Archive
A look at Work Folders – #Microsoft, #WorkFolders, #MIM, #BYOD – via @STEALTHPUPPY
This is an interesting new feature by Microsoft. I’ve touched upon the topic in my earlier post: #Microsoft – On the right track! – #Windows, #BYOD, #Citrix
And here you have another good blog post from Aaron Parker around the topic!
Microsoft announced some interesting new features in Windows Server 2012 R2 at TechEd 2013 and one of those that piqued my interest is Work Folders. I’m not the biggest fan of Redirected Folders and Offline files, but it’s essentially the only enterprise solution Microsoft provides today for taking your data offline. Microsoft needs to provide a completely new method of syncing file data – one that is designed for todays use cases and computing environment.
Work Folders is a brand new direction for enabling access to data in offline scenarios, along the lines of Citrix ShareFile and Dropbox, but without the web and sharing features. Like most Microsoft OS features, Work Folders is tied to a specific release of Windows; however according to this Channel 9 video, Microsoft will release Work Folders for Windows 7, iOS and “other devices” (presumably Android). This is excellent news.
Here’s a short look at setting up and connecting to Work Folders using the preview releases of Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1 – what’s version 1.0 going to deliver?
Server Configuration
For a more detailed walkthrough on deploying Work Folders, download this document: Windows Server 2012 R2: Enabling Windows Server Work Folders.
Work Folders is a component of the File and Storage Services role in Windows Server. I’ve installed Windows Server 2012 R2 into a virtual machine and am using local storage.
Once installed, Work Folders is managed through Server Manager:
Creating a new sync share is performed via a wizard which will first ask where the Sync Share will be located. This can be a new folder or an existing share – mixing user home drives and Work Folders should be possible. Note that at this time, Work Folders only supports providing users with exclusive access to Sync Share location – there is no provision for providing access to shared data. Read more…
#Citrix #XenDesktop 7 on #vSphere Validated Design Guide is available now!
Really good design guide by Citrix and blog post by Carisa Powell:
We are pleased to announce the availability of the Citrix Solutions Lab 5000-user XenDesktop 7 on vSphere Validated Design Guide.
Yes, you read that right, XenDesktop on vSphere. XenDesktop is also known to many vSphere customers as the best VDI solution for vSphere, and this design guide showcases the latest release of XenDesktop features and functionality all being hosted on a vSphere hypervisor. XenDesktop is the best of both virtual apps and desktops from a single platform, so XenDesktop is VDI, XenDesktop is app virtualization, XenDesktop is server-hosted apps and desktops, XenDesktop is secure remote access, XenDesktop is mobility…and with XenDesktop 7 you get all of this functionality from a single platform.
This design guide combines everything that is XenDesktop 7 and delivers it from vSphere to showcase how you can provide an app, desktop, remote access, and more solution for any type of user:
- VDI – XenDesktop offers a variety of VDI use cases, whether the user needs a standardized, corporate desktop that remains consistent and routine, or the user needs a personalized virtual desktop that he or she can customize to meet their business needs. This design guide validates XenDesktop Provisioning Services central image management technology for Pooled VDI on vSphere and XenDesktop Personal vDisk technology for delivering Personal VDI on vSphere.
- Server-hosted Apps and Desktops – XenDesktop also offers server-hosted apps and desktops by leveraging Microsoft Remote Desktop Shared Hosted (RDSH) technology to enable multiple users to connect and share resources from a single server. This design guide showcases XenDesktop server-hosted resources from Windows Servers on vSphere.
- Remote Access – XenDesktop leverages Citrix NetScaler appliances to provide secure, remote access from any location. NetScaler can be a virtual or physical appliance, and this design guide highlights the implementation and configurations of NetScaler Gateway virtual appliances on vSphere.
So why showcase all the features and functionality of XenDesktop 7 on vSphere? Staying true to the Citrix vision, XenDesktop continues to remain the only hypervisor agnostic app and desktop virtualization solution – including VDI, virtual apps and more. This means XenDesktop 7 seamlessly integrates with any hypervisor including Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix…
Continue reading here!
