Recently we earned a exclusive endorsement from the AHA and that is something we are very proud of. We at Quest like to believe that the proof is in the pudding and so do our customers. So when we were at the HIMMS event, we recorded this demo that shows you one of the reasons why vWorkspace is so popular in hospital environments.

The demo shows a typical hospital environment where doctors and nurses move from room to room (and thus from client device to client device) with their session following them, when all they do to achieve that is to tap their smartcard. This “tap in, tap out, tap over” demo is very impressive and shows you what vWorkspace can do.

Take a look at the demo here:

QShell is a free 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.

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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…? )

I remember seeing a demonstration some time ago from a VDI vendor that showed they could do multimonitor. I also remembered thinking “so what? we can do that as well”. Over time I realized that I was wrong to assume that the advanced capabilities of Quest vWorkspace were that well-known.

So I decided to create a “blair-witch” demo: I just walked up to one of the cubicles that we have over at the Quest Desktop Virtualisation Group HQ and shot a demo of what vWorkspace can do today. My “cameraman” used a webcam as the camera so if it is not the quality you are accustomed to, you know why.

The important part is that the video shows what Quest vWorkspace 6.0 can do today. In the demo we are showing a vWorkspace session to a Windows XP virtual desktop that:

• uses 4 monitors, with the desktop being only on the first monitor (so not just spanning). You could even use monitors with different resolutions if you want to.
• shows how  applications are able to be monitor aware in a vWorkspace sessions (they can maximize to the monitor they are on)
• where we plug in and use different USB devices in this mulitmonitor vWorkspace sessions
• is playing a full HD movie

This is just a very brief demo that does not even show some of the other features of Quest vWorkspace 6.0 like graphics acceleration, user profile management, universal printing, virtual desktop shadowing or any of the other features…

So you’ve installed vWorkspace 6.0, but how is the Graphics Acceleration feature Quest has been talking about enabled? 

First let’s lay out the prerequisites:

1. vWorkspace 6.0 Desktop or Enterprise + Experience Optimization Pack Licenses

2.  If using vWorkspace Desktop Edition, uninstall previous versions of pntools and install the 6.0 version of pntools.msi.  Pntools.msi enables functionality such as Universal Printing, Graphics Acceleration, Universal USB Redirection, Seamless Windows, Enhanced Multi-Monitor, Bi-Directional Audio and Latency Reduction.  Pntools can be pushed to VMs via the vWorkspace Management Console, either one machine at a time, to several machines at the same time, to entire Computer Groups or via Automated Task.

If using vWorkspace Enterprise Edition and Windows Terminal Services, install vWorkspace 6.0 on the Terminal Servers.  Terminal Servers do not require pntools.

3.  Install version 6.0 of the Quest vWorkspace Client.  Currently Graphics Acceleration is only for Windows Clients, but it is scheduled to be ported to Linux Clients in the near term (probably within 90 days).

4.  Access applications or desktops via the vWorkspace 6.0 AppPortal, Web Access or Remote Desktop Connection.  AppPortal or Web Access are the preferred connection types. 

Enabling Graphics Acceleration.

1.  Open the vWorkspace Management Console -> Resources (Node) -> Managed Applications (Node) -> Right Click -> Properties -> Enable Graphics Acceleration and select the Image Quality.  Best Practice is to enable Graphics Acceleration at this location as a system wide setting, and selectively disable it on a specific application (if necessary).

 2.  vWorkspace Management Console -> Resources -> Client Settings -> New… -> Give the new Client Settings Policy a name, for example “Graphics Acceleration Enabled” or “EOP Users” -> Under Optimizations set Graphics Acceleration to “yes”.

 3.  On the “Client Assignments” tab of the Client Settings Policy that you just created, assign this feature to a User, Group, OU, Client IP/IP Range or Client Name/Naming Convention.

At this point Graphics Acceleration is enabled for the specified clients (in my example to my Active Directory User Account).  Typically this would be for everyone, like the Domain Users Group.  The next time the assigned user connects their vWorkspace AppPortal Client to this farm, it will enforce this setting on their client.

If users will be connecting via Web Access, to enforce this setting on clients select “enable Graphics Acceleration” under “Performance” in the Admin portal (shown below). 

So by now everyone knows that VDI is being adopted at a rapid pace, but often without enough due diligence by IT.  Server virtualization offers amazing return on investment, and is often implemented without end user ever knowing.   Users still access the same file servers, exchange servers, web servers… they just don’t know or care that the physical servers have been virtualized and consolidated.

