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By pfuetz, January 25, 2010 10:32

My colleague Isaac Rozenfeld also has a nice writeup of his ideas and feelings after Jonathan’s email and James blog post entitled: “The Last SUNday?”

Matthias

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By pfuetz, January 23, 2010 15:35

My colleague Jörg Möllenkamp did comment on the “So long, old friend…” blog entry by the father of Java, James Gosling: “Ideas are mergerproof”. Again, well written, good comment! But: Don’t forget, James did also create a newer blog: “OK, it’s time to look forward…”, where he starts looking forward!

Matthias

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By pfuetz, January 22, 2010 11:10

Mein Kollege Stefan Hinker hat einen schönen Artikel über die Sinnhaftigkeit von OpenSource im Zusammenhang mit Akquisitionen geschrieben, besser hätte ich es auch nicht ausdrücken können. Zu finden ist das hier: http://blogs.sun.com/cmt/entry/wenn_das_kein_beweis_fuer

Und mein Kollege James Gosling, Vater von Java, hat einen schönen bildhaften Abschied von Sun erzeugt, den man sich auch auf Tassen oder T-Shirts bestellen kann. Der wiederum findet sich hier: http://blogs.sun.com/jag/entry/so_long_old_friend.

Matthias

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By pfuetz, January 15, 2010 19:13

Today I had a very interesting talk (as always!) with Dr. Bernhard Tritsch.

We were discussing Cloud Computing and Virtualization, and came to the conclusion, that due to the massive speed-bump of CPUs and the not so massive speed-need-bump of the software, and due to the fact, that also memory is getting cheaper and cheaper, and also due to the fact, that PDAs are getting better and better (Power-saving, more CPU-cycles, better screen resolutions) and finally due to the fact, that hypervisor technology is also getting better and better, we will see way more client virtualization than VDI-like solutions that are based in Datacenters. With that will also come the dead of the “Cloud”, as we know it today. Currently there are discussions around whether “Private Cloud” should better be called “Internal Cloud” (I agree!), and what the real “features” of Cloud Computing are (besides those, that we already know from traditional IT-Evolution).

So, what are the drivers and technologies, that might enable such a change?

Classical VDI solutions were and are introduced due to a couple of drivers or reasons:

1. Save on people resources for system management
2. Save energy, reduce consumption
3. Have greater flexibility in moving to newer hardware
4. Have a better utilization of systems
5. And many more

These need to be rectified in order to survive as a reason for doing something. Let’s look at those in detail:

Save on people resources for system management

This requirement was translated into re-centralization and consolidation, because systems management software at that time was not capable of doing distributed and efficient system provisioning and management. This is changing rapidly, and is supported by virtualization, as virtualization enables a “unique” or “unified” platform and therefore “special configuration” tend to vanish.

Save energy, reduce consumption

In order to achieve this, the idea was to get rid of systems on the desktop that only worked 8 hours a day, but were consuming energy over 24 hours, and were way oversized for the ordinary task at hand. But, if you look at the power consumption of for example the Intel Atom series, combined with the ability to physically (but controlled by software) switch off unused parts of the system, even down to the CPU-core, most of these systems nowadays even use less power then the so-called thin-client used in VDI infrastructures.

Have greater flexibility in moving to newer hardware

This requirement is now solved with providing a unified or unique platform by using hypervisors, that do provide an exactly same hardware abstraction regardless of underlying hardware. And with the advance of putting the hypervisor already into the BIOS of the system, this will make virtualization even more widespread adopted.

Have a better utilization of systems

This is driven by two main aspects: First, most systems are very expensive, and therefore you get a better TCO or ROI, if you really use it to its full capabilities. Second, it was also perceived to help with the first aspect on this list. Putting more tasks onto a single system reduces the overall number of systems that need to be managed. But: The fact that CPU-speed-bumbs are way faster then software needs, the cost of acquisition (CAPEX) goes down from generation to generation of those systems. And, combined with the fact, that the newer systems are capable of switching off unused parts during operation also reduced the operation expenses (OPEX), at least on the energy side.

And many more

So, all these combined lead to the question, if all those solutions to the original problem definition still apply, or will still apply going into the future.

