SunRay: VDI Out of This World!

SunRay: VDI Out of This World!

The SunRay Thin Clients can be used anywhere, even off the face of the earth, while traveling in airplanes!

This snapshot of the thin client functioning on an airplane tray is pretty amazing!

Thin Clients: Partnering With IBM or Sun/Oracle

Introduction:
IBM basically invented the idea of the mainframe and terminals. Over the years, the rise of the mid-range gave an affordable alternative to mainframes and terminals. The Personal Computer, made popular in businesses by IBM, was originally considered a more flexible terminal, but started to become heavier with the advent of client-server computing, eventually eating away at the mid-range market. The technical workstation, designed to bring more powerful computing power for the desktop in an open architecture, was eventually replaced by the Personal Computer and Thin Client. With more computing infrastructure becoming virtualized, there is a heavy movement toward Thin Clients, but IBM is having difficulty partnering fairly.


Devon IT and IBM:
IBM partnered with Devon IT to provide a Thin Client solution for their blade servers. After IBM provided inflated numbers on two occasions to Devon IT, requested Devon IT for money in conjunction with development resources, Devon IT borrowed cash from a third-party two times to supply the cash with development, and IBM canned the project somewhere in the middle - the failed joint effort resulted in a lawsuit.


IBM iDataPlex, ClientPlex, and Devon TC5:
IBM is the RICO Defendant in this case. The case goes on, reading like a conspiracy in a modern history encyclopedia, but Line 67 is really difficult to get past, if true:

67. The RICO Defendants solicited and accepted a wire transfer payment of
$3,000,000 from Devon on March 1, 2008 under the iDataPlex Agreement after the Blade Project had been cancelled but before Devon was advised of the cancellation. Upon information and belief, the RICO Defendants did not advise Devon of the cancellation of the Blade Project until April, 2008 to ensure that the RICO Defendants and STG would receive the $3,000,000 development payment in March, 2008.

iDataPlex Agreement Restructure:
After Devon was abused by the previous agreement, Devon started the process of trying to get their money back through an IBM suggested restructuring:

101. ...According to Meyerson, expected sales would be at least 100,000 planars per quarter with a likelihood of more than 500,000 planar sales per quarter. Additionally, Meyerson represented that the part numbers would be readily available world-wide.
102. Ultimately, Meyerson agreed that IBM would pay Devon AD $100 per planar
sold through the second quarter of 2010, and $10 per planar thereafter until 2013 with certain specified caps that would set the total royalty at $9,100,000 through the second quarter of 2010 and at $14,700,000 through the fourth quarter of 2013. See Exhibit “G” at § 19.1.
103. Meyerson explained that the royalty stream of $100 per planar through the second quarter of 2010 was intended to return to Devon the $8 million that had been invested in the iDataPlex Project, plus reasonable interest. Meyerson characterized the revenue stream from the proposed restructuring of the iDataPlex Agreement as an “underhand pitch.” Upon information and belief, Meyerson agreed that IBM would return the $8 million owed to Devon with the restructuring of the iDataPlex Agreement as part of the unlawful accounting scheme identified and described in Paragraphs 1 - 6, 69 - 72.
104. On information and belief, Meyerson knew at the time of the negotiation of the
Restructured Agreements that Devon would not receive the IBM part numbers he had promised, that the information and estimates he provided regarding future royalties were inaccurate, and that Devon would not have agreed to the Restructured Agreements if he had truthfully disclosed the situation.

IBM iDataPlex Agreement Addendum:
IBM and Devon had an agreement that IBM would not market another Thin Client. After taking Devon's money, IBM went ahead and broke that agreement, as well.

106. Importantly, pursuant to the Addenda, STG, IBM’s hardware division, is
expressly prohibited until December 31, 2010 from, among other things, proactively enabling thin client hardware products which are “similar or reasonably equivalent in function to Devon’s TC-5 and/or TC-2 product…” See Exhibit “H” at § 2.0; Exhibit “I” at § 2.0.
107. Following the execution of the Addenda, upon information and belief, STG began
proactively enabling a very similar thin client hardware product developed by Wyse Technology (“Wyse”) in clear breach of STG’s obligations under the Addenda. STG’s breach and improper marketing of Wyse’s thin client terminal has undermined the competitive edge the Addenda were intended to give Devon’s TC5 and TC2 products.

