Unidesk Virtual Desktop VDI technology
This is a summary of Kris Midgely’s (Founder and CTO, Unidesk) interview by Brian Madden
Unidesk is a PC Lifecycle Management company planning to provide
- Virtual Desktop Management
- Personalization
- Storage reduction
with no agent on the desktop.
Supports VMware ESX today. Intends to support Citrix XenServer and Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware Workstation, VMware Fusion, Citrix XenClient. and application virtualization technologies such as, VMware ThinApp, Microsoft App-V, etc.
CacheCloud
CacheCloud: is a content delivery network (think Akamai) for pushing out VDI gold images to different data centers, laptops/desktops in branch offices or machines that connect intermittently. Cloud consists of a large number of virtual appliances, called CachePoints, running one per blade or laptop. Each CachePoint stores user personalization locally as well as replicates it out. CachePoint appliances are made of Linux, have virtualized storage that supports
- thin provisioning
- replication
- versioning
Windows and app code is shared, user personalization is unique. This makes scanning for AV really fast since there is only image of code
Block-level replication of deltas, file-level replication for compositing. Personalization data can be written from several individual CachePoints to a NAS/SAN in the data center which enables legal discovery of changes to data, which was not possible until today.
Composite Virtualization
Composite Virtualization understands the abstract layers, Windows’, apps and user data and knows how to merge them together (composite) in real time to create a bootable C: device and provide a rich desktop experience. Virtualizes each desktop into layers
- exe, com objects and dlls are apps
- Registry – configuration
- everything else is data
It will support encryption in the future: Shared keys for windows and apps code, personal keys for private data
Composting engine sits on top of the device driver and form the individual layers by merging individual IO streams with the namespace knowledge it maintains.
A virtualization storage layer implemented as a NTFS file system filter driver provides a high performance block IO device that talks to the CacheCloud. It loads early in the boot cycle. Once it is loaded, it loads a vmdk disk image which contains Just Enough Windows pre-composited to provide a bootable C drive. The latter can be served from the Cache Cloud.
It Snapshots the system automatically by auto detecting application installs/uninstalls, ActiveX control downloads. An admin can get a timeline view of user-installed software to reconstruct a hosed machine easily from the CacheCloud. Lets you recover system state while retaining your data.
Availability
Currently in Beta with 22 customers spanning Financial Institutions, Higher Ed and the Government.
Distribution through a channel strategy, working with Top Channel providers for VMware, Citrix, Microsoft. Can replace WAN acceleration, Backup and DR and Persistent Personalization products.
Genesis of the Google Chrome logo?
Federico Fieni’s tongue-in-cheek view originally published at onecomics:
Chrome OS, 3G Netbook, Client Hypervisor Convergence?
Sundar Pichai’s post Introducing the Chrome OS
Chrome OS is designed for people who spend most of their time on the web — searching for information, checking email, catching up on the news, shopping or just staying in touch with friends. Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS.
Chrome OS has generated a lot of excitement and buzz over the past few months. The driver for introducing Chrome OS is the widespread use of the Internet and the dramatic rise in adoption of NetBooks (called ultraportables by IDC) during 2008 – 2009.
Benefits for notebook and ultramobile device users
- Fast boot, instant web access.
- Worldwide accessibility of personal data, i.e., documents, pictures, MP3’s, videos, etc., since they are stored in the Cloud.
- Promise of being able to run web apps offline and sync data with the Cloud when online (with the forthcoming HTML5 support).
Benefits for all users
- Safe browsing – users don’t have to worry about viruses, adware, malware
- Speed – no hidden services and extensions slowing down the computer while running in the background
- Users cannot lose data that resides in the Cloud due to a computer disaster or forgetting to back up files.
- No/Low administration overhead – users don’t need to spend hours configuring their computers to work with every new piece of hardware, or have to worry about applying software updates.
