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Mar 29 / The Architect

Microsoft Windows ThinPC OS – first look

Microsoft recently released the Community Technology Preview (CTP) of their new cut-down OS for Thin Clients workstations based on Windows 7- “ThinPC“.

I downloaded the ISO and spun up a VM in my lab to see how it looks. Here are the results.

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Feb 24 / The Architect

Netscaler 9.3 VPX beta showing much better CPU usage

I’ve been beta-testing the next release of the Netscaler firmware (v9.3).

Since more Netscalers are being deployed as virtual appliances (VPX editions) it’s important that the resource usage of the appliance does not impact the host or other VMs running on the hypervisor.

Existing 9.2 VPX

This is the CPU graph from a 9.2 Netscaler VPX hosted on XenServer:

Netscaler VPX 9.2 cpu graph

Netscaler VPX 9.2 cpu graph

It’s a little hard to see from the image but both virtual CPUs are pegged at 100%, even though the Netscaler itself is doing practically nothing (click on the image for the full-size version). This is the CPU display from the Netscaler itself:

Netscaler CPU usage

The internal CPU usage counter

This means the XenServer host is having to dedicate quite alot of physical CPU resource to service the two high virtual CPUs which are just sitting in an idle loop. In my 8-core XenServer host, this single Netscaler VPX is constantly consuming a quarter of the total CPU resource – not a very friendly “citizen” in the virtual world.

Netscaler VPX 9.3 beta

Now let’s compare the CPU graph from a 9.3 beta VPX running on the same physical host:

Netscaler VPX 9.3 beta CPU usage

Netscaler VPX 9.3 beta CPU usage

As the second graph shows, virtual CPU usage now reflects the actual busyness of the device, and my XenServer host is much happier as a result.

Feb 11 / The Architect

Microsoft to release cut-down Win7 OS for VDI

In a recent blog post, Microsoft announced it would release a cut-down version of Windows 7 called Windows ThinPC “WinTPC”  to turn PCs in to thin clients for VDI-usage.

The big benefit is that this OS won’t require a VDA license to access your VDI session, thus reducing the cost of VDI meaning you don’t need to buy an OS license for your endpoint device just to turn it into a thin client.

Jan 20 / The Architect

How to configure a QLogic HBA for a XenServer iSCSI storage repository

I’ve just published an in-depth article over on the Citrix Community Lab website on configuring a QLogic iSCSI HBA to connect to an iSCSI LUN to provide a storage repository for XenServer.

Comments and feedback welcome.

Jan 12 / The Architect

Three useful TS/RDS troubleshooting KB articles

Microsoft have published three updated troubleshooting guides for Terminal Services/Remote Desktop Services. There are three different articles according to which server OS you are running.

Windows Server 2003

Windows Server 2008

Windows Server 2008 R2

Useful information when used in conjunction with the Brief Troubleshooting Guide from Citrix