Archive
Jan. Edition of XenDesktop Technical Newsletter Now Available – #XenDesktop, #Citrix
It’s out again with more exciting topics! Check it out!!!
Using XenDesktop? Then you need to get the XenDesktop Technical Newsletter! The newsletter is comprised of the best technical resources from across Citrix Services: Consulting, Technical Support, Education, and Technical Readiness. In its third year the newsletter is designed to help customers run their XenDesktop optimally and get more out of their investment in Citrix desktop virtualization. And its FREE!
I am pleased to announce that the January 2013 edition of the newsletter is now available.
Check out the archive page, where you can access both the current and past issues, as well as subscribe to the FREE monthly newsletter.
The January edition of the newsletter is packed with great content, including:
- Optimal XenApp 6.5 VM Configuration (Blog)
- Introduction to the new Project Accelerator (Blog)
- Deploying XenApp 6.5 using PVS (Blog)
- Insider Troubleshooting tips for Administrators (eBook)
- Whats new with Excalibur (Blog)
- Top Knowledge Center content for December 2012 (Articles, hotfixes, whitepapers, etc…)
- How to configure Access Gateway 5 standalone for use with XD5 (tech note)
- XenDesktop Tools & Hotfixes
- And much more.
If you have any..
Continue reading here!
//Richard
Webinar – #Citrix Mobile Device Management – #CloudGateway – @RobSanders
How to secure native iOS and Android email as well as other apps for business use
Thursday, 24th January 2013, 3:00pm GMT (4:00pm CET)
Citrix provides two new mobile apps to support mobile workers with secure email and web browsing on their BYO and corporate mobile devices – @WorkMail and @WorkWeb.Come to this technical webinar to learn more about how these and other native iOS and Android applications can be securely distributed and managed for your business.
Topics include:
- Managing, securing and controlling web and native mobile applications and data
- Secure mobile containers
- Seamless app integration
- Policy-based access controls
- Application-specific Micro VPN
This live webinar presented by Rob Sanders and will be followed by a live Q&A session.
Space is limited.
Register here!
//Richard
Tablets are crushing PC sales, Gartner finds
Don’t blame Windows 8 or the economy for poor PC sales, analyst says
People are buying tablets to replace old PCs, which explains why PC sales were so dismal over the holidays, according to Gartner.
Small, portable, capable, inexpensive, touchscreen tablets grab sales from low-end PCs and mean that old PCs will not be replaced with new ones, says Mikako Kitagawa, a Gartner principal analyst, and that is a significant change in how PC sales work.
“Whereas as once we imagined a world in which individual users would have both a PC and a tablet as personal devices, we increasingly suspect that most individuals will shift consumption activity to a personal tablet, and perform creative and administrative tasks on a shared PC,” Kitagawa says.
“This transformation was triggered by the availability of compelling low-cost tablets in 2012, and will continue until the installed base of PCs declines to accommodate tablets as the primary consumption device.”
That is the battle Windows 8 is fighting, Gartner says, although the scarcity of Windows 8 touch devices may so far have hampered sales. With new touch machines being promised for later this year, that may help Windows 8 grab a larger share of PC sales but not help the overall number of PCs sold, Gartner says.
Sales were down 4.9% in Q4 2012 compared to Q4 2011, Gartner says, which goes along with IDC numbers from last week, although IDC’s number, 6.4%, is larger. “During the holiday season, consumers no longer viewed PCs as the number one gift item,” Gartner said…
Continue to read here!
//Richard
#Citrix #XenApp 6.5 Hosted Shared Desktop Sizing Example
Great Citrix blog post series from Andy Baker!
In this blog series I’m taking a look at scalability considerations for XenApp 6.5 Hosted Shared Desktops, specifically:
- How to estimate XenApp 6.5 Hosted Shared Desktop scalability
- What’s the optimal XenApp 6.5 VM specification?
- XenApp 6.5 Hosted Shared Desktop sizing example
My last post provided guidance on the optimal XenApp virtual machine specification. Now in the last post of the series, I’m going to walk through an example sizing exercise.
Scenario
Company ABC recently completed a user segmentation exercise. The following table includes 8 user groups that have been identified as good candidates for a Hosted Shared Desktop. None of these user groups requires the ability to install applications or the ability to customize their desktop beyond profile based changes. Three separate Provisioning Services images will be created due to application compatibility conflicts identified by Citrix AppDNA.
With Hosted Shared Desktops, it is important to consider the ‘Maximum Number of Concurrent Users’ column rather than the ‘Total Number of Users’ column. Sizing the environment for concurrency rather than the total number of users will help to reduce infrastructure costs without affecting performance or availability.
Sufficient redundancy should be incorporated into the sizing estimate so that a single XenApp server or virtualization host failure does not affect the total number of concurrent users that can be supported (n+1).
Company ABC wishes to use their standard hardware specification…
Continue reading here!
//Richard
#Citrix Knowledge Center Top 10 – December 2012
Citrix Support is focused on ensuring Customer and Partner satisfaction with our products.
One of our initiatives is to increase the ability of our Partners and Customers to leverage self-service avenues via our Knowledge Center.
