What's new in XenClient? 25th November 2010

Walter Hofstetter Senior Systems Engineer, EMEA

• What’s XenClient all about?

• XenClient Architecture

• New feature since RC1/RC2

• Q & A

Agenda

What’s XenClient all about?

Hosted

VDI Streamed

VHD

Hosted

Shared

USER TYPES Laptop

users

Task

workers

500 users per server

Users Share Common

Desktop

125 users per server

Allows

Personalization

5000+ users per server

High Security

Local

VM

Runs locally

Enables disconnected

use

Client Side Compute Server Side Compute

• Extending XenDesktop to the last mile of users

• Control for IT, Flexibility for Users

• Fast deployment of new VM’s to employees or contractors

• Self service recovery to any XenClient device

• Secure corporate data

Desktop Virtualization for corporate Laptops

Citrix Confidential - Do Not Distribute

XenClient Packaging

XenDesktop

Express

XenClient

Express Try It

NEW

XenDesktop

Enterprise

XenDesktop

Platinum

XenDesktop

VDI Buy It

Now

Includes

XenClient

Now

Includes

XenClient

• Type 1 hypervisor: High performance because it runs on bare metal

• Built on 64-bit open source Xen technology

• Runs multiple virtual desktops simultaneously

• Completely secure isolation for each VM

• Hardware independent VMs

• Service VM Architecture for extensibility

XenClient technology

Compatible laptop

& desktop

hardware

What is XenClient technology?

XenClient Architecture

Type 1 Hypervisor (XenClient)

Types of client hypervisor architectures

Hardware

Type-1 Hypervisor

Personal Image Corporate Image

Hardware

Personal Image

Type-2 Hypervisor

Corporate Image

Type 2 Hypervisor (Traditional VMM)

• Better Security and Isolation

• Bare Metal Performance

• Less Isolation and Security

• Easier to Retrofit

Hardware

XenClient Architectur Hardware isolation and pass through operation

Xen Hypervisor

Audio

Disk ACPI

Corporate VM Control

Domain

Service

VM

USB

NIC

Personal VM

GPU GPU

• First Service VM for XenClient

• Simple wizard to create VMs locally

• Easy switching between VMs with Switcher Bar

• Connector for centralized synchronization of desktops

• Self-service provisioning and recovery

• Enforcement of local policy and kill pill

XenClient

technology

Citrix Receiver for XenClient

Citrix R

ece

ive

r

for

Xe

nC

lien

t

Local VM

Desktops

• Create VM(s) • From optical media (CD / DVD)

• Download from Synchronizer for XenClient

• VM Management

• Change Power Options

• Change Touchpad Options

• Setup Networking

• Register with Synchronizer for XenClient

Receiver for XenClient functions

Citrix Receiver for XenClient: System Settings

Automatic

Δsync

Synchronizer for

XenClient XenClient

technology

Synchronizer for XenClient

Citri

x R

ece

ive

r

for

Xe

nC

lien

t

Copy of

Local VMs Local VM

Desktops

• Centralized delivery of virtual desktops

• Full-time backup & rapid recovery

• Remote kill & local policy controls

• Assign desktop to user/group

• Set policies and configuration • Desktop version

• Authorship

• Modify VM properties

• Audio: Disabled, Enabled no Recording, Enabled with Recording

• Optical Drive Access: Disabled, Read-Only, Read-Write

• Networking: Wired and/or Wireless enabled/disabled

• CPU and Memory

• Lease Time, Backup Frequency, Phone Home Frequency

VM Appliance Management

Synchronizer WebUI

Dynamic Image Mode

New in RC2 / V1.0

• Windows 7 x64 • This was one of the top requests as we are seeing a split with customer

deployments of Windows 7 between 32bit and 64bit. The Xen virtualization we use in XenClient is 64bit so adding this support was really a matter of porting the graphics, USB, and other supporting drivers over to 64bit. The storage and networking drivers were already 64bit ready courtesy of the XenServer group.

