Thursday 31 July 2014

ARMv8 compliant 64-bit Server

  • 18x Front-loaded Computing Blades in 4U (H176mm x W440mm x D650mm)
  • Server Blade Spec

·          

    • SSI uModule v1.0 complaint
    • (1) ARMv8 compliant 64-bit SoC /blade
    • (2) DDR3 DIMM slots, and (2) 2.5” SATA 3.0 HDD support
    • (1) 10G SFP+ and (1) GbE port
    • IPMI V2.0 compliant
  • Pass-through Ethernet Module
  • Chassis Management
  • Hot-swap FAN and (2+1) RPSU support

 

ARM architecture

PCoIP Protocol

Teradici

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Teradici, Inc.

Type

Private

Industry

Computer software, Computer hardware

Founded

B.C., Canada, 2004

Founder(s)

Dan Cordingley
Dave Hobbs
Ken Unger
Maher Fahmi

Headquarters

Burnaby, B.C., Canada and Santa Clara, CA, United States

Products

PCoIP Protocol, PCoIP Zero Client SOC, PCoIP Workstation 1:1 Host SOC, APEX 2800 Server Offload, PCoIP Management Console

Employees

200+

Website

www.teradici.com

Teradici is a privately held software company founded in 2004,[1] with head offices in Metropolitan Vancouver, BC and Santa Clara, CA. Teradici initially developed a protocol (PCoIP) for compressing and decompressing images and sound when remotely accessing blade servers, and implemented it in hardware.[2][3] Later, this technology was expanded to thin clients/zero clients[4] for general Virtual Desktop Infrastructure.[5][6] Teradici's protocol and/or hardware is used by HP, Dell-Wyse,[7] Samsung, Amazon Web Services[8] and Fujitsu.[9]

Front shot Teradici PCoIP zero clients. From left to right Tera1, Tera2 (four ports) and Tera2 (two ports)

Contents

History

Teradici was founded in 2004 by Dan Cordingley, Dave Hobbs, Ken Unger and Maher Fahmi.[10][11] It operated in stealth mode until 2007 when they announced their first products, a blade server card and a small hockey puck shaped client, utilizing a Teradici-designed chip which implemented the PCoIP protocol.[12] In 2008, VMware announced it was licensing Teradici's PCoIP protocol. Teradici developed a software implementation of PCoIP, which VMware started shipping in VMware View 4.[13]

Previous Teradici Corporate Logo (circa 2013)

The Teradici name originated from a previous company the founders were incubating. That company's product involved a 100-gigabit datacenter networking device. One-tenth of a tera is a deci, but "Teradeci" didn't roll off the tongue. "Teradici" was unique, sounded better and the domain name was available at the time.[14]

PCoIP Protocol

PC-over-IP (PCoIP) is a proprietary remote display protocol developed by Teradici.[15] The protocol is available in hardware silicon and in software. In 2008, VMware licensed Teradici's PCoIP protocol,[1][16][17] and supports it in VMware Horizon View.[18]

PCoIP is a UDP based protocol that is host rendered, multi-codec and dynamically adaptive. Images rendered on the server are captured as pixels, compressed and encoded and then sent to the client for decryption and decompression. Depending on the image, different codecs are used to encode the pixels sent since techniques to compress video images differ in effectiveness compared to those for text.[15] The protocol also dynamically adapts its encoding based on the available bandwidth. In low bandwidth environments it utilizes lossy compression where a highly compressed image is quickly delivered, followed by additional data to refine that image, a process termed "build to perceptually lossless". The default is to use lossless compression which is used when there is minimal network congestion or when explicitly configured, as might be required for scenarios where image fidelity is more important than conserving bandwidth, e.g. for medical imaging.[19][20]

Products & Solutions

Partner and OEM products

  • PCoIP Zero Client SOC (System on a Chip): SOC for OEM's to implement Zero clients either with the Teradici-developed Tera1 or Tera2[21] silicon, which implement the PCoIP protocol.

