Why The Raspberry Pi?

In working with my customers over the years, end point management is something most struggle with to this day. Some choose to still provide their end users with fat clients, having to figure out how to manage the operating system and applications while making sure the device is secure. This tends to be a daunting challenge both from an operational and financial perspective. Others choose to leverage thin clients when possible but struggle in deciding what the right device is from a price and functionality pespective. A lot of times, they spend upwards of $500 on these thin clients, which still run a Windows Embedded OS that still needs to be managed and in some ways defeats the purpose of a thin client. While this is not true in every case, I would say that the end point management dillema is one of the biggest factors in virtualization initiatives stalling at my enterprise customers.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have been taking a closer look at the Rapsberry Pi. For those of you not familiar with the Raspberry Pi, I would highly recommend you check this out. While the use cases for the Pi are immense, what peaked my curiosity were recent blogs by Martin Rowan and Trond Eirik Haavarstein around how they leveraged the Pi as a thin client replacement for Citrix workloads.

Now before we go further, its important to understand why this was interest to me. First off, the device can be made highly secure by running stripped down Linux OS. Secondly, a Raspberry Pi 2 costs roughly $35. Tack on a case and adequate storage, the device is still under $50. So if there was a way to effectively deliver Citrix workloads leveraging this device, this would be the cheapest thin client out there! Not to mention a simple support and maintenance strategy, GET A NEW ONE! 🙂

How Does One Get Started?

I decided to get myself a Raspberry Pi 2 and give it a test run. I ordered the Vilros Raspberry Pi 2 Complete Starter Kit off of Amazon for around $55 (its around $70 now but price fluctuates). I would highly recommend going for a starter kit, either the one I got or the even more popular Canakit as these include everything you’ll need including wi fi adapter, case, hdmi cable, heat sinks, storage, power adapter etc. I also ordered a couple of additional micro SD cards. I wanted to have different OS builds on each of the cards, making it easy for me to showcase different solutions by just switching the micro SD cards on the Pi.

I looked at ThinLinx, Raspian Jessie and the Raspberry Pi Thin Client Project as potential options, but decided to start with ThinLinx and Raspbian Jessie. Before you get started, I highly recommend you read the this blog by Eric on Running Citrix workloads on ThinLinx and this blog by Martin Rowan on configuring and optimizing Citrix Receiver on Raspbian Jessie.

Approach 1: ThinLinx

Lets start with the ThinLinx build. ThinLinx OS (TLXOS) helps make effective thin clients out of old PC’s, Intel Compute Stick, Intel NUC and Raspberry Pi. TLXOS supports various protocols including Citrix HDX, RemoteFX 8.1, RDP. Intel showcased their NUC devices running ThinLinx at Citrix Summit this year. Check out the video. In addition Rachel Berry wrote an excellent blog about how Citrix leveraged Intel NUCs running ThinLinx for our Demos and Labs at Citrix Synergy 2015.

The process is as follows:

• Go to this website and download the TLXOS Installer for Raspberry Pi.
• Connect your micro SD card to your PC and run the TLXOS installer. This will format your micro SD card and copy the TLXOS image on the card.
• From the same website mentioned above, download the ThinLinx Management Software (TMS) and install the software on a windows test machine. This is fairly lightweight software and can run on a VM as well.
• Insert the micro SD card with TLXOS into the Raspberry PI and start it up.
• Run the TMS app on your PC, which will detect the PI running TLXOS. You can configure the PI running through the management software.
• In my case, I used TMS to make sure Citrix HDX is selected under the “Protocol” section. You could also choose “Web” and run in Kiosk mode if you’d like user to connect in that manner. You can also speficy a name for the device, upgrade software on the device, push SSL certs (required if your backend resources are running internal certs) etc.
• On the PI, specify the Native Receiver URL. You will then be prompted for your credentials. Once thats set, you are good to go! You should see your apps and desktops, which you can then launch.

Video showcasing Citrix on a Raspberry Pi 2 running TLXOS

My Thoughts on the ThinLinx Option.

ThinLinx adds about $10 to the cost of the solution, bringing it to $69 in my case. However that is still a lot cheaper than your main stream thin clients. In addition, you get complete management capabilities which is absolutely necessary in an Enterprise environment. TLXOS was extremely easy to get going and the functionality was superb both for regular compute and for multimedia. The Citrix HDX protocol on TLXOS supports H264 decode upto 30 fps at 1080p resolution. There was no tinkering to get receiver to work. It just worked! I did notice some artifacts with the mouse cursor (as you might notice in the video) but not all the time. Overall I was very pleased with the simplicity of the solution and the overall performance of Citrix Workloads on TLXOS.

Approach 2: Raspbian Jessie

Raspbian OS is based off of Debian Linux. Jessie is the current version. There are two versions available for the PI – a full desktop image and a minimal image. I went with the full image for my tests. The Raspbian Jessie solution that I tested was unmanaged, unlike ThinLinx. So I had to install the OS, install receiver, tweak parameters to optimize performance etc. Nonetheless, the end result was a great performing thin client. I followed Martin Rowan’s blog for the various tweaks. I will try and outline them once again but wanted to call out that the tweaks were from his blog. So here are the steps:

• Download the Raspbian Jessie full desktop image from this link.
• Download Win32DiskImager and install on your system
• Extract the Raspbian Jessie Image from the zip file
• Connect your micro SD card to your PC
• Run Win32DiskImager and use the extracted image as your source and the micro SD as your destination. This will format and copy the Raspian Jessie image on the SD card.
• At this point, remove the SD card from your PC and plug it into the Pi and boot the Pi.
• Run the following optimization commands in Raspbian Jessie. Once again, read Martin’s blog for more details.
  • Expand Filesystem
    • Run sudo raspi-config and select option “1 Expand Filesystem“. Reboot the Pi.
  • Run sudo raspi-config and select option “4 Wait for Network at Boot“, then select the option for “Slow Wait for network connection before completing boot“.
• Install Citrix Receiver for ARM
  • Download Citrix Receiver for ARM (ARMHF) from the following link (under Debian packages)
  • Also download the USB Support package (ARMHF)
  • Install the Receiver: sudo gdebi icaclient_13.2.0.322243_armhf.deb
  • Install the USB Support package: sudo gdebi ctxusb_2.5.322243_armhf.deb
  • Further Optimizations (Optional)
    • Increase Frame Buffer – Section 2.1 in Martin’s blog
    • Switch to using libjpeg62-turbo – Section 2.2 in Martin’s blog
    • Disable H264 Graphics – Section 2.3 in Martin’s blog
    • Disable Mulimedia (HDX Mediastream redirection) – Section 2.4 on Martin’s blog.
    • Overclock your Pi – Run raspi-config to overclock your Pi and get some additional juice.
  • Start Receiver and specify URL to connect to your Citrix Storefront server. At this point you will be prompted for credentials.
  • Now you will have access to your desktops and apps.
• I did run into an issue with Audio being routed over HDMI and not the headphone jack. To switch this back to the headphone jack, follow the instructions here

Video showcasing Citrix on a Raspberry Pi 2 running Raspian Jessie

Thoughts on Raspbian Jessie

My experience so far with Raspbian Jessie has been good. A little more tweaking and hacking as compared to ThinLinx, which worked out of the box. You get to install the latest receiver though. General performance for productivity apps was great and on par with ThinLinx. The boot was a lot faster than ThinLinx (<10 seconds).

Final thoughts based on testing so far

Is the Rasperry Pi a good solution for all use cases at the moment? Probably not. Does it fit a majority of the use cases? I would say so based on the testing so far. There are definitely some gaps, like having a power button perhaps (hopefully in Raspberry Pi 3), multi montor support to name a couple. Another major requirement for most organizations out there is Unified Communications, and in most cases, its Skype For Business. Citrix has excelled in supporting Lync and now Skype for Business in a virtualized environment while offering a native-like user experience with out of band peer to peer communication as far as voice and video traffic goes. Watch this video which compares the native vs optimized user experience side by side. One of the pieces that makes this possible is the Real Time Media Engine (RTME) which is installed on the client. Today, there is no RTME client for the ARM processor. You can still support Sype but all the processing will occur on the backend servers. I am sure an ARM based RTME client is on the list of good to have’s for Citrix and its probably just a matter of time, especially with the rapid popularity of ARM based devices like the Pi and Intel Compute Sticks. Hoping my friend and fellow citrite Scott Lane will work some magic to make this happen 🙂 Read this blog by Chris Fleck on why he believes the Raspberry Pi could totally disrupt the PC industry. I tend to agree with Chris.

