18702 North Creek Pkwy. #208Loading
Volume 3, Issue 2 - February, 2008 - © 2009 by Moose Logic, All Rights Reserved
Cover Story: The Moose Is On The Move!
The Citrix Corner: They Called It What!?(Citrix Presentation Server is now XenApp)
Considering a Virtualization Project? Management wondering why it’s taking so long?
Do You Love Your Computer A Little Too Much?
What’s The Difference Between a DVD-R & DVD+R?
Moose Logic Coming Events
(Moose Views is a monthly newsletter prepared by Moose Logic to bring you information and tips on maintaining a trouble-free network)
The Moose Is On The Move!
The Great Moose Migration of 2008 is finally complete! A number of factors combined caused us to relocate from
our downtown Seattle location. One of the biggest factors is that, thanks largely to you—our great customers and
vendor partners, we were just plain outgrowing the space, and there was no room to expand there. Plus the lease
was up, and our neighbors wanted to expand into our space.
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to nail down the new location until early February, which meant that Isomedia had to work miracles for us to get our two T1 lines installed before the end of February (which was when we had to have everything, including our server rack, out of the old space). So we spent our first two weeks in the new office conducting business by cell phone and connecting back to the server rack in the old space via cellular modem and a temporary Clearwire wireless Internet feed. Thanks to our Citrix Presentation Server and Citrix Access Gateway, we were able to conduct business (almost) as usual.
Ultimately, it came down to the proverbial wire—the two T1 lines (one for data, and one for our VoIP phone lines) both went live in the late morning of Friday, February 29! At about 4:15 pm, our convoy headed for the old office, at 5:30 we pulled the plug on the server rack, and by Monday morning, we were up and running in our new space.
We apologize for any inconvenience you may have had in reaching us during the last two weeks of February.
Alas, the fancy printer that we use to print Moose Views has been off-line for the last three weeks, which is why the February edition is coming out in early March. It is our hope that there still will be a March edition following this one in a couple of weeks, followed by an April edition in April, and we’ll be back on schedule.
New Address:
18702 North Creek Pkwy, Suite 208
Bothell, WA 98011
Phone and Fax numbers are unchanged:
Phone: 206-774-0619
Fax: 206-299-3099
The Citrix Corner: They Called It What!?
(Citrix Presentation Server is now XenApp)
If you’ve been to the Citrix Web site lately, you’ve probably noticed that the product we’ve known and loved as
“MetaFrame,” and then as “Presentation Server,” is now called “Citrix XenApp.” Contrary to what you may be
thinking, they didn’t do that because they wanted to confuse us (that’s just an unintended consequence)...but
they did want to change the way we think about the product.
In the Spring of 2007, when Presentation Server v4.5 was released, Citrix added Application Streaming to the Enterprise and Platinum editions of the product. Application Streaming allows you to deliver an application on demand to either a Presentation Server or a desktop PC, and have it run in its own little “sandbox” (called an Application Isolation Environment) so applications wouldn’t conflict with one another. No more “DLL hell” because different applications required different versions of a shared code library. You can even have multiple versions of Office applications running on the same hardware without conflicts, e.g., Access 97 and Access 2007.
So Citrix wants us to view Pres... um, I mean XenApp as “something that facilitates the delivery of applications, ” — regardless of whether those applications will execute on a Terminal Server or a PC workstation—not just as “something you add to a Microsoft Terminal Server.” Hence the name change
Of course, the use of “Xen” is an obvious tie in with their XenServer product, which is a server virtualization platform. In the Citrix lexicon, “Xen” now equals “virtualization.” XenServer = server virtualization. XenDesktop (which we’ll hear a lot more about in the coming months) = Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, XenApp = virtualizing the delivery of applications...to Terminal Servers or to desktop Operating Systems, whether the desktop Operating Systems are actually running on desktop PCs, blade PCs in the data center, or virtual instances of Windows XP or Vista running on the virtualization platform of your choice (preferably XenServer, of course).
There is one more piece to this puzzle, and that’s something called “Provisioning Server.” Provisioning server evolved from Citrix’s acquisition of Ardence—and if you go to YouTube and search on the word “Ardence,” you’ll see some very cool demos.
Basically, Provisioning Server will allow PCs, whether we’re talking about servers or desktops, whether we’re talking about physical machines or virtual ones, boot and run from a single, read-only OS image that resides on shared storage. Here’s an example that should make this more clear.
Ever since people have been building multi-server Citrix server farms, we’ve wrestled with the change control issue. How do we insure that all the Citrix servers that are supposed to be configured identically actually are configured identically? And when we make a configuration change, how do we insure that change is propagated consistently across the environment? And if it turns out that the change broke something, how do we quickly roll back to the last known good configuration?