Essentially, Chrome OS’s key value is to convert a Netbook (or any computer for that matter) into a fixed- function web interaction device. This is a great vision and in all likelihood will be realized in 2010 when 3G notebooks become mainstream in the US and Europe – they already are in Asia. However, let us examine where Chrome OS fits within the landscape of products from Microsoft and Apple:
| OS Vendor | Netbook | Tablet | Notebook | Desktop |
| Microsoft | Windows 7 | Windows CE | Windows 7, XP | Windows 7, XP |
| Apple | None | iPhone OS | Mac OS X | Mac OS X |
| Chrome OS | Android | None | None |
While Chrome OS is well-positioned for the 3G notebook market niche, its safe browsing and speed are particularly important benefits for users who browse the web from their notebook and desktops also. This installed base of users are not going to be migrating away from their notebooks and desktops because of “stickiness”of the apps, e.g., Outlook mail and calendar integration, Adobe’s Creative Suite or financial apps that use Dot Net technologies on Windows, the holistic user experience on a Mac. It is difficult to change user behavior!
How can Chrome OS extend to desktops/notebooks in home and business use today?
That’s easy, through the use of virtualization. Virtualization will let users
- Run multiple disparate OS’s on the same hardware
- Realize the Bring Your Own Computer model for VDI and maintain separation of work-related and personal, apps and data.
- Create a safe and secure browsing environment at home or at work on their personal computers
A client hypervisor running on a netbook, notebook or desktop can permit Chrome OS to be booted in a VM for providing a fast boot, instant web access capability while Windows is still booting up in the background.
BIOS-based Type 1 Client Hypervisors On The Horizon?
Phoenix Technologies is offering a Linux-based virtualization platform called HyperSpace enabled by the HyperCore hypervisor embedded within the BIOS. HyperCore is most likely Xen-based and runs specialized core services side-by-side with Windows on Intel VT CPU’s.
Primary value
Its primary value proposition is that it is a fast boot environment. The concept is to boot the user into a VM running Linux and show him a Mozilla-based browser within the first 10 seconds, while Windows is booting up in parallel in another VM within the first minute or so. While the Windows boot in in progress, the user can connect (through Linux) with an available wireless network, browse the Internet, and switch between the two virtual machines using the F4 function key.
What do users think?
Here are some interesting reviews,
- Phoenix Technologies HyperSpace instant-on OS review
- Phoenix HyperSpace Dual and Hybrid
- A peek at Phoenix’s HyperSpace fast-boot Linux add-on
- Torture-Testing Phoenix HyperSpace, the Linux-Based Instant-On OS
Some other fast boot environments are:
- DeviceVM Splashtop (They don’t use virtualization today but have filed US Pat. 11772700 on Jul 2, 2007 for virtualizing dual OS boot)
- Asus ExpressGate
- Dell Latitude On
However, currently …
Phoenix was selling HyperSpace Dual (Linux only, no HyperCore) and Hybrid (Linux + HyperCore) in 2009 but they seem to have discontinued the Hybrid product line. Was the adoption poor due to limited hardware support? Or, shudder, was the product not fulfilling a customer need?
Perhaps we may see it once again in the near future, the HyperSpace front page hints that “HyperSpace 2.0 is coming soon”.
The technology is cool, but …
Fast boot alone is not a compelling need. There aren’t many times in life when users can’t wait an additional 30 or so seconds to have full access to Windows.
If you look at why Mac users have adopted VMware Fusion for running Windows, you’ll realize that there must be a compelling need for users to change their behavior and adopt something new and different. Users in corporate environments switched to Macs because they did not want a Common Operating Environment Windows desktop, which was locked down by IT. Using Fusion, they can continue to use Office, particularly, Outlook, and especially the Outlook calendar, to continue to meet the demands at work without missing a beat. Conversely, people who have always used Macs did not want to change their lifestyle when they joined a new company and using Fusion, they were able to assimilate into the corporate routine very quickly.
So the question at hand is, what is the compelling use case for a BIOS-based client hypervisor to gain adoption and market penetration?
What is the killer use case?
Perhaps the killer use case is the one that both HyperSpace and Splashtop are already fulfilling today for NetBooks and Nettops, using non-virtualized Linux to provide a Mozilla or Chrome browser as the primary interface for email, Facebook, Zynga, IM, browsing the Internet and using Microsoft Office compatible apps.
This begs the question, is there a compelling need for a Type 1 BIOS-based client hypervisor?
Gabe Knuth has an interesting twist to offer in his post
So what if Citrix, who’s already going to give XenClient away for free, were to partner with Phoenix and other BIOS manufacturers to find a way to include XenClient in the BIOS?
Dear Reader, What do you think?
