This white paper is a Windows PowerShell guide for beginners. If you are an IT Professional with little-to-no experience with PowerShell and want to learn more about this powerful scripting framework, this quick-start guide is for you. With the PowerShell engine, you can automate daily management of Windows-based servers, applications and platforms. This e-book provides the fundamentals every PowerShell administrator needs to know. The getting started guide will give you a crash course on PowerShell essential terms, concepts and commands and help you quickly understand PowerShell basics.
You will also learn about:
This white paper focuses on PowerShell 4.0; however, you can be sure that all the basics provided are relevant to earlier versions as well. For those who are ready to take the next steps in learning PowerShell and looking for more information on the topic, this PDF contains a list of helpful resources.
You're facing VM sprawl if you're experiencing an uncontrollable increase of unused and unneeded objects in your virtual VMware environment. VM sprawl occurs often in virtual infrastructures because they expand much faster than physical, which can make management a challenge. The growing number of virtualized workloads and applications generate “virtual junk” causing VM sprawl issue. Eventually it can put you at risk of running out of resources.
Getting virtual sprawl under control will help you reallocate and better provision your existing storage, CPU and memory resources between critical production workloads and high-performance, virtualized applications. With proper resource management, you can save money on extra hardware.
This white paper examines how you can avoid potential VM sprawl risks and automate proactive monitoring by using Veeam ONE, a part of Veeam Availability Suite. Veeam ONE will arm you with a list of VM sprawl indicators and explain how you can pick up and configure a handy report kit to detect and eliminate VM sprawl threats in your VMware environment.
Read this FREE white paper and learn how to:
Microsoft’s Active Directory (AD) offers IT system administrators a central way to manage user accounts and devices in an IT infrastructure network. Active Directory authenticates and authorizes users when they log onto devices and into applications, and allows them to use the settings and files across all devices in the network. Active Directory services are involved in multiple aspects of networking environments and enable interplay with other directories. Considering the important role AD plays in user data-management and security, it’s important to deploy it properly and consistently follow best practices.
Active Directory Basics is a tutorial that will help you address many AD management challenges. You’ll learn what really goes on under the Active Directory hood, including its integration with network services and the features that enable its many great benefits. This white paper also explains how administrators can make changes in AD to provide consistency across an environment.
In addition, the Active Directory Basics tutorial explains how to:
This whitepaper provides an overview of Citrix AppDNA with Liquidware Labs FlexApp.
The Great Big White Paper on when to use AppV, when to use FSLogix, and when to use them together! The latest release from Duncan Murdoch of Amber Reef, "The purpose of this document is to discuss the strengths and weakness of App-V and FSLogix Apps, and how the two can be used together to form a complete application provisioning and management strategy." The document uses scenario-based considerations to demonstrate the pros and cons of using each solution independently, or when combined.
Optimizing the way applications are delivered and managed has been an ongoing challenge in enterprise IT, and the variety of approaches over the years have been received with varying degrees of success. While every method has pros and cons, some of the most stubborn issues include time-to-deliver, application conflicts, plug-ins and licensing. The too-frequent result is high IT overhead, too many gold images and excess spending on application licenses.
Too many companies are settling on less than optimal solutions because that is all they are presented with and they are unaware of the true state of the art for application management. It is possible to dramatically reduce the number of Windows gold images, in some cases to a single image. It is possible to deliver exactly what each and every end user needs to do their job, and nothing else. It is possible for a user to log into a random system and instantly be presented with their personal desktop, all the right applications, plugins and add-ons, the right printers, and the right fonts. It is possible and it is simple.
Citrix AppDisk, when integrated with FSLogix Apps, provides a unique set of features that can improve end-user productivity, reduce IT overhead and lower the cost of desktop management. With FSLogix patent pending Image Masking technology, AppDisk gains very granular and powerful user-based policy control over every aspect of a user’s desktop and applications, and enhances the ability to distribute applications on network attached disk images. FSLogix Apps also enable AppDisks to scale to a much greater degree than any other similar technologies available today.
A simple truth: Current application delivery and deployment solutions for Windows®-based desktops are often not fast enough, and the methods employed introduce complexities and limitations that cost enterprises valuable time, money and productivity. There is a strong need for a solution that is faster to deploy, simpler to use, and improves productivity rather than degrades it. In fact, the best solution would seamlessly and instantaneously personalizing the entire desktop, from profiles and printers to applications and extensions, while supporting license compliance and cost optimization. And, of course, it wouldn’t matter if the target desktops were physical, virtual, or cloud-based. FSLogix is delivering that solution today.
UNIQUE, CUTTING EDGE TECHNOLOGY
Duncan Murdoch, of Amber Reef, uses this white paper to outline the necessary approach to centrally control and manage FTAs for Word 2013 and WordViewer using FSLogix.
After addressing the reason and symptoms of the issue, Duncan asserts, "If the desire is to 'Control the FTA' centrally and manage the associations with FSLogix, preventing the users from overriding the FTA settings," then "to achieve this you can create 2 separate FTA rules, one for Word 2013 and another for WordViewer."
By applying these rules alongside the FSLogix Hiding rules for the applications, then the Administrator can ensure that the FTA that is applied is the one that they have allocated to the application group.
NOTE: This will also prevent a user from being able to right-click the file and assign their OWN FTA preferences.
A concise, visual guide to implementing file type associations when using App-V with FSLogix. Duncan Murdoch, of Amber Reef, uses this white paper to show the precise steps for managing file type associations (FTAs) when using App-V with FSLogix. As an example for managing the file type associations for App-V packages, Duncan Murdoch demonstrates the ease of this process with Adobe DC and FOX-IT Reader as published applications. With a couple quick steps and a single FSLogix rule, the proper FTAs are put in place for the desired default .pdf application.
