Category: Cloud

The OpenStack Summit took place this past week, and from the conversation on twitter, it sounds like it was a success.  For those folks that could not make it, OpenStack does offer all the conference video content online, this is a great way to get up to speed on what happened and to check out some really cool folks, doing some really cool things with the technology.

Some of the sessions I intend to check out this week are the following:

• Standing Up OpenStack at Time Warner Cable
• OpenStack on OpenCompute with Ironic
• OpenStack community metrics by Stackalytics
• Monitoring OpenStack in the Enterprise

Browse the online catalog and find a video that inspires you to learn more.  A big thanks goes out to the OpenStack community for sharing these videos.

Also, check out some great write-ups on OpenStack from Discoposse and vmiss33

Did you attend OpenStack Summit? What did you find the most interesting? Let me know on Twitter and thanks for reading!

Can you run AWS WorkSpaces from any device? I will show you how to install it on an iPad Air.

I took my iPad to Starbucks and enjoyed running a full desktop. My setup was compact and lightweight.

Having installed AWS WorkSpaces on my Mac, I decided to try it out on my iPad. I have a iPad Air, and the first step is to download and install the AWS WorkSpaces iPad client, which is found in the app store. Of course, if your an android user, you can also download the client from the Google play store. If your an android user, I would love to hear about your experience with the client, let me know on Twitter.

Once downloaded and installed, when you launch the app, you are prompted to add your registration code – you received this in an email from Amazon WorkSpaces and it’s the same one you used to configure your desktop client.

Once that is accepted, you are prompted to login to your desktop.

Once logged in, you are given a quick tutorial on using the touch features and best to utilize them.

When you swipe from the left, a radial button appears which provides you with quick access to features and help.

With all that out of the way, you can start using your Windows 7 desktop on your tablet device. In my case I am using OpenOffice and it seems to work just fine.

Things to keep in Mind

A few things to keep in mind when using your virtual desktop for the system administrator. These are taken from the AWS WorkSpaces FAQ.

• Q: Does WorkSpaces pricing include bandwidth costs? The monthly subscription includes the streaming bandwidth between the user’s client and a WorkSpace. Web traffic from the user’s WorkSpaces (accessing public Internet, downloading files etc.) will be charged separately as AWS outbound bandwidth on your bill.
• Q: What is the maximum network latency recommended while accessing a Workspace? While the remoting protocol has a maximum round trip latency recommendation of 250 ms, the best user experience will be achieved at less than 100 ms.
• Q: Does the WorkSpaces service have maintenance windows? Yes. The current maintenance window is a four hour period from 0000 – 0400 (this time window will be based on the time zone of the AWS region where your WorkSpaces are located) each Sunday morning. During this time your WorkSpaces may not be available. The maintenance window is currently not configurable.

Overall, the experience on the iPad is good and the client is very responsive. I was using my iPad at a Starbucks and the experience was pretty good over the WiFi. I played a few YouTube videos and the sound was fine.

Let me know on Twitter if there is anything you would like me to test out for you, so far this system rocks!

Looking for another way to run your Windows 7 desktops? AWS offers you a way to access your desktop on any device with AWS WorkSpaces.

You can now run a Windows 7 desktop from the AWS cloud using laptops, iPad, Kindle Fire, or Android tablets.

In late March Amazon Web Services released their desktop-as-a-Service – AWS WorkSpaces. For those that are unaware, AWS WorkSpaces offers you a cloud-based desktop experience. This desktop can be accessed by any device you wish, including laptops, iPad, Kindle Fire, or Android tablets.

You have the option of selecting different hardware and software WorkSpaces bundles, that range from standard, which is starts at 35 dollars per month to performance plus which is priced at 75 dollars per month. It’s also good to see that you can install your own software any time you want.

One thing to keep in mind is that all WorkSpaces Bundles provide the Windows 7 experience to users (provided by Windows Server 2008 R2 with RDS). One of the more interesting features, is that you can integrate your virtual desktop with your on-premises Active Directory.

Glancing at the FAQs, it stats that an admin can lockdown a workstation using group policies, which is pretty cool. Here is an excerpt.

