The first day is over and the Citrix Partner event will end tonight. I didn’t attend a lot of session since I saw many of those back in may in San Francisco, but session about XenServer tweaking streaming application troubleshooting were very interessting. I just grab some tips from there to try it out later and writte some blog about what I discover.

This Summit / Synergy is different for me this year because many of my customer will be there and I definitly need to “hang-out” with them But I still met many very cool people from tweeter, other meetings and blogs, it’s always a pleasure to share a drink with these guys.

I already went to APP-DNA booth where I got a very cool demonstration about the product AppTitude http://app-dna.com/AppTitude/ . I think this tool can be very usefull in very large migration process and can help to gain a lot of time on such project. I will ask a demo version to try it with a set of application to bring you some more in depth information about this product. But if you’re at Synergy go to their booth, ask for Ilan and tell you know me, you will have a very cool demo of this product

After two very busy days at Citrix Summit 2010, and 3 days at Citrix Synergy in San Francisco, this massive event reach the end. I came here this year to watch, learn and share my everyday consultant life. I learned a lot, not from technical contents deliver from Citrix but by speaking to everyone around me and making some very interesting contacts.

Positive points :
I met many interesting people
I passed one Citrix certification for free
I know building a XenDesktop architecture is not so complicated
I was able to know more about XenClient
This event took place in a city I came for the first time
I learned some technical details at TechEdge events

Negative points :
Too many clouds, not in the sky…
I don’t think Summit and Synergy are the event Citrix should speak about cloud computing
I’m a bit worried about the future of Citrix System Integrators and resellers
Citrix should consider making level based sessions

This is it, I’m looking forward next Synergy in Berlin, I hope things will change a bit. Before I will attend PubForum in Frankfurt, Germany.

La conference mondiale de CITRIX à lieu à San Francisco cette année. 

Elle est séparé en deux évènements: 

Le Summit dédié aux partenaires
Le Synergy ouvert à tous les particpants 
Cet évènement est ” la seule conférence de l’industrie axée sur la convergence croissante entre la virtualisation, la mise en réseau et le cloud computing”. 

Synergy invite les principaux experts du marché à présenter leur vision, ainsi que des exposés techniques particulièrement riches montrant comment associer la virtualisation, les réseaux et le cloud computing pour créer une infrastructure informatique dynamique et réactive. 

C est aussi et avant tout, l’occasion pour Citrix de nous présenter sa vision de l IT du futur, ses nouveaux produits, au moment où la bataille de la virtualisation a ses acteurs et factions bien identifiés. 

Citrix Summit is over, now this is Synergy with Citrix partners and customers.  There was twice and maybe more people in the same building, that was be huge. Sessions I attended this day were as follow.

I will be fast today, session are too average level, I think this is good session for XenApp, XenDesktop administrators on the way, there are many detailed architectures, a lot of debugging / troubleshooting tools explanations but that’s it. There was nothing like deep memory dump analyzes, network packet capture and analyzes, it remains ‘mainstream’ for experimented Citrix engineers.

So I used my time to understand how things are working at Synergy, V.I.P groups, clans and underground wars… I did have many theories about that but I keep it for myself Those guys are like rock stars in virtualization small planet, this is funny, it really remind me of what’s happening behind the scene in music business. Some are true with themselves, committed, honest and frank while some others are really annoying (passi satana perkele) and some situation are just unreal. Cloud computing ? yeah right… Everyone needs to write something about this trendy rock’n roll attitude but they lost the point, users and CxOs are lost and if they’re lost they won’t pay for something they don’t understand. Wait ! I need to check my crystal ball to write an blog about future of workstations and operating systems…

Back to Synergy, there was the opening keynote from Mark Templeton about what’s going on the crazy Citrix planet. There are many ongoing things for this year, and here are what I think are the most important release for this year.

XenClient available for download now at : XenClient Download
Synchronizer for XenClient available for download now at : Synchronizer for XenClient Download
Dazzle.net (new client and the very long waited back-end framework)
EncryptedData plug-in (Q3)

Citrix is really pushing very far their development and product releases, there are two Marc Templeton presentation’s slide  showing very clearly the direction Citrix is taking :

And they really are taking over with such technologies. Now I can’t wait to be back home to diver very deep in XenClient and Synchronizer for XenClient technology. (My crystal ball told me, XenClient will burn everything to the ground within 3 years…)

The second day was for me about technical stuffs in the morning and more oriented sales in the afternoon. I wan to attend some technical event as TechEdge ones because we always learning, even a small details from the editor, and I needed to go to sales because I’m very often in the front line trying to sell vendor’s solutions. So here is bellow my schedule for yesterday :