Desktop virtualization sounds fantastic to the people that successfully completed a server virtualization project, and to the CIO & CFO that are looking to save even more money with virtualization.  Things that are often overlooked are the end user requirements. Just because one can deliver a remote display to a PC or thin client, doesn’t mean that it will be accepted by end users, and doesn’t mean that it will meet end user’s operating requirements.

So what are some of these “end user” requirements that IT should consider when designing a virtual desktop infrastructure.

1. Display performance - this is a no brainer, but more often than not IT is deploying virtual desktops without testing each of their customer’s applications to make sure they are responsive over the chosen remote display protocol.  It should also be noted that just because the application works fine across the LAN, does not mean that it will perform the same across a bandwidth limited, shared WAN pipe with significantly more latency than the LAN.
2. Printing - another “duh!, eh”, but for IT professionals without Server Based Computing experience, as it relates to application delivery, this is often overlooked.   IT may not understand that the Terminal Services printing infrastructure is quite different than that of normal client server computing.  Users will expect to be able to print to the same printers they used to, without having to call the helpdesk and without sacrificing functionality that they had on their physical PC.
3. Local devices - most clients support USB storage, but support for devices like TWAIN & WIA Scanners, webcams and VOIP headsets is not something that Microsoft delivers out of the box to remote desktops.

So what is EOP, and how does it relate to all of these statements?  EOP stands for both “Experience Optimized Protocol” and “Experience Optimization Pack“.  The Provision Networks division of Quest Software licenses and has been extending the feature set of the Microsoft RDP Protocol since 2004.  The following are core features of Quest’s Enhanced RDP Protocol that exist for Windows Terminal Services and VDI:

• Seamless Windows - remote applications look and act like local applications without being encapsulated by the Explorer Shell or the Remote Desktop Client window.  They minimize to the taskbar like local apps and retain the proper Z-order (when you alt+tab thru apps).
• Session Sharing - multiple seamless windows remote apps share the same Windows Session on a Terminal Server or VDI/Physical Remote Desktop, instead of being spawned in additional sessions.  This allows applications to interact with each other, i.e. different Microsoft Office applications.  Additionally, if a non-seamless desktop session is launched, and seamless windows remote apps exist, the seamless windows remote apps share the session with the desktop, and will be moved into the desktop session.
• Enhanced Multi-monitor support - this forces the Windows Taskbar and start menu to be confined to the primary monitor, allows users to maximize applications on the monitor of their choice and the applications remember these settings.  This was introduced in Virtual Access Suite 5.10 that was released in July.
• Universal USB Device Redirection - this is a new feature that allows clients to use virtually any USB connected device, i.e. VOIP headset, TWAIN/WIA Scanner, webcam…
• Universal Printing Virtual Channel - this has existed in Provision Networks’ products since 2001, we were a Citrix Platinum Partner, and we sold add-ons for Citrix and Windows Terminal Services.  This feature allows users to print to any client defined printer without having to install or have installed the printer driver on the Terminal Server or Virtual Desktop.  In addition to this Virtual Channel for client printers, Quest also supports use of the Universal Printer driver for Windows Network Printers (Session Printers in Citrix terminology) and Remote Print Relay printers (gateway printing).

Quest’s “Experience Optimization Pack” adds the following “User Experience” features to the previously mentioned core features:

• Graphics acceleration - this compresses and optimizes how graphics are rendered on the remote display, so Terminal Services and VDI can support graphical applications and animation that typically did not perform well over RDP.  This also dramatically reduces the bandwidth requirements of the RDP protocol, typically by 400 to 800%. I have seen some websites that consume 18 times more bandwidth when rendered via the standard Microsoft RDP client or VMware VDM client, than when using Quest EOP.
• Multimedia Redirection - this seamlessly redirects Microsoft DirectShow content (anything that can be played in Windows Media Player) to the client CODEC where it is rendered in full fidelity, insted of being rendered by RDP.
• Latency Reduction - when a lateny network is detected, client keystrokes are rendered on the client device so the end user can see them before they are transmitted to the remote RDP host.  This enables remote workers to use word processing application that typically suffered over a latent network connection.
• Bi-directional audio - this allows for support of microphones, even those that are not USB connected, which would be supported by the Universal USB Device Redirector.

