Konect Virtual Image NFR LIVE Evaluation DVD

Konect is a serverware solution from “Desktopsites, Inc” and the company web site is www.desktopsites.com.

Konect is targeting the SMB market that have 5 to 500+ Server Based Computing users. Konect seamlessly publishes applications ,web services and other resources with secure internal and external access.

Quoting from "get Konected";

“Konect makes sense when your business...

• has staff that work from home, on the road or are in multiple locations
• is in need of ways to give employees real-time access to applications &
  information
• is looking for service service to customers
• would like reduce IT licensing, management and support costs”

• 
  

To keep the solution simple, icons for published resources are placed on the Windows desktop and in the Konect Launcher in the system tray. To the user community these resources can be utilized using the same skills as if they were local resources.

The solution has *Konect Management Console* that permits the server based computing solution administrator to manage the environment directly for only those users that require the Konect solution. Industry documentation calls this leveraging the RDP protocol. In other words, building upon the Microsoft remote desktop protocol to provide additional functionality.

Konect is deployed on Windows 2000 or 2003 Servers that utilize Active Directory. Konect has a Secure Gateway that uses ticketing to provide secure external connections. The company documentation is straight forward and advises you upfront that this solution will NOT work on the Small Business version of Microsoft server. The getting started documentation for the standard evaluation product is one of the best prepared (if not the best) presentation for new administrators wanting to review Sever Based Computing options that I have read.

The Konect Virtual Image NFR Demo DVD guide has about 30 lines of instructions for installing the VMware Player, image, and the remote client. It took me about 30 minutes to set up successfully (first attempt) the “Live” DVD demo. If you are familiar with VM Player then subtract 5 to 10 minutes. It took me a little additional time to understand the server inside a server concept and how to change the focus between the two servers. The virtual Network Interface also added a few minutes of thought time but was quickly resolved.

The test server I used was a Sempron based system with 1 GB of ram. The Demo DVD setup documentation suggests 1 GB but recommends 2 GB on on P3 at 800 MHz or higher. The client side should be 500 MHz with 128MB of Ram. The Microsoft NT/2000/XP clients require Java Run Time Environment 1.5.0 or higher.

Once the VMware Player is up and running, go to the client machine, open the browser and key in the IP address of the VM server that you created during the VM Player installation. Konect will detect the presence of JVM 1.5.0 and load the the client side software. If it does not detect JVM, it will present a simple instillation of JVM. You are asked if you want create shortcuts, answer and then select finish.

A log on screen is presented and you may key in one of two user names and passwords that are provided. You now have a demonstrable version of Konect that does not require a dedicated server. The Java client can be removed by logging out and simply click on the Konect icon in the tray and select “clean Java cache”. Gone.

In summary, the purpose of a “live” demo version is to provide an interactive presentation that will permit an intelligent decision to move on the next product or go into more detail with this product by installing the full evaluation copy. Konect has confidence that if you interact with their “Live” version you can make that decision. What evaluators know is the hardest thing to do is find the time to load and test. There is always something more pressing to do than load an evaluate a vendors evaluation product. Konect lowers that threshold to less time that it takes to go to lunch. Want to lose weight, pass on lunch and evaluate Konect.

The “live” DVD Demo is a relatively new offering from www.desktopsites.com. Contact support@desktopsites.com and request a DVD demo disk.

Until the next post,

Steve