Category Archives: vGPU

Citrix Workspace app is released Hello World

The views expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Citrix.

Introduction
What is Citrix Workspace app? It brings together all your LOB tools which in todays modern world consists of (virtual/micro/installed/mobile) apps, SaaS, desktops & content. I’ve embedded a sample of what this actually looks like below.

My #1 feature in @citrix #Workspace app is that now my @sharefile content is available in the same app and any content I favourite is available easily in the favourite view via the Home tab/icon | #CitrixLife #HowTheFutureWorks #Citrix #CitrixCTA #CitrixWorkspace pic.twitter.com/TBhYzbhsav

— Lyndon-Jon Martin 👨🏻‍💻 (@lyndonjonmartin) August 9, 2018

Overview
The new Citrix Workspace app way more than purely an upgrade of Citrix Receiver e.g grey to blue icon and a skin change, this NEW Citrix client app release is simply extraordinary, working for Citrix I can be considered bias however once you actually begin to consume the Citrix Workspace app you’ll understand exactly what I mean. Citrix Workspace app is for me all about an experience, and that experience is extraordinarily AWESOME! As I begin consuming my LOB (Line of Business) tools wherever I am + want and in a setting/context that suites me (home, Paddington vs. partner offices, trains, taxi e.t.c) the chosen LOB tool delivered context can change dependant upon criteria (I won’t be covering this today) or how IT (say YES!) has chosen to deliver the LOB tool through Citrix Access Control Service – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-cloud/access-control/get-started.html.

I now have all my content available all in the same AWESOME app thank you Citrix Content & Collaboration aka ShareFile. I can upload, download and even favourite particular content e.g “L-J’s H1/2 Citrix Partner Tech Super Deck” which is then available directly from the home view/tab. In the below example I am uploading the LeasePlan Citrix SD-WAN case study – https://www.citrix.co.uk/customers/leaseplan-en.html and the actual video is available at – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Hq-yryxfS0 take a look and remember to listen to the outcomes Citrix SD-WAN provides LeasePlan.

How do I get started today?
Firstly I will do a more detail blog post on getting it all up and running with use cases time dependant of course.

1.Start by navigating to https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-workspace-app.html and then goto Citrix.com and login with your access details, next navigate to https://www.citrix.com/downloads/workspace-app/ and download Citrix Workspace app for your chosen end-point. If you are running a TP of Citrix Workspace app code base please UNINSTALL it prior to installing the GA production code base as a few community individuals I know had issues upgrading from TP code base. I would like to state for the record I upgraded from PRODUCTION Citrix Receiver to the Citrix Workspace app for Mac 1808 on my Mac without ANY issues see below tweet.

Hello World @Citrix Workspace simple + easy upgrade on #Mac from #CitrixReceiver to #CitirxWorkspace in 1 minute! | Great work to the Citrix Engineering + PM teams on getting this out the door awesome job team & well done! #CitrixLife 😎🚀 pic.twitter.com/DQ1SM58Kqy

— Lyndon-Jon Martin 👨🏻‍💻 (@lyndonjonmartin) August 8, 2018

2. Please carefully read the System Requirements for your chosen platform here is the link for Mac – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-workspace-app-for-mac/system-requirements.html and Windows https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-workspace-app-for-windows/system-requirements.html.

3. Review the installation guidance for Mac – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-workspace-app-for-mac/install-configure.html and Windows – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-workspace-app-for-windows/install.html.

5. Sign-up vs. Login to Citrix Cloud today and trial vs. acquire a Citrix Cloud service e.g ShareFile Service or the XAD Service and if you want to aggregate on-premises LOB apps into the new Citrix Workspace experience then setup “Site Aggregation” today. To learn how please read this CTXS blog post and watch the embedded YouTUBE video which provides a how-to overview at – https://www.citrix.com/blogs/2018/08/03/site-aggregation-for-citrix-workspace-is-now-ga/.

Thats all folks for now on the technical overview its brief I know so I will follow-up in future with more detailed overview + how-to e.t.c either here or on the https://www.mycugc.org website in the experts area.

Upgrading to Citrix Workspace from Citrix Receiver for smart devices

Upgrading to #CitrixWorkspace ……. pic.twitter.com/XA0ps4dDNl

— Lyndon-Jon Martin 👨🏻‍💻 (@lyndonjonmartin) August 22, 2018

In Closing
I work for Citrix, I have been a Citrix + IaaS advocate for well over a decade (now SD-WAN swell) so I am mostly likely bias you’ll think however Citrix Workspace app is truly AWESOME and way more than what you see at a glance, I encourage you all to begin consuming it today to see for yourself just what I am talking about and why I personally say its “AWESOME“.

What’s New with HDX (3D Pro) Technologies in XenApp & XenDesktop 7.16

The following content is a brief and unofficial prerequisites guide to setup, configure and test accessing secure by design virtual apps and desktops powered by XenApp & XenDesktop 7.15 prior to deploying a PoC, Pilot or Production environment by the author of this entry. The views, opinions and concepts expressed are those by the author of this entry only and do not necessarily conform to industry descriptions or leading best practises. The views expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Citrix.

Shortened Names
SESSION REABILITY – sr
HIGH DEFINITION EXPERIENCE – hdx
XENAPP/XENDESKTOP – xad
SESSION REABILITY – sr
CURRENT RELEASE – cr
LONG TERM SERVICE RELEASE – ltsr

Introduction what is HDX?
High Definition eXperience (HDX) is a set of technologies that provides a near to HD local like experience of a remoted virtual app, desktop or both to users anywhere in the world on any device even without installing anything on that device all you need is a modern widely used (supported) HTML5 compliant internet browser e.g Chrome, Safari (try it on your iOS devices :-)), Firefox, Internet Explorer you get the picture.

