Todd Myrick Web 2.0 Blog

First Impressions of XenClient and the Synchronizer

I didn’t get to attend Synergy this year but as soon as XenClient was available I did get to download it and install.

The XenClient install was very smooth on My Dell Latitude E6500.  It is on the HCL and the install instruction for disabling features in the BIOS worked like a champ.

I installed Windows 7 and gave it 2 GB of RAM and a 40gig partition.  The install went smooth as did installing the XenClient tools. 

Once Windows 7 was installed I did run into a few issues.  Nothing show stopping, but if you are the type that likes to hear gotcha’s

• Boot Times for the VM were a little longer then I expected.  Typical boots took about 3 minutes.
• When running Windows update for the first time it had a 0x80072EE2 error that required I disable windows update and clear out the cache.
• Also if the wireless adaptor was enabled but had no wireless connection, but the wired connection was connected, things like Anti-virus updates wouldn’t work right without disabling the wireless connection.

Otherwise the experience is about what you expect on a laptop.

The Synchronizer experience wasn’t as good.

Coping the file to the XenServer and launching it was easy.  The configuration screen was straight forward, but unfortunately the DHCP service didn’t work right on my network and I was forced to use the manual method to edit the files to specify a static IP address and DNS entries.

Even after doing that, the network connection didn’t work as expected.

My hope is the setup for this appliance improves over the next couple of months.

CITRIX has been releasing software at a rapid pace.  The competition between them and VMware is really benefiting us.

I look forward to the final release of XenServer & Provisioning Server 5.6 in two weeks, and my hope is that they bundle the advanced edition with XenApp and XenDesktop platinum subscriptions.

Is Cloud computing a force powering globalization?

In early 2002, I took a strategic management class where the instructor lectured on globalization and identified five elements that were powering the force of globalization.  Two of those elements were technology advances.

• Cheap Communications
• Personal Computers

Thomas Friedman’s best selling book The World is Flat outlined ten elements that have transformed the early part of the twenty-first century.  Simply put five of the ten forces outlined were technology advances in computer technology.

• Personal Computers
• Cheap communication systems
• Network applications
• Information Management through search
• Mobile and Wireless communication

Defining the term globalization is tough because of the number elements comprise it. 

Today virtualization innovation centered around building virtual datacenters and on demand IT is starting to catch on but is cloud computing driving globalization or is globalization driving the need for virtualization and clouds? 

To answer this question requires a fundamental understanding of the dynamics of technology innovation.

James M. Utterback’s book Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation outlines innovation occurring in three phases, with the emerging of a dominant design being a critical time to evaluate investing resources. 

Are we at the point where we can say there is a dominate design with regard to cloud computing?

Is cloud computing worthy of being defined as a force that is fueling globalization?

I plan to explore these questions over time and organize my thoughts here on my blog.

Please feel free to comment, question, and criticize my posts.

What happened to the revolution of 2009?

Readers of my blog might have noticed my tagline that said “The revolution will being at the NIH on July 4th 2009” has been changed to one about pearls of wisdom and observations about cloud computing.

At the beginning of 2009, I set the goal of changing the Web Interface used by my organization to launch enterprise applications to one that was more secure and had more function.

Over the past year and half this goal has lead my team on a journey way beyond anything we imagined.  We have learned a lot about authentication, security scanning, web customization, configuration of certificates, and our last hurdle will be integrating smart card authentication.

The revolution did begin on July 4th last year, but it wasn’t a shot heard round the world, it was more like a stealth attack (nothing nefarious).  The infrastructure is in place, and over the next year we will use a simple set of principles to expand how applications reach users securely.

I have learned from this experience that iterative review processes are important to executing large scale changes.  Ask a lot of questions and make sure there are no misunderstandings due to process or vernacular.  Reduce complexity and strive for simplicity in the architecture and design. 

And most importantly, constantly re-evaluate the situation and stay focused. 

If I had it to do over again, I would have added some consulting time to the acquisition.  

In the coming weeks I will post more about new application delivery platform and the lessons we learned.