing live storage migration solution which works equally well across all storage types and without being confined to an arbitrary resource pool concept. While designed for the cloud, it fully supports enterprise storage management requirements, and even supports live VM migration between local storage for those cases where shared storage wasnât implemented.”
Continue reading here…
//Richard
Why Do Customers Use Social Networks for Customer Service? Because They CanâŚ
Another interesting blog post, and I must agree with it and that we must adopt a new way of providing customer service and think a bit outside of the box.
“Every day, an increasing number of connected consumers are taking to social networks to ask for help or express sentiment related to business or product-related experiences. Some do so to seek resolution from their peers; others broadcast questions or comments as a form of catharsis. A smaller group of consumers actually hopes to receive a response directly from the company.
The reality is that social media is the new normal. A myriad of social networks, whether you use them or not, are now part of the day-to-day digital lifestyle with Facebook, Twitter, Yelp, and YouTube among others becoming the places where your customers connect, communicate, and engage around experiences. They take to these social networks and more because they can. The question is, what are you going to do about it?”
Continue reading here…
//Richard
Evolving IT skill sets: Seven roles that should be on CIOs’ radar
Interesting series of articles…
“This is the third in a series of three stories about the factors shaping the IT organization of the future. In this story, Andrew Horne, managing director at The Corporate Executive Board Company (CEB), outlines seven new IT skill sets that reflect “fundamental” changes under way in enterprise IT organizations. In the first story, CIOs and experts explore the transformation of IT into a services business and potentially into a component of an enterprise business services organization. In the second story, experts describe the business and technology drivers that could change the CIO role significantly, as well as the role of IT within the business.”
Continue reading here…
//Richard
The IT Melting Pot! 