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.

Well folks, the weekend is upon us and it’s about that time we head out west to take part in next week’s Citrix Synergy 2011 in San Fransisco. From the perspective of RES, this time I can promise you one heck of a show, as we’re going to be more RES people than ever, with even more cool technology to show off. We’re sure as going to be making a big splash at this event on several fronts and be more visible than ever! Make sure you bookmark the official RES event page. There have been many posts and tweets about this event, so with this article it’s my humble ambition to serve up the good stuff in one place. Let’s have a closer look at what’s going on:

Expo

You will find the main RES booth #308 to the slight left of the entrance of the exhibitor’s hall. Here you’ll find our big white/orange booth, similar to the one we used at MMS. Here we will be demonstrating Workspace Manager, VDX, Automation Manager and Service Orchestration, giving individual personal demos as well as scheduled demos in our on-booth learningspace. All along there’s going to be prizes and giveaways galore! Click on the thumbnails to the right to see the map of the exhibition floor and a preview of what our booth is going to look like.

We also have a secondary presence at the Desktop Transformation Pavilion in the exhibition hall. As you may know, here at RES, we have always viewed Desktop Transformation as one of the cornerstones of workspace management. In other words before you go in guns blazing to manage an environement, you need to analyse the environment before you can proceed to transform it. While all vendors presen in the pavilion have relatively small display pods, make no mistake, something important is going down here which I can’t unveil just yet, however I urge you to come by and visit us at Pod #803 and see what’s going on. (Watch the skies, hint hint).

Partnership

As some of you may have noticed, RES Software is now a Platinum Sponsor of the event. At the same time take note that an announcement has been made in regards to RES Software’s Citrix partner status: Citrix has elevated RES Software to Citrix Ready Leadership level, which is the highest partner level you can reach within the Citrix ecosystem. Keep that in mind for next time someone tells you that they are recommended by Citrix ;-) Btw – look out for our cool intro video which will be playing in the main hall. While we’re at it, RES Software has been nominated as the Best Desktop Transformation Solution of the year. Voting is open until May 25th. If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know what to do! :)

Presentations

This year we’re going to have two awesome presentations, which we’re quite confident that you’ll find interesting. Don’t miss Managing FlexCast Delivery with the RES Dynamic Desktop Studio with Bob Janssen & Jeff Fisher. This presentation will take place on Thursday, May 26th from 2:00pm – 2:45 in Moscone room 2024. The following day, same time and location, Bob Janssen and Bob de Kousemaeker present RES Software Solutions for Desktop Transformation. You can meet these guys and your’s truly at the booths throughout the event. I’ll be recording a segment for Citrix TV so if you’re lucky, you might catch me going all out Elmer Fudd in front of the camera.. :-)

Cocktail party

Finally, I want to mention the RES Cocktail party – If you’re invited, you really don’t want to miss out! Probably due to all the recent Citrix/RES hub-hub, anybody who’s anybody will be there. A whoppin’ crowd of 130+ invited guests have pre-registered already ! The party is literally a stones throw across the intersection outside the Moscone Center. Remember though; this special event is invite only and you will need a special badge to enter. If you’ve received an invite already, you have to pre-register and pick up your badge at the RES booth, where you will get all the details you need to attend. Note: The grand prize from the expo, a really cool set of Bose noise reducing headphones, will be handed over at the Cocktail party.

We all look forward to seeing you in San Fransisco (now, if you will excuse me, I need to run and pack my own suitcase!)

From the we-work-harder-so-you-don’t-have-to dept. My esteemed co-authors Patrick Kaak and Sascha Maier have produced a couple of new articles, which you may find interesting. Patrick has reworked another blog article he found, which compares different profile manager technologies, while Sacha has created an article that describes how you can first-time set up the correct initial keyboard for users in an international organization. This article also includes a buildingblock. Have a look at the articles in the Technote Library below:

<<< RG038 – Differences between profile managers

<<< RG039 – Mapping the right keyboard to the right people

From the Eiffel Sales dept. In a bold move to spread global awareness of Workspace Automation, RES Software today annouced the purchase of a brand new custom designed Boeing 747-400, which has been completely retrofitted to meet the needs of an agile and dynamic salesforce. The aircraft was unveiled at the christening ceremony today in Hangar 18 at Philadelphia International Airport, which will be the new home of RESforce-1 as the aircraft is now formally designated.

