MokaFive

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Moka Five (Formally known as Moka5)
Type Private
Founded California 2005
Headquarters Flag of the United States Redwood City, California, USA
Industry Computer Software
Products Moka Five Creator/Player/Service
Website www.mokafive.com (Formally www.moka5.com)

MokaFive, (previously Moka5) headquartered in Redwood City, California, provides virtualization software for managing desktop computers. MokaFive was founded in July 2005 as a spinoff of the Collective Project in Stanford University's Computer Science Department. MokaFive's main product, MokaFive LivePC Engine, allows users to create, run, and share LivePCs, which are complete managed virtual computing environments that can be streamed or demand-paged over the network. These LivePCs can be shared with others on the MokaFive web site or put on a portable drive for use on different computers.

MokaFive LivePC Engine makes use of VMware Player as a virtualization platform, but includes additional features such as automatic updates of virtual machines, streaming and caching of virtual machine images, integrated backup, hardware-accelerated 3D graphics support, and zero install when running from a USB drive.[1]

Contents

[edit] MokaFive Beginnings

MokaFive was founded in July 2005 by Stanford Professor Monica Lam with her students Ramesh Chandra, Constantine Sapuntzakis, and John Whaley under the name SkyBlue Technologies.[2] They received their first round of funding from Vinod Khosla at Khosla Ventures ($1 million followed by $2.26 million).[3][4]

[edit] The Stanford Collective Project

MokaFive had its beginnings as a four-year NSF-funded research project at Stanford University called "The Collective: A Virtual Appliance Computing Infrastructure".[5] The Collective project was started by the Stanford SUIF group, headed by Prof. Monica Lam, Prof. Mendel Rosenblum, and Prof. Dan Boneh. The objective was "to develop a new computing system architecture that is secure, reliable, easy to administer, and provides ubiquitous access to users' computing environments."[6]

The Collective project began in 1999 with the exploration of a stateless thin-client architecture, a la Sun Ray, where computation would occur on a centralized server.[7] A thin-client architecture had the advantage of centralized management and allowing a user's data to live in the network, but it had some serious flaws: namely, it was not possible to work while disconnected (e.g. on a disconnected laptop or an unreliable network connection), it required a substantial server infrastructure, and it required a high-bandwidth low-latency network, which was not always possible with distant remote offices.

To address the flaws of the thin-client model, the Collective group developed a new system where a centrally-managed virtual machine would run locally on the user's computer.[8] In this way, they were able to get the benefits of the thin-client model (easy management and administration) without many of the downsides (reliance on server infrastructure and fast network connection, no disconnected operation). The Collective architecture was presented in a paper at the HotOS conference in May 2003. This paper first coined the term Virtual Appliance, later picked up by VMware. Later publications in LISA 2003 and NSDI 2005 expanded upon this idea.[9] [10]

As of roughly 19:12 pm (GMT) on the 5th April 2008 the Moka 5 website changed dramatically.The new website is http://www.mokafive.com

[edit] MokaFive Products

As of 5th April there are now two Moka Five products:

  • Moka Five Express Solution
  • Moka Five Professional Solution

Each of these products still contain the engine in its essence. Both solutions come in two flavours: Live PC for Windows/Mac and Live PC BareMetal edition which is a bootable (via cd or usb memory stick) and runs on a form of Linux. The products are now split into two categories, players and creators. Live PC Creator enables users to create Live PC's. This comes in Mac/Windows format. Live PC Player enables users to use Live PC images. This comes in the BareMetal Edition, Windows Edition and Mac Edition. All versions can be run from a memory stick or installed on the host computer.

[edit] LivePC Engine for Windows

MokaFive LivePC Engine is a Windows application that allows you to run LivePCs. You have the option to install it on a hard drive or a removable device like a USB stick or an iPod. LivePCs are streamed over the network and cached locally, so you can continue using the LivePC through network disconnections.

