Creating a well thought out and well tuned Windows XP Template is important for a successful VDI implementation.  My intent for this whitepaper is that it will guide you in developing a solid VDI Desktop standard for your organization.  Included in this whitepaper is information to assist in reducing your Windows XP footprint and to apply best practices to the Windows XP configuration for improved performance, manageability, and reliability of your VDI environment.  Since computer environments can vary from one organization to another, it is recommended that all best practices listed in this document be tested in your test VDI environment to ensure that it is helps and not hinder your VDI solution.

Download the whitepaper here: Creating a VDI Windows XP Template.

The Hypervisor agnostic nature of the Virtual Access Suite is something customers tell us they really value. So to easily get started with another leading hypervisor, Microsoft Hyper-V, we have created another “getting started guide” to make it a breeze to evaluate the Virtual Access Suite 5.10 in a Microsoft Hyper-V environment.

The guide will describe the requirements and the installation and configuration steps to the Virtual Access Suite 5.10 in a Microsoft Hyper-V Environment. The following procedures are detailed:

• Downloading the Provision Networks Virtual Access Suite 5.10 Software
• Meeting Broker Helper Service for Hyper-V requirements
• Installing the Broker Helper Service for Hyper-V
• Meeting Firewall Requirements for the Broker Helper Service for Hyper-V
• Installing the Connection Broker
• Entering Customer Information
• Adding a Microsoft Hyper-V Host
• Creating a Hyper-V Datacenter
• Creating a New Computer Group
• Importing Hyper-V hosted Virtual Desktops into the Managed Computer Group
• Publishing a Virtual Desktop
• Using Evaluation Licenses
• Installing PNTools
• Installing the Provision Networks Virtual Access Suite Client
• Configuring AppPortal
• Using AppPortal to connect to a Virtual Desktop

Download the Getting Started Guide for Virtual Access Suite 5.10 in a Microsoft Hyper-V Environment.

Anyone who’s ever used Adobe Acrobat Reader, or any other PDF reader on Windows Terminal Services or via Remote Desktop knows that it’s painfully slow over RDP.  Most of the videos we’ve posted demonstrating Quest’s EOP Graphics Acceleration have shown web content, as it’s usually the biggest pain point for Terminal Services & VDI users. 

It’s important to note that Quest EOP accelerates all graphical elements of the Terminal Services or VDI display, and in the video below I demonstrate, side-by-side, the difference between Microsoft RDP and Quest EOP when viewing a PDF with Acrobat Reader 9.0 over a WAN connection.  The connection was from my notebook computer in San Diego, CA to two virtual desktops in Reston, VA, via my Verizon wireless cellular card.  This connection was also tunneled thru Quest’s Secure-IT SSL Gateway.  The bandwidth of this connection is approximately 384Kbps and the latency of the connection is approximately 175ms.

quest_eop_vs_rdp_pdf_wan

IMPORTANT: This guide applies to version 5.10. The most current version of this guide that applies to vWorkspace 6.0 is located here.

As you probably know the Virtual Access Suite supports a broad selection of leading hypervisors. Among the supported hypervisors is VMware ESX (more specifically VMware Virtual Infrastructure). To make it very easy for you to evaluate the Virtual Access Suite in a VMware Virtual Infrastructure we have created a “getting started guide” which details all the steps you need to take to be able to start evaluating all the cool features in the Virtual Access Suite.

The guide will describe the requirements and the installation and configuration steps to the Virtual Access Suite 5.10 in a VMware VI 3.x Environment. The following procedures are detailed:

• Downloading the Provision Networks Virtual Access Suite 5.10 Software
• Installing the Connection Broker
• Entering Customer Information
• Adding a VMware Virtual Infrastructure
• Importing VMware Datacenters
• Creating Virtual Desktops from a template in the Managed Computer Group
• Installing PNtools
• Using Evaluation Licenses
• Installing the Provision Networks Virtual Access Suite Client
• Configuring AppPortal
• Launching AppPortal

Download the guide here: Getting Started With Virtual Access Suite in a Vmware Virtual Infrastructure Environment.