Sluggish mouse on w2k8r2 and w7

(Poor mouse performance on Windows 2008 R2 virtual machine or a Windows 7 virtual machine)

Cause

The virtual machine is using the SVGA video driver supplied by VMware Tools not the WDDM video driver.

Resolution

Update the driver for the video card to use the WDDM driver that is available after VMware Tools is installed. The virtual machine must be at hardware version 7 or 8 to use the WDDM driver. For additional information, see WDDM and XPDM graphics driver support with ESX 4.x,5.x, (1016770).

To update the driver for the video card to use the WDDM driver:

Right-click the desktop and click Screen resolution.
Click Advanced Settings.
Click Properties.
Click the Driver tab.
Click Update Driver.
Click Browse my computer for driver software.
Enter this location or click Browse and navigate to it:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\VMware\Drivers\wddm_video
Click Next. The driver is installed and you see a screen confirming that Windows has finished installing the driver for VMware SVGA 3D.
Reboot the virtual machine to enable the new video driver.

 

This is from http://VMware.com (sorry I don't have the exact link handy)

Do you need VMware ESX? (vSphere)

Update:1 – corrected some numbers. Thanks @jasonboche

Let me just say I love VMware, particularly ESX and have worked with it from before GSX was in shorts, back in the workstation days, when only para-virtualisation existed. I have rolled out ESX 2/3/4 farms (no 5 yet)… I have never had a purple screen of death, I have never had to rollback a workload to hardware, I have VMed Exchange 2k/2k3/2k7, DCs 2k-2k8r2, file & print, SQL servers, Citrix servers they all run great on ESX/ESXi.

But do you need it? Or are you after a solution has all the features, are you after the Rolls Royce? What are you really trying to do? Are you exotic or somehow special?

You want ESXi that's fine, go ahead I don't get paid either way, but then nor does anyone so please do.

Lets just think about what server virtualisation does (as of todays date):

Feature	ESX/ESXi	Hyper-V	XENserver
Bare-metal architecture	Yes	No, but core	Yes
VMotion like	Yes	Yes	Yes
Small footprint	Yes	No, but core	Yes-ish
Cluster (pool)	32 nodes	16 nodes	16 nodes
CPU virtualisation	Yes	Yes	Yes
RAM Support Host	2TB	1TB	1TB
RAM support VM	1TB	64GB	128GB
RAM overcommit	Yes	Yes	Yes
NIC teaming	Yes	No*/vendors	Yes
VM RAM Page sharing	Yes	No	No
Ballooning	Yes	Yes	Yes
Capacity prioritisation	Yes	Yes-ish	Yes-ish
Traffic Shaping	Yes	No	No
Virtual NIC	Yes	Yes	Yes
Virtual switches	Yes	Yes	Yes
VLAN tagging	Yes	Yes	Yes
Dynamic volume resizing	Yes	Yes	Yes
Raw device mapping	Yes	Yes	Yes
LUN management	Yes	Yes-via vendors	Yes-add on
Guest Windows	Yes	Yes	Yes
Guest Linux	Yes	Yes-limited	Yes-good
Guest Other	Great	OK	Good
Paravirtualisation	None (good!)	Yes, LAN/Disk	yes-ish
Distributed Power Mgnt	Yes	Some	Some
Wake-on LAN	Yes	No	No

There are hundreds more features such as “Boot from SAN” which are specific or particular so I have not listed them above, if YOU need them they are critical but lets just focus back on the 99%

So to look at this list above there are some clear areas where ESXi wins out, specifically on the very large scale, telco scale, intensive power saving, dare I say cloud providers… But if you are one of the people who just need a bunch of VMs per server for general workloads any of the three products above is going to work fine. Scale up the CPU, RAM, Network cards and you can go to higher density?

The limits are disappearing.

So now lets look back at yourself, do you really need ESX? Maybe you could save some money… Look around.

