VMworld Europe 2009 is a wrap and despite the economic challenges everyone is facing across the world the turnout was amazing. One of the most exciting parts of the show for me was being able to demonstrate an early preview of the software to software implementation of PCoIP that we have been working on through our co-development agreement with Teradici.

This really is no secret, we announced our strategic partnership with Teradici last September at VMworld 2008 in Las Vegas Nevada. Since, we have been working hard to bring the best remote display solution to market based on Teradici's next generation display protocol PCoIP. A combined VMware, Teradidici solution leveraging VMware View Manager will allows us to deliver an enhanced solution to desktop organizations that enables them to target users from task worker to the designer, remotely accessing their virtual desktop both from the LAN or the WAN using a single display protocol with an uncompromising user experiance. Combined with VMware View Managers support for multiple protocols, we can offer cusomters a solution with the broadest array of choice in display protocols and client access devices.

For everyone that was not able to attend VMworld 2009. On day two, Steve Herrod and Jerry Chen provided an update on our progress to dated wrapping up with a live demo of a Teradici hardware to hardware based solution. The full Keynote and demo can be seen here VMworld 2009 Day 2 Keynote

In addition to the Keynote, there was quite a bit of coverage from the blogging and analyst community around our PCoIP efforts. Below I have pulled together several bits of commentary I have been able to find.

Totally unplanned and pulled together on the fly, I was able to sit down with Brian Madden and give him the first sneak peak of a PCoIP software to software demo. This can be found on Brian Madden TV along with interviews from Microsoft, Redhat and Citrix.

I also was able to find an interview with Peter Ghostine, CTO of Quest Software. Interestingly, in this interview with Eric Sloof, Peter tries to explain what the VMware remote display strategy is? He shares his skepticism regarding what can be acheived with PCoIP. Peter primarily focuses on attempting to cast a shroud of doubt regarding the WAN capabilities of PCoIP. Quest has been betting on RDP and has been building RDP enhancements for some time now. Features such as MMR, similar to the technology we OEMed from WYSE. In addition, to psudo multimonitor and more needed features such as latency reduction etc..

On that note, I was also able to sit down with Chris Wolf. Chris Wolf is a Sr. Analyst with the Burton Group covering the virtualization space, focusing on the Desktop to the Datacenter. I had a little more time with Chris and was able to demonstrate the current progress we have made with software to software PCoIP under a variety of network conditions including both the LAN and the WAN. Chris shares his thoughts and observations here - VMware's Software PCoIP - A Sighting!

Last but not least, Gerben Kloosterman attended a presentation I gave on the future of the VMware View Remote Display Experiance. Gerben did an excellent job capturing the Q&A at the end sharing that information on his blog for anyone not able to attend. For more information visit Gerben's Blog on Virtualization.

For anyone that was not able to attend VMworld this year; I want to take a second and share with you some exciting news that came out though several announcements.

We are entering the second phase of a long term strategy as VMware continues to add value and evolve the way we use desktop and personal computing as we know it today.

The vClient initiative continues to build on the VMware VDI efforts that were pioneered by VMware several years ago to help solve desktop challenges faced by all IT organizations with distributed PC and traditional server based computing solutions. As Enterprises have rapidly moved toward adopting VMware VDI as their standard for server side hosted desktop deployments, cusotmers are now ready to expand the same value and benifits they have received from VMware VDI to client virtual desktops.

VMware View is a suite of products that deliver users a single consistent personalized view of all their applications and data called "myview".

As part of the vClient initiative, VMware View will include new technologies such as client virtualization, image management using VMware View Composer and offline desktop.

Client Virtualization runs on laptop and desktop
computers and provides a robust layer that tightly manages user devices
cost-effectively while providing a PC-like end-user experience. Client
virtualization will also provide a centralized management solution to
administer, deploy and update applications and operating system images
across desktops and laptops.

VMware View™ Composer, an advanced desktop image
management solution, allows customers to reduce storage requirements by
up to 90 percent while reducing desktop provisioning time from hours to
just minutes. VMware View Composer will make updating and patching
seamless to desktop users and efficient for IT administrators while
retaining individual user data and settings. Now IT staff can
streamline management and manage thousands of desktops while
guaranteeing that all use systems are up to date.