Find below the Citrix Knowledge Center Top 10 for December 2012.
Top 10 Technical Articles
| Article Number | Article Title |
|---|---|
| CTX129229 | Recommended Hotfixes for XenApp 6.0 and Later on Windows Server 2008 R2 |
| CTX129082 | Application Launch Fails with Web Interface using Internet Explorer 9 |
| CTX132875 | Citrix Receiver Error 2320 |
| CTX804493 | Users Prompted to Download ICA File, Launch.ica, Instead of Launching the Connection |
| CTX105793 | Error: Cannot connect to the Citrix server. Protocol Driver Error |
| CTX133997 | Citrix Receiver 3.x – Issues Fixed in This Release |
| CTX127030 | Citrix Guidelines for Antivirus Software Configuration |
| CTX101644 | Seamless Configuration Settings |
| CTX676151 | How to Install the Citrix ICA Web Clien |
| CTX325140 | Manually and Safely Removing Files that might remain on a System |
Top 10 Whitepapers
| Article Number | Article Title |
|---|---|
| CTX131577 | XenApp 6.x (Windows 2008 R2) – Optimization Guide |
| CTX132799 | XenDesktop and XenApp Best Practices |
| CTX101997 | Citrix Secure Gateway Secure Ticket Authority Frequently Asked Questions |
| CTX133185 | Citrix CloudGateway Express 2.0 – Implementation Guide |
| CTX129761 | XenApp Planning Guide – Virtualization Best Practices |
| CTX134943 | XenDesktop and XenApp Printing – Planning Guide |
| CTX122978 | XenServer: Understanding Snapshots |
| CTX134081 | Planning Guide – Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop Policies |
| CTX128277 | Logon Optimization Guide – XenApp/XenDesktop |
| CTX110351 | User Profile Best Practices for MetaFrame Presentation Server |
Top 10 Hotfixes
| Article Number | Article Title |
|---|---|
| CTX132122 | Hotfix Rollup Pack 1 for Citrix XenApp 6.5 for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 |
| CTX126653 | Citrix Online Plug-in 12.1.44 for Windows with Internet Explorer 9 Support |
| CTX133066 | 12.3 Online Plug-In – Issues Fixed in This Release |
| CTX133882 | Hotfix Rollup Pack 2 for Citrix XenApp 6 for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 |
| CTX135025 | Hotfix XA650R01W2K8R2X64033- For Citrix XenApp 6.5 for Windows Server 2008 R2 |
| CTX116550 | Credential Handling Weakness in Presentation Server Client for Windows |
| CTX135709 | Hotfix XS61E006 – For XenServer 6.1.0 |
Continue reading here!
//Richard
Free eBook – Secrets of the #Citrix Support Ninjas – #XenApp, #XenDesktop, #NetScaler
Secrets of the Citrix Support Ninjas
So we decided to pick their brains and gather a bunch of ‘power tips’ to help administrators like you run better Citrix environments.
The result is this free eBook: Secrets of the Support Ninjas.
It’s a quick, easy-to-browse collection of insider tips and tricks from the people who know best – organized by four products: XenApp, XenDesktop, XenServer and NetScaler.
If you only take away a single tip to help you run your environment, it’ll be well worth the download…
Download here!
//Richard
Watch the #Citrix Consulting Best Practice Webcast Series
Citrix Consulting Best Practice Series
In these webinars, members of the Citrix Consulting team have taken an in-depth look at the steps to desktop virtualisation.
Beginning with the basics, looking at setting priorities, and passing on the knowledge needed to fully understand the processes, what is required for roll-out and of course the value of desktop virtualisation.
This series has been extremely popular and now, is available for you to view at your convenience.
Regardless of where you currently stand with your desktop virtualisation, feel free to look at a single phase or check out the whole series.
Content:
- Introduction: Desktop Virtualisation: Your Insight into the world of Desktop Virtualisation
- Phase 1: Establishing business priorities and mapping these to your desktop virtualisation project
- Phase 2: Analysis – understanding your existing IT infrastructure
- Phase 3: Design – key concepts and approaches for designing your desktop virtualisation solution
- Phase 4: Build/Test – validating your design and making improvements
- Phase 5: Rollout – Going Live and operational with your virtual desktops
Continue reading and watch the webcasts here!
//Richard
Lifecycle Milestones for Citrix Receiver – #Citrix, #Receiver
For each major version (e.g., v3.0) of a Citrix Receiver for Windows, Mac, Linux, Java, or WinCE, customers will receive a minimum lifecycle of four years. The lifecycle consists of a Mainstream Maintenance Phase for at least the first three years followed by an Extended Maintenance Phase for the remainder of the lifecycle. The specific dates for each major release of these components will be posted in the tables below.