Just before signing off, read this: http://www.thincomputing.net/2011/03/07/how-many-users-can-i-host-per-server-with-remotefx-for-hyper-v-and-what-is-the-cost-per-user/

This document is the source for the core of this post:
“vmware-vsphere-features-comparison-ch-en.pdf”
Intel: “xeon_7500_Virtualization_solbrief.pdf”

* Microsoft say dont use teaming, but vendors support it. Buyer beware… Microsoft Support Policy for NIC Teaming with Hyper-V - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968703

VMware clusters and multiple SANs

 

Most large organisations have two SANS and many larger organisation still have two or more data centres.

Lets just start with this is not a cloud, it is a data centre or separate SAN, OK that is off my chest. Bloody private cloud, this and that, don't get me started, “Why I oughta…”

You can utilise this architecture with VMware ESX/vSphere as active-active or active-passive, but I don't see value in active-passive so lets not speak of it again, it is not cheap, not effective and not quick. So back to Active-Active.

To build a single ESX cluster over 2 SANs (or 2 data centres) is basically the same, but as you reach out of the single data centre you need some extra configurations such as:

• An IP network with a minimum bandwidth of 622 Mbps is required.
• The maximum latency between the two VMware servers cannot exceed 5 milliseconds (ms).
• The source and destination ESX servers must have a private VMotion network on the same IP subnet and broadcast domain.
• The IP subnet on which the virtual machine resides must be accessible from both the source and destination ESX servers.
• The data storage location including the boot device used by the virtual machine must be active and accessible by both the source and destination VMware ESX servers at all times.
• Access from vCenter to all ESX servers is needed.
• The two SANs to be supported it must have synchronous data replication (sometimes and expensive add on).

The value of this is protection from a SAN failure and all hardware used. If this is across data centres then you also have DR knocked on the head (your mileage may vary).

There are some issues such as a power outage in DC1 will cause all the VMs to restart in DC2 via HA so it is not true protection from massive outages. Secondly if you use vMotion to move the servers to the other nodes in DC2 the SAN writes are now subject to the latency of this link, so there can be a performance penalty. Additionally DRS may need to be manually updated to be aware of this configuration.

This is how it would look (minus some SAN switches etc.)

Here are the VMware prerequisites:

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2007545

Here is Cisco discussing this:

http://blogs.vmware.com/networking/2009/06/vmotion-between-data-centersa-vmware-and-cisco-proof-of-concept.html

Here is a good blog on this:

http://www.van-lieshout.com/2009/11/geographically-dispersed-cluster-design/

Keyboard Shortcuts in a Remote Desktop Session

 

Key Combinations for Client Computer	Equivalent Keys for Remote Desktop Session	Description
ALT+TAB	ALT+PAGE UP	Switches between programs from left to right.
ALT+SHIFT+TAB	ALT+PAGE DOWN	Switches between programs from right to left.
ALT+ESC	ALT+INSERT	Cycles through the programs in the order they were started.
	CTRL+ESC	Switches the client between a window and full screen.
CTRL+ESC	ALT+HOME	Displays the Start menu.
	ALT+DELETE	Displays the Windows menu.
PRINT SCREEN	CTRL+ALT+MINUS (–) symbol on the numeric keypad	Places a snapshot of the active window in the Remote Desktop session on the clipboard.
CTRL+ALT+DEL	CTRL+ALT+END	Displays the Task Manager or Windows Security dialog box. (Only use CTRL+ALT+END to issue this command. CTRL+ALT+DEL is always interpreted by the client computer.)
ALT+PRINT SCREEN	CTRL+ALT+PLUS (+) symbol on the numeric keypad	Places a snapshot of the entire Remote Desktop session window on the clipboard.

This is from link: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb457106.aspx

XenDesktop 5.5 and vSphere 5

Yes it is (almost) fully supported. Including the Virtual Distributed Switch (vDswitch). However you do need to upgrade the Provisioning Server (PVS) to v6 to support it as 5.6 fails if vDwitches are used.

If you are using the Machine Creation Service (MCS) then you don't need to do anything. However if you upgrade VMWare tools, you need to re-install the Citrix Virtual Desktop Agent VDA.

There is a short whitepaper here: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX130681

We will be upgrading today.