So the combination of Quest’s core RDP enhancements and the optional “Experience Optimization Pack” features equals Quest Software’s ”Experience Optimized Protocol” (EOP).  Enhanced RDP has been referred to in many ways by industry analysts, and our own employees, so now we have an actual name for our RDP enhancements, “EOP“

rdp61_eop_live

QuestEOP

Provision Networks Multimedia Redirection Demonstration

So VMworld starts on Monday, and we’re getting ready to make a big splash with our new enhancements for VDI and Windows Terminal Services.  One of our new enhancements is something that I don’t think anyone thought could be done (make RDP perform well across the WAN, or display animation and complex graphics).  It used to be a foregone conclusion that RDP just could not perform well across a latent or low bandwidth connection, or one that is displaying complex graphics or animation.

This is no longer the case, as is shown in the video below.  This video is two mintues long, and during that two minutes I am working with two virtualized remote desktops via SSL Secure Gateway, from the same client computer, connected to the public Internet via a Verizon Wireless card, from the Southwest Coast of the United States to the Northeast Coast of the United States. I typically have about 384Kbps download speed, and the latency to the remote site is about 150 milliseconds.

So anyways, during this two minutes I load the exact same webpage on the two remote desktops.  On one desktop, the webpage never even finishes rendering the alpha-blended splash screen during the entire two minutes, whereas on the desktop running Quest’s EOP (Experience Optimized Protocol)  the page loads instantly and you can see me clicking around, flipping from page to page,  while the other one seems frozen. 

If you look closely, the desktop on the left that is using the standard RDP protocol, that is offered with products like VMware VDM, Leostream, 2x, Ericom, nSuite, Desktone [insert every other VDI and Terminal Services vendor that utilizes the Microsoft RDP Protocol] is drawing block by block, layer by layer and it is completely unusable.  It’s not just a matter of that one is more responsive than the other, but that one is using so much bandwidth that it’s completely saturating my Internet connection.  When this happens the only way interact with the frozen remote desktop is to wait for it to finish loading (no telling how long that would take), or to have an administrator reset the session.

Yesterday I visited a client that was ready to deploy VMware VDM, but they had to support several remote sites, some connected over DSL and others over T1 with MPLS. Users were complaining that they couldn’t use some websites that they use on their PCs every day (some for leisurely Internet browsing, and some to do actual work). We tested connecting to one of the Remote Desktops with the VDM client and launching their default webpage www.live.com.  This page took more than 30 seconds to load with the Vmware VDM client, and less than 2 seconds to load with Quest’s EOP.  In addition to that, the system integrator asked me how much less bandwidth we were consuming with the Provision Networks Client.  We measured it with NetLimiter Pro, and the Vmware VDM client used 18 times more bandwidth to load this one webpage than the Provision Networks client did.  This was way better than I expected, and the video below is even more impressive than what I just described.

If this sounds interesting to you, come see it in person at VMworld Booth #1039 from September 15-18, 2008.  If you’re not going to VMworld, just ping me and we can come to you.

rdp61_eop_live

QuestEOP

One of our Systems Consultants ,Patrick Rouse, has created another demonstration of our RDP Graphics Acceleration. Quest’s RDP Graphics Acceleration (aka EOP - Experience Optimized Protocol) is not limited to browser graphics, but rather can accelerate all bitmapped graphics, such as the Explorer Shell, Microsoft Office applications, AutoCAD, Photoshop, Flash, Shockwave, Quicktime, Google Earth…

In the video Patrick compares RDP 6.1 on Vista SP1, to Quest Software’s EOP Graphics Acceleration. On the Vista SP1 Remote Desktop the local system policy has RDP “optimized to use less network bandwidth”, which is the maximum data compression level and best performance currently offered by Microsoft for the RDP Protocol. Enjoy, as the performance improvements Quest has made to the Microsoft RDP Protocol are very impressive!

Quest’s RDP Graphics acceleration is available as part of the Experience Optimization Pack (EOP) for Provision Networks Virtual Access Suite, for Terminal Services, Virtual and Physical Desktops.

rdp61_eop_live

Provision Networks is currently developing graphics acceleration for the Microsoft RDP Protocol.  In my previous tests performed in June I tested the first prototype and was amazed at the improvement in end user experience over a limited bandwidth connection.  This is key for Terminal Services and VDI deployments, as any remoting protocol looks great over a gigabit connection, but when users are connecting over DSL or 3G connections, graphical content and multimedia may be unusable.

Yesterday I received the second prototype build of our GDI Plus Graphics Acceleration for RDP.  Once I got it installed I decided to compare the bandwidth usage to that of the standard Microsoft RDP 6 client.

