I often get asked about the features of Provision Networks Virtual Acccess Suite. Below is a modular architectural diagram of the Provision Networks Connection Broker. It does not show every little feature, but shows a basic overview of what the suite offers.

While it’s true that one can use the Provision Networks Connection Broker with any Hypervisor, the diagram specifically shows VMware, Virtual Iron, Microsoft Hyper-V and Parallels Virtuozzo because we integrate with those products to provide features like VM Creation, VM Deletion, Sysprep Customization and Power Management, i.e. Power On,. Suspend, Resume…. Our integration with Parallels Viruozzo is currently in progress, so it probably won’t be complete for about 90 days.

When using a different hypervisor, the existing virtual machines are imported into the Provision Management Console, so they can be managed, assigned to users….

Please let me know if anything is unclear, or if you’d like access to my original Visio Diagram.

P.S.  The items in dark blue in the Provision Networks Virtual Access Suite block are “Power Tools” that can be installed on top of Citrix MetaFrame, Presentation Server, XenApp or POTS (Plain Old Terminal Services).  These “Power Tools” are available individually as a per-server license or as part of Virtual Access Suite “Standard Edition” which is licensed per concurrent user. I probably shouldn’t use that acronym (POTS), as it usually means Plain Old Telephone Service. :)  The other items are in both the Desktop Services Edition (VDI) and Enterprise Edition (VDI & TS) with the exception of Terminal Services Load Balancing and publishing apps/desktops from Terminal Services, which is an Enterprise Edition “only” feature.

Monday June 2nd and Tuesday June 3rd the Provision Networks division will be joining their distributor CDG Europe  at the Virtualiserings Forum 2008 in Sweden, Stockholm. This promises to be a very cool event!

Some of the speakers at this event:

• Brian Madden
• Alessandro Perilli
• Mike Neil (Microsoft Virtualization)
• Reza Malekzadeh (Vmware)
• Simon Crosby (Citrix)

It is being held at the Rica Hotel in Stockholm and entrance is about  7000 Swedish Crowns.
Sign up here.

Be sure to drop by our booth because I gather we have some extremely cool prizes to give away (depending on which country you are from …)

I’ve been trying to get the License SKUs required for different VDI Deployment Scenarios. Today I worked with a Microsoft Licensing Specialist from CDW and this is what I learned.

If a customer has a PC with an OEM Version of Windows Vista Business, the requirements are:

• Microsoft SKU “66J-01128″ - Microsoft Windows Vista Business - W/ Microsoft Windows Vista Enterprise - software assurance - 1 PC - Open Business - English (License Only)
• Microsoft SKU “DSA-00050″ - Vista Enterprise Centralized Desktop for SA (Subscription)

If a customer has a PC with a downlevel version of Windows, i.e. XP Pro or 2000 Pro, the requirements are:

• Microsoft SKU “66J-01215″ - Microsoft Windows Vista Business - W/ Microsoft Windows Vista Enterprise - upgrade & software assurance - 1 PC - Open Business - Single Language (License Only)
• Microsoft SKU “DSA-00050″ - Vista Enterprise Centralized Desktop for SA (Subscription)

If a customer has a thin client device, regardless of OS the requirements are:

• Microsoft SKU “DSA-00056″ - Vista Enterprise Centralized Desktop for Devices (Subscription)

Optional components:

• Microsoft SKU “WSB-00090″ - Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) - Includes Microsoft Application Virtualization (Softgrid)

Notes: VECD entitles a single client device to access up to four (4) Virtual Desktops, whether they are running locally in VMware Workstation or Virtual PC, or hosted on a Hypervisor like Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware ESX or VI3, Virtual Iron or Citrix XenServer.

For customers doing VDI on Parallels Virtuozzo Containers, the requirements are the same as for Terminal Services, i.e. Windows Terminal Server CAL & Windows Server CAL, but they don’t have to deal with VECD. Instead Virtuozzo users can purchase Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition to run unlimited number of containers on a single host.

If a customer has a Select or Enterprise Agreement, they should contact ther Value Added Reseller (VAR) for those SKUs.

