18702 North Creek Pkwy. #208Loading
Volume 4, Issue 2 - March, 2009 - © 2009 by Moose Logic, All Rights Reserved
Cover Story: Citrix Changes the Virtualization Game!
Citrix Simplifies the XenApp Product Line - Added Value for No Extra Cost!
Microsoft's Business Productivity Online Suite
DataCore Special Offer Through March 31
No More Lunch and Learns?
St. Patrick's Day Humor
Moose Logic Coming Events
March Recommended Reading
(Moose Views is a monthly newsletter prepared by Moose Logic to bring you information and tips on maintaining a trouble-free network)
Citrix Changes the Virtualization Game!
In case you haven’t heard, Citrix made some amazing announcements last week, that will completely change the landscape in server virtualization: most of the features that were previously available only in the XenServer Enterprise Edition are now FREE!Yes, I said free. For the low, low price of nothing, you can now download a 64-bit hypervisor that:
- Supports Windows and Linux guests.
- Supports unlimited CPUs and VMs.
- Includes the XenCenter management console with multi-server management.
- Supports XenMotion live migration.
- Is proven to be the best virtualization platform for XenApp servers.
- Was the best-performing hypervisor in 9 out of the 12 tests run in Network World's "bake off."
For many applications, the new free XenServer will do everything you need it to do. But some customers are going to want additional functionality, and that’s where the new Citrix Essentials for XenServer product comes in.
The Enterprise version of the Essentials product will add the HA functionality that is currently included in XenServer v5.0 Enterprise Edition, but will not be included in the new free version. This is the functionality that allows you to “protect” a VM so that if the XenServer it is running on should fail, it will automatically restart on a surviving server in the pool.
Essentials Enterprise will also include integrated management of shared storage, which Citrix is now branding as StorageLinkTM, historical performance reporting, email alerting, and the Citrix Workflow Studio.
There will also be a Platinum Edition that will include Provisioning Server (as the XenServer Platinum Edition does today) and a new Lab Management feature.
At the same time, Citrix is introducing a version called Citrix Essentials for Hyper-V. This is the culmination of the product strategy that has been talked about ever since Citrix purchased XenSource back in 2007.
If you’ve been to a Citrix XenServer presentation, you’ve probably seen the “sports car slide,” that talked about how XenServer was the car, and the hypervisor was the engine, and the car could either be equipped with a Xen engine or a Hyper-V engine. When Hyper-V first came on the scene, that clearly wasn’t the case. Now it is.
Citrix Essentials for Hyper-V brings the same feature set to Hyper-V as it does to XenServer, with the exception of the HA function, which Microsoft addresses with its own clustering technology. It also brings hypervisor interoperability so that you can more easily manage a heterogeneous environment of both XenServer and Hyper-V.
What does this mean to you? If you currently own XenServer Enterprise or Platinum licenses, with current Subscription Advantage, you will be able to upgrade to the corresponding version of Citrix Essentials for XenServer.
Moreover, if you own XenServer Standard licenses that were purchased before February 23, with current Subscription Advantage, you have the choice of simply moving to the free version, which has more functionality than the product you currently own and would eliminate your annual Subscription Advantage renewal fee, or upgrading to Essentials Enterprise at no charge, although your ongoing SA renewal fee would go up slightly.
XenServer Standard Edition will, of course, no longer be sold.
If you need more information on the new versions of XenServer, give us a call.
Citrix Simplifies the XenApp Product Line
Along with the game-changing announcements about XenServer, Citrix has also announced some simplification in its XenApp product line. This involves licensing changes to the Application Streaming, Single Sign-on (formerly known as Password Manager), Provisioning Server, Load Testing services (formerly known as EdgeSight for Load Testing), and EasyCall components.Any XenApp customer who has a valid Subscription Advantage membership as of March 9, 2009, is entitled to take advantage of these changes:
Application Streaming
Application Streaming has been added to the XenApp Advanced Edition—so it is now available in all editions of XenApp. Moreover, the feature will no longer consume a XenApp license when used to stream applications to a desktop PC. Citrix explains the new licensing as follows: “If a customer purchases 300 XenApp licenses for ‘N’ users, then all ‘N’ users are entitled to use Application streaming on their desktops.”
XenApp Advanced customers should note that they will need to generate a new license file after March 15 to get one that enables the new functionality. There will also be a new hotfix that will be available on March 15 and that needs to be applied to the XenApp servers.
Single Sign-on
XenApp Platinum licenses have always included the rights to use Single Sign-on (formerly Password Manager) for authentication to applications executed on the XenApp Server. But if you wanted to put the SSO agent on a desktop PC, you had to purchase additional licenses.
The Single Sign-on agent now will no longer consume a XenApp license when used for desktop use. The description of the license rights is identical to the way the Application Streaming license is described.
