Apple has released iPhone OS 3.0.1 this afternoon. It addresses the SMS vulnerability that allows hackers to take control of your handset. This update should be considered critical and should be performed immediately.

To update your iPhone to 3.0.1, plug it in and launch iTunes. If you do not have Auto Update enabled, check for updates manually and then apply.

Details on the Vulnerability:
http://jorgeorchilles.blogspot.com/2009/07/iphone-and-sms-hack-what-does-it-mean.html

Informal Announcement w/ Screenshot:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9915844&tstart=0

Yesterday Citrix released a new version of the Citrix XenDesktop Setup Wizard. The Setup Wizard is the tool used to provision Virtual Machines for use with XenDesktop. It creates the VM using a template, names it according to your specified convention, adds the target device to the Provisioning Server database, creates the Active Directory Machine Account, and then places the VM in the desired Desktop Group.

Previously, there was an issue when you attempted to query vSphere 4 for VM Templates in order to provision new VMs. According to Citrix, this issue was fixed in CTX122057 as part of Citrix XenDesktop Setup Wizard, Version 3.0.3063 (XDE300SW001). This version addresses the following issues:

When run on Provisioning Server 5.1, the Setup Wizard fails to list virtual disks on the Virtual Disk page. [From XDE300SW001][#210877]

XenDesktop cannot see machine states and control VMs. This occurs when using the Setup Wizard to add desktops to an existing desktop group. It does not occur when adding desktops to a new group. [From XDE300SW001][#211398]

When run connecting to a VMWare (vSphere 4) hosting infrastructure, the Setup Wizard fails to retrieve VM templates and users cannot proceed. [From XDE300SW001][#210879]

The update is available at http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX122057 and is a simple executable.

Planning for your new XenDesktop environment can be a tough process. Being a relatively fresh technology, there aren’t too many places to find straight answers regarding scalability. I intend on changing that. Here are a few helpful tips and straight answers to help you decide whether you have the hardware already, or need to purchase new. This will be a multi-part series, only some aspects will be addressed in this initial post.

Assumptions

• XenDesktop 3.0, Platinum Edition.
• XenServer 5.5.
• Provisioning Server 5.1.
• XenApp 5.0, Platinum Edition.
• Windows Vista Business (x86)
• 300 Users, all will use XenDesktop for OS and XenApp for Application Delivery.
• Endpoints are XP Embedded Thin Clients.
• Single Location, Single Data Center.
• Users occasionally want to access the environment from home.
• Users are “Task Workers”

While this scenario is pretty simple, I’ll be more than happy to help you with your questions in the comments, via Twitter, or e-mail.

In the next post, I’ll discuss Virtual Machine Specifications and choosing the right server specifications for your XenServer hosts.

After many have voiced their opinion about Citrix’s lack of support for VMWare’s vSphere 4 product with XenDesktop 3.0, Citrix has released “Citrix Pool Management, Version 3.0.3061 (XDE300PM001).” CPM 3.0.3061 adds support for vSphere 4 for use with XenDesktop 3.0.

Voiced Concerns:  http://forums.citrix.com/thread.jspa?threadID=246967&tstart=0

http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX121997

Citrix has updated their Technical Support Brief Troubleshooting Guide today, David McGeough announced. The guide is a wonderful troubleshooting resource that is of use to anyone using Citrix products. It gives you a simple and straight forward answer, links to CTX articles included. David explained that all categories were updated and the following new products were included:

• Citrix Offline App Plug-in
• Citrix Receiver for Windows
• Citrix XenServer
• Citrix Repeater Client
• Command Center
• EdgeSight for NetScaler
• EdgeSight for Load Testing
• Citrix User Profile Manager
• Citrix EasyCall
• Provisioning Services for Datacenters and Desktops
• Workflow Studio

You can find the original Citrix Blog post here: http://tinyurl.com/mpb4xb

When troubleshooting problems, it’s essential you have as much information is possible. Logging is the best passive way to achieve this. Even in 2009, we’re editing files in Notepad…

Virtual Desktop Agent Logging

1.     Create a new directory called c:\ctxlogging\. The Network and Local service accounts should have write access. If you are using standard vDisks, I recommend putting the log file on local storage so that it persists after log out.