For more information:

• Windows Vista Enterprise Centralized Desktop Licensing Options
• Windows Vista Enterprise Centralized Desktop Licensing for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Quick Reference Card

Quest Software accepts no responsibility for the validity of this information. When in doubt, contact your VAR’s licensing specialist or your Microsoft Licensing Representative.

Huy (pronounced “we”) Nguyen, our Sr. Technical Support Engineer has put together a document that details “one way” of how to configure Smart Card Integration (with smooth roaming) for XPe Thin Clients.  Here is the intro:

An End-user walks up to XPe Thin Client, slides Smart Card into card reader.  The End-user enters his/her PIN, gets authenticated against AD and logins to the thin client.  Provision Networks Virtual Access client will automatically launch, authenticate the user against the Connection Broker and based on what the ACL is set to automatically launch the end-user’s Virtual Desktop.  If the End-user’s Virtual Desktop was in a Disconnection State, the End-user will reconnect to that Virtual Desktop.  Once the End-user is done with his/her Virtual Desktop session, all he or she needs to do is unplug the Smart Card from the card reader.

Based on Microsoft GPOs set on the Thin Client OU and VDI OU, the Virtual Desktop will enter into a Disconnected State and the thin client will Log Off.

The End-user can then walk up to a new Thin client, slide in their card and the session will be reconnected and the end-user can continue their session.

The full document can be found here:

Provision Networks Connection Broker SmartCard Integration with Smooth Roaming

Configuration of the Wyse Thin OS (WTOS) is completely controlled via DHCP and ini files on the connection broker, so these devices can literally be taken out of the box, plugged in and they will automatically boot, download new firmware (if available), contact a connection broker, then launch a desktop.

So what needs to be configured in DHCP:

DHCP Option 188 is used to list the addresses of each connection broker, and the XML Communication Port. DHCP Option 161 lists the servers that hold updated WTOS Firmware. Since Provision Networks Connection Brokers can do both of these, once may configure either or both options. In the screenshot above, only option 188 is configured.

On the connection broker(s) browse to %ProgramFiles%\Provision Networks\Wyse. Create a sub-directory named “WNOS” (case sensitive). In the WNOS directory, create two sub-directories, “ini” and “bitmap“

Use notepad to create the two ini files listed in the WNOS directory.

wnos.ini contents:

signon=1
autoload=1
autosignoff=yes
privilege=High
Domainlist=YourDomainName

————————————————–

rdp.ini contents:

Fullscreen=yes
Colors=high
Encryption=128
Experience=15
Lowband=no
Autoconnect=1

————————————————–

To update the WTOS Firmware, copy the new firmware (RCA_wnos) to the WNOS directory, and set “autoload=1″ on the wnos.ini file.

At this point, the basic configuration is completed to connect a WTOS Thin Client to a Provision Networks Connection Broker. If one has multiple connection brokers, list them in the DHCP options and copy the contents of the Wyse Directory to each additional connection broker. There are many options available in the ini files, so detailed instructions are in the documents listed below:

Enhanced Support for WYSE Thin OS

WTOS 6.1 Admin Guide

Vizioncore, inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Quest Software [QSFT] takes one from the competition by hiring Russ Naples, VP of Product Development at Citrix.

Read the announcement here

As far as most people are concerned, Provision Networks really came onto the scene at VMworld in 2006 when they released their first VDI Connection Broker. Truth be told, the history goes back to the 1990s when our CTO (Peter Ghostine) teamed up with his brother, and Provision Networks Division VP & General Manager (Paul Ghostine), starting a company called Emergent Online (EOL). EOL delivered Citrix Training, opened an Application Service Provider and quickly became the premier Citrix Channel Partner in the Americas.

