Tag Archives: NetScaler Gateway

Building an IT Employee Experience Scorecard

Consider this an evergreen post as of 22/09/2020

Introduction
I smile consistently these days hearing how organisations are keeping the UK economic moving forward, pivoting day 1 of the UK COVID-19 lockdown to full-time frictionless secure remote flexible working styles with minimal IT effort + friction powered by Citrix technologies.

I hear many unconsidered benefits from my customers, examples include keeping businesses operating helping their customers and supporting them during the height of the lock down to leap frogging competitors gaining significant market share through to winning new business because operationally they where available and ready with a Citrix powered securely centralised hybrid multi-cloud delivery strategy, when backed with a robust and annually tested Business Continuity Plan (BCP) set them up for instance successful shifting from day one of the UK COVID-19 lockdown to full-time work from home without any major hiccups.

For organisations that weren’t fully Citrix and had a hybrid strategy achieved full work from home swiftly swell using one or more of the following strategies:

1. Many existing hybrid Citrix customers scaled up licensing and re-framed physical workstations sat in the office through Citrix Workspace app to employees now sat at home using a browser on a personal device at home. To the employee everything is where it should be within there virtual desktop, for many this has now fundamentally changed perceptions of why they need to sat in an office for 5 working days in a post COVID-19 non-lockdown world.
2. Scaling up CVAD usage by optimising existing workloads or unlocking dark capacity turned off and deallocated ready within the data centre wherever they choose that to be.
3. The most popular one was to extend into one or multiple public clouds (AWS, Azure) to supporting elastic Citrix Virtual Apps & Desktops (CVAD) workloads whilst remaining in control of public cloud cost economics utilising Citrix AutoScale – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops-service/manage-deployment/autoscale.html which is part of the CVAD Service.

Finally organisations shifted to focusing on strengthening security within 1-2 weeks, implementing contextual device security powered by Citrix Smart Control and Smart Access technologies beyond IT non-managed devices, as not every employee could take a device home, they didn’t have a device they could use or they just didn’t have the physical space for it at home as you just don’t know your employees WFH requirements, needs and including @home personal circumstances behind closed doors.

In these many organisations hearing all these great stories I noticed a common theme reoccurring in lock down months 1-2. I have a percentage of employees and its all abeit random across the entire organisation encountering good vs. fair vs. poor experiences. Due to the random nature pin pointing the issue was a huge challenge as by the time IT investigated the problem it was largely self-resolved if by magic? My response have you heard about and or deployed and are running Citrix Application Delivery Management (ADM)? A resounding NO 95% of the time. The below diagram 1 visualises the traffic flow of where I am vs. where my delivered Citrix Virtual Desktop is run out of, it likewise can visualise to IT the overhaul traffic, load demand, security & infrastructure health status ref diagram 2.

Diagram 1

Building an IT Experience Scorecard is critical in helping to remediate issues while employees are working from home using a @citrix #Workspace powered by @CitrixNetwork consuming #virtualdesktops and or #virtualapps #HDX #ICA pic.twitter.com/MoNh1CW0VJ
— Lyndon-Jon Martin 👨🏻‍💻 (@lyndonjonmartin) September 22, 2020

“Not visualising the employees “Workspace” traffic flow, is where the value of Citrix and ANY Workspace solution is LOST in IT Service delivery. Citrix Application Delivery Management (ADM) is a key enabler in helping remediate employee experience issues, whilst providing a crucial IT Employee Experience Scorecard.” Lyndon-Jon Martin June 2020

The Business IT Value of Citrix ADM
A modern flexible platform with two unique halves much like our human brains with left vs. right hemispheres connected by a nervous system, however in this case ADM has analytical vs. management hemispheres providing fleet management with different roles vs. function; employee, security & infrastructure insights supported by a hybrid multi-cloud architectural strategy enabling less IT Ops friction and complexity on a daily basis. ADM’s centralised management + sense architecture provide simple and or advanced operational experience scorecards for auditors (PCI/DSS/ISO27001 with RBAC for read-only access), security + network teams, IT and Citrix System Administrators alike from a single framed lens who’s nervous system is connected to a hybrid multi-cloud fabric providing unconsidered insights and visibility into capacity, strengthened security posture through monitoring change control and config drifts incl automated fleet management which can be executed across multiple instances in ANY cloud simultaneously or on your own terms. ADM gives IT back the right level of “Control” enabling the less friction shifting workloads with true licensing flexibility + agility to the most commercially attractive vs. the most innovate cloud platform which suites IT and their business demands.

