Skip to content
Aug 12 / The Architect

How to earn free casino play ready for Synergy & E2E Las Vegas in 2016

Citrix Synergy and E2E in 2016 will both be held in Las Vegas, famed for its casino’s.

If you fancy a bit of a gamble whilst at the conferences, a free show or meal, there’s a way to accumulate Casino comps (free and discounted rooms, meals, shows etc) and “free play” (credit you can use to gamble on tables or slots) from the comfort of your own home or office, provided you’re prepared to put in a bit of time.

read more…

Aug 11 / The Architect

Why I’m attending E2E

If you’ve been working with Citrix, Microsoft or VMware virtualisation technology for a while and have never been to E2E/PubForum then you’re seriously missing out.

I’m attending E2E in Las Vegas, my 14th E2E/PubForum and here’s some of the reasons why:

  • Good technical presentations from fellow experts and architects.
  • Registration is hundreds of euros, not thousands.
  • It’s one of the more chaotic relaxed and informal conferences.
  • It used to be called PubForum, so there’s usually beer involved at some point
  • Attendees are limited to around one hundred so its small enough to retain that “big family” feel
  • Probably the only place you’ll get networking and quality face-time with loads of CTPs and MVPs without them all having to rush off because of other presentation or vendor booth commitments
  • There’s a good mix of loyal regulars many of whom I can now call friends, plus a healthy flow of newbies to make new contact with
  • It’s consultant-friendly being mostly on the weekend so I only need to take one day of unpaid leave
  • I get to visit lots of nice European cities and it’s only a short plane trip from the UK
  • The venues are all inexpensive hotels that won’t break the budget (take note Synergy!)
  • By extending my stay for just a day I get to give the family a long weekend break (aka brownie points)
  • Alex (the organiser), is a very funny guy, after all these years still claims to make no money whatsoever from this so I’m happy to continue to support his self-delusion.

It’s these reasons why I’ve been to 13 PubForum/E2E and only two BriForum conferences in the past six years.

Hope to see you there!

Feb 24 / The Architect

The ultimate Citrix Synergy survival guide – 2016 Vegas edition

I’ve published this Ultimate Synergy Survival guide now for three years running and it’s always popular with both regulars and newbies. Now updated with 2016 links, content and Vegas-specific information. It’s a living document, so will be subject to updates as we get nearer the conference.

Hope you find it useful!

read more…

Jan 30 / The Architect

Are Citrix penalising small independent partners?

At the recent Citrix partner conference, Citrix announced sweeping changes to their Solution Adviser channel partner program.

The main changes are that bigger discounts on SRP are now offered to partners who classify under one of four new Citrix Specialist tracks:

  • Virtualisation
  • Mobility Management
  • Networking for data centre
  • Networking for App and mobile security

Citrix are also throwing in a number of ancillary benefits:

  • Increased competitive differentiation
  • Incremental Specialist discounts and rewards
  • Increased profitability with short ROI
  • Recognition for technical expertise via Citrix endorsement
  • Strengthened trust and engagement with Citrix sales team

All sounds great right? Anyone who relies on Citrix for their business would be foolish not register. Indeed it does, until you start to dig into the entry requirements.

read more…

Jan 11 / The Architect

Problems adding XenServer to a domain and specifying the OU

I recently encountered a bizarre XenServer issue which I though I’d share as it will save you some time if you encounter the same. I was surprised there was no information already available about it, and Googling the error (which is generally a good first step) only showed up one very old forum thread for XenServer.
Updated 19/01/15 with details of the FQDN hostname issue affecting domain joins

read more…