HDX is simple yet so powerful and has three founding principles which are intelligent redirection, adaptive compression, and data de-duplication like wise it has three principles it performs when you connect to there virtual resources which is Inspect the VM (Server vs. Desktop) what does it have e.g vGPU, Inspect the network what its like and can I use UDP for adaptive transport or should I fallback to TCP to remote the display + multimedia and finally it inspects the end-point what is there and can I use it? An example is the HDX Optimisation Pack available to offload audio/video for my Skype for Business sessions or shall I utilise generic HDX fallbacks?

I’m not going in great detail in this introduction so if your new to HDX or even an HDX Xen Master I’d still encourage you read the white paper published by Citrix on HDX Technologies at –
https://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/white-paper/citrix-hdx-technologies.pdf. Also be sure to check out the HDX resources page on Citrix.com at – https://www.citrix.co.uk/products/xenapp-xendesktop/hdx-technologies.html.

Finally you can find all the latest about XAD 7.16 and not just whats new with HDX in this release at – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/xenapp-and-xendesktop/current-release/whats-new.html and you’ll notice that it’s not a 7.16 URL but refers to current release or CR.

HDX RealTime
Skype for Business to Teams “We are committed…” read all about it in Dereks blog post on Citrix.com – https://www.citrix.com/blogs/2017/11/08/the-big-news-about-microsoft-teams. The big announcement is that HDX RealTime Optimisation Pack now has an LTSR release version 2.4 which is available and you can learn more product lifecycle information at – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/hdx-optimization/2-4-ltsr.html. Its also worth noting that this LTSR does NOT support any version of Microsofts Teams only Skype for Business 2015, 2016 you can learn more by reviewing the System Requirements for the client vs. server side at – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/hdx-optimization/2-4-ltsr/system-requirements.html.

– HDX RealTime Media Engine for the Citrix Ready workspace hub (formerly known as HDX Ready Pi) is only supported for ViewSonic – https://citrixready.citrix.com/viewsonic/viewsonic-sc-t25.html or NComputing – https://citrixready.citrix.com/ncomputing/ncomputing-rx-hdx-thin-client.html Pi’s only. You can also get management of these devices from Stratodesk check out – https://www.stratodesk.com/products/raspberry-pi-thin-client.
– Behavioural changes in the way audio is handled in fallback mode when CPU is busy is to disable Echo Cancellation via the RTME as the generic HDX RealTime will handle this capability until returning to expected behaviour and lower CPU load.
– Enhancements to the microphone to provide better insights into whom is speaking.

The full list of what’s new in this LTSR is available at – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/hdx-optimization/2-4-ltsr/whats-new.html.

HDX Broadcast
– The release of XAD 7.16 introduces a great new VDA installation behaviour change 🙂 whereby it will automatic set the HDX mode to be standard (Server OS) vs. HDX 3DPro mode (Desktop OS if it meets the requirements for HDX 3DPro e.g the Desktop OS includes a vGPU or GPU) which I believe is setup in the right direction and simplifying overall CTX Admin overhead e.g another syntax option to remember vs. I forget to configure the correct parameter.
– Now by default the new HDX Graphics mode is enabled is adaptive transport or EDT and is set to Preferred. Don’t worry if your a Citrix Admin as you’ve maybe already realised I didn’t enable UDP for this to work! Remember is an adaptive remote display protocol so it will fallback to TCP by default using the default Citrix HDX ports. Its also worth mentioning that when (Preferred) is set then SR is enabled for both UDP vs. TCP connections and client connections (Receiver check supported versions e.g Win min 4.10; Mac 12.8) are attempted in parallel during the initial connection, for SR reconnections and finally auto client reconnects aswell.
– Browser Content Redirection – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/xenapp-and-xendesktop/current-release/multimedia/browser-content-redirection.html redirects the contents to the local device running an embedded browser within the HDX session which allows for offloading of content, network traffic, graphics from the VDA running in the resource location to the users end-point enhancing the UX significantly.
– Not strictly something new but HTML5 Redirection – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/xenapp-and-xendesktop/current-release/policies/reference/ica-policy-settings/multimedia-policy-settings.html which is still currently only available for internal usage as you’ll read from the eDocs article but this is 100% something an Citrix Admin & Architects should begin testing today as HTML5 begins in my personal view to supersede Flash based websites as we move forward towards 2020.
– Auto DI Scaling for Multi-Monitor
– H.265 encoding support running on the latest end-points which supported a GPU that supports H.265 decoding and if its not available it will by default fall-back to H.264 decoding. The net result of moving to H.265 from H.264 which is a Platinum only feature results in significant bandwidth savings and much better UX. I have seen the net results with a few of our engineering customers that develop vehicles with teams spread out across the world and the results as awesome!
– Strictly speaking this is not agnostic or exclusive to the HDX technology stack but the Windows Continuum is quiet important for a great user experience and its powered by primarily at a the hypervisor level and its currently only supported on Citrix XenServer. Visit – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/xenapp-and-xendesktop/current-release/technical-overview/hdx.html for how-to configure it today if your running XenServer.

– High definition webcam streaming for Windows Server with resolutions up to 1920×1080 – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/xenapp-and-xendesktop/current-release/technical-overview/hdx.html#hd-webcam
– “Session Watermark” with custom text which you learn to setup and configure using the following CTX article – https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX230054 and was originally part of the XenApp Secure Browser and its deployment guide is available at – https://docs.citrix.com/content/dam/docs/en-us/workspace-cloud/downloads/Secure%20Browser%20-%20Deployment%20Guide.pdf.

