In early June, we announced the general availability of the Leostream Connection Broker 6.5. This release further simplifies VDI management and continues to improve the quality of the end-user experience with the following new features and enhancements:

• End-user Features
• Web Client: The Leostream Web client now recognizes registry plans, printer plans, and user role settings;


• Dynamic Client Display Matching: For viewer protocols that support it, such as RDP and HP RGS, virtual desktops will automatically span and orient themselves correctly in multi-monitor setups;


• Citrix Client for Java: Streamlines access to XenApp applications and desktops. Removes the need for a XenApp plug-in; and
  


• Local User Authentication: Users can be logged in as local users while still being authenticated by OpenLDAP. Supports scenarios where users are not members of Active Directory, but still need OpenLDAP authentication.


• Management Features
• Search: Administrators can now search at a global or a table level to locate desktops, users and clients more quickly, simplifying the management of large deployments;


• Connection Broker Updates: The Connection Broker automatically indicates when an update is available and provides a one-click update process;


• Logging: Log-ins and assignments are now captured in the Connection Broker log files. Administrators can search for these events and create filters to make the logs more usable and extensible in large VDI environments;


• Client Locations: Client locations can now be defined using subnet maps that specifiy a network mask length and a target range for the source and destination; and


• Cisco VPN Client Support: Leostream can now automatically establish a VPN tunnel for Cisco VPN clients.

Read the 6.5 Press Release Here and Release Notes Here

Last week, we were pleased to participate in Unidesk's announcement of Unidesk 1.0. This much anticipated product launch provides virtual desktop access management solutions such as Leostream with what many think of as the "missing link" in VDI: end user personalization, and image management .

Unidesk 1.0 complements Leostream's user access management capabilities by simpifying provisioning and application delivery for VDI deployments. By separating the Windows OS, service packs, applications, and user customizations into separate layers, Unidesk brings the goal of a dynamic desktop closer to reality.

Longtime Leostream customer, Humberto Duarte, from the University of Rennes 2 in France, is augmenting his Leostream implementation with Unidesk's desktop layering technology. Unidesk creates and updates virtual desktops on demand; the desktops are then assigned and delivered to students, faculty, and staff through the existing Leostream Connection Broker.

Duarte and his team are using Unidesk to patch and update base layers once for all desktops, easing management and greatly reducing operational costs. Together, Leostream and Unidesk provide a powerful technology framework enhancing the VDI experience for users at Rennes 2 and elsewhere.

Learn More About Leostream & Unidesk Here

We recently certified Leostream Connect 2.5 on Windows 7, achieving the "Compatible with Windows 7" logo from Microsoft Corporation. Leostream Connect, the client component of the Connection Broker, enables thin clients, and repurposes conventional "fat" desktops and laptops, to work with the Leostream Connection Broker as end-point devices in a hosted VDI.

Windows 7 compatibility for Leostream Connect 2.5 is another development in Leostream's long-standing support for Microsoft technologies, certifying that the Windows 7 feature set is fully supported for organizations seeking the security, management, and cost-savings benefits of a hosted VDI based on the Leostream solution.

Leostream Connect 2.5 provides client-side single sign-on and run-as-shell modes for Windows 7 and all other supported Windows versions, locking down and hiding a physical machine's operating system from the end user. It can be installed on any thin client, fat desktop or laptop running a Windows operating system. For Windows 7, Leostream Connect provides a rich user experience in a hosted VDI environment that includes:

• RDP 7 support that includes high-performance enhancements such as bi-directional audio and rich graphics;
• Multimonitor support;
• USB management;
• Location-based printing;
• Single-sign-on;
• User profile support; and
• Extensive flexibility in assigning users to resources, including desktops, applications, and sessions.

