Sleep in today… you’ve got some updates to do tonight!
This is turning into a pretty bad week. Bad enough that I wanted to send you this quick update to make sure you know about it.
Centrinet announces Windows Virtual Desktop Assessment!
Microsoft released the public beta for WVD (Windows Virtual Desktop). In our industry there are periodically game changers and this is one to watch. If you are considering a shift to VDI, O365, hosted cloud or are already using these solutions, you may be wondering how to start.
Your organization may have already benefited from a long-term value-added solution through your on-prem VDI infrastructure and application virtualization to the end point.
Even if significant value has been realized, you have had some of the same underlying issues as most of your peers have had: data center sprawl, costly refreshes, system component incompatibility, lack of resources, cost over-runs, etc.
Well, the solution to these issues is here – VDI 2.0 has arrived. Microsoft has developed a delivery mechanism to provide Windows to your organization as a cloud-based service. Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) will deliver the Windows OS directly from the manufacturer.
Let Centrinet help you assess all of the benefits of moving to VDI 2.0 and Microsoft WVD. Contact us today to start this incredible journey; you can find out more at
Finally! The big news behind FSLogix and WVD!
Many months ago a few of my good friends and former associates at FSLOGIX were part of an acquisition by Microsoft. There was plenty of industry buzz about how they might fit FSLOGIX IP into the Microsoft master plan.
Turn the page to today with Microsoft’s announcement of the public preview of WVD. Centrinet has been planning well in advance of the public preview of WVD. Those of you who know my industry background know that I’m deeply rooted in virtualization and UX. Being in the manufacturer side of app/desktop virtualization, app layering and personalization, I can say with confidence that 2019 will be an exciting year because of what Microsoft is doing in WVD and Azure.
Most of my readers will likely agree, that in most cases, non-persistent virtual desktops are the way to go. But only if you can provide personalization for your users. Enter FSLOGIX!
In the past, you would need a third party profile management solution to provide this functionality to users. 2019 may be the year to re-evaluate those third-party solutions. We still have to wait and see how it unfolds. But if Microsoft stays on the track I see developing it will be compelling. Now Centrinet can align cloud offerings like Azure with on-premise solutions.
Are you ready to start investigating WVD? Check out our WVD Assessment service. My team at Centrinet is ready to help!
Provisioning Services (PVS) and Daylight-Saving Time
With daylight-saving time ends at week’s end (Nov 4 at 2am), we wanted to provide an overview of the issues that can occur with PVS delivered desktops and XenApp servers.
Citrix Netscaler SSL Rating
Is Your Netscaler Leaving Your Network Open To DDoS Attacks Or Other Security Breaches? Centrinet Is Now Offering A Free SSL Grade Rating For Your Citrix Netscaler Appliance
As the threat of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks becomes more and more prevalent,, it’s critical that information security professionals make the time to review the security of their infrastructure top to bottom; from cloud applications to on-site appliances.
There’s one cybersecurity protocol in particular that can drastically reduce the risk of a breach – SSL, and its newest evolution, TLS – but these protocols require that network equipment like servers or application delivery controllers (ADCs) must be properly configured to satisfy the security standards that enable this protocol to effectively mitigate the risk of a breach or attack.
A real life example: while assisting a Centrinet client (Financial Institution) with an unrelated project, one of our technicians uncovered a serious security threat. The client had incorrectly configured their Netscaler Gateway ciphers. The result was the company scored an ‘F’ grade on a third party security audit. The misconfigured protocol meant that the client’s company security was at risk as well as their customers.
After our Engineer reconfigured the Netscaler’s settings in a short time, we then retested the Netscaler’s security rating.
By correctly configuring the appliance’s settings, the diagnostic now resulted in a solid ‘A’ grade, effectively showing that the risk of breach through the Netscaler had been mitigated. Our technician’s simple and quick optimization of their appliance’s settings was all it took to ensure the massive security risk had been eliminated.
Centrinet, a cloud virtualization and managed services provider, uses the SSLLabs service platform to perform a deep analysis of our clients Citrix Netscaler Appliances. Our proven outcomes identify the vulnerabilities and risk to their businesses as well as awareness with a grade rating from A+ to F and an action plan, required resource and skill sets, and best practices mitigating
such threats. The threats are real and can be reviewed here. Centrinet’s best practices and methodology to mitigate risk and vulnerabilities to achieve an A+ rating within our clients
The SSL, TLS, and Ciphers Security Diagnostic
There are four steps in the security diagnostic for rating the security risks associated with your Netscaler appliance. Here’s a quick overview of how the SSL testing works and how your SSL grading is determined.
- Verification of the SSL certificate
- Inspection of the server configuration
- Protocol support
- Key exchange support
- Cipher support
- Scoring based on the categories above
- Testing of the server configuration against a series of rules that score the configuration’s features and rules.
Centrinet is offering a complimentary security diagnostic for your SSL configuration. Please contact us with your external live site today to get your first SSL grade free