If we now combine it with technologies like “system transportation” or “live migration” (for the end-user perspective, even a cold migration might be sufficient), for example to enable the movement of my desktop (here not only the “GUI”, but the “whole system” by using its “image”) onto a PDA (because the PDA runs a hypervisor, and is capable of running a complete VMware image (for example)), when I leave the office, or transfer it back to the system on my desk, when at home or in the office (all these PDAs do have a lot of memory, and a do have WLAN), why should I host that image on a centralized hypervisor in a big Datacenter?

Let’s transfer all of this onto Cloud Computing. Most of the arguments above also apply to the hopes and spirits behind the current trend to “cloudify” things. Most of the underlying and used technologies can be seen as an evolution of current technology, and therefore need to be put into context. Read http://blogs.sun.com/IFR_in_Clouds/ for some more ideas around this topic.

So, thanks to Benny for a vivid and entertaining discussion this morning!

Matthias

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By pfuetz, January 14, 2010 12:49

Die Infos für die nächsten FRAOSUG Treffen und alles rund um die FRAOSUG finden sich ab sofort auf: http://www.fraosug.de Ja, so einfach kann es manchmal sein…

Nebenbei erwähnt: Das nächste Treffen findet, wie alle Treffen, immer am 3. Dienstag des Monats, und das ist diesmal der 19. Januar, statt. Diesmal wieder in der Sun Geschäftsstelle in Langen. Näheres aber, wie gesagt unter: http://www.fraosug.de.

Matthias

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By pfuetz, January 6, 2010 16:57

On Friday, I expect to get VDSL 50, which is the DSL offering of T-Home (the Deutsche Telekom End-User Branch) providing 50000 KBit download and 10000 KBit upload. I did order an upgrade to my existing contract (in a bundled offering, which currently is only available for registered DSL customers), which is called “Call & Surf Comfort Plus VDSL 50/Universal (ISDN)”. As it’s only available from the online “Kundencenter” for contracted subscribers, I can not provide a link here. The “Plus” option was the one, that I needed, and that’s also the reason, why I waited so long for upgrading my “Call & Surf Comfort Plus DSL 16000″ contract, as VDSL up to now was only available in bundles with IP-TV (which is useless to me, as I do live in an appartment, where I already have digital Cable-TV (including radio, not only TV, as IP-TV does!) (as part of the rent for the appartment)) or without IP-TV but then also without the “Plus” package. This offering is currently only available to those, that already do have some sort of DSL contract. For me the “Plus” pays off, as it contains a WiFi HotSpot Flatrate for all T-Home and T-Mobile WiFi Hotspots in Germany, which allowed me to select a cheaper contract for my iPhone from T-Mobile, as there I did not need the HotSpot Flatrate. What use are two such Flatrates, if you are a single person?

As for that newer version of DSL I also did need a new DSL router (the old didn’t do VDSL!), and as the only attractive offering is a lease from T-Home also (the SpeedPort W920V) I choose the larger one, which did offer a couple of features I needed at home. There’s also the SpeedPort W722V, which would not have offered as many consolidation features as the W920V. Also, looking at the differences in prices (2,95 EUR/Month versus 3,95 EUR/Month) and given the fact, that these prices are valid only in the first year (rates go down in the following years! And you’re not BOUND to a duration, you can return the router whenever you like!) I never ever thought about buying an AVM Fritz!Box. And also sadly, AVM’s top of the line VDSL product still is not shipping… ;-(

So, that SpeedPort W920V does offer an integrated VoiceBox, an integrated DECT basis-station, an integrated analog phone-system, an integrated WLAN, an integrated router, an integrated printserver or CIFS server (if you connect those to the USB port), and especially an integrated ISDN S0-Bus, I was able to retire my old VoiceBox, I was also able to retire the phone-cable running from my old phone-system to my old handheld basis-station, and I was able to retire my close to 20 year old ISDN system (a remarkebly reliable Ackermann Euracom 181 system) plus my old DSL router. Retiring 3 systems (the old DECT basis is only needed as a charging station, so I could not retire that completely) and replacing them with 1 new will save energy, and especially it did reduce my need for cables running through my appartment (wireless DECT phone basis station and VoiceBox). Also positive is, that I now have a Web-based configurator for the Phone-System, whereas the old one did require a serial cable (or the ISDN line) to configure. The integrated ISDN-S0 Bus is needed, as I still have ISDN cards in many systems, needed for Faxing (and seamlessly recording of TelCos) and stuff like that, so this was the real first option to upgrade my ISP speed (to something more speedy then some of my old systems at home…) and keeping functionality at the same level then up to now at a competitive price…