2.     Navigate to c:\Program Files\Citrix\Virtual Desktop Agent\

3.     Open WorkstationAgent.exe.config with your Text Editor of Choice.

4.     Find the <appSettings> tag.

5.     Within the <appSettings> tag, insert the following two lines:

<add key="LogToCDF" value ="1"/>
<add key="LogFileName" value ="C:\ctxlogging\vda.log"/>

6.     Restart the Virtual Desktop to start logging.

Desktop Delivery Controller Logging

1.     Create a new directory called c:\ctxlogging\. The Network and Local service accounts should have write access.

2.     Navigate to c:\Program Files\Citrix\VMManagement\

3.     Open CdsPoolMgr.exe.config with your Text Editor of choice.

4.     Find the <appSettings> tag.

5.     Within the <appSettings> tag, insert the following two lines:

<add key="LogToCDF" value ="1"/>
<add key="LogFileName" value ="C:\ctxlogging\ddc_cdspoolmgr.log"/>

6.     Navigate to c:\Program Files\Citrix\Desktop Delivery Controller\

7.     Open cdscontroller.exe.config with your Text Editor of choice.

8.     Find the <appSettings> tag.

9.     Within the <appSettings> tag, insert the following two lines:

<add key="LogToCDF" value ="1"/>
<add key="LogFileName" value ="C:\ctxlogging\ddc_cdscntrl.log"/>

10.  You will need to reboot your DDC for this to take effect. If you have more than 1 DDC, perform these steps on all of them.

Some of the paths may vary depending on OS (x64) and whether you changed the default install paths during installation.

EDIT 8/23/09: Added CTX Article, http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX117452 and CTX Article for Enabling PortICA Logging http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX118837

The user Network Service will need Full Control over the log directory. While this is not officially documented by Citrix, it has been reported by others. (Thanks to Alistair Gillespie)

In the past year we’ve seen an influx of new product offerings from Citrix, VMWare, Microsoft, and other smaller vendors. We’ve also seen the “Cloud” take off. Many people say these new technologies are simply hype, or are useful in only a handful of environments. I think they’re wrong about both ideas.

New technologies such as the Client Hypervisor, the cloud, and even VDI are all wonderful new things; begging to be taken advantage of. Things change so fast that we can’t think in the same way too long, we have to have malleable minds. Don’t think about where you would utilize a client hypervisor in your current environment – you’ve already, most likely, perfected it without this new technology. You have to think about how you can make your current environment better with this new tool. You have to re-evaluate every decision you’ve made concerning your current environment.

In order to make imaging our PCs more efficient, we are replacing all of our PCs every 3 years in order to make sure they are not only up to date hardware-wise, but so that they are all the same and share drivers.

This scenario is more than likely all too familiar to many of you. With the client hypervisor, this can change, perhaps for the better.

We can increase our hardware lifecycle by using Citrix Provisioning Server to stream virtual disks to the PCs. With a client hypervisor, we dont have to have a standard model PC, we can replace computers as necessary and at a pace that is more cost efficient.

Both of these scenarios work. Which one do you prefer?

Microsoft recently announced its inclusion of a “Windows XP Mode” for Windows 7. Users will be able to run their applications in a virtual machine running Windows XP SP3. For us virtualization folk, this is pretty neat that virtualization will make it to the average user, but is it the wrong way to handle compatibility issues?

Short Answer: Yes.

The best way to handle the compatibility issue, according to many journalists, is to use Microsoft App-V to virtualize just the application and the files it requires, not the entire OS. Managing a second file system, registry and driver set will be tedious and more than likely, won’t work very well.

My idea? Don’t bother with it at all. Software Developers have lagged behind since Vista was announced in 2005. Vista flopped in part because of the developers failure to participate. Do we really want to allow these people to program assuming everyone in the world can still run XP? When will we ever move forward?

I’m often asked how to update a vDisk for use with XenDesktop, so I figured I should publish my answer.

These steps should suffice to answer most questions regarding updating vDisks for XenDesktop. I’ll be happy to assist you if you have more questions or require clarification. Just leave a comment.

I was chosen as one of the seven engineers to assist in the development of the new Citrix Certified Enterprise Engineer™ (CCEE) certification exam. After the week-long workshop, I’ll be accredited as a Subject Matter Expert in Citrix Virtualization Technologies. The workshop is April 20th to the 24th in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

Participants in the workshop will:

• Receive training on how to write questions for certification exams

• Work alongside our Exam Developers to develop questions

• Work alongside other field experts to review, modify and finalize questions written by other participants of the workshop

More information at Citrix Blogs