Devon Co-Opted to Fund IBM Marketing Wyse:
What is even more unbelievable, IBM took money for marketing Devon products to promote a competitor's product, in breech of contract!

112. As further evidence of the depth of the IBM’s betrayal, in late August and early
September of 2009, Guevarez attended the VMWorld conference at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, California to promote Devon’s thin-client product. Devon incurred all the costs for Guevarez to attend this event on its behalf. However, instead of promoting Devon’s interests and products at the conference, Guevarez secretly created a marketing video with Maryam Alexandrian-Adams (“Adams”), Senior Vice President Worldwide Sales and Channels for Wyse, actively promoting Wyse’s partnership with the STG division and, more importantly, marketing and proactively enabling Wyse’s thin-client product, all in breach of IBM’s contracts with
Devon. The video is posted at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYCwr27pko4 .

Agreement Restructure with IBM Unilateral Cancellation:
IBM promised the assignment of an OEM part number with royalties and promptly canceled the product upon agreement signature.

116. During the negotiations surrounding the Restructured Agreements, specifically
throughout June of 2008, Meyerson and other IBM employees continued to assure Devon that Devon’s TC5 thin client terminal would be assigned an IBM OEM part number. By having an IBM part number assigned to Devon IT’s thin client, the thin client would be released as a standard product from IBM and would have immediate name recognition and credibility in the market place by virtue of its association with IBM.
117. It was critical to the business of Devon IT that IBM follow through on its
assurance to OEM the TC5, and Devon relied on the representations that IBM would do so in entering into the Restructured Agreements.
118. However, promptly after Devon entered into the Restructured Agreements with
IBM and without consulting Devon, the RICO Defendants advised Devon that it had cancelled plans to assign the TC5 an OEM number

IBM Offers & Breaks Another Thin-Client Agreement:
After breaking the OEM Thin Client agreement, IBM agreed to market the Thin Client under a different program to make it more price competitive, but broke that agreement as well.

119. Instead of assigning the TC5 an OEM part number as originally promised,
Meyerson advised Devon that the TC5 instead would be marketed through IBM’s vlh program. According to Meyerson, Devon would enjoy greater monetary benefits through the vlh program than had IBM assigned TC5 an OEM part number because IBM would only mark up the sale price of the TC5 by only 5 - 10%, a much lower mark up than the mark up that would be made if the TC5 were assigned an OEM part number.
...
122. However, despite the representations from Meyerson that Devon’s TC5 would be marketed at a competitive price, the RICO Defendants proceeded to mark up the TC5’s sale price by a substantially higher amount than the 5 – 10% than had been represented, thereby making it exceedingly expensive and less appealing to customers.
123. Upon information and belief, had the RICO Defendants assigned an OEM part
number to the TC5 as originally promised, Devon would have likely garnered $900 million from the OEM program.

A Well Established Alternative for Thin Clients:

While IBM had been extracting funding from Thin Client manufacturers to defraud stock investors regarding financial performance and demonstrating very little commitment to the Thin Client market, there has been another vendor who has heavily invested in the Thin Client community: Sun and Oracle.

While IBM was working to put Thin Client vendors out of business by allegedly defrauding them of their money, there are many success stories with SunRay Thin Clients.


Thin-Client Sampling from Sun & Oracle:

There were many thin clients which were made available from Sun, some manufactured by different companies. A sampling from each generations follows:


Sun had produced Thin Clients for internal and external use for over 10 years. The very first SunRay 1 client is still compatible with the existing framework, even though it is over 10 years old. What made this client so attractive was the ability to plug in existing desktop components and give the user the ability to just throw out the PC.


There was also an all-in-one first generation SunRay 170 that was available. Very sleek and stylish. Keep the old keyboard with mouse and dump the monitor and PC.


The second generation SunRay 2 thin client offered additional capabilities such as encryption with the additional horse power on-board while being half the size with half the power consumption.


An ergonomic and slim all-in-one SunRay 270 was also made available.


New to the family was a SunRay 2N laptop! Yes, if it is stolen, there is no fear regarding loss of data. Use it from home, office, or StarBucks with no fears.