Whats Next?

I will soon be testing the Raspberry Pi Thin Client Project, specifically the 1.99 release which has Citrix Receiver 13.3 bundled in. I hope to have a follow up blog on this. On the fun side, I plan to build an Arcade Machine for my kids based on the Pi and perhaps even a media center, although I really love my Roku 🙂 Check out some of the fun projects out there based on the Pi. As always I look forward to everyone’s feedback and do comment if you have ideas on future blog topics.

More soon..

George

General Announcements and News

Citrix Appoints Kirill Tatarinov as President and CEO

Citrix announced that Kirill Tatarinov has been appointed President and CEO, effective January 25, 2016. A veteran Microsoft executive, Mr. Tatarinov will also join the Citrix Board as a director at that time.

Citrix Acquires Comtrade’s SCOM Management Packs IP

The acquisition of Comtrade’s management packs for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) provides Citrix users with comprehensive, end-to-end monitoring, delivering single pane of glass visibility into the entire Citrix desktop virtualization, network and mobility environment. Customers can proactively monitor the quality of the Citrix end user experience and infrastructure health performance across market-leading products, such as XenDesktop, XenApp, XenMobile and NetScaler, all while leveraging the existing monitoring platform.

Citrix and Microsoft Unveil “v2” Solution for Skype for Business

HDX RealTime Optimization Pack 2.0 delivers a truly native Skype for Business UI experience. And it adds numerous features to what was previously available in version 1.8. HDX RealTime Optimization Pack 2.0 is more than just a technology solution. Citrix and Microsoft provide a joint support model for this solution. And each vendor can open trouble tickets with the other vendor as needed.

Our Best Platinum Edition for XenApp and XenDeskop Yet!

This blog post focuses on rolling up today’s keynote announcements that specifically add new value to XenApp and XenDesktop Platinum editions – and by extension, the Citrix Workspace Suite. Collectively, they raise the bar even higher on simplifying the management and delivery of apps, and monitoring and optimizing app, desktop and user performance, and provide compelling reasons to upgrade to our most value-packed edition ever.

Citrix Makes XenApp/XenDesktop & Workspace Cloud Annoucements

Citrix has made several announcements at the company’s Summit, all of which are focused on their XenApp/XenDesktop and Workspace Cloud product lines, offering new features and packages for large enterprises and channel partners.

Mobile payments will account for a third of consumer-to-business transactions in 2016, says Citrix

In a series of predictions for 2016 Mikko Disini, director Product Marketing at Citrix, examines the pace of change in network functions virtualisation (NFV), security and mobile payments.

Chalan Aras Explains Why Company is Uniquely Positioned for SD-WAN

This year should see the mass-market adoption of SD-WAN, a technology that meets the needs of today’s applications by providing large and reliable bandwidth. Citrix has a unique slant on all this, Aras said, given it has offerings and expertise both on the enterprise application front and in terms of Layer 4 through 7 networking products.

Collaboration: With Citrix ShareFile & Microsoft Office Online, It’s Simple

Citrix ShareFile is always looking for new ways to integrate with the intention of increasing the value we bring to our customers. In today’s world, collaboration is the key to getting many tasks done. Citrix recognizes this, and that’s why many Citrix ShareFile customers are taking advantage of the ability to edit Microsoft Office documents directly from the web application through our Microsoft Office Online integration, announced earlier this year (part of Microsoft’s Cloud Storage Partner Program).

Citrix Call Home Technology Preview

Citrix introduced the Call Home (v1) technology in the XenApp 7.6.300 VDA in Sep 2015 to collect a core set of diagnostic data for troubleshooting. This version required manual interaction to upload information to the Citrix Insight Services. Manually interacting with each VDA does not scale for large deployments and forces administrators to develop their own strategies to trigger uploads. This Tech Preview release offers automated scheduled uploads to alleviate this pain-point.

A Running Start for XenServer in 2016

The year started with a significant XenServer product release (v6.5) containing, amongst other things, new product editions, some new features and a raft of performance and scalability improvements. XenApp customers (license holders) were also, for the first time, entitled to use XenServer features without needing a XenDesktop license. Now, all Citrix XenApp or XenDesktop customers have access to licensed and supported XenServer features as a part of their existing Citrix license agreements.

Citrix Workspace Cloud: Broader Reach, New Pricing, Updated Packages

Citrix Workspace Cloud offers the simplest, fastest, and most flexible way to deliver secure mobile workspaces on the market today. Customers offered feedback in how we can improve our pricing and package options. So later in Q1 you’ll see Citrix decrease the annual subscription price for ourVirtual Apps and Desktops package, as well as a reduced price to our Integrated Apps and Data Suite package.

Citrix NetScaler CPX a Lightweight Alternative for Cloud Providers

Citrix NetScaler, a full-fledged application delivery controller (ADC) has recently introduced a new, lighter version of itself. Made to fit in small-scale cloud applications and container-style deployments, the new CPX is a micro-form of NetScaler.

Best Practices/Reference Architecture Documents/Blogs

Deep Dive: XenApp and XenDesktop 7.7 Zones

One of the new features of the 7.7 release of XenApp and XenDesktop is the ability to define ‘zones’ in a site and to place elements from the site into different zones. The motivation behind this feature is described in a separate blog, but this article goes a little deeper into how this all works and what the implications are when you put items such as controllers, hypervisor connections and catalogs into zones.

Deploying NetScaler Gateway in ICA Proxy Mode

This document takes the user through the steps of configuring a NetScaler Gateway and Storefront for a XenApp/XenDesktop VDI solution. The document first describes the steps for configuring the NetScaler Gateway component and then, for configuring the Storefront.

Desktop Notification Tool For Citrix XenDesktop

With Director 7.7, XenDesktop administrators have the capability of configuring policies and conditions that will alert administrators when the configured threshold has reached in the XenDesktop 7.7 environment.

Setting up XenDesktop 7.7 against Microsoft Azure

Setting up integration between XenDesktop and Microsoft Azure  is now a supported integration in 7.7. This integration allow us to provision virtual machines directly from Studio.

How to Deploy Skype for Business & Lync 2013 in VDI Environment

With the release of the Feature Pack 2 for Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop 7.6, we now support audio and video optimization for Microsoft Skype for Business and Lync 2013 Client and Server deployments using the Citrix HDX RealTime Optimization Pack for Lync. This level of Lync optimization is unique in the market. The latest revision of the Optimization Pack adds support for MAC endpoints in addition to our support for Windows endpoints and 32 bit Linux endpoints.

Integrating Citrix XenMobile with Azure Active Directory

With the release of Citrix XenMobile 10.3, we are providing integration with Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) to modernize enterprise mobility on Windows 10. With this integration, we are simplifying the MDM enrollment flow for Windows 10 devices. When a user joins their Windows 10 device to Azure AD, it will automatically be enrolled with a management server (i.e. Citrix XenMobile).

SSO to Office365 with NetScaler Unified Gateway

This blogpost shows you how-to configure Office365 as a SaaS Application in a Citrix NetScaler Unified Gateway. We will also make use of a SAML Based Authentication to realize a Single Sign-On experience. To get this working it is necessary that your Office365 Account is configured as a SAML Service Provider.

Director 7.7: Managing and Configuring Alerts & Notifications Using Powershell

With Director 7.7, you have the capability of configuring policies and conditions that will alert you when the configured threshold is breached in a XenDesktop 7.7 environment. This post will help you configure your proactive alerts and notifications using the POSH cmdlets.

Proactive Troubleshooting & Predictive Trending with Director 7.7

It may be difficult for admins to constantly monitor the Director console for issues, but it’s important, as problems can arise at any point in time. So, what can we do? Using the Proactive Notifications and Alerts feature, not only an administrator can be notified when an issue arises, he can proactively look for warning signs by configuring thresholds and severity against conditions.

XenMobile Security Considerations

Over the course of the last year or so, I have been hearing IT organizations of all shapes and sizes focused more and more on one key concept … SECURITY! If your organization is like many of those we have been working with lately, you are probably wondering which of those knobs to turn and checkboxes to select so that your XenMobile deployment is ‘secure’. Or maybe you just want to know what other customers are doing on this front and what you should be thinking about.