To accommodate every conceivable corporate activity on board, RESforce-1 is equipped for fitting interchangeable modules, ranging from multiple conference rooms, a 5-star restaurant and sushi bar, 2 cocktail bars and stay-over facilities for 50+ VIP guests. Riding on the wings of RES Software will indeed be a one-of-a-kind experience as the aircraft is also able to maintain zero-G for up to 4 minutes at a time when the interior is refitted for this experience. Convenient covers for your drinks will be issued before takeoff. Sources close to RES Software indicate that “Even Austin Powers would be green with envy to own this baby”

The aircraft is also fitted with several classified countermeasures, including Anti-FUD systems allowing the flight crew to automatically target and disable incoming false claims and half-baked assumptions.

From the Confucius dept. In the RES product portfolio you may have come across terms and names such as Subscriber, Subscriber Agent, Workspace Extender etc. and wonder what the heck it all means. While I’ve done my best to document these products and components in the RESpedia, it is time to set the record straight and give you a shortcut to the big picture. Through this article, it is my ambition to give you an easy overview of what each of these items are, and understand the differences. You will find a brief history of the products that eventually led to the development of the VDX product…

Generation I: The Subscriber.

Back in the beginning of the millennium, the technology known today as VDX began it’s life as an add-on component to Workspace Manager. At that time Workspace Manager itself was known as PowerFuse. The add-on component was  known as the Subscriber. The subscriber’s main purpose was to assist customers in turning regular fat client PC’s into thin clients, while retaining the fat-client capability of launching local apps.

When the Subscriber was installed, it acted as a shell replacement – just like PowerFuse itself. This could be configured with the old SetShell utility. When the user logged on to the local computer, the Subscriber could present itself in one out of two ways. Either A) the Subscriber would launch the user straight into their RDP/ICA session by invoking either MSTSC.EXE or WFCRUN32.exe with the appropriate parameters, or B) it would present a customizable menu to the user where he/she could launch the RDP/ICA session manually and start local applications directly. The Subscriber was later along the way outfitted with scores of other features. These configuration items were stored in a file called subscriber.ini and could be managed by running the subscriber.exe with a /config parameter. Here’s an overview of some of these features:

• Ability to locally map network drives and printers from within the remote session
• Configure what happened when remote session ended (logout/shutdown/menu/etc)
• Completely customize the appearance of the local menu including custom logo, skins, menu items, screensaver appearance, clock format, button names etc.
• Ability to autostart specific commandlines upon Subscriber start
• Custom keep-alive and disconnection timeouts.
• Behavior whether to preserve or kill the local explorer running behind the local desktop
• Update all of the above settings centrally via an FTP server

Once a RDP/ICA session was established local applications could be launched by the user, if they had been defined as Managed Applications in the PowerFuse console. This was in fact the core of what would later evolve into VDX. Once a Managed Application had been defined in PowerFuse, an icon could be displayed on the users start menu in the remote desktop. The Managed Application became a Subscribed Application, once the console operator ticked a special box on the Properties|General tab of the managed application in the PowerFuse console. The difference between a regular managed application and a subscribed application was this: When a regular managed application launches, it executes in the session where it was launched. In a TS/Citrix environment, the app would launch inside a session on the server. The subscribed application however, would launch locally.

In the earliest implementation of the Subscriber, the PowerFuse instance running in the server-side session, would send a command via TCP/3163 down to the Subscriber executable running on the client computer, to launch the local executable, defined in the managed application. In later versions, the Subscriber was changed to take advantage of the built-in virtual channels in both RDP and ICA instead so no extra TCP ports beyond the existing display protocol is used.

When the local application was launched, PowerFuse created a faux start menu item for the application, which allowed the user from within the remote desktop to call up the local application and interact with it. Obviously this approach had it’s limitations, as the local app could only be on top of the entire remote desktop, or entirely behind it. Thus, if you clicked on the remote desktop, the local app would disappear behind it. This problem is addressed by the Z-mode technology within VDX to ensure a true local/remote blend experience, as illustrated here on the right:

Generation II: The Subscriber Agent

The subscriber agent rose out of the customer need only to present the subscribed applications into the remote desktop. Where the Subscriber lent itself nicely to kiosk environments and other scenarios where local access was to be severely restricted, the Subscriber Agent did no such thing. It merely sat as an icon in the system tray of the local client and listened for launch commands coming down the virtual channel from the remote session. As for configuration, there wasn’t much to configure on the Subscriber Agent. You basically had the following:

• The Subscriber Agent would look for a file called C:\Program Files\RES Subscriber Agent\subagent.ini. In this file you could add a couple of settings to hide the exit option on the system tray icon and also you could hide the splash screen. Refer to the the ‘Administration of RES Subscriber Agent’ section of the help file, which you can download from the RES KB here.
• In the registry the Subscriber Agent would look in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\RES\PFWSExt. Here you can configure how the Subscriber Agent should interact with the local start menu etc. More info on these settings can be found in the RES KB in Q201548 and Q202559.