Q: Once users connect to their WorkSpace can they personalize it with their favorite settings? An administrator can control what a user can personalize in their WorkSpace. By default, users can personalize their WorkSpaces with their favorite settings for items such as wallpaper, icons, shortcuts, etc. These settings will be saved and persist until a user changes them. If an administrator wishes to lock down a WorkSpace using tools like Group Policy, this will restrict a user’s ability to personalize their WorkSpaces.

Getting Started

The initial desktop setup is very easy and I expect, would be completed by the admin in your organization. I will go through a quick setup, just to get a handle on how easy it is to provision a desktop. I will have another blog post outlining how to connect your virtual desktop to your on-premises Active Directory – stay tuned.

The one good thing is the users of the desktops don’t need a AWS account, the admin does the initial provisioning. In my case its just one user – me.

Login with your AWS account, and select WorkSpaces.

You are then presented with the AWS WorkSpaces console, click the getting started button.

Select your option – the quick setup will get you up and running in no time, the advanced setup provides you with the ability to connect to your on-premises Active Directory.

You now select the WorkSpace bundle you are interested in, I went with the standard bundle. As well, this is where you enter user details. You can add as many users as you like. When your done, select the blue Provision WorkSpaces button in the lower right hand side.

At this point your workstation is being prepared for you. This will take about 20 minutes to complete. You can view the status of the build by clicking the blue button – View the Workspace Console in the lower right hand side.

Here is a look at the WorkSpace console, as your virtual desktop is being prepared.

Once your desktop is ready, you will get an email outlining a few additional steps that need to be completed. You will be asked to complete your user profile and download a WorkSpace client, as well as launch the Client and enter your registration code, and finally launch your desktop.

The following screen shots outline the process. Once you get your email, click the user profile link and you are asked to create a password.

Then you are sent over to download your client software, I am using a mac, so I downloaded the mac version.

Then you are asked to enter your registration code, which is in your email.

An finally here it is, you are asked to log into your virtual desktop.

And bingo-bango here is your Desktop-as-a-Service – AWS WorkSpaces.

I have to say, its pretty snappy.

Well I hope the screen shots were helpful, the overall process did not take very long. The longest part was waiting for the desktop to be built (10-20 minutes at the most). That’s a lot quicker than some internal IT departments.

One thing I noticed was how snappy and responsive the desktop is. Its almost like having a real desktop in the office. Now I just might be in a good zone, but its really nice.

Overall, it was easy to setup and at the moment seems pretty slick. Stay tuned for my future posts as I work with service, if there is something you would like me to test, just let me know on Twitter and thanks for reading!

I’m a big fan of the Chrome browser and its variety of extensions and apps. I also use Chrome on multiple computers, so it’s great that once you are logged into Chrome those apps\extension will follow you around. Here are five apps\extensions that I use daily that have improved my workflow and I hope yours too.

Any.do – extension

The first extension is Any.do – its my task management tool. For those people familiar with David  Allen’s Getting Things Done model, this extension fills the bill, it  also integrates with gmail and is available on different platforms. This is a great way to keep all your to-dos in sync.

Bitly – extension

I collect a lot of links and one way I do this with Bitly. They make it easy to save and share any web page, right from your  browser. I really like the feature – Receive pop-up notifications when  one of your bitmarks get a lot of clicks, although I can’t say I’ve seen this happen too often.

Instapaper – extension

Part of my workflow when browsing the web, so to save a website for reading later. Instapaper is a simple tool for saving web pages to read later on your iPhone, iPad, Android, computer, or Kindle. One-click and you’re done, then later that night I start my reading on my iPad.

Chrome Remote Desktop – App

Ever been on a mac, and need remote desktop access to a Windows PC or Server and don’t have access to RDP software? Don’t worry, the Chrome Remote Desktop – App is your ace in the hole. Right from your browser, you can RDP to any windows machine. This might come in handy, especially with the holidays here and family asking for remote support (You know who you are).

Gliffy Diagrams – App

Ever need to put together a diagram quickly, and don’t have Microsoft Visio installed. You can create professional-looking diagrams and flowcharts quickly and easily and include them in Google Docs, presentations, wikis or web pages now you can with Gliffy.

I hope you find something new here, if there are any Chrome apps or extensions that you can’t live without, let me know on Twitter, and let’s make 2014 a productive year.