Rear shot Teradici PCoIP zero clients. From left to right Tera1, Tera2 (four DVI ports) and Tera2 (two DVI ports)

  • PCoIP Workstation 1:1 host SOC (System on a Chip): An SOC allowing an OEM to implement a PCIe card which plugs into a workstation (typically a blade computer), allowing it to be remoted and controlled by a client device, either a PCoIP Zero Client or PCoIP Software Client. The connection is 1:1, meaning one host system to one remote user, it is not virtualized or shared and can capture the output from a GPU for full HD and 2K remoting along with redirecting audio and USB peripherals.
  • PCoIP software clients: Software implementation of the PCoIP protocol for flexible client device support. Select OEM's include this in their products for x86 and ARM based thin clients. This is also the basis for the VMware and AWS Amazon Workspaces[22] software clients for Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android which use Teradici developed core PCoIP protocol and decoding technology.

Direct Products

  • Teradici APEX 2800 server offload card: A PCIe coprocessor board to offload the compression and encryption of graphics and audio to and from PCoIP based clients.[23]
  • PCoIP management console: A web-based management tool for administrative control of PCoIP devices from a central console.

Relationship with VMware

In 2008 VMware licensed Teradici's PCoIP protocol,[1][16][17] and supports it in VMware Horizon View.[18]

Relationship with Amazon

In 2013 Amazon licensed the PCoIP protocol for use in AWS Amazon Workspaces.[8][22][24][25][26][27][28]

 

Monday 28 July 2014

Patch Windows 2008 Terminal Server to allow more than 2 concurrent sessions

Patch Windows 2008 Terminal Server to allow more than 2 concurrent sessions

Well it took some time but I patched Terminal Server for Windows 2008 to allow unlimited sessions in Remote Administration mode.

This patch is for 32 bit English version. In order to install it you need to perform the steps below. Before you start please check if using this patch is allowed according to your country’s law and your license agreement.

  • Install v-patch
  • From the vpatch directory launch vpatchprompt.exe
  • vpatchprompt will ask you for the following files:
    - Patch file (the .pat file).
    - Source file (termsrv.dll).
    - Destination file (the patched termsrv.dll).
  • Stop the “Terminal Services” service.
  • Take ownership of c:\windows\system32\Termsrv.dll
  • Give Administators full control of this file and rename it to Termsrv.dll.old
  • Place the patched file in the system32 folder
  • Restart “Terminal Services” service

LINK - http://www.tibed.net/vpatch/

 

 

Sunday 27 July 2014

How To Allow Multiple Concurrent Users Log In Windows 8/ Windows Server 2012 through Remote Desktop


How To Allow Multiple Concurrent Users Log In Windows 8/ Windows Server 2012 through Remote Desktop

Here is what you get if you are trying to log 2 or more accounts into one Windows 8 machine at the same time:

Basically, it's telling you that you can switch users while still keeping all users' data alive but you can only access one user account at any given time.

But here is a tweaking tool that can alter this setting to literally allow unlimited concurrent user access, through remote desktop connection.

Before you do, create a system restore point or back up termsrv.dll file in c:\windows\system32 folder, just in case something goes wrong along the way.

You will require to download "Windows 8 Patcher.exe" file from net.

Save all your work, and double click the file to launch the patcher, which applies the patch to the termsrv.dll file and automatically restarts your computer in 8 seconds.

All done and ready to rock after the reboot. A fairly simple and painless process.

Now, let's test. I fired up my laptop and launched RDP client twice and was able to connect to this patched Windows 8 computer with two different user accounts I previously set up. It works like a charm.

So what kind of magic this patcher did to make this happen? Basically, it did two things, one to patch the termsrv.dll to allow multi-concurrent users to log in, and one to make two registry changes to allow the TS connection in.

HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\

fDenyTSConnections (DWORD) = 0
fSingleSessionPerUser (DWORD) = 0


Thanks

Sameer Naik

Microsoft Certified System Engineer

MCSE ID # 3310894 | 7747203


Thursday 24 July 2014

The pros and cons of tower, rack, and blade servers

The pros and cons of tower, rack, and blade servers

There are three main choices when it comes to buying a new server: tower, rack, or blade. Here are some of the pros and cons about each kind of server, as well as some of my experiences with each one.

Tower servers

Tower servers seem dated and look more like desktops than servers, but these servers can pack a punch. In general, if you have a lot of servers, you're probably not using a bunch of tower servers, because they can take up a lot of space and are tough to physically manage since you can't easily stack them on one another. In some cases as organizations grow and move to rack servers, conversion kits can be purchased to turn a tower server into a rack-mount server.