Diagram 2

The Business IT Value for me with @citrix ADM powered by @CitrixNetwork beyond all the features is that it allows IT to build out an IT + Employee experience scorecard. pic.twitter.com/Ny4LMRIcwU
— Lyndon-Jon Martin 👨🏻‍💻 (@lyndonjonmartin) September 22, 2020

Having had the privilege of working with world class engineers in the past helping a single customer to process a £1 million pounds per minute through a payment gateway beyond typical web, app traffic of a front door of there website. I learnt that you always require something that you as the MSP or your customer can “Control” in an ANY Cloud + Services architecture for Business Continuity Planning (BCP) and sound IT Operational excellence so you can make better decisions at pace from more accurate data insights visualised. Placing your “Eggs” aka IT Business platform into a single supplier framework even the most trusted IaaS provider and enforcing that your preferred IaaS region is properly fault tolerant and highly-available is equally expensive in cost and complexity much like on-premises, do not be fooled. The IT Complexity Index increases significantly when consuming for example IaaS native site recovery services to enable near to real-time failover in another region when your primary region experience’s an (planned) outage or degraded performance, these services help to keep-a-live those existing “Sticky” connections which will eventually complete a transaction of some kind e.g credit card donation.

I’m all for public cloud in fact two operating styles “Native” vs. “Managed” Public Clouds strategies. I’ve ran my personal lab in AWS EC2 since 2016, easily amortised £1000 over these past 4 years with plenty of cashflow free. Really? How? Having a strong background + experience in the MSP world on the edge of the City of London and working with “Managed” Public Clouds platform I began to respect + understand how all IaaS providers operate inclusive of the full lifecycle management of workloads + the data centre platform itself which is to not leave everything on like you do at home or in a traditional managed colocation data centre. In a native vs. managed IaaS world you’ll turn off and deallocate capacity if you don’t require it and scale it up as you equally require it with little to no friction. I’ve digressed enough back to the IT Employees Experience Scorecard.

A number of my customers have overcome that randomness or pockets of employees complaining about a poor experience post deploying Citrix ADM as the issue can now be identified and remediated pretty efficiently. The solution is simple, deploy and run Citrix ADM for up to a week continuing as is, no changes and then run a report similar to the above and in parallel visualise all those support cases from your service desk platform and marry up employee names and you’ll quickly notice a pattern forming between employees with poor experiences vs. support cases + the number of them.

I suggested to organisations survey those employees and ask them a few simple questions the best ones “Who is your home broadband provider?” and the second “How many devices are connected in the house to the internet and number of people?”. The first question revealed what I expected its the employees consumer ISP and the suggested remediation could well be provide them a “stipend” exclusively for mobile data onto personal contracts or ship them a 4G mobile hub/dongle to use instead and the problem vanishes over night almost every time and video conferencing platforms perform better as a net result equating to happier employees with a better experience.

The second question is about understanding what is happening within the home and as a result tweak or deploy a new HDX policy which again almost every time the employee experience was significantly improved. An example is switching out “Thinwire” – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/1912-ltsr/graphics/thinwire.html for “EDT” – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/1912-ltsr/technical-overview/hdx/adaptive-transport.html or visa versa. You can Optimise the “EDT” HDX protocol bandwidth over high latency connections – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/1912-ltsr/technical-overview/hdx/bandwidth-connections.html as its roots are entrenched from the “Framehawk” protocol which was originally engineered from the ground up to deliver a better experience with macro rising increases of spectral interference and multipath propagation, you can learn more about that by reading this article – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/1912-ltsr/graphics/framehawk.html. An important note you should be actively using the “EDT” protocol with or beyond 1912 LTSR if you want something like “Framehawk“.

Getting Started with Citrix Application Delivery Management (ADM)
It can be consumed as a Citrix Cloud Service – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-application-delivery-management-service.html or you can deploy a customer owned and operated platform – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-application-delivery-management-software/13.html.

