This document covers the integration of NetApp Storage Systems with Quest vWorkspace in a VMware environment.

You are required to be running Quest vWorkspace 6.2 or later, available from http://www.vworkspace.com, and NetApp Data ONTAP 7.3.1 or later, available from http://now.netapp.com

NetApp have previously written a technical whitepaper that covers Virtual Desktop deployments on NetApp Storage Systems within a VMware environment. This whitepaper covers the configuration of the VMware and NetApp network that is typically required for this type of environment, page 5 is the most relevant. The NetApp TR3770 Whitepaper is available from http://media.netapp.com/documents/tr-3770.pdf

Download the Quest and NetApp integration whitepaper from here.

vWorkspace Web Access is one of the most popular ways for our customers to provide access to their applications in a seamless, simple way. Out of the box, vWorkspace Web Access has quite a couple of options to allow customers to customize the vWorkspace Web Access pages to fit their personal needs. Still, some customers want to customize vWorkspace Web Access even further. Since vWorkspace Web Access is built on web-industry standards like ASP.net and ASP.net features such as “Themes” and “Skins”, it is relatively easy to take vWorkspace Web Access customization even further. To make it easier for our customers to do so, we have included a document called ”vWorkspaceWebAccess6.2_CustomizationGuide.pdf” in every download of vWorkspace 6.2. It is located in the documents folder. Here’s an example of a customized Quesr vWorkspace Web Access instance:

While on the subject of customization, remember that Quest vWorkspace 6.2 also included experimental integration with Microsoft Sharepoint. The associated documentation for this Microsoft Sharepoint integration can be found in the download section of vWorkspace.com under the documentation header.

Happy customizing! ( or maybe I should have called it pimping…? )

QShell is an application to improve the log in experience for vWorkspace users on thin clients and end of life hardware where you want to provide a PC’s like log in experience to a virtual desktop.  It can provide a single sign on experience removing the client devices original desktop, start menu, task bar and desktop icons. 

This is program is wirtten by myself and is not an official Quest release and therefore cannot be supported via the normal Quest channels.  You should use this program at your own risk, however if you have any issues or requests I will endeavour to help where possible.

Download the guide here: QShell Admin Guide

Download QShell here: QShell 1.0.6.12

DownloadQShell and AppPortal
DownloadQShell and Internet Explorer

One of the core design goals of Quest vWorkspace is to provide customers with a flexible application and desktop delivery framework, regardless of the virtual infrastructure that they use. This requires us (we think) to provide advanced integration with all the leading virtual infrastructure products. To be honest, there are times that it is very evident to us that it would really be much easier to just support one (or two) virtual infrastructures (like many other vendors do), especially with new version of virtual infrastructures coming out all the time. Even though it requires significant development efforts to support  the leading virtual infrastructure products, we feel compelled to keep doing so and not choose the proverbial easy way out for us and for our customers so our customers can leverage their existing investments now and in the future.

This brings me to actual subject of this blog post: VMware vSphere. Ever since the early releases of VMware vSphere we have been working to make sure that Quest vWorkspace works with VMware vSphere to accommodate new and existing customers should they decide to use VMware vSphere as their virtualization infrastructure. It is therefore that I am happy to say that we officially support the following versions of Quest vWorkspace with VMware vSphere:

• Provision networks Virtual Access Suite 5.10 (build 161 )
• Quest vWorkspace 6.0 (HF3 )
• Quest vWorkspace 6.1

On another note, when researching vSphere I found out that VMware’s own VDI product (View) does not support vSphere yet. That really surprised me.
I guess this just emphasizes our position on providing good value for money for our customers.

One of the most popular features in Quest vWorkspace 6.1 is the tight integration with Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) 2008. The integration is very easy to configure but to make it even easier we have created a Quick Start guide to help you get started. As far as I know the Quick Start guide did not make it into the official 6.1 vWorkspace download, so to get the guide, either download it here or get it from the official Quest vWorkspace download site. The Quest vWorkspace 6.1 with Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager Quick Start Guide, as well as many other documents, are listed under the documentation section.

For anyone that’s ever worked on a helpdesk, as a desktop administrator or Terminal Services/Citrix administrator it’s no news that user profile management is, and has been an issue since forever. 

Let’s define the problems with Windows User Profiles:

1.  Profile Corruption - Users logon and their profile does not load, leaving them with a temporary profile without any of their personalizations

2.  Logon speed (or lack thereof) - as profiles age the ntuser.dat file grows and the number of files associated with the user’s profile increases.  These cause the user’s logon time to increase over time, starting at 10-15 seconds when the profile is new, and increasing to minutes as time goes on.

3.  It’s not generally accepted to use the same profile for diffent OS, i.e. XP and Server 2003.  In an environment with Terminal Services this typically leads administrators to using two completely different user profiles, for example one for the client OS and one for Windows Terminal Services.

4.  Support for application silos - In a Terminal Services or VDI environment users may access multiple hosts to get their applications, often without their knowledge.  Administrators have the option of using local profiles for each system, or risking use of roaming profiles getting bloated and corrupted due to the registry, start menu and app data being populated with items that have nothing to do with the system being used.

5.  Local user profile cleanup (or lack thereof) -  These profiles can consume massive amounts of disk space on shared systems, so administrators usually have to account for this space, or write scripts to delete them.

