From the sideline comments dept. Just before xmas Brian shares his view on what’s important for vendors in relation to Desktop Virtualization. I’m not going to recap his article in total, you can read it here. What I wanted to comment on specifically, is that it’s really nice to have been working with a vendor for 11+ years now, who all along has been doing what the good Dr. Madden orders today! :-) While we originally back in the late ’90s started out being a product only for Terminal Services/Citrix environments, RES products were kept in tune with the times and trends to embrace all windows platforms: Workstations, Laptops and Server Based Computing – what I referred to as tri-platform support back in the day.

With the emergence of virtualization, first on hardware, then later on applications, it was  possible for RES to add 3 more innovative dimensions to that picture:

1. Early VDI Workspace support: RES Software actually didn’t have to change much, if anything in the Workspace Manager (back in the day known as PowerFuse) to support VDI. As the Workspace Composer runs inside the user’s session, seen from a technical perspective of the product, it’s running on a workstation OS, which just happens to be accessed as a terminal server through RDP, HDX or whatever. In other words, all the goodness which Workspace Manager offered already for Laptops, Physical workstations and Terminal servers, was available for VDI from day one.
2. First App-V integration: RES was TRUTHFULLY, THE VERY FIRST VENDOR who worked proactively with the Grand-Daddy of all application virtualization technologies, SoftGrid by Softricity – now known as App-V by Microsoft. Since then, we’ve adapted to support pretty much every major App Virtualization platform out there. Application virtualization is an important piece of VDI as it will allow you to have more apps to co-exist in the same image. Using the workspace manager to differentiate access to these apps, you can litterally cut down your VDI configuration to one golden image per operating system. Look out for an article on this topic later.
3. First Reverse Seamless provider: Back in the day, RES had this little – relatively un-noticed – sidecar utility to the Workspace Manager, known as the RES Subscriber aka Workspace Extender. These were the first implementations of Reverse Seamless Windows. Few people saw the potential early on, but I’d like to highlight a specific video, made by my former colleague Rick Eilenberger, that demonstrates what it was able to do already then in 2007. It was known as the RES Subscriber. The technology later licensed by Citrix, evolved to a stand-alone product, known as VDX. For more information on VDX, go read here.

The only thing we’ve left alone in regards to virtualization, is so called ‘User Virtualization’. This is some sort of horn which the Usual Suspects likes to blow (and do I mean blow… ;-) To my experience, the concept of virtualizing the user makes no sense at all. The user is the only real “object” in the entire getup anyway. Sure, hardware is quite real too, however unlike the behavior of users, it’s behavior is way more predictable, hence virtualizing it is relatively easy in comparison. This is one of the reasons why I believe the idea of redirecting the profile to a database is a flawed concept to begin with. You want as fast and reliable access to your settings to your settings as well as your documents to cater for the user’s sometimes erratic behavior. This is why the RES Workspace Manager was built with purpose to store User Settings in the same manner as User Data is stored; in a location which is unique and readily accessible to the user.

With the ever-growing adaptation of Cloud Computing into the Enterprise space, the profile game is a-changing. Boatloads of other pundits have been describing in vivid detail how users will demand access to their settings virtually anywhere. One way of dealing with this is to provide ACCESS from anywhere to a centralized solution. Citrix have been doing this for well over 20 years. Thing can however quickly become harrowing if changes the user makes should follow them between different infrastructures (different server farms, operating systems or even different laptops). This is where an intelligent and granular approach to handling user settings is required. If you are contemplating storing your settings only in a standard SQL database – or on a fileserver for that matter you are asking for trouble, or at the very least unnecessary complexity. I’ve discussed this previously in this article.

Anyway, while the usual suspects are duking it out on the commentary section over on BM, RES Software is ready to take on the new year. Stay tuned to this blog for even more tidbits and useful info in 2012! Happy new year everybody.