Offline Desktop provides an innovative new way for
organizations to operate in a virtual desktop environment by enabling
users to access their server hosted desktops offline. Offline Desktop
will let users run their virtual desktops locally for the best user
experience, while simplifying life for IT staff by enabling desktops,
whether run locally or centrally, to be managed through the same
administration framework.

For more information visit VMware View

Today I am excited to share VDM 2.1 has been released. We have quietly been working on this release and there was not a public beta. Although this release of VDM comes only a few short months after the initial release earlier this year there are quite a few exciting features.

Some of the features that have been added as as follows:

- Pools spanning datastores in order to better manage resources
- Localization of VDM Web Access and Client for Windows in Japanese and German
- Command line parameters for VDM Client
- Integrate MMR multimedia extensions DLL with VDM Client (Windows XP)
- Allow end users to change password
- Multiple sessions per user within a pool
- Improvements to logging
- Allow end users to restart their VM
- Defined process for bulk import of individual desktops
- VDM Configuration Backup (command-line only)
- Allow blocking of incoming RDP connections that are not from VDM Clients
- Allow VDM administrators to set default desktop (command line only)

More information, documentation and downloads can be found here:
http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vdi_pubs.html

Also in support of this release we have announced a certification program for thin client manufactures who want to integrate with VMware VDI using several integration methods that streamline the user experience and deployment of VMware VDI based solutions.
http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/thinclient.html

Today we have several exciting announcements surrounding VMware VDI. The first announcement sets the stage to broaden the VMware VDI ecosystem as we launch a thin client certification program for thin client manufactures wanting to integrate with VMware technologies. Though this program we will be abel to work more closely with thin client manufactures and integrate feature functionality at the client device level that offers an even more complete and integrated solution for customers looking to deploy VMware VDI.

This program has been in the works for some time with a primary goal to increase the value for our joint customers while at the same time simplifying the integration of a wide array of thin clients so customers have a more broad choice when making a client decision for their VMware VDI deployments. The thin client space is very broad offering a wide array of device types such as CE, XPe, Linux, ThinOS, Ultra Thin and Zero Client based devices. This program will allow thin client vendors from across the spectrum to offer a tightly integrated, tested and certified solution.

Chip PC, Computer Lab International (CLI), Devon IT, Fujitsu Siemens Computers, HP, IGEL, NEC, Pano Logic, Praim by CompuMaster, Sun Microsystems, and Wyse are among the thin client vendors who will be certifying their clients as part of the new program.

One of the key components of the program allows us to accommodate the growing trend and move towards zero or ultra thin based clients. Typically these clients that have and an extremely small firmware or embedded OS and software or additional client connectivity is not installed locally. By taking an open approach and working closely with vendors in this space, customers will be able to choose clients devices that offer unique features that are only supported with a VMware VDI solution today and not integrated or tested with other VDI based solutions.

For more information see the following press release

I wanted to wait till the smoke cleared before sharing some thoughts regarding Microsoft opening the specifications on several of its APIs and communication protocols. Part of the released technology was the specification of RDP.

For VMware VDI, this is probably the most interesting of the released protocol specifications. The initial impact to customers may not be that obvious. However, over time, the benefits could be huge. RDP is the preferred protocol for accessing VMware VDI based desktops. Currently, this makes the most sense to leverage as there is no added cost in doing so which is typically the case with third party add on protocols.

Although getting the optimal performance in broad set of network conditions can be tricky, but it's quite adequate in the highest majority of desktop replacement use cases. RDP has always had virtual channels which allow a third party to add feature functionality to RDP. For example, with VDM 2 we developed a generic USB device redirector that allows you to connect most USB devices, not supported by RDP to a client access device and make them available for use with your VMware VDI virtual desktop.

In order for third parties to leverage virtual channels, you either needed a team of lawyers and a chunk of change or some really good engineers that could reverse engineer. For some time now there have been licensees of the RDP spec and others who reverse engineered it in effort to add value. This included people building feature add-ons as well as full RDP client implementations. Open Source efforts such as RDesktop and commercial efforts from companies such as WYSE, VMware, ThinAnywhere, Provision Networks, Sun Microsystems, Calista and others have all contributed to enhancing RDP.

Over three years ago I started researching the use of VMware virtualization as a way to better manage and deliver desktop computing and overcome traditional server based computing short falls. As we started meeting with customers and sharing the vision of VDI it was becoming clear Citrix had lost their seat at the table. Customers were concerned with the issues surrounding Citrix as a solution, such as complexity, application compatibility and loss of a personal computing experience.