Turbo Charging Performance with PVS 7.7

We snuck something into the 7.7 code that can really improve target device streaming.  And it’s not like streaming performance was poor before, it’s just better now. Why? The key PVS driver, which takes over after the bootstrap, is now optimized for multi-core systems.

SCOM Alerts in Citrix Director

With Director 7.7, you can view the alerts from SCOM server for various management packs on director. This will help the XenDesktop admins to manage the infrastructure on which the XenDesktop is built upon without needing to go to another console like operations manager console.

Support Articles/Security Bulletins

XenApp and XenDesktop Servicing Options (LTSR) FAQ

Lync/Skype Autodiscovery Support – HDX RealTime Optimization Pack 1.8

How to Install XenDesktop/XenApp 7.x Controller Hotfixes

XenApp Servers Do Not Start Automatically After Disabling Maintenance Mode on Delivery Group

XenMobile Enterprise set up in double-hop DMZ deployment.

XenMobile 10.3: How can VPP apps be installed on devices without having Apple id configured.

Webcams Not Working in XenDesktop, Being Redirected as Optimized USB

FAQ: Connection Leasing in XenApp/XenDesktop 7.6

How do I Configure HDX Insight?

How-To Configure NetScaler to do Content Switching to LoadBalance DNS Requests to different DNS Servers based on Domain Name’s

How to Configure LDAP Authentication on NetScaler

How to Create a New Citrix Account ID/Org ID

Upcoming Events

2016 HIMSS Annual Conference & Exhibition (Mar 29 – Apr 4, 2016) – Register Now

Citrix TechEdge (May 23, 2016) – Register Now

Chicago User Group Community (Feb 4, 2016) – Register Now

Netscaler Master Class (Feb 3rd, 2016) – Register Now

5 Things VMware Doesn’t Want You to Know About Horizon View…(Feb 11, 2016) – Register Now

XenApp and XenDesktop Tech Update (Feb 17, 2016) – Register Now

Delivering Apps as a Service Courtesy of Central IT (Feb 25, 2016) – Register Now

Secure Remote Access to Windows, Web and SaaS Apps (Recorded) – Register Now

Desktop and Apps Master Class – January (Recorded) – Register Now

SDN Update: Customer Strategies for Software Defined Everything (Recorded) – Register Now

General Announcements

Citrix Unveils Free Cloud-based Service to Migrate VMware Horizon View Customers to Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop

For VMware customers under pressure to improve their app and desktop  experience, gain greater infrastructure flexibility and simplify end user computing management, Citrix is introducing a free cloud-based service to migrate VMware Horizon View virtual app and desktop deployments to XenApp and XenDesktop. Powered by the new Citrix Lifecycle Management Service – now available from Citrix Workspace Cloud – the new service enables administrators to do an in-place migration in less than 15 minutes by easily exporting application and desktop settings from Horizon View into the Citrix app and desktop delivery solution. The creation of the migration service addresses numerous requests Citrix has received to salvage failed, stalled and small VMware VDI deployments.

Citrix Delivers Cloud Simplicity without Sacrificing IT Control

At Synergy, Citrix previewed Citrix Workspace Cloud, showing the first cloud platform that will enable IT to cope with the increasing pressure to provide IT resources on demand to their user community. Citrix Workspace Cloud enables business productivity by providing IT with the fastest and easiest way to manage and securely deliver apps and data from their choice of cloud or hybrid infrastructure. After enabling thousands of channel partners and customers to test-drive the product, and after providing early access to trial customers, Citrix is making Workspace Cloud generally available with service packages available for production deployments.

Citrix Lifecycle Management: A step by step walk through of an automated deployment on ANY cloud! 

Citrix Lifecycle Management (CLM) provides customers and partners alike an orchestration and automation engine that they can use to build an end to end infrastructure that meets industry and their own best practices on ANY cloud.It also helps you manage and monitor the environment as well as conduct operational tasks and upgrades.

What is truly great about this solution is that CLM is not limited to deploying Citrix infrastructure. It can be used to deploy Microsoft infrastructure (AD, SQL etc), partner solutions (Atlantis USX, LoginVSI, Xangati etc) in addition to Citrix infrastructure (XenApp/XenDesktop/Netscaler/Storefront etc). There are various blueprints that are already pre populated and the list will continue to grow. In addition customers and partners can create their own blueprints based on their own best practice. Because blueprints are leveraged, deployments are easily reproducible and error free. For instance, a senior architect could develop a complex blueprint and then once complete, hand off to a junior resource who could very easily deploy the same blueprint anywhere he pleases with consistent results. From a partner perspective, this makes deployment of solutions extremely simple and consulting engagements and proof of concepts should end up being much more successful and predictable.

Citrix Named a Leader in the Magic Quadrant for Enterprise File Synchronization and Sharing Market

Citrix announced that Gartner, Inc. has positioned Citrix in the leaders’ quadrant of the 2015 Magic Quadrant for Enterprise File Synchronization and Sharing (EFSS) report¹ for the second year in a row for its EFSS ShareFile® product solution. ShareFile’s integration with other products in the Citrix portfolio, provides flexibility and security via Restricted StorageZones, as well as extensive support for back-end integration which enables a hybrid EFSS architecture.

Citrix Accelerates Windows 10 Adoption and Simplifies Migrations for Microsoft Customers

Citrix announced products and tools to help Microsoft customers accelerate the adoption of Windows 10 and simplify migrations to the new operating system. As people start using personal or corporate Windows 10 laptops and tablets for work, they will need to access core Windows business applications. Citrix app and desktop virtualization software and migration tools enable partners and IT organizations to deliver immediate access to core business applications on new Windows 10 PCs and tablets, simplify the rollout of Windows 10 desktops and streamline the business app migration process. Operating system upgrades like Windows 10 serve as an ideal time to embrace app and desktop virtualization as a long-term strategy to improve the management, security and performance of Windows apps and desktops.

Citrix Named a Leader in the Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Mobility Management for the Fourth Consecutive Year

Citrix today announced that Gartner, Inc. has positioned Citrix in the Leaders quadrant of the 2015 Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) Suites report[1] for the fourth consecutive year. The report evaluated XenMobile® enterprise mobility management (EMM) solution, the most comprehensive and flexible solution for managing apps, data and devices with a broad set of business optimized mobile apps.

Nutanix Verified as Citrix Ready for Citrix Workspace Cloud!

Citrix and Nutanix have many joint customers already that are using XenApp and XenDesktop with Nutanix hyper-converged infrastructure. Citrix Ready for Workspace Cloud extends that capability to enable customers to use the management service in Workspace Cloud to design, deploy and manage apps and desktops that are running in their datacenters on Nutanix. This will help accelerate customer time to value, and drive even greater efficiencies and success with app and desktop delivery projects.

Citrix Offers Digital Badges to Distinguish Certified Citrix Professionals

Citrix Education continues to be a leader in the IT certification space, bringing to market new and innovative ways to measure relevant and in-demand skills, while connecting talents with opportunities and businesses with the talents they need. Our track record dates back to 2003 when we debuted one of the most innovative hands-on certification exams: the CCIA 612 lab exam. Today, we take another step forward by offering our certification holders with a new, in-demand and highly valuable service for free.

We are pleased to announce the official launch of the Citrix certification digital badging initiative, a project we piloted with success earlier this year.

Delivering Cloud Workspaces: Choice Matters

Today, we must demand of our software vendors that they support true, multi-platform hybrid clouds. And conversely, we must question why an ISV like VMware would claim all you need is “one cloud” Why? Citrix believes customers and partners want to support any application, available on any device, delivered from any cloud or even any infrastructure. After all, the ability to support multiple cloud  fulfills on the promise of hybrid cloud and multicloud computing. And at Citrix, this degree of choice and flexibility is core to our philosophy.

Best Practices/Reference Architecture Documents/Blogs

Citrix Workspace Cloud Browser Apps Service: Remote Access Without Compromise

Citrix introduced its first Workspace Cloud Labs service, the Workspace Cloud Browser Apps Service which offers a simple, secure, way to deliver high performance remote access to any internal or external web application. The Browser Apps Service offers secure remote access without compromise and is the fastest way to securely deliver Web and SaaS apps to end users.