This article was written on Saturday last week after Citrix Synergy. Wow..! That’s simply the best I can currently can come up with, as I’m unwinding at the Gloria Ferrer vineyard with my better half in Sonoma, enjoying a bottle of ’99 Carneros Cuvée, after an intense week of Synergy 2011. If you follow my tweets, or have read Bill’s post-synergy article, you’ll know we had an overwhelming response to our booth demos and the brand spankin’ new Baseline Desktop Analyzer cloud-service, which will be available for FREE July 1st. During Citrix Synergy, my buddy Gabe Knuth from TechTarget tracked me down for an interview to get the scoop on this new offering. You can see the interview in details by clicking on the video above.

Parts of the video demo may be slightly hard to see, so let us dive a bit more into the Baseline Desktop Analyzer, or BDA as we refer to it shorthand. It’s essentially a free service to give customers and integrators the ultimate overview of the current state of affairs in their IT environments before embarking onto new projects. It doesn’t matter if it’s WinXP->Win7 migration, Physical to VDI, XenDesktop, XenApp, VMware View etc. The situation is a bit like navigation on the high seas: Where ever you are going, you need to get your bearings before you set sail in any direction.

To better prepare yourself for the journey and using DBA, you’ll do well by studying this article. Click here to read it.

From the Guru Bootcamp dept. During 2010 we’ve all been witness to how the product portofolio at RES has expanded. Also there’s been plenty of new functionality added to the existing products, hence the training offerings needed to be changed accordingly. RES Training recently announced changes in the training and certification courses to it’s channel. I’ve summarized some of the highlights here and added a Training FAQ section below.

Note: This article has been updated Feb 17th with links to syllabus for the new courses and additional entries in the FAQ section.

RES Automation Manager 2011

As of Jan 1st the  existing RES Automation Manager Basic course (RAMBC-300) will be supplemented with a Service Orchestration course, and split-up into three separate consecutive trainings:

• RES Automation Manager 2011 Basic Course – Task Automation RAMBC-310
• RES Automation Manager 2011 Basic Course – Resource Provisioning RAMBC-320
• RES Automation Manager 2011 Basic Course – Service Orchestration RAMBC-330

It is officially recommended that you as a RALC or RCT combine RAMBC-310 with RAMBC-320 and offer RAMBC-330 in a separate course. As a trainer I can only concur with this, as Service Orchestration is a completely new ballgame for most folks – even the seasoned Workspacer’s, as it’s not about technology, but about the business. As for duration guidelines, nothing is set in stone, however the following recomendations are currently offered:

• RAMBC-310: 2 days, combined with RAMBC-320: 3 days
• RAMBC-320: 1 day
• RAMBC-330: 3 days (Again, keep in mind this is very different from what you may know about WM and AM)

For the syllabus / topics covered in the Automation Manager RAMBC courses, please refer to this page on the corp website.

RES Workspace Manager 2011

With the release of RES Workspace Manager 2011 (formerly known as RES PowerFuse) early 2011, the RES Workspace Manager Basic Course will also be available in three separate trainings:

• RES Workspace Manager 2011 Basic Course – Composition & Personalization RWMBC-410
• RES Workspace Manager 2011 Basic Course – Advanced Administration RWMBC-420
• RES Workspace Manager 2011 Basic Course – Security & Performance RWMBC-430

Note that it is recommend to combine all three courses to archive maximum, in-depth knowledge of the product suite. The duration guidelines for the RWMBC courses are as follows:

• RWMBC-410: 2 days, combined wih RWMBC-420 and RWMBC-430: 5 days.
• RWMBC-420: 2 days
• RWMBC-430: 2 days

For the syllabus / topics covered in the Workspace Manager RWMBC courses, please refer to this page on the corp website.

Training FAQ

Several questions pop up over and over again while new ones are probably be forming right now, so let me try to address some of these in the section below. If you have additional questions that you feel that belong in this Frequently Asked Questions list, drop an email or simply comment on this post. Newest additions will be on top.

New questions

So now Workspace Manager 2011 is released, when is the exam for it coming?

While significant features additions have been made from PowerFuse 2010 to Workspace Manger 2011, it was however not sufficient to warrant a new prometric test. In other words, the 2010 exam is still good for Workspace Manager 2010. There will be a new exam for Workspace Manager 2012.

