Many, many "start up" issues resolved by CIT. Use was from December 2014, through August 2016. Here is a partial record of my issues, along with some remaining ones to work through. |
Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016: I have brought to a halt my CIT Desktop Everywhere engagement, which I started 12/16/2014. For over 1.5 years, this service was my primary work platform, with no other computer dedicated to me. A partial record of my issues, most of which CIT resolved, is parked below.
Coordinate with A&S IT to ensure the right people are doing the right work:
How many simultaneous connections? If I'm logged in at work (Dell Wyse), can I log in from home (browser)?
In MS Outlook, I set that the "Delete" button would show on any message I compose.
NetID credentials retention: Confirm it's happening, by others.
What is the lowest level of processing the thin client needs?
Try out NoTouch Desktop software (Per seat: ~$32 + $6-7/yr).
Try out Creative Cloud software
Per phone conversation with Jeff, 2 people (myself included) reported this problem last week.
-----Original Message-----
From: Cornell Information Technologies (CIT) [itservicedesk]
Sent: Thursday, April 28, 2016 10:16 AM
To: Oliver B. Habicht <oh10>
Subject: INC000001659658 Slowness in VDI: A recent, negative change
We believe this particular issue was due to an issue with a Microsoft patch (Update for Microsoft Outlook 2013 (KB3114941)). While we attempt to secure our VDI environment by installing all relevant software patches, we must rely on Microsoft and other vendors to do aggressive testing prior to releasing software updates.
The weekly VDI recompose process is lengthy and our maintenance timeline is short. We were able to remove this update after we received notification from Microsoft, but it had been deployed in our VDI image. We had to balance interrupting the VDI service for all users vs. inconveniencing a few users.
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From: Oliver B. Habicht
Sent: Thursday, April 28, 2016 9:29 AM
To: Cornell IT Service Desk <itservicedesk@cornell.edu>
Subject: RE: INC000001659658 Slowness in VDI: A recent, negative change
Jeff,
Thank you for writing. The rubber-banding of textual inputting and other related slowness was not evident this week (3+ days, now).
Did you determine what it may have been, in order to prevent or address future symptoms like this? Has that scope been determined?
Is there monitoring put into place to detect this kind of problem so end-users are not the first having to report it? (Most won't, based on my experience.) A good way to monitor such a service is for service provider staff members to "live" in the service which can at least confirm that what I experienced may have just been restricted to my virtual instance rather than a system-wide issue (scope of problem)
I am no longer seeing the problem so, from my narrow perspective, as a single end-user, you can close this ticket. But I would appreciate knowing the answers to the above questions, moving forwards. Thank you, -Oliver.
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I am reporting periodic, frequent slowness in my VDI. Please restore the performance to what it was!
Some symptoms:
This is a significant change in service. I have been “living” in CIT’s Desktop Everywhere VDI service (for a year or so now?) and I have not run into these (frustrating!) conditions. What has changed?
I have an “ideal” VDI set-up: Dell Wyse All-In-One on Cat-6 network.
In Chrome, plug-in won't load ("Can't load plugin") so video at BBC site won't work. Ex:
In Firefox and IE, plug-in is fine. And once loaded, one discovers it is the Adobe Flash plug-in.
Any considerations on getting the Outlook working in VDI better, and closer to what experiences on a normal desktop?
Examples:
When marking an email message as junk, one gets this dialog box:
Also, because caching is turned off, search within Outlook is useless. I must go to Office 365 (web) to search my email, which then takes me out of my desktop email client and is not as efficient.
Why these limitations matter, regardless of the technical or storage challenges they present to the VDI service:
These issues seem really important to address since email is a large part of what many people at work use a computer for, Any interference with effectively using email makes it really hard to recommend VDI as a production environment for staff or faculty. This is especially true for "core" client capabilities as preventing junk filtering, or preventing searching.
Why is this product not serialized? It had been working just fine, before.
Answer: This sometimes happens. Restarting VDI session only known way to fix the problem.
Also, first time launching Acrobat after a restart produced (always produces?) this error:
Acrobat doesn't launch after dismissing error. However, trying same thing again launches Acrobat, with no errors.
Multiple locations and creation of multiple associated support directories:
What that causes to be seen within "Favorites":
And the reported failures from today's syncing (10/19/15), even after a "Repair" invoked:
Did recommended aggressive "cleaning" (see Remedy ticket for details).
Oliver's situation, and his VDI Office/ Groove (prior tech. name for OneDrive):
Office version, in VDI:
OneDrive (Groove.exe) version, in VDI:
And a OneDrive anomaly in Oliver's Office365 interface in which OneDrive is not pinable, but otherwise completely usable via the web:
"Pin to nave bar" is red and not selectable. It is selectable, and does pin to the nav bar, for Michael and Roger.
I reused ticket number INC000001364135, "INC000001364135 -VDI tweaking: Box Edit still not working."
Although the Box Edit seems to be running ,it doesn't seem to work at all.
That is, within the Box.com site, it's as if Box Edit is not installed. Thus documents can't be edited within the site. Must instead old-school it and downloaded the document, edit it locally, and round-trip it back to the site.
