We are excited to share our recent accomplishments that further establish our leadership in Digital Employee Experience (DEX). Our Stratusphere UX app was honored with the “IGEL Ready Pioneer App of the Year” award, spotlighted in a dedicated session at the IGEL Disrupt event last week. This session demonstrated the critical role Stratusphere UX plays in optimizing digital workspaces and gave other IGEL alliance partners an overview of how to build an app for IGEL’s Secure Endpoint OS.
David Bieneman, our CEO, remarked on this achievement, “Our pioneering efforts in the DEX space are validated by this recognition and the enthusiastic adoption of Stratusphere UX. We are excited to continue breaking new ground with IGEL to drive unparalleled value in digital workspace management.”
Divya Saggar, Director of IGEL Ready, praised the award winners, stating, “Our winners elevate the customer experience and contribute significantly to the evolution of end-user computing, making it easier and more secure for companies around the globe.”
Our participation in the IGEL Ready Developer Program allows us to enhance our solutions, ensuring seamless integration with the IGEL ecosystem to deliver unmatched DEX. As we innovate, we remain dedicated to setting new standards in the industry, enhancing productivity, and optimizing user satisfaction across digital workspaces.
The exhibit space was bustling as well and we enjoyed meeting with many customers, partners, and alliance contacts.
We thank our partners and customers for their continued support as we push the boundaries of what’s possible in DEX in end user computing!
Seismic changes are occurring with digital workspace platforms such as Citrix, VMware Horizon, and Microsoft AVD. Digital workspaces are crucial in healthcare and organizations are facing uncertainties. The landscape of VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) and DaaS (Desktop-as-a-Service) has been disrupted by mergers, acquisitions, and licensing changes, creating unease and driving up costs for healthcare customers.
Why Attend? Liquidware’s webinar on May 7th, 2024, addresses these challenges, featuring industry experts. The discussion will focus on decoupling the Digital Employee Experience (DEX) from underlying platforms, ensuring smooth transitions to and from environments like Citrix, VMware Horizon, Microsoft AVD, Nerdio managed desktops, Workspot, Dizzion, and Windows 365. Many organizations are also looking at a possible return to regular desktop and laptop PCs.
We’ll discuss the trends we’re seeing and how major organizations are shifting the way they deliver digital workspaces.
Expert Insights Learn from industry consultant, DJ Eshelman, and Presidio’s Gary Edtl about effective strategies to manage the digital employee experience (DEX), including application delivery, the user environment, monitoring & optimizing, and controlling DEX in real-time. These insights aim to maintain productivity during platform transitions while optimizing costs.
Designed for Whom? Targeted at large healthcare organizations, this webinar aims to help those looking to modernize their digital infrastructure amidst industry changes.
In end-user computing, staying ahead means continuous innovation. That’s what we have done with the latest release of our Digital Employee Experience (DEX) monitoring solution, Stratusphere™ UX. The 6.7 release isn’t just an update; it’s a significant leap forward in enhancing the DEX.
New innovations in Stratusphere UX version 6.7 include:
Enhanced UI
DEX User Sentiment Surveys
Logoff Breakdown
Profile Container Metrics
Machine Internet Connectivity
CommandCTRL Integration
Dizzion Frame Remote Display Protocol Metrics
AMD GPU Support
Enhanced UI
The first thing users will notice about Stratusphere UX 6.7 is its redesigned User Interface (UI). The new UI is streamlined, intuitive, and user-centric, making it simpler for admins to find the information they need more efficiently. This enhancement is more than just a facelift—it’s about making efficiency and clarity the focus of the user interface.
DEX User Sentiment Surveys
Understanding how employees feel about their digital environment is crucial to optimization. That’s why Stratusphere UX 6.7 introduces DEX User Sentiment Surveys. This innovative feature allows IT teams to tap directly into employee feedback, providing a goldmine of insights that can align the DEX strategy with actual user needs and preferences.