What about Automation Manager then? Will my current Wisdom certification remain valid too?

In July 2011 we should see a new Automation Manger 2011  exam.

What about VDX? Will that be a seperate course too?

No, since it’s a very simple product to work with, it does currently not warrant it’s own course. VDX will be covered in the RWMBC-410 course.

Current questions

Will there be a manual for every of the RAMBC/RWMBC courses, meaning 6 manuals?

Yes. Although the contents of the three manuals that will be available for each product are in general the same as the single manual that was available before, there will going to be 6 manuals: 3 manuals for Automation Manager including Service Orchestration, and 3 for Workspace Manager.

What are the cost of manuals?

Fair question, let me redirect you to the partners for the correct answers to that, as I’d rather stear clear of the whole pricing thing. Here are links where you can find contact information for RES Software’s RALC’s (RES Autorized Learning Centers) (RALC’s) and Distribution partners. If I can post MSRP prices later, I’ll update this posting.

Can I have the manuals as a PDF?

No. Believe it or not, we get this question all the time. The manuals are the intellectual property of RES Software. Microsoft, Citrix and VMware to name a few, won’t be too happy either if you copy their corriculum.

I want to certify as an RCP . Is course participation mandatory?

No. That’s the same deal as with Citrix, Microsoft, etc. The courses are offered, but there’s no obligation to take them. If you believe you can do the prometric tests, then by all means go for it! However I do recomend you to seriously consider the courses as you will benefit from the experience and knowledge of the trainer (which in some instances may be your’s truely).

What if I want to become a trainer myself?

The only exception to the above is if you are planning to become an RCT (RES Certified Trainer). You first have to pass the most recent of all available exams. Second, you will need to demonstrate to RES Software that you’re capable of delivering the training. For EMEA, this happens during T3 classes, which are held in Den Bosch, Netherlands. In the United states, at this time this process is  handled by yours truely. One of my responsibilities is to certify new trainers. Once I’ve seen you train and things check out to our standards, I’ll give you the blue rubberstamp of aproval and voilá; you are a RES Certified Trainer.

On a side note: If this is your first time working with RES products and you’re an experienced trainer, by all means make sure you focus on learning the products first, before you worry about how you’re going to deliver the training. This may seem a strange thing say to some, but remember that while many of our current RCT’s have field engineering background, others are dedicated trainers who do not have experience implementing RES products in the field. Therefore, make sure you understand the technology first.

I’m a RCT already or represent a RALC, can I reshape the course durations?

Yes. Now that it’s all modular, it is easy reshape the courses to the needs of your local market. For example, here in the states folks have been asking for a shorter course of say 5 days combined Automation Manager and Workspace Manager. With the new courses as offered above, there is nothing to prevent you from reshuffeling the courses to suit your needs. Here are a couple of examples of combinations you could do:

• 5 days combined with focus on Workspace Management: RWMBC410 + RWMBC420 in 3 days, followed by 2 days of RAMBC-310.

• 5 days combined with focus on Automation Management: RWMBC410 in 2 days + RAMBC310 in 2 days + RAMBC320 in one day.

Where do I find a testcenter?

Just go to the prometric testsite. Hit the Start button and the next page will offer you an option to Locate a Testsite. Here you can chose from what country (and if in US, what state) you’re in. When you go through the rest of the menus where you chose what test you want to take, the site will list the testcenters available in your area. There is a more thourough guide available here on how to register for a test.

Does RES offer vouchers for prometric training?

No. Not directly. RES Software does not sell Prometric vouchers to endusers or partners. Only RES Authorized Learning Centers can purchase these in combination with manuals.

Whay is the passing score of the tests?

The prometric tests have a minimum passing score of 420 out of 600 points. Each question in the test is however weighed differently. That means that you won’t get as many points for correctly answering an easy question as answering a difficult question correctly. Also bear in mind that due to the different

Do you know where I can find braindumps?

Yes ;-)

Do you have any statistics on the passing rates?