Geo Maps for HDX Insight (NS Insight Center 11) – Overview and Configuration

NS Insight Center 11 was released earlier this month, and with this release Geo Maps is now available for HDX Insight. It was earlier available for Web Insight only. For those of you not familiar with HDX Insight, it is a tool from Citrix that provides end to end visibility from an end user experience perspective for ICA connections that are proxied through the Netscaler. So for instance, if a user reported a slow Citrix session, HDX Insight would help you determine if it is a client side issue (workstation/ISP etc), server issue, application issue, network issue etc. It also provides breakdown on how the bandwidth consumption within the ICA channel (printing/usb/screescrapes).

Using Content Switching Policies with NetScaler Gateway for Legacy Citrix Clients

They age-old problem of Legacy Citrix Receiver client access through a common NetScaler Gateway has now been solved! Starting with NetScaler 10.5 Build 51.1017.e+, you can now can create and bind Content Switching Policies directly to NetScaler Gateway VServers. Connections destined for the Gateway are terminated and processed as normal, but before any actions are invoked on the session, the policy engine checks to see if any Content Switching policies are bound which may apply. If the conditions defined in the policy are satisfied, connections are sent to the target Load Balancing VServers defined in the applicable Content Switching Policy action.

Installing the Linux VDA on Red Hat or CentOS 6

This is a step-by-step guide to setting up a machine on which to install the Linux VDA, and aimed at helping existing Windows admins with no Linux experience get up and running quickly.

How to Enable/Disable HDX Session Idle & Disconnect Timers on Linux VDA

The Linux VDA supports idle timers for controlling how long a HDX session can remain idle before being disconnected, and disconnect timers for controlling how long a session can remain disconnected before being terminated. When an idle timer expires for a session, due to no user interaction with that session, the user will receive a warning dialog informing them that they are going to be disconnected in five minutes.These timers are not enabled by default, implying sessions can remain in the idle or disconnected state indefinitely. We’re going to talk about how to enable, configure and disable idle/disconnect timers on the Linux VDA.

Citrix Customization Cookbook

This blog by Richard Hayton is a ‘cookbook’ of customization queries and requests that he’s had since the release of StoreFront 3.0, together with some worked examples.  For each question, he has provided some explaination together with some javascript and/or css examples. The javascript should always be added to the custom\script.js file – for example.

Global Server Load Balancing: Part 1

In this two-part blog post, Chris Zhang from Citrix Consulting Services will talk about the Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB) feature provided by the NetScaler. In Part 1, he examines DNS name resolution process, as GSLB is DNS based load balancing. In Part 2, he will take a look at implementation details on the NetScaler.

Radically Simplify Management of Citrix Workloads and Enterprise Application Lifecycles

IT administrators are realizing that application deployments are getting more complex and error-prone than ever before. Additionally, the deployment of Citrix workloads and enterprise applications is only the first step in the lifecycle of applications. Once the workloads are deployed, IT administrators must continuously monitor the health of the workloads to ensure they are running at optimum performance, can scale efficiently to meet changing demands and are always available to end users even in case of application component or environment failures. What if there were an integrated application service lifecycle management solution that empowers IT to streamline design, deployment and management of a broad array of application workloads across hypervisor or cloud environments, all through a single integrated console? Now there is! We are excited to announce the General Availability of Citrix Lifecycle Management!

Accurately checking the Citrix PVS “cache in Ram, Overflow to disk” RAM cache size

Andrew Morgan (CTP) details a method to determine the cache in RAM size consumed in a PVS deployment

New Use Cases for Framehawk

The recently released NetScaler Gateway 11 Maintenance Release 1 (11.0-62.10) not only offers valuable quality improvements, it adds support for the new UDP-based Framehawk virtual channel.

Got Framehawk? We’ve Got Remote Access Tips and Tricks!

Framehawk support was recently extended to remote mobile users with the release of NetScaler Gateway 11.0.62, and the new 6.0 release of Citrix Receiver for iOS added Framehawk support. Framehawk uses UDP for executing much of its magic, which works a bit differently from the TCP. This blog is a collection of some of the quick and dirty tips and tricks learned in the field, to help accelerate Framehawk proof-of-concept tests.

Utilizing the Power of Citrix Workspace Suite on vSphere 6

To help you get started with a new deployment of Citrix Workspace Suite, the Citrix Solutions Lab has created a starter guide called the “Citrix Workspace Suite Reference Architecture” on vSphere 6 that is detailed in this blog.

Using Octoblu to Enable the Storefront Workflow Approval Process

This is going to be more of a general overview of the process and a high level How-To technical article so we can show you how to get up and running with the Storefront/Octoblu integration. The scenario is that we have a set of applications, that we would like to display to all users but, only grant access when the user requests the application. A typical approval workflow that workflow engines handle.

How to Deploy Skype for Business & Lync 2013 in VDI Environment

With the release of the Feature Pack 2 for Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop 7.6, we now support audio and video optimization for Microsoft Skype for Business and Lync 2013 Client and Server deployments using the Citrix HDX RealTime Optimization Pack for Lync. This level of Lync optimization is unique in the market. The latest revision of the Optimization Pack adds support for MAC endpoints in addition to our support for Windows endpoints and 32 bit Linux endpoints.

Support Articles/Security Bulletins

Worker Groups Not Updating from Active Directory Organizational Unit

How to Install XenDesktop/XenApp 7.x Controller Hotfixes

Session Timeout are Not Applied on StoreFront Servers

WorxWeb Prompts for Authentication Credentials When Worx PIN and SSO are Enabled

IMA and Zone Data Collector Communication

Accessing ICA RTT Metrics for Citrix HDX and XenDesktop and XenApp

How to have a new XenApp 6.5 imaged or provisioned server automatically join an exisiting farm

Nested Group Support for LDAP Search Filters

Troubleshooting Outlook Disconnection Issue Through NetScaler

When Load Balancing StoreFront on NetScaler all Connections Go to One Server in NetScaler Gateway Set Up

FAQ: Differentiate Between Two Configurations on a NetScaler

Citrix Receiver for iOS common settings reference

How to Set up an Automated Action to Notify User When Available Storage Space on Device is Less than X GB

FAQ: Poodle Vulnerability and its Impact on Secure Gateway

Hotfix XA650R06W2K8R2X64001 – For Citrix XenApp 6.5 for Windows Server 2008 R2 – English

Citrix Receiver for Windows 4.3 (14.3.1.1)

HDX MediaStream Hotfix HDXFlash1520WX64001 – For Citrix XenApp 7.6

Hotfix XS65ESP1010 – For XenServer 6.5.0 Service Pack 1

Upcoming Events

Aug 26 Solution Webinar: Innovative Enterprises Put Citrix XenApp and Google Chromebooks to Work

Join us for this webinar as we discuss innovative use cases and the continuing momentum of a Chrome and Citrix XenApp solution in a variety of organizations of any size.

Register Now  |  Download Invitation  |  Contact for More Info

Sept 4 Master Class: NetScaler 11. MR 1: The next installment, Receiver X1 and StoreFront, and Hardware Security modules

Live technical webinars to learn about the most critical elements of cloud infrastructures and enterprise datacenter architectures.

Register Now  |  Download Invitation  |  Contact for More Info

Product promoted: Citrix NetScaler

Feb – Sept Seminar Series: Managing the Unmanageable: How to Secure the Enterprise

Join us at this live security-focused seminar series to learn about how to secure sensitive data on managed and under-managed devices, measures that enforce security across unmanaged apps and network, models that control access to sensitive data, specific to application usage and access, and how to develop and enforce policies to “manage the unmanageable.”

Register Now  |  Download Invitation  |  Contact for More Info

Product promoted: Citrix NetScaler, Citrix XenApp, Citrix XenDesktop, Citrix XenMobile

 Jun – Sept Synergy Unplugged Event Series

Lunch and learn events that recap what was presented at Synergy including XenApp, XenDesktop, XenMobile, Sharefile, Netscaler and more. See Register Now link for locations and dates.

Register Now  |  Download Invitation  |  Contact for More Info

Product promoted: Citrix XenApp, Citrix XenDesktop, XenMobile, Sharefile, NetScaler, Cloud

 July 29 – Sept What’s new with NetScaler Seminar Series

Lunch and learn events targeting networking professionals about the latest updates to our Citrix NetScaler product line including the top new features in NetScaler 11, Unified Gateway, and HDX Insight. Click the “register now” link for locations and dates.