In these days of switched Gigabit Ethernet backbones in our datacenters (quickly evolving to 10 Gb Ethernet), we can actually deliver an Operating System to a server over the Ethernet network as fast as it can boot from local storage. So why have those redundant copies of the OS sitting on local hard disk drives in every server? Why not use the PXE Boot functionality that’s there in every machine built in the past few years to boot and run them all from a single, common, read-only OS image?
Then, if we want to, say, roll out a new Service Pack, we can take a snapshot of our OS image, put it in read/write mode, boot a single server from it, install the Service Pack, and put it back in read-only mode. Then tell our Provisioning Server to reboot our servers from the new image. Presto! All our servers have the new service pack! Uh-oh—we didn’t test it thoroughly enough. Something isn’t working right. OK, just point them back to the original image and reboot them again, and we’ve just rolled the farm back to a known good configuration. And think of the storage space you’ll save on your SAN if you don’t have to have a separate copy of the OS for every server!
The message is simple, and you’re going to hear it a lot: Best practice is to separate the delivery of Operating Systems from the delivery of Applications. Use Provisioning Server to deliver pristine, uncluttered Operating Systems that are guaranteed to be identical. Then use XenApp to stream applications to those Operating Systems. Turn your Data Center into a Delivery Center. Hey! That’s a good line...oh, wait, Citrix already thought of it...
Considering a Virtualization Project? Management wondering why it’s taking so long?
Virtualizing your IT resources is simpler than you think. Take the first step now with Citrix XenServerTM.Quickly and easily virtualize servers with best performance while managing all resources from a single, easy-to-use console. Citrix XenServer is simple and effective server virtualization for Windows and Linux systems.
Begin virtualizing today with Citrix XenServer.
Download a free copy of Citrix XenServer Express Edition from http://www.citrix.com/xenserver/getexpress and experience “10 minutes to Xen.” Or contact us for a free White Paper on the XenServer product family.
Do You Love Your Computer A Little Too Much?
It’s the relationship you spend more time on than any other. It deepens every year. And when things go wrong,
you become afraid, tearful, and in some cases so enraged that you lash out by throwing things—but you’re willing
to go right back into the relationship no matter what happens.
What are we talking about? The bond you have with your computer. If you work in an office, chances are you spend 3 more time staring into your computer screen than having conversations with real live human beings. And you probably spend more time at your PC than you do with your significant other, best friend, and even your kids.
According to research conducted by SupportSoft Inc., a firm in Redwood City, California, that makes software for computer help desks, people are spending an increasing amount of time at their computer. This survey also revealed how computer problems can unleash powerful—even dangerous emotions. When confronted with a dead computer, 19% admitted to wanting to hurl it out the nearest window, 9% felt stranded and alone, 11% used language normally reserved for special occasions, 7% did so loudly, 3% did so tearfully and another 3% vented their wrath on inanimate objects.
With these results it should come as no surprise that 48% said they would rather help a friend move than deal with a computer problem, and 30% said they felt more frustration with their computer now than in previous years.
Want to have a healthy relationship with your computer? Then check out our MooseGuardTM plans. We’ll make your computer “behave,” which will lower your stress and anxiety, reduce computer problems to zero, and give you more time to spend with REAL human beings.
What’s The Difference Between a DVD-R & DVD+R?
Are you confused over the difference between DVD-R and a DVD+R? Then read on...A DVD-R is similar to a compact disk (CD) but with a larger storage capacity. Once you write a file to a DVD-R, it cannot be re-written or changed whereas a DVD-RW (DVD-rewritable) can be rewritten multiple (1000+) times.
A DVD+R is a once-writable optical disc with slightly less storage capacity than the DVD-R. DVD+RW is a rewritable version of DVD+R. The DVD+R format was developed by a coalition of corporations, known as the DVD+RW Alliance. The battle between the two formats (DVD-R and DVD+R) is similar to old competition between VHS (Victor Home System) and Betamax (Sony) for video tape formats.
Since the DVD+R format is a competing format to the DVD-R format, which is developed by the DVD Forum, it has not been approved by the DVD Forum, which claims that the DVD+R format is not an official DVD format. My experience has been that DVD+R is not compatible with some older DVD video decks.
The disks are pretty much the same, but the writing process is different. DVD+R is a bit more advanced, but the disks often cost more than a DVD-R. For the average computer user, the most important thing to consider is what format your DVD recording software works best in. My suggestion? Get a writer that supports both formats. And if you plan to burn DVDs that you can play back on the deck that’s hooked to your TV, DVD-R is probably a safer format to use.