Logoff Breakdown
Logon breakdowns are of huge importance, but our customers wanted the same from logoff. This is now available in Stratusphere UX 6.7 by offering detailed logoff breakdowns, granting IT teams a granular view of any potential bottlenecks at logoff This level of insight is invaluable for troubleshooting and issue resolution.
Profile Container Metrics
Profiles are a critical aspect of the user experience, and any issues with them can significantly degrade the overall user experience. Stratusphere UX 6.7 provides detailed insights into metrics such as profile container version and path, average and maximum profile container space used, provisioned space, and mount times. These insights are available for both ProfileUnity™ and FSLogix profiles, enhancing the control and understanding of profile-related issues.
Machine Internet Connectivity
Hybrid working is now the norm which means the coffee shop or home Wi-Fi is now an extension of your corporate LAN and an area where connectivity and latency issues are likely to cause issues. With Stratusphere UX 6.7 you can gain insights into internet connectivity with metrics like ISP Provider , WIFI speed and strength. With these detailed metrics, you can easily determine if the machine internet connectivity is the route of the issue given quick resolution and a better user experience
CommandCTRL Integration
For organizations utilizing Liquidware’s CommandCTRL™ for real-time remediation, Stratusphere UX 6.7 brings good news with its seamless integration. This synergy provides IT admins with immediate access to real-time remediation giving swift incident resolution, minimizing downtime, and boosting overall productivity.
Stratusphere UX 6.7 has extended its feature set to include metrics for the Dizzion Frame Display Protocol. This is an important upgrade for organizations that depend on Dizzion’s DaaS platform. With this new capability, IT administrators can closely track and analyze the performance of display protocols, ensuring the best possible delivery of virtual desktops and applications.
AMD GPU Support
Stratusphere UX 6.7 now offers advanced capabilities to monitor AMD GPU metrics, which is crucial for managing AI workloads efficiently. By providing detailed insights into GPU performance and utilization, Stratusphere UX 6.7 helps ensure that AI applications are running optimally, reducing downtime and enhancing productivity. This functionality is essential for organizations leveraging GPU-intensive applications for machine learning and other AI-driven tasks, enabling them to maximize hardware performance and streamline operational efficiency.
The introduction of Stratusphere UX 6.7 marks a significant milestone in the area of Digital Employee Experience (DEX) monitoring. With a range of new and enhanced features—from a sleek, user-friendly interface to the innovative DEX User Sentiment Surveys—this latest version is designed to meet the evolving needs of today’s digital workplaces. Whether it’s providing critical insights into GPU performance for AI applications, enabling detailed analysis of remote display protocols, or facilitating real-time remediation through seamless CommandCTRL integration, Stratusphere UX 6.7 ensures that IT teams have the tools they need to optimize performance and user satisfaction.
There were many years after VMware launched VDI in 2008 that people would proclaim “It’s the year of VDI!” Meaning of course that virtual desktops would finally overtake physical desktop workloads. This year, we at Liquidware, are proclaiming “Its the year of INDEPENDENT VDI!” An idea which, quite frankly, is overdue.
In the history of VDI, the most meaningful insights and developments did not come from the platform vendors but from the ecosystem of users and partners around the platforms. Today, Liquidware is proud to announce that we are the Founding Partner of the World of End User Computing (WEUC) community. The WEUC is a community of seasoned veterans of the EUC ecosystem who are looking to provide end users with opportunities for networking and sharing knowledge without the restraints of vendor bias.
It’s Time for Free-Flowing Independent Unbiased EUC Dialog
We agree with the founders of WEUC that the time has come. Check out the WEUC board – you will see some very familiar and popular faces there, who have contributed to the EUC knowledge base for decades.
The WEUC is managed by Engage Strategies. For those of you who are not familiar with Engage, they are the organization that breathed new life into the CUGC starting in 2015. Liquidware was among the first to sign up with them at that time, and we have a strong respect for their professionalism and dedication to the success of the WEUC.
Why is Liquidware Sponsoring the WEUC?
