MSTerminalServices.org Monthly Newsletter of September 2007 Sponsored by: UniPrintWelcome to the MSTerminalServices.org newsletter by Stefan Vermeulen, MVP and Citrix CTP. Each month we will bring you interesting and helpful information on MS Terminal Services and server based computing. We want to know what all *you* are interested in hearing about. Please send your suggestions for future newsletter content to: SVermeulen@MSTerminalServices.org UniPrint Gateway Terminal Server Edition - The ideal server-based printing solution for all client platforms.
1. Next generation Thin Clients?Former Xensource CEO Nick Gault, now CEO of a startup called Panologic, has created a thin client device without a CPU and memory, thus no OS on the system, called the Pano. The technology is referred to as PCI over Ethernet. The result is a small box that resides on the desktop and connects to a VDI instance that runs XP or Vista. A chip in the system takes care of it all. With no built-in OS at all, all management is done on the server side. The server side install includes VMware server to connect to - for those customers who do not already have that up and running. The magic is also in the power consumption. It uses 5 Watts which is extremely little. (Better not hook a 24" LCD to it, to kill the power savings). The little box has just a single button on it, for IT to configure. (Roll back a corrupt VDI, switch to another virtual machine for other tasks, etc. Feel free to get creative here). The device can further be locked down on its USB ports, and on local storage. Licensing is set to "per device" and perpetual licensing starts at $300. Subscriptions can cost $20 a month. Thin client computing is evolving, and I have full faith that we can expect more of these devices in the near future. And of course the problems that come with it, and what about the obvious, of which you will not find a single word on the Pano website; at what bandwidth or latency does the logic stop? You can wait for it, for companies trying this device on their unattended sales office over at the other side of the world. PCI over Ethernet, over a wan line. I am looking forward to the first reviews on that. What becomes point break, and will a device like Packeteer be able to help in any way? An alternative that was not launched with so much commotion as the Pano is Teradici's technology called "PC over IP" which basically takes it one step further. They connect to an IBM workstation blade server running on the network. So this is an actual client computer, but it's just actually running in the datacenter, sort of like taking KVM technology to the next level. I don't think they will be entirely successful unless they embrace the proven technology, and adapt a hybrid solution, by also accepting terminal server and Citrix sessions. Sales of thin clients have increased a lot the last few years. Server based computing has become part of the infrastructure, and has earned its place. It's only common sense to start replacing fat clients for thin clients where possible. End users have learned to live with the behavior and usage of terminal server and Citrix sessions and with the concept of a thin client. With VDI around the corner, these same thin clients are now connecting to something that looks very similar to their existing desktop. The adoption of such a system will be much easier than the change from a desktop to RDP or ICA sessions. In the last few years vendors have tried to push the capacity of terminal servers up, and have also given it a sling with 64bit, to get the numbers up even more. Saturation of Terminal Server became common knowledge and accepted in the TS community. VDI will push the envelope even more as to what an SAN storage and a VMware setup can handle. Different types of saturation or limitations will be found, and I personally believe that the technology is not yet ready for a full scale VDI solution for the entire office. Initiatives like the above will certainly find their place in the architecture. Terminal Services has done that over time, virtualization is doing this as we speak, and PCI or PC over Ethernet will probably find its way there. Maybe not today, but certainly in the upcoming years. Exciting times ahead! UniPrint Gateway Terminal Server Edition - The ideal server-based printing solution for all client platforms.
2. KB Articles / Webcasts of the MonthHere are some interesting and useful Terminal Services related articles and webcasts posted by Microsoft in the last month:
3. Ask our MVPs a questionThis is simple and straight forward: shoot us your TS/Citrix question and we will get some of the top Terminal Services MVPs together and get you an answer, from everyone’s point of view! The best question of the month will be published here with all the answers from these guys. Just email us at SVermeulen@MSTerminalServices.org. QUESTION: Hello Stefan; There is one thing I have trouble with understanding. Why is the starting of a Citrix session taking forever, but once it's started, performance is excellent? ANSWER: Dear Carry, 4. Learning ZoneWe have a great group of articles in the Learning Zone that will help you get a handle on your most difficult configuration issues. Here are just a few of the newer and more interesting articles:
UniPrint Gateway Terminal Server Edition - The ideal server-based printing solution for all client platforms.
5. Tip of the MonthWindows Internals 4th edition. MSTerminalServiecs.org is giving away 10 copies of the 4th edition of Windows Internals. If you are serious about windows, this book is basically mandatory. Here is your option to get your hands on it for free. All you need to do is visit the site and fill in a short survey. With this information we can improve the site and make sure that the content matches your expectations. 6. Blog Posts
7. Events / Links of the MonthThe Pano device release was of course not the only thing that happened. Another bombshell that did not get much attention was the introduction, by aquaconnect, of technology that can change your Apple OS X server into a Terminal Server. Ok, they are using VNC protocol technology for now, but they are working on getting this improved. Get full info here. Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services with Clear Type enabled: Now how much of your bandwidth will that setting kill? Find out exactly in this initial article, soon to be followed by a second article. Interesting material for the bandwidth junkies. A freeware TS load balancer with better logic than MS NLB? Yes it exists, it is free and it has now been reviewed by Wilco van Bragt over here. Save your money for other things! Thomas Koetzing has some news about the famous UPHclean tool. It looks like Robin is forced into having it beta for the rest of its lifecycle as it's in competition with Windows Server 2008 Profile service. The key question is, will that be good enough, or will people still go for the beta version of Robin's tool? Read the blog post here. Provision Networks is introducing "Project TypeAhead", which basically is comparable with Citrix's SpeedScreen Latency Reduction, to be used for RDP. If your WAN deployment was forcing you into Citrix, you now have a viable alternative. See you next month! UniPrint Gateway Terminal Server Edition - The ideal server-based printing solution for all client platforms.
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