In Closing
I be covering off some HDX topics in more detail in up and coming blog posts either here or in “Expert Insights” at myCUGC website at – https://www.mycugc.org/. Finally if you want to take part in my challenge for 2018 you can learn more about it at – https://www.mycugc.org/blog/a-2018-challenge-for-the-mycugc-community.

What’s New in XenApp & XenDesktop 7.13

The following content is a brief and unofficial prerequisites guide to setup, configure and test delivering virtual apps and desktops powered by XenApp & XenDesktop 7.13 prior to deploying in a PoC, Pilot or Production environment by the author of this entry. The views, opinions and concepts expressed are those by the author of this entry only and do not necessarily conform to industry descriptions or best practises. The views expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Citrix.

Shortened Names
SECURITY ASSERTION MARKUP LANGUAGE – saml
LOCAL HOST CACHE – lhc
XENAPP – xa
XENDESKTOP – xd
XENAPP/XENDESKTOP – xad
WINDOWS – win
VIRTUAL DELIVERY AGENT – vda
HIGH DEFINITION EXPERIENCE – hdx
VIRTUAL DESKTOP – vd
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM – ceip
VIRTUAL APPS – va
DATA TRANSPORT LAYER – edt
FIREWALL – f/w
ACCESS CONTROL LISTS – acl
ADVANCED MICRO DEVICE – amd

What’s New
A full and complete list of what’s new is avaiable at – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/xenapp-and-xendesktop/7-13/whats-new.html. I’ll start with one of my Citrix passions which is any and everything surrounding HDX technologies.

1. HDX Adaptive Transport is disabled by default in XAD 7.13* also referred to as EDT is a new HDX graphics mode that utilises both the UDP and TCP protocols with a fallback to TCP where UDP isn’t available. The HDX engineering team have engineered this new Citrix protocol called Enlightened Data Transport (EDT) which utilises the existing Citrix ports 1494 (ICA/HDX) and 2598 (Session Reliability) for both TCP and now new UDP so f/w ACL changes are near enough straight forward. To test this new graphics mode internally:

– Configure the ACL between your test end-point and through your internal network (over a VPN) VM running the 7.13 VDA to allow UDP and TCP for 1494, 2598
– Your test VM instance could be running in Azure (connected on-prem via a VPN) or on XenServer 7.1 and remember must be running the latest desktop or server VDA
– Your test end-point must be running the following min Citrix Receiver versions for Windows 4.7, Mac 12.4 and for iOS 7.2
– *In Studio create a machine catalogue, delivery group or use an existing one with your VDA upgraded from e.g 7.12 to 7.13 and then create a new HDX policy e.g HDX-TestofEDT and select the following HDX policy entitled “” and choose “Preferred“.

2. AMD Multiuser GPU (MxGPU e.g GPU Virtualization works with vSphere only) on the AMD FirePro S-series server cards for HDX 3D Pro workloads only e.g Desktop OSes ref – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/xenapp-and-xendesktop/7-13/hdx/gpu-acceleration-desktop.html+ with support for up to 6 monitors, custom blanking & resolution, high frame rate and only GPU Pass-through is supported on the following hypervisors XenServer and Hyper-V. For further details please ref to the AMD website at – http://www.amd.com/en-us/solutions/professional/virtualization.

3. Intel Iris Pro (5-6th Gen Intel Xeon Processor E3) graphics processors supports H.264 h/w encoding for virtual apps & desktops, HDX 3D Pro support for up to 3x monitors (Ref to install options+), custom blanking & resolution, high frame rate. For further details and compatible Intel processors ref to – http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/servers/data-center-graphics.html

4. Other HDX enhancements include:

– Bidirectional content redirection – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/xenapp-and-xendesktop/7-13/policies/reference/ica-policy-settings/bidirectional-content-redirection.html
– Wacom tablets improvements & connection methods – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/xenapp-and-xendesktop/7-13/hdx/usb.html and also see http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/xenapp-and-xendesktop/7-13/policies/reference/ica-policy-settings/usb-devices-policy-settings.html
– File copying performance enhancements for client drive mapping

5. StoreFront 3.9 support for the following below and for a closer look check out the following CTX blog article – https://www.citrix.com/blogs/2017/02/24/whats-new-in-storefront-3-9/

– HDX Adaptive Display
– CEIP automatic enrollment by default. To disable please ref to http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/storefront/3-9/install-standard.html#par_anchortitle_8ea6
– Importing of NUG configurations (ZIP file or via PowerShell) into StoreFront to setup through the XAD Wizard using the latest NetScaler UG 11.1.51.21+ ref – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/storefront/3-9/integrate-with-netscaler-and-netscaler-gateway/import-netscaler-gateway.html to reduce and avoid misconfigurations.
– Not new but if you’re looking to security harden your StoreFront standalone or cluster ref to – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/storefront/3-9/secure.html
– SAML auth through against your preferred Store with NetScaler Unified Gateway configured as your IdP – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/storefront/3-9/configure-authentication-and-delegation/configure-authentication-service.html#par_anchortitle_d712

5. The Connection Quality Indicator is not part of the XAD 7.13 release but an invaluable Citrix tool for Citrix SysAdmins check out its capabilities at – https://www.citrix.com/blogs/2017/02/22/citrix-connection-is-slow-not-really/ and you can download it from – https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX220774 and it also inclues group policies for better SysAdmin controls to enable or disable the tool which is supported from XAD 7.6 LTSR and upwards ref the CTX220774 article. The below image is taken from a Window 10 virtual desktop powered by XenDesktop 7.x.

