Archive
#XenMobile and the #Citrix Mobile Workspaces Architecture – #BYOD
This is a great blog post by Christopher Campbell and good picture to show the overall capabilities and architecture of the Citrix offering!
You’ve heard us talk about Mobile Workspaces and if you’re a techie you’re probably wondering if Citrix really has the architectural components (a complete, comprehensive and fully integrated architecture) that can deliver any app and data to any user on any device over any network?
Well let’s first identify a few of the market leading technologies that make up the Citrix Mobile Workspaces solution:
- XenApp mobilizes and secures Windows apps on any device
- XenDesktop securely delivers virtual Windows desktops and apps on any device
- XenMobile manages and secures mobile, web and SaaS apps on mobile devices
- GoToMeeting empowers people to meet and collaborate with anyone, anywhere
- ShareFile shares and syncs corporate data securely from any location
- NetScaler optimizes and secures app delivery and on any network
- CloudPlatform orchestrates and provisions apps, desktops and IT services from any cloud
OK, OK. We know you have the products but do they really integrate?
Yes. Don’t believe me? Well as they say a picture is worth a thousand words. This is what the Mobile Workspace Architecture looks like.
OK. I get it. You have the architecture but that doesn’t necessarily translate to a seamless user experience.
Still don’t believe huh? Well this is what the user experience looks like.
XenMobile is a key ingredient in delivering a mobile workspace. Along with XenApp and XenDesktop it allows organizations to deliver on giving users access to any app from any device. In fact, if you’re an existing XenApp or XenDesktop customer, XenMobile seamlessly plugs into your existing architecture.
If you’re a XenDesktop or XenApp customer this is what your environment probably looks like.
Now this is what you need to enable EMM for BYO and COPE (Corporate Owned, Personally Enabled) devices and add that MDM, MAM, Secure Email, Secure Data…
Continue reading here!
//Richard
#Citrix and Palo Alto Networks Team to Deliver Consolidated, Multi-tenant Network Security and #ADC Services on #NetScaler SDX
This is really interesting!!
With the myriad of features that we launched in PAN-OS 6.0, you may have missed a new deployment option for Palo Alto Networks VM-Series in your data center. In addition to the support of VM-Series for VMware environments, you can now deploy the VM-Series on the Citrix NetScaler SDX platform. We launched this with Citrix officially today.
Virtualized and cloud environments require the secure and efficient delivery of the right applications to the right users using any device and from any location. To do this, you need an infrastructure that supports all aspects of application delivery (security, availability, performance and visibility) and embraces the key characteristics of cloud:
- Multi-tenancy – the ability to support differing needs of new application owners, business units or service provider customers
- Agility – the services must have the ability to be provisioned and de-provisioned on demand, with support for automation and orchestration
- Scalability – the services must have the ability to flexibly scale up, scale out capacity to meet the needs of the business
Citrix NetScaler SDX is an open, multi-services platform that addresses these requirements. The NetScaler SDX platform consolidates NetScaler application delivery controller (ADC), and best-in-class network and security services required for application delivery. Now, with the introduction of VM-Series on Citrix NetScaler, you’ll be able to provide dedicated instances of security and ADC for per application load balancing with dedicated firewalling. You now also have a complete, integrated security and availability solution for Citrix XenApp XenDesktop deployments – from secure remote access, high-availability…
Continue reading here!
//Richard
Choose your #Citrix #NetScaler … wisely… – via @hlouwers
This is a question I get a lot and I must say that Henny Louwers did answer it well in this blog post!
I spend a lot of my time breaking down the different models of Citrix NetScaler appliances and different Software Editions within the Citrix NetScaler portfolio.
I decided to set up a blog about this since the path is usually pretty much (lengthy but) the same. This does not mean the answer is always easy because there are a lot of questions that need to be answered.
The first thing I would like to get off my chest is the following: Stop seeing/selling the Citrix NetScaler as a replacement for Secure Gateway. It is so much more than that. I often have discussions with various engineers and consultants telling me that Citrix NetScaler is so expensive for a Remote Access solution because Secure Gateway always used to be free. No offense but a Citrix NetScaler solution belongs to the networking department, not the Citrix XenApp sys admin department. Or maybe limited.
That leads me to the first difficult thing of a Citrix NetScaler project. The adoption of the Citrix NetScaler appliances to the networking guys of an organization. They need to embrace the solution to make this a success. For some reason they too see it as a ‘’Citrix’’ solution. For that reason one of the most important meetings to setup is usually with the networking guys to try to explain the L3-L7 functionality of the Citrix NetScaler solution. When they realize it competes with F5, Juniper, Cisco, etc then we are on the right track.
NetScaler Gateway or NetScaler Standard Edition
Usually the first question of a customer is regarding something simple like replacing the Remote Access solution. Since the NetScaler is going to be the main platform for publishing Citrix publications a NetScaler Gateway can be considered as a valid option. This is when I tell a customer it would be wise to spend a little extra on the NetScaler Standard Edition since this would leverage the solution be having full load balancing capabilities (among others). When you compare prices between the NetScaler Gateway and NetScaler Standard Edition you will see that the Standard Edition will be somewhat more expensive but I for one think that it is worth the difference given the feature set that come with the Standard Edition. Of course the NetScaler Gateway can always be upgraded to a NetScaler Standard Edition (or higher) if you will.
Another feature of Citrix NetScaler Standard Edition is the ability to run Citrix Web Interface on the appliance. Honestly, I do think is not really that important anymore….
Continue reading here!
//Richard
Latest Security Intelligence Report Shows 24 Percent of PCs are Unprotected
Interesting and scary facts from Microsoft… why not just add a simple cloud based solution like Webroot to your PC’s and Mac’s? Read more about Webroot that I think is a great product here from one of my earlier posts: 1st Test of Webroot SecureAnywhere – #Webroot, #SecureAnywhere, #BYOD
Today, Microsoft released new research as part of its Security Intelligence Report, volume 14, which takes a close look at the importance of running up-to-date antivirus software on your computer. The research showed that, on average, computers without antivirus software are 5.5 times more likely to be infected.
Antivirus software from Microsoft, McAfee, Symantec and others helps to guard against viruses, remove infections and protect your privacy. It can help protect your computer from malware trying to steal your credit card information, e-mail address book or even the files you’ve saved to your computer. It is one of the most crucial defenses computer users have to help protect against cybercriminals.
If you have been using computers as long as I have, long before almost every device was constantly connected to the Internet, you’ll recall the days when viruses were typically spread via sneaker-net, through infected floppy disks. Read more…
#Citrix #XenClient – Securing External-Facing XenClient Synchronizers with #NetScaler
Ok, an interesting blog post for you out there that are thinking of or already are using XenClient!
One of the key value propositions of XenClient is the remote image and device management capabilities of XenClient Synchronizer– the management server for XenClient devices. Synchronizer enables customers to centrally create, manage and update images for delivery to endpoints where the image executes locally. Synchronizer also enables administrators to specify client side policies and for users to back up their images.
A key use case for these capabilities is centralized image management for mobile users. A common question customers pose when dealing with the issue of mobile users that travel or those that are not located in the office is: what is the best way to expose the Synchronizer to the public Internet? Our response to date has been to offer three options:
Option A: Port Forwarding or forward requests (port 443) from the edge (firewall) to the Synchronizer.
Option B: Put the Synchronizer in the DMZ.
Continue reading here.
//Richard
The IT Melting Pot! 