So, what makes the WEUC a great idea now and why is Liquidware on board?
The best answer for that question requires me to trace the history of Liquidware, which closely parallels key developments in EUC for over the past 15 years. Below is a picture which is worth 10,000 words and will shorten this blog post.
Liquidware was born in 2009, and we have seen it all in the EUC ecosystem. When VDI launched, the vision was that virtual machines would just replace physical machines. You could much more easily provision and set up a virtual machine. These VMs would be “persistent” or “stateful” desktops. And guess what? All the stuff that users typically would cram into a physical desktop, they could now cram into a virtual machine. Which led to the same problems that physical desktops posed – only worse.
Keeping Pace with all the EUC Developments Over the Past 15 Years
The second iteration was “non-persistent” or “stateless” desktops. These were pools of virtual machines that were one-size-fits-all clones. The advantage was that you could wipe out all the user touches at logoff. Then you could provision brand new “clean” machines. This had benefits for security and management, but users lost all their ability to personalize their workspaces. There was an outcry!!
So, in the early stages of EUC, we at Liquidware figured out two things. The first was that it would be very easy to lose visibility into all the workloads on VDI because you would lose the mapping of one device/one desktop/one user. VDI workspaces shared a common infrastructure. So, you couldn’t troubleshoot effectively, and you could forget about optimization. We launched Stratusphere UX which provided detailed historical desktop data which constructed a user experience score that would indicate how your desktops were performing. You could also use this data forensically to figure out the source of your issues.
On the heels of Stratusphere UX, we launched ProfileUnity to allow you to virtualize user profiles and add them back to a non-persistent VM. This solution provided and maintained a universal user profile that saved all the customizations users needed. ProfileUnity profiles transcended OS versions and platforms.
In 2013 we launched a new solution called FlexApp that essentially did for applications, what ProfileUnity did for user profiles. Packaged them, took them out of the master image and allowed you to provision them as needed on demand.
Most recently, we launched CommandCTRL, which is a real-time monitoring solution. With this solution, as soon as you can see the problem, you can fix it.
Every product that we launched was in keeping with new developments in the industry and new concepts that were springing up. Just as important, we kept up with significant vendors, including Dizzion, Amazon and Microsoft, who joined VMware and Citrix in the EUC space.
For the past 15 years, Liquidware stayed platform-agnostic while we watched these developments and enhanced our offerings to fill in the gaps left by these providers. And the big ever-repeated lesson we learned was that none of the leading providers had the 100% solution stack for all users. Most organizations ended up running hybrid environments combining vendors’ technologies to get the best result for their users and the applications they were running.
Do Yourself the Biggest Favor Today — Join the WEUC
So, the question you must ask yourself is: Am I going to get this perspective about best-of-breed hybrid architecture from any of the leading EUC vendors? Better yet, ask me and I will tell you: No, you’re not.
Which is why the time is right for the WEUC. Finally, we have a forum where you can mingle and converse with others who are living in the same world you are and have the same challenges. The WEUC is the place to get the latest insights and the unbiased, best practices knowledge and all the shortcuts that get you to the right place.
As usual, we have seen the future of EUC and the WEUC is it. Please do yourself a favor and check them out today.
The recent availability of Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) on Azure Stack has opened up a whole new realm of possibilities for organizations seeking a hybrid approach to virtual desktops and applications. As we have seen organizations are hesitant about putting all their resources in Cloud and want to be able to use both cloud and on-prem and the introduction of AVD on Azure Stack increases the options available.
So, why is this an important development in EUC? Let’s delve into the core advantages of AVD on Azure Stack.
First customers who may have kept workloads on-prem now have the choice to utilize AVD On-Prem.
Secondly consider reduced latency — a crucial factor in today’s fast-paced digital world. By positioning desktops closer to your workforce, AVD on Azure Stack promises a more responsive and fluid experience, particularly for those resource-hungry applications.
Next, there’s enhanced security and compliance. For businesses grappling with stringent data residency requirements, AVD provides a robust security framework while enabling you to keep your sensitive data on-premises.