Register Now  |  Download Invitation  |  Contact for More Info

Ongoing (Thursdays) Weekly Deminars: Citrix Workspace Suite

Take a close look at the capabilities of Citrix Workspace Suite in these twice weekly technically-focused, demo-led webinars.
Register Now  |  Contact for More Info

Ongoing (Every other Wednesday) Weekly Deminars: NetScaler

Join us to understand how Citrix NetScaler can empower your organization with the most comprehensive set of application security, acceleration, load balancing, and monitoring tools.

Register Now  |  Contact for More Info

Ongoing (Every other Wednesday) Weekly Deminars: Empowering Mobility with XenMobile and ShareFile

See how Citrix can empower your organizations to provide secure, remote access to company resources through mobile app and device management as well as data sharing.

Register Now  |  Contact for More Info

Citrix released Citrix Workspace Cloud (CWC) earlier this week. Most people I talk to agree that CWC is one of the most innovative solutions in the industry right now. You can read more about my thoughts on CWC here.

In this post, I want to focus on one of the components of CWC namely Citrix Lifecycle Management (CLM). CLM provides customers and partners alike an orchestration and automation engine that they can use to build an end to end infrastructure that meets industry and their own best practices on ANY cloud.It also helps you manage and monitor the environment as well as conduct operational tasks and upgrades.

What is truly great about this solution is that CLM is not limited to deploying Citrix infrastructure. It can be used to deploy Microsoft infrastructure (AD, SQL etc), partner solutions (Atlantis USX, LoginVSI, Xangati etc) in addition to Citrix infrastructure (XenApp/XenDesktop/Netscaler/Storefront etc). There are various blueprints that are already pre populated and the list will continue to grow. In addition customers and partners can create their own blueprints based on their own best practice. Because blueprints are leveraged, deployments are easily reproducible and error free. For instance, a senior architect could develop a complex blueprint and then once complete, hand off to a junior resource who could very easily deploy the same blueprint anywhere he pleases with consistent results. From a partner perspective, this makes deployment of solutions extremely simple and consulting engagements and proof of concepts should end up being much more successful and predictable.

In the next part of the blog, I would like to walk through an on premises deployment of an on premises XenDesktop POC that I built leveraging CLM.

Once you log into CLM. The first thing you want to do is to go ahead and define your resource zones. Today CLM supports the resource zones listed below. In my case, I leveraged an on premises XenServer 6.5 host.

The next step in the process is to install the CLM connector on Windows Server 2012 R2 server. This is similar to a CWC deployment. The connector is what facilitates communication between the CLM orchestration engine and your resource zone. Once the connector is installed, you define the connection details for your host and you are all set. As you can see from the screenshots below, I defined two resource zones in my lab, both XenServers.

Now that we have our resource zones, the next step is to go through the blueprint catalog and pick the one we want to deploy. As mentioned earlier, there is a pretty good list of blueprints already available and this list will continue to grow over time. Once you know the blueprint you’d like to use, you click the “+” symbol to add the blueprint to your library.

For the purposes of my test, I used the XenApp and XenDesktop Proof of Concept Blueprint and added it to my library. The blueprints that I choose will show up under the “Design and Deploy” tab. Within “Design and Deploy” you now click on “Actions” next to the selected blueprint and choose “Deploy”. Note that you have the ability to edit, clone or share the blueprint if you want to. This will allow you to customize the blueprint as you please.

Once you hit “Deploy”, you are provided a description of the blueprint along with the various infrastructure components. After reviewing the details, click “Start Deployment Setup” and give the deployment a name. You can also choose an existing deployment profile if you’ve gone through this process before.

As part of the template I chose, I have some additional options like providing a KMS Server address, configure a Netscaler, create a server VDI instance etc. I have stuck to the defaults for the test. I also specified the resource zone that I would like the solution to be deployed on.

Next, you’ll see a pre deployment checklist based on the resource zone you selected. Review this carefully!! One of the key pieces to having this work properly is to make sure you have a Windows Server 2012 R2 template ready on your XS host. Below are some things to keep in mind:

• Make sure the image is sysprepped with the /generalize /shutdown /unattend options. Use the unattend file to provide login credentials among other things. A sample unattend file can be found here.
• Make sure RDP access is enabled in the template
• Make sure the Windows Firewall allows outbound connections on port 443
• Install the latest XenServer tools and reboot the machine as many times as needed to ensure the process is complete.

On the next screen, hit edit on each of the VMs and define the various parameters. Some of the key things you need to make sure include selecting the right VM template, NIC and providing the correct credentials. I have included screenshots for one of the VMs below.

After going through the configuration for each of the VM’s hit “Next” and provide additional configuration parameters in relation to the domain, XenDesktop and computer names. You can also import a config file to fill these parameters. Once complete, give the deployment profile a name and description.

On the next screen, review the configuration and hit “Deploy”. This starts the deployment process. If you look at your hypervisor host you will notice that VM’s being to get created.

Next click on the “Manage” tab and click on your current deployment to check the progress of the deployment. You will obtain a detailed breakdown of each step of the process.

You will also be notified via email as each VM is successfully created and also when the whole deployment is complete.

The entire process in my case took about 2 hours on really old hardware. I will be redoing this test in the coming weeks on much faster SSD drives to see how much time I can shave off.

In addition to allowing you to deploy solutions, CLM also has inbuilt monitoring and alerting. You get a snapshot of how the VMs are performing and you can also set thresholds for the alerts.

CLM also allows you to define operational tasks such as installing updates, running certain scripts etc right from within the CLM engine. These tasks can also be scheduled.

You can also define rules for dynamically tearing down, scaling up and also failover/fallback rules with the CLM engine. In the future I plan to play around with these a little more.

Final Thoughts

I am truly excited about the potential this platform holds and the value it brings to customers and partners. CLM helps automate the deployment, manage and monitor the environment and tear down whether you want to deploy just within your datacenter, a public cloud, private cloud or a hybrid cloud. In other words it helps through the entire lifecycle of a deployment. The simplicity of the platform along with the blueprints ensures that you dont need to have expert level skills on any of the solutions to deploy the blueprints. I would encourage everyone to try it out. I am sure if you do, you will end up being just as impressed as I am today!

NS Insight Center 11 was released earlier this month, and with this release Geo Maps is now available for HDX Insight. It was earlier available for Web Insight only. For those of you not familiar with HDX Insight, it is a tool from Citrix that provides end to end visibility from an end user experience perspective for ICA connections that are proxied through the Netscaler. So for instance, if a user reported a slow Citrix session, HDX Insight would help you determine if it is a client side issue (workstation/ISP etc), server issue, application issue, network issue etc. It also provides breakdown on how the bandwidth consumption within the ICA channel (printing/usb/screescrapes). More information on HDX Insight can be found here.

With the 11.x release of NS Insight center, a new feature called Geo Maps has been added to HDX Insight. Geo maps as the name suggests provides a pictoral representation of all the locations from where users are connecting from. By click on any location, you get a summary of the end user experience metrics for that region. This helps you identify performance issues isolated to a specific region quite easily. In addition you can also quickly determine if users are connecting from regions that you dont expect and thereby potentially mitigate a security threat. Geo Maps is an extremely neat addition to HDX Insight and a feature that will greatly benefit customers, specially customers with employees spread across the globe!

Installation and Configuration

My focus in this blog is the configuration of Geo Maps. For basic instructions on how to install Netscaler Insight Center, please refer to this edoc

With regards to Geo Maps. Below are the steps that you need to follow:

Download maxmind “GeoLite City” data base (http://dev.maxmind.com/geoip/legacy/geolite/)

Upload database to NS Insight Center (dat file) under Configuration –>Netscaler Insight Center –> Geo Database Files

Also, you need to check “Enable Geo data collection for Web and HDX Insight”  for the Device added in the inventory.

Once you’ve followed the steps above, reboot Insight Center and you should be all set. I am yet to test whether Geo Maps shows up under Director as well. Will update the post once I have more information on that. Hope this helps!

The IT landscape has changed a lot the past 5 years. Security is the top concern of most enterprises that I deal with, some being constantly attacked/hacked on a daily basis. IP theft is a major concern with executives and top engineers travelling around the world with highly sensitive data. Up until recently, the options were pretty limited. Typically IT departments provide travelling users encrypted laptops that are fairly locked down, and users leverage VPN to access enterprise applications.The data  still resides on these laptops. In a scenario that the laptop is compromised, not only could there be IP theft, but with the VPN access, a malicious user could connect back to the corporate network and cause havoc. There have been a number of incidents in foreign countries where laptops have been stolen and data breached.

A Chromebook running Citrix Receiver is a great option to solve this problem.