Let’s see, if I will be able to really get the advertized speed, but I’m optimistic, as the DSL 16000 (with 1Mbit upload) also worked to full specs here at my appartment. It’s really amazing, what can be quenched through those old phone cables nowadays. I still remember running analog modems with 14400 Baud across the same copper…

Matthias

Update: Discussion partially continued in german on: http://blogs.interdose.com/sebastian/2010/01/12/vdsl-ohne-telekom-router-nutzen/

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By pfuetz, December 8, 2009 17:34

… findet statt, und dazu zitiere ich die Email von Michael Gottwald:

Hallo,

wie versprochen , hier die Details zum nächsten Treffen:

Datum / Zeit:
15.12.2009 / 18:30Uhr

Ort:
Vacaciones
Café -- Restaurant -- Cocktailbar
Elisabethenstr. 23, 1. OG
64283 Darmstadt
Tel. (0 61 51) 1 36 34 76
Fax (0 61 51) 1 36 34 77
http://maps.google.de/maps/place?cid=15690214324096855615&=vacaciones+darmstadt&gl=de&hl=de&cd=1&cad=src:pplink,view:map&ei=4UsdS6TGNYfGsgaE7cyyBA

Agenda:
Wie schon unten erwähnt, gibt es noch einige organisatorische Fragen zu klären.
Da wir aber vor allem eine OSUG sind, soll es natürlich auch um Solaris
gehen. Ich hatte ja schon gefragt, ob jemand Lust auf einen Vortrag hat.
Leider hat sich bisher noch niemand gemeldet, also: Bitte nicht so
schüchtern! (Ich übe sonst an Euch einen Vortrag über Twitter, den ich am
16. Sun-intern halten werde...)

Zum Schluss noch eine Bitte: Wir haben für z.Zt. für 12 Leute reserviert.
Damit wir sehen ob das passt, oder ob wir die Reservierung ändern müssen,
gebt mir & Ulrich Graef bitte Feedback ob ihr kommt.

Bis nächste Woche & Grüße
Michael Gottwald

Soweit die Email von Michael.

Matthias

Anreise:

http://maps.google.de/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Darmstadt+Hauptbahnhof&daddr=Elisabethenstra%C3%9Fe+23,+64283+Darmstadt&geocode=FXIA-QIdYK2DACmjLVKFkHC9RzFT2Xtwl_eQOw%3BFSn1-AId8_6DAA&view=map&gl=de&hl=de&mra=pe&mrcr=0&sll=49.871565,8.640041&sspn=0.029706,0.057936&ie=UTF8&z=15

Tipp: Vom Bahnhof bis zum Luisenplatz geht’s vom Bahnhofsvorplatz (wenn man mit der Bahn aus Norden kommt, liegt der “links”, wenn man die Treppen im Bahnhof hoch gegangen ist) mit den Bussen (Buchstaben) und Straßenbahnen (Zahlen): F, H, K, 5. Am Luisenplatz aussteigen, entgegen der Fahrtrichtung ein Stück zurück laufen (20 – 50 m), vor dem Starbucks nach links in die Wilhelminenstraße einbiegen (man sieht am oberen Ende der Wilhelminenstraße die “Kuppelkirche”), und bis zur Elisabethenstraße leicht aufwärts gehen. Dann nach rechts in die Elisabethenstraße einbiegen, das Restaurant liegt dann rechter Hand (nahe beim dort auch liegenden Subways). Laufdauer vom Luisenplatz: ca. 5 Minuten. Fahrzeit mit Bus oder Bahn: 5 Minuten, es sind eh nur 3 Haltestellen…

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By pfuetz, November 19, 2009 16:21

Am Dienstag, dem 17.11.2009 wurde in der Sun Geschäftsstelle in Langen die Frankfurter OpenSolaris UserGroup gegründet. Die 16 Gründungsteilnehmer einigten sich auf zwei wesentliche Punkte:

• Der Name der OSUG lautet: FRAOSUG
• Treffen finden immer am 3. Dienstag des Monats statt, der nächste Termin ist also der 15. Dezember

Die Folien mit der Agenda sind hier.