Type 1 and Type 2 Client Hypervisors
This post is based on insight gained from two of Brian Madden’s posts: A deeper look at VMware’s upcoming bare-metal client hypervisor and Bare-metal client hypervisors are coming — for real this time
Wikipedia distinguishes between two distinct types of hypervisors
Type 1 Hypervisor
Type 1 (or native, bare-metal) hypervisors are software systems that run directly on the host’s hardware to control the hardware and to monitor guest operating-systems. A guest operating system thus runs on another level above the hypervisor. Some examples are VMware ESX, Xen, Microsoft Hyper-V, etc.
Type 1 hypervisors are appropriate when you want to provide the only OS that is used on a client. When a user turns a machine on, he only sees a single OS that looks and feels local.
Type 2 Hypervisor
Type 2 (or hosted) hypervisors are software applications running within a conventional operating-system environment. Considering the hypervisor layer as a distinct software layer, guest operating systems thus run at the third level above the hardware. Some examples are VMware Workstation, VMware Fusion, MED-V, Windows Virtual PC, VirtualBox, Parallels, MokaFive, etc.
Type 2 hypervisors are appropriate when you want a user to have access to their own local desktop OS in addition to the centrally-managed corporate VDI OS. This could be for an employee-owned PCscenario, or it could be a situation where you have contractors, etc., who need access to their personal apps and data in addition to the company’s apps and data.
Client Hypervisors
Over the past 5 years, Type 1 hypervisors are dominantly used in the server market, whereas, Type 2 hypervisors are being used on clients, i.e., desktops and laptops. Recently, the need for a Type 1 hypervisor that runs locally on a client device, called the client hypervisor, has emerged for supporting the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure VDI).
Benefits
VDI’s promise lies in realizing a significant cost reduction for managing desktops. A client hypervisor is useful because it combines the centralized management of VDI with the performance and flexibility of local computing. It offers several advantages:
- It provides a Hardware Abstraction Layer so that the same virtual disk image can be used on a variety of different devices.
- The devices do not need a “base OS” when the client hypervisor is present. The maintenance overhead of patching a “base OS” frequently on each of the devices is greatly reduced.
- Once a virtual disk image has been provisioned, it runs and the display is driven locally. This frees up the client from the need to support remote display protocols.
- It decouples the management of the device from the management of Windows and the user; administrators can spend their time focusing on user needs instead of device maintenance.
Type 1 Server and Client Hypervisors
Server hypervisors are designed to make VMs portable and increasing the utilization of physical hardware. Client hypervisors are intended to increase the manageability of the client device and improve security by separating work and personal VMs.
The bottom line is that even though they’re both called “Type 1″ or “bare-metal hypervisors,” there are some philosophical differences in how each came to be. (This could help explain why it has taken over five years to extend the Type 1 hypervisor concept from the server to the desktop.)
| Dimension | Type 1 Server Hypervisor | Type 1 Client Hypervisor |
| Design Goal | Host multiple VMs and make each VM seem like a “real” server on the network. | The user shouldn’t even know that there is a hypervisor or they are using a VM. |
| Virtualization Goal | I/O: Disk and Networking | Native device support that affects user experience, e.g., a) GPU and graphics capabilities b) USB ports and devices c) Laptop battery and power state d) Suspend/Hibernate states |
| Tuning | Maximum simultaneous network, processor and disk I/O utilization | Graphics, multimedia and wireless connectivity |
| Hardware Support | Narrow set of different preapproved hardware models | Should (ideally) run on just about anything |
| Intrusiveness | Controls most if not all of the hardware platform and devices and provide a near complete emulated and/or para-virtualized device model to the virtual machines running on top | a) Should support full device pass-through to a guest VM. b) Should also support dynamic assignment and “switching” of devices between different guests |
Type 1 Client Hypervisor Vendors
In the Type 1 client hypervisor space, there are Neocleus NeoSphere and Virtual Computer NXTop. There are product announcements from both VMware and Citrix, however, there is no shipping product to date. There is also the Xen Client Initiative – an effort to port the open source Xen hypervisor to the client.
Editorial Opinion
Today, hypervisors are a commodity. While they are indeed foundational technology, they are “out of sight is out of mind”, i.e., most users do not perceive their presence and hence ascribe no/low value for this technology. Hypervisor developers will be hard pressed to build a lasting public company solely based on selling hypervisors.
