• Goodbye Cisco ACE, Hello Citrix Netscaler

    Lately I have spent a fair amount of my time implementing and configuring Citrix Netscaler devices, the more I use these the more I am excited about this technology, apparently Cisco agrees with me.

    Cisco confirmed this week that it will not develop further generations of its ACE load-balancing products based on a review of data center trends and growth market opportunities. ACE, which is embodied in modules for Cisco 7600 routers and Catalyst 6500 switch and a standalone appliance, was not a growing product line for Cisco.

    ACE is an application delivery controller (ADC). ADCs are vital to virtualized data centers and cloud environments as more VM workloads are added and movde around within and between data centers, and within the cloud. Multiple active paths between switches need to balance traffic loads to ensure application uptime and performance, and reduce latency and congestion

    Cisco has announced a partnership with Citrix to use Netscalers as part of the solution stack. Cisco and Citrix have a long history of working together and many plans laid out for the future.

    The companies also plan to integrate Cisco’s collaboration products with Citrix’s CloudGateway and Xen Desktop virtualization offerings; and Cisco’s ONE programming environment, Unified Computing and Nexus data center switches with Citrix’s CloudPlatform orchestration engine and XenServer products.

    Ok so what does this mean to you if your an ACE customer and now your hardware is EOL, Citrix and Cisco have developed the ACE Migration Program or AMP to help you with the transition.

    In phase one of our networking partnership, Cisco sales teams will now recommend Citrix NetScaler ADC for Cisco Unified Data Center Architecture and Solutions. This will enable our mutual customers to deliver any application or service with the best possible performance, security and availability. Additionally, Citrix is developing a suite of migration tools, reference documents and services to ensure seamless integration of Citrix NetScaler into Cisco Cloud Network Services architectures.
    To fully support customers during this transition phase, Citrix is offering a new ACE Migration Program (AMP) to all global customers. The special program provides Cisco ACE customers with the industry’s most generous product discounts for next-generation ADC solutions, as well as custom NetScaler implementation services provided by world-class Citrix Consulting Services. Citrix is making it easy for ACE customers to migrate to the industry’s best ADC solution, NetScaler. Between now and December 31, 2012, qualified Cisco ACE customers will receive:

    • 20% discount on the MSRP of any NetScaler MPX and multi-tenant NetScaler SDX appliance.
    • 20% discount on the MSRP of a standard 3-day NetScaler Implementation Service provided by world-class Citrix Consulting Services.

    Note: Existing volume license programs apply to the discounted manufacturer suggested retail price (MSRP), if applicable.
    Information on the ACE Migration Program, as well as for materials and resources pertaining to the Cisco and Citrix NetScaler partnership, please visit the Citrix “Welcome to NetScaler” site at www.citrix.com/netscaler/cisco.

    More about the future relationship between Cisco and Citrix

    Cisco and Citrix believe the IT industry is on the verge of the next major architectural transition:  the mobile-cloud era. To help enterprise and service provider customers capture the market transition and transform their business models, Cisco and Citrix will collaborate to unify best-of-breed technologies into innovative solutions for the mobile-cloud era.

    The expanded partnership will include a significant investment in people and resources to drive market-leading technology innovation, solution integration and validation, customer support, and joint go-to-market investment on a global basis.

    • Cloud Networking
    • Cloud Orchestration
    • Mobile Workstyles
    • PertnerShip Momentum

     Expect a few more blogs around the Citrix Netscalers coming up soon. I hope you find this article useful, if you have any comments please leave them below.


  • Citrix AppDNA Extended No Charge No Limit Trial

    It has been a while since I have used AppDNA but I have found the product very useful for testing OS and streaming compatibility with OS upgrades, App-V sequencing and Citrix Application streaming. For those planning or doing a migration, you have a great opportunity as Citrix has a pretty exciting offer on AppDNA I don’t think many can resist.

    From the Article

    Expanded No-Charge Application Compatibility Trial for Application Migration Initiatives – Even Windows 8

    This week at Citrix Synergy and Summit, Citrix announces a new version of the AppDNA application migration software that includes an expanded no-charge trial with application testing and effort modeling for an unlimited number of applications.  The new service pack release also includes early access features for testing application compatibility for the new Microsoft Windows 8, Internet Explorer 10 and Windows Server 2012 releases. The new AppDNA 6.1 Service Pack 1 is available today via the AppDNA trial or for current AppDNA customers via myCitrix.
    Application Compatibility Testing for an Unlimited Amount of Applications
    Whether you’re starting a proof of concept for a migration from XP or a pilot of a virtualization project on XenDesktop, you need to start by sizing the compatibility of the application portfolio. With the new Citrix AppDNA software trial, application compatibility testing for 10, 100 or even 1,000 of your most important enterprise applications can now be sampled with the AppDNA trial.   Additionally, the AppDNA trial provides a taste of the powerful AppDNA application remediation information for 10 applications (5 MSI, 5 web apps).
    Look carefully at the screenshot here (click to enlarge) –  it’s showing the application compatibility of a sample set of 27 applications for an enterprise looking to migrate from Windows XP to Windows 8.  On the left hand side, the AppDNA trial report is showing that before any application remediation, 44.4% of the applications will be a green light for migration- they shouldn’t have any major application compatibility issues. On the right hand side, the chart is showing after taking the appropriate application remediation steps, 81.5% of the applications can be a green light for deployment.

    AppDNA application compatibility estate view report
    Unlimited import of applications shows the current state of the application portfolio and the application compatibility work needed to move to a new technology, like Windows 8 

    The AppDNA trial report is also showing the kinds of application compatibility issues in this sample set of applications. Now you know the level of difficulty in application remediation. Use this information to plan timelines, staff and training needed to troubleshoot application compatibility. (See previous blog: Correctly Staffing Application Compatibility Projects: Gut Feel or Data Driven)
    Plus, as part of the no-charge AppDNA trial, enterprises can use the AppDNA Effort Calculator to model the time, cost and staff needed to address the specific application compatibility issues in their application portfolio.  (See previous blog: How Much Budget for Application Compatibility?) See the changes to your application migration plan if you add more people to the project or if your deadline is suddenly 3 months sooner than expected.  Best of all, see the cost savings of automating application compatibility over months and months of manual testing efforts.