Lastly, the unified management experience through the Azure portal is a game-changer. It marks the end of juggling multiple cloud and on-premises solutions, paving the way for streamlined, efficient operations.
But What Does It Mean for the Platform Vendors, Such as Citrix and VMware?
While AVD on Azure Stack presents a new opportunity in the virtual desktop space, it also signals a pivotal moment for established platforms like Citrix and VMware. With their extensive ecosystems and broad feature sets, these veterans are now at a crossroads. How might they respond?
Firstly it should be stated that this is an opportunity for both given they already support Azure Stack and with their advanced functionalities such as their advanced protocols HDX and Blast they can enhance any deployment of AVD on Azure Stack.
The availability of AVD on Azure Stack could potentially disrupt the VDI market and impact Citrix and VMware. However, it is too early to know the exact impact and it will depend on various factors, including pricing, how well Microsoft executes its strategy, the response from Citrix and VMware, and how customers react to these changes
What is the Role of Liquidware Solutions in Successful Hybrid AVD Deployments?
Liquidware is a Microsoft AVD alliance partner, we offer solutions that support any Windows workspace, whether physical or in the cloud. Our Essentials suite of solutions provides Digital Employee Experience (DEX) solutions that manage, deliver, monitor and control DEX.
Managing DEX with ProfileUnity
ProfileUnity™ is a user environment management solution designed to manage user profiles across multiple desktop environments. In the context of hybrid AVD deployments, it addresses common challenges associated with user profiles and settings management:
Centralized User Profiles: ProfileUnity centralizes user profiles in a location that is independent of the underlying desktop, making it easier to manage profiles across both on-premises and cloud environments.
Profile Portability: This feature ensures that user settings and configurations are consistent, regardless of the desktop environment they log into, enhancing the user experience in a hybrid setting.
Policy Management: ProfileUnity enables comprehensive policy management, allowing IT administrators to apply context-aware policies that enhance security and compliance.
Delivering DEX withFlexApp
FlexApp™ is Liquidware’s application portability solution that simplifies application delivery and management. It is particularly beneficial in AVD environments for several reasons:
Decoupling Applications from the OS: By layering applications separately from the OS, FlexApp simplifies application management and updates, reducing the complexity of maintaining multiple desktop images.
Enhanced Flexibility: It allows for the dynamic delivery of applications based on user needs and context, providing a more tailored and efficient user experience.
Reduced Storage Footprint: By centralizing application delivery, FlexApp can reduce the overall storage footprint, which is crucial in cloud-based environments like AVD on Azure Stack.
Monitoring and Optimizing DEX with Stratusphere UX
Stratusphere™ UX offers comprehensive monitoring and diagnostics for virtual and physical desktop environments. Its role in hybrid AVD deployments is critical:
Monitoring and Diagnostics: Stratusphere UX provides in-depth visibility into the performance of desktops and applications, helping to identify and resolve issues proactively.
User Experience Metrics: Stratusphere UX tracks key user experience metrics, ensuring that the deployed environment meets the performance expectations of users.
Process Optimization: Identifying over-provisioned and underutilized resources, it helps in optimizing the deployment for cost-effectiveness and efficiency.
Controlling DEX with CommandCTRL: A New Player in EUC Management
CommandCTRL™ is a relatively newer SaaS-based solution in the EUC space, providing a centralized platform for managing and monitoring virtual desktop infrastructures and other IT assets in realtime. It also, provides real-time remediation for hybrid AVD workspaces.
Centralized Management Console: CommandCTRL offers a single pane of glass for managing various aspects of the IT environment, including virtual desktops, servers, and network devices.
Real-Time Monitoring and Alerts: The solution provides real-time monitoring capabilities, with alerts for any performance issues or anomalies, ensuring quick response to potential problems.