Notes: Box Edit no longer states an error when starting up on Windows log-in as it was doing in the past (below). And the icon shows up in the task bar, bottom right.
When I use Box Edit from a Windows non-VDI system, the tested file edits just fine within MS Word, saving directly to Box.com without needing to do the whole round-tripping thing.
I reused ticket number INC000001364135.
Not fixed, but getting closer. I can now get to the base Linux OS's System Information at the log-in dialog. That contains some helpful info, but provides no controls.
Once a VDI session is connected, one can press a key combination to get to the base Linux OS with more options/ controls:
I ensured I got the most current config (*.ini) by booting the thin client from a CIT DHCP network.
Oddly, one can't get to those controls from the log-in dialog. (That is, the CTRL+ALT+DOWN ARROW does nothing at the log-in screen,) Not good, since should not have to have a running VDI session to access controls of the base OS, including ones to start a new session!
Access include System Information (duh!), System Settings, and Home. But other options are grayed out since I’m not Admin.
What is the Admin name and Password? Or, is that giving me too many keys, if the same across Desktop Everywheare? I don’t like being locked out of my own hardware, naturally.
Workaround I found involved pulling the network cable on boot-up. That's not ideal. Instead, want to be able to do within the base Linux OS, as I used to be able to do with this system before getting CIT's *.ini configuration.
5/14/15Thur: Update from Oliver's testing, reported to Keene today:
Update from later that day:
It is installed and set to auto-start on boot up. Here's the error message:
Since VDI's local file storage is limited, may not be a good idea to have a local Box.com sync folder.
However, Box Edit may be "good enough" to facilitate using files within my CU-based Box.com account.
Friday morning, 5/8/15, with KeeneS:
I can see anyone’s files within our file share, such all directories here:
\\files.cornell.edu\as\chm\Users
I’m using my basic <oh10> account to log in (the only one I’m paying for within CIT’s VDI service); nothing special.
We have verified that permissions on the above directories are correct. Indeed, on any other Windows computer, permissions are respected. Thus I suspect the CIT VDI instance is giving me elevated privileges to my account in an unintended way.
More details: I just tested more directories and I can seem to see into any directory below <\as\chm\> AND everywhere below <\as\PHY\>. However, one level above those <\as\>, I was not able to get to other directories I tested at that level, FWIW.
To clarify: My basic <oh10> AD account should not get broad access to either of the Chm or Phy levels, even though my IT group supports both Chemistry and Physics. And I confirmed I cannot get access to them when using my <oh10> account from within other Windows systems, other than CIT’s VDI.
In this case, my directories are on a file server provisioned by A&S IT, a service used to support A&S staff and admin-related services.
Why I think this is critical: We need to trust file shares will respect the permissions set on directories and files and thus are capable of holding data which is designated NOT to be shared. When that trust is compromised the value of the file share service is severely compromised. This can lead staff to find alternative locations for data (such as performance reviews and salaries), perhaps using places not very "good" from an institutional perspective, even as they may nominally seem to meet a staff member's own needs.
Friday morning, 5/8/15, with KeeneS:
Have someone inform webcam of evolved expectations.
Pertains to all of the campus's views:
https://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/about/campusview.html
Details:
Java Plug-in 10.79.2.15
Using JRE version 1.7.0_79-b15 Java HotSpot(TM) Client VM
User home directory = C:\Users\oh10
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Any virtual application will require the Desktop Everywhere staff to update it specially.
Quest server was upgraded over the weekend. By Monday morning (4/20/15), the Quest client was not updated so access to service via fat client not possible:
Friday morning, 5/8/15, with KeeneS:
A properly configured file share short-cut fails to work, per dialog presented below. And default of the dialog is to remove the short-cut- ouch!
Friday morning, 5/8/15, with KeeneS:
Issue 3, below, can only be solved with boot-up scripts because of where date regarding default printer is stored.
Keeps to WebEx Document Loader. See below in the "Doesn't retain settings" section for screenshot.
Data:
| Date | Note |
|---|---|
| 7/6/15 | Reverted again to WebEx Document Loader. I moved it back to Dell color printer. It's been a while since this has happened, but since it did again happen, starting up this log. |
Can't see USB storage device at all. Simple USB flash, 64MB from Dell.
iPhone plugged in by USB (to charge it) is recognized by the computer.
Friday morning, 5/8/15, with KeeneS:
Friday morning, 5/8/15, with KeeneS:
Camera only works when object placed an inch or less from the lens. (Tested with Skype.) Won't detect or refresh otherwise. Odd!
CIT's VDI service permits user to download MS updates. But naturally if you do, they get wiped out when you next reboot. Why permit? Maybe useful to get updates which don't require a reboot, I suppose.
CIT's service's pricing:
Amazon Web Service (AWS) offers a similar service (WorkSpaces), for about 5 times the cost (as of 3/2015):
Teradici’s PC-over-IP (PCoIP) technology nominally affords the best performance. CIT (and AWS) offers PCoIP on its hosting infrastructure. Clients have to have this licensed technology to use it, and it is not available on Raspberry Pi-type devices.