//Richard
Remote Desktop Services are now allowed on #Windows #Azure – #RDS, #TS, #XenDesktop
This is a great thing that you should have a look at and investigate how it would fit you and your organization! Finally Microsoft has changed the license model! They still have some work to be done on it though so we can run Virtual Desktops (VDI’s) as well!! 😉
Read this great blog post from lpanzano:
I’ve not seen a lot of news about this so I thought it was worth writing a short post just to remember everyone that on July 1st, Microsoft has officially changed Windows Azure licensing terms (PUR) to allow the use of Remote Desktop Services (RDS) on Windows Azure Virtual Machines. Previously this scenario was not allowed in Windows Azure. Before July 1st you could only access an Azure Windows Server VM for purpose of server administration or maintenance (up to 2 simultaneous sessions are authorized for this service).
Let’s see some details about this change:
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To enable more than 2 simultaneous sessions you will need to purchase RDS Subscriber Access Licenses (SALs) through the Microsoft Services Provider Licensing Agreement (SPLA) for each user or device that will access your solution on Windows Azure. SPLA is separate from an Azure agreement and is contracted through an authorized SPLA reseller. Click here for more information about SPLA benefits and requirements.
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RDS Client Access Licenses (CALs) purchased from Microsoft VL programs such as EA, do not get license mobility to shared cloud platforms, hence they cannot be used on Azure.
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Windows ‘Client’ OS (e.g. Windows 8) virtual desktops, or VDI deployments, will continue to not be allowed on Azure, because Windows client OS product use rights prohibit such use on multi-tenant/shared cloud environments.
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Customers can use 3rd party application hosting products that require RDS sessions functionality (e.g. Citrix XenDesktop), subject to product use terms set by those 3rd party providers, and provided these products leverage only RDS session-hosting (Terminal Services) functionality. Note that RDS SALs are still required when using these 3rd party products.
Continue reading this post here!
Citrix also created a good blog post on their view of the top 5 scenarios for putting XenDesktop on Azure:
Top 5 Scenarios for XenDesktop on Windows Azure
Since Windows Azure launched I have looked forward to the day Citrix would be able to work jointly with Microsoft to support XenDesktop and XenApp workloads. We are excited that today is the day we announce support for XenDesktop 7 and XenApp 6.5 on Windows Azure. Customers can now take advantage of the leading Citrix desktop virtualization solution and all of the HDX user experience goodness on Microsoft’s leading public cloud. With the announcement we’ve published two design guides (here andhere) to help get you started with your deployments.
#Microsoft – On the right track! – #Windows, #BYOD, #Citrix
I don’t know if you all agree but I find that Microsoft is making some really good strategic decisions to align themselves and be ready for the “next generation” workplace and client services. Everyone has been talking about BYOx and that everyone will bring their own device and consume business services and functions on that device in parallel to doing personal stuff.
But has BYOD taken off yet?
I personally think that it hasn’t to the extent that many thought it would, there are some companies in some countries that have adopted it for some use cases and user categories, but the majority is still struggling with it though their business apps and functions aren’t really there to support this way of working yet.
Even if they have a NetScaler or similar remote access capabilities with some sort of Desktop and App virtualization (like Citrix XenDesktop) to run the apps it’s still not enough. How do you solve the offline working scenario? And isn’t hosted apps and desktops just a legacy workaround until those business processes have been SaaS’ified? And what about “dropbox” alternatives, H: drives and G: drives, Sharepoint data etc. There is still a user data mess (read my earlier post on this) that needs to be solved and especially a “mega aggregator” tool for getting data/content and synch across devices in a secure manner (data also encrypted at rest on ALL devices and not just mobiles)…
Microsoft is kind of stepping up here I must say from a strategy point of view that makes me believe in them, even though I’ve said that no one ever will take my MacBook Air from me! Have a look at the features that are coming with Windows 8.1 to support a more “semi-controlled” or “semi-trusted” device, and the new cloud services like Azure AD, Windows Intunes offerings in combination with the online messaging and collaboration Office 365 services. And they are apparently also working on a “legacy” cloud service to offer desktops as a service (DaaS) as I wrote in a previous blog post as well.
I think that Microsoft is moving in the right direction towards offering the next generation enterprise IT services and to support the new way of working, and fast!
Have a look at these posts/articles on the news in Windows 8.1:
Everything you need, right from (the) Start
Microsoft is focused on delivering one experience across all the devices in your life. The centerpiece of that strategy and experience are the Microsoft services and apps that come right from (the) Start on your new Windows device.