• Improved USB • Another top request was improvements to USB device support. So we spent a

lot of time making major improvements to the USB support. This includes support for integrated USB devices such as webcams, fingerprint readers. Also we build a new user interface for routing USB devices between VMs and setting up persistent connections between VMs and certain USB devices. At this point most USB devices should work with the platform. If not let us know. I've listed some of the top requests below.

New in RC2 / V1.0

• Added support for the following devices: • Apple iPod, iPhone, iPad

• Microsoft Windows Phones

• Android Phones

• Headsets

• Fingerprint Readers

• Webcams

• Smart Card Readers

• 3G data modems

• And many more…

New in RC2 / V1.0

Bluetooth • With our new improved USB support comes support for a variety of Bluetooth

devices. On most systems in our HCL the Bluetooth system is actually a USB device that can be assigned to a virtual machine. This allows that virtual machine to talk to your Bluetooth devices.

Usability Enhancements • We spent a lot of time on incorporating usability feedback into this release. We

have a crack team of UX experts at Citrix that watched ITPros first use of the system and we learned some great information about how to make the product even simpler and easy to use. While we made a host of enhancements these are some of the ones that stand out.

New in RC2 / V1.0

Simplified VM upload and download process • We removed combined steps and even removed a number of steps to make the

process of uploading a VM image to a Synchronizer super simple. We also removed the duplicate publish VMs that were cluttering the UI.

Improved display of upload/download progress • Along with enhancements to the actual upload and download process we

enhanced the display of upload and download progress information and now include this information on the main Receiver for XenClient UI.

Enhanced client authentication experience • Here again we combined steps and cleanup up the UI to make the

authentication experience on XenClient simpler to use and understand.

New in RC2 / V1.0

In VM alerting system • We have a brand new in VM alerting system that will make sure users are

aware of critical issues affecting the system such as low disk space, policy actions, or impending lease time expiries. Previously this type of information was only available in the Receiver for XenClient UI.

Mouse pointer trails support • We have starting extended XenClient to be more accessible to all users and the

first area of focus was on the mouse and trackpad. In this release we added pointer trails support

New in RC2 / V1.0

Automatic slipstream of Intel Graphics drivers • XenClient has some amazing 3D graphics support that lets a virtual machine

have direct access to the Intel graphics system for a native graphics experience. Now in this release we automatically slipstream the Intel graphics drivers into most versions of Windows. So you can flip on the 3D graphics feature and be ready to go without having to download any drivers.

New in RC2 / V1.0

Intel AMT KVM Remote Control • The latest version of Intel vPro technology includes a great new feature called

AMT KVM Remote Control. This allows you to remotely view and control a laptop using a VNC viewer. This works on systems shipped this year with Intel vPro on Core i5 and i7 systems. We did some nice integration work that allows you to remote control not only the XenClient UI but also switch between all of your VMs. It's useful for remote troubleshooting and training with users. I also find it helpful for doing demos of XenClient over Go2Meeting. You need a second PC running Go2Meeting and then you can connect via a VNC viewer to the XenClient system. This lets everyone on the Go2Meeting see everything on the XenClient system.

New in RC2 / V1.0

Intel Extended Page Tables support • In this release we added support for hardware acceleration of virtual memory

operations for increased memory performance. In the past the Xen hypervisor we use in XenClient did an admirable job of page table virtualization but nothing beats hardware assist and this will give us an extra boost in overall performance for memory operations.

In place upgrade for XenClient • We have had a tremendous response to the first release candidate and every

time I go to a field event I get people showing me their laptops running XenClient. We have a legion of fans running XenClient as their daily software and so we wanted to make sure they had a path to move to the latest version of the software. So you can boot your existing system with an RC2 CD and the installer will find your existing setup and upgrade it.