6. Linux Seamless published applications from a Linux supported OS using the 7.13 VDA – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/linux-virtual-delivery-agent/7-13/whats-new.html and also please read the publishing apps for Linux at – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/linux-virtual-delivery-agent/1-4/suse/configuring/publish-apps.html for advanced tips and guidance on seamless mode vs. window manger configuration.
7. LHC in 7.13 introduces a new support feature for brokering operations for Citrix Cloud when the internet connection between the Citrix Cloud Connector and the Citrix Cloud control plane at – https://citrix.cloud.com/ is in a failed state or unavailable due to an ISP outage. You can also force an outage following the documentation available at – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/xenapp-and-xendesktop/7-13/manage-deployment/local-host-cache.html++ by creating and manually modifying the following registry entry “HKLM\Software\Citrix\DesktopServer\LHC with entry of OutageModeForced” set to the value in the documentation++ to force an outage for testing and or evaluation purposes prior to implmenting Local Host Cache. I’ve embedded below a simple architectural recap of LHC introdcued in XAD 7.12 and you can read in more depth detail about Local Host Cache from a previous blog post available at – http://axendatacentre.com/blog/2016/12/13/whats-new-in-xenapp-xendesktop-7-12/.

Finally LHC still provides support for brokering operations for traditional XAD Controller Site Database on-prem ref ++. I’d also recommend that you watch this TechTalks To Go covering LHC in XAD 7.12 release.

8. Provisioning Services 7.13 now supports Linux streaming and a brand new caching technique only available and supported on XenServer 7.1 called PVS-Accelerator. Check the following YouTube video from Citrix entitled “Introducing PVS-Accelerator, only available with XenServer!” via https://twitter.com/juancitrix/status/835202277317148672.

9. HDX Thinwire enhancements in 7.13 have resulted in up to 60% bandwidth savings. Take a look at the following CTX blog post at – https://www.citrix.com/blogs/2017/01/11/hdx-next-cuts-bandwidth-by-up-to-60-yes-sixty-percent/ which has some great high level LoginVSI 4.1.6 graphics comparing Thinwire in 7.12 vs. 7.13 on Windows Server 2012 R2 and 2016.
10. AppDNA what’s new ref – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/dna/7-13/whats-new.html now includes support for Windows 10 Anniversary Update (AU) and now defaultor analysis and reporting, Secure Web reports and finally improved importing to process to analysis OSes and apps. There are a few more to be sure to check out the whats news!

Deploying XenApp 7.13 for Evaluation & Testing Purposes
The fastest way to deploy and test the latest new features from Citrix XA 7.13 release with little to no effort is to deploy the “Citrix XenApp 7.13 Trial” from Microsoft Azure available and accessiable at – https://azuremarketplace.microsoft.com/en-us/marketplace/apps/citrix.citrix-xa?tab=Overview.

Trial up to 30 days of #Citrix @XenApp 7.13 today with ease in #Microsoft @Azure – https://t.co/0DnKb5k4TO pic.twitter.com/h9L75QbnJO

— Lyndon-Jon Martin (@lyndonjonmartin) March 4, 2017

Removed from XenApp and XenDesktop 7.13
Please be sure to read and review the complete removed features and future removal features within XAD 7.x platform topics on Azure Classic, AppDisks, Desktop OS support and supported HDX Graphics Modes e.t.c –
https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/xenapp-and-xendesktop/7-13/whats-new/removed-features.html.

Viso Stencils from Citrix’s Ask the Architect – https://twitter.com/djfeller for XenApp and XenDesktop 7.13.

Image credit: https://twitter.com/djfeller/status/836557405173477376

https://virtualfeller.com/2017/02/28/visioxenappxendesktop713/

Top 10 Suggested Unified Experience Tips for Citrix Users 2016

The views expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Citrix.

Shortened Names
XENDESKTOP – xd
VIRTUAL DELIVERY AGENT – vda
HIGH DEFINITION EXPERIENCE – hdx
EXPERIENCE 1st – x1
XENAPP – xa
VIRTUAL DESKTOP – vd
THINWIRE COMPATIBLE MODE – tcm also known as ecm or thinwire+
SELF-SERVICE PASSWORD RESET – sspr
VIRTUAL GPU – vgpu
PROOF OF CONCEPT – poc

Suggested Top 10 for 2016
This is numbered 1 through 10 but in reality is in no particular order!

1. E-mail discovery for Citrix Receiver using DNS SRV records – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/receiver/windows/4-3/receiver-windows-install-wrapper/receiver-windows-cfg-command-line-42.html internally and externally on the Gateway – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/netscaler-gateway/10-1/ng-xa-xd-integration-edocs-landing/ng-clg-integration-wrapper-con/ng-clg-session-policies-overview-con/ng-clg-storefront-policies-con/ng-clg-storefront-email-discovery-tsk.html.
2. Implement SplitDNS or more technically correct “split-horizon DNS” – https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split-horizon_DNS my favourite personally over email based discovery :-)!
3. Brand your NetScalers (Unified) Gateway – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/netscaler-gateway/11-1/vpn-user-config/custom-portal.html and App Store (StoreFront) – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/storefront/3-7/manage-citrix-receiver-for-web-site/unified-receiver-experience.html to match and keep it clear, clean and simple!

4. Implement HDX Adaptive Display v2 available in 7.11+ – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/xenapp-and-xendesktop/7-11/policies/reference/ica-policy-settings/graphics-policy-settings.html as your default Graphics Mode and if you can’t then Thinwire Compatible Mode – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/xenapp-and-xendesktop/7-11/hdx/thinwire.html.