Best Practice: Defrag VMDK, VHD, VirtualBox Virtual Disk
Wikipedia describes defragmentation as
a process that reduces the amount of fragmentation in file systems. It does this by physically organizing the contents of the disk to store the pieces of each file close together and contiguously. It also attempts to create larger regions of free space using compaction to impede the return of fragmentation.
Generically, the defragmentation of a Windows guest within a virtual disk running on a Windows host (Windows on Windows) requires a three-step process:
- Defragment the guest
- Defragment the virtual disk
- Defragment the host
On a Linux host or guest, the ext3 and ext4 file systems are more resilient to defragmentation.
Windows on Windows
You should perform the following steps whether you are using a Microsoft VHD, VirtualBox VDI or VMware VMDK virtual disk,
- On a Windows guest OS, run the Windows Disk Defragmenter to defragment the files within the volumes stored inside the virtual disk.
- Next, power down the virtual machine and defragment the virtual disk using contig. Defragmenting the virtual disk simply reorganizes the blocks so that used blocks move towards lower-numbered sectors and unused blocks move towards higher-numbered sectors.
- Run the Windows Disk Defragmenter to achieve an overall defragmentation of all files on the host including the virtual disk.
VMware VMDK specific
The following steps can be used generically for VMware VMDK, for Windows on WIndows or any other suppoted platforms. vmware-vdiskmanger:is a standalone tool for defragmenting a growable VMware Workstation, VMware Fusion or VMware Server, vmdk when it is offline. Note that you cannot defragment:
- Preallocated virtual disks
- Physical hard drives
- Virtual disks that are associated with snapshots.
The recommended steps for defragmenting a vmdk are:
- On a Windows guest OS, run the Windows Disk Defragmenter to defragment the files within the volumes stored inside the VMDK.
- Next, power down the virtual machine and defragment the vmdk using the command
vmware-vdiskmanager -d myVirtualDisk.vmdk.Defragmenting the vmdk simply reorganizes the blocks so that used blocks move towards lower-numbered sectors and unused blocks move towards higher-numbered sectors. - If the host OS is also Windows, run the Windows Disk Defragmenter to achieve an overall defragmentation of all files on the host including the VMDK.
How To Instructions for fatVM
A How To Guide that provides instructions for using fatVM is available for your reference.
Should you de-fragment Virtual Disks?
Windows de-fragmentation tool or some other commercial alternative, need 5-15% of free disk space, for the tool to be effective. Sometimes it may need more if you have some very large files (like video or database files). Below is the layout of c-drive of may virtual machine. The red segments you see are the fragmented files.
If you have a file with one large segment, for the defrag to be effective it has to move this segment to a free area and copy the rest of the segments with it to make the file contiguous. If there is no place to copy the large extent of a file, then it wont get defragmented.
The best way to de-fragment is to get an empty disk and copy all the files onto the empty disk. So the more free disk you have the better these tools will perform.
Also how you think about de-fragmentation in a virtual disk is very different than how we think about de-fragmentation in a physical world. Take the above disk it is a virtual disk 2GB Max Extent Sparse
The disk was full and then I extended the disk (with fatVM) and then defragmented one file (you can do that with Mark Russinovich’s Contig Tool http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897428.aspx). You can see that the files are contiguous (blue) in the extended portion. The original disk clearly requires defragmentation, but without extending it, we would not have been able to get the key database file to be contiguous.
It makes one ask the question whether you really need the traditional way of defrag the virtual disk. It is much faster to extend the disk and/or attach a separate disk and simply copy over all the files and re-place the original disk with the new extended disk.
Another advantage of doing this is that it is much faster than defragging also you can improve the performance of the virtual machine considerably. Also you can take the files which are static (don’t change) by taking the files in a virtual machine which don’t change and making the base new disk for c-drive a flat file instead of a sparse disk as the sparse disk is not really saving you anything once you get full. If you have a parent which is flat and then a child which is sparse you get the best of both worlds.
In my limited experience instead of defrag, do the following
- create a new flat disk, copy all the files from C: to the new disk
- make the new disk your c: drive
- create a clone of the base disk (which by definition is sparse)
- extend the sparse disk
Your virtual machine’s performance will be significantly improved.
Why do Windows C drives get full in virtual disks?
