From the Architect

Spellings.net to launch Activlan UK division

The Architect — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 08:18:11 +0000

I’m please to announce that I have been appointed director of Activlan UK Ltd. Activlan is one of the largest virtualisation specialists in France, headquartered in Paris and run by my good friend Stephane Thirion. Activlan UK Ltd will bring the infamous French style to the UK virtualisation market. The new UK division will extend the reach and [...]

Updating Dell firmware from within XenServer Dom0

The Architect — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 09:44:56 +0000

I’m bringing a new XenServer 6 pool online so having installed XenServer6 it was time to bring the hardware up to the latest patch and firmware levels. Applying XenServer patches are quite simple via XenCentre, especially with the new rolling upgrade wizard, so no need to go into detail on that. I needed to apply [...]

My experiences with XenClient 2.1 – part six:findings, issues and observations

The Architect — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 14:05:37 +0000

Introduction I know this is the final part of the series, and I’m publishing it before I’ve finished parts four and five, however I was collecting all my issues and observations into a single post rather that dispersing them throughout, and as there was enough content generated from the first three blog posts, it’s probably [...]

My experiences with XenClient 2.1 – part three – Hardware compatibility

The Architect — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 22:29:41 +0000

Introduction This is the third part of a series on posts on XenClient: Part 1 – installation and management GUI Part 2 – Creating and configuring a Windows 7 VM Part 3 – Hardware compatibility (this post) Part 4 – Performance tests Part 5 – Image management using Synchroniser Part 6 – Findings, issues and [...]

My experiences with XenClient 2.1 – part two – creating the VM

The Architect — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 22:30:30 +0000

Introduction This is the second part of a series on posts on XenClient: Part 1 – installation and management GUI Part 2 – Creating and configuring a Windows 7 VM (this post) Part 3 – Hardware compatibility Part 4 – Performance tests Part 5 – Image management using Synchroniser Part 6 – Findings, issues and observations [...]

My experiences with XenClient 2.1 – part one – installation and Receiver GUI

The Architect — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 18:48:24 +0000

Introduction I’ve been wanting to take a look at Citrix XenClient type 1 hypervisor for some time, but my trusty HP Elitebook 8530W, despite having the correct Intel v-pro chipset, contained an NVidia graphics GPU so was unsuitable. I’d been wanting a smaller, lighter laptop for a while for use when travelling (the HP Elitebook [...]

First look at Citrix Kaviza “VDI-in-a-box” – part 2 creating master image

The Architect — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 13:19:08 +0000

In Part one of this series I covered setting up the appliance. Part two (this post) – we’ll look at preparing our first master image Part three – Creating a template from our first image and assigning to users Prepare our master image Kaviza breaks down creating our master image into five stages: Install Edit Prep [...]

First look at Citrix Kaviza “VDI-in-a-box” – part 1: setting up the server

The Architect — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 16:00:01 +0000

Setting up the server This is part one of an in-depth look at the Kaviza “VDI-in-a-box” solution that Citrix acquired earlier in the year. Part one (this post) – setting up the server and preparing our master image Part two – Preparing our first master image Part three – Creating a template from our first [...]

Unable to obtain IP address from Windows DHCP in Linux-based VMs on XenServer

The Architect — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 16:22:32 +0000

Having recently downloaded and installed the CitrixVDI-in-a-box Kaviza appliance in the lab, I spent several hours unable to start using it as it refused to obtain an IP address from my lab Windows 2008R2 DHCP server (that was another VM running on the same internal virtual network) After lots of research and forum reading I [...]

Why I think the new Citrix partner program entry requirement is bad for customers

The Architect — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 11:18:03 +0000

Update Feb 2012: Partner membership cancelled without notification Well, I kind of expected this to happen, although didn’t expect to receive no notification whatsoever when it did. Logged into mycitrix.com today to grab a download, and all the partner toolbox options had gone. A quick email to Partner operations confirmed that my partner membership had [...]