VMworld Europe 2017 - General Session Keynote

I attended my second VMworld this year, which you may find odd as I rarely blog about virtualisation or VMware.  VMware is changing and security is now more apparent in the solutions and roadmap.  

On Tuesday 12th September, we had a General Session Keynote from Pat Gelsinger - VMware CEO.

The VMware vision was similar to the previous year, but there are new partnerships with telcos, moving the telco networks closer to cloud, as well as the growth of IoT.

Gelsinger talked about the mix of devices, applications, and platforms causing the core challenge.  There needs to be anywhere access for people to the applications, but it's complicated.  There is a mass of devices, applications, services and security.

He is only reiterating the challenges securities have been facing for a number of years, with the increase in Shadow IT, less complimentary but highly connected applications, and uncertainty of any associated security.

Workspace One is the solution, grown from AirWatch to supporting iOS, to work with many more operating systems, including Google Chrome.  

MDM (Mobile Device Management) solutions have had to grow into EMM (Enterprise Mobility Management) solutions, w here it's no longer just the management of the device, but also the applications, the content, the availability and in my world, the identity and security.

Gelsinger moved to security, highlighting the target has moved form just applications and data, to user infrastructure, including users and devices, but also cloud infrastructure of the network and compute, as these are seemingly under the control of the security team.

The gasps when some of the audience was shocked with this slide, where the security guys have been working with and understanding a number of different areas.  Security people know that security spend is increasing, but the cost of breaches are increasing even quicker.  As Gelsinger says, "your spending more and falling further behind", "something is broken" and "we the tech industry have failed you the customers".  "We need a new approach"

There needs to be move from infrastructure to secure infrastructure.  Security needs to be built in, not an after thought, as I have been saying for a number of years.  There needs to be an integrated ecosystem, leveraging quality solutions and products, where you do not excel.  All of this with cyber hygiene regime. 

I'm glad that a tech giant like VMware is embracing cyber security and embracing the areas, I believe are the most important.  The pillars of cyber hygiene are important for every environment.  

Least Privilege, Micro-segmentation, Encryption, Multi-Factor Authentication and Patching, have been evangelised by security experts for a number of years.  So great to these elements are now considered mainstream.

As expected the EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR) came up in the keynote, and of course VMware are able to support the regulation by securing the data, automating governance and secure operations.

Gelsinger introduced VMware AppDefense and how it helps the security challenge able to capture, detect and respond.

VMware approach is looking at the security challenges of a business, without the business itself becoming a security expert.

I think it's a very exciting time for a security person to be looking at VMware, and I'm glad I was at VMworld Europe 2017 to see this for myself.

For those unable to attend, the General Session is available to watch here: https://www.vmworld.com/en/europe/video/general-sessions.html (where I also got the screen grabs, as the photos didn't come out so well)

VMworld 2016 Europe - Barcelona

After a number of years of meaning to go, I have finally attended my first VMworld.  As the recent strategy is the incorporate security into VMware solutions, it makes sense that my years in the security field would finally coincide with the virtual world.

I attended with my friend and work collegue, Anthony Poh, who runs this blog dedicated to all things virtual: https://thevirtualunknown.co.uk/

The experience was incredibly valuable from a work front.  VMworld allowed me to meet and engage with some very high level executives, allowing me to honestly share our thoughts, challenges and ideas.  I got the opportunity to attend a number of roundtables with my peers from across the world and understand where they are at.

It also led me to be asked participate in a Q&A session around MTI's strategy and approach to VMware NSX.  It meant going on stage in front of 400-500 people and be quizzed about what we do, which led me to write a LinkedIn post about it: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/stage-fright-presence-andrew-tang

My only criticisms about VMworld is the amount of walking between the breakout sessions, Solution Exchange and lunch.  While I'm talking about lunch, it would have been good if there was enough to feed everyone who attended.

Despite these issues, the value from attending outweigh the minor niggles, and I hope to enjoy VMworld Europe again in 2017.

Below is a transcript of my LinkedIn post:

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I've just got back from my first VMworld in Barcelona. I had no idea of the scale, content and knowledge available in one massive conference centre, predominantly around one vendor.

My world has been IT Security for over a decade, with little appreciation that virtualisation is on a completely different scale in IT minds. I would have been very lost were it not for my colleague and friend, Anthony Poh, who is much more experienced in all things VMware and VMworld!

I was asked to attend a Q&A session at one of the Partner Exchange, which turned out to be Accelerate Network Virtualization presented by Rajiv Ramaswami, EVP and GM, Networking and Security at VMware; Dom Delfino, VP of Worldwide Sales and Systems Engineering, Networking & Security at VMware; and Louise Ostrom, VP Network & Security, EMEA at VMware.

I felt like a little known support act to some of greatest artists in the world, worried that what I had to say in front of other partners and vendors wouldn't be of interest and value, but when you get a chance to get your thoughts straight, I realised that MTI had a lot to offer and I was comfortable talking about it on a big stage to an audience of a few hundred people.

The confidence of being on stage came from a familiarity of the topic, rather than memorising a script. I was able to show that MTI is a solutions and service provider in Europe; having offices in the UK, Germany and France, providing Datacentre, Security and Managed Services. We discussed MTI's adoption of VMware NSX and how NSX is the foundation to some of our offerings with integration to our key security partners in Trend Micro and Palo Alto.