Compatibility and Integration: Designed to be compatible with various virtualization platforms, CommandCTRL can integrate into environments using AVD, Citrix, VMware, and others, making it a versatile tool for any hybrid deployments
The landscape of end-user computing is not just evolving… it’s undergoing a revolution. The hybrid model, with AVD on Azure Stack at the forefront, is redefining choice and flexibility in the digital workspace. But to truly harness this potential, you need the right partners. Liquidware’s suite of solutions — along with the innovative SaaS-based CommandCTRL —are your keys to a streamlined, efficient, and future-proof hybrid AVD deployment
Are you ready to explore the future of hybrid desktop environments? Dive deeper into Liquidware’s solutions and discover how they can elevate your AVD on Azure Stack experience.
Recent developments have thrust EUC into a period of reflection and, inevitably, action. The announcement of VMware divesting its EUC business has certainly stirred the pot, signaling a shift that might have far-reaching implications for many in the industry. This move, coupled with the trend of EUC vendors tweaking their pricing models—be it through increases or more bundled offerings—has left many of us pondering our next steps. The underlying question being: In the face of such changes, how do we adapt and ensure our EUC strategies are not just resilient but also future-proof?
VMware focusing on only 600 accounts going forward, because it represents 74% of their revenue.
At Liquidware, we’ve been closely monitoring these shifts, understanding that they represent both a challenge and an opportunity for organizations worldwide. The concern for many revolves around the daunting task of switching EUC platforms. Such a decision is not made lightly, given the complexities involved in ensuring seamless monitoring, application virtualization management, remediation, and user profile management. It’s a puzzle that requires not just any solution, but a comprehensive strategy that addresses the nuances of the EUC environment.
Why, then, should organizations consider Liquidware in these turbulent times? The answer lies in our holistic approach to Digital Experience Management (DEX). Liquidware offers unparalleled coverage in DEX, a testament to our commitment to not just addressing the needs of today but also anticipating the demands of tomorrow.
Our suite of solutions is designed to provide a robust foundation for managing, delivering, monitoring, and controlling the digital workspace:
ProfileUnity™ excels in Desktop Experience (DEX) management, ensuring unparalleled personalization and consistency across environments. With RBAC integration, FSLogix profile container management, and ADMX file handling, it leads in advanced profile management. ProfileUnity enhances the DEX by making profiles portable and simplifying migrations, boosting productivity and user satisfaction.
FlexApp™ transforms DEX with portable application layers supporting a single image strategy across AVD, VDI, and similar environments, alongside a predictable enable/disable workflow with Intune for both virtual environments and laptops. FlexApp containerizes applications enhancing provisioning, updating, accessibility and overall lifecycle management.
Stratusphere™ UX is essential for optimizing DEX, offering deep insights into endpoints, user behavior, applications, and protocols. It automates process CPU and memory optimization for more consistent performance when under constraints. Through its API and connector, Stratusphere UX integrates with ServiceNow, facilitating informed decision-making with comprehensive monitoring, user feedback, and scoring metrics to improve the digital user experience.
CommandCTRL™, our real-time solution for remediation that offers one-click diagnostics, empowers IT teams to address issues proactively, ensuring that the digital workspace remains not just operational but optimized for peak performance.
You may have heard by now that FlexApp has an incredible compatibility for an organization’s apps. That means that for most customers we can greatly minimize their application and base image management by “attaching” 90-100% of their Windows applications, not installing them. The benefits are great, time and cost saving, getting apps to users to keep them productive by the most efficient means possible.
To hear us say we have the industry’s highest app compatibility is one thing but when you have a leading testing and validation solution such as Rimo3 to help ‘prove’ our claim, that’s an even more powerful statement. Since a large part of what Rimo3 does is app validation and testing, we firmly believe it will help organizations validate our high compatibility claims through their support for our innovative FlexApp One format.
Rimo3’s extensive support for various application formats in notable. In addition to supporting Liquidware FlexApp the solution also supports VMware App Volumes, Microsoft MSIX, and App-V. This expanded support underscores the flexibility and versatility of Rimo3’s solution.