New in RC2 / V1.0

Local authentication enhancements • We made some nice changes to the authentication experience on XenClient

simplifying the way you enter credentials as part of the usability upgrade mentioned above. We also added support for manual and automatic locking of the system. This means if you walk away from your XenClient system we can lock it automatically to protect your VMs and configuration.

Secure Application Sharing • There have been multiple bug fixes and enhancements gone into the way that

the ICA session is handled between VMs. First and foremost, most “Protocol Driver” error messages should not appear. You will also notice that the ICA display driver code is now able to better handle resolution changes in the publishing or subscribing VMs

New in RC2 / V1.0

Integrated Disk Encryption • VMs delivered to XenClient from the Synchronizer can now be protected with

AES-XTS disk encryption. This ensures that sensitive data is fully protected when deployed on XenClient systems. In the event a system is lost or stolen all the data remains protected from unauthorized access. On systems with Core i5 and Core i7 vPro technology XenClient will use Intel AES-NI to offload encryption operations to the hardware.

External Monitor/Projector Support • The latest generation of Intel Core i5 and i7 vPro systems now fully support use

of external monitors and projectors. Previously using external monitors and projectors required running a VM with 3D graphics support enabled.

New since RC2 to V1.0

• * New since RC1 • Dell Latitude E4200*

Dell Latitude E4300 Dell Latitude E6400 Dell Latitude E6500 Dell Latitude E4310* Dell Latitude E6410 Dell Latitude E6510 Dell OptiPlex 780 Dell OptiPlex 980*

Citrix Confidential - Do Not Distribute

New since RC2 to V1.0

HP EliteBook 2530p

HP EliteBook 6930p

HP EliteBook 2540p*

HP EliteBook 8440p

HP EliteBook 2740p*

HP ProBook 6550b*

HP Compaq 8000 Elite PC

HP Compaq 8100 Elite PC*

Lenovo ThinkPad X200

Lenovo ThinkPad T400

Lenovo ThinkPad T500

Lenovo ThinkPad T410*

Lenovo ThinkPad X201*

ThinkCentre M90p*

XenClient to Synchronizer Communication Hardening • XenClient systems will now use client side digital certificates along with user

credentials to authenticate to the Synchronizer. Additionally all VHD files are encrypted with AES CBC encryption to allow secure delivery and caching of components over http.

VM Switching Enhancements • The in-guest VM switcher bar has been re-skinned with updated graphics and

new pull-down behavior. And the switching process has been revamped with a beautiful fade on switch between VMs.

Revamped Synchronizer Web Interface • The Synchronizer for XenClient has a revamped UI and refreshed graphics

showing off the latest Citrix Symphony styles.

New since RC2 to V1.0

Synchronizer for XenClient Enhancements

• Dynamic Image Mode (Experimental) • This capability allows layering of VM images. By separating the image into

layers, administrators can maintain a single copy of the base image in the datacenter. As the base image is updated, the Synchronizer will generate a delta to upgrade the image deployed on existing XenClient systems. This allows for rollback or roll-forward to any version of the VM image. Additionally by separating the user data into a separate layer, backup sizes are dramatically reduced.

New in RC2 / V1.0

Simplified disk space expansion for image and backup storage

• Administrators will now be able to easily increase the amount of storage available for storing VM images and user backups. They simply shutdown the Synchronizer appliance, increase the data disk drive in XenCenter and boot up the appliance. The Synchronizer will automatically find and use the newly added space.

Simplified and Expanded Synchronizer Setup • Simplifications to the Synchronizer configuration process including streamlined

HTTPS support and support for static networking configurations.

New in RC2 / V1.0

In place upgrade for Synchronizer • Ability to upgrade Synchronizer from RC1 to RC2 while keeping existing

settings, images, and backups intact.

Scalability enhancements • Working towards being production deployment ready, some of the work the

engineering team has put in includes:

• Optimization for data transfer throughput

• Optimization storage of compressed VM image and user backup data

New in RC2 / V1.0