Like life, the presentation wasn't scripted and, equipped with my new found confidence, I hope I get the opportunity to do some more in the future!

An Introduction to Neocoretech NDV

Neocoretech does not have an operating system requirement, as part of the installer will install a bespoke Linux build, optimised to run the Neocoretech solution. The installation package can be deployed in minutes via a CD ROM, with subsequent servers dynamically integrated into the architecture.

NDV supports multiple operating systems, including Windows and Linux, with both 32-bit and 64-bit distributions supported.  The GUI based management console is intuitive, utilising a “drag and drop” interface.

High Availability can be quickly configured and deployed, without a requirement for a SAN.  Direct Attached Storage is utilised for media storage, but with an innovative architecture, RAM is utilised to create quick virtual PCs, without the IOPS storm even if multiple virtual PCs are started.

“Read-only” virtual PCs can be created giving the user a clean PC every day.  This leads to convenient management, standard build control, better disk usage and better administrative control. Persistent (personal) virtual machines can be created as well, giving a more conventional PC experience.

There are three deployment options, including:

1)      Single server deployments, hosting all the functions

2)      Two server deployments, giving a highly available architecture

3)      Multiple server deployments, giving distributed functionality and large scale deployments

If you are interested in becoming a reseller or want to see a web demo, please contact e92plus for more information.

Why use VDI, when I can use Terminal Services?

Working with Neocoretech NDV VDI solution, I see many advantages for using it over VMWare View or Citrix XenDesktop, due to the way it utilises RAM and negates the need for SAN solutions by using “Read only” desktops.  A common question when discussing virtual desktop solutions, is why use VDI when I can use Terminal Services. 

These points were addressed by Christophe Rettien, CTO of Neocoretech.

Architecture

• Neocoretech NDV is a 1:1 connection between 1 Thin Client and 1 Hosted PC (in this case a Virtual PC)
• Terminal Services is a 1:n connection between n Thin Clients and 1 Hosted Server (could be a physical virtual Server)

Protocol

• Neocoretech NDV is not tied to RDP and can use any available protocol including rich multimedia support, bi-directional sound and USB redirection. Available protocols are RDP, UXP, NX, RDP TCX...
• Terminal Services IS RDP so no protocol choice here. If Terminal Services does not provide sufficient performance, nothing can solve that!

Supported OSs

• Neocoretech NDV supports any x86 OS, which allows a user to run a Microsoft Windows XP, Windows 7 or Linux, with 32-bit or 64-bit distributions.
• Terminal Services is only supported by Microsoft servers, so the end user can run a remote session on a Windows 2003 or 2008 Server. Some tweaks exist to create a Windows 7 look and feel from a Windows 2008 session.

Supported Software

• Neocoretech NDV runs a single computer for each user, which means any application available on the OS used will be available to the user.
• Terminal Services runs multiple shared instances of a unique program within the same server (2003 or 2008) and only applications allowed to be shared are available to the end user.

Summary

Neocoretech NDV provides:

• Operating system choice
• All applications are supported
• Different applications installed according to user profile
• All protocols supported
• High availability options

NDV consequences:

• Requires powerful servers

Terminal Services provides:

• High density - good ratio server sizing/number of users

Terminal Services consequences:

• CAL licensing cost per session and per application
• Poor multimedia performance
• Complex GPO settings, if different desktops are to be presented based on user profiles (all applications need to be installed)

Conclusion

As with all solutions, it is more important to understand the requirement, rather than push a technology.  We need to understand when one solution would fit better than the other.

Terminal Services works well in environments with budget constraints or require a “vanilla” suite of applications.  VDI solutions such as Neocoretech NDV offer greater flexibility, management, operating system choice, supports a greater number of clients, and can be easily managed.

Virtualisation on Windows 7 64 Bit?

As you may have guessed, I'm currently running Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit on my new laptop. All is going well, but I have encountered an issue!!

I have a number of Virtual PC guests which use the old version of Virtual PC. I have obviously install Virtual PC RC, in order to achieve the XP Mode, which allows me to use IAG within the 64 bit environment.

My older Virtual PC files don't work in Virtual PC RC!!

So sensing a time for change and to purge the elements I don't use, I recreated the Virtual PC sessions on VPC RC. It's at this point, I think I should try out UAG in a demo environment, but as I have to use Windows 2008 R2 Beta, I discover that Virtual PC doesn't support a 64 bit environment and I seem to get jerky guest sessions unless I allocate a lot of memory and install the integration software, so what are my alternatives:

I have used VMWare Server in the past, and although the software supports 64 bit clients, but the amount of services the software uses up, makes me investigate how to stop these services when I don't use VMWare. I end up switching all the VMWare services to Manual, and then create a batch file to initiate them.

After much snooping and Googling, I discover Sun VirtualBox

I find that it is very easy to use, it will support 64 bit clients (which seems to be better tab) and it is effiecient with its resources (unlike VMWare)

Sun VirtualBox is now my main client for any virtualised environment!! (and best of all, it's free!!)