VMware ThinApp 5 - Part 1 - Installing ThinApp 5

Much like I did for ThinApp 4, I'm going to create a simple kick start how to series covering how to install ThinApp and capture some applications.

VMware ThinApp is an agentless application virtualisation. ThinApp is able to execute applications without them being installed in the operating system. This is achieved by virtualizing resources such as environment variables, files and the Windows registry.

It is also possible to package and run a legacy application from Windows XP on a Windows 7 desktop.

File type associations can be configured in the client OS as part of the ThinApp integration, such that opening a .pdf can for example launch a virtualised ThinApp of Adobe Reader.

ThinApps can be stored locally on the desktop, made portable on a USB drive or stored on a network share. Furthermore VMware Horizon View can integrate with ThinApp to assign ThinApp applications to virtual desktops.

Read more ...

Exclude/Remove Domain in VMware View Administrator, Client and HTML Access with VDMADMIN

If you have Active Directory trusts within the domain that your VMware Horizon View Connection Server is joined to, you may have noticed these additional trusted domain within View Administrator.

You may also have seen them in the domain drop down box in the View Client and HTML Access login dialogs.

In many cases these domains are not required to logon to Horizon View virtual desktops and ideally to make this cleaner and simpler for users these domains should be excluded.

If you see the domain with a "Red" status indicator within View Administrator, this means that while the domain is trusted, the View connection server cannot reach any domain controllers in that domain to authenticate users.

Read more ...

Reset/Erase Configuration on Juniper SSG5 Firewall (SSG and NetScreen Devices)

I recently added a Juniper SSG5 from eBay to my home lab. When it arrived the config had not been erased as stated, but I've done this before on a Netscreen and the process is exactly the same for both Juniper Netscreen and SSG firewalls.

This process is quite simple once you get the timing right. It may take 2-3 attempts but the end result is a firewall device without any configuration at all and completley as factory defaults, including default username/password (netscreen/netscreen) and default management IP address (192.168.1.1).

Read more ...

VDI and VMware Horizon View Best Practices and Tips

I've been working with VMware View for a number of years, designing, implementing, fixing and upgrading it's various different versions released along the way.

VDI is an area of virtualisation I have grown to really enjoy. It represents more of a challenge than your normal server/DR virtualisation project can offer because there are so many more considerations. Not only that but the end result of your design and implementation is judged by the end users using this environment on a daily basis, if they're not happy, you will soon know about it.

So as a consultant travelling around and seeing various different companies and designing View environments based on more often than not quite lacking information about how they work, the most important take away I have had is ensuring the View environment itself and the infrastructure is configure correctly as a starting point. I will cover other aspects such as users and specific configurations in future posts, here I want to cover the core infrastructure best practices.

Read more ...