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
FAQ: Differentiate Between Two Configurations on a NetScaler
Citrix Receiver for iOS common settings reference
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