TechEdge : Debugging Citrix XenDesktop & XenApp was interesting nothing new about XenApp, some useful information but that’s it. Putting everyone who attended this session at the same level of understanding is nearly impossible, 25 first minutes are to explain a classic architecture and 25 to speak about debugging tools, not in deep. Some highlight for this session :

Most common problem, VDA Registration, to debug :
XDPing to check the time sync issues
Check port connectivity (telnet XDPing, CtxPrtChk)
Check RSOP for AD inconsistencies
Check the event Viewver
Capture remote CDF trace with CDF Control
VDA connectivity problems
Leverage XDPing (CTX123278) to rule out common causes
Capture remote CDF Trace
Check for display driver switching issue
Ensure no WDDM display driver is being used
Try reducing screen resolution and color depth

The Global Assembly Cache (GAC) Store assemblies specification ti be shared by several application, there is a problem when .net component fail to start or encounter an exception…
Enable fusion logging (Registry based setting)
Use the GAC utility

The Black Hole Problem XenApp
IMA still up but ts services or RPC are down and users are still redirected on this machine. Using Medevac . CTX119899 (I am writing a blog on it because this is a very useful utility.

XenDesktop >> Xnsnapshot to capture / collect all the environment.and you can compare two environments.

This session reviewed all the processes you need to follow when experiencing issue with XenDesktop or XenApp. Tools, logs, traces, dumps >> A classic for all experienced XenDesktop / XenApp engineers.

Next session was TechEdge – TroubleShooting XD deployments because tools to debug XD deployment are specifics to XD, another detailed review of one XD’s architecture is necessary to bring everyone at the same page. Citrix said DDC scales to 1000s of VDAs because it’s not in the connection path. This session did provide a the full communication path from A to Z when a connection is requested. The troubleshooting part was too short and with a lake of details but this is nearly impossible to cover a XD architecture and troubleshooting in 50 minutes. Now I want to know more so I will do it by myself and share interesting technical information here.

Then TechEdge – XenServer Storage Management and Troubleshooting was the third session in the morning, something about XenServer, I’m a noob regarding this product so I thought I would learn some interesting things. Command lines ? what is it ? This session began with a XenServer storage objects reminder and vocabulary used for XenServer about shared storage, virtual disk formats used with XenServer. Command line to troubleshoot we explained one by one, I knew almost all of this command line and you can find it in the admin guide… I just write down what I think was the highlights of this session

Fdisk -l to list the physical block devices on the host is the first command line showed and explained, even me I knew this one. I think this will be very light session to remain accessible to everyone.
sg_map -x Display the mapping between Linux sg and regular SCSI devices
ll /dev/disk/by-id List the attached block devices by SCSI ID

LVM-Related commands:
pvs lists physical volumes
vgs list volume groups
lvs lists the logical volumes
xe sr-list type=lvmoiscsi params=names
xe pbd-list uuid=….. params=uuid,sr-uuid,device-config, currently-attached to list pdb params
xe vdb-list

Some utilities you need to be careful when using it because it’s very basic and doesn’t reflect what’s going on your system.
iostat -k report basic I/O stats for devices and partitions
hdparam -t /dev/<device> performs timed sequential reads
dd if=<infile> of=<outfile> simple, common block device copy utility (Be careful using this one, you can corrupt the vhd if use while vhd is attached and in use

Sales session are really not my cup of tea, I attend most of mine but I couldn’t stay until the end, so I went to hang out outside the session with some other guys and exchange / share about common problems, solutions it was a lot more interesting for me. These TechEdge session are cool, I mean for a basic engineer / administrator who wants/needs to know more but when you’re very involve in Citrix products architecture design, you know 50 minutes to cover such subject is nearly impossible and cannot satisfy the highest level of knowledge for some guys, this was my feeling.

Finally, the Geek Speak Live ! was a disappointment for me, I was waiting for something less orchestrated and more spontaneous.

First day is over and I will report about session what I attended yesterday. My schedule was light compare to what I will attend today, the second day :

The most important session for me was the first one about XenClient and the XenClient VM Synchronizer, I wrote a blog about that and I really can’t wait to be able to download this “new toy”.

Then the second session of the day was about Citrix XenApp6 combine with Microsoft SCVMM. For all partner, at least in EMEA, this is something déjà vue, there are white papers and technical guides about that and I won’t write too long about this subject (maybe a full blog about that)

The third one was about the migration from physicals devices to XenDesktop. This was interesting to give the basics and know how don’t blow a XenDesktop project by forgetting the basics of this kind of project. This was very simplified because there was only 50 minutes but the big steps were here.