5. If using Skype for Business 2015 or 2016 implement the HDX RealTime Optimisation Pack 2.x.n http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/hdx-optimization/2-1/hdx-realtime-optimization-pack-overview.html to offload the video/audio to the local end-points (Windows, Mac and Linux) saving on backend compute and density loss for XenApp.*

6. Implement domain pass-through for internal users – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/storefront/3-7/plan/user-authentication.html.
7. Deploy the (latest) HTML5 Receiver for remote access – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/receiver/html5/2-2/user-experience.html.

8. When using Citrix Receiver for Windows (with HDX engine 14.4), the GPU can be used for H.264 decoding wherever it is available at the client – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/receiver/windows/4-5/improve.html.
9. Deploy Self-Service Password Reset (SSPR) – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/self-service-password-reset/1-0.html.

10. The most difficult to justify probably re the cost(s) but assigning a low end vGPU GRID profile or utilising the Intel Iris Pro Graphics with XenServer 7 to provide enough/suitable GPU capacity to all virtual apps & desktops (oldISH and modern) provides a much better experience so setup a PoC to see and try if for yourself and finally NVidia now supports H.264 offloading onto there GRID Cards in 7.11 🙂 – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/xenapp-and-xendesktop/7-11/whats-new.html#par_anchortitle_59c9.

HDX 3D Pro Master Class from July 2014

XenDesktop Master Class July 2014 – HDX 3D Pro with NVIDIA GRID
Although this was recorded in July 2014 there is a lot of useful knowledge and fundamentals in relation to HDX 3D Pro.

vGPU for XenApp and XenDesktop 7.6 powered by nVidia GRID K1, K2 Cards on XenServer 6.2 SP1, 6.5

“The following content is a brief and unofficial prerequisites guide to setup, configure and test vGPU technology using XenServer 6.2 SP2+ or XenServer 6.5, XenDesktop 7.6, nVidia GRID K1 or K2 cards and a supported server from either the Citrix or nVidia HCL prior to deploying in a PoC, Pilot or Production environment by the author of this entry. The views expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Citrix.

Shortened Names
XENAPP – xa
XENDESKTOP – xd
XENAPP/XENDESKTOP – xad
VIRTUAL DELIVERY AGENT – vda
VIRTUAL GRAPHICS PROCESSING UNIT – vgpu
GRAPHICS PROCESSING UNIT – gpu
STOREFRONT SERVICES – sfs
VIRTUAL MACHINE – vm
HIGH DEFINITION EXPERIENCE – hdx
XENSERVER – xs

What’s New
1. vGPU for XenApp is now supported ref the following blog article published entitled “Citrix supports NVIDIA GRID™ vGPU™ for XenApp!” – http://blogs.citrix.com/2014/11/25/citrix-supports-nvidia-grid-vgpu-for-xenapp/.
2. XenServer 6.5 can now support up to 3x nVidia GRID cards scaling up to 96 VM’s with a vGPU assigned in a GRID enabled/compatible supported server hardware.
3. nVidia have certified new GRID profiles all of which are Q certified check them out at – http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/grid-virtual-gpus-uk.html.
4. The latest GRID card datasheet is avaiable at – http://images.nvidia.com/content/grid/pdf/188270-NVIDIA-Grid-Datasheet-A4-fnl-Web.pdf.

What is vGPU?
It is a logical portion of a physical GPU assigned to a VM to deliver rich graphical applications from either a multi-user or desktop OSes. It is currently only supported with either nVidia GRID K1/K2 cards, compatible HCL server running either XenServer 6.2 SP+ or XenServer 6.5+ with XenApp or XenDesktop 7.6. The GPU resources (Frame buffer) + access time that is allocated to a vGPU assigned to the VM is managed with the help of a vGPU profile e.g K120Q which manages the GPU resources + time in conjunction with the vGPU manager which is installed within Dom0 of the XenServer 6.2 SP1+ or 6.5 host which intern allows for any VM assigned a vGPU to handle and delivery graphical intensive applications e.g AutoCAD Map 3D or Adobe Photoshop CS. For more technical information and an alternative description and overview including a diagram checkout – http://www.nvidia.com/object/virtual-gpus.html on the nVidia website.

GRID Card History
The first generation of GRID cards were called K1, K2 Cards and made use of the “Kepler” architecture, technical details can be found on the datasheet here – http://www.nvidia.co.uk/content/cloud-computing/pdf/nvidia-grid-datasheet-k1-k2.pdf.

The second generation of nVidia GRID cards are called TESLA which make use of the “Maxwell” architecture which includes 3x offerings TESLA M10 (Rack Servers), TESLA M6 (MXM Blade Servers) and TESLA M60 (Rack Servers)

Overview of Citrix HDX vs. HDX 3D Pro
HDX stands of High Definition eXperience and is built upon the ICA protocol which is developed, owned and maintained by Citrix. HDX automatically and dynamically adapts to any changes within the users ICA session end-2-end to ensure that the users experience always comes first and foremost. HDX inspects the computing resources within the data centre e.g. the VM or physical server that the desktop or server VDA is install on, the network and the end-point device to see what computing resources can be leveraged to offload onto to further enhance the users experience. For a technical overview to Citrix’s HDX technologies and policies in XAD 7.6 check out – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-hdx-landing.html. Citrix has published document entitled “What is HDX? / Citrix HDX technologies for optimizing the virtualization experience” available at – http://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/products-solutions/citrix-hdx-technologies.pdf which provides a great introduction into HDX technologies.