After Sun was purchased by Oracle, there was ripe speculation in the industry concerning what would happen to the hardware business in Sun. This was put promptly to rest with the new SunRay 3. This client is incredibly robust, supporting Fiber or Copper networking, with extremely robust dual-DVI monitor support of "up to 2560 x 1600 resolution for a single display or 5120 x 1600 for two displays".


Robust Thin Client Community:
Wikipedia offers a nice summary of the SunRay systems. A robust Thin Client community surrounds Sun and Oracle. The mailing list for a Sun-Ray Users Group is active, with an open mail archive. Sun Ray laptops like the Comet15 were produced by third-party vendors such as Tadpole. Other vendors such as General Dynamics make entire lines of mobile or desktop thin clients.

Network Management:
We always try to take the reader back to the point... what does this have to do with Network Management?

When building out help desks and network operation centers, the sensible way to manage these facilities is leveraging thin clients. Low paid help desk workers should never have the ability to take intellectual property home from a PC using simple disks, usb sticks, or email. High paid network operation center workers have access to critical data regarding a companies operations and this type of data should also be protected. In both of these environments, the crash or virus on a PC means a loss in productivity, which can be avoided through a simple thin client hardware swap.

There is no better way to build out a secure Network Operations Center than to leverage SunRay Thin Clients.

Conclusion:
As virtualization continues to increase and move powerful clients appear in the market desiring to access data on the internet, Thin Client usage will continue to grow. The SunRay is a stable environment to grow upon, holding an excellent track record for over a decade.

New Sun Ray 3 Thin Client

New Sun Ray 3 Thin Client

Abstract:
Sun had traditionally been a workstation company, who had moved to servers, and then migrated to thinner clients. Thin Clients have been based occasionally upgraded. Since the acquisition of Sun by Oracle, the latest thin client had been released.

The Sun Ray 3:
Several blogs (MapleDesk, ThinkThin) have talked about the new thin client. There is also a posting to the Oracle/Sun Web Site comparing the new thin client against the other clients.



The front has audio input/output connectors, 2 USB jacks, while the rear panel has dual monitor support, 2 more USB jacks, Gigabit Etherrnet, and even a 9 pin serial port!


You can see what the new Sun Ray 3 Plus Thin Client look like, when it is unboxed.

Where's The Media?

What is extremely odd to me is the silence from the media. For example, The Register covers thin clients from vendors like Microsoft, but has been completely silent on the latest release.

Network Management Implications

The dual-monitor 2560x1600 support is an excellent opportunity to display high resolutions maps and consoles to large monitors in a NOC.

The 9 pin serial could provide a means to configure routers, switches, and other embedded systems from the thin client.

Why would it need gigabit ethernet? Honestly, the thin client would never need that much throughput. It could reduce latency and make the GUI feel more snappy in an environment where there is tremendous pressure for performance.

The SMARTS Card provides an extremely robust hard security mechanism so only NOC personnel can use the terminals while standard username/password combinations can still be used to access the applications.

Hot-Desking remains a great feature - the removal of a card at a particular NOC station means the desktop can move from one location to another location without the time cost of restarting the applications.

Connecting SMARTBoard to a SunRay

Connecting SMARTBoard to a SunRay

Introduction:
Have you spoken to teachers who complain about getting their work done in the classroom when the school provided computer breaks down and there is no simple way for the teacher to fix it within the time allotted when attendance has to be taken in home room and submitted before 1st period? How about trying to do a lesson and having the smart board or computer break down?

A SunRay UltraThin Client is the way to go in these demanding environments where 100% uptime is really needed in these rigid time-demanding environments.

Watching it Work:

No need for a teacher to have to worry about anything, just plug it in and watch it work. If the SMARTBoard breaks, plug in a another one. If the SunRay breaks, just plug in another one. OK - this is really awesome... Thanks WerkPlek!

YouTube Video

"Video shows how we installed and configured a Sun Ray DTU with a SMARTboard in a classroom. A digital blackboard (this one is white :-) is very popular today at schools."

The Sun VDI is a flexible architecture with many possible options to plug in.