The compatibility with FlexApp One format also simplifies the deployment process, enabling Rimo3 to also seamlessly deploy FlexApp One containers to users through Microsoft Intune or Windows Package Manager. This collaboration has also led to Rimo3 becoming a Liquidware Ready Verified Partner, highlighting our commitment to offering top-tier solutions and working with leading companies that integrate our solutions
DEX (Digital Employee Experience), the rapid rise of popularity of the term in the industry has created some confusion in the marketplace by vendors claiming that they deliver DEX solutions that are complete. The reality is that many of these vendors are only delivering a singular component of DEX. Meanwhile, with the modern workforce more distributed than ever, enterprise organizations are seeking true comprehensive solutions to enhance and deliver the best DEX. Liquidware proudly stands at the forefront, offering a robust lineup of DEX solutions that collectively address more areas than any other vendor. With ProfileUnity, FlexApp, Stratusphere UX, and CommandCTRL, Liquidware empowers organizations to revolutionize user and application management, application delivery, monitoring, and real-time remediation across various platforms.
MANAGE DEX Efficiently with ProfileUnity: ProfileUnity is a cornerstone for efficient User and Application Management. Tailored for large-scale Microsoft Windows deployments, ProfileUnity seamlessly manages platforms such as Microsoft AVD, Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (CVAD), Dizzion Frame, and VMware Horizon. This solution ensures a hassle-free experience in handling diverse digital workspaces, providing organizations with the flexibility and control needed for effective DEX management.
DELIVER DEX with FlexApp: FlexApp steps in to revolutionize Application Delivery, empowering the workforce and simplifying DEX. With FlexApp, organizations can deliver portable attached apps on-demand without the need to modify base images. This innovative approach not only streamlines application delivery but also enhances user experience by providing flexibility and responsiveness, contributing to an optimal DEX.
MONITOR and OPTIMIZE DEX with Stratusphere UX: Elevate DEX with Stratusphere UX, Liquidware’s comprehensive monitoring, analytics, and diagnostics solution. Going beyond traditional monitoring, Stratusphere UX provides actionable insights into the health and performance of user environments. Organizations can proactively optimize DEX, ensuring a seamless and productive digital workspace for their users.
CONTROL DEX with CommandCTRL: Empower IT teams and enhance DEX with CommandCTRL, Liquidware’s revolutionary real-time remediation solution. CommandCTRL puts organizations in command of their Digital Employee Experience, offering quick and effective responses to potential issues. CommandCTRL is full of innovation, including optional AI that is already integrated, a scroll back in DEX timeline, and a modern turnkey SaaS approach. This solution ensures that IT teams can take immediate action, maintaining a high level of DEX across the digital workspace.
Unmatched DEX Capabilities Liquidware’s holistic approach to DEX sets a new standard in the industry, providing organizations with a comprehensive ecosystem to manage, deliver, monitor, and control the Digital Employee Experience. The synergy of ProfileUnity, FlexApp, Stratusphere UX, and CommandCTRL establishes Liquidware as the leader, offering unmatched solutions for optimal DEX across all digital workspaces. Visit Liquidware to learn how you can revolutionize your approach to DEX with Liquidware and empower your workforce to thrive in the modern digital era.
Liquidware partner XenTegra has created a ServiceNow application to help with Stratusphere™ UX Data integration with a set of Power Tools that eases developers’ time and provides out of the box thinking on how to use Stratusphere UX data for other use cases.
The XenTegra PowerTools app for ServiceNow is available on the ServiceNow portal and includes an Application Usage and a Security Posture Dashboard. Within the application is also a huge dictionary of procedures that will ease ServiceNow developers’ time to extend the base system. This is an add-on to the already available Stratusphere Base Integration Kit.
This is the first release of the XenTegra PowerTools for Stratusphere in ServiceNow and there are many great things on the roadmap. Watch this space!
For a quick overview of what this addition contains, watch this great video by Justin Meadows.