vGPU Pre-requites & System Requirements
1. Start by reviewing http://www.citrix.com/go/vgpu.
2. Hardware requirements can be found at – https://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/go/vgpu-tech-preview-hardware-requirements.pdf and to purchase a GRID enabled server please visit – http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/buy-nvidia-grid-uk.html.
3. I would suggest downloading and reviewing the guide entitled “Part 1: XenServer GPU Pass-through” available at – https://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/go/reviewers-guide-remote-3d-graphics-apps-part-1-xenserver-gpu-passthrough.pdf prior to starting as this will cover off the installation of a GRID card into a Dell R720 Server which will be useful to review if your about to embark on deploying your first GRID K1/2 card in a compatible supported server.
4. The following guide entitled “Part 3: XenServer GPU Virtualization (vGPU)” covers off the full deployment from installing and configuring XenServer 6.2 SP1+ to preparing the VM and assigning a vGPU through to the installation and configuration of the nVidia GRID drivers, XenTools and the Desktop OS VDA. The guide is available at – *https://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/go/reviewers-guide-remote-3d-graphics-apps-part-3-xenserver-vgpu.pdf.
5. Encoding method suggested is H.264 although you do need more power server h/w as this protocol type does require more computing power but uses less bandwidth and you’ll also require an end point capable of decoding the H.264 stream.

Installation & Configuration
1. http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX140603 or refer to point 4 in the above “vGPU Pre-requites & System Requirements” section.
2. NVIDIA GRID Configuration Checks by Jason Southern at nVidia

HDX 3D Pro Policy or Policies
1. I would strongly recommend when you begin your testing of a vGPU VM(s) that you create a new custom policy in Studio and perhaps title it “vGPU HDX 3D Pro” and apply the following sUgGeStEd vGPU HDX 3D Pro policy as described in this nVidia GRID forum article available at – https://gridforums.nvidia.com/default/topic/254/xendesktop-with-nvidia-grid/hdx-policy-for-grid-accelerated-applications/. Why not use my current HDX policy? Firstly this policy is a sUgGeStEd and should be considered as an initial base line to begin testing from and its based off real world field experience from an EMEA nVidia GRID Architecture based in the UK.
2. The following XenDesktop master class from July 2014 will provide you with a great insight into HDX 3D Pro with nVidia GRID cards. This master class is a must if your looking at deploying an HDX 3D Pro with a customers environment to enable the deliver of HDX Rich Graphics to users within LAN and WAN scenarios.

HDX or HDX 3D Pro Thin Clients
1. If your looking for HDX or HDX 3D Pro verified thin clients then please check out the Citrix Ready website at – http://www.citrix.com/ready/en/.
2. HDX Search results – https://citrixready.citrix.com/category-results.html?category=c1-endpoints/c2-thin-clients&lang=en_us&filter=c1-endpoints/c2-thin-clients/g-hdx-levels/f-hdx-ready&sortby=product-asc and for HDX Ready Chrome Device – https://citrixready.citrix.com/category-results.html?category=c1-endpoints/c2-chrome-devices&lang=en_us&filter=c1-endpoints/c2-chrome-devices/g-hdx-levels/f-hdx-ready&sortby=product-asc.
3. HDX Premium search results – https://citrixready.citrix.com/category-results.html?category=c1-endpoints/c2-thin-clients&lang=en_us&filter=c1-endpoints/c2-thin-clients/g-hdx-levels/f-hdx-premium&sortby=product-asc
4. HDX 3D Pro search results – https://citrixready.citrix.com/category-results.html?category=c1-endpoints/c2-thin-clients&lang=en_us&filter=c1-endpoints/c2-thin-clients/g-hdx-levels/f-hdx-3d-pro&sortby=product-asc.

Customer Stories
1. Story | – https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2016/11/02/ngca-perspective-how-nvidia-empowers-education-through-grid/.
2. Case Study | Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. Ltd – http://www.nvidia.co.uk/content/grid/resources/case-study-daewooshipbuilding.pdf.
3. Success Story | Bell Helicopter Elevating The Design and Manufacturing of World-Class Helicopters – http://www.nvidia.com/object/enterprise-virtualization-case-study-bell-helicopter.html
4. Success Story | PSA Peugeot Citroen Accelerating Automotive Design with NVIDIA GRID – http://www.nvidia.com/object/enterprise-virtualization-case-study-peugeot.html.

nVidia GRID Forums
1. Drivers – https://gridforums.nvidia.com/default/board/128/nvidia-grid-drivers/.
2. GRID cards – https://gridforums.nvidia.com/default/board/129/grid-boards/.
3. XenApp – https://gridforums.nvidia.com/default/board/127/xenapp-with-nvidia-grid/.
4. XenDesktop – https://gridforums.nvidia.com/default/board/126/xendesktop-with-nvidia-grid/.
5. Announcements – https://gridforums.nvidia.com/default/board/120/announcements/.

Citrix XenServer 6.5

The following content is a brief and unofficial prerequisites guide to setup, configure and test XenServer 6.5 with XAD 7.6 including HDX 3D Pro with a supported server from either the Citrix or nVidia HCL prior to deploying in a PoC, Pilot or Production environment by the author of this entry. The views, opinions and concepts expressed are those by the author of this entry only and do not necessary conform to industry descriptions or best practises.