Sun VDI:

• http://wikis.sun.com/display/VDI3/About+VDI

SMARTboard:

• http://smarttech.com/

Sun Ray Server Software 5 (4.2) Solaris Installation

SunRay Server Software 5 (4.2) Solaris Installation

Abstract:

SUN, whose stock ticker was called "SUNW" had traditionally been a desktop company. In 1982, SUN started marketing "W"orkstations, which were full fledged UNIX systems on the desktop, where those desktops ran everything from desktop applications to mail servers. Sun gradually become more server oriented during the 1990's with the expansion of the Internet, moving toward thin clients with the original SunRay1 in 1998. When Sun's computers were moving to UltraSPARC processors, their desktop solution was sensibly called "Ultra-Thin" clients (hence, the commands start with "ut" mnemonic) because very little processing was required on the desktop and most processing occurred on the server. A SPARC server can support multiple "Utra-Thin", or now called "Sun Ray" clients, using a simple modern Solaris OS in conjunction with SRSS 5 or Sun Ray Server Software.

Prerequisites:

This document describes the use of Sun Ray Services under SPARC Solaris. Ensure the following has been done:

• The srss_4.2 software has been unzipped to /tmp
• The 64 bit upgrade to the 32 bit version of jdk1.6 is installed.
• Apache Tomcat has been un-gtar-ed into /opt

PreInstallation:

Verify the version of Java on the platform is sufficient and upgrade if not.

V100/root$ java -version
java version "1.5.0_20"
Java(TM) 2 Runtime Environment, Standard Edition (build 1.5.0_20-b02)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 1.5.0_20-b02, mixed mode, sharing)

V100/root$ cd /usr/jdk
V100/root$ sh /var/spool/pkg/jdk-6u18-ea-bin-b04-solaris-sparc-28_oct_2009.sh
...
Do you agree to the above license terms? [yes or no]
yes
Unpacking...
Checksumming...
Extracting...
Archive:
...
Press Enter to continue.....
Done.

V100/root$ cd /usr/jdk
V100/root$ sh /var/spool/pkg/jdk-6u18-ea-bin-b04-solaris-sparcv9-28_oct_2009.sh
Do you agree to the above license terms? [yes or no]
yes
Unpacking...
Checksumming...
Extracting...
Archive:
...
Press Enter to continue.....
Done.

V100/root$ /usr/jdk/jdk1.6.0_18/bin/java -version
java version "1.6.0_18-ea"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_18-ea-b04)
Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM (build 16.0-b11, mixed mode, sharing)

Unzip the Sun Ray Server Software in preparation for installation.

V100/root$ cd /tmp
V100/root$ ls -al srss_4.2_solaris.zip
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 148595750 Jun 3 09:13 srss_4.2_solaris.zip
V100/root$ unzip srss_4.2_solaris.zip
creating...
...
inflating: srss_4.2/.install/admin_default

Add the appropriate services to the /etc/services file.

V100/root$ cd /tmp
V100/root$ ls -al srss_4.2_solaris.zip
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 148595750 Jun 3 09:13 srss_4.2_solaris.zip
V100/root$ unzip srss_4.2_solaris.zip
creating...
...
inflating: srss_4.2/.install/admin_default

Decompress & burst the tomcat archive using GNU tar to help the administrator manage the Sun Ray Server Software via a GUI configuration tool.

V100/root$ cd /tmp/srss_4.2/Supplemental/Apache_Tomcat
V100/root$ gunzip apache-tomcat-5.5.20.tar.gz
V100/root$ cd /opt
V100/root$ /usr/sfw/bin/gtar -xf /var/spool/pkg/srss_4_2/Supplemental/Apache_Tomcat/apache-tomcat-5.5.20.tar
V100/root$ ln -s apache-tomcat-5.5.20 apache-tomcat

Installation:

Perform the Sun Ray Server Software installation.