In 2022 AWS announced Amazon WorkSpaces Multi-Region Resilience offering a cost-effective, easy to manage solution to keep your users online and productive using standby WorkSpaces in another AWS Region during disruptive events. In this blog we will expand on this solution by utilizing Liquidware ProfileUnity and Peer Global File Service (“PeerGFS”) to replicate a user’s profile and data to the standby WorkSpaces offering a true business continuity and disaster recovery solution ensuring your end users remain productive during disruptive events.
This article is a collaboration between architects at AWS, Peer Software, and Liquidware. See below for more information about the authors.
Overview of the solution
The following figure illustrates the solution. Liquidware ProfileUnity is utilized as the profile management portion while PeerGFS is utilized to synchronize files between the FSx for NetApp ONTAP instances.
FSx for NetApp ONTAP instances in both the primary and secondary WorkSpaces regions.
Note: Using FSx for NetApp ONTAP is not a requirement for this solution but it is recommended as FSx for NetApp ONTAP is a managed service with multi-az capability. Individual Windows-based file servers can be utilized if desired.
Setup
Step 1: Configure Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP
Note: If not using FSx for NetApp ONTAP, you may skip this section.
Follow the prerequisite guide from the Peer Knowledge Base to configure your FSx for NetApp ONTAP instances for PeerGFS
Step 2: Deploy Liquidware ProfileUnity
ProfileUnity delivers User Environment Management for virtual desktop deployments such as AWS Workspace and AppStream 2.0. ProfileUnity decouples user profiles, settings, and data from the workspace. ProfileUnity separately stores and dynamically applies user profiles, configurations, and data to a Windows OS at login.
Deploy the ProfileUnity Management Console from the AWS Marketplace. Alternatively, you can provision an EC2 instance manually and install ProfileUnity manually. ProfileUnity software can be found here. And you can reference the ProfileUnity installation and configuration guide located here
Log in to the ProfileUnity management console and create a new configuration by either using the guided or manual configuration options.
Once created, edit the configuration by clicking on the newly created configuration.
Open the portability settings and determine which of the auto-provisioned settings you wish to implement. You can disable any settings you do not wish to capture. Ensure Save and Restore are selected.
Open the folder redirection section and determine which shell folders you would like to redirect.
Configure any additional ProfileUnity settings that are pertinent to your organization’s requirements.
When completed, select Update.
Deploy your configuration to your ProfileUnity deployment path.
Configuration rules will be applied next time users login on their workspace. If you need assistance in configuring Liquidware ProfileUnity ™, contact your sales team or sales@liquidware.com.
Step 3: Deploy PeerGFS management server and agents
The PeerGFS solution consists of a Peer management console and Peer agents for each region where WorkSpaces are deployed. The agents are typically installed on EC2 instances (t3.xlarge recommended) and facilitate the replication jobs between the FSx for NetApp ONTAP instances.
Deploy the PeerGFS management console from the AWS Marketplace.
Deploy an EC2 instance in each region where WorkSpaces are deployed. Install the Peer agent on each of the deployed EC2 instances.
Note: When installing the Peer agent, you will be prompted to run the Peer service as a domain user. This is the same user that is specified in Step 7 of the Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP Prerequisites guide.
Once the agents are installed, log into the Peer management server and verify the agents are visible in the console.
Step 4: Connect agents to FSx for NetApp ONTAP
Each agent needs to be registered to an FSx for NetApp ONTAP file system. The following steps outline that process:
From the Peer management console, open the preference menu and navigate to NAS Configuration / Amazon FSxN Configuration and select Create.
Select the server hosting the primary Peer Agent. Provide the connection information for the FSx for NetApp ONTAP svm and select Validate.
Repeat steps 1 & 2 to add the second Peer Agent for replication.
Step 5: Create a File Replication job
In this example, we’ll configure a File Replication job which enables one-way replication to a specified target. The target can be any addressable UNC path. Use File Replication jobs when you want to guarantee that no writes that occur on the target can be synced back to the source. In this design, only the source will be “active”.
