My Books
I’ve written, published, and/or edited several books over the past 20+ years.
Desktops as a Service
Written by Brian Madden & Gabe Knuth, 2014
Whether you call it Desktops as a Service (DaaS), hosted VDI, or desktops in the cloud, everyone knows that the idea of outsourcing your Windows desktops and applications to service providers is a hot topic for companies today.
DaaS providers make all sorts of sensational claims about the benefits of moving your Windows desktops to the cloud. “Save money!” “Outsource your troubles!” “Simplify your Windows desktop management!” “Solve your BYOD challenges!” But are any of these true? Ultimately you just want to know whether you should take the plunge with DaaS, and if so, what you need to look out for and how to succeed.
Brian Madden and Gabe Knuth wrote this book for the reader whose boss cornered them in the hallway and said, “Hey! What’s this DaaS thing all about? You’re in charge of figuring out whether we should do it!”
Enterprise Mobility Management
Written by Jack Madden, Edited by Brian Madden, 2013
Employees have begun demanding to do work from mobile devices like iPhones, iPads, and Android phones and tablets. Back in days when BlackBerry dominated the market, dealing with mobility was easy for companies. But today’s Android and iOS devices aren’t so easy to manage, and the tasks that employees want to do with them far more advanced than what they did in the BlackBerry days.
The enterprise mobility management (EMM) industry has responded with technologies like mobile device management (MDM), mobile app management (MAM), mobile virtualization, app wrapping, “containerization,” and mobile file syncing. All this technology is new, and it’s evolving rapidly. The stakes are high: Thanks to the consumerization of IT, if a company doesn’t figure out how to deal with mobility, users will bring in their own phones and tablets and do whatever they want anyway.
The New VDI Reality
Written by Brian Madden, 2013
This book was an update to The VDI Delusion, focusing on how the biggest barriers to VDI adoption are being solved, and what it means for the future of the enterprise desktop.
New sections have been added on GPU and storage virtualization, and the book has been updated with all the latest technical and practical changes to the VDI market since The VDI Delusion first came out.
The VDI Delusion
Written by Brian Madden, Gabe Knuth, & Jack Madden, 2012
For many years we’ve been hearing that the future of the desktop is going to be VDI. Clearly that hasn’t happened. Server virtualization has been wildly successful, so why not VDI and desktop virtualization?
VDI vendors made a lot of wild promises in the mid-2000s. Some of them were true, some were a stretch, and some were just plain misleading. The VDI Delusion digs into these into these claims, taking a technical look at some of the common myths around desktop virtualization. It also examines practical reasons why many VDI pilots and proofs of concept fail to go full scale or just plain fail completely.
Of course there are many good reasons to use VDI, which are also covered in this book. Brian, Gabe, and Jack aren’t actually VDI haters—they just don’t like it when it’s used inappropriately. They outline practical, concrete reasons for using VDI and other server-based computing solutions in addition to all the poor reasons people try and fail.
Terminal Services for Microsoft Windows Server 2003
Written by Brian Madden & Ron Oglesby, 2003
This book is not authorized or approved by Microsoft, Citrix, or anyone else! Instead of vendor marketing speak, this book tells you how Terminal Server actually works. This book is not an administrator’s guide. Rather, it’s written for IT consultants, system engineers, and architects who must plan, design, implement, and optimize Windows 2003-based Terminal Server systems. It’s filled with real-world, proven strategies created specifically for Windows Server 2003. See how some of the world’s largest companies are using pure Terminal Server 2003 environments.
Citrix MetaFrame XP, Including Feature Release 2
Written by Brian Madden, 2002
A completely updated version of the bestselling first edition, this book is a real world field guide that details the design and deployment of MetaFrame XP environments. Written from years of practical experience, it provides readers with the insight needed to tackle tough design issues, including printing, replicated data stores, NFuse classic, server farm design, coexistence with MetaFrame 1.8, integration with Novell, licensing, and security. A conversational writing style makes the book a pleasure to read, and concepts are reinforced with over 120 diagrams and 140 decision-based advantages/disadvantages comparison charts. The world’s largest consulting companies have made the first edition of this book ‘required reading’ for their Citrix consultants, and thousands of readers have used it to guide them through MetaFrame XP technical planning, design, and implementation.
Citrix MetaFrame XP
Written by Brian Madden, 2001
Citrix MetaFrame XP: Advanced Technical Design Guide is the number one source for relevant technical information about MetaFrame XP, including Feature Release 1. Written from scratch for MetaFrame XP, this book details all aspects of MetaFrame XP environments, including farm design, printing, application installation, security, licensing, NFuse, load management, coexistence with MetaFrame 1.8, and integration with Novell.