    AppDNA application compatibility trial includes application migration effort calculator

    Determine the application compatibility effort needed to move to a new technology

    Remember, the AppDNA software shows you the exact application remediation detail – and recommends steps to fix the application. With the new AppDNA trial, see the application remediation detail for 10 applications (5 MSI, 5 web based) and learn how powerful the AppDNA software can be for your organization.

    What kind of peace of mind would you have in planning your move from XP to Windows 7 or Windows 8 if you could look into the crystal ball and know your success rate? Would you plan an upgrade to the latest XenApp release if you knew your application compatibility success rate? Well, now you can sample application compatibility success with AppDNA software – and at no cost.
    For Citrix partners, this new AppDNA trial is an incredible opportunity to be the trusted advisor for application migration – whether for an OS migration, virtualization project or combined effort – using the no-charge trial reports for scoping the effort, time and cost of projects. Quote the project accurately and help customers migrate with less challenge.

    The fine print: the trial is valid for 30 days and is limited to 1 trial per enterprise. Now – go forth and test your applications via the AppDNA trial.


  • XenServer 6.1 Released

    Citrix Systems announced today the GA release of XenServer 6.1, formerly Project “Tampa” I will be upgrading my lab soon to this release to test these new features which as I can I will be diving into here in more detail.

    New Features in this release that caught my attention

    • Storage XenMotion
    • Live VDI Migration
    • LACP support 
    • SLB (Source Load Balancing) Bond up to 4 NICs in an active/active configuration


    XenServer 6.1.0 includes the following new features and ongoing improvements:
     
    Storage XenMotion:
    Storage XenMotion allows running VMs to be moved from one host to another. This includes the case where (a) VMs are not located on storage shared between the hosts and (b) hosts are not in the same resource pool. This enables system administrators to:

    • Rebalance or move VMs between XenServer pools – for example promoting a VM from a development environment to a production environment;
    • Perform software maintenance – for example upgrading or updating standalone XenServer hosts without VM downtime;
    • Perform hardware maintenance – for example upgrading standalone XenServer host hardware without VM downtime;
    • Reduce deployment costs by using local storage.

    For more information, refer to the XenServer 6.1.0 Virtual Machine User’s Guide and the XenCenter online help.

    Live VDI Migration:
    Live VDI Migration allows system administrators to relocate a VM’s Virtual Disk Image (VDI) without shutting down the VM. This enables system administrators to:

    • Move a VM from cheap, local storage to fast, resilient, array-backed storage;
    • Move a VM from a development to a production environment;
    • Move between tiers of storage when a VM is limited by storage capacity;
    • Perform storage array upgrades.

    Networking Enhancements

    • Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) support: enables the use of industry-standard network bonding features to provide fault-tolerance and load balancing of network traffic.
    • Source Load Balancing (SLB) improvements: allows up to 4 NICs to be used in an active-active bond. This improves total network throughput and increases fault tolerance in the event of hardware failures. The SLB balancing algorithm has been modified to reduce load on switches in large deployments.
    • Multi-Tenancy improvements: allows system administrators to restrict a VM to send and receive traffic on a specific MAC address and a number of IPv4 or IPv6 addresses, without relying on VLANs and switch management software. When these extensions are deployed VMs cannot impersonate any other VM, or intercept traffic intended for any other VM. This increases security in environments where VMs cannot be fully trusted. For detailed configuration see the XenServer 6.1.0 Administrator’s Guide
    • VLAN Scalability improvements: removes a previous limitation which caused VM deployment delays when large numbers of VLANs were in use. This improvement enables administrators using XenServer 6.1.0 to deploy hundreds of VLANs in a XenServer pool quickly.
    • Emergency Network Reset: provides a simple mechanism to recover and reset a host’s networking, allowing system administrators to revert XenServer hosts to a known good networking state. Refer to CTX131972 and the XenServer 6.1.0 Administrator’s Guide for detailed information.
    • IPv6 Guest Support: enables the use of IPv6 addresses within guests allowing network administrators to plan for network growth.

    Guest Enhancements

    • Citrix XenServer Conversion Manager: enables batch import of VMs created with VMware products into a XenServer pool to reduce costs of converting to a XenServer environment. Refer to the XenServer Conversion Manager Guide.
    • New Installation Mechanism for XenServer Tools: XenServer Tools are now delivered as industry standard Windows Installer MSI files. This enables the use of 3rd party tools to deliver and manage the installation and upgrade of the XenServer device drivers. For more information on MSI files refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb742606.aspx

    Enhanced Guest OS Support: Newly Supported Guests

    • Ubuntu 12.04
    • CentOS 5.7, 6.0, 6.1, 6.2
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.7, 6.1, 6.2
    • Oracle Enterprise Linux 5.7, 6.1, 6.2
    • Windows 8 (32-bit/64-bit) – experimental support
    • Windows Server 2012 – experimental support

    Refer to the XenServer 6.1.0 Guest Support Guide for virtual memory and disk size limits for these new guests. 

    Ongoing Improvements

    • Supported number of VMs per host increased to 150.
    • XenCenter: configuration of performance graphs simplified; assignment of IP addresses simplified.
    • Performance Monitoring Enhancements Supplemental Pack: provides additional RRD metrics such as I/O throughput that can be viewed in XenCenter. Refer to CTX135033 for details
    • XenServer Tools: guests running Windows operating systems can now make use of either Microsoft .NET 3.5 or .NET 4.0 when installing XenServer Tools.
    • Simplified mechanism to adjust Control Domain (“dom0”) vCPUs. Refer to CTX134738 for details.
    • Updated Open vSwitch: v1.4.2 provides stability and performance improvements. For more information refer to http://openvswitch.org.
    • Integrated StorageLink (iSL) support for EMC VNX series arrays.
    • GPU Pass-through: support for up to 4 GPUs per host.
    • Interoperability extensions for 3rd Party Tools: additional asynchronous XenAPI C language bindings, Workload Balancing (WLB) extensions and general improvements. Refer to CTX135078 – XenServer 6.1.0 SDK Release Notes and CTX134685 – Workload Balancing 6.1 Release Notes.
    • Automated Server Hardware Test Kit – reduces the time spent running certification tests – refer to the Verification Test Kits & Forms for Citrix XenServer for more information.
    • Support for hypervisor monitoring (vhostmd) allows SAP software to run inside a XenServer VM. Refer to CTX134790 for configuration details.