My test setup included

• Client - Windows XP SP2 Professional with RDP Client 6.0 (San Diego, CA)
• VDI Host - Windows XP SP2 Professional (Reston, VA)
• Network Connection - Verizon BroadbandAccess Wireless Cellular Card + VPN
• NetLimiter Pro - used to measure data transmission

The content I tested was from the following Flickr Site.  http://www.flickr.com/photos/joelbolt/sets/72157594253077556/

I launched the page, clicked on the Slideshow link and let the slideshow play thru to its completion.  I did this with a standard remote desktop connection, then I logged off, logged back on and repeated the test with our GDI Plus compression enabled.

So what did I find? 

1. The Provision Networks GDI Plus accelerator compressed the bandwidth consumed by the RDP Display 8.5 to 1 over the standard RDP connection.  The standard RDP connection sent 15,322,091 bytes to the client, whereas the Provision Networks accelerated connection sent only 1,793,232.  It should be noted that when I performed the same task using my local Internet browser, it downloaded 2,016,251 bytes, so the Provision Networks acceleration used less bandwidth than running the same task locally.
2. Completing the same tasks listed above took 100 seconds via the standard RDP connection and only 40 seconds with the Provision Networks Graphics Acceleration.
3. Displaying the slideshow via the standard RDP was slow and choppy, whereas the accelerated slideshow played as if it were playing locally.

So what did I learn?  RDP is not stupid.  It dynamically adjusts the amount of data sent to the client based upon how much bandwidth is available.  When I limited my network connection to 128Kbps, this same set of tasks consumed 4,737,020 bytes via standard RDP and only 1,026,072 bytes when compressed with Provision Networks’ GDI Plus acceleration.  When I limited the connection to 20Kbps the standard RDP transmitted about the same amount of data, 5,051,238 bytes but the Provision Networks accelerated connection was still able to be compressed further, down to 741,966 bytes. 

In my next demonstration I will show how different levels of compression affect bandwidth consumption, and end user experience. The RDP compression in this version is virtually lossless, when compared to the compression of Citrix ICA. 

Provision Networks Enhanced RDP vs Citrix ICA Compression:

RDP struggles to display highly graphical content over a low bandwidth connection, which makes this compression technology even more important.  Even on a low bandwidth connection, this flickr slideshow was head and shoulders better performing with GDI Plus acceleration than with standard RDP.  RDP draws graphics sequentially from left to right, top to bottom in 64×64 pixel squares when starved for bandwidth.  With Provision Networks RDP Compression, this is completely eliminated. 

This compression dramatically improves the end user experience.  In my next demo video I will compare this technology against Citrix ICA to debunk the myth that RDP is a inferior display protocol.

As of today, August 26, 2008 this technology is not a shipping product, but is slated to be released in the 4th quarter of 2008.  This and other new technologies will be demonstrated at the Microsoft Virtualization Launch Event on September 8th in Bellevue, WA and at VMworld 2008 in Las Vegas, NV.

RDP Flickr Slideshow results:

Provision Networks enhanced-RDP Flickr Slideshow results:

Locally rendered Flickr Slideshow results:

RDP Flickr Slideshow results over 128Kbps connection:

Provision Networks enhanced-RDP Flickr Slideshow results over 128Kbps connection:

A couple of weeks ago Patrick Rouse blogged about the work we are doing in Graphics Acceleration for VDI and Terminal Services. In addition to the demonstration in Patrick’s  post, we’ve been showing another, different demonstration video to our partners and customers. Since everybody was so excited about this, I decided to put it up here as well.

This demonstration video of Provision Networks Graphics Acceleration for VDI and Terminal Services is a “side by side” demonstration video. In the demonstration, one Virtual Desktop shows the user experience using “just” the RDP protocol and the other Virtual Desktop shows the user experience with the Provision Networks Graphics Acceleration components installed. The demonstration shows the user experience when browsing a flash intensive website, a graphically intense website and a typical “modern” website that has both flash and graphics.

The demonstration was created by recording the user experience of two 800×600 Virtual Desktop sessions side-by-side. Since this yields a rather large video with a big resolution, I have re-rendered the video to a maximum width of 1024 pixels so that it should fit on most screens.

Provision Networks Graphics Acceleration Demo

Please be aware that this is a prototype. The fact that it is a prototype makes that it has a bad side as well as a good side: the good side that is that the RTM version of the Provision Networks Graphics Acceleration will be even more impressive, the bad news is that it is not available yet.

Let us know what you think. Is this something you could use?