[edit] Differences between LivePC Engine and VMplayer

MokaFive LivePC Engine uses the free VMware Player as its virtualization platform. It adds a few additional features to the standard VMware Player:

  • Seamless updates of virtual machines. In MokaFive LivePC Engine, users are subscribed to a LivePC so they automatically receive all updates. Updates are sent through an RSS feed that the LivePC subscribes to.
  • Streaming and caching of virtual machine images. MokaFive LivePC Engine will stream virtual machine images over the network so you don't need to download the entire image before starting. It will also cache the image locally so you can work disconnected.
  • Integrated backup. When using MokaFive LivePC Engine on a portable device, it will keep a backup so if you lose your portable device, you won't lose your data.
  • Hardware-accelerated 3D graphics support. MokaFive LivePC Engine includes support for DirectX 3D programs. The host's graphics adapter is exposed to the guest operating system, so DirectX applications can run full speed.
  • Zero install when running from a USB drive. When plugging into a host that does not have MokaFive installed, MokaFive LivePC Engine will dynamically install itself, and then uninstall itself after unplugging.

[edit] LivePC Engine Bare-Metal Edition

LivePC Engine Bare-Metal Edition is a stripped-down Linux distribution that boots directly into the LivePC Engine software. The Bare-Metal Edition is useful for more secure installations where lockdown is important, such as in a computer lab.[11] It uses a web-based interface rather than the transparent windowed interface of the Windows version.

[edit] LivePC Library

The MokaFive web site includes a library of publicly-available LivePCs. These LivePCs are mostly Linux and free-software based and work in both the Windows and the Bare-Metal Edition. Users can post new LivePCs to share in the library, or start from an existing LivePC, make modifications, and republish it as their own.

[edit] Fearless Browser

One popular LivePC is the Fearless Browser LivePC, which is currently the default LivePC you get when installing MokaFive LivePC Engine.[12] It includes a locked-down Firefox browser with integrated Tor and OpenVPN support for anonymous browsing, preventing eavesdropping and guarding against phishing.[13][14] The Gentoo Linux-based Fearless Browser is also not susceptible to Windows malware.[15]

[edit] Known Issues

MokaFive inherits many of the limitations of VMware Player, including no support for IEEE-1394/FireWire and certain other hardware devices.

Because a LivePC includes the operating system, MokaFive requires an operating system license for each LivePC, which can be onerous when the operating system is not free. Including the entire operating system also makes LivePCs larger and more memory hungry than using for example application virtualization.

[edit] Competitors

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ moka5 and VMware Differences.
  2. ^ "From the Khosla Portfolio: SkyBlue Technologies", BusinessWeek, May 4, 2006. 
  3. ^ "moka5 to Deliver PC Virtualization Innovation", infoworld.com, May 16, 2006. 
  4. ^ "Khosla enters virtualization space; invests in Moka5", San Jose Mercury News, May 17, 2006. 
  5. ^ Comparison with Thin Client and Hosted Virtual Desktops. moka5.
  6. ^ The Collective, A Virtual Appliance Computing Infrastructure. Stanford SUIF Group.
  7. ^ Schmidt, Brian A.; M. S. Lam, J. D. Northcutt (December, 1999). "The Interactive Performance of SLIM: A Stateless, Thin-Client Architecture". Operating Systems Review 34 (5): 32-47. 
  8. ^ Sapuntzakis, Constantine; M. S. Lam (May, 2003). "Virtual Appliance in the Collective: A Road to Hassle-free Computing". Proceedings of the 9th Workshop on Hot Topics in Operating Systems (HOTOS IX): 32-47. 
  9. ^ Sapuntzakis, Constantine; D. Brumley, R. Chandra, N. Zeldovich, J. Chow, M. S. Lam, and M. Rosenblum (October, 2003). "Virtual Appliances for Deploying and Maintaining Software". Proceedings of the 17th Large Installation Systems Administration Conference (LISA 2003): 181-194. 
  10. ^ Chandra, Ramesh; N. Zeldovich, C. Sapuntzakis, and M. S. Lam (May, 2005). "The Collective: A Cache-Based System Management Architecture". Proceedings of the Second Symposium on Networked Systems Design and Implementation (NSDI 2005): 259-272. 
  11. ^ moka5 Engine - Bare Metal Edition. moka5.
  12. ^ "LivePC Brings Safe, Secure, and Anonymous Browsing to your Desktop", CyberNotes, February 21, 2007. 
  13. ^ "Mit moka5 sicher surfen", OpenSource Magazin (German), March 2007. 
  14. ^ "Fertiglösungen für die Hosentasche", PC Magazin (German), May 2007. 
  15. ^ Moka5's LivePC Platform - VMware with a Portable Twist. EverythingUSB (January 12, 2007).

[edit] External links