Chromebooks are secure by design

First off, Chromebooks are inherently secure due to the following reasons:

Sandboxing

Since each application on a chromebook runs in a restricted sandboxed environment, if that application is compromised for whatever reason, it cannot affect other applications that are running or the base OS in any way. The threat is effectively contained.

Verified Boot

When a chromebook boots, it does a check to make sure the system has not been tampered and that there is no corruption of any sort. If it detects either of the two, it will try to self heal and if that fails, the system wont boot.

Data Encryption

While you don’t typically store data on Chromebooks. they still have built in TPM chips which ensure that any data that is cached on the device (browser cookies, temp files etc) are fully encrypted and protected

Device Management

Another benefit of using Chromebooks is that they can be fully managed via the Chrome Management platform. Every OS feature and every Chrome browser function can completely controlled and locked down.

Citrix Receiver for Chrome

I purchased my first chromebook about 18 months ago and remember feeling so underwhelmed back then with the device. I didn’t like the fact that offline capabilities were very limited. The display options were not that great compared to a regular ultra-book. When it came to accessing enterprise applications using Citrix Receiver, again there were some limitations in terms of capabilities as compared to Windows/Mac/Linux.

Chromebooks have certainly come a long way since then, In addition to having addressed display and other hardware limitations and being extremely secure as discussed above, they are also enterprise ready by enabling end users to be productive, thanks to Citrix Receiver for Chrome.

Citrix Receiver allows users to securely access all their enterprise applications running in the datacenter. In addition, users can be subjected to various posture assessments prior to providing them access to the resources thanks to the Netscaler, which acts as a secure reverse proxy for all Citrix traffic. Depending on the results of the posture assessment, granular controls can be applied, for instance an authenticated user connecting from a trusted device (appropriate av definitions/service packs etc) and a trusted network can be allowed to print and map drives while a user who fails the assessment can be provided a read only environment with no ability to print/clipboard/map drives.

While we’ve had HTML5 Receiver for Chrome for a while now, the latest version (1.7) is extremely feature rich including USB redirection, file upload and download, access to google drive, bi directional audio, h264 video rendering, clipboarding, printing. These features provide users the same experience that they are used to on a desktop/laptop while providing a much more secure and mobile platform.

All in all, I strongly believe Chromebooks running Citrix Receiver is the perfect solution for enterprises trying to find the most secure and mobile solution for their travelling users. If you havent yet tested a Chromebook, I highly recommend you do! The Toshiba CB35 is a great choice!

General Announcements

Citrix Offers Customers the Key to Securing Their Confidential Information

Citrix announced it is simplifying the way sensitive documents are shared. Citrix ShareFile customers can now send encrypted emails from Microsoft Outlook to secure the content of messages in compliance with industry regulations such as HIPAA. Since the capability works from within the inbox, emails can be securely exchanged with clients and vendors without disrupting current processes. The capability, tailored for small and medium-sized organizations today, joins data protection innovations like ShareFile Restricted StorageZones for enterprises in a portfolio of Citrix solutions designed to meet the needs of businesses of all sizes – from small to large.

Citrix Powers “Always-On” Branch Workspaces

Citrix announced the CloudBridge Virtual WAN Edition, which reduces the cost of delivering applications, documents and IT services to branch offices by up to 80 percent, while ensuring nearly 100 percent application availability. The new CloudBridge Virtual WAN solution provides businesses with the flexibility to employ multiple cost-effective WAN technologies, offering the ability to scale WAN bandwidth at dramatically lower cost than traditional approaches. The solution also ensures the best possible user experience by securely sending mission-critical, delay-sensitive data over the highest performing path. The new CloudBridge Virtual WAN solution extends the CloudBridge platform and its integration with the company’s HDX and application acceleration technologies, to offer the most cost effective and highest performance solutions for securely delivering mobile workspaces with the applications, documents and IT services people need to work better in remote and branch offices.

Citrix Sponsors OpenStack Foundation To Help Drive Cloud Interoperability Standards

Citrix announced that it has become a Corporate Sponsor of the OpenStack Foundation. By joining the foundation’s community of contributors, Citrix demonstrates its continued commitment towards driving interoperability among standards-based cloud platforms and meeting the increasing demand for choice and flexibility in private, public and hybrid cloud solutions. NetScaler™ and XenServer™ solutions from Citrix are used as core infrastructure for some of the largest cloud infrastructure providers in the world, and this announcement brings the power of these products to customers choosing to build their clouds on OpenStack.

Feature Pack 1 for XenApp and XenDesktop 7.6 is Now Available

Citrix continues to add more functionality to our feature-rich, industry-leading XenApp and XenDesktop product lines with the release of Feature Pack 1, which is now available for download on Citrix.com.

While efforts for Feature Pack 1 were publically announced at Citrix Summit, our annual channel partner conference in January, today XenApp and XenDesktop customers with active Subscription Advantage (SA) or Software Maintenance (SWM) as of March 25, 2015 will be eligible to enhance their existing app and desktop virtualization solution

Citrix Expands vGPU Hypervisor Support

A large user base of Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop continues to be successfully deployed and officially supported on VMware’s popular vSphere hypervisor for non-graphics workloads. Citrix will offer the same level of quality support to customers who deploy XenApp or XenDesktop for NVIDIA GRID vGPU, starting from day one that VMware vSphere 6 is generally available (March 12, 2015) with the capability.

Announcing the DesktopPlayer for Windows and Mac Tech Previews!

After Citrix released DesktopPlayer for Mac last year, one of the major capabilities customers asked for was support for Windows devices, which would allow users to run DesktopPlayer on MacBooks and Windows laptops and PCs.

This customer feedback reinforced our vision for client virtualization and, as a result, we accelerated development of extending the functionality of DesktopPlayer for Mac to Windows devices. At Citrix Summit 2015, we announced and demonstrated a forthcoming preview of this solution with the DesktopPlayer for Windows Tech Preview. Today, we are excited to announce the availability of the DesktopPlayer for Windows Tech Preview!

This Tech Preview adds Windows platform support to DesktopPlayer by enabling users to access a local virtual desktop on their Windows laptop or PC, regardless of wireless network conditions – or even if no network connection is available. Moreover, the Tech Preview preserves existing user data, apps, and settings with an easy, non-disruptive install. Users can also switch between local (DesktopPlayer) and hosted (XenDesktop) virtual desktops with ongoing synchronization of data and profiles for a seamless experience on any device.

VCE Announces a new VDI Integration Service for Citrix that Accelerates Mobile Workspace Deployments

VCE announced a new VDI integration service for Citrix that accelerates mobile workspace deployments by combining app and desktop delivery from Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop with the power of NetScaler SDX. With this announcement, VCE and Citrix are drawing upon our industry leadership and strong partnership to offer our mutual customers a simple rapid path to app and virtual desktop delivery via private or hybrid cloud, with users enjoying an unmatched experience with the freedom to work from anywhere.

Best Practices/Reference Architecture Documents/Blogs

An Introduction To Session Recording (XA/XD 7.6 Feature Pack 1) – Installation, Configuration and User Experience 

On March 31st, Citrix released the much anticipated XenApp and XenDesktop 7.6 Feature Pack 1. Among the goodies included, one of the new additions in terms of functionality is Session Recording. For those of you who are new to what session recording is, I recommend this blog by Paul Murray. At a high level, session recording allows organizations to record on-screen activity within a published application or hosted shared desktop. While the benefits are fairly obvious, some of the most common use cases for auditing purposes, troubleshooting application issues, understanding workflow within an application and potentially improve processes and lastly compliance purposes. What I am covering in this blog is how to get your feet wet with the product by setting up a single server session recording environment and test functionality. I will not address HA, scalability and other design considerations in this article. Please review edocs for details on these.

Citrix Director Tool: Automated Daily and Weekly Custom Report Emails

This post, we details how you can send custom reports as email in addition to built-in reports available in the Director Trends page.

Citrix XenApp vs VMware Horizon – User Experience

Have you ever been running late for a meeting, but you first needed to modify a PowerPoint, print a document or transfer a file to a USB device? Every second that passes feels like an eternity. But even without the pressure of being late, a system that lets you complete your work faster is perceived as better and has a higher user acceptance.