The opening keynote was ok, Mr Templeton thanks all the partners which make Citrix what they are today, there is a lot of money on the table to save all the people and buy us a green suite The Gartner point of view about desktop virtualization was very interesting, I took a lot of information from there.

At the end of the day, the EMEA Partner forum was lead by Mr Scott R. Herren (Very nice to meet him and exchange a bit about french market) and remind everyone 2009 was a disaster until the last quarter and XenDesktop 4 saved Citrix from a lot of troubles. Very large XenDesktop deals (largest maybe) came out at the end of 2009.

Then a welcome party in a museum, with a lot a funny things around, and I finally met Sir David McGeough from Citrix Readiness, It was a real please and I’m very glad to met him at last

HDX n’est pas seulement destiné aux utilisateur de VDI, depuis XenApp 6 cette technologie a été portée aux applications publiées.
4 technologies majeures se cachent derrière ce terme.

HDX Plug and Play
Permet de “mapper” n’importe quelle périphérique USB dans la cession Citrix en cours de manière dynamique, comme un disque dur externe, une clé USB, une WebCam…
Ne pas oublié cependant d’installer au préalable les drivers sur le (les) serveur(s) Citrix.

HDX 3D
Le rendu 3D est maintenant possible avec HDX 3D. Cette technologie permet d’utiliser la GPU Nvidia du serveur Citrix pour afficher du contenu 3D et supporte le Directx, Direct3D ET l’OpenGL !
Uniquement destiné au VDI pour le moment.

HDX ReaTime
Évolution mise en avant par Citrix. Grâce à HDX RealTime, les conférences audio / vidéo par le biais d’une application ou d’un bureau publié sont maintenant possibles.
Les nouveaux codecs utilisés par Citrix permettent d’économiser la bande passante et d’initier une conférence audio/vidéo via Microsoft Office Communicator avec un débit minimum de 1.5Mbtis/s en Download et 600Kbits/s en Upload.
Attention, pour les utilisateurs de XenDesktop, le client de messagerie instantané doit être installé dans la VM !

HDX MediaStream
Bien plus performant que le speedscreen multimedia ! HDX Mediastream utilise les ressources du poste client pour permettre l’affichage d’animations flashplayer de manière fluide. Coté DataCenter, le contenu multimédia est compressé puis envoyé directement au poste client qui l’intègre dans la page Internet Explorer publiée (IE 7 et + requis).
Le support d’une latence plus importante et d’autres navigateurs Internet ne serait tarder.
une KB importante à retenir : http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX123463

Citrix Synergy : Forom ouvert pour les partenaires, et les clients

Ce mardi a commencé par le grand “Keynote”, dédié aux “client / desktop”, toujours présenté par Mr Templeton

Cela a été l’occasion pour Citrix de nous présenter leurs dernières innovations / nouveautés la matière, et personne n’a été déçu !

Commençons par Citrix Reveiver : Nouveau client unifié. Installation de base d’un client, sur lequel vient se greffer des Addons (actuellement disponibles : Xenpp, EasyCall, Access Gateway). Vous me direz, argh, encore un client, il va falloir désinstaller les autres, il va falloir re-packager …) et je vous dis ->

Citrix Merchandising Server : Rendez-vous sur votre Mycitrix, section download, rubrique “Citrix Receiver”, le lien vers Merchandising si trouve. Ce produit vous permert de gérer le déployement des clients (Citrix Receiver) centralement. Merchandising s’installe sur …XenServer ou une appliance. Le produit démarre, il sera améliorer mais vous pouvez dors et déja manager et scheduler les déploiements des clients Windows uniquement

Voici les petites demos qui vont bien

Voici, coté server, upload du client + schedule : http://goview.com/?id=20ff7111-d88e-4b37-80bb-741308565ebf

Voici le déploiement du client (coté client) : http://goview.com/?id=e8de8f50-9cb1-40fd-8fd9-0b8ab9f86226

Citrix Dazzle : Portail de livraisons d’applications à la demande (c’est le Itunes de Citrix en somme). Interface très agréable, visuellement, il s’intègrera facilement en entreprise. Pour délivrer les application offertes par Dazzle, vous vous en doutez, the Wolrd Champion, XenApp et son pote, XenDeskop

Le file d’Ariane fut : N’importe quel client pourra se connecter sur une infrastructure Citrix, et M. Templeton nous l’a prouvé en utilisant un Iphone (et oui, ça marche, un petit tour sur Itunes store et hop la boum !)

J’essaierai de mette une petite video relatant ainsi l’ambiance.

En ce Lundi, j’ai choisi la session “Citrix Essentials For XenServer and Hyper-V”

Citrix Essentials est un pack de logiciels permettant de gérer ces serveurs virtuels de facons avancées

Il contient plus ou moins de logiciels selon la version, je vais m’arrêter à la full édition (platinium):

- Xen Server : Reporting avancé, Workflow Studio Orchestration, Provisionning services (virtuel et physique), Lab Management et Storage Link.