    The following components have been updated since the release of XenServer 6.0:

    XenServer Virtual Appliances

    The following XenServer Virtual Appliances are available for download from the XenServer Download page

    • Demo Linux Virtual Appliance
    • Workload Balancing 6.1.0 Virtual Appliance
    • vSwitch Controller Virtual Appliance
    • Web Self Service 1.1.2 Virtual Appliance
    • Citrix License Server VPX v11.10
    • Citrix XenServer Conversion Manager

    Installation and Upgrades

    Upgrade to XenServer 6.1.0 is possible from any version of XenServer 6.0 or 5.6, including 5.6 (base), 5.6 Feature Pack 1, 5.6 Service Pack 2, 6.0 and 6.0.2. For details on details on installing and upgrading XenServer refer to the Citrix XenServer 6.1.0 Installation Guide. Before upgrading XenServer hosts, customers should ensure that they are not affected by any of the listed issues listed below.

    Known Issues and Errata

    This section details known issues with this release and any workarounds that can be applied. For Workload Balancing see CTX134684 – Workload Balancing Release Notes. For XenServer Conversion Manager, see CTX134685 – XenServer Conversion Manager Release Notes

    Installation and Upgrade

    • RHEL, OEL, and CentOS 5.0 64-bit guest operating systems with the original kernel will fail to boot on XenServer 6.1.0. Before attempting to upgrade a XenServer host to version 6.1.0, customers should update the kernel to version 5.4 (2.6.18-164.el5xen) or later. Customers running these guests who have already upgraded their host to XenServer 6.1.0, should refer to CTX134845 for information on upgrading the kernel. [CA-79505]
    • RHEL 4.5 guests may crash when using the Rolling Pool Upgrade Wizard. Before upgrading a XenServer host, you must shut down RHEL 4.5 guests. Once the host is upgraded, you must update the guest kernels using the one supplied on the XenServer 6.1.0 XenServer Tools ISO. [CA-88618]
    • If the Rolling Pool Upgrade Wizard discovers storage that is detached and cannot be reattached, it will fail (even when no VMs are using the storage). Customers should either fix the access to the storage repository or remove it from the XenServer pool before restarting the wizard. [CA-72541]
    • Rolling Pool Upgrade should not be used with Boot from SAN environments. For more information on upgrading boot from SAN environments see Appendix B of the XenServer 6.1.0 Installation Guide .
    • When installing XenServer from a network repository (including when using the XenCenter Rolling Pool Upgrade wizard), you must configure the DHCP server to provide the domain-name option, otherwise DNS will not work correctly, which can lead to a failed installation. [CA-74082]
    • Shared storage should not be specified as the either the primary-disk or the guest-diskduring host installation. Storage specified during installation for both the primary-disk and the guest-disk will be formatted. [CA-41786]
    • When running more than 50 VMs per XenServer host, the steps in CTX134951 should be followed to reconfigure dom0 memory settings. [CA-48485]

    Internationalization

    • Non-ASCII characters, such as characters with accents, cannot be used in the host console. [CA-40845]
    • The root password of the host installer must not contain non-ASCII characters. [CA-47461]

    Hardware Compatibility

    Note: Customers should refer to the XenServer Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) for the most recent additions and advice for all hardware compatibility questions.

    • Intel Errata for Nehalem and Westmere CPU implementations of C-states may lead to system instability, apparently random freezes or reboots — including during installation. Customers with Nehalem and Westmere CPUs are advised to disable C-states in the system BIOS as detailed in CTX127395. [CA-60628]
    • Brocade’s BFA Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) driver version 3.1.0, as shipped with XenServer 6.1.0, requires FCoE Initialization Protocol (FIP) login. Customers should ensure that the FCoE switch is correctly configured to accept such logins, otherwise access to the storage may be lost. [CA-88468]

    Networking

    • For active-active bonds on the vSwitch network stack, the bond rebalancing interval has changed from 10 seconds to 30 minutes. If your environment requires more frequent rebalancing, refer to CTX134947 for instructions on how to change the bond rebalancing intervals. [CA-90457]
    • After an upgrade, customers using Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) with Intel NICs will be unable to start VMs. Customers should follow the procedure in CTX134054. [CA-89008].
    • QoS settings do not work when set through XenCenter or the xe CLI. Customers should use the vSwitch Controller to create QoS settings. [CA-90580]
    • DHCP lease renewal fails if the DHCP client and DHCP server are both Linux VMs on the same host. This does not affect Windows VMs. If you wish to use dhcp3-server and dhcp3-client in Linux VMs which may be sharing the same host, you must disable checksum offload by issuing the command ethtool -K eth0 tx off within the DHCP server VM. [CA-40908]
    • When using the vSwitch Controller with Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) version 7 or 8 to access the vSwitch Controller remotely, you may find that these versions of IE leak system resources. Citrix recommends using either Mozilla Firefox or IE 9, which addresses some of the known IE memory and resource leak issues. [CA-65261]
    • The vSwitch Controller may fail to show slave networks that had been bonded when NIC bonds are deleted. To resolve this issue, refresh the status of the pool or restart the vSwitch Controller. The networks should then reappear. [CA-65261]