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

Deploying & Understanding the NetScaler Gateway Service from Citrix Cloud

The following content is a brief and unofficial prerequisites guide to better understand NetScaler Gateway Service from Citrix Cloud test delivering virtual apps and desktops powered by XenApp & XenDesktop Service 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
NETSCALER GATEWAY SERVICE – nsg service or ngs
CITRIX CLOUD CONNECTOR – connector
NETSCALER – ns
HIGH-AVAILABILITY – h/a
XENAPP – xa
XENDESKTOP – xd
XENAPP/XENDESKTOP – xad
VIRTUAL DELIVERY AGENT – vda
HIGH DEFINITION EXPERIENCE – hdx
CITRIX CLOUD – cc
INFRASTRUCTURE AS A SERVICE – iaas
VIRTUAL APPLIANCE – vpx
USER EXPERIENCE – ux
ICA PROXY – hdx proxy

Introduction & Overview
The NetScaler Gateway Service is a simple, clean. effortless and but most importantly a powerful way to demonstrate the power of Citrix Cloud by providing secure remote access to your HDX virtual apps and desktops from your resources location over the internet (https) securely. While this service is very very powerful & simple to implement and use, you should under the keep in-mind that NS VPX/MPX/SDX is fully featured vs. the NSG Service which is focused on delivery of HDX virtual apps & desktops! So in summary when implementing service undering what is right vs. relevant for the customer needs and requirements is very important. Finally you can read more about the service and its benefits at https://www.citrix.com/products/citrix-cloud/services.html.

+Enabling the NetScaler Gateway Service
1. Login to https://citrix.cloud.com
2. Select to Manage your XAD Service which will take you to https://xenapp.cloud.com/.
3. Select from the drop down menu “Service Delivery” which is beneath the top menu item displayed “Service Creation”
4. Now Select to toggle “ON” and choose to use the NSG service (preferred for blog article only) or your own NetScaler (Unified) Gateway at your resource location and if you enable to the NSG Service you can choose to check the session reliability (2598) checkbox.

The UX
Users connect to https://.xendesktop.net and then login using there AD UPN domain credentials e.g lyndon-jon@x1co.eu and the user’s credentials are encrypted through-out the login process. User’s can equally choose between using a full Citrix Receiver (HDX Optimisation Pack 2.x.n for offloading Skype for Business 2015-2016) vs. HTML5 Receiver (HTML5 compliant internet browser) experience by selecting their username in the top right hand corner and selecting to “Change Receiver” to their preferred choice of Receiver. It also important to set the correct +HDX Policy to get the best UX that is good and balanced (backend vs. network vs. client connected device) so I’d suggest that you implement HDX Adaptive Display v2 by selecting the following policy entitled “Use video codec for compression” and select the following option “For actively changing regions” and thereafter tweak the frame rate and adjust the Thinwire color depth support as described at http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/xenapp-and-xendesktop/7-12/whats-new.html#par_anchortitle_59c9 and you can also read more about benefits and a YouTUBE demostration on HDX Adaptive Display v2 at the following blog article I wrote in 2016 at – http://axendatacentre.com/blog/2016/10/01/foractivelychangingregions/.

HDX Traffic flow of the NSG Service
Please note that traffic flow is based upon the diagram avaiable at – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-cloud/xenapp-and-xendesktop-service/netscaler-gateway-as-a-service.html as of Jan 2017.

1. User MUST login into cloud hosted StoreFront e.g https://.xendesktop.net. There credentials are securely handled please refer to – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-cloud/xenapp-and-xendesktop-service/technical-security-overview.html to understand the traffic follow.
2. Once the user has authenticated successfully he/she can select to launch a virtual app or desktop.
3. User connects to the NSG Service powered by Citrix Cloud
4. Traffic is securely brokered to the Connector in your resource location that is severing up the user’s selected virtual app or desktop or both from the server or desktop VDA.

Tech Overview of the NSG Service
1. The Citrix Cloud NetScaler Cloud Gateway service on your Connector allows and provides the secure remote access feature of the NSG Service from your chosen resource location. I have written a blog article about the Connector services and leading best practises which you can read at – http://axendatacentre.com/blog/2017/01/27/understanding-the-citrix-cloud-its-services-architecture-connectors/.
2. To ensure high availability you should always deploy at a min a pair of Connectors within your resource location and increase the compute capacity of your Connectors as user demand increases initially and thereafter deploy another Connector based upon usage of service.
3. *To use the NSG Service you MUST configure to use the cloud-hosted StoreFront provided by Citrix Cloud under “Service Delivery” tab at https://xenapp.cloud.com/delivery.
4. The NSG Service only supports HDX Traffic only and the service is currently only available on Eastern, Western coasts within the USA and in Europe so for those users accessing virtual apps and desktops via the NSG Service outside of these geos or not in close proximity to an entry point will experience higher latency so tweak your HDX policy(s)+ accordingly or deploy a NS VPX in your resource location.
5. ICA files are STA signed the below example is a small snippet from my own PoC and testing*. I have also intentionally scrammed some of the unreliable text to :-).