Via acquisition of Provision Networks in 2007, Quest acquired one of the only commercially available User Profile Management solutions.  The problem was that it only supported Windows Terminal Services.

In January of 2009 Quest released vWorkspace 6.0, the successor to Provision Networks Virtual Access Suite.  in vWorkspace 6.0 User Profile Management (also known as Metaprofiles) now fully supports Terminal Services, Virtual Desktops and Physical PCs.

So how does it work?

User Profile Management in vWorkspace is a client-server application, where there is an agent on the Virtual PC/Physical PC/Terminal Server, and one or more storage servers for maintaining the user settings. 

Everything is managed from the vWorkspace Management Console, and the components are:

Quest Metaprofiles Agent - Installed on virtual and/or physical desktops running Windows XP/Vista, or Terminal Servers running 2000/2003/2008.  Responsible for downloading compressed user settings (xml files) from the storage server, applying the settings at logon, exporting the settings deleting the local profile at logoff.

Quest Metaprofiles Storage Service - Installed on a Windows server OS hosting the storage service.  This is typically a dedicated virtual machine but could also be on a physical server.  Since this is a client-server application, there is no Windows File Share associated with the storage service.

Quest Connection Broker Service - responsible for directing the Metaprofiles Agent to the correct Storage Server.

A typical deployment of Quest User Profile Management consists of:

1.  Customized local Default User Profile, containing the minimum base user settings for all users logging on.  Common tweaks include removing desktop icons, favorites and eliminating the “Customizing your user preferences” dialog that appears logon for the first time.

2.  Use Group Policy to redirect My Documents, Desktop, Application Data and Start Menu to network file shares, so theses are not copied back and forth at logon/logoff and so roaming profiles are not configured.

3.  Define the application settings that users may customize, which users may customize the settings and on which desktop groups or terminal servers the settings will be applied.  These may be registry entries, directories or files.  Best practice would be to let GPO Folder Redirection manage the majority of files, and only use Quest User Profile Management for specific individual files or folders that are not handled by GPO.  Settings may be marked as “global”, meaning they will apply on any system, or “silo”, meaning they will only apply on specific desktop groups or terminal servers.

4.  Install the Microsoft User Profile Hive Cleanup service to ensure that user profiles are successfully unloaded at logoff.

What are the benefits of implementing Quest User Profile Management:

1.  Stable User Profiles - reduced administrative overhead and helpdesk calls

2.  Fast user logons - typically about 10 seconds, vs 30-60 seconds with roaming profiles

3.  Reduced storage requirements for profile data, since only compressed deltas are maintained, not the entire user profile

4.  Reduced number of Virtual PCs to maintain, as administrators can deploy non-persistent (temporarily assigned) desktops, where the user settings are dynamically applied at logon.

5.  No need to cleanup local user profiles or configure mandatory or roaming profiles.

6.  Quest User Profile Management is included in all versions of Quest vWorkspace, so it’s another critical feature that won’t require the purchase of another 3rd party user profile management tool.

As you probably know Quest vWorkspace 6.0 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 vWorkspace 6.0 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 vWorkspace 6.0.

The guide will describe the requirements and the installation and configuration steps to get started with vWorkspace 6.0 in a VMware VI 3.x Environment. The following procedures are detailed:

• Downloading the Quest vWorkspace 6.0 Software
• Installing the Connection Broker
• Entering Customer Information
• Adding a VMware Virtual Infrastructure
• Creating Virtual Desktops from a template in the Managed Computer Group
• Installing PNTools
• Creating a Managed Application
• Using Evaluation Licenses
• Installing the Quest vWorkspace 6.0 Client
• Configuring AppPortal
• Launching AppPortal

Download the guide here: Getting Started Guide for Quest vWorkspace 6.0 in a VMware Virtual Infrastructure 3.x Environment.

If you are looking for a version of this guide that applies to version 5.10, please go here.

One of the core design goals of the Virtual Access Suite is to enable the seamless deployment of an application, desktop or content regardless of the application delivery concept used. So whether the application delivery concept is VDI, SBC or Blade PCs, the Virtual Access Suite can do it all. From one console. With one license. One Database.

Anyway, you get the idea. We think it is critical to have a single pane of glass whilst still having the flexibility to deploy applications and desktops in the way you want to. To make getting started with the Virtual Access suite easier there are a number of guides available. Because of our hypervisor agnostic nature there are guides to getting started with VMware, Hyper-V and Parallels Virtuozzo Containers. SBC should not be forgotten of course, so in this post I wanted to point out that there is a similar guide for getting started with the Virtual Access Suite in a Terminal Server environment.

The guide describes the requirements,the installation and the configuration steps to test the Terminal Server enhancements of Quest Software’s Provision Networks Virtual Access Suite 5.10. It takes you through the following steps:

• Downloading the Provision Networks Virtual Access Suite 5.10 Software
• Installing the Connection Broker
• Entering Customer Information
• Meeting the Terminal Server Requirements
• Installing the VAS Terminal Server Enhancements
• Publishing a Terminal Server Resource: Creating a Managed Application
• Using Evaluation Licenses
• Installing the Provision Networks Virtual Access Suite Client
• Configuring AppPortal
• Using AppPortal to connect to a Terminal Server application

Download the Getting Started Guide for Virtual Access Suite 5.10 in a Terminal Server Environment.

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.