    Storage

    • Customers using XenServer Platinum Edition to license Citrix Provisioning Services (PVS) may find that one PVS license per VM is checked out, rather than one PVS license per XenServer host. This may lead to a shortage of PVS licenses and an inability to provision VMs. Citrix recommends that customers do not install the standard 6.1.0 XenServer Tools, if they are dependent on Platinum Licensing for PVS. Refer to CTX135099. [CA91014]
    • XenServer reports the amount of space used by a virtual disk (VDI), but this number may be substantially out of date. [CA-51466]
    • When migrating VMs using Storage XenMotion, attempts to cancel the operation may not delete the temporary virtual disks. [CA-87710] [CA-87689]
    • When a VM is unexpectedly shut down during a Storage XenMotion migration, the migration may fail. This process may leave a shut down incomplete copy of the VM on the destination pool. Customers should delete the VM from the destination pool and re try the operation with the VM running. [CA-86347]
    • When using the xe CLI to migrate a VM with a snapshot using Storage XenMotion, you must provide a destination SR for each snapshot VDI. This issue does not occur the first time that a VM is migrated. [CA-78901]
    • Quiesced snapshots are not supported for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 VMs. In addition, Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7 guests running the standard 6.1.0 XenServer Tools do not support quiesced snapshots (VSS). As a workaround, customers requiring quiesced snapshots on Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and Windows 7 should install the legacy XenServer Tools. Refer to CTX135099. [CA-32734]
    • Attempts to revert to a snapshot fail if the SR has too little space to inflate the snapshot. This is caused by a race condition and can be resolved by re-attempting the revert after a few minutes. [CA-63032]
    • Writing to CIFS ISO storage repositories is not supported and can result in disk corruption. [CA-41058]
    • If an ISO SR is stored on an NFS server, and the connection to the server is temporarily lost, you may need to restart your XenServer host in order to regain connection. [CA-10471]
    • If a Storage array reports IPv6 addresses the following error may be displayed: ValueError: too many values to unpack or received signal: SIGSEGV. To workaround this issue, disable IPv6 on the storage array. [CA-90269] [CA-90271]
    • Customers using Dell EqualLogic arrays with Integrated Storage Link (iSL) should only use the firmware from the 5.x branch. This firmware has been verified and tested for use with iSL. Refer to the XenServer Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) for the recommended firmware version.
    • Customers using Dell EqualLogic arrays with version 4.x or earlier firmware with Integrated StorageLink (iSL), may find Revert to Snapshot operations fail. Customers should upgrade their Dell array firmware to version 5.x. [CA-77976]
    • Customers using Dell EqualLogic arrays with Integrated StorageLink (iSL) performing certain manual VDI delete operations with snapshots, may encounter VDI not available errors when attempting to start a VM based on array resources. Citrix recommends that customers only perform VM Snapshots and Revert operations when using iSL with Dell EqualLogic. [CA-78670]
    • Customers using EMC VNX series arrays with Integrated StorageLink (iSL) may experience issues when carrying out snapshot operations. The array may hang and the iSL process time out. This incomplete operation may be incorrectly reported as having succeeded by iSL. In some cases, the array may recover automatically from this state and complete the snapshot task, creating a VDI which is unknown to the XenServer host. The workaround is to reboot the EMC VNX Storage Processor. [CA-90199]
    • When attempting a snapshot operation on an EMC VNX series array using iSL, snapshot operations may fail. The EMC Unisphere GUI will report volume trespass and the SMlog and iSL-trace.log will contain the error: SAN Copy operations cannot span SPs. In this event, the administrator should “un-trespass” the volume before re-trying the operation. Refer to the EMC VNX series documentation for further information. [CA-74642]

    XenCenter

    • Modifying the font size or DPI on the computer on which XenCenter is running can result in the user interface displaying incorrectly. The default font size is 96 DPI; Windows Vista refers to this as “Default Scale” and Windows 7 as “100%”. [CA-45514]

    Guests

    • When using High Availability (HA) in an environment where the protected VMs use VLANs, HA may be unable to detect that a VM is agile: it cannot therefore plan a suitable recovery procedure. In this case, customers may find that their XenServer pools unexpectedly become “overcommitted”, or that they may be unable to use HA. To work around these issues, refer to CTX135049. [CA-74343]
    • To uninstall the XenServer 6.1.0 Tools, customers should follow the advice in CTX135099. Customers should not use the MSI uninstaller included on the XenServer Tools ISO as this can lead to a BSOD on boot. [CA-91327]
    • If a VM’s VBD is unplugged and the VM is then rebooted, the VBD will remain unplugged after reboot. [CA-76612]
    • Locking modes for VIFs may not be preserved when exporting and then re-importing a VM when using XVA or OVF formats. [CA-90857]
    • Upgrading the XenServer Tools on a Windows VM that is actively using Dynamic Memory Control (DMC) may cause the VM to crash. To avoid this, during the XenServer Tools upgrade, set the dynamic minimum and maximum values to the static maximum. [CA-90447]
    • A VM snapshot cannot be resumed if it was created while a previous version of the XenServer Tools ISO was mounted in the VM. To restart from one of these snapshots, customers should “Force Shutdown” the suspended VM, eject the ISO and start the VM. [CA-59289]
    • The XenServer SDK VM as shipped in previous version of XenServer has been removed. Customers should not attempt to use the Xen API SDK VM template. As an alternative sandbox testing environment, you can install XenServer as a generic HVM Guest using the Other install media template (2048MB of memory and a disk size of at least 12GB is recommended). Note that the Guest’s IP address will not be reported though the CLI or XenCenter. [CA-89266]
    • After using XenMotion (Live Migration) to move a Windows VM, the memory usage reported for the VM may be incorrect. [CA-89580]
    • After upgrading a pool to XenServer 6.1.0, VMs migrated during the upgrade process, and VMs suspended before the upgrade (and then resumed), do not report that their XenServer Tools are out of date until the VM is rebooted. [CA-89023]
    • Verification of manifests and digital signatures on OVF and OVA packages will fail on import if the filename contains parenthesis. The import will still succeed if verification is skipped. For the same reason, if you are exporting VMs as an OVF/OVA package and are including a manifest or a digital signature, Citrix recommends specifying a package name that does not contain parentheses. [CA-89555] [CA-90365]
    • Attempts to detach a Virtual Disk Image (VDI) from a running a RHEL, CentOS, or OEL 6.1 and 6.2 (32-/64-bit) VM, may be unsuccessful and can result in a guest kernel crash with a NULL pointer dereference at <xyz> error message. For more information, see Red Hat Bugzilla 773219. [CA-73512]
    • A Windows VM may fail to boot correctly if streaming from PVS version 5.1. This is an intermittent fault, and rebooting the VM should resolve the issue. [CA-60261]
    • If you wish to create an Ubuntu 10.04 VM (32-bit) with more than 512MB of memory, you must upgrade to the latest version of the kernel before increasing the RAM. For more information, see Ubuntu Launchpad 803811 and 790747. [CA-61400]
    • Ubuntu 10.04 (64-bit) running the 2.6.32-32 #72 kernel, may crash with the following message, kernel BUG at /build/build/linux-2.6.32/arch/x86/xen/spinlock.c:343!. The problem only affects VMs with multiple vCPUs. vCPU hotplugging (only available via the xe CLI/API) should not be attempted with this guest. [CA-57168]
    • Customers running RHEL or CentOS 5.3 or 5.4 (32/64-bit) should not use Dynamic Memory Control (DMC) as this may cause the guest to crash. If you wish to use DMC, Citrix recommends that customers upgrade to more recent versions of RHEL or CentOS. [EXT-54]
    • The RHEL 6.0 kernel has a bug which affects disk I/O on multiple virtualization platforms. This issue causes VMs running RHEL 6.0 to lose interrupts. For more information, see Red Hat Bugzilla 681439, 603938 and 652262. [CA-60495]