In short, the Subscriber Agent was minded for environments where you want to preserve the functionality of the local desktop, while extending some of those apps into the remote desktop.

As with the native Subscriber, the Subscriber Agent also relied exclusively on the availability of RES PowerFuse in the other end of the virtual channel, as it was only with PowerFuse Managed applications that a local app could be triggered to launch. Therefore if any new applications were added locally, the administrator would have to create an Managed application, referencing that particular executable and icon, making sure the Run as a Workspace Extension check-box was set.

Generation III: The Workspace Extender

Workspace Extender, sometimes abbreviated WSXs was essentially just a new name given to the Subscriber Agent around late 2008 / early 2009. The Subscriber was never renamed though. At this point in time we started to see a lot of interest to the whole notion of Reverse Seamless operation as VDI and other remote desktop delivery solutions grew in maturity and popularity. Around the same time I wrote a technote RG011, describing how you set up a Workspace Extender demo.

Generation IV: The Virtual Desktop Extender / VDX

This is the new hotness. Workspace Extender could only take the customer requirements for true seamless integration so far. VDX is a complete rewrite from the ground up, redefining the Reverse seamless integration between local computer and remote desktop. The most important differences between VDX and the old products described above, are:

• VDX is stand-alone. Workspace Manager / PowerFuse is not mandatory on the backend for it to work.
• Z-order enables local applications to be perfectly blended into the remote desktop. This effectively allows a local application to display as if it is being sandwiched in between the remote desktop and a remote application
• There is no need to define the local applications to be extended anymore. Default behavior is to extend all locally available applications into the remote desktop.

There are now several great references available online. I have tried to capture the essence of these in article RG033 which describes how VDX works. There is also an in-depth artice about the VDX registry settings available in article RG032. Be sure to check RES Software’s site www.reverseseamless.com.

To wrap things up let’s recap the most important points:

• VDX, Workspace Extender and Subscriber are 3 different installers.
• You may hear VDX being referenced as a technology that covers all 3 products and their capabilities. Keep in mind that VDX is a separate product line.
• Subscriber and Workspace Extender does not have, and will not have Z-mode capability.
• There is no such thing as the Subscriber Agent anymore. It is now known as the Workspace Extender
• The Subscriber is not replaced by the VDX product as it offers other capabilities as described above. The Workspace extender may be of use for backwards compatibility, in legacy environments where VDX licensing is not supported.

From the What-Happens-In-Vegas Dept. Microsoft Management Summit in sunny Las Vegas is coming up in March, 21st through 25th. If you’re stateside this is a must-attend event, where you will have the opportunity to learn from the experts and see what’s new in the realm of all things Microsoft. Again this year, RES Software, a Microsoft Gold Partner, is exhibiting and presenting System Center integration and VDX at MMS. Here’s a handful of great reasons why you should stop by booth #415 or one of our presentations/labs and see what’s going on…

Reason #1: See RES Software’s System Center integration

Would you like to unify the user experience across rich PCs and desktop virtualization solutions like App-V, RDS and VDI? In this demo-heavy session led by Bob Janssen, founder and CTO of RES Software, you’ll see how the RES Dynamic Desktop Studio creates a personalized and secure workspace which roams with your users regardless of device or delivery approach. Bob, who pioneered the concept of a “user workspace” over a decade ago, will unveil RES’s System Center integration, while also highlighting the company’s ongoing support for Microsoft platforms and technologies.

Bob Janssen will be joined by Jeff Fisher and Bill Corrigan – Some of you App-V (SoftGrid) old-timers may remember Bill from the original Softricity team in Boston. He is now the CMO for RES Software and will be joining us in Vegas.

Reason #2: Experience VDX in action.

One of the most important announcements late last year was the release of the stand-alone Virtual Desktop Extender or VDX, which will allow you to integrate local rich applications into a Terminal Services / VDI delivered desktop with ease. There is an in-depth article here to check out, but do consider stopping by our booth area, where we’ve got plenty of learning space. We will be happy to show you how it all works.

Reason #3: C’mon down to the lab!