V100/root$ cd /tmp/srss_4.2
V100/root$ ./utinstall
Sun Microsystems, Inc. ("Sun")
SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT
...
Accept (Y/N): Y
...
Installation of  was successful.
# utinstall   Version: 4.2     Thu Jun  3 10:51:17 EDT 2010
Sun Ray Server Software 4.2              not installed
Sun Ray Data Store 3.2                   not installed
Do you want to install Sun Ray Server Software 4.2 French Admin GUI (Y/[N]): N
Do you want to install Sun Ray Server Software 4.2 Japanese Admin GUI (Y/[N]): N
Do you want to install Sun Ray Server Software 4.2 Simplified Chinese Admin GUI (Y/[N]): N
Kiosk Mode 4.2                           not installed

Enter Java v1.6 (or later) location [/usr/java]: /usr/jdk/jdk1.6.0_18

About to carry out the following operations:
Install  [ Sun Ray Server Software 4.2 ]
Install  [ Sun Ray Data Store 3.2 ]
Install  [ Sun Ray Server Software 4.2  ]
Install  [ Kiosk Mode 4.2 ]
Install  [ Kiosk Mode 4.2 localized files ]
Install  [ data for utslaunch ]
Install  [ Sun Ray Server Software 4.2 modules for utsunmc ]
Install  [ Service Tags 1.1 ]

Continue? ([Y]/N): Y

Installing Sun Ray Server Software version 4.2 ...
...
+++ Done.

Post-Installation:

Prepare environment and Reboot server in order to enable the Sun Ray Server Software.

V100/root$ cat >>/etc/profile \
PATH=$PATH:/opt/SUNWut/sbin
MANPATH=$MANPATH:/opt/SUNWut/man
export PATH MANPATH
!
V100/root$ cd / ; sync ; sync ; init 6

Configuring a Shared LAN

Configuring SunRay Services on a shared LAN allow for Ultra-Thin clients to be used on a non-dedicated interconnect. This is helpful in a DHCP environment where the server hosting the Sun Ray Server Software is receiving its configuration through DHCP.

To enable shared LAN connections:

# utadm -L on

Restart server:
# utrestart

The Sun Ray terminals, configured to use DHCP by default, should automatically receive a prompt. The Sun Ray Ultra Thin terminals will locate the Sun Ray Server via multicast. If any terminals are not receiving a prompt, they can be reset via a CNTRL-A.

Configuring a Private Interconnect

A private interconnect is preferred to ensure that the Ultra Thin terminals are receiving the proper quality of service over the network. For systems with a large number of terminals, this (more complex) configuration is preferable.

If the server will have a dedicated interconnect, select a network such as "192.168.2.0/24", and a new physical port to serve DHCP such as "hme1".

# utadm -a hme1

Selected values for interface "hme1"

host address: 192.168.2.252
net mask: 255.255.255.0
net address: 192.168.2.0
host name: Ultra2-hme1
net name: SunRay-hme1
first unit address: 192.168.2.50
last unit address: 192.168.2.99
auth server list: 192.168.2.252
firmware server: 192.168.2.252
router: 192.168.2.252

DHCP running on HME1? (Y)

Configuring the Sunray Server GUI Admin Software

V100/root# utconfig
...
Continue ([y]/n)? y
Enter Sun Ray admin password:
Re-enter Sun Ray admin password:
Enter Apache Tomcat installation directory [/opt/apache-tomcat]:
Enter HTTP port number [1660]:
Enable secure connections? ([y]/n)?
Enter HTTPS port number [1661]:
Enter Tomcat process username [utwww]:
Enable remote server administration? (y/[n])? y
Configure Sun Ray Kiosk Mode? (y/[n])?
Configure this server for a failover group? (y/[n])?

About to configure the following software products:

Sun Ray Data Store 3.2
Hostname: V100
Sun Ray root entry: o=utdata
Sun Ray root name: utdata
Sun Ray utdata admin password: (not shown)
SRDS 'rootdn': cn=admin,o=utdata

Sun Ray Web Administration hosted at Apache Tomcat/5.5.20
Apache Tomcat installation directory: /opt/apache-tomcat
HTTP port number: 1660
HTTPS port number: 1661
Tomcat process username: utwww
Remote server administration: Enabled

Sun Ray Server Software 4.2
Failover group: no
Sun Ray Kiosk Mode: no

Continue ([y]/n)? y

Updating Sun Ray Data Store schema ...
Updating Sun Ray Data Store ACL's ...
Creating Sun Ray Data Store ...

