Computer Systems - Page 56

There may be good news in VistaVille, It looks like the 2nd Service Pack for the much maligned OS has gone RTM (Release to Manufacturer).

Although there is not a firm release schedule quite yet the RTM stage means that the new update is finalized and ready to go. One nice improvement over previous SPs is a single installer for both Vista and Server 2008 making distribution easier.

Fixes in the new pack include full support for Via's 64 Bit CPU, ability to record directly to BluRay media and other improvements for performance and compatibility.

Read more here

Looks like Citrix has found a new way to compete with VMWare; they are going to give XenSever 5.0 away for free.

Of course the Express Version has been free for a long time, but Citrix is claiming that the enterprise version is also now free. The problem is one of features. According to Roger Klorese "the new free XenServer does not include high availability, advanced StorageLink storage integration, persistent performance management, or monitoring -- which continue in Enterprise Edition and Platinum Edition -- or dynamic provisioning services -- which continue in Platinum Edition."

Citrix is a new comer in the Virtualization market, but have scored a big win by partnering up with Microsoft and getting a great Interoperability deal between their XenServer product and MS' Hyper-V.

True Citrix's new Free XenServer has its issues and limitations, including missing many enterprise class features, but to get an enterprise class virtualization product for free is still a good thing.

If you are more of a VMWare fan you can grab VMware's ESXi server for free also.

Read more here at Roger Klorese's Blog.

With CES out of the way, Thecus Technology has announced some of their plans for the upcomming CeBIT in Hannover. First up are their new N7700 and N8800 NAS servers. The N7700 houses 7 SATA drives for massive storage and can be stacked with an additional five N7700's. If you have room for the NAS in the rack, the N8800 comes in a 2U form factor and ups the ante a bit with an eigth drive. Both support iSCSI making it easy to centrally manage and deploy storage for an entire network.

It looks like there is a new Bug in SQL server that can allow for remote detonation of the server. Well ok not detonation but this newly discovered flaw can allow for remote execution of code.

According to MSA (Microsoft Security Advisory)961040, the flaw affects SQL Server 2000, SQL Server 2005 (with SP 2 or lower) SQL Server 2005 Express Edition, MSDE 2000, WMSDE, and Windows Internal Database.

SQL 7.0 With SP4, 2005 with SP3 and SQL Server 2008 are not affected.

Read more here.

***New information***

In Part III of our XenServer 5.0 soap opera, I have been contacted by Citrix directly who are stating that XenServer 5.0 does indeed have Windows 2008 Server support.

They explain that they lack of Widows 2008 server in their supported OS page was an "our bad" mistake. They have also provided me links to their "what's New" page that references Windows 2008 server. The What's new page goes on to state "Tuned for Windows - XenServer adds support for Windows Server® 2008, has been optimized to run Windows-based workloads (up to 30% faster) and has been certified on both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Server through Micrsoft's Server Virtualization Validation Program (SVVP).". XenServer 5.0's installation Guide also lists Windows Server 2008.

**** Citrix has sent links to Microsofts VSSP for both XenServer Embedded Edition and Standard XenServer ****

I have asked Citrix about the installation issues that many are reporting with XenServer 5.0 and Windows 2008 Server (BSODs during install etc). I will follow up with their response.

*** Citrix's response to this is a potential fix contained in Update 1 for XenServer ***

XenServer 5.0 What's New.

Read the original article here.

The follow on is here.

Yesterday I wrote that Citrix's XenServer and XenDesktop 5.0 do not have native support for Microsoft's Windows 2008 Server. I have received a couple of e-mails disputing that statement. I thought I would clear some items up.

First: In September 2008 Microsoft and Citrix announced they were working on inter-operability between Server 2008 and Xen this was in relation to the HyperVisor product only. Meaning they were working on ways of porting VMs between the two products and allowing VM's on Server 2008's Hyper-V to be "Virtualized" (or delivered) through XenDesktop.

Second: I referred to "the desktop version of XenServer" I should have said XenDesktop. XenDesktop is not literally speaking a Desktop VM product. It is a means for delivering a virtualized Dekstop to remote users.

Third: I am not talking about XenSource (which was bought by Citrix) or Xen Project but Citrix's implementation of these products. Citrix's Xen 5.0 line of products does not have native support for Widows Server 2008.

What has yet to happen is complete validation and functionality of Windows 2008 as a guest(or virtualized desktop) in either of these products. To get Windows 2008 server to run on XenServer you have to custom configure quite a bit and set it up as a hardware VM not the stock type (as I linked in my article).

Interoperability announcement here.

**Edited November 25 2008 for clarity**

Software is a funny thing sometimes. When you buy a piece of brand new software you think that you are going to get the latest and greatest compatible with all the other latest and greatest software out.

Sadly that is not the case with Citrix's new Xen 5.0 Virtual server software. There are issues with XenDesktop's ability to deliver Virtulaized Windows 2008 Server desktops and XenServer will not run the OS Natively. This flaw takes away from the opening up of the RAM support in Xen Express which was limited to 4GB but now supports up to 128GB

This short coming will hurt the VM hopeful as many people currently using VMware and Sun's Virtual Box have no problems with Microsoft's latest server OS.

XEN 5.0 compatible operating systems listed here.

There is a work around to this for Citrix's XenServer if you want to spend the time here.

Diamond Multimedia and Smooth Creations today announced its impressive looking Broodling liquid cooled PC gaming system.

The gaming system is a result of joint effort between the two companies and is based on AMD's Spider platform. It is powered by a 2.4GHz AMD Phenom 9750 Quad-Core CPU and AMD 770-SB600 based ABIT AX78 motherboard with 4GB of Kingston DDR2 memory. Cooling is provided by the CoolIT Eliminator with combination of air cooling and liquid / TEC chilling.

As far as graphics go, Diamond's Viper Radeon HD3870 X2 is used along with a 500GB Western Digital Caviar SE16 HDD and Lite-On 20X DVD+/-RW drive. Power is supplied by the 1250 watt Cooler Master Real Power Pro power supply.

The case gets a wicked paint job by Smooth Creations with a scary looking skull design which says, "Don't mess with me!" Take a look for yourself below...

Acer has long been known for its standard notebooks and systems but not so much for its new line of gamers products.