I’m not sure that Prometric provides this statistic directly, so from what I understand from the friendly folks in Training, the passing rate is between 90-95% on the first run on Workspace Manager, and around 80-85% on Automation Manager. This may come as a suprise to some – the Automation Manager test is definatly more tough than Workspace Manager. If I get an update on said numbers I’ll update this article.

How do I submit feedback on education related topics?

RES Education can be contacted on education@ressoftware.com.

I have feedback on your prometric tests. Will you use it?

Yes. One of the core values of RES Software is that we listen to customer feedback. That’s how we grow our software. When it comes to Prometric tests we would also like to hear from you if something doesn’t work. However please don’t expect us to make any changes until the next major release of our tests. Maintaining and making changes to a Prometric test program is very expensive. Honestly, you would not believe how expensive this is. Even adding graphics to illustrate a question can double an already 5-figure pricetag.

Will upgrade/delta courses be offered?

Update Jan 1st 2010: I passed this question along to Training HQ: Currently there is no plan to offer 2011 upgrade courses as the demand for courses such as RPFUC-100 has been very low. Seems most people prefer to take the full course. Besides that, there is less conceptual change from 2010 to 2011, than originally from 2008 to 2010 as we changed the console completely back then. So with that in mind, we do not anticipate a large demand for upgrade courses as things are today.

I can’t travel. Can I sit into a course via phone/webex?

While some RALC’s may offer pure remote courses, I would personally never recomend mixing a live class with remote participants. The primary reason is that you would simply not get enough out being trained this way. It also requires a tremendous effort on behalf of the trainer to balance the needs of the local/remote participants.

From the new hotness department. Today, December 6 2010 – RES Product Management announced the preview availability of a the long anticipated RES Virtual Desktop Extender aka. VDX. The VDX product allows you to add Reverse Seamless Publishing capability to any TS/Citrix/VDI environment.

The cool bit is that this release is a stand-alone version, which means you do not need to have the RES Workspace Manager installed in the datacenter end of things. The preview is available to current partners and customers though the support portal. Just log in with your credentials and browse the treeview, where you will find it at the bottom as shown here.

As mentioned, the current tech preview demos the stand-alone capability. An RC is expected to be released mid Jan, which will have optional integration capability with RES Workspace manager.

Note1: The techpreview expires on March 1st 2011, so expect to see reviews of this stuff soon.

Note2:  If you are not a current customer/partner of RES, please contact the friendly folks in sales and let them know that you are interested in VDX.

From the new-hotness dept. Today, November 1st 2010, RES Product management announced the Release Candidate of the RES Automation Manager 2011 (formerly known as Wisdom). It is now available for download for SA customers through the portal. The version number for this release is 6.0.0.0. The main areas of improvement are centered around the Service Orchestration module, Scalability, Integration, Security and compatibilty.

This update is massive, i.e. the enhancements are too many to mention here, although they are all covered in the releasenotes, available for download below. I would however like to highlight a few items which may be of interest to you, especially in regards to licensing as these things have changed with the latest release:

• License cost for PC’s cut in half. From this version, a workstation now only charges 0.5 licenses. This due to the fact that Automation Manager now supports the service orchestration pack. If you upgrade your exising Wisdom installation to Automation Manager, you will notice that your license consumption on workstations will be half of what it used to be. You’re welcome :-) Note that servers and terminal servers still are charged 4 and 8 licenses respectively.
• New licensing for small business servers: A new connector type has been added, which allows you to use a domain controller, a SQL server and an exchange server on one box. Where up until now this combo would cost 50 licenses in order to enable existing connector licenses (SQL:1 + Exchange:16 + DC:32), the new Small Business Server connector will enable all 3 on one box, charging 33 licenses, saving you 17 licenses for something else.
• Service orchestration now a part of Autmation Manager: From this version onward, the service automation module shares the Automation Manager database and thus the license pool also. So how’s service orchestration charged then? 0.5 license per serviced user. What’s a serviced user then? It’s a user to whom a orchestrated service is delivered. In other words, suppose you set up a service, such as an app the user can request to have installed, then 0.5 licenses is draw from the Automation Manager license pool when the service/app is delivered by Automation Maanger. If the service is returned (i.e. the app is uninstalled), then the 0.5 license is returned to the pool. I’d say that’s a quite fair model. Watch this blog for another article on Service Orchestration later.