    Documentation

    • XenServer product documentation may refer to StorageLink and Integrated StorageLink (iSL) interchangeably. Whenever references are made to StorageLink in XenServer 6.0 documentation and later, this refers to the Integrated StorageLink functionality and not to the deprecated Citrix product StorageLink Gateway.

    Documentation and Support

    Finding Documentation

    For the most up-to-date product documentation for every Citrix product, visit the Citrix Knowledge Center. Additional information is also available from Citrix eDocs.
    For licensing documentation, go to the Licensing Your Product section on Citrix eDocs.


  • What’s Happening at Varrow October 2012 Edition

    I am starting a new monthly series about what is happening at Varrow that I will start at the beginning of each month. This will cover any events, lunch and learns etc that happen in the upcoming month.  Most of these events will happen in North and South Carolina as well as Southern Virginia. If you are in these regions or just want to see what we are doing at Varrow, I encourage you to keep reading.

    October 09, 2012 8:00 AM

    The mission of the Carolina Technology Conference is to educate and inspire people to enter the field of technology. We look at the conference as a technological deep dive into a variety of relevant topics facing IT managers and engineers today. It’s an extremely worthwhile event for anyone work… More Details

    Lunch and Learn – Charleston, SC

    October 10, 2012 11:30 AM

    Location: Grill 225

    Varrow Presents: Virtualizing Business Critical Applications While there are compelling benefits to virtualizing business critical applications, there are also many factors worth considering — performance visibility, trending+analytics, differences in standard server virtualization vs. T… More Details

    October 11, 2012 11:00 AM

    Location: Marriott Resort and Spa at Grande Dunes

    The South Carolina Primary Health Care Association’s 29th Annual Conference will be held at the Marriott Resort and Spa at Grande Dunes, 8400 Costa Verde Drive, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on October 11-14, 2012. The Planning Committee and staff are working eagerly and are committed to making th… More Details

    October 11, 2012 11:30 AM

    Location: Ruth’s Chris

    Varrow Presents: Virtualizing Business Critical Applications While there are compelling benefits to virtualizing business critical applications, there are also many factors worth considering — performance visibility, trending+analytics, differences in standard server virtualization vs. Tie… More Details

    October 12, 2012 11:30 PM

    Location: Fleming’s

    Varrow Presents: Virtualizing Business Critical Applications While there are compelling benefits to virtualizing business critical applications, there are also many factors worth considering — performance visibility, trending+analytics, differences in standard server virtualization vs. Tie… More Details

    October 17, 2012 8:00 AM

    Location: Asheville Crowne Plaza Resort

    The fall education & training symposium will be October 17-19, 2012 at the Asheville Crowne Plaza Resort. There will be pre-symposium training on October 16-17. We anticipate approximately 250 registered members for the event. Registration is planned to in early July 2012 for members & exhibitors…. More Details

    October 18, 2012 9:00 AM

    Location: South Carolina State Archives

    What: Educational and Networking event for SCHIMSS Where: South Carolina State Archives, 8301 Parklane Road, Columbia, SC http://scdah.sc.gov/Pages/default.aspx When: October 18, 2012 from 9am-4pm Registration: Information coming soon! Last year’s event was a great success and… More Details

    October 23, 2012 11:30 AM

    Location: Ruth’s Chris

    Varrow Presents: Virtualizing Business Critical Applications While there are compelling benefits to virtualizing business critical applications, there are also many factors worth considering — performance visibility, trending+analytics, differences in standard server virtualization vs. Tie… More Details

    October 24, 2012 11:30 AM

    Location: Ruth’s Chris

    Varrow Presents: Virtualizing Business Critical Applications While there are compelling benefits to virtualizing business critical applications, there are also many factors worth considering — performance visibility, trending+analytics, differences in standard server virtualization vs. Tie… More Details

    October 25, 2012 11:30 AM

    Location: Old Original Bookbinders

    Varrow Presents: Virtualizing Business Critical Applications While there are compelling benefits to virtualizing business critical applications, there are also many factors worth considering — performance visibility, trending+analytics, differences in standard server virtualization vs. Tie… More Details


  • VMware Fling : VIB Author – Custom ESXi installs

    VMware has announced another fling which I always enjoy trying. This fling will allow users to make a customized vSphere Installation Bundle (VIB). Previously this was only available to VMware partners such as Cisco, Dell etc to make customized installations.

    From the article

    There are a couple of use cases for creating custom VIBs.  For example, if you are using Auto Deploy and you need to add a custom firewall rule to your host, or you need to make a configuration change that can’t be made using Host Profiles.
    One word of caution however, the ability to create custom VIBs does come with some responsibility.  If you plan to create your own VIBs here are a few things to keep in mind:

    1. VIBs provided by VMware and trusted partners are digitally signed, these digital signatures ensure the integrity of the VIB.  Custom VIBs are not digitally signed.  Be careful when adding unsigned VIBs to you ESXi hosts as you have no way of vouching for the integrity of the software being installed.
    2. Before adding a custom VIB you will need to set your host’s acceptance level to “Community Supported”.   When running at the community supported acceptance level it’s important to understand that VMware support may ask you to remove any custom VIBs.   Here’s the formal disclaimer:

    IMPORTANT If you add a Community Supported VIB to an ESXi host, you must first change the host’s acceptance level to Community Supported. If you encounter problems with an ESXi host that is at the CommunitySupported acceptance level, VMware Support might ask you to remove the custom VIB, as outlined in the support policies:”

    If you are not familiar with VIBs I recommend you start with a quick review of this blog: http://blogs.vmware.com/esxi/2011/09/whats-in-a-vib.html
    With that, I know several folks have been chomping at the bit to create their own custom VIBs so I’ve attached a short tutorial that shows how to use the vibauthor tool to create a  VIB to add a custom firewall rule.
    Enjoy!