- Hyper-V : Workflow Studio, Multi hypervisor management, prend en charge Microsoft System Center (cela donne ainsi 3 consoles de gestion d’hyper-v !), lab management et storage link

Vous trouverez plus d’informations sur ces produits sur le net, mais je vais ajouter quelques infos sur Storage Link. Il s’agit d’un produit permettant de gérer le stockage SAN, ISCSI, FC …., très malin ! Ainsi plus besoin de sortir des releases de Xen / Hyper-V pour mettre à jour les drivers des controlleurs, une maj de storage link et Xen pourra gérer de l’EMC (bon, exemple légerment foireux étant donné qu’EMC appartient à VMware …mais Citrix essaye), mais bonne idée. Il est apparu que le produit est plus abouti pour Hyper-V que Xen

En prime, voici deux videos du lab sur la virtualisation

1 : XenConvert 2.0

2 : PlateSpin Portability Suite

Ces deuxapplicaitons permettent de réaliser des convertions (le premier est gratuit, l’autre non, mais sachez que Citrix donner des licences d’evaluation pour Platespin sur Mycitrix)

J’ai pu également assiter à une démo rapide de Platespin Recon

Demain, au programme, la présentation de la synergy 2009, ou il y a eu une explosion de nouveautés (aller, je vous sors de mots : Citrix Reveiver, Citrix Merchandising Server, Dazzle….)

Nous voici à la première journée de la conférence Citrix 2009, spécial Partenaire

Je commence par la session “Citrix XenApp on XenServer, Better Together”

Nous avons le droit a des statistiques édifiantes sur les performances de XenApp sur du XenServer face à Vmware Esx 3.5 Update 3. Voici le lien http://www.tolly.com/DocDetail.aspx?DocNumber=209103 .Il aurait été dommage que le produit phare de Citrix tourne mieux sur Vmware.

On pourrait mettre en doute l’autonomie de “tolly” étant donné qu’ils ont été commissionnés par Citrix, mais les chiffres semblent vraiment correspondre à la réalité (en tenant compte que Citrix connait son produit et d’après notre retour d’expérience), Xen ecrase Vmware concernant XenApp (Vmware promet quand meme un nette amélioration avec Vsphere4, je ne compterai pas la dessus, si vous voulez virtualiser XenApp -> Citrix forever)

Ce qui ressort de cette session : Citrix met vraiment la gomme sur le couple Xen + XenApp (plus loin, les futures offres)

Puis vint le “Keynote” : C’est une présentation générale sur la stratégie de Citrix pour l’année. Show à l’américaine, avec tous les boss de Citrix, fort sympa au demeurant

Sont passés : AL J. Monserat : Senior Vice président, sales and services. Ce coquin nous avait caché “20 golden Tickets” sous nos chaises permettant de gagner les derniers netbook d’HP. Et devinez !? …. ben rien sous ma chaise, il y en avait un  2 chaises à ma gauche !!!! Argh, tout va parce que j’ai laissé une belle blonde passé, je vous jure.

Puis s’est présenté Tom Flink : Vice president Worldwide Channel program and sales strategies

Enfin, Mark B. Templeton, President and Chief Executif Officer (CEO) de Citrix, le big Boss, qui nous a fait des démos (super sympa)

Au milieu, nous avons eu la visite d’un responsable chez Microsoft, qui s’est mis à discuter avec M. Templeton au sujet de l’ “other Guy”, et là tout devint clair : Fight !: Citrix + Microsoft vs VmWare, très bon pour nous, vous allez voir ce que Citrix nous concocte.

Je fini par une session spéciale partenaire, mettant l’accent sur VDI (virtual Desktop Infrastructure) ou des documents, privés, nous sont donnés et dont voici le titre, évocateur : “Citrix competitive Battlecard against Vmware View”.

D’autres informations nous sont données :

Il y a une télé chez Citrix www.citrix.com/tv ou vous pourrez voir pleins de news sur la synergy 2009 from Las Vega, vous pouvez y aller

Un nouveau programme de licence :www.citrix.com/ela, bien plus aisé, et compréhensible

Début Juin, de nouvelles certifications seront nécessaires pour les partenaires www.citrix.com/parnertraining

Bonne nouvelles, les démos des produits seront étendues (supérieures à 30 jours)

Un nouveau produit est sorti (encore en béta mais fonctionne bien) : http://goview.com, vous permet d’enregistrer votre écran (produit gratuit. Un enregistrement en ligne est cependant nécessaire)