Be sure to visit the updated Automation Manager licensing 101 article which is available here. This article contains a calculator which will help you figure out how many licenses you would need.

Besides the above changes to licenses, there are several other important improvements worth mentioning, although most of these have been available in the interim versions of Wisdom that have been available throughout this year. Anyway, if you’re not on the Early Adopter program, these items will likely be of interest to you:

• New Engines node in the console: From this version the console node formerly known as Dispatchers has been renamed to Engines. Reason for this change is that once  you install the Service Orchestration module for Automation Manager, you’ll also be able to monitor the status of the Catalog Services and the Transaction Engine, besides the regular dispatchers.
• Master Dispatchers: This is a pretty cool way to manage large-scale environments where you have a requirement for multiple dispatchers on a remote site. You may also have a situation on your hands where setting up a replicated datastore is not an option. Setting up the Master Dispatcher allows dispatchers on a given site to talk to another dispatcher instead of talking directly to the datastore. Configuring this involves setting up 3 registry keys. There’s currently no GUI for this. These are described on page 4 of the releasenotes. Click the illustration on the right for a visual explanation of how the master dispatcher fits into the big picture.
• Job notification via email and SNMP: In Automation Manager 2011 it is also possible to configure alerting, very much like you know it from PowerF.. erm, Workspace Manager. The SNMP integration does not require installation of SNMP agents. Supported SNMP versions are v1 and v2c. The .MIB (Management Information Base) file, is located where you initially deployed your Automation Manager Console under %programfiles%\RES\Automation Manager (or ..\Wisdom if you’ve just upgraded).
• Ability to tweak Wake-on-Lan options: You can now change in Global Options what port WOL packets are sent on, default is 3163. Also you can tweak the default behavior which is sending to the 4×255 broadcast address, and instead send to a specific target subnet. See page 7 of the releasenotes for details.
• Enhanced SSH script support: Automation Manager can now use sudo, which is the UNIX equivalent of runas. Also, instead of executing a SSH script line by line, the script can be created in it’s entirety in the users homedirectory on the target system.
• Support for more Microsoft and Citrix environments: MS Exchange 2010, SQL Server Native Client 10.0, Windows 7 and Server 2008R2. The exchange support is especially cool as it will allow you to move mailboxes from say Exchange 2003 to 2010. Note however that such a job must be run on the Exchange 2010 box. Also worth mentioning is the ability to support Citrix Workflow Studio. By enabeling this integration existing workflow users will be able to take advantage of the advanced scheduling and conditional execution of Automation Manager. Existing RES customers will be able to take advantage of the Citrix-specific tasks available through the Workflow Studio.
• Query Evaluators: This is a very interesting piece which will alow you to make conditional executions based on the result of a given query. For example – if diskspace is less than 10% run a task to clean out the %temp% folder etc. Currently query evaluators are only supported for the following queries: Computer Properties, Disk space, Installed programs, Service properties, TCP/IP properties. I’m sure we will see more of these in the future. The important bit is that every query evaluator is different and, as a result of a query you can set a given module parameter to any value. The idea is that you can then use regular Conditions to check on the value of these further into the modules.

The above is just a few items I picked out from the stuff included in this major release of Automation Manager. For the complete picture, make sure to have a look at the releasenotes, which you can download right here.

Click here to download:

From the extended department. If you are new to RES technology, you may or may not have heard about the VDX product that has got everybody’s talking. In short it enables you to run local apps as part of a remote/virtual desktop coming from TS/Citrix/VDI etc. For those of you familiar with Citrix terminology, it’s best described as reverse seamless windows, for which RES Software holds a patent. and I’ve previously created an article here, which describes how to setup a nice demo of VDX.