During the Mainstream Maintenance phase, customers that remain current in a Citrix Technical Support program receive 24x7x365 worldwide support. Support includes assistance from experts and connects you to the latest troubleshooting tools, techniques and resources you need to protect your Citrix investment. Citrix will provide code-level maintenance in the form of minor version releases, and in some cases, Cumulative Updates (maintenance releases containing multiple fixes) when Citrix determines they are required to resolve issues with Receiver. The release of a minor version or Cumulative Update may define a new maintenance baseline. Citrix customers may be required to upgrade to a specific minor version or Cumulative Update to receive continued maintenance. When a new maintenance baseline is defined, Citrix will continue to provide support for each minor version (e.g., v3.3) for a minimum of 12 months after the release of the next minor version (e.g., v3.4). Minor versions may include functional enhancements as well as code-level maintenance.
During the Extended Maintenance Phase, technical support continues as before but code-level maintenance will be limited to security-related issues deemed critical by Citrix.
For Citrix Receiver for Android, Chromebook, iOS, or Windows 8/RT, customers that remain current in a Citrix Technical Support program receive 24x7x365 worldwide support for the version of Receivers that are currently available from the respective vendor app store. Code-level maintenance is provided with the next version made available in the respective vendor app store.
Lifecycle dates for Citrix Receiver for Windows, Mac, Linux, Java, and WinCE
The tables below list the major versions…
Put Citrix Receiver App Banners in Web Interface for Android and iOS – #Citrix, #Receiver
A good blog post from Roy Tokeshi about Citrix Receiver setup and provisioning.
I’ve used the Citrix Mobile Receiver Setup URL Generator for quite some time and like it (but now of course you’ll get pretty far with email-based enrolment if you can use that), but it’s still valid for some use cases and scenarios. But to add the banner to the download of the app itself is something I’ve not done, interesting!
One of the cool things you can do to help your users connect to your XenDesktop and XenApp environments is the Citrix Mobile Receiver Setup URL Generator at:http://community.citrix.com/MobileReceiverSetupUrlGenerator/
The output of this generator is a couple of links. The first is an iOS configuration link and the second is the Android configuration link. What is great about this is once the user gets this link on their iOS or Android device, via email, text message, or carrier pigeon with a micro SD card strapped to its leg , all the user has to do is click on the link and the local instance of the mobile Citrix Receiver is auto-configured.
- VCDC Email
- Application warning iOS
Something that Apple had made available is called a Smart App Banner. (I suggest that you don’t shout “Smart App Banners!” across the cube farm unless you want to start a bunch of prairie dogging or HR emails.) Regardless, the folks at Apple created an easy way for you to advertise the Citrix Receiver app itself from within web interface. At Citrix Systems we have had had a couple of different temporarily consistent hostnames we point at to get our apps and desktops. Among my customers, apps.company.com or atwork.company.com have popped up a few times. The point being, the user puts a name in the browser and the web interface client detect takes over, suggests a client version for Mac, Windows, Java and off they go to application or desktop nirvana. But what about the lonely neglected mobile devices. We tell our bosses that we need iPhones, iPads, and Androids for work. So the smart thing to do is to get a few work apps on there before bosses catch us playing Angry Birds, or Radical.FM So the question is, “How do I use this on my web interface?” That is an excellent question. We are going to take the cute little meta tag referenced in that Apple Dev article and paste that right into the login.aspx file in our web interface site. For the purposes of demonstration, I’m going to use our Virtual Computing Demo Center or VCDC as an example. The default web interface that acts as a front end of the demo instance is hosted on a virtual machine acting as the DDC for XenDesktop. The screenshots I am using are based on the connection I make to a XenApp desktop logged on as administrator. \\ddc\c$\inetpub\wwwroot\Citrix\DesktopWeb\auth\login.aspx looked like this:
Now, modified at the top line it looks like this.
Remember that this is something that is only supported in iOS and in fact from the default Safari browser. Here are some screenshots…
Continue reading here!
//Richard
What’s new with Access Gateway MAC Plug-in release 2.1.4 – #Citrix, #AG, #Receiver
Another great blog post from Prashant! You rock! 😉
The new Citrix Access Gateway Appliance release 10.0.71.6014.e brings along with it the new MAC plug-in release 2.1.4. MAC OS, along with Microsoft Windows, are the two main desktop platforms supported by Citrix Access Gateway for full SSL Tunnel. The AG plug-in is most commonly used in tandem with Citrix Receiver, to provide access to your virtual applications and desktops, provided by XenApp & XenDesktop respectively. The Receiver and AG plug-in also work together to provide end users access to intranet web and SaaS resources via Citrix CloudGateway.
The new 2.1.4 plug-in brings the following new enhancements for Citrix Receiver users:
- Seamless Desktop Receiver experience: With this release of Access Gateway plug-in, end users will no longer have to sign into the plug-ins as a manual step, to access apps / sites that require a full SSL tunnel. Receivers automatically launch a SSL VPN session via Access Gateway as needed. Result is – end user just deals with Citrix Receiver and Receiver internally (and automatically) deals with Access Gateway on user’s behalf.
- EPA with ICAProxy / CVPN: Receivers can now seamlessly launch AG plug-ins to connect to an Access Gateway vServer configured with End Point Analysis policies, in ICAProxy and CVPN modes as well. Earlier, this was supported only for Full Tunnel access.
- ….
Continue reading here!
//Richard
The IT Melting Pot! 