A real life experience posted by a member in the VMware vCenter Server Communities yesterday (Feb 8, 2010):
I have installed vc with sql 2005 express, now my vCenter server c:\ is almost full
is it possible to move my vCenter database to another drive
The solution recommended by an expert is:
you can install a new server with more space and migrate the data as following.
link to kb post
But you can use also tolls like gparted or dell_expart to incrase your space.
While this recommendation is consistent with the perceived state of the art, it does have the following impact:
It is not going to affect the running VMs and also ESX but you/VSC may see a disconnect for a while.
Another member recommends a different approach
A different approach would be to extend the c-drive.
We have recently released a tool (fatVM) to make this easy (or easier).
It creates the extended VM in a new directory (with the original as parent). Does not touch the original files. Is able to extend most VM in a couple of minutes.
Here is the link: http://www.gudgud.com/fatvm
A third member is contemplating a similar move:
I have a 4 host ESX 3.5U4 system.My VCenter is pointing to an external SQL server. I am about to upgrade to vSphere and want to have the SQL running on on the VCenter server itself – most likely using SQL Express. I have the same concern about space.
You must have noticed the pattern that is emerging. Your C:drive can get full when you are using a database system, or a log aggregation server, within a VM that has a pre-allocated disk and size of the data is growing. As a best practice, review your apps for potential of data growth before pre-allocating the size of the VM.
Download fatVM for VMware virtual disk single-click extension
We are pleased to announce that fatVM Beta for VMware Fusion and VMware Workstation is available for download.
fatVM is a reliable, robust, and safe, single click solution for extending the C drive of your virtual disk that is becoming full. fatVM extends the VM even in cases when it has snapshots and clones. You can use fatVM with full confidence because it preserves your original disk, which remains available to you in case the need ever arises.
Mac-friendly
A Mac user can download and install the fatVM dmg just like any other Mac application. fatVM provides a simple, intuitive, interface and a reliable process that hides the technical complexity of extending a virtual disk.
For most Mac users, extending the C drive of Window® running within VMware Fusion® can be a daunting task. There are several online tutorials that do provide instructions on how to perform low-level Windows system administration tasks, invoke UNIX utilities and manage disk formats (like partition tables) using third-party tools. Even if you were to follow such steps, they do not handle dependencies, e.g., snapshots or clones, well and you may not necessarily be able to extend the disk. You may also discover that recovering from failures to extend the C-drive can be a very challenging experience.
fatVM packages the process of extending the VM and provides you with the capability of executing it through a single click.
Windows-friendly
A Windows user can download and install the fatVM.exe just like any other Windows application. fatVM works with VMware Workstation in a similar fashion as described for VMware Fusion.
Single Click Operation
fatvm shows you a menu of VM’s that belong to VMware Fusion’s ® Virtual Machine Library. You can either select a VM from that menu, or you can you can drag and drop the .vmx configuration file for a new VM, to extend it. fatVM analyzes the selected VM and discovers the current size of the VM’s disk. All you have to do is to select the size you want to extend it to and press Extend, fatVM does the rest:
- Verify whether VM is running and terminate the operation if it is found running
- Analyze VM to determine its current size
- Discover partitions and system disk
- Verify disk type
- Create snapshot and new disk
- Attach ISO
- Create Windows partition
- Extend Windows file system
- Boot Windows to ensure that chkdsk runs
- Complete VM extension.
Super Fast Cross-OS VM Browser
Just like Google’s Chrome, a fast, lightweight, cross-OS Web browser, fatVM comes bundled with a super fast, lightweight browser for offline VM’s. You can view 50+ VM’s simultaneously. Just drag and drop the VM you would like to explore. Some highlights of the browser are:
- Supports cross-OS Browsing: Browse Linux VM’s on Windows, Linux and Windows VM on Mac
- Discovers Applications installed inside the VM’s. Supports Ubuntu, Red Hat, and Windows Virtual Machines
- Runs in user mode, does not install any kernel level components
- Includes Offline Registry & Partition Table Browser for Windows VM’s
Undo and Rollback
fatVM leaves the original files untouched and creates an extended VM in a separate directory.
- If there is any problem with extending the VM, you can select Rollback under Tools and simply delete the fatVM folder to leave your work environment in the same state as before the extension was attempted.
- The extended VM is clone of the original VM. For this reason, the original VM must not be booted after it has been extended.