VMware VDI was resonating with IT organizations and desktop management teams as an answer for more broad desktop deployments. I was a little surprised, as no one can take away Citrix's past contributions to server based computing. It's always been my opinion Citrix and Microsoft had become comfortable with their position and the direction they were leading customers and the market.

As VMware VDI emerged it was becoming clear this was what customers wanted. I had not seen such vast interest and adoption of a desktop solution in a long time. Despite Microsoft attempting to down play interest, VECD emerged. As Citrix lost ground trying to protect the Presentation Server stronghold, they finally broke down, did a 360 degree about face, and sank 500M on XenSource.

Since they have renamed their legacy products and are attempting to broaden their vision beyond just "Application Delivery". Here at VMware we are building things from the ground up with virtualization in mind, not trying to retro fit legacy solutions to fit in a virtual world. Since the emergence of VMware VDI, millions of dollars are going into the R&D of network delivered desktops and applications. The result is innovation that improves user experience, desktop management and choice for IT organizations.

What does this mean for Citrix? For years there have been the conspiracy theories that Microsoft will buy Citrix. Over the years I have seen less and less evidence or reason to believe this, but I guess it could happen. For some time now, I have said Citrix is getting squeezed from the top by VMware and squeezed from the bottom by Microsoft. The crown jewel for Citrix is ICA. Without that, there is not a lot there you can't get from other cheaper more simple alternatives.

With the acquisition of Calista by Microsoft, it's clear they intended to continue the enhancement of RDP. With the RDP spec now open, more and more engineers can come to the party and rapidly further enhance RDP improving its performance and features in a broad array of use cases. With the XenSource acquisition, Citrix has dipped a toe in the open source world. Now that Micosoft has openly published the RDP specification, will Citrix set ICA free? Do they have any other choice? What long term value does ICA have with so many big companies now able to enhance RDP and in fact, already doing so?

Last week at VMware we reached a major milestone in moving the next generation of desktop computing forward with the release of VDM 2. First I would like to thank the 1000’s of beta participants who took the time and downloaded, tested and provided enormous amounts of feedback. It’s all the tremendous feedback that will help us continue to deliver innovative features that help you execute and deliver your next desktop architecture.

Second I would like to thank the engineering teams that invested countless hours and sleepless nights to deliver a high quality product building a solid foundation that will shape the future of virtual desktop management. In 2005 VMware started executing on the VMware VDI vision. Since some of the biggest names in server based computing have completely changed their business models, rebranded their products, adjusted their message and spent 100’s of millions of dollars in effort to adopt the vision of VMware VDI.

VDM 2 was not a rebranding exercise of slapping a VMware VDM 2 logo on some legacy product. It was a completely new product built from the Propero technology acquired in 2007 with the vision of virtual desktop management in mind. Rather than taking the high road and fastest time to market a conscious decision was made to build a solid foundation from which the future of virtual desktop management could safely rest.

Some of the enterprise class features offered in VDM 2 included:

• Support for multiple VirtualCenter instances
• Support for existing individual virtual machines
• Support for provisioning virtual desktops using persistent and non-persistent pools
• Support for XP and Vista virtual desktops
• Support for XPe, XP, Vista, 2000 Pro, Linux and integrated thin client devices
• Advanced power control policies for automating suspending, powering off, powering on, destroying and resuming virtual desktops
• Support for live migration of running desktops using VMware VMotion
• Support for granular resource allocation using VMware DRS
• Support for higher availability of virtual desktops using VMware HA

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We also have started to release several deployment guides and tech notes to help with your virtual desktop deployments. If there are other topics you would like to hear about please feel free to send me your requests.

Using the Wyse V10L and S10 Thin Clients with VDM
Introduction to Virtual Desktop Manager

Windows XP Deployment Guide

VMware VDM 2 Load Balancing Guide

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vdm20_intro.pdf

There are several approaches or strategies in attacking your VMware VDI desktop deployment from a design standpoint. Most organizations enter their architecture
with hesitation and reserve using a very static approach. They plan to map desktop users 1:1 each desktop user will be given a dedicated virtual desktop
and some division or swag is made regarding how many desktops they can concurrently run on each VDI server.