As implied, tower servers are probably found more often in smaller environments than anywhere else, although you might find them in point solutions in larger places.

Tower servers are generally on the lower end price-wise, although they can expand pretty decently and become really expensive.

Tower servers take up a lot of space and require individual monitors, keyboards, and mice or a keyboard, video, mouse (KVM) switch that allows them to be managed with a single set of equipment. In addition, cabling can be no fun, especially if you have a lot of network adapters and other I/O needs. You'll have cables everywhere.

Rack servers

If you run a data center of any reasonable size, you've probably used a lot of industry standard 19" wide rack servers. Sized in Us (which is a single 1.75" rack unit), rack servers can range from 1U "pizza boxes" to 5U, 8U, and more. In general, the bigger the server, the more expansion opportunities are available.

Rack servers are extremely common and make their home inside these racks along with other critical data center equipment such as backup batteries, switches, and storage arrays. Rack servers make it easy to keep things neat and orderly since most racks include cable management of some kind. However, rack servers don't really simplify the cabling morass since you still need a lot of cabling to make everything work -- it's just neater. I once worked in a data center in which I had to deploy 42 2U Dell servers into three racks. Each server had to have dual power cables, keyboard, video, and mouse cables and six (yes, six) network cables (six colors with each color denoting a specific network). It was a tough task to keep the cabling under control, to put it mildly. Because everything was racked, there was built-in cable management that made this easier.

Like tower servers, rack servers often need KVM capability in order to be managed, although some organizations simply push a monitor cart around and connect to video and USB ports on the front of the server so that they don't need to worry about KVM.

Rack servers are very expandable; some include 12 or more disks right in the chassis and support for four or more processors, each with multiple cores. In addition, many rack servers support large amounts of RAM, so these devices can be computing powerhouses.

Blade servers

There was a day when buying individual blade servers meant trading expansion possibilities for compactness. Although this is still true to some extent, today's blade servers pack quite a wallop. There is still some truth to the fact that blade servers have expansion challenges when compared to the tower and rack-based options. For example, most tower servers have pretty significant expansion options when it comes to PCI/PCI Express slots and more disk drives. Many blade servers are limited to two to four internal hard drives, although organizations that use blade servers are likely to have shared storage of some kind backing the blade system.

Further, when it comes to I/O expansion options, blade servers are a bit limited by their lack of expansion slots. Some blade servers boast PCI or PCI Express expansion slots, but for most blade servers, expansion is achieved through the use of specially designed expansion cards. In my case, the Dell M600 and M610 blades have three mezzanines. The first mezzanine consists of dual Gigabit Ethernet adapters. The remaining mezzanines are populated based on organizational need. In my case, our blades have a second set of Gigabit Ethernet adapters housed in the second mezzanine and Fibre Channel adapters in the third. If necessary, I could also choose to use mezzanine cards with four ports in some configurations. So, although the blade server doesn't have quite the I/O selection of other server form factors, it's no slouch, either.

When raw computing power and server density is the key drive, blade servers meet the need. For example, in my environment, I have a 10U Dell M1000e blade chassis that can support up to 16 servers. So, each server uses the equivalent of 0.625U of rack space. On top of that, the blade chassis holds four gigabit Ethernet switches and two Fibre Channel switches, so there is additional rack space savings since I don't need to rack mount these devices to support different connectivity options. In addition, the blade chassis has a built-in KVM switch so I don't need to buy a third party and cable it up.

Speaking of cabling, a blade environment generally has much less of it than tower or rack environments since a lot of the connectivity is handled internally. You'll end up with a neater server room as a result.

Another point is adding a new server consists of simply sliding it into an available slot in the chassis. There is no need to rack a new server and deal with a bunch of new cabling. This small size makes heat dissipation a challenge. Blade chassis can put out a lot of heat.

From a cost perspective, blade servers require some initial infrastructure, such as the chassis, so the upfront cost is often higher than for servers of other types.

Bottom line

If you need one or two servers, a tower solution probably makes sense. If you need three to 24 servers or massive scalability, then rack servers are for you. When you go need more than 24 servers, I advise you to consider a blade solution to meet your data center needs.

