Aug
24
Outlook 2007 Slowness on Windows 2008 x64
Filed Under XenApp | Leave a Comment
Recently whe working with a client, we ran into an issue with brutally slow Outlook 2007 performance when running Outlook on Windows 2008 x64 with XenApp 5. The issue occurred whether connecting through the console, RDP, or ICA. All other applications worked fine. Some of you XenApp gurus may have already seen this. When checking the Outlook connection status, we could see average response times of 3000 milliseconds. After some troubleshooting involving removing and reinstalling Outlook, going with a plain vanilla Outlook install with no updates etc. we were still not able to resolve this issue. We did some digging and found various references on google about Outlook being slow on recent OS builds. All indications pointed to a new TCP auto tuning feature. After running -
netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=disabled and rebooting the server Outlook responded great. Now, I haven’t research what the implications are of disabling tcp autotuning, but it certainly resolved our only issue and everything continues to perform well. Hope this helps someone else that runs into this issue!
Jan
31
XenDesktop and vCenter 4 Integration
Filed Under Citrix, Provisioning Server, Virtualization, XenDesktop, vCenter | Leave a Comment
I was performing a XenDesktop POC where the hypervisor was ESX 4 and vCenter 4. For those that do not know, XenDesktop is hypervisor agnostic and can be ran on ESX, Hyper-V, and XenServer.
During the XenDesktop Setup wizard, I could not get the XenDesktop Delivery Controller and Provisioning Server to communicate with vCenter.
I was getting the following –> Error : “The hosting infrastructure could not be reached at the specified address”
After digging, I found a handy post by Trond Eirik Haavarstein on this specific issue. Thanks Trond!!! This was very helpful.
Here is the link, and I have included the helpful article below:
http://www.xenappblog.com/2009/citrix-xendesktop-3-0-fp1-poc-hosted-on-vmware-esx-3-5/
I am working on a new Citrix XenDesktop Proof of Concept (POC) hosted on VMware ESX. During the setup I discovered some error messages I would like to share with you.
Error : “The hosting infrastructure could not be reached at the specified address”
Solution :
- Create a host file entry that resolves vmare to the IP address of your VirtualCenter Server. Do this on the Desktop Delivery Controller (DDC) and the Provisioning Services Server (PVS).
- Import the certificate from the Virtual Center Server (%systemdrive%\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\SSL\rui.crt) into the trusted root authority for Computer Account – Local Computer (used the Certificate MMC to accomplish this). Do this on the DDC and PVS.
Use https://vmware/sdk in the XenDesktop Setup Wizard.
Aug
24
Citrix Open vSwitch Appears Online
Filed Under Open vSwitch | 1 Comment
I received a tweet today from Scott Lowe making a mention of the new vSwitch that Citrix is introducing. Several comments followed on twitter from other VMware employees regarding the Open vSwitch versus the Nexus 1000V.
The vSwitch is still in beta. It does appear to be a good addition/capability for XenServer.
Read more here and here on the new Open vSwitch from Citrix.
Aug
19
Since Provisioning Server is such a key component to a XenDesktop implementation, I started gathering key sources of information on Provisioning Server implementation, configuration, and availability best practices. After playing around in the lab with Provisioning Server I felt that there was some additional considerations lacking. Thus, my search for further information. Read more
Aug
2
The Thrilla In California: Debating Hypervisor Performance
Filed Under Citrix, VMware | Leave a Comment
This is a very interesting video on VMware (Scott Drummonds – Technical Marketing Manager of VMware Performance Group) and Citrix ( Simon Crosby – Citrix CTO) debating hypervisor performance at the Burton Group Catalyst Conference last week.
Here is a little more description on the debate from the Burton Group:
For the past 2 years, Citrix and VMware have used the blogosphere as their virtual sparring ground for a debate on hypervisor performance. While each vendor has contributed a wealth of information on virtual infrastructure performance to the online community, both continue to passionately disagree on how their respective hypervisors stand up to enterprise-class production workloads, as well as how best to measure performance in virtual environments. In this debate, VMware and Citrix have offered their most knowledgeable and passionate voices in the realm of virtual infrastructure performance: Simon Crosby (CTO – Citrix) and Scott Drummonds (Manager, Technical Marketing VMware).