This is the first blog post in a series that will highlight the apps and services driving toward this “one experience” vision. This experience comes to life through more than 20 new and improved Microsoft apps and services that come as part of Windows 8.1, including a new one that we are announcing today – Skype, right from (the) Start!
It’s where you want to go today….
#Microsoft finds a new way to deliver a private #cloud in a box – #Azure via @maryjofoley
Interesting!!!! 🙂
It took three years from when it was first announced, but Microsoft may have found a way to deliver a private cloud in a box.
The company’s vision and strategy for doing this has gone through many twists and turns.
Microsoft’s original plan was to provide its largest partners and even a few, select enterprise users a so-called Azure Appliance. Announced in 2010, the Azure Appliances were to be carried by Dell, Fujitsu and HP. These OEMs were to provide the servers which could be installed in partner and select enterprise customers’ datacenters. Microsoft was supposed to provide and maintain Windows Azure as a service to these servers.
The only partner that ever delivered an Azure Appliance was Fujitsu, which announced availability in August 2011. But some time in the past few months, Microsoft ended up dropping its Azure Appliance plans, without ever officially announcing it was dead.
WOW! – MS readies ‘Mohoro’ Windows desktop as a service – #BYOD, #DaaS – via @brianmadden
What can you say!?!? It wouldn’t surprise me a bit!! Of course Microsoft would come out with an Azure based cloud offerings of Desktops as a Service! I will follow this progress for sure, interesting and NOT so nice for quite a number of partners out there…
Summary: Microsoft is believed to be building a Windows Azure-hosted desktop virtualization service that could be available on a pay-per-use basis.
In yet another example of its growing emphasis on remaking itself as a devices and services company, Microsoft looks to be developing a pay-per-use “Windows desktop as a service” that will run on Windows Azure.
The desktop virtualization service, codenamed Mohoro, is in a very early development phase, from what I’ve heard from sources. I don’t know the final launch target, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it isn’t until the second half of 2014.
Mohoro is a town located on the island of Grande Comore in the Comoros Islands in the Indian Ocean. Given that members of the Microsoft India Development Center may be playing a key role in Mohoro’s development, according to my sources, the codename choice seems appropriate.
Microsoft owns the Mohoro.com and Mohoro.Net domain names.
Mohoro, like another Windows service, Windows Intune, is a product of Microsoft’s Server and Tools unit, I hear. Windows Intune is still not yet hosted on Windows Azure (as far as I know), but supposedly the plan is to move it to Azure at some point. Windows Intune already does make use of Windows Azure Active Directory as its directory and authentication service.
The same way that Windows Intune is the cloud complement to System Center, Mohoro seems to be the cloud version of Remote Desktop/Remote App.
This is like “Remote App as a hosted service,” said one of my contacts. It could be for companies who want thin clients or to run legacy apps on new PCs. Right now, companies have to have their own servers in the equation to do this, but “with Mohoro, you click a few buttons, deploy your apps, use Intune to push out configuration to all of your company’s devices, and you’re done,” my contact added.
Microsoft currently offers multiple ways for users to access their Windows desktops remotely via different virtualization technologies and products.
The aforementioned Remote App/Remote Desktop allows Windows users to connect to a remote Windows PC and access resources from it. On the Windows RT front, given that operating system’s restrictions on use of almost any existing Win32 applications, Remote Desktop provides a way for users to continue to use apps they already have on new hardware like the Microsoft Surface RT. Licensing of Remote Desktop and Remote Desktop Services is complex, however, and requires access to server infrastructure on the back-end.
Currently, it is not possible under Microsoft’s licensing terms to run Windows client in virtual machines hosted on Windows Azure. (The new Azure VMs do allow…
Continue to read this great blog post by Mary Jo Foley here!
//Richard
#Windows #Azure Active Directory steps out of the shadows
I’ve blogged about this release before with some info but here is another good article about how it can assist you in managing user authentication in the cloud.
Microsoft recently announced the general availability of Windows Azure Active Directory, a cloud-based service that lets admins manage multiple user identities and access. Although it’s been lurking in the background of other Microsoft products for some time — and still requires work to make it a fully useful tool — it’s a step in the right direction.
At its core, Windows Azure Active Directory is essentially a copy of Active Directory held in the cloud that provides basic authorization and authentication when users access cloud services. Ideally, admins use it to centralize the database of authorized users for cloud services, which then lets them authorize employees and contractors to work in certain applications. This allowance includes both Microsoft and third-party applications that accept authentication through common industry standards.