In the RES Solutions Lab, we will offer you the chance to try out our products hands-on, install them and work with them at your own pace. Each day from Tuesday 22nd to Thursday 24rd during MMS, An ILL (Instructor Led Lab) will be held at 11:15am to 12:30pm in the RES Software conference room, located in Palms -C. You will find us in the Mandalay Bay convention center on the 3rd floor . The labs will be hosted by your Friendly Neighborhood Mad Scientist, Max Ranzau. The labs are based on BYOPC, meaning you bring your own laptop and run our stuff in a lab VM environment off an external harddrive. To participate you need at least 3GB RAM in your laptop. Also please bring a brain… ;-)

If you would like to participate in the lab sessions, please come see us at booth #415 during MMS or send me a mail to secure a seat. Remember: seats are very limited! Below you will find a map to our booth and a preview of it so you can easily find RES Software in the exhibition hall. Click to enlarge the pics:

PS: Actually, there’s a 4th reason to visit the RES Software booth: Come spin the wheel of fortune and win cool prizes! Grand prize is an Xbox 360.

From the spells & portals dept. A new technote RG31 describes how you gain access to the RES Portals and what you can do there. Not only will this information become handy in your initial engagement with RES Software, but may perhaps also serve as a grounds for comparison when making you decision on what workspace management technology you will be using in the future. Always compare not only products, but also the underlying support infrastructure of the vendor, as that’s what you may be dealing with on a rainy day if something doesn’t work as expected.

Note: As a prerequisite, I recommend you to read article RG030 on how to install and activate RES product licences.

<<< Click here to read article RG031

From the servicepack department. SR3 for Workspace Manager 2010 has just been released yesterday, December 22nd 2010. Merry Xmas! If you btw are wondering why the console still says PowerFuse, the product is effectively going to change name in the console from the 2011 release. Aside from the usual rollup of all previous updatepacks into this release, there are also several improvements worthwhile looking into. In all there are 100+ enhancements and fixes in this release. Among the most interesting things are:

• MyWorkspace Edition expanded. Yay! That means more bang for the buck, more functionality in this version of the RES Workspace Manager. You can now do FolderSync, ODBC Datasources,  use Instant Reports and use the WebPortal.
• Location and Devices support for additional resolutions. Workspace Manager now detects these additional resolutions: 1280×800, 1366×768, 1440×900, 1600×900 and 1680×1050. Now all I could wish for would be a field to specify custom resolutions, but hey – all good things come to those who wait :)
• Printers can now be refreshed when network changes. This is very cool for location based printing. Imagine you roam through a campus and when you hit a given Access Point or plug into the wall somewhere, you automagically get the network printers available around you without having to logout/login or even manually refresh.
• User Settings Prefetch. This is a setting which allows you to tweak when User Settings for an application are loaded. You can choose between prefetching in background or load on application startup. See the releasenotes below for details.
• Limit selection of wallpapers to approved list. It is now possible to configure Workspace Manager to only allow selection of a set of pre-aproved wallpapers. This is great for companies that want to on one hand to allow users some degree of flexibility, yet want to maintain a corporate look and feel for their desktops, being local, virtual or remote.

To obtain the SR3 ServicePack, just go to the support portal and log in with your SA account. There are several more enhancements and a multitude of fixes, which are described in the release notes. You can download these right here: 

From the technote department. A new article RG02B has been posted to the Technote Library. This is a massive guide built from scratch, containing info on known registry settings which can be used to tweak the behavior of RES PowerFuse. The article currently has 35+ interesting settings which have been discovered reading through tonnes of documentation, releasenotes and the backs of cereal boxes. As more registry settings are discovered, they will be added to this reference document.

Click here to read the article

From the Hot-off-the-press dept. Finally Febuary 16th has arrived and it’s ReleaseDay! PowerFuse 2010 RC2 is now available on the portal for download for existing customers. There are tonnes of new improvements which you can read all about in the releasenotes. While you are at it, go check out the updated Glossary which now contains definitions of all the new technology.

Initially, may I direct your attention to the Corp. Website where you can download alot of PowerFuse 2010 info already. Scroll down to the end of this page and you will find them.

For those already working the RC1, the major deltas are that the [+] PlusMenu now is implemented for the Workspace Model node and Active Directory Sites are now supported as a new PowerZ… erm Location Rule. The new rule looks like shown here on the right.

Over the next couple of months, expect to see many more feature related articles describing how you can put the new features of RES PowerFuse to work for YOU!

Oh, and feel free to download the ReleaseNotes here :