Read the Win 7 Certification Press Release Here

We recently certified the Connection Broker v6.5 as "Citrix Ready" for XenServer 5.6, providing assurance that Leostream's user access management solutions will run flawlessly on XenServer 5.6. Joint Citrix / Leostream customers can now take advantage of the powerful feature set in XenServer 5.6, which includes:

• Dynamic Memory Control: Dynamic adjustment of memory allocated to any virtual machine - helps to increase the number of VMs per host by permitting compression of existing machines when additional VMs must boot;


• Workload Balancing: Automatically determines the best virtual server for running a VM - facilitates power management during off-peak times;and


• High Availability: Allows VMs to fail over to another host within a pool of virtal servers - provides uninterrupted service to virtual desktop users.

This week's post comes from Eric Hanselman. Eric has an uncommon, common sense. Eric tried to leave Security two years ago after the RSA conference - bound for Virtualization-land. Alas, security pulls you back in and he was right back at RSA 2009. We always say "we'll do better at security the next time." "We'll bake security in." There were a lot of promises and claims made about how much better virtualization security would be. Here is sort of a "state of the union" from Eric.

by Eric Hanselman @e_hanselman

We're heading in to a brave new world of desktop security and we need to do it with our eyes open. There's a lot of potential benefit that desktop virtualization can bring to an organization. Like any new technology, though, there's a lot of misunderstanding of the change in risk dynamics and how to deal with them. In recent weeks there have been announcements and discussions that bear some analysis.

Hosted and Virtual desktops (HVD is the Gartner term) deliver awesome mitigation for data loss. The desktop is back in the data center and  only the screen image makes it back to the user. There are also all of these really great operational expense savings. It's easy to think that it resolves some of our biggest endpoint protection headaches. There's an air of irrational exuberance out there, that's a little disturbing.

There are two big concerns:

• Users think that desktops in datacenters are wicked safe.
• Vendors aren't disabusing them of this delusion.

At RSA this year, in two different virtualization security sessions, I heard attendees ask if anti-virus software was still needed with virtual desktops.  Lest you think that these were aberrations, industry analysts are posing the question as well.

At Leostream, we've recently created a series of detailed implementation guides based on real-world use cases that we see with our customers. You can view the entire collection on the Leostream training page under "Tutorials." We'll present a different one every month for the next few months.

This month we guide you through a Connection Broker setup that delivers resources to end users from a mixed physical and virtual environment. In this use case, persistent (bladed) & non-persistent (VM-based) desktops are delivered to end users. Simultaneous use of RDP and HP RGS demonstrates the Broker's flexibility with protocol management. Pooling, persistence, and power-state settings demonstrate the Broker's granular policy management capabilities. This tutorial takes a step-by-step approach to using the Connection Broker to build a hosted VDI that meets the following requirements:

We want to know	Here's what you have
What type of desktops are you managing?	Virtual Machines hosted in vSphere and managed by vCenter Server, as well as a rack of blades inventoried in Active Directory.
What type of desktop pool structure do you want to use?	Use two pools: one pool that contains all the VMs and another pool that contains all the blades.
Is this a persistent or non-persistent pool, i.e., should the user be permanently assigned to the desktop after they log in the first time?	The blade is persistent. The VM is non-persistent. If the user disconnects from the VM, they must be able to log back into that desktop without losing work. However, if they remain disconnected for more than eight hours, forcefully log the user out and release the desktop back to the pool.
What system do your users authenticate against?	Microsoft Active Directory
What remote viewer protocol will your users use?	Microsoft RDP for the VM, HP RGS for the blade.
How is the power state of the machine managed?	Do not change the power state of the blade. For the VM, revert it to its most recent snapshot when the user logs out.
What client device do users have?	Windows version of Leostream Connect

Leostream, a VMware TAP member since 2004, is proud to participate as a sponsor in our sixth VMworld. VMworld is the only event completely dedicated to virtualization. We will, once again, be showcasing the Leostream Connection Broker and its advanced capabilities for flexible, heterogeneous enterprise-class VDI integration. If you are ready to move beyond the early stages of VDI, you will want to learn how Leostream's comprehensive connection management capabilities can scale your VDI securely to meet the needs of your entire organization.