Restarting Sun Ray Data Store ...
Starting Sun Ray Data Store daemon .Jun 3 13:52:54 V100 utdsd[3537]: utdsd starting

Thu Jun 3 13:52 : utdsd starting

Loading Sun Ray Data Store ...

Executing '/usr/bin/ldapadd -p 7012 -D cn=admin,o=utdata' ...
adding new entry o=utdata
adding new entry o=v1,o=utdata
adding new entry utname=V100,o=v1,o=utdata
adding new entry utname=desktops,utname=V100,o=v1,o=utdata
adding new entry utname=users,utname=V100,o=v1,o=utdata
adding new entry utname=logicalTokens,utname=V100,o=v1,o=utdata
adding new entry utname=rawTokens,utname=V100,o=v1,o=utdata
adding new entry utname=multihead,utname=V100,o=v1,o=utdata
adding new entry utname=container,utname=V100,o=v1,o=utdata
adding new entry utname=properties,utname=V100,o=v1,o=utdata
adding new entry cn=utadmin,utname=V100,o=v1,o=utdata
adding new entry utname=smartCards,utname=V100,o=v1,o=utdata
adding new entry utordername=probeorder,utname=smartCards,utname=V100,o=v1,o=utdata
adding new entry utname=policy,utname=V100,o=v1,o=utdata
adding new entry utname=resDefs,utname=V100,o=v1,o=utdata
adding new entry utname=prefs,utname=V100,o=v1,o=utdata
adding new entry utPrefType=resolution,utname=prefs,utname=V100,o=v1,o=utdata
adding new entry utPrefClass=advisory,utPrefType=resolution,utname=prefs,utname=V100,o=v1,o=utdata

Added 18 new LDAP entries.

Creating Sun Ray Server Software Configuration ...
Adding user account for 'utwww' (ut admin web server user) ...done
Adding user account for 'utwww' (ut admin web server user) ...done
Starting Sun Ray Web Administration...
See /var/opt/SUNWut/log/utwebadmin.log for server logging information.

Unique "/etc/opt/SUNWut/gmSignature" has been generated.

Restarting Sun Ray Data Store ...
Stopping Sun Ray Data Store daemon
Jun 3 13:53:20 V100 utdsd[3537]: utdsd got shutdown signal
Sun Ray Data Store daemon stopped
Starting Sun Ray Data Store daemon .Jun 3 13:53:23 V100 utdsd[4144]: utdsd starting

Thu Jun 3 13:53 : utdsd starting
Adding user admin ...
User(s) added successfully!

***********************************************************
The current policy has been modified. You must restart the
authentication manager to activate the changes.
***********************************************************

Configuration of Sun Ray Server Software has completed. Please check
the log file, /var/adm/log/utconfig.2010_06_03_13:48:03.log, for errors.

SunRay Firmware Upgrade

To use a SunRay Ultra-Thin client on the WAN, follow these instructions to update to WAN firmware on an individual sunray.

To upgrade the firmware on individual units to the most recent LAN firmware:

# utfwadm -A -f /opt/SUNWut/lib/firmware_gui -e {unit MAC address}
# utquery -d {unit IP address}

Troubleshooting X Windows Configuration

If odd X Windows issues are observed, there are some checks to ensure installed files weren't corrupted:

# diff /usr/dt/config/Xconfig /etc/dt/config/Xconfig
47d46

this is outside of the limits given in the installation guide and will require re-installation

# diff /usr/dt/config/Xservers /etc/dt/config/Xservers
111a112,114

the results for the Xservers test is within acceptable limits, re-installation is only necessary for Xconfig

shutting down all Sunray units
# /etc/init.d/utsvc stop

reinstalling Xconfig
# /bin/cp -p /usr/dt/config/Xconfig /etc/dt/config/Xconfig

reinitializing Sunray units
# /opt/SUNWut/sbin/utrestart -c

Other Steps

Test your access to the SunRay Administration GUI. Enable SDAC access, if the soft-client is planned to be used.

Access Sunray administration GUI

• enable SDAC access
• warm reboot server (through GUI)

Conclusion:

The process for installation of the Sun Ray Server Software is fairly simple, many of the steps are not needed if a DHCP server and command line administration are sufficient.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

UPDATED - 2010-06-16

Added more detail to the installation instructions and abstract.