Im Rahmen der Voträge erzählte ich etwas zu HOME-NAS Servern, die man mit OpenSolaris aufbauen kann, und Michael Gottwald ergänzte aus seiner Sicht meinen Beitrag. Die Folien meines Beitrags gibt’s hier.

Volker A. Brandt hielt eine Kurzversion seines Vortrags von der OSDevCon, die Folien finden sich hier.

Und den LiveStream von der ganzen Veranstaltung gibt’s hier.

Es war eine rundum gelungene Veranstaltung, und hat allen viel Spaß gemacht.

Matthias

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By pfuetz, November 19, 2009 13:53

Unser neuer Gesundheitsminister Dr. Philip Rösler hat gestern in einer Pressemitteilung einen interessanten Satz zur geplanten Gesundheitskarte von sich gegeben:

Wir gehen den Aufbau der Telematikinfrastruktur schrittweise an und beginnen mit einer erweiterten und datenschutzrechtlich sichereren Krankenversichertenkarte. Die Realisierung weiterer medizinischer Anwendungen wird so lange mit einem unbefristeten Moratorium belegt, bis praxistaugliche, höchsten datenschutzrechtlichen Anforderungen entsprechende Lösungen vorgelegt werden.

Bin mal gespannt, wie das aussehen wird! Und was die Piratenpartei davon halten und dazu sagen wird.

Matthias

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By pfuetz, November 12, 2009 19:33

Brian Madden and Claudio Rodrigues and others do discuss about Sun’s VDI.

I left the following comment on CR’s blog, as I am unable to get a login at brianmadden.com, the email with the initial PW does simply not reach me…

Taking the overall loss of Sun as an indicator for the fittedness of a specific product for a given problem, is simple bullshit… And is only trying to discredit something for something else… What’s it, you are jealous of in Sun’s VDI solution?

OK, with that of my mind ( ), let’s state:

Sadly, Sun’s annual report does not specify numbers neither for VDI nor Desktops nor Sun Rays.

But, now, back to the question at hand:

There’s more to be checked, if comparing VDI solutions, then only the underlying OS for a small, although important part of the overall solution/offering.

Some of these additional topics include:

1.) Costs of acquisition (what does ist cost to build an environment, HW and SW and installtime)
2.) Operating expenses (and yes, there you have costs for admins, if you need a “new” OS platform)
3.) Security (overall, starting from separation of users to separation of processes to security against intruders on the overall chain of devices and software stacks)
4.) Efficiency (where do I get most power for the buck)
5.) Access point in case of problem (one point shopping, one point service?)

I’m sure you read about: http://www.projectvrc.com/. Sadly, that did not include Sun’s VDI. Still, there is something to learn here. The differences between the different solutions (TS, or Xen, or, …) are not the decision making points, as the differences are not as big. A main finding there is, that memory per server is a limiting factor. That’s why for example, in former times, the Sun X4600 M2 was a very attractive system for large VDI environments. And, as further answer to 4.) above, Sun’s VDI allows you to run either VBox or VMware as a basis for user sessions, which also influences points 1.) and 2.)

For point 5.) only MS and Sun can offer a “two stop shopping” VDI solution, MS by adding a single HW supplier, and Sun by adding MS licenses. All other VDI vendors need a three stop offer, as VMware does not own MS licenses nor Hardware, and as Citrix also does not own HW nor MS licenses. That is a point, that’s not to be underestimated! And here Sun’s the only one who can offer two stop shopping for HETEROGENEOUS environments.

Now, let’s look at point 3.), security.

We all know, that Solaris is the most advanced and efficient (scaling nearly linearly with addition of CPUs way beyond 100 CPUs) OS on the planet. This helps immensely, when defining large scale environments, because consolidating onto large systems gets possible, because the OS is not simply managing itself and the underlying resources, but leaves many resources available for the apps. With putting for example every single VBox instance into a separate Solaris 10 Zone/Container, you additionally get the benefit of fine grained resource control AND security, as that environment simply is not able to break into a different Zone/Container. And Zones/Container are EAL4+ certified… (afaik).

And, an additional topic for 4.) is putting the VDI images onto ZFS. Cloning gets easy and quick… But that’s another topic…

So, I would love to see projectvrc results for Sun’s VDI… And a more vivid discussion about the pros and cons of VDI solutions in total…

Matthias