Microsoft RDV team blog post: Single Image Management for Virtual Desktop Collections in Windows Server 2012

Ajay Kumar, member of the Microsoft Remote Desktop Virtualization team, created a new blog post on Single Image Management for Virtual Desktop Collections in Windows Server 2012.

“…In this blog post I will share some more details about managed virtual desktop collections and how an admin can use single Master VM to create and update hundreds of VMs in a managed virtual desktop collection (Single Image Management)…”

The blog post discusses Master (Gold) VM in Managed Virtual Desktop Collections, Rolling Out Updates to a Pooled Virtual Desktop Collection and User Session Aware Update.

Source: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/rds/archive/2012/10/29/single-image-management-for-virtual-desktop-collections-in-windows-server-2012.aspx

Remote Desktop Protocol 8.0 update for Windows 7 (kb2592687)

The update to Remote Desktop Protocol 8.0 has been released last week.
The update package is available here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2592687

“…New features for client computers that are running Windows 7 SP1 or Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

The RDP 8.0 update contains the following new features for client computers that are running Windows 7 SP1 or Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1:

Remote Desktop Connection 8.0 client
Dynamic In-Session USB Redirection
Reconnect for RemoteApp and Desktop Connections
Improved single sign-on experience for Remote Desktop Web Access
Support for RemoteFX Media Redirection APIs for VoIP applications
Support for Nested Sessions

New features for remote computers that are running Windows 7 SP1

The RDP 8.0 update lets remote computers that are running Windows 7 SP1 use RDP 8.0. The update contains the following features for remote computers that are running Windows 7 SP1: 

RemoteFX for WAN
RemoteFX Network Auto Detect
RemoteFX Adaptive Graphics
RemoteFX USB Redirection for non-RemoteFX vGPU virtual desktops
Support for Nested Sessions
Performance counters for monitoring the user experience…”

RD Connection Broker HA - SQL Server 2012 HA solutions

The Microsoft Remote Desktop Virtualization team did a blog post on the RD Connection Broker High Availability options in Windows Server 2012. It shows SQL Server 2012 high availability solutions to make data highly available for RD Connection Broker servers.

“…Hello, this is Jingyuan, Munindra and Sriram from the Remote Desktop Virtualization team. In our previous blog post, we described how to configure RD Connection Broker high availability in Windows Server 2012. One requirement for RD Connection Broker high availability is the use of SQL Server. In this blog post, we are going to take a step further, and show you how to leverage SQL Server 2012 high availability solutions to make data highly available for RD Connection Broker servers. The SQL Server high availability solutions we are going to cover in this blog post are: AlwaysOn Failover Cluster Instances, AlwaysOn Availability Groups and Database Mirroring…”

Source: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/rds/archive/2012/10/16/configure-remote-desktop-connection-broker-in-windows-server-2012-with-sql-server-2012-high-availability.aspx

KB: “High CPU utilization in Remote Desktop session after remotely connecting to a computer that is Windows Server 2008 R2”

A new KB article was released to resolve an issue; in case you remotely connect to a computer that is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2, the Svchost.exe process for terminal services and the Lsass.exe process consumes excessive CPU resources. This issue occurs because of an infinite failure loop that occurs in the Termsrv.dll file.

It applies to:

Windows 7

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

Windows Server 2008 R2

Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1)

Source en download: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2750090/en-us?sd=rss&spid=14134

RDP 8.0 update will be released later this month

The Microsoft Remote Desktop Virtualization Team released a new blog post containing a lot of details on the update for the Remote Desktop Client for Windows 7 updating it to the Remote Desktop Protocol 8.0 !

It also refers to a blog post by Karri Alexion-Tiernan did announcing the update later this month.

“…For businesses that have decided on VDI as the ideal solution, we have some exciting news regarding the Remote Desktop Protocol 8.0 Update for Windows 7. Once the RDP 8.0 Update is released later this month, it will apply to all Windows 7 SP1 instances; this includes your laptop or desktop device, as well as a Windows 7 SP1 virtual machines hosted in the datacenter and accessed through Microsoft VDI with Windows Server 2012. The RDP 8.0 Update will allow both the access device and the virtual machine being accessed to benefit from the same great enhancements in RemoteFX with Windows Server 2012. Additional detail about Remote Desktop Protocol 8.0 Update is available here…”

MS RDV Team blog post: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/rds/archive/2012/10/09/remote-desktop-protocol-8-0-update-for-windows-7-sp1-enabling-a-great-wan-user-experience-for-windows-7-sp1-virtual-desktops.aspx

Karri Alexion-Tiernan blog post: http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/business/archive/2012/10/09/virtualization-beyond-vdi.aspx

Windows Server 2012 RDS Reference Architecture and Scale Test by HP

The Microsoft RDV Team posted a new blog on the Windows 2012 RDS Reference Architecture and Scale Test by HP.

“…Targeting small and medium business customers, the reference architecture describes the components needed to assemble a high-performing, cost-effective solution…”

“…For anyone thinking about deploying VDI on Microsoft Remote Desktop Services, we encourage reviewing the “HP Client Virtualization SMB Reference Architecture for Windows Server 2012”.   We will continue to provide pointers to solutions, reference architectures, and tests as they become available…”

Source:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/rds/archive/2012/10/08/hp-publishes-windows-server-2012-remote-desktop-services-reference-architecture-and-scale-test.aspx

My MVP status is renewed for 2012!

I received the email yesterday, my MVP status is renewed for 2012!
Thanks Microsoft and everyone who made this possible, it’s an honor!

“…Dear Freek Berson,

Congratulations! We are pleased to present you with the 2012 Microsoft® MVP Award! This award is given to exceptional technical community leaders who actively share their high quality, real world expertise with others. We appreciate your outstanding contributions in Remote Desktop Services technical communities during the past year…”