Existing customers will need to download a new SSO agent that will be available on March 15.
Provisioning Services
Customers with multiple XenApp servers have always struggled with the question of how to insure that supposedly identical servers actually are identical. Provisioning Services provides a great way to do that, and it is now part of XenApp Platinum—although it is restricted to provisioning XenApp Platinum server workloads.
Load Testing Services
This feature, formerly licensed separately as “EdgeSight for Load Testing,” is now a free download for all XenApp Enterprise and Platinum customers with current Subscription Advantage.
EasyCall Voice Services
This feature, which can turn any telephone number in just about any application into a “click to call” link, is now a free download for all XenApp customers with current Subscription Advantage. Please note, however, that the printed version of Moose Views erroneously stated that you would still need to purchase an appliance that provides the interface to your telephone system. In fact, Citrix has recently released a virtual appliance that can be run on a XenServer.
Workflow Studio
This feature is a free download for all XenApp customers with current Subscription Advantage.
Profile Management
This feature is also a free download for all XenApp Enterprise and Platinum customers with current Subscription Advantage.
For more info, please give us a call.
Microsoft's Business Productivity Online Suite
Need to upgrade your email system, but don’t have the budget right now? Or perhaps there’s been an acquisition, and you’re trying to figure out how you can quickly integrate the new employees into your mail system.Or perhaps you’ve been looking at the Microsoft Office SharePoint product, but you’re put off by the hardware and software infrastructure you need.
Or maybe, given the current economic climate, you’d like to shift some expenses from capital expenditures to operating expenses and only pay for what you need as you need it. Now you can access these products, and more, as part of the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite.
The Business Productivity Online Suite (“BPOS”) includes Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, LiveMeeting Web conferencing, and (coming soon) Office Communications Online for secure instant messaging and presence awareness.
The cost? Only $15.00 per month per user, and only $3.00 per month per user to get Web-only access to Exchange and SharePoint for a “Deskless Worker.”
If purchased individually, Exchange Online would cost $10.00 per month per user, and SharePoint Online would cost $7.50 per month per user, so the suite is a good deal even if you only need those two applications.
Unlike most Microsoft license programs, where you have to pay for at least a year at a time, the BPOS is billed monthly.
It’s easy to set up, and can integrate with your existing Active Directory and Exchange infrastructure.
As a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and an authorized partner for BPOS, Moose Logic can walk you through the signup process and provide additional services to help you with configuration and ongoing maintenance.
Just give us a call for more information on BPOS or its component products. It could be your lucky day!
DataCore Special Offer Through March 31
We’ve talked in past issues about how, if you can come up with some budget dollars, you’ll probably find that they go farther these days. Here’s another example.As you know, if you’ve been following the virtualization market or reading Moose Views for a while, to get the most out of virtualization you need shared storage...but you don’t want your shared storage to be a single point of failure, so you need redundant shared storage.
Through March 31, all new DataCore customers who buy a dual-node license for high availability shared storage will get 50% off the price of the second license.
With XenServer now free, and discounts on shared storage, there’s no better time to get started with virtualization!
No More Lunch and Learns?
We regret to announce that Moose Logic will no longer be sponsoring Lunch and Learn events. We will, however, continue to sponsor educational seminars, some of which will be held at or near the noon hour, and most of which will include the consumption of food. We will be referring to these events as “Eat and Educate” events.It seems that the term “Lunch ‘N Learn” was trademarked several years ago by Employee Development Systems, Inc., of Littleton, CO, and they claim that the use of the term “Lunch and Learn” infringes on their trademark and could cause confusion...although they would be happy to allow us to continue using it for a $500/year license fee.
Now, I realize that we’re going through some tough economic times, but this seems a bit ridiculous to us. We would prefer to spend that $500 purchasing food for you to consume at our next “Eat and Educate” event. Therefore, no more “Lunch and Learns,” just “Eat and Educate” events.
In fact, I think we’ll trademark “Eat ‘N Educate,” and make it available for use free of charge to everyone except Employee Development Systems, Inc. of Littleton, CO. After all, we certainly wouldn’t want anyone confusing them with Moose Logic—because, frankly, we think they’re full of blarny!
St. Patrick's Day Humor
Q: What is out on the lawn all summer and is Irish?A: Paddy O'Furniture!
Q: What do you call a fake stone in Ireland?
A: A sham rock!
Q: Why does a leprechaun wear green suspenders?
A: To hold his pants up!
Q: How late do leprechaun kids get to stay up?
A: Until the wee hours.
Q: How can you tell if an Irishman is having a good time?
A: He's Dublin over with laughter.
Q: Why can't you borrow money from a leprechaun?
A: Because they're always a little short.