NetScaler Troubleshooting with Citrix Insight Services

Citrix has developed tools and online analysis capabilities to help you collect environment information, analyze that information and receive tailored recommendations based on your Citrix environment and configuration.The tools are focused on a single mission–data collection–and their impact to your environment is minimal in terms of disk space, prerequisites and performance impact during the data collection process. Citrix Insight Services analyzes the data captured in the support bundle and provides you with Tailored Recommendations, specific to your environment. To leverage Citrix Insight Services, you’ll need to harvest a NetScaler tech support bundle.

Taking DaaS to the Next Level: A New Cisco-Validated Design for Citrix-Based DaaS

Deploying and scaling a business-ready Desktops-as-a-Service (DaaS) environment can become time-consuming and complex, particularly across multiple datacenters and clouds. Citrix and Cisco understand that management scale and simplicity is critical to the service provider business model, and have teamed to develop a new DaaS solution architecture as a Cisco Validated Design (CVD) titled “Desktop-as-a-Service for Service Provider 2000-Seat Virtual Desktop Infrastructure”. The complete CVD for Citrix Service Providers is available here. It gives service providers an excellent starting point for implementing a comprehensive DaaS solution. This blog summarizes the solution architecture, its components, and the testing performed to provision tenants and subscribers.

Now Available: The XenMobile 10 MDM Migration Tool!

Citrix released the migration tool to move from XenMobile version 9 to version 10. This is now available for download at MyCitrix.com. The Migration tool is embedded in the XenMobile 10 Server and the option can be selected during theFirst Time Use configuration.

Now LIVE! The Citrix XenApp Migration Web Service Beta

Designed to simplify the XenApp migration experience, Project Serenity is an easy-to-use web service you can use to help your existing XenApp 6 or 6.5 customers extract their current farm configurations (settings and policies) and select the specific configurations they would like to import into a new XenApp 7.6 site using their MyAccount credentials.

Spring Forward to Receiver for Windows 4.2.100

Citrix billed Receiver for Windows 4.2 as the best ever Receiver for Windows due all the great new features we were able to add.  Since the release of Receiver for Windows 4.2, we on the Citrix Receiver team have listened to your feedback and have worked on making further improvements, so that more of you can take advantage of its advanced features. Citrix is pleased to announce that Receiver for Windows 4.2.100 is now available with more than 45 fixes and enhancements to help you get the most out of your Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop experience.

XenMobile Timeouts: How Do They Work?

This blog focuses on WHY we would configure timeouts one way or another to get the balance between user experience and security that we are after.

Smart Card Configuration Guidance

A 237 page Smart Card configuration document, entitled “Configuring Citrix XenDesktop 7.6 and NetScaler Gateway 10.5 with PIV Smart Card Authentication” has been published and is now available as PDF on Citrix.com. The guide’s intent is to describe how to configure a smart card “test environment” from beginning to end. It covers smart card configuration with XenApp, XenDesktop and NetScaler Gateway.  The document includes an introduction to the problem set and marches its way through detailed configuration guidance including certificate management and numerous screen shots of configuration settings.

What’s in a Name? (The Art of Renaming a Site Database)

Ever wondered if it’s possible to rename your existing FMA Site Database without making a complete mess of your environment? No?? It turns out it’s a relatively simple matter, but one that requires a few more steps then you might initially think…

XenApp/XenDesktop Site Design (v2015)

In this blog, the author talks about FMA Site Design, which applies to both XenApp & XenDesktop 7.x, which use the FMA architecture. The author tries to shed some light on some interesting designs we’re doing in the field when there is more than one data center.

Guide for Microsoft Lync 2013 in VDI environment

With the release of the Feature Pack 1 for Citrix XenDesktop 7.6, we now support audio and video optimization for Microsoft Lync 2013 Client and Server deployments using the Citrix HDX RealTime Optimization Pack for Lync. This level of Lync optimization is unique in the market. While the optimization pack is the best way to deliver Lync to end-users in most scenarios, XenApp and XenDesktop also provide additional options which should be considered as part of the project planning phase. This deployment guide discusses all options in detail, provides best practice recommendations and step-by-step installation instructions.

UDP Audio Through A NetScaler Gateway

Citrix Receiver can now use User Datagram Protocol (UDP) to support audio remoting of a XenDesktop session through a Netscaler Gateway. This blog details some of the configuration specifics.

Support Articles/Bug Fixes

• XenDesktop/Provisioning Services Hypervisor Citrix Product Support
• Preparing For NPAPI Being Disabled by Google Chrome
• Citrix XenDesktop 7.6 on XenServer 6.5 Design Guide
• Recommended Hotfixes for XenApp 7.x
• Troubleshooting ICA Session Performance
• How to Customize App Shortcuts with Receiver for Windows
• When Switching Between Aero and Non-aero Themes Within a Virtual Desktop Session, the Mouse Pointer Movement Becomes Slow
• How to Create Custom Theme for Logon Page of NetScaler Gateway Virtual Server
• How to Configure NetScaler Web Logging on Windows
• How to Set Up DNS for GSLB Using NetScaler as the Authority
• Configuration Steps for Initial Setup of Command Center
• FAQ: XenMobile 10 Migration Tool
• How to Prompt a User with an Expired Password Warning Message Using PowerShell
• PVS Write Cache Sizing Considerations
• Configuring Security Features of Session Recording

Upcoming Events

Feb 19 – Jun 23 Seminar Series: Managing the Unmanageable: How to Secure the Enterprise

Join us at this live security-focused seminar series to learn about how to secure sensitive data on managed and under-managed devices, measures that enforce security across unmanaged apps and network, models that control access to sensitive data, specific to application usage and access, and how to develop and enforce policies to “manage the unmanageable.”

Register Now  |  Download Invitation  |  Contact for More Info

Mar – May 7 In-person Master Class Seminar Series: Protect Your Mission Critical Web Apps With Citrix NetScaler

Join us for this in-person master class. We will demo and discuss best practices to secure your network and apps against threats.

Register Now  |  Download Invitation  |  Contact for More Info

Ongoing (Tuesdays, Thursdays) Weekly Deminars: Citrix Workspace Suite

Take a close look at the capabilities of Citrix Workspace Suite in these twice weekly technically-focused, demo-led webinars.
Register Now  |  Contact for More Info

Ongoing (Wednesdays) Weekly Deminars: NetScaler

Join us to understand how Citrix NetScaler can empower your organization with the most comprehensive set of application security, acceleration, load balancing, and monitoring tools.

Register Now  |  Contact for More Info

Ongoing (Wednesdays) Weekly Deminars: Empowering Mobility with XenMobile and ShareFile

See how Citrix can empower your organizations to provide secure, remote access to company resources through mobile app and device management as well as data sharing.

Register Now  |  Contact for More Info

On Demand Webinars

Solution Webinar: Move From Cisco ACE to a Software Defined World

Solution Webinar: Discover the Power of Application Centric Infrastructure

Master Class: How to Upgrade from XenApp 6.5 to XenApp 7.6

Solution Webinar: How to Effectively Replace BlackBerry Devices and Gain User Acceptance

Master Class: NetScaler VPX. Spotlight: Admin Partitions

Solution Webinar: Mobile Workspace Delivery – Any App, Any Device, Any Network, Any Cloud

Solution Webinar: Top Use Cases for App Virtualization

Solution Webinar: How to Build a Solid BYO Policy and Mitigate Security Risks

Solution Webinar: Don’t Settle for “Good Enough” Email for Mobile Employees

Solution Webinar: Managing the Unmanageable: The Network Security Perspective

Solution Webinar: One Company’s Journey to Mobilize Their Workforce with Enterprise Mobility Management

Master Class: NetScaler Deployment Modes and Server Load Balancing

 Master Class: What’s New in Citrix XenMobile 10.0

Solution Webinar: Enable SDN and Dev Ops with Cisco ACI and Citrix NetScaler

 Desktop Master Class: Deliver Microsoft Lync with XenApp and XenDesktop

 Solution Webinar: 5 Things VMware Doesn’t Want You to Know About Horizon View

Introduction

On March 31st, Citrix released the much anticipated XenApp and XenDesktop 7.6 Feature Pack 1. Among the goodies included, one of the new additions in terms of functionality is Session Recording. For those of you who are new to what session recording is, I recommend this blog by Paul Murray. At a high level, session recording allows organizations to record on-screen activity within a published application or hosted shared desktop. While the benefits are fairly obvious, some of the most common use cases for auditing purposes, troubleshooting application issues, understanding workflow within an application and potentially improve processes and lastly compliance purposes. What I am covering in this blog is how to get your feet wet with the product by setting up a single server session recording environment and test functionality. I will not address HA, scalability and other design considerations in this article. Please review edocs for details on these.

