Xendesktop 5 MCS and Office 2010 Activation via Microsoft KMS

I have just completed a XenDesktop 5 project for 450 users whereby I needed to create a KMS infrastructure with VM's deployed via MCS in a Windows 2008R2 and Windows 7 environment. The Citrix official stance is that this is supported via a workaround. You need to create the KMS server, add Office 2010 KMS functionality and finally enable XenDesktop 5 MCS to deploy pooled images with unique CMID's that successfully authenticate with KMS.

The process is fairly simple but these are the basic steps that are needed:

Step 1: Create KMS Server

The first step is to enter your KMS key on your Windows 2008 R2 server you have chosen to host the KMS service.

1. Login into the MS volume licencing centre at the following address:  https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/servicecenter/

2. Go to the licences tab and the MAK and MS keys assigned to your organization will be visible.

3. Copy the product key labelled Windows 2008R2 Std/Ent KMS B.

4. Go to Control Panel >System and change product key and enter the key.

5. If you already have an existing MAK key installed on the server you can replace the key. Open a command prompt and run > slmgr /ipk *Your KMS B key*

6. Run > slmgr /ato to activate the KMS server.

7. Install the Microsoft VA Management tool 2.0. This allows you to have a GUI snap-in interface for KMS for easier mangement. To install this software go to the following link:  http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=11936

8. Create a KMS DNS service entry. Go to your DNS server and open DNS > Your domain > TCP and edit the _VMLS service property with your relevant server name.

9. Open the relevant firewall port on the server (1688) or allow the listed Key Management Services as a exception.

10. Check that the KMS server can publish its SRV records in your domain by running the following command > nslookup -type _vlmcs _tcp.

11. Check the KMS server has the correct key installed and is listening for a connection by running the following command > slmgr.vbs /dli*

Step 2: Create Office 2010 KMS Server

1. Install the Microsoft Office 2010 KMS host pack from the folowing link:http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&lc=1033&id=25095

2. Install the KMS key for Office 2010 when prompted. This is located at https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/servicecenter/

3. Check the Office 2010 KMS Key has been successfully installed on the KMS Server by opening a command prompt and navigating to c:\windows\system32 and running > cscript slmgr.vbs /dlv all.

4. All Office 2010 clients come installed with a generic KMS key. Test activation and run > cscript slmgr.vbs /dlv all. You will see the current count or Office KMS increment by 1. This is to be expected as the KMS server will not start activating until it has received 5 unique requests.

Step 3: Create XenDesktop MCS Gold image

1. Create a fully patched Windows 7 image with Office 2010 installed and place in snapshot mode. Use the the relevent client KMS key listed here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff793421.aspx

2. Use the instructions in the following Citrix support article to rearm Windows 7:  http://support.citrix.com/article/ctx128580

3. Run ospprearm.exe in %installdir%\%Program Files%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OfficeSoftwareProtectionPlatform. This will rearm Office 2010. 

4. Shut down the image and use MCS to create your XenDesktop pool.

5. You can use slmgr.vbs dlv to check for Virtual desktop KMS activation. You will see the KMS activation count increment once 25 Windows desktops have registered and 5 Office 2010 clients.

*http://blogs.technet.com/b/office2010/archive/2009/12/18/volume-activation-tips-and-tricks.aspx

The Future of VDI in 2010

It is doubtless there is going to be a lot of traction in the VDI arena in the coming year fuelled by Windows7 and the continued uptake of Server Virtualization. I see many POC's in process and operations asking how can VDI fit with their user demographics and business profile, and I have to admit it does make sense to least put all this on the table and at least discuss.

I see Citrix and Vmware have majority play in this arena due to the maturity, functionality and scalability of their product suites.

I do not want to get into the discussion of Terminal Server versus VDI all I will say is that I believe they have different use cases and will coexist in most environments and there will be a shift towards a true managed desktop. I have just watched some interesting interviews with the Vmware Desktop CTO Scott Davis and Citrix Desktop CTO Harry Labana on the views on the current and future road maps for both their products

They both agree that VDI is not the finished article and their will be interesting developments around client hypervisors this year.

I also agree that desktop virtualization has a lot of user interaction as opposed to server virtualization which has minimal interaction and thus creates it's own set of problems. I think for a true managed VDI desktop you will need to take a layer cake approach for the OS, Applications, User data and profiles to be truly effective but this means you need to use the likes third party products like Appsense and App-V which brings the CAPEX up considerably.

The main problem I see with Citrix Xendesktop and Vmware View is that their disk provisioning technologies (provisioning server and View composer) do not really work as they say on the tin. The main goal of these provisioning technologies are have a "Gold Image" to save disk space and make operations aligned with deployment and patching more streamlined.

Recent advancements in Vsphere with thin-provisioning at Virtual machine level make disk space less of priority and the main bugbear is as all Gold images will have a master image and linked differential file if you need to update the master image you  lose any information in the differential file as this is at block level. This can cause issues if you want a persistent image due user defined data kept in the delta file or if the master is recomposed you will see the same issues again around this data.

Brain Madden has wrote a great explanation here:

http://www.brianmadden.com/blogs/brianmadden/archive/2009/02/18/brian-dump-atlantis-computing-hopes-to-solve-the-quot-file-based-quot-versus-quot-block-based-quot-vdi-disk-image-challenge.aspx

It is far simpler to either to take an one-2-one approach to your image or use non persistent "gold images" .

Let see how it things pan out this year...

VMware View 4.0 SSL web access

Vmware View 4.0 is Vmware's Flagship VDI product. I like it but i think it has a long way to go before if matches the functionalty of Citrix Xendesktop it has the feel of a collection of products thrown together quickly (im thinking Thinapp, PCoIP, Propero broker).

For example one the main drivers to adopting VDI would be the mobility and fuctionality of secure web access and impoved transport and display protocols in case of Citrix Xendesktop this would be HDX-ICA, Secure Gateway and for Vmware View, Security Server and PCoIP.

How do they differ? Well if you want to use PCoIP vai a HTTP-SSL web front over the internet with VmwareView your have a problem, it's not supported, if you wish to use HTTP-SSL you will need to use RDP.
With Xendesktop you simply create a Secure gateway and you can leverage the full features of HDX-ICA via a SSL VPN

So the only option for Vmware View 4.0 is client VPN's whereby you would have direct access....see below

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/243763

It appears that the PCoIP uses UDP and is not supported via View web portal per se

Come on VMware sort it out!

Presenting an application via Citrix to Iphones

I start work tommorow on presenting a bespoke office application to 200 remote users via a Citrix app for the Iphone. basically it will connect via secure SSL web front end to Citrix Xenapp running on Vmware.

This has been in dev for a while now and now moves to production...should be fun!