What is the difference between in-line and management layer Connection Brokers?

Data-path or in-line Connection Brokers are proxies - the remote viewer protocol always passes through the proxy. The advantage is that it is easy to turn access to individual Hosted Desktops on and off. The disadvantage is that the proxy is a single point of failure and and a bottleneck when scaling out a solution.

Examples of in-line solutions include; Citrix, Propero, Provision Networks, and Zeus.

Management layer Connection Brokers manage the session by managing the devices at either end of the connection. This means that access to a particular desktop is managed at the end points rather than the network. The advantage is that once the connection has been made then the Connection Broker is not a bottleneck, nor a point of failure. It also means that in a distributed environment traffic does not have to be tromboned through the Connection Broker Proxy, using up large amounts of WAN bandwidth.

Management layer Connection Brokers include Leostream and Dunes.

How does Leostream's Connection Broker integrate with IBM's Virtual Client Solution (VCS)?

IBM Virtual Client Solution provides a complete solution for deploying Hosted Desktops on IBM Hardware. Leostream's Connection Broker is the recommended VCS Connection Broker, and is tightly integrated with all the components of this solution

How does Citrix's Presentation Server differ from VMware's VDI?

Traditionally Citrix has enabled users to have secure remote access to "published applications". A "published application" is one where the GUI interface is displayed on the user's desktop while the application itself runs on a remote server. The two are connected using Citrix's remote desktop protocol (ICA). Users can have simultaneous access to a number of applications running on different servers simply by clicking on the appropriate application icons within the Citrix ICA client software.

Citrix deals with conflicts between applications using their application isolation technology which makes the application believe it’s running from the location you entered at installation time like “C:\Program Files\Application Name” when in fact the complete application code is actually in “C:\ProgramFiles\Citrix\AIE\Application Name.” A similar process is used to redirect the application’s registry settings. An application installation that would normally create settings in a registry key like “HKLM\Software\Your App Vendor” and “HKCU\Software\Your App Vendor.” Using AIE it’s now redirected to “HKLM\Citrix\AIE\Your App Vendor” and “HKCU\Citrix\AIE\Your App Vendor.” Again AIE makes the application believe its registry keys are in HKLM\Software\Your App Vendor and HKCU\Software\AIE\Your App Vendor.

This can be seen as a limited form of application virtualization. However it does not provide full isolation between applications as the Citrix knowledge article CTX109254 makes clear. Full isolation occurs when each application has its own operating system - hence the need to run Windows XP desktops within virtual machines.

A key benefit of full virtualization is that it enforces resource sharing, so one user does not hog all the system resources. It also allows a user to reboot their environment, or even crash it, without affecting others.

However the big advantage of the Citrix approach it is up to 30% more efficient than full virtualization because it runs only a single copy of the operating system, so only the applications are switched not the operating system plus applications.

How does Leostream differ from Citrix's Dynamic Desktop Initiative (DDI)?

Citrix's DDI is an extension to Citrix's Presentation Server, and allows Windows XP desktops to be proxied through the Presentation Server using Microsoft's RDP remote viewer protocol, then the Hosted Desktops are put into Pools, and assigned to users who connect using the Citrix ICA remote viewer to the Presentation Server and then to the Windows Desktop.

Does Leostream support SSL VPNs?

Yes, we support third party SSL VPNs from vendors such as Cisco, Citrix, and Juniper. Gateways that have the ability to auto-forward web traffic to our Connection Broker allow us to integrate the complete solution.

We believe that relying on well established hardware manufacturers keeps us out of the data path and the DMZ - and hence to securely scale to tens of thousands of users without the need for multiple management servers.

Does Leostream require an agent on the hosted desktop operating system?

No.

Why does Leostream distribute the Connection Broker as a Virtual Appliance?

Out of box experience is very important for Leostream - we want our products to be very quick to setup and get running. It helps us because we do not need to include a system engineer with every trial we send out, and it helps you because you can very quickly try out our solution with the minimum of effort.

Does Leostream's Connection Broker handle SSL encryption?

The connection to the Leostream Connection Broker can be encrypted using SSL and digital certificates. As the Connection Broker is a control path not a data path device it does not encrypt the remote desktop traffic. To provide remote desktop access over the Internet you will need to use an SSL or IPsec Firewall with client software. This will encrypt both the Leostream and remote desktop traffic, and as the firewall is hardware based will scale - there are no Leostream setup changes in this situation.

How does Leostream's Connection Broker compare with VMware's VirtualCenter?

The Leostream Connection Broker requires VMware VirtualCenter. VirtualCenter manages the virtualized environment and is used by server administrators. The Connection Broker manages the user environment and is used by the desktop administrators.

Must I use VirtualCenter with Leostream's Connection Broker?

Yes, Leostream relies on VirtualCenter functionality.

Does Leostream's Connection Broker support physical machines?

Yes.

Does Leostream support Hosted Desktops running on Blades?

Yes, Leostream supports Hosted Desktops running on both virtual and physical machines. Physical machines can be contained within a blade chassis.