  • Shrink VHD with PowerShell

    Recently I posted directions on how to manually compact VHD files in Windows 2008 R2 here. In coordination with a fellow Engineer David Ott we have now completed a Powershell Script that will handle this for you automatically. Depending on how you set your parameters this script can even be run as a scheduled task.

    I have created two versions of the script, one for Citrix Provisioning Server (PVS) environments and one for running against specified folders.
     

    Download the script for


    Update – After further testing, I have encountered an issue once while running the script on actively streamed target devices. A reboot resolved the issue. As such I will be making modifications to the script soon.

    In limited testing this script has been run on VHDs in both standard and private mode with devices streamed from Citrix Provisioning Server with no apperant impact. I have also run IOmeter while shrinking the vDisk and there was no difference in IOmeter results while disks were compacting vs disks that were not. I also performed some End User Experience testing for latency and found no impact to actively streamed devices.

    I still cannot recommend running the script in a production environment on actively streamed devices without substantial testing in your environment, as always with any script, test test and test some more and decide on how the impact to your environment.

    Reasons for the script

    Dynamic Virtual Hard Disks (VHDs) can grow to a maximum size to accommodate data as required. As data is added to the VHD, the VHD file size grows. When data is deleted from the VHD, the VHD size does not decrease. The VHD size remains at the largest amount of data stored within the VHD. Compacting a VHD reduces the VHD file size to match the amount of data stored within the VHD, therefore accurately representing the true amount of data within the VHD.

    • Optimize dynamic VHD file sizes to only use what you actually need as deleted files are not cleared from the VHD even though Storage grows on trees
    • Reduce Boot times, smaller VHD files boot faster  

    The script as written below will do the following.

    1. Add Citrix PVS Powershell Snap In
    2. Create Function to store PVS data in an object, special thanks to @CarlWebster on his PVS Documentation post that detailed how to gather and use this information
    3. Variables for PVS function to gather Store Data *** In Non_PVS script, step 1/2 are commented out
    4. Options to hard code a path in script or prompt the user to enter a path
    5. The next part will find the next available drive letter on the system and use that for the script, options are there to manually set or prompt the user as well
    6. Here is where the fun starts and begins to run DiskPart with gathered information. The process below will loop through all VHD files located in $path
      1. Attach VHD
      2. Assign $letter to attached VHD on partition 1
      3. Defragment the drive
      4. Detach VHD
      5. Attach Disk read only
      6. Compact the VHD
      7. Detach VHD

    The Script

    ##########################################################################
    # Shink VHD Files
    # This script is designed to shrink Dynamic VHD files used by products such as Citrix Provisioning Server
    # XenApp_Wizard_v1.ps1 script written by Phillip Jones and David Ott
    # Version 1.0
    # This script is provided as-is, no warrenty is provided or implied.
    #
    # The author is NOT responsible for any damages or data loss that may occur
    # through the use of this script.  Always test, test, test before
    # rolling anything into a production environment.
    #
    # This script is free to use for both personal and business use, however,
    # it may not be sold or included as part of a package that is for sale.
    #
    # A Service Provider may include this script as part of their service
    # offering/best practices provided they only charge for their time
    # to implement and support.
    #
    # For distribution and updates go to: http://www.www.p2vme.com
    ##########################################################################

    # Please uncomment this entire section if using Citrix Provisioning Services to detect and use store path

    Add-PSSnapin mclipssnapin
    Function BuildPVSObject
    {
        Param( [string]$MCLIGetWhat = ”, [string]$MCLIGetParameters = ”, [string]$TextForErrorMsg = ” )

        $error.Clear()

        If($MCLIGetParameters -ne ”)
        {
            $MCLIGetResult = Mcli-Get “$($MCLIGetWhat)” -p “$($MCLIGetParameters)”
        }
        Else
        {
            $MCLIGetResult = Mcli-Get “$($MCLIGetWhat)”
        }
        If( $error.Count -eq 0 )
        {
            $PluralObject = @()
            $SingleObject = $null
            foreach( $record in $MCLIGetResult )
            {
                If($record.length -gt 5 -and $record.substring(0,6) -eq “Record”)
                {
                    If($SingleObject -ne $null)
                    {
                        $PluralObject += $SingleObject
                    }
                    $SingleObject = new-object System.Object
                }

                $index = $record.IndexOf( ‘:’ )
                if( $index –gt 0 )
                {
                    $property = $record.SubString( 0, $index  )
                    $value    = $record.SubString( $index + 2 )
                    If($property -ne “Executing”)
                    {
                        Add-Member –inputObject $SingleObject –MemberType NoteProperty –Name $property –Value $value
                    }
                }
            }
            $PluralObject += $SingleObject
            Return $PluralObject
        }
        Else
        {
            line 0 “$($TextForErrorMsg) could not be retrieved”
            line 0 “Error returned is ” $error[0].FullyQualifiedErrorId.Split(‘,’)[0].Trim()
        }
    }
     $GetWhat = “store”
     $GetParam = “”
     $ErrorTxt = “Store Information”
     $Store = BuildPVSObject $GetWhat $GetParam $ErrorTxt
     # Path to VHD files is hard coded below
     $path = $store.path

    # Hard coded path *** Please edit and uncomment line below to set hard coded path, ex. if you want to schedule task
    # $path = “c:”

    # Please uncomment line below if you would like for the script to ask you which drive you want to use.
    # $path = Read-Host “Please enter where your VHD ‘Virtual Hard Drives’ are stored”

    # Hard coded letter *** please edit and uncomment line below if you would like to use a hard coded path
    # $letter = Read-Host “Please enter an available drive letter, format ex c: or d: not c:”