It became evident that there were technology gaps in Citrix WinFrame/MetaFrame, so Peter began creating add-on tools that EOL could sell to their customers. Below is a summarized timeline of the product releases and milestones the now Provision Networks Division of Quest Software:

October 2000 - EOL THINssentials Software Suite released. Thinssentials included:

• EOL AppPortal™ - provides single-point access to Terminal Server and Citrix MetaFrame hosted applications via an intuitive Microsoft Outlook-style listbar. Administrators can configure folders and applications for individual users and groups. When users log on to the server farm, they receive a listbar populated with just the applications that they were granted permission to access. Multi-server replication and auto-refresh capabilities are inherent to the product.
• EOL Printer Driver Services™ - Enables Citrix MetaFrame and Terminal Server administrators to disseminate printer driver packages to one or more WTS/MetaFrame servers simultaneously. Pre-installing printer drivers on WTS/MetaFrame servers is absolutely necessary in order to support client printer auto-creation over Citrix ICA and Microsoft RDP connections. This product helps to significantly reduce the administration time required to disseminate printer drivers to multiple servers in an application farm
• EOL ICA Session Watchdog™ – Runs as a true NT service and provides a hands-off solution to common Terminal Server and Citrix MetaFrame related problems such as: 1) ICA client-side printers not auto-deleting when users log off, 2) Stuck print jobs, and 3) ICA connections going “down” inexplicably. This product helps to keep your Citrix MetaFrame and Terminal servers in optimum condition, significantly increasing availability and reliability of client-side printing over Citrix ICA and Microsoft RDP connections.
• EOL ListDrivers™ - Allows an administrator to enumerate all installed printer drivers and associated details, as well as delete drivers on any target MetaFrame or Terminal Server in the application server farm. The administrator can also generate a “dependency report” outlining what other drivers rely on the same files used by the driver the administrator intends to delete.
• EOL SessionMeter™ - Limits the number of concurrent sessions allowed by users in a WTS/MetaFrame application server farm. An administrator can, for example, restrict users from logging on to more than one session at a time.
• EOL Secure Desktop Services™ - Pre-configures and locks down your users’ server-based desktops as easily as pointing and clicking, without the need for using NT profiles and policies or cost-prohibitive third-party products. An administrator can specify the application shortcuts, folders, color backgrounds, and various other desktop settings on a per-user or group basis. Multi-server replication capabilities are inherent to the product.
• EOL Managed Printer Services™ - Pre-configures client-side and network printer resources on a per-user or per-group basis. Multi-server replication capabilities are inherent to the product.
• EOL CleanProfiles™ - Runs as true NT service and deletes “orphaned” copies of cached profiles.
• EOL SetPassword™ - Permits users to easily change their own passwords and administrators to change anyone’s password.
• EOL SetPrinter™ - Allows users to choose their default printer and manually connect to client-side and network printers.

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We’re often asked (by customers and sales people) how the different VDI Connection Brokers compare to eachother. One of my colleagues (Ken Davidson) & I have created a Connection Broker Comparison Document that attempts to provide an honest comparison of VMware View 3.0, XenDesktop 3.0 and Quest vWorkspace 6.0. We’re interested in feedback from the community to make sure that we’re accurately portraying the feature set of our competitors, so please let us know if there are corrections to be made. We also know that there are many other connection brokers on the market, and new ones seem to pop-up every couple of months. Others of note are Leostream, 2X, Ericom, Qumranet, Panologic, [insert any number of other vendors here]… Our document was created to compare Quest vs the competition, as defined by the customers we visit. If I start getting lots of requests for information on another vendor, I’ll consider expanding the document.

Download the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Connection Broker Comparison here: Quest Connection Broker Comparison

This document was updated in September 2009 to reflect the features of VMware View 3.1, Quest vWorkspace 6.2 and XenDesktop 3.1.

This week at Citrix Synergy (iForum) Doug Brown of www.dabcc.com did a presentation where he compared VMware VDM2 to XenDesktop. At 18:45 of this video he was asked “who does he think has the best (connection) broker”, to which he answers “I like Provision Networks, I think it’s the best…”

Watch Video

In a previous post we talked about how you could configure the Quest vWorkpspace client to automatically get configured. The actual configuration is stored in a file called CONFIG.XML. Basically every single client setting can be controlled trough CONFIG.XML. Our support engineer Stephen Yorke provided us with a ton of infomation so this post describes all the different settings that are available, what they mean and what possible values they can have. Use this document as a guideline to create your own CONFIG.XML. Do not use it as a source CONFIG.XML. Use the sample CONFIG.XML located on each vWorkspace Connection Broker at C:\Program Files\Quest Software\Provision-IT as the source for your customer CONFIG.XML.

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