Tag Archives: Mobile Application Performamce Management

XenMobile AppController 2.10

The following content is a brief and unofficial prerequisites guide to setup, configure and test XenMobile AppController 2.10 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
XENMOBILE APPCONTROLLER – xac
XENMOBILE DEVICE MANAGER – xdm
CERTIFICATE SIGNING REQUEST – csr
APPLE PUSH NOTIFICATION SERVICE – apns
FULLY QUALIFIED DOMAIN NAME – fqdn
GoToMeeting – gtm
GoToAssist – gta
CERTIFICATE AUTHORITY – ca

Understanding MDX Technologies
1: Citrix MDX technologies provides and enable IT to wrap enhanced security, traffic around mobile apps for Android and iOS. The technologies can be segregated into 3 tiers called MDX ACCESS, MDX INTERAPP & MDX VAULT when determining what policy(s) to enforce. I will not look into the capabilities of each tier at a high level.
2: MDX VAULT enables encryption of the private data storage of MDX wrapped mobile apps. Check out – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-87/xmob-appc-mobile-apps-encryption-con.html.
3: MDX INTERAPP allows IT to control the application fabric of MDX wrapped mobile apps e.g restricting what apps it can open in (Document Open In); opening a service of the mobile platform e.g maps when a user clicks on an address in WorxMail.
4: MDX ACCESS enables and allows IT to set a MDX wrapped mobile apps traffic to be tunnelled via a mVPN, blocked or to the internet. The mVPN can be configured with either SecureBrowse (Only internal traffic traverses up the mVPN and anything bound for the internet does not) or FullVPN (All traffic flows up the mVPN).
5: You can find more surrounding the MDX policies at these two links one for iOS at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-87/xmob-appc-mobile-apps-policies-ios-con-nike.html and Android at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-87/xmob-appc-mobile-apps-policies-andr-con-1.html.

Wrapping native *.APK, *.IPA mobile apps to become MDX enabled
1: Take a look at the following documentation in eDocs at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-87/xmob-appwrap-toolkit-wrapper.html then the MDX Toolkit Documentation –http://support.citrix.com/servlet/KbServlet/download/37081-102-709208/MDXToolkit%20Documentation%20v1.0.pdf and video available at showing how to wrap Android mobile apps – http://www.citrix.com/tv/#videos/9465. I have embedded the video below from Citrix.com/TV:

Pre-requisites, Understanding & Installing The XenMobile 8.7 Components End-2-End for a PoC or a Demo Environment (DRAFT & MAY CONTAIN ERROR(S))
Coming soon!

XenMobile Enterprise 8.7

The following content is a brief and unofficial prerequisites guide to setup, configure and test XenMobile Enterprise 8.7 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
XENMOBILE DEVICE MANAGER – xdm
CERTIFICATE SIGNING REQUEST – csr
APPLE PUSH NOTIFICATION SERVICE – apns
FULLY QUALIFIED DOMAIN NAME – fqdn
SECURE LIGHTWEIGHT DIRECTORY ACCESS PROTOCOL – (s)ldap
SHAREFILE STORAGEZONE CONNECTOR – szc
XENMOBILE APPCONTROLLER – xac
RECEIVER FOR WEB – RfW
OUT OF OFFICE – ooo
GoToMeeting – gtm
GoToAssist – gta
VOLUME PURCHASE PROGRAM – vpp

What’s New The Highlights
0: XenMobile Datasheet by edition – http://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/products-solutions/citrix-xenmobile-the-revolutionary-way-to-mobilize-your-business.pdf.
1: Enrol and manage Windows 8.1 including support for Windows 8.1 RT devices – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-87/xmob-understand-device-platforms.html.
2: Worx Home supports pin history & pin cycle checking.
3: Configure and deploy VPN cfgs to Amazon devices.
4: Shared Device Management support allows for multiple individuals to leverage MDM capabilities once the device has been enrolled.
5: ShareFile Single Sign-On (SSO) support from Worx apps to ShareFile.
6: Samsung SAFE devices support with the ability to now install Worx Home on Samsung SAFE devices running Android 4.3 and later from Google Play Store.
7: Support for Android 4.4.
8: Battery retention has improved by approximately 15% please see point 11 below for further details re the Tests performed.
9: IBM notes support for iOS in WorxMail.
10: Geo-fencing on Android.
11: A full and complete list of what’s new check out – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile/xmob-understand-whats-new.html.
12: For a list of the new features in NetScaler Gateway 10.1 and NetScaler Gateway 10.1, Build 120.1316.e check out – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/netscaler-gateway-101/ng-whats-new-con.html.

