2X ThinClientServer Earns 5 Stars (03-11-2005)
Who Makes it: 2X Software Ltd.
My first thoughts on reviewing any new networking / server product (there are starting to be lots of them out there) are:
1. ?Does it improve on the standard windows functionality??
2. ?Does it do things better than the rest??
3. ?Is it easy to implement and learn??
4. ?Does it work as advertised??
And yes ...
5. ?Is it reasonably priced??
PROBLEM:
Most network admins have experienced the problem of having several different types of thin clients from different vendors. You know one manager orders one type of thin client from one sales guy only to get a better price later from a new sales guy?and oh by the way ?please make those 40 pc?s in marketing (that happen to be 5 years old) a thin client too.
Any admin knows that having old or existing PCS connecting to a terminal server is a little problematic especially if you have to add the thin client to those PC?s. Even out of the box, most thin clients hardware boxes have there own quirks. All of these require some form of maintenance or ?get to know? period. 2X has solved this by using their Thin client OS that is very vendor independent (2X supports HP, Neoware, Wsye, NTAVO Expert and Maxspeed thin clients)
THOUGHT:
Would it not be convenient to manage all these thin clients through one interface? In short, 2X allows this by using one OS for thin clients.
Review of the 2X Solution:
Some of the benefits I experienced from using the 2X solution:
1. 2X has a self updating thin client OS!!! All I had to do was place the latest version from the 2X website onto my Thin Client Server AND EVERY TIME a thin client connects they get the newest version of the thin client OS. Should 2X improve on their product, I will sleep easy knowing that I can deploy within minutes. It is also possible to do a manual ?push? of the 2X OS to existing clients.
2. The ability to PXE boot (almost all of us have tried RIS and its PXE function) and load an image. This feature really works. The TFTP server supplied with 2X is a breeze to install.
3. Etherboot is really cool and looks more configurable, but I must admit I have not fully explored that yet. (Etherboot is a software package for creating ROM images that can download code over an Ethernet network to be executed on an x86 PC. Most network adapters have a ROM socket where a ROM chip can be installed. Etherboot is code that can be put in such a ROM. Etherboot?s primary purpose is for booting PCs diskless.) Check this link for more info:
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/...
4. 2X comes with an integrated TFTP server that allows for holding that image that the PXE card can boot from. AND 2X supplies you with the PXE image! This can also be loaded onto a hardisk on a client PC to boot from disk. (The Windows version I tested includes a TFTP server for deployment of the OS.)
5. All thin clients receive the latest image when booting from PXE. They simply load the new OS at next boot-up. Thin clients booting from the hard disk can be remotely updated via the web-based interface. 2X has an advantage over most of its competitors in managing roaming users because you can configure connection settings based on not only device but also links connection settings to Active Directory/LDAP usernames, groups or OU?s (organizational units). In today?s mobile working place, that feature alone can save you tons of time as an admin!!!
6. Thin clients that have locally connected printers or storage devices are also supported in a seamless manner much like the native RDP MSTSC.exe program. Printers appear in the list of printers on the users? desktop, and local media appears in Windows explorer just as you expect to see them.
7. I also found that you can easily make a custom logon screen with your own logo for the user to see. This is great to brand the solutions with not only your logo, but important information that you might want the user to see.
8. Because 2X works on a terminal server, only the servers need to be managed. All deployment of patches, applications and virus updates is simpler. Because all things are on the terminal and not on the clients all the desktop settings and user files is done in one place. None of that changes of course from a normal terminal server setup, but 2X makes it easier to do.
9. Since 2X supports RDP, ICA and NX protocols you can manage almost any type of connection.
10. By now you have of course realized that the 2X solution is based on a Linux thin client. That of course has pluses and minuses...
PLUS factor of using 2X:
? The way the Computing industry is going today, especially the thin client market is trending toward almost everything having a thin client built in. That thin client will probably be Linux based rather than Windows due to Microsofts need (or want) to collect licenses. Familiarizing yourself with a Linux Terminal OS that can adapt to so many platforms is sure to save some IT dollars that can be used elsewhere in the business, plus possibly contribute to making yourself more valuable.
? Windows XP embedded can be humongous in size compared to a Linux thin client. It can be up to up to 256 Mb and this means the thin client actually gets ?thick? requiring a media to store that. Try to boot over the network with 200MB of thin client data !!! It won?t happen very fast ? especially when you factor in numbers.
? Updating the XP embedded is also more cumbersome due to the sheer size of it. If you are thinking ?I will just use Windows CE then??. keep in mind that CE software is specific to the CE platform (not just another windows).
? And of course you have the whole Embedded Windows licensing thing to deal with. (2X has a calculator of these costs on their home page) But it doesn?t take a rocket scientist (or even a CEO) to see that 2X can save a ton of money for just about any organization.
MINUS of using the 2X Linux thin client:
? A Windows XP or CE client comes packaged with Internet Explorer. If the user will only use a browser on his/her thin client, and the web applications that you want them to connect to support Internet explorer only, then you will need to use a Windows XP or CE client or with today?s emergence of Mozilla (thank you, thank you, thank you) and more and more plug-ins working in Mozilla maybe you can get away a Mozilla bundled in 2X. I am sure 2X is working on a solution to that and it is only a matter of time.
? Of course if you let yourself get to reliant on Windows than you need to spend just a little time to acquire some Linux know-how to overcome any extra issues associated with managing and supporting the Linux thin client devices.
Verdict:
This product I reviewed in this case gets 5 ?yes? answers to those I posed at the start of this review and thus 5 stars. 2X has found a home on my network!
Extra Plus to using 2X:
THE APPLICATION SERVER IS COMING !!!!!!!
Getting to know 2X now on the client side is really a very good thing, because just like Microsoft thin client license problem there is (was) also the Citrix dilemma.
2X is also planning an application server due to release in December 2005. It is slated to have some ?Citrix Killer? features:
? Published applications - you can give a user just an application onto a user's local desktop without giving the user access to a full desktop on the Terminal Server! You will also be able to set permissions to those published applications based on username, group membership or IP
? Seamless integration with local desktop & taskbar - remote application appears exactly like a local application. This means they will never know the link they clicked on their desktop was actually running off a terminal session. You will also be able to copy and paste between local and remote applications.
? Available now - 2X LoadBalancer for Windows Terminal Services allows you to load balance RDP/ICA sessions between Terminal Servers and provide fault tolerance. If you are allowing users to login from the internet, you can hide the backend terminal services from the internet and just the single gateway machine. And oh by the way it can use SSL to make the sessions even more secure.
? FREE is the 2X SecureRDP which can increases the security of your terminal servers by accepting or denying incoming RDP connections by IP, Mac address, computer name, client version or based on time of day.