Through synchronization with an on-premises Active Directory deployment, you can also deploy single sign-on, so users don’t have to remember multiple passwords or enter them more than once to access cloud applications. More importantly, it provides a better way to remove access to cloud services for users who have left the company — a previous weak link in the cloud identity management story.
Windows Azure Active Directory: Not exactly new
True to Microsoft’s history of dogfooding its own products, Windows Azure Active Directory had been in use for nearly a year before its current general release. Few actually knew that all Office 365 accounts have been using a preview release of Windows Azure Active Directory for some time. Users of the general Windows Azure service, Dynamics CRM andWindows Intune also have their details stored in private Windows Azure Active Directory accounts.
According to Microsoft, since just after the beginning of the 2013 calendar year, “Windows Azure AD has processed over 65 billion authentication requests while maintaining 99.97% or better monthly availability.” Windows Azure Active Directory is a distributed service running across 14 of Microsoft’s data centers all over the globe.
User interface improvements
One improvement that happened between the preview release of Windows Azure Active Directory and the Web version release is the user interface, which was basically nonexistent before. Now you can access a clean section of the modern-looking Windows Azure control panel to create and manage instances of Windows Azure Active Directory (Figure 1).
You can add these instances to your Windows Azure subscription by logging into your Microsoft account, which…
Continue reading here!
//Richard
Get Started with #SharePoint Server 2013 Quickly on #Windows #Azure
Another good blog posts by Bill Baer (Microsoft) that shows how easy it is to try out SharePoint Server 2013 on Azure!
In order to remain competitive in today’s business climate you need to be able to respond to change and challenges quickly. Sometimes that means adjusting your SharePoint infrastructure on a moment’s notice to maintain a competitive advantage.
Infrastructure as a Service solves these challenges through a ready-to-use, pay as you go solution which means you can deploy in hours as opposed to days, whether you’re looking to deploy a simple SharePoint-based Internet site or to quickly provision a development environment.
SharePoint 2013 on Windows Azure Virtual Machines enables you to rapidly deploy and host your business websites on a secure, scalable cloud infrastructure.
What are Windows Azure Virtual Machines?
Windows Azure Virtual Machines enable organizations to deploy custom Windows Server images to Windows Azure. Virtual Machines provide developers complete control of the application environment and allow easy migration of existing applications to the cloud. To learn more about Windows Azure Virtual Machines see also http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/scenarios/virtual-machines/.
How can I benefit from Azure IaaS?
Business Mobility
Windows Azure Virtual Machines allow you to easily move your applications and infrastructure back and forth from on-premises to the cloud without requiring any changes to the existing code – if you’ve virtualized SharePoint 2013 in on-premises you can quickly and easily move your virtual hard drives between your datacenter and the cloud.
License Mobility
With License Mobility through Software Assurance, you can deploy certain server application licenses purchased under your Volume Licensing agreement in an Authorized Mobility Partner’s datacenter. To learn more about License Mobility see also http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/software-assurance/license-mobility.aspx . With License Mobility through Software Assurance, you can deploy certain server application licenses purchased under your Volume Licensing agreement in an Authorized Mobility Partner’s datacenter. Read more…
Vulnerability in Remote Desktop Client – #RDS
Microsoft Security Bulletin MS13-029 – Critical
Vulnerability in Remote Desktop Client Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2828223)
Published: Tuesday, April 09, 2013 | Updated: Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Version: 1.1
This security update resolves a privately reported vulnerability in Windows Remote Desktop Client. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user views a specially crafted webpage. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the current user. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.
This security update is rated Critical for Remote Desktop Connection 6.1 Client, Remote Desktop Connection 7.0 Client, and Remote Desktop Connection 7.1 Client where affected on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. It is rated Moderate for Remote Desktop Connection 6.1 Client, Remote Desktop Connection 7.0 Client, and Remote Desktop 7.1 Client where affected on Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, and Windows Server 2008 R2. For more information, see the subsection, Affected and Non-Affected Software, in this section.
The security update addresses the vulnerability by modifying the way that Remote Desktop Client handles objects in memory. For more information about the vulnerability, see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) subsection for the specific vulnerability entry under the next section, Vulnerability Information.
Recommendation. Most customers have automatic updating enabled…
Continue reading here!
//Richard
The IT Melting Pot! 