Shortened Names
XENAPP – xa
XENDESKTOP – xd
XENAPP/XENDESKTOP – xad
VIRTUAL DELIVERY AGENT – vda
VIRTUAL GRAPHICS PROCESSING UNIT – vgpu
GRAPHICS PROCESSING UNIT – vgpu
STOREFRONT SERVICES – sfs
VIRTUAL MACHINE – vm
HIGH DEFINITION EXPERIENCE – hdx
XENSERVER – xs

What’s New
1: Dom0 is now x64
2: vGPU scalability from 64 to 96 vGPU’s sessions per host with the correctly supported HCL server h/w which can support up to 3x nVidia GRID cards.
3: In-memory read-caching enables XS to take advantage of storing a golden image build in the hosts RAM which means guest VM’s boot 3x faster hello faster XAD 7.6 workloads and use cases.
4: Storage improvements include LiVE LUN expansion, tapdisk3 support, device mapper multi-path (updated).
5: Workload Balancing (WLB) is back take a look at – http://blogs.citrix.com/2015/01/29/workload-balancing-wlb-xendesktop-and-xenapp-use-cases/ and http://blogs.citrix.com/2015/01/22/citrix-xenserver-workload-balancing-wlb-why-xendesktop-and-xenapp-customers-really-should-take-note/.
6: For a complete overview checkout – http://blogs.citrix.com/2015/01/13/xenserver-v6-5-whats-new-and-why-you-should-check-it-out/, http://blogs.citrix.com/2015/01/13/xenserver-6-5/.
7: Don’t forget to read through the release notes which is available at – http://support.citrix.com/servlet/KbServlet/download/38334-102-714582/XenServer-6.5.0-releasenotes.pdf.

Pre-requites & System Requirements
Coming soon…

Installation & Configuration
Coming soon…

XenApp 7.6 XenDesktop 7.6 including Feature Pack (FP) 1

The following content is a brief and unofficial prerequisites guide to setup, configure and test XenApp 7.6, XernDesktop 7.6 prior to deploying in a PoC, Pilot or Production environment by the author of this entry. The views, opinions and concepts expressed are those by the author of this entry only and do not necessary conform to industry descriptions or best practises.

Shortened Names
XENAPP – xa
XENDESKTOP – xd
VIRTUAL DELIVERY AGENT – vda
LIGHT WEIGHT DIRECTORY PROTOCOL – ldap
ACTIVE DIRECTORY – ad
CERTIFICATE SIGNING REQUEST – csr
CONNECTION LEASING – cl
FULLY QUALIFIED DOMAIN NAME – fqdn
RECEIVER FOR WEB – rfw
CERTIFICATE AUTHORITY – ca
STOREFRONT SERVICES – sfs
PUBLIC KEY INFRASTRUCTURE – pki
NETSCALER GATEWAY – nsg
SECURE TICKET AUTHORITY – sta
DOMAIN NAME SERVER – dns
DYNAMIC HOST CONFIGURATION PROTOCOL – dhcp
FEATURE PACK – fp

What’s New now with Feature Pack 1 (FP1)
0: If you are new to XenDesktop 7.x, XenApp & XenDesktop 7.5, 7.6 then I would suggest that you begin by reading and reviewing the Technical Overview of XAD 7.6 – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-architecture-article.html and follow on by understanding the System Requirements for XAD 7.6 at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-system-requirements-76.html.
1: XenApp – http://www.citrix.com/products/xenapp/whats-new.html.

2: XenDesktop – http://www.citrix.com/products/xendesktop/whats-new.html. 3: How to setup and configure session pre-launch and lingers for XAD 7.6 – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-dg-manage-sessions.html#xad-dg-manage-sessions__prelaunch-linger including a video from Citrix TV is embedded below. 4: Connection Leasing (Previously or rather similar to Local Host Cache (LHC) under XenApp 6.x and downwards) provides the ability to allow end-users within your organisation the ability to continue to access Citrix published desktops, applications even if your MS SQL highly available database is offline using the new feature in XAD 7.6. Please note that you should always still have a H/A SQL database environment in-place and connection leasing does require the 7.6 VDA. For more information please read and review – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-connection-leasing.html#xad-connection-leasing. 5: How-to perform a XenApp 6.5 migration – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-xamigrate.html#xad-xamigrate and the general eDocs node that covers off migrations from previous versions of XenApp 6.x and XenDesktop 4.x, 5.x are covered at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-upgrade-existing-environment.html. 6: Overview & Understanding High Definition eXperience (HDX) under XAD 7.6 including Flash and USB/Drive redirection, GPU Sharing and Network traffic priorities – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-hdx-landing.html. 7: For a complete and full list of what’s new in XenApp 7.6 and XenDesktop 7.6 take a look at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-whats-new.html. 8: What’s new in the XAD 7.6 FP1? Check out http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-whats-new-7-6fp1.html for a list of the full details. I’ve provided summary below of what it includes: – Session Recording which/was formerly Smart Auditor. – Updated Citrix Licensing. – Updated Director which includes enable/disable session recording for the detail check out http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX142260. – HDX Real-Time Optimization Pack 1.7 for Microsoft Lync 2013 the details here at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/hdx-realtime-optimization-pack-17/lync-realtime-optimization-pack-17.html. Detailed How-to Upgrade to Citrix Receiver 4.2.x.n 1: Learn what is required in order to perform an upgrade of your existing Citrix Receiver 3.4 implementation to to 4.2.100 by download this handy and useful PDF best practises guide at – http://docs.citrix.com/content/dam/en-us/receiver/windows/4-2/downloads/Receiver_for_Windows_4.2_Upgrade_Best_Practice_Guide.pdf. 2: It is also worth mentioning that the current new Citrix Receiver for Windows 4.2.x.n now supports TLS 1.1, 1.2, Start menu integration & shortcut management, USB 3.0 and so much more please check out – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/receiver-windows-42/receiver-windows-42-about.html#receiver-windows-42-about for more information so upgrading does and will provide numerous useful benefits for CTX SysAdmins and there end-users. Upgrading & Migration
1: XenApp 7.5 Migration Guide – http://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/products-solutions/xenapp-75-migration-guide.pdf.
2: Upgrading & Migration Microsite for XenApp 6.x to XenApp 7.5 – http://www.citrix.com/products/xenapp/tech-info/upgrade.html.
3: Introduction to XenApp 7.6 Upgrade Planning recorded GoToWebcast from 07/102014 available at – https://citrix.webcasts.com/viewer/event.jsp?ei=1040823. If you would any overview please read the orginal events web page at – http://www.citrix.com/events/introduction-to-xenapp-76-upgrade-planning.html. Citrix Education
1: CXA-104 Citrix XenApp 7.6: Overview – – http://training.citrix.com/mod/ctxcatalog/course.php?id=925. 2: CXA-105 Getting Started with Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop 7.6 – http://training.citrix.com/mod/ctxcatalog/course.php?id=973 3: CXA-208 Moving to XenApp 7.6 – http://training.citrix.com/mod/ctxcatalog/course.php?id=1096. 4: CXD-105 Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop Help Desk Support – http://training.citrix.com/mod/ctxcatalog/course.php?id=1011. GUI Installation & Overview for XenApp 7.6, XenDesktop 7.6
1: XenApp 7.6 Reviewers Guide provides a simple installation overview which can be downloaded at https://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/oth/xenapp-reviewers-guide.pdf and the XenDesktop 7.6 equivalent can be found at – https://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/products-solutions/xendesktop-reviewers-guide.pdf. Unattended Installation of XAD 7.6 Infrastructure Components & The VDA
1: The installation executable is located at x64\XenDesktop Setup\XenDesktopServerSetup.exe within the installation media path. The below is an example and simply replace x with mounted ISO, CD/DVD drive letter or the UNC path to the XAD7.5-6 installation media. If you do not include the /xenapp switch it will automatically install XenDesktop.