When “active-active” (read/write everywhere) is desired where we want multiple instances to serve files to users and writes from any location can be synced to all other locations, use a File Synchronization job which enables omni-directional synchronization. Unlike File Replication, you must use one of our supported platforms for all targets.
From the Peer management console, create a new File Replication job.
Select the Peer agent from the primary FSx for NetApp ONTAP svm as your source, NetApp ONTAP for your storage platform, and select the credentials you provided in Step 4.
For the Source Path enter the ProfileUnity storage location configured on the FSx for NetApp ONTAP svm.
Select the Peer agent from the secondary FSx for NetApp ONTAP svm as your destination, NetApp ONTAP for your storage platform, and select the credentials you provide in Step 4.
For the Destination Path enter the ProfileUnity storage location configured on the FSx for NetApp ONTAP svm.
Select the following options for the File Metadata section:
Synchronize File Security Information: CHECKED
Enable synchronizing file security information in real time: CHECKED
Enable synchronizing file security information with master host during initial scan: CHECKED
Synchronize Security and ACL Options
Owner: CHECKED
DACL: Discretionary Access Control List: CHECKED
SACL: System Access Control List: CHECKED
Metadata Conflict Resolution
Select master host for initial scan: Select primary Peer agent
Select Finish.
At this point the file replication job will be created but not running. Before starting the job, we need to make a few additional changes.
Right-click on the file replication job and select Edit Job.
Use the following table to adjust the job settings for best practices:
Section
Setting
Value
Description
General
Enable Multipart Transfers
checked
Transfers large files in multi-streamed chunks for optimized file transfer
Delta Replication
Enabled
checked
Syncs only changed file blocks rather than the whole file
Target Protection
Enabled
Dependent on org. preference
Retains copies of modified and deleted files for restoration. The default number of versions to keep is 3.
NOTE: This setting can consume large amounts of storage.
Select OK to save the settings.
Right-click on the job and select Start.
Your file replication job will begin and continuously monitor your file system. Files will be replicated from the primary FSx for NetApp ONTAP file system to the secondary in a single direction. Changes from the secondary file system will not overwrite those on the primary.
If you need assistance in configuring PeerGFS, contact your sales team or sales@peersoftware.com.
Testing
At this point, your deployment should be complete. Begin by logging into your primary WorkSpace, performing some modifications on our operating system, adding files to your documents folder, etc. Log out of your primary WorkSpace and log into your secondary WorkSpace. You should see the operating system changes and files added have replicated to the secondary WorkSpace.
Cleaning Up
Open the EC2 Console in the primary region. Terminate the PeerGFS Management Server, ProfileUnity Management Server, and Peer Agent Server. Repeat this process for the secondary region.
Open the FSxN Management Console. Delete the FSx for NetApp ONTAP volumes, svm, and file system in that order. Repeat this step in the secondary region.
Conclusion
In this post, we expanded on the existing multi-region resiliency offered with Amazon WorkSpaces by replicating an end user’s profile and data to a secondary region.
About the Authors
Robert Fountain is a Sr. EUC Specialist Solutions Architect with AWS supporting federal and non-profit organizations. Robert has over 12 years of experience in designing and implementing VDI solutions for his customers. In his free time, Robert enjoys traveling, skiing, and spending time with his family.
Mike Frost has been a Senior Solutions Architect at Peer Software since 2019. His career in IT began as a systems administrator in 1996, later specializing in storage and backup. In 2004 he moved to the vendor side serving in both pre and post-sales engineering roles with VARs and manufacturers in the storage, backup, archive, and virtualization space. At Peer, he helps customers design highly-available, collaborative file environments. He describes his work as “bringing files closer to people and things.” Mike lives with his family in Chicago.
Greg Peck is a Sr. Solutions Architect for Liquidware supporting federal customers. Greg has been with Liquidware for 5 years and previously used the Liquidware product suite as a consultant. Greg enjoys taking his Jeep Wrangler off-road and spending time with his family including their dog.
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