Recently however, RES has produced a nice short video which explains the concept. You can view this video below or check it out in the VideoVault alongside the 3 new videos which have been added today.

Currently VDX is a part of the RES Workspace Manager. Do keep in mind however, that in RES will launch a stand-alone version of VDX in January 2011, which will enable you use this technology as a stand-alone component.

From the van Gok department. You may recall some time before the corporate makeover, that RES Software shared some wallpapers with the community. Now that those wallpapers are obsolete, I am pleased to be able to share the new ones with you which look like this. Feel free to use them in your demo labs or whatever.

Below is a link where you can download the new wallpaper set. The package contains the wallpaper shown above in a variety of different native resolutions.

Click here to download:

You may recall the review of the SR2 release that I did a while back. A new update of the SR2 was released today. The difference between the original SR2 version 9.0.2.0,  and now is that about 5 important fixpacks have been rolled into the current SR2 release 9.0.2.6. Besides that some functionality regarding the Myworkspace Edtion has changed. This is crucial to know as it may affect what version of product is relevant for you. The main change in MyWorkspace edition is that we’ve added more of the functionality, which until now were only available in the Enterprise version. In other words – more bang for the buck! Here are the additions to MyWorkspace edition:

• Folder Syncronization: Allows you to sync files any set of locations, event triggered or timed. Perfect alternative to Windows offline folders. It’s based on MS Sync Framework, so think of it as a centrally managed equivalent of SyncToy.
• Datasources: Create needed ODBC datasource for applications. The datasource is created as a User DSN when the  application attached to the datasource is created, and cleaned up nicely when you log off.
• Web Portal: Allows you to create a web-based interface to the users instead of using the explorer desktop/start menu. Note this is not a Citrix Web-Interface replacement. We simply just render a dynamic web-based launch platform for users within a Workspace Manager session.
• Instant Reports: Document anything inside the workspace manger with a single click

For further information on the differences between the product editions, see this older article on PowerFuse 2008 here.

Besides the MyWorkspace edition changes, the 9.0.2.6 SR2 update includes the support of Automation Manager 2011, which has just been released recently as RC (Release Candidate).

The 9.0.2.6 release includes a rollup of all the fixes found in UpdatePacks 9.0.2.1 through 9.0.2.5. In order to make better sense of the differences/changes, here on the right are the releasenotes for fixpack 9.02.5 which is cummulative, i.e it contains all the fixes from 9.0.2.1.

You can also download the complete all-inclusive releasenotes for the SR2 9.0.2.6 release right here:

Hot off the press: As previously announced, wonderful things are happening over at RES. Today 5pm CET, RES Software has changed the website, logo and messaging, but that’s not all. Product names and categorizations have changed too! More below. There are many other significant changes underway, which will be revealed over the course of this week. To help you make sense of it all, here is a quick breakdown on what’s going on so far:

• New website. Have a look at the new RESsoftware.com, which is live now.
• New logo. Gone is the old blue-white-black. You can view the new shaded logo in all it’s glory by clicking on the miniature in the upper left corner of this article.
• New product suite: As of today, all the current products are considered part of ONE  suite, called the RES Dynamic Desktop Studio. See the illustration on the right.
• The product now formerly known as RES PowerFuse will from today be known as the RES Workspace Manager, part of the Dynamic Desktop Stuido.
• RES Wisdom will from today be known as the RES Automation Manager. also part of the suite
• Orchestra aka Orchestraton Pack for Wisdom is now known as the Service Orchestration Module in the Automation Manager.
• The Workspace Extender aka Subscriber will from today be known as the Virtual Desktop Extender, or VDX.
• VDX will be available as a stand-alone product from January 2011.

All this information and more is available in the New RES FAQ, available here.

As mentioned there will be made more, important announcements during this week, so keep an eye out for them here at the ‘Guru. In the meantime, you can see what the  new names and logo’s for the components of the Dynamic Desktop Studio will look like. Click on the individual components to jump to the corresponding product page.

Now, if you will excuse me, I’ve got 50.000 entries in the RESpedia to edit.. :-)