Additional Information Sources:

http://blogs.citrix.com/author/johnfa

http://blogs.citrix.com/author/richm

XenDesktop MCS updating master

If you are using the Machine Creation Services (MCS) to created dedicated images, this does not really matter, but if you update the master and want to mint more VMs in the same catalogue (without affecting the current). This is how it works.

The MCS in XenDesktop 5.5 is pointed to a master image when a Catalogue is created. You can be pooled or dedicated:

• Dedicated virtual desktops retain all changes, software installations, local data, in a local difference disk.
• Pooled Catalogue virtual desktops do not retain changes, the difference disk is reset upon reboot.

When using pooled desktops, the base image can be updated allowing changes from the master disk to be replicated to the deployed VMs, providing for centralised patch and application management. Each deployed image, whether pooled or dedicated, will also contain an identity disk.

Master Image - Once a master image is identified (when the catalogue is created), a private-use clone of the VMDK is created for use by all the catalogue machines.

This cloned disk is separate from the Master Image VM, allowing that VM to be updated or deleted with no impact on the deployed virtual desktops.

This master image clone is copied to each VMware Data-store automatically.

Each catalogue is linked to its own master image clone. If multiple catalogues are defined, then multiple master clones will be generated.

A master image can be changed to a different disk using the following command in PowerShell: Publish-ProvMasterVmImage. This will only impact new machines created in the catalogue, not existing machines already generated.

I hope this helps explain the disks under the covers.

Sources:
http://forums.citrix.com/thread.jspa?messageID=1534982
http://www.thegenerationv.com/2011/03/xendesktop-5-deep-dive-machine-creation.html

Need to change the XenDesktop network?

 

When you install XenDesktop the installer asks you the default network during the installation, and does not let you change it in the GUI, but like everything it can be done via PowerShell:

Here is the offending entry below.

So, open powershell as administrator

Add the Citrix snapins

Asnp Citrix.*

You can see all the options with.

Get-Command –Module Citrix.*

But this is what we run to get out

get-item -path XDHyp:\HostingUnits\*

PSPath                 : Citrix.Host.Admin.V1\Citrix.Hypervisor::XDHyp:\hostingunits\VDIhost
PSParentPath           : Citrix.Host.Admin.V1\Citrix.Hypervisor::XDHyp:\hostingunits
PSChildName            : VDIhost
PSDrive                : XDHyp
PSProvider             : Citrix.Host.Admin.V1\Citrix.Hypervisor
PSIsContainer          : True
HostingUnitUid         : e1bd6ca2-a30b-40b1-8200-518e262da208
HostingUnitName        : VDIhost
HypervisorConnection   : MelbVDI
RootPath               : XDHyp:\Connections\MelbVDIm.d\M C P.cluster\VDI.res
                         ourcepool
RootId                 : resgroup-6718
NetworkPath            : XDHyp:\Connections\MelbVDI\m.d\M C P.cluster\VDI.res
                         ourcepool\VM Network.network
NetworkId              : Network:network-82
Storage                : {XDHyp:\Connections\MelbVDI\Melbourne.datacenter\M C P.cluster\VDI.re
                         sourcepool\MEL-T3-VMDK01.storage, XDHyp:\Connections\MelbVDI\m.d\M C P.cluster\VDI.resourcepool\MEL-T3-VMDK02.storage}
VMTaggingEnabled       : True
UseLocalStorageCaching : False
Metadata               : {}

Now you know your hosting unit name and the format for the network connection format for the VMware network name look at Virtual Centre.

