Articles In Virtualization

By Carlo Costanzo, Posted in Infrastructure, Virtualization

Content Libraries For those entrenched in virtualization, vSphere's Content Libraries are no stranger. Despite their glaring advantages, the adoption rate has been sluggishly low, primarily because of traditionalist tendencies. Yes, you guessed it right, I'm talking about those dedicated LUNs still holding ISOs like it's 2005. I get it, it's comfortable to stick with what you know, but hear me out: Content Libraries in vSphere aren't just a fancier vessel for your ISOs. They are the bedrock for a more robu... read more.

• September 20, 2023

By Carlo Costanzo, Posted in Infrastructure, Virtualization

Do you have any Raw Disk Mappings (RDMs) in your environment? If so, you might want to learn more about Clustered VMDKs. Clustered VMDKs vs RDMs Before Clustered VMDKs, clients would have to use RDMs to present a shared disk between VMs. RDMs were basically LUNs passed directly through the ESXi host to the Virtual Machines. The cluster software then handled writes and locking directly with the SAN. You could abstract the interactions a bit more by using Virtual Raw Disk Mappings (vRDMs), but the gist of t... read more.

• July 27, 2023

By Brian Wagner, Posted in Infrastructure, Virtualization

Gotham has been delivering secure applications to client machines for over 20 years. In the past, this was done primarily through local installs, published applications, and virtual desktops. However, the application landscape is changing, and applications are now being delivered from more sources to more destinations. This includes SaaS applications, applications delivered from multiple brokers, multiple operating systems, and policy-based variations of the above scenarios. One example of this change is t... read more.

• April 24, 2023

By Timothy Karl, Posted in Virtualization

On July 14, 2022, IGEL announced the general availability of Microsoft Teams optimizations in Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) using IEGL OS endpoints. IGEL OS is the first Linux-based OS to support Teams optimizations with AVD. Prior to this, the Teams optimizations were only available in the AVD clients for Windows 10/11 and macOS. The media optimizations for Teams allow for local offloading of audio and video for calls and meetings. This means that the audio and video traffic bypass the virtual desktop sessi... read more.

• September 13, 2022

By Timothy Karl, Posted in Virtualization

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 7.15 LTSR will reach End of Life (EOL) on August 15, 2022. Customers using this version who wish to remain on the LTSR track must upgrade to 1912 or 2203 LTSR before then or risk being on an unsupported platform. Besides supportability, there are additional benefits for upgrading to 1912 and 2203 LTSR. Additional OS Support for Infrastructure components and VDAs 7.15 LTSR supports up to Windows 10 for Desktop OS and Windows 2016 Server OS. Both 1912 and 2203 LTSR allow you... read more.

• June 22, 2022

By Timothy Karl, Posted in Infrastructure, Security, Support, Virtualization

Citrix recently released the first new LTSR version of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops in over two years. Here is what I feel are the top 5 new features and enhancements available in 2203: #1 - Microsoft Teams Optimizations Citrix has added a lot of functionally to Microsoft Teams optimizations over the last two years that were until now only available in current releases. These new functionalities in the latest LTSR release include: App sharing Multimonitor screen sharing DTMF support Proxy server... read more.

• April 15, 2022

By Hank Smith, Posted in Infrastructure, Virtualization

Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD), was released in September 2019, and is seen as the next step in the evolution of Microsoft’s OS. Microsoft Azure really doesn’t offer native management of WVD, and that is where Citrix, VMware, NetApp VDS (formerly CloudJumper), and Nerdio come in. CitrixAnyone familiar with Citrix Cloud can easily create WVD desktops as it is just another target. Citrix supports a variety of features with the use of WVD, specifically the HDX protocol, integration with other target... read more.

• June 29, 2020

By Timothy Karl, Posted in Infrastructure, Virtualization

Microsoft Teams is a unified communication and collaboration platform that combines chat, audio calling, video conferencing, file storage, and application integration. It is a replacement for Skype for Business, which will reach end of life in July 2021. It comes with a company's Office 365 subscription, depending on your licensing plan, and can integrate with non-Microsoft products. The following Office 365 subscription licensing plans enable users for Teams: Image via Microsoft. By hosting Micros... read more.

• December 23, 2019

By Brian Wagner, Posted in Infrastructure, Virtualization

Microsoft has officially released their Desktop as a Service (DaaS) offering, dubbed Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD). There are some standout features of WVD, and as someone who’s been helping customers deliver Windows desktops and applications for 20 years, I feel a strong market momentum behind this offering. Microsoft is making WVD very attractive, starting with a unique multi-session version of Windows 10 which is only available in Azure through this offering and continuing with extended support for... read more.

• October 01, 2019

By Timothy Karl, Posted in Infrastructure, Virtualization

As of August 2018, the Citrix Workspace app has replaced Citrix Receiver. The Citrix Workspace app securely aggregates all of your applications and data, whether on-premises or in the cloud, from any device into a single unified app. Below is a sample screenshot of the Workspace app: In order to take full advantage of the Workspace app, it needs to be integrated with the Workspace service which is a fundamental component of Citrix Cloud. The service is responsible for aggregating and delivering all of yo... read more.

• June 21, 2019