 

Thanks - Sameer Naik | sameer.naik@live.com

Thursday 3 July 2014

National Crime Records Bureau report ranks Pune 6th in crimes against children

National Crime Records Bureau report ranks Pune 6th in crimes against children

PUNE: The latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 'Crime in India 2013' report has placed the state third in the country in terms of the number of crimes committed against children, with Pune being sixth among the cities. Rape, kidnap and murders, are some of the crimes that have increased in 2013 in Pune as well as the state.

The report shows Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Indore, and
Raipur ahead of Pune in crimes against children.

In 2013, Pune reported as many as 440 cases of crimes against children, Delhi led with 6,124 crimes and Mumbai came in second with 902 cases.

Among the 440 cases, the city registered 126 kidnappings and abductions of children, four exposure and abandonment cases, six child murders and 83 child rape cases. While Delhi, with 658, recorded the highest number of child rapes in 2013, Mumbai followed with 221 and Pune closed in third with 83 child rapes.

In Maharashtra, the total number of crimes committed against children for police investigation, including pending cases from the previous year, was high at 8,652. The state was second only to Uttar Pradesh, where the total number of cases for investigation, including pending cases, stood at 10,735.

However, at the end of 2013, Maharashtra had the highest number of pending cases in comparison to all other states, with 3,686 such cases of crimes against children waiting to be investigated and disposed by the police.

In addition, at 22,262, Maharashtra had the highest number of cases in 2013 for trial in courts, including pending cases from the previous year, in the country.

In the same year, 13 of these were compounded or withdrawn, 119 perpetrators were convicted and 875 acquitted. As many as 21,255 cases are still pending, with Maharashtra being among the states with the highest pendency rate in the country - over 95%, the report showed.

Anuradha Sahasrabuddhe, director of Dnyana Devi Childline, told TOI that a lot of cases of crimes against children get reported in Maharashtra, which may not be the case in more backward states.

"This goes on to show that there is awareness on the illegality and immorality of crime against children here. However, the negative aspect about Maharashtra and Pune is that these are the locations from where many a social movement was born and yet, this state and city seem insensitive to children, which is surprising," she said.

Sahasrabuddhe added that a study should be carried out to get clearer data of the perpetrators of such crimes against children - whether they are from Pune or they are inter-state/intra-state migrants.

Pune leaves Mumbai behind in cyber crime

Pune leaves Mumbai behind in cyber crime

PUNE: The state has acquired the dubious distinction of topping the list for registration of over 900 cyber crime cases, the highest in 2013, statistics from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 'Crime in India 2013' report has said.

Pune showed an increase of 27.6% in cyber crime cases in 2012 when compared to 2011 under the IT Act, 2000. It registered 97 cases, as against 40 by Mumbai, emerging among the six top cities.

However, cyber crime cases registered in Pune under the IPC section decreased significantly, data from the report showed. Thirty-two such cases were registered under the IPC section in 2011 in Pune, which came down to three in 2012, showing a 90% decrease.

A study of the motives in the cases in Pune during 2013 showed seven cases under the 'revenge/ settling scores' category, more than any other city in this section. Around 15 cyber crimes were committed because of greed for money, 12 as pranks (highest among the other cities), 33 for illegal gains, 27 for harassment of women, among others.

Cyber crime expert Kirtar Oza told TOI that the report placed Maharashtra in third place for the crime, after Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, with the highest number of cyber crimes registered under IT Act 2000 during 2013.

"Again in Maharashtra, offences such as hacking using computer systems, forgery and criminal breach of trust) have dominance in both categories of registered cases (IT Act +IPC). Seven per cent of the total cases registered under IT Act in Maharashtra in 2013 were registered in Pune," he said.

The highest number of cases registered in Maharashtra have 'eve teasing and harassment' as the motive.

Another cyber crime expert, Shweta Chawla, said cyber crimes are increasing in Pune because people are casual about intangible security. "They will lock the doors, but not take appropriate measures to secure email accounts and computers. There is an educated section of society that is aware of the existence of cyber crimes and reports such crimes at the very first hint. This translates into an increase in the number of cyber crime cases registered in Pune. Conversely, it does not mean that cyber crimes are decreasing in Pune," she said.