    # The lines below will detect the next legal available drive letter and choose the next available letter 
    $letter = [char[]]”DEFGJKLMNOPQRTUVWXY” | ?{!(gdr $_ -ea ‘SilentlyContinue’)} | select -f 1
    $letter = $letter + “:”

    # This is where the script will collect all vhd files in the specified folder and compact them
    $Dir = get-childitem $Path -include *.vhd -name

    foreach ($name in $dir) {
    $vdiskpath = $path + “” + $name
    $script1 = “select vdisk file=`”$vdiskpath`”`r`nattach vdisk”
    $script2 = “select vdisk file=`”$vdiskpath`”`r`nselect part 1`”`r`nassign letter=$letter”
    $script3 = “select vdisk file=`”$vdiskpath`”`r`ndetach vdisk”
    $script4 = “select vdisk file=`”$vdiskpath`”`r`nattach vdisk readonly`”`r`ncompact vdisk”
    $script1 | diskpart
    start-sleep -s 5
    $script2 | diskpart
    cmd /c defrag $letter /U
    $script3 | diskpart
    $script4 | diskpart
    $script3 | diskpart
    }

    In the screenshot you will see two VHD files located in a PVS store. Both are the same size on disk currently, one has had some files deleted by mounting the VHD manually and the space is not cleared from the VHD yet…

    The below screenshot is after the script is completed and the VHD has been compacted.

    Hope you enjoy and find this script useful, if you have suggestions, comments or issues or anything, leave me a comment below or find me on twitter at @P2Vme


  • Windows 8 Citrix Reciever Preview In Windows Store

    For you early adopters of Windows 8 whether it be a laptop, tablet or even a virtual machine. Citrix announced the release of the Citrix Reciever for Windows 8 Preview is available in the Windows Store. I look forward to testing this client in my new lab.

    From the official article

    The Preview version can be used with Intel- or ARM-based Windows 8 devices and leverages the key capabilities in Windows 8 devices to provide follow-me apps and desktops, touch-enabled app selection, the ability to search apps via Windows 8 charms, and instant app and desktop access through Pin to Start.  It supports native Win 8 style (Metro) gestures as well as in-session and network printing.

    Citrix Receiver for Win 8/RT 

    Use the  Microsoft Store to locate it or  access it directly by clicking here

    You’ll need the Windows 8 RTM (release to manufacturing) version on your device.  You’ll also need CloudGateway Express ( Storefront Services ) for desktop and applications access and a properly-configured Access Gateway (Enterprise Edition) for remote access.  Future versions will use CloudGateway Enterprise for single sign on access to all of your web and SaaS apps.You can also use the Preview version with our Virtual Computer Demo Center.

    For system requirements and set up procedures refer to  Receiver for Win 8/RT eDocs.

    It needs to be noted that the standard Citrix Receiver for Windows is an option for Intel-based devices.
    It installs on the Windows 8 desktops and  provides our most advanced features, such as HDX optimizations for Lync, RemoteFX support, and  follow-me data with CloudGateway 2 and ShareFile.

    You can share your feedback and  obtain support for either version by posting issues on the Using Receiver on Windows 8 Forum.


  • VMware vSphere 5.1 Known Issues : Updated 9/17/2012

    VMware released vSphere 5.1 at VMworld 2012 in San Francisco and with any new product release there are usually bumps on the road, compatibility issues and things that just don’t work. VMware vSphere 5.1 is no exception.

    I have been part of many beta tests for other companies as well as several vSphere editions going back to 3.x. Not every configuration and product can be tested. The beta process does catch a lot of issues. The day software goes live without any issues every time, a lot of people will be without work..

    I have decided to catalog a few of the known issues with the vSphere 5.1 release.

    Perhaps the larges issue is that VMware View and vSphere 5.1 are not compatible yet.

    Last Updated 09/30/2012

    vSphere 5.1 and VMware View (all versions of View) 

    VMware vSphere 5.1 is not currently supported with any versions of VMware View.

    Do not upgrade vSphere above the supported versions listed in the VMware View 5.1 Release Notes.

    vSphere 5.1 is in the process of being certified against VMware View. To be alerted when this article is updated, click Subscribe to Document on the link above in the actions box

    VMware vSphere 5.1 and Cisco UCS

    Read Chad Sakacc’s post for more details. vSphere 5.1 support on Cisco UCS, the VMEM needs a new vSphere 5.1 specific .vib.

    VMware vSphere 5.1 KB articles

    VMware complied several of the 5.1 KB articles in a recent blog post on VMware Support Insider blog

    More VMware vSphere 5.1 KB articles  ** Added 9/17/2012 **

    VMware has compiled more vSphere 5.1 KB articles that you may have missed. This one features a few of the Single Sign-On (SSO) issues that have been common for some of you

    vCenter Server Services hang on startup after upgrading to vCenter Server 5.1 

    From the VMware KB article: Follow the link for resolution

    • After upgrading to vCenter Server 5.1, the VMware VirtualCenter Server service fails to start
    • The VMware VirtualCenter Server service will not successfully stop or start.
    • The vpxd log files show the following:
      • The final log in the vpxd.log file shows:
        CoreDump: Writing minidump
    • You see a backtrace near the very bottom of the vpxd.log file which begins with the following:

    2012-09-13T11:53:46.802+02:00 [04468 info ‘vmmoVm’ opID=SWI-c5103928] [VmMo::SetComputeCompatibilityDirty] vm vm-5345 is marked dirty
    2012-09-13T11:53:46.786+02:00 [05112 warning ‘win32vpxdOsLayer_win32’ opID=SWI-56f04b9c] [VpxUnhandledException] Backtrace

    Increased Restart time with vCenter Server 5.1

    This issue only impacts the start/re-start time for vCenter Server. It does not affect the ongoing operations after vCenter Server has started. In fact, due to improvements to the vCenter Server database, the use of vSphere Web Client, the Inventory Service cache, customers will notice significant performance improvements in vCenter Server 5.1.

    VMware vSphere 5.1 and EMC VMAX arrays.