x:\x64\XenDesktop Setup\XenDesktopServerSetup.exe /xenapp /components controller,desktopstudio /configure_firewall

2: Sample installation code to insert into a batch script from Citrix eDocs that will install the VDA on Desktop OS as a master image and it will include Citrix Receiver.

x:\x64\XenDesktop Setup\XenDesktopVdaSetup.exe /quiet /components
vda,plugins /controllers “Contr-Main.mydomain.local” /enable_hdx_ports /optimize
/masterimage /baseimage /enable_remote_assistance

If you are looking for how-to install the VDA for groups of machines in AD the please checkout this eDocs node the batch script that will allow you to install/configure or even remove the VDA – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-install-vda-adscript.html.
3: For more detailed information check out – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-install-command.html.

High-Definition user eXperience (HDX) 1: So what is HDX? That’s a very good question an introduction whitepaper to your questions can be found at – http://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/products-solutions/citrix-hdx-technologies.pdf. 2: Now that you’ve read through the whitepaper you will want to begin configuring and testing some of the HDX policies in Studio to test out HDX capabilities. Start with reading through the HDX eDocs node at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-hdx-landing.html. If your more interested in HDX 3D Pro which leverages GPU cards installed on workstations, servers within the data centre then I would suggest to start by reviewing – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-hdx3dpro-intro.html. For a visual aid surrounding of how GPU technologies with work XenApp & XenDesktop take a look at how GPU pass-through works at – http://www.nvidia.com/object/xenapp.html for with XenApp and for a vGPU works for XenDesktop check out – http://www.nvidia.com/object/virtual-gpus.html. 3: High Definition User Experience template policy in Studio explained and feedback requested – http://blogs.citrix.com/2014/11/13/citrix-studio-templates-help-needed-out-of-the-box-configuration-for-xendesktop-and-xenapp/. Citrix Unveils New Version of Market Leading Third-Generation Unified Platform for Application and Desktop Virtualization
http://www.citrix.com/news/announcements/aug-2014/citrix-unveils-new-version-of-market-leading-third-generation-un.html Citrix Offers Technology Preview of Linux Virtual Apps and Desktops Delivered from XenApp and XenDesktop

http://www.citrix.com/news/announcements/aug-2014/citrix-offers-technology-preview-of-linux-virtual-apps-and-deskt.html Deploying Unified Communications (UC) Lync 2010/2013 1: Lync Feature Matrix is available at – http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX200279 which is very useful for understanding what is and what isn’t supported and whether you need to deploy either the HDX Optimisation Pack of the Microsoft VDI Plug-in. 2: Delivery options for deploying Microsoft Lync for XenApp 7.6 or XenDesktop 7.6 explained in detail at – http://blogs.citrix.com/2014/10/23/delivering-lync-from-xenapp-and-xendesktop/. I’ve summarised your options below: – Generic HDX Realtime *Pure ICA/HDX between two end-points and the infrastructure. – HDX RealTime Optimization Pack for Lync® *Optimised softphone with offloading of the media engine by CitrixNote: 1.6 is for Lync 2010 and 1.7 is for Lync 2013 check out 1.7 – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/hdx-realtime-optimization-pack-17/hdx-realtime-optimization-pack-about-17.html which is compatible with Lync Server 2013, Lync Server 2010, and Lync Online (Office 365). – Microsoft® Lync® VDI Plug-in *Optimised softphone with offloading of the media engine by Microsoft check out the CTX article for a how-to at – http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX138408. – Local App Access utilises a *XAD policy applied to users to utilise the locally installed Lync app over published Lync app from XenApp. If you want to under more about how-to enable this XAD feature please review – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-laa-intro.html. * Please refer to eDocs or CTX200279 3: UC with XenApp and XenDesktop Solutions Brief – https://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/products-solutions/unified-communications-with-xendesktop-solutions-overview.pdf.

Citrix Technology Advocate (CTA) Blog by @lyndonjonmartin

A Personal blog by Lyndon-Jon Martin on all things related End-User Computing (EUC) and Citrix