Then set it using the new details

set-item xdhyp:\hostingunits\vdihost -networkpath "XDHyp:\Connections\MelbVDI\m.d\M C P.cluster\VDI.resourcepool\VDI restricted network.network"

Refresh the Desktop controller and voilà

References:

http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX128057

http://fourteenninetyfour.blogspot.com/2011/06/to-change-network-interfaces-on.html

Removing VMware Storage from XenDesktop 5.5

 

Have you added but need to remove storage from XD55? Well there are instructions but they are a little obtuse? Here is how I did it. I have underlined the key parts.

http://support.citrix.com/static/kc/CTX127254/help/Remove-HypHostingUnitStorage.htm

 

PS C:\> get-item -path XDHyp:\HostingUnits\*

PSPath                 : Citrix.Host.Admin.V1\Citrix.Hypervisor::XDHyp:\HostingUnits\VDIhost
PSParentPath           : Citrix.Host.Admin.V1\Citrix.Hypervisor::XDHyp:\HostingUnits
PSChildName            : VDIhost
PSDrive                : XDHyp
PSProvider             : Citrix.Host.Admin.V1\Citrix.Hypervisor
PSIsContainer          : True
HostingUnitUid         : e1bd6ca2-a30b-40b1-8200-518e262da208
HostingUnitName        : VDIhost
HypervisorConnection   : MelbVDI
RootPath               : XDHyp:\Connections\MelbVDI\M.datacenter\M C P.cluster\VDI.resourcepool
RootId                 : resgroup-6718
NetworkPath            : XDHyp:\Connections\MelbVDI\M.datacenter\M C P.cluster\VDI.resourcepool\VM Network.network
NetworkId              : Network:network-82
Storage                : {XDHyp:\Connections\MelbVDI\M.datacenter\M C p.cluster\VDI.resourcepool\melsan01:melvmdk06.storage, XDHyp:\Connections\MelbVDI\Melbourne.datacenter\M C P.cluster\VDI.resourcepool\melsan01:melvmdk07.storage, XDHyp:\Connections\MelbVDI\M.datacenter\M C P.cluster\VDI.resourcepool\MEL-T3-VMDK01.storage}
VMTaggingEnabled       : True
UseLocalStorageCaching : False
Metadata               : {}

PS C:\> remove-hyphostingunitstorage -literalpath xdhyp:\hostingunits\vdihost -StoragePath XDHyp:\"Connections\MelbVDI\M.datacenter\M C P.cluster\VDI.resourcepool\melsan01:melvmdk06.storage"

HostingUnitUid         : e1bd6ca2-a30b-40b1-8200-518e262da208
HostingUnitName        : VDIhost
HypervisorConnection   : MelbVDI
RootPath               : /M.datacenter/M C P.cluster/VDI.resourcepool
RootId                 : resgroup-6718
NetworkPath            : /M.datacenter/M C P.cluster/VDI.resourcepool/VM Network.netwo
                         rk
NetworkId              : Network:network-82
Storage                : {/M.datacenter/M C P.cluster/VDI.resourcepool/melsan01:melvmd
                         k07.storage, /M.datacenter/M C P.cluster/VDI.resourcepool/MEL
                         -T3-VMDK01.storage, /M.datacenter/M C P.cluster/VDI.resourcep
                         ool/MEL-T3-VMDK02.storage}
VMTaggingEnabled       : True
UseLocalStorageCaching : False
Metadata               : {}

Quick refresh in Citrix Desktop Studio and you will see they are gone. 

VDI went live

Well, it has been two months work (one month for two TC's and a PM) but we went live with VDI for the first 150 users, 4500 to go.

The solution is based on 6 x (2 x 6 CPU AMD), VMware servers in a cluster with HR/DRS and it is smoking fast. There are two more servers acting as provisioning and file services with the same specifications. We are planning on about 10 users per-core and need storage to suite.

The OS is Windows 7 32-bit, Adobe CS5, Office 2007, Java, Flash, Shockwave, Silverlight. It has 30GB C-Drive and a 10GB D-Drive. Each VDI session gets 3GB of RAM and a .5GB swap file. To use it is just like the first logon to a new W7 computer and usage and screen is great, again just like hardware.

Application are native, streamed in if they start in about or less then 1 minute to start and Traditional Citrix servers for problematic apps.

There were lots of little problems to address, such as: VMxnet drivers, SOE look and feel, Printers, bad apps, slow apps, java apps, dealing with image revisions, Windows 7 firewall, networking, building it twice on two hardware platforms just to name a few.

But it looks great in production.