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Sean, How do you get around the limitations and performance issues of NTFS running on top of NTFS or do you just throw hardware at it? Throw hardware at it, we have 8 dual-quad core amd servers with 32GB memory running the VMs. No problems. Although the VM's are actually running through 2GB bonded iSCSI on the NetApp SAN just three feet away. NetApp is some flavor of *nix. >>> "Sean O'Malley" <[log in to unmask]> 9/11/2009 4:17 PM >>> I am currently using kvm with the paravirtualization drivers from http://www.linux-kvm.com/ which makes a huge difference in performance for the kvm solution. I used to use Xen on linux long before Citrix bought them, and it was pretty good performance. I don't know if Citrix/Xen figured out the guest filesystem performance issues or not. I know VMWare came up with their own solution for this, as Citrix has their own solution for the display limitations. The one I havent tested in a long time is VirtualBox, it didnt run around the on the platform I tried like 3-4 years ago or a sun xVM stack.. I tried running the Sun thin client with the vmware backend but it was using RDP as a middle protocol and that was an issue. You didn't get to use the sun display protocol for windows. I used VirtualPC around v1-2 before Microsoft purchased the company on a PPC mac and of course ran into a number of performance issues. (orange micro cards were faster.) How do you get around the limitations and performance issues of NTFS running on top of NTFS or do you just throw hardware at it? Im just curious. On Fri, 11 Sep 2009, David Benjamin wrote: > We have a production implementation of Citrix XenDesktop, XenApp and > XenServer. Just trying to get an idea of who out there is doing desktop > (or server) and application virtualization using products from Citrix? > What products are you working with and how is it working for you? > > I know there are a lot of VMWare people out there. I'm interested in > your setups as well. > > We're using Citrix Provisioning server to provision the XenDesktop > virtual OS on the fly and to update the vdisks with patches, AV, etc to > redistribute on next user logoff. The XenApp client is installed on the > virtual OS (XP) which delivers the users applications via the XenApp > Server Farm. All user settings/changes (permitted changes) to the > virtual desktop get synchronized using User Profile Manager (more > advance than roaming profiles). All settings/policy is managed through > group policy. User workstations have been replaced with Wyse Terminals > and some workstations will be converted to thin-clients. > > Having this environment makes maintenance painless since all users > (task workers) share the same vdisk. Copy the production vdisk, boot it > in private mode, make necessary changes/updates, shutdown, change to > shared mode, increment version number and force the provisioning server > to check for vdisk updates. All a user has to do is logoff/logon to get > the OS/AV updates. The reason these updates need to be applied every so > often is because the shared vdisk discards any changes to it (not > relating to profile or user settings) while the user is logged on, this > includes antivirus updates. > > This stuff is fun. Let me know if anyone is using this technology on a > small or large scale. If you're not doing it and curious about the > technology and how it all works or you want to see it in production, > send me a reply. I can get more technical if you want. > > Have a good weekend. > > David Benjamin > Systems Admin > Diagnostic Center for Population and Animal Health > Michigan State University > 4125 Beaumont Rd., Ste 202, Lansing, MI 48910 > Phone: 517-432-5840|www.dcpah.msu.edu > > > -------------------------------------- Sean O'Malley, Information Technologist Michigan State University -------------------------------------