Components: The Nuts and Bolts

So what makes up the session recording infrastructure? There are essentially six components:

• Session Recording Agent – This piece needs to be installed on every Server OS machine that is used to publish applications and hosted shared desktops. The session recording agent is the component responsible for capturing the on screen activity, recording it and transferring the content to the recording server.
• Session Recording Server – There are two components that make up the session recording server namely the broker and the storage manager. The broker is responsible interacts with the session recording player and handles requests for files, search queries etc and also interacts with the session recording policy console to make sure the appropriate recording policies are enforced for every XA/XD session. The storage manager as the name suggests is responsible for managing the recorded session files received from the recording agents.
• Session Recording Player – This is a windows player that allows authorized users to view recorded sessions. Users also have the ability to search for sessions via the recording server and play them back.
• Session Recording Database – SQL database that stores the recorded data.
• Session Recording Policy Console – The policy console allows an administrator to define policies governing the sessions that are recorded and the ones that are not and also whether the users are informed when the session is recorded. You can filter based on server, user groups etc.
• Session Recording Authorization Console – The session recording authorization console allows administrators to enable Role Based Access Controls. For instance, you can specify who is allowed to view recordings, who can modify policies etc.

Installation: So how do we get this thing to work!

After having gone through the process of installing and configuring session recording, I have to admit that its not the typical next -> next -> next process. You have to pay attention to the instructions and make sure all the pre-requisites are in place. Else you will be going back and forth a number of times. All the installation components are available as a single zip file via MyCitrix under the XA/XD FP1 download section. Once you extract the zip file you will find three folders as shown below. I will walk you through the installation of each of these components.

 Session Recording Administration Components

Under the Session Recording Administration Components, you will find two files, “SessionRecordingAdministrationx64” and “Broker_Powershellsnapin_x64”. You can choose to install all the session recording administration components on a single server or split them up. I installed all the components on a single Windows Server 2012 VM in my environment. I believe you can install these components on Server 2008 R2 as well.

The Broker powershell snap-in allows you to script various parameters of session recording and configure options via command line. Its a straightforward installer with nothing to configure as part of the install process.

“SessionRecordingAdministrationx64” installer is what installs the core infrastructure and there are a number of gotchas that you have to take care of prior to running the installer:

• On the windows server you plan to install the administration components, make sure the following Windows server components are installed:

• Make sure you have access to a SQL server (Express, 2014, 2012, 2008 R2) and make sure the NT Authority\System account has sysadmin SQL server role permissions. I used SQL 2012 Express Edition and I installed it on the same server.
• Having SQL Management studio installed really helps as well!.
• If you install SQL server on a stand alone server you need to make sure SQL Server Browser service is running and that the TCP/IP protocol is enabled under the SQL server Network Protocol configuration.
• You need to download and install certain components from the  SQL Server 2008 R2 SP3 Feature pack namely SharedManagementObjects and CLR Types. You can find the download here
• Make sure a valid computer certificate is present on the server. The recording server uses SSL/HTTPS by default for communication (and rightly so)

Once you’ve got these pieces installed (I really wish these were documented better as I had to waste a lot of time during the configuration process) you are all set to run the installer. Some screenshots below:

Once all the components are installed, you need to run the Session Recording Server Properties executable which allows you to configure a number of parameters such as the folder where the recordings are stored, which certificate to use for encryption, file threshold parameters and session duration, allow playback of live sessions and what notifications (if any) is sent to the user when a session is being recorded. Below are the screenshots.

The next step is to run the Session Recording Authorization Console and make sure the appropriate users are given access to administer the environment.

Now, run the session recording policy console and define the appropriate policies to filter what server/user sessions are recorded, whether they are notified and which sessions are not recorded.

And with that, the server components are installed and configured!

Session Recording Agent

As mentioned earlier, the session recording agent needs to be installed on your server workloads that are used to publish applications and desktops. In my case I used a server 2012 machine with the XD 7.6 VDA installed that was a template for my server workload deliver group. You need to install ASP.NET and the Microsoft Message Queuing (including subcomponents) features prior to installing the agent. Once the agent is installed, launch Session Recording Agent properties and specify the recording server name/ip address and the port that is used by the recording server.

Session Recording Player

The player needs to be installed on a desktop OS, Windows 7 in my case. No special configuration is required while running the installer. Once the installation is complete, you need to launch the session recording player and go into Tools –>Options to specify the recording server info. Once this is configured, an authorized user can search for user sessions and play back recorded sessions.

User Experience

If notification is turned on via policy, the user will notice a warning message (customizable) every time they launch an app or hosted shared desktop. This obviously can be disabled.

Director Integration

Session Recording can also be integrated with Citrix Desktop Director whereby recording can be turned on or off for a specific user session. To enable this integration, run the following command on the server running Director and specify the session recording server and protocol information.

C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Director\tools\DirectorConfig.exe /configsessionrecording

Conclusion

While the installation process was a little tedious, once its up and running, it is an extremely useful tool with minimal configuration moving forward. I have installed the agent in my Server workload template and control whether a session is recorded or not via policy. Works like a charm! I would highly encourage everyone to try out this functionality and provide feedback.

If you think back how managing a Citrix environment used to be about 10 years ago, a typical Citrix administrator had one product to worry about – Metaframe/Presentation Server. Even with that single product, administrators found it difficult to maintain Citrix environments due to the effort it required. Fast forward to 2015 and now the infrastructure supporting our Mobile Workspaces has many moving parts (XenApp, XenDesktop, XenMobile, Sharefile, Netscaler). Planning and completing infrastructure upgrades in large organizations can take months and sometimes years.

Wouldnt it be nice if someone could magically make all of the Citrix infrastructure a black box so to speak that you didnt have to worry about so your valuable resources can start focusing on the things that mattered to the business as opposed to working on mundane operational tasks. In addition, wouldnt it be nice to always be evergreen and have the latest and greatest features at your disposal as opposed to waiting and figuring out how to upgrade your environment. These challenges are exactly what Citrix plans on solving with Citrix Workspace Cloud (CWC).

CWC is a hosted control plane that is fully supported end to end by Citrix. It includes all the infrastructure components required to deliver a mobile workspace to the end user. An IT admin would be able to launch a web based management console and provision a workspace that encompasses windows apps, mobile apps, windows desktops, data and manage their mobile devices all from a single pane of glass. The customer would still maintain the supporting infrastructure such as Active Directory, DNS etc thereby maintaining the security boundary that most require. Additionally there is no requirement for a VPN tunnel between the Citrix Control Plane and the customer’s data center. Instead the Workspace Cloud Connector is installed on a Windows server in the customer data center that communicates via SSL with the Citrix Control Plane. Citrix will also handle lifecycle management which will help customers automate the entire infrastructure deployment by providing you blueprints that follow industry best practices. The solution will also include end to end monitoring capabilities for your infrastructure and provide you true visibility into how resources are being consumed.

CWC makes total sense for an SMB customer or a mid-market customer with limited resources to administer their IT environment and probably have limited infrastructure to host these solutions. Such customers typically prefer an on demand hosted model where they pay based on consumption, which is exactly what CWC is! But how about Enterprise customers who have large dedicated Citrix teams who have very defined processes and workflows. I would argue that there is a place for CWC even in that space. Most enterprise customers have multiple Citrix farms/sites, some of mine having upwards of 30 XA/XD farms/sites. Now if you want to design a totally redundant and highly available infrastructure, think of the number of servers involved and the operational challenges on a month to month basis. With CWC the IT organization would be able to reduce their data center footprint and reduce OpX significantly.

CWC can also be looked at as a great DR solution. Many of my customers today spend millions on hot standy DR data centers that are rarely actually utilized. What if you could setup the barebones DR infrastructure leveraging CWC and then spin up additional capacity only in a true DR scenario. This could lead to significant CapX and OpX savings.

I have always been a proponent of new technology solutions, but only when it makes business sense to my customers. I believe CWC is promising in that regard and for that reason I am truly excited for what the future holds!

If you plan on attending Citrix Synergy 2015, be sure to take a look at my recommended sessions this year. There are some great sessions by Joe Vaccarro, Harsh Gupta and the rest of the CWC team covering the solution in depth. Watch out for some awesome announcements too!!!

– George