Really there is nothing wrong with that. Probably one of the most difficult tasks in planning a desktop migration, particularly when moving from a distributed architecture to a centralized architecture; is profiling your users, understanding the desktop compute cycles they need, and centralizing that in a
fair-share scheduling model. Because of the difficulty and effort required in looking at every user across the enterprise and coming up with a methodology that makes sense then getting the design right out the gate. I am a fan of getting sets of common users onto a VDI architecture and studying their usage patterns.

Ultimately a static 1:1 approach is not going to yield the highest return on your dollar. The more dynamic you allow the architecture to become. The higher
return you will realize. Often when I meet with customers and discuss their VDI architectures I talk about the concept of oversubscription. Oversubscription is
stepping outside the bounds of asking how many desktop users per core can I get, really understanding your users usage patterns, and figuring out how
many more users can be allocated per server by oversubscribing.

In most enterprise and office environments, as you walk around you will find large populations of empty cubes and idle desktops. Business is constantly changing and in order to stay competitive companies are being forced to change the workplace. More people are teleworking, using flexible work schedules and becoming more mobile. When users are in two hour long meetings or on conference calls several times a day, typically they are not using their desktops. When three out four people are not working on an exact 9-5 schedule the number of concurrent users is reduced. All of this combined results in an opportunity to revisit going beyond static VDI architectures making them more dynamic and oversubscribing the servers. With this approach mileage may vary in different cases. For example, a contact center environment where users are heads down, might not realize the same benefits.

As VMware VDI deployments have continued to grow and mature, customers are starting to explore unlocking the full potential of VDI. They have realized the benefits of VMware virtualization technology and are looking to gain more. As customers take a more centralized view of their desktops, they are realizing how underutilized or idle they are. It’s becoming clearer, oversubscribing the servers might not be that risky and the rewards could be great. Ultimately, this leads to a new set of questions as the creative juices start to flow.

There are several tools that can be used to harness the full potential of your VDI solution and make it more dynamic. In addition, it can actually be really simple or it can be more elegant. Each approach and the pro and cons of each is beyond this blog post. However, several customers have asked me to write about this and address some of the more simple or tactical questions.

As customers look at making their VDI environments more dynamic, The most popular question I get today is " How do I logoff idle users" followed by " How do I power off or suspend their virtual desktop". Recently I have been working with the VDI team at a collage who really wanted to do this and I felt obliged to help.

The solution is simple - VMware VDM 2 has a power policy for virtual machines that allows you to suspend or power off a virtual desktop instance when not in use. When a user logs off, it automates suspending or powering off that desktop. Ultimately this frees up the resources making them available to other desktops on the ESX server. If you think of those users on a flexible schedule or in a meeting there is no reason they need to hold up resources when idle.
Logging off these idle users is as easy as implementing a simple GPO in Active Directory that tracks idle time as well as those pesky disconnected RDP sessions.

Under the Local Computer Policy\Computer Configuration\Administrative
Templates\Windows Components\Terminal Services\Sessions folder, the following settings can be made:

• Set time limit for disconnected sessions
• Set time limit for active sessions
• Set time limit for idle sessions
• Terminate session when time limits are reached

Or

Under the Local Computer Policy\User Configuration\Administrative
Templates\Windows Components\Terminal Services\Sessions folder, the following
settings can be made:

• Set time limit for disconnected sessions
• Set time limit for active sessions
• Set time limit for idle sessions
• Terminate session when time limits are reached

Note: Windows XP has a bug where the idle tracker will not work. You
need to request a hot fix from Microsoft in order to resolve it. See KB890864

The result in the combination of the VDM 2 power policy and this simple GPO is idle users are logged off at a time interval you set, and their virtual
desktop is powered off or suspended. Simple to implement with large benefits.

To protect you from oversubscribing too far, increasing the SLA of your desktop users, and making the environment more dynamic. VMware DRS and VMotion can be added. If you are more aggressive with your oversubscription using VMware DRS you can set a threshold that ensures your users are not affected. For example, if you know your virtual desktops perform best at 8 users per core, but have over subscribed to 16 user per core; expecting only 50% are concurrent at any given time. VMware DRS/VMotion will ensure the 9/10/11 user per core is run from another ESX server with available resources. This can be as simple as having a standby server or allocating the sessions across other underutilized servers in the cluster.