UNC Health Care selects IGEL Universal Desktop Converter (UDC) and IGEL Universal Management Suite (UMS) for simplicity, cost-savings and security.
“The need to provide users with access to their desktops from any device anywhere, anytime is driving a growing number of IT organizations to migrate toward VDI environments,” said Simon Clephan, Vice President of Business Development and Strategic Alliances, IGEL. “One of the key advantages that IGEL brings to the table is the simplicity that comes from being able to manage an entire fleet of thin clients from a single console. Additionally, the IGEL Universal Desktop Converter provides IT organizations with the flexibility they need to convert any compatible thin client, desktop or laptop computer into an IGEL thin client solution, without having to make an upfront investment in new hardware to support their virtualized infrastructures.”
UNC Health Care selected the IGEL UDC and UMS software for its Citrix VDI deployment following a “bake-off” between thin client solutions. “IGEL won hands down due the simplicity and superiority of its management capabilities,” said James Cole, Technical Architect, UNC Health Care. “And, because the IGEL UDC software is designed to quickly and efficiently convert existing endpoint hardware into IGEL Linux OS-powered thin clients, we knew that by selecting the IGEL solution we would also realize a significant reduction in our capital expenditures.”
Since initiating the deployment of the IGEL UDC and UMS software, UNC Health Care has also experienced significant time savings. “Prior to deploying the IGEL UDC and UMS software, it took our team 25-30 minutes to create a virtual image on each system, not counting the personalization of the system for each use case, now that process takes less than 10 minutes, and even less time when converting the system to VDI roaming,” added Cole.
Additionally, the ease of integration between the IGEL UDC and IGEL UMS with Citrix XenDesktop and other solutions offered by Citrix Ecosystem partners, including Imprivata, has enabled secure access to the health care network’s Epic Systems’ Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system.
Fulton Financial Corporation has a long and storied history that began in 1882 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where local merchants and farmers organized Fulton National Bank. The bank’s name was chosen to honor Lancaster County native Robert Fulton, the inventor and artist best known for designing and building the Clermont, the first successful steamboat.
In an effort to optimize the productivity of its employees and enable them to have more time to focus on their customers, Fulton sought to upgrade the thin clients for its Citrix application virtualization infrastructure, with the help of its Citrix partner and IGEL Platinum Partner, Plan B Technologies.
In selecting a desktop computing solution to support its Citrix application virtualization infrastructure, Fulton had one unique business requirement, they were looking for a solution that would mirror the experience provided by a Windows PC, without actually being a Windows PC.
During the evaluation process, Fulton looked at thin clients from IGEL and another leading manufacturer, conducting a “bake-off” of several models including the IGEL Universal Desktop (UD6). Fulton like the fact that IGEL is forward- thinking in designing its desktop computing solutions, and began its IGEL roll-out by purchasing 2,300 IGEL UD6 thin clients in 2016 for its headquarters and branch offices, and plans to complete the roll out of IGEL thin clients to the remainder of its 3,700 employees in the coming months. The bank is also leveraging the IGEL Universal Management Suite (UMS) to manage its fleet of IGEL thin clients.
Although Lockton is the world’s largest privately owned insurance brokerage firm, clients most frequently describe the insurance broker as team members who make their businesses better. Energy, innovation and deep expertise fuel Lockton’s focus on solving its clients’ problems and achieving real results.
It is this spirit of innovation that led Lockton to recently embark on the deployment of Citrix Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) at its headquarters in the Country Club Plaza area of Kansas City, MO., and local office locations across the United States and around the globe.
Lockton was about a quarter of the way through its Cirrus VDI deployment when one of its thin client manufacturers changed some of the key features on the model the insurance broker was using, without warning. This presented a number of challenges that Lockton’s IT team was unable to overcome during a critical stage in the VDI roll-out.
Around the same time Lockton was experiencing issues with the thin client manufacturer, they participated in a charity golf tournament in Kansas City that was hosted by IGEL Platinum Partner Choice Solutions and sponsored by IGEL. Following the golf tournament, Lockton tested the IGEL Universal Desktop (UD2-LX) and the IGEL Universal Management Suite (UMS) management console. The insurer realized immediately that the superior design and secure infrastructure management capabilities would make it possible for them to easily manage their entire network of thin clients in the U.S. from the company’s headquarters in Kansas City, and this was a key selling point.
To date, with the help of Choice Solutions, Lockton has deployed 1,200 IGEL UD2-LX thin clients and expected that number to increase to 1,800 by the end of 2017. Lockton also has a small number of licenses for the IGEL Universal Desktop Converter software which they are leveraging to turn hardware from other thin client manufacturers into IGEL-powered endpoints. Additionally, the insurer is using the IGEL UD Pocket to deliver the IGEL desktop to employees using legacy thin client hardware.
Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union is more than just a bank. It is a financial cooperative intent on helping its members save time, save money and earn money. Over the years, the credit union has grown from providing financial resources to military service members and their families to serving hundreds of thousands of members across Texas and around the world. RBFCU has a presence in three major market areas — Austin, Dallas and San Antonio — and has more than 55 branches dedicated to serving members and the community.
First and foremost, RBFCU is people. It’s the more than 1,800 employees who serve members’ needs each day. It’s the senior team and Board of Directors that guide the credit union’s growth. It’s the members who give their support and loyalty to the credit union each day.
To help its employees provide the credit union’s members with the highest levels of services and support, Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union relies on IGEL’s endpoint computing solutions.