    Sphere 5.1 changes the behavior of VAAI Hardware Accelerated Locking (aka ATS) to no longer work with transient (sometimes on/sometimes off) ATS behavior, and older (i.e. non-current) versions of Enginuity will fail to create VMFS-5.

    VMware vSphere 5.1 and EMC PowerPath V/E 

              **** Updated 09/26/2012 Resolved *** – Fix is out.

    PowerPath/VE customers, hold off vSphere 5.1 upgrades (GA was yesterday).   Hotfix P02 from EMC is in days, and so is the expected VMware fix, follow the above link for more details on Chad Sakac’s blog post

    VMware vSphere 5.1 and Synology DSM 4.1   ** Blog updated on 9/18/2012 **

    Kendrick Coleman found an issue with the most recent release of DSM 4.1 and vSphere 5.1

    It’s possible to mount both NFS and iSCSI datastores, but when you try to build or power on a VM, everything begins to halt when it needs to write to disk. If everything runs in memory (like mounting an ISO and beginning an OS installation), but when it comes to install the OS to disk, it begins to crawl. I checked the vmkernel log and here is what is shown. You can see that after I power on the VM, it gets binded to a port but when it tries to read from disk, there are all sorts of errors 

    Update Manager 5.1 reports the compliance status as Incompatible when scanning or remediating ESXi 5.x hosts that belong to an HA cluster 

    I personally ran into this issue when upgrading my lab – see Update Manager 5.1 Release Notes

    CA Signed SSL Certificates may cause trouble with the upgrade process of vCenter.

    From Michael Webster’s blog at http://longwhiteclouds.com/

    I have heard unconfirmed reports of difficulties with the upgrade process of vCenter particularly with registering Inventory Service and SSO with vCenter when using CA Signed SSL Certificates. As I’m using CA Signed Certificates in my lab environment I will update this article when I have completed my upgrade.

    Troubleshooting SSL certificate updates and Single Sign On (2033240)
    vCenter Single Sign On installer reports: Error 29155. Identity source discovery error (2034374)

    ESXi cannot distinguish between EagerZeroedThick & LazyZeroedThick
    From Cormac Hogan’s Blog

    ESXi cannot distinguish between thick provision lazy zeroed and thick provision eager zeroed virtual disks on NFS datastores with Hardware Acceleration support

     When you use NFS datastores that support Hardware Acceleration, the vSphere Client allows you to create virtual disks in Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed (zeroedthick) or Thick Provision Eager Zeroed (eagerzeroedthick) format. However, when you check the disk type on the Virtual Machine Properties dialog box, the Disk Provisioning section always shows Thick Provision Eager Zeroed as the disk format no matter which format you selected during the disk creation. ESXi does not distinguish between lazy zeroed and eager zeroed virtual disks on NFS datastores.

    VMware vSphere 5.1 iPXE problems with AutoDeploy

     If you are having issues with IPXE and AutoDeploy please read Gabe’s Virtual World

    VMware Support Insider: ALERT: Full disk on vShield Edge 5.1.x fails with error: VIX_E_DISK_FULL ERROR

    Added 09/30/2012

    VMware has become aware of an issue whereby vCloud Networking and Security 5.1 release can go into an Edge disk full state approximately 14 days after the first edge is deployed.

    Symptoms include:

    • In vCloud Director, attempting a reconfig fails with this error:VIX_E_DISK_FULL
    • In vCloud Director, when looking at Edge Gateways, you receive this error:Edge VM backing the edge gateway is unreachable

    For further updates and more information on this alert, refer to KB article:
    Full disk on vShield Edge 5.1.x fails with error: VIX_E_DISK_FULL ERROR (2035939)

    Links for more information
    vSphere 5.1 Important Upgrade Considerations by Michael Webster VCDX #66 

    As with any upgrade please carefully consider especially before implementing in production. Reach out to your partners and trusted advisers for guidance so they can evaluate your environment to minimize issues.


  • Book Review : VCP on vSphere 5 Study Guide by Brian Atkinson

    I was asked by a fellow vExpert Brian Atkinson for a book review of his study guide for the VCP5 exam. I can honestly say that I am impressed with the quality and depth of the book and its material. I highly recommend this book as a resource in completing your VCP5. The book is well written and organized well to match the blueprint.

    I completed my VCP5 in February of this year and would have found this an excellent addition to the materials that I used to prepare for the exam. This book will help you learn, and give you all the tools necessary to become a VMware Certified Professional on vSphere 5

    Here are some of the features of the book:

    • Full coverage of all exam objectives in a systematic approach, so you can be confident you’re getting the instruction you need for the exam
    • Real-world scenarios that put what you’ve learned in the context of actual job roles
    • Challenging review questions in each chapter to prepare you for exam day
    • Exam Essentials, a key feature in each chapter that identifies critical areas you must become proficient in before taking the exam
    • A handy tear card that maps every official exam objective to the corresponding chapter in the book, so you can track your exam prep objective by objective
    • Sybex Exam Prep Tools

    You can purchase your copy on Amazon here

    Go to www.sybex.com/go/vcp5 and download a full set of electronic test prep tools to help you thoroughly prepare for the exam. These include:

    • Custom Test Engine
    • Over 300 Sample Questions
    • Electronic Flashcards
    • Glossary of Terms in PDF

  • Citrix Partners – Get Free GoTo Cloud Services for 1 year!

    Great way for Citrix to support their partners. Varrow is a Gold Solutions Advisor.

    Discover how Citrix can help you work with anyone from anywhere.
    Sign up to receive 1 FREE year of the following:

    • 5 GoToMeeting: Enable 5 people to host unlimited meetings with up to 25 attendees
    • 1 GoToWebinar: Host unlimited webinars with up to 100 attendees
    • 1 GoToTraining: Conduct unlimited training sessions with up to 20 attendees
    • 1 CitrixAssist: Provide support through a Citrix-branded portal, powered by GoToAssist Corporate
    • 5 GoToMyPC: Give 5 people the ability to remotely access 1 computer from anywhere

    And, we recently re-launched our Referral Partner Program so you can share your love Citrix products & earn commission!  All Silver, Gold and Platinum Citrix Solution Advisors, System Integrators, Independent Software Vendors and Citrix Authorized Distributors qualify.

    Read more and sign up here.