XenMobile Compatibility Matrix
1: http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-87/xmob-understand-compatibilitymatrix-con.html

Supported Device Platforms
1: http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-87/xmob-understand-device-platforms.html

Pre-requisites, Understanding & Installing The XenMobile 8.7 Components End-2-End for a PoC or a Demo Environment (DRAFT & MAY CONTAIN ERROR(S))
1: I would suggest starting with this really good XenMobile Architectural XenMobile Diagram to help you understand where the individual components are placed between the DMZ and TRUSTED network, so check out – http://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/images/info-graphics/xenmobile_architecture_86.png.
2: Understanding how-to deploy the components of XenMobile Enterprise – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-87/xmob-understand-deploy-architecture-wrapper-n-con.html and I would also recommend reading and understanding what ports are required to be enabled at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-87/xmob-deploy-component-port-reqs-n-con.html and the review the XenMobile and NetScaler Gateway checklists which are available at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-87/xmob-prepare-xenmobile-checklist-con.html & http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/netscaler-gateway-101/ng-checklist-10-1-con.html#ng-checklist-10-1-con followed understanding the Server & SAML certificate types/ requirements of XenMobile at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-87/xmob-deploy-certificates-con.html.
3: Sizing & System requirements for XenMobile 8.7 – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-87/xmob-deploy-netscaler-gateway-reqs-con.html.
4: How-to Install XenMobile 8.7 – . If your looking to install XDM at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-87/xmob-deploy-device-manager-install-steps-tsk.html for a basic visual overview and instructions. To deploy the XAC use the following to pre-configure the XenMobile AppControllers IP addr, DNS e.t.c at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-87/xmob-appc-change-ipaddress-tsk.html followed by configuring the XAC using the initial web UI wizard at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-87/xmob-appc-setup-wizard-tsk.html. To configure your NetScaler Gateway for the first time use – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/access-gateway-hig-appliances/ag-vpx-configure-basic-settings-wrapper-con.html, http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/netscaler-gateway-101/ng-config-ng-with-wizards-con.html followed by the initial NSG wizard accessible via the Web UI upon your initial login – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/netscaler-gateway-101/ng-config-first-time-new-install-con.html thereafter you can use the built-in NSG wizard to setup and configure remote access to the XAC for XenMobile Enterprise 8.7 at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/netscaler-gateway-101/ng-install-simplified-config-tsk.html.

Enrolling by OS Platform
0: Prior to enrolling any devices you may want to consider configuring enrolment options – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-87/xmob-dm-connect-config-enroll-mode-con.html.
1: iOS – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-87/xmob-ios-user-enroll-device-tsk.html.
2: Android – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-87/xmob-android-user-enroll-device-tsk.html.
3: Windows – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-87/xmob-dm-enroll-users-devices-wrapper-con.html.
4: Symbian – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-87/xmob-symbian-user-enroll-device-tsk.html.

Performing In-place Upgrades from XenMobile 8.6 to 8.7
I performed in-place upgrade within my XenMobile Enterprise demo environment running Hyper-v on Microsoft Windows Server 2012 from 8.6 to 8.7 without any issues or errors.
2: Note: As I focus on PoC’s and Training the upgrade methods used below will be different for production environments and you should follow – http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX140444 for steps and guidance.
3: My current setup consisted of a XDM cluster on 8.6 l/b by NetScaler using a MS SQL database. I first performed a snapshot of both XDM servers and the SQL database then proceeded to shutdown the second XDM server and executed the XDM 8.7 software package on the primary XDM server which detected a XDM installation and performed a in-place upgrade following the onscreen steps. Once the software update completed I rebooted the VM and then proceeded to connect to XDM mgmt. Web UI locally via https://localhost/zdm on the primary XDM server desktop (Note: SSL error is normal as the FQDN your connected to is not for localhost but your organisations FQDN) and then logged in as a XDM admin then as domain user to verify that the SHP works as expected. Next shutdown the primary XDM server and boot the secondary XDM server and repeat the process above and once verified shutdown the secondary XDM server and boot the primary XDM server wait a few minute then boot the secondary XDM server and what a few minutes and then login to https://XDM-FQDN/Instance/helper.jsp e.g https://mdm.citrix.lab/zdm/helper.jsp and verify that the XDM cluster is active and working, next login to https://XDM-FQDN/Instance/ as a domain user and then a XDM admin to verify that everything works as expected e.g send a notification to an iOS device or enrol a new device using a custom deployment policies to verify your XDM is functioning as expected.

Security
1: XenMobile FIPS 140-2 Compliance – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-87/clg-appwrap-fips-con.html.
2: XDM supports internal and external PKI’s – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-87/xmob-dm-manage-security-pki-overview-con.html; SAML – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-87/xmob-dm-manage-securityid-saml-con.html.
3: Network Access Control (NAC) – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-87/xmob-dm-manage-securityid-configurenac-con.html.
4: Client certificate based authentication using Configuring Device Manager with Microsoft Active Directory Certificate Services – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenmobile-87/xmob-dm-manage-securityid-configdm-mscertificatesvs-con.html.

Synergy SYN308: Citrix Mobility & Desktop Integration