Sample ICA file

My Azure vDesktop $S19-38]
Address=;40;CWSSTA;9D09CE5552BDE4581E888CD87EEEEFC
AutologonAllowed=ON
BrowserProtocol=HTTPonTCP
CGPSecurityTicket=On
ClearPassword=5FFE184444B0A0
ClientAudio=On
ConnectionBar=1
DesiredColor=8
DesiredHRES=4294967295
DesiredVRES=4294967295
DesktopRestartAllowed=1
Domain=\78034E8888586B61

The NSG Service currently does not support and or is limited as of writing this blog article in Jan 2017 and based upon the embedded Twitter image – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-cloud/xenapp-and-xendesktop-service/netscaler-gateway-as-a-service.html. Finally please remember that Citrix Cloud is consistently been updated and upgraded with new feature so please please refer to the online documentation and the service overview of Citrix Cloud even a day after posting the blog article as it may become out of date! You’ve been warned!

6. No support for Unified experiences (e.g Branding with your logo, colour scheme).
7. No support for Two Factor Authentication.
8. No support for authentication via outbound proxies for access outside of the resource location over the internet.

Citrix Cloud – NetScaler Gateway Service (NGS) Offering
You can find out more about the NGS subscription options which is avaiable at – https://www.citrix.com/products/citrix-cloud/subscriptions.html#tab-41499 and the service overview at – https://www.citrix.com/products/citrix-cloud/services.html#tab-23235

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.

Front XenApp 7.11+ in Azure with NetScaler (Unified) Gateway 11.x.n

The following content is a brief and unofficial overview of how-to front your virtual apps & desktops powered by XenApp 7.11 with NetScaler 11.x.n using Microsoft Azure (ARM). The views, opinions and concepts expressed are those by the author of this entry only and do not necessarily conform to industry descriptions, best practises. The views expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Citrix.

Shortened Names
XENAPP – xa
XENSERVER – xs
XENDESKTOP – xd
XENAPP/XENDESKTOP – xad
VIRTUAL DELIVERY AGENT – vda
HIGH DEFINITION EXPERIENCE – hdx
INDEPENDENT COMPUTING ARCHITECTURE – ica
NETSCALER – ns
NETSCALER UNIFIED GATEWAY – nsug
AZURE RESOURCE MANAGER – arm
IDENTITY ACCESS & MANAGEMENT – iam
MULTI-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION – mfa
SECURITY ASSERTION MARKUP LANGUAGE – saml

Why this Blog Article?
I’ve had a lot of cloud 1st strategy conversations with IT Pro’s, Citrix SysAdmins & organisations alike recently so I thought everyone whom is searching for how-to front XenApp with an Azure NetScaler could benefit from this blog post :-). This blog post covers a how-to even with NetScaler in single IP mode to achieving https://FQDN (Image 2) for the gateway vs. https://FQDN:8443 (Image 1) when deploying NetScaler in Azure (ARM).

Deploying NetScaler 11.x.n using Azure Resource Manager (ARM)
1. Login to https://portal.azure.com
2. I presume that you have setup a your network, IAM if not refer to https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/get-started/ for getting started how-to from Microsoft.
3. Click on + New in the top left of the ARM web ui and type in NetScaler and select NetScaler VPX Bring Your Own License or for a quick review check out – https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/marketplace/partners/citrix/netscalervpx110-6531/.
4. Click Create
5. Enter in a name for your NS virtual appliance e.g ne1nug01 and select the VM disk type
5. Enter in a username and choose auth to be either SSH public key or Password I choose password to access the NS Admin WebUI for simplicity of all readers of this blog.
6. Select your chosen of default Subscription if you have more than one and then select your existing Resource Group where you XenApp 7.11+ environment and XenApp 7.11+ VDA Workers and your mgmt. VM running AD/DNS server resides. Remember I am keeping this simple as it’s intended for PoC’s only!
7. Continue to select your chosen Azure instance for NetScaler I choose DS2_V2 Standard which consists of 2 Cores, 7GB of RAM.
8. Select your storage account, virtual network & subnet e.t.c and high availability set then click Select to continue.
9. Review your purchase of NetScaler and then click Ok to purchase and Azure will begin building your NetScaler VPX in your Azure chosen subscription which will take no more typically than 10 minutes.

Setting up & Licensing your NetScaler on Azure
Firstly be aware that when deploying a NetScaler instance on Azure for virtual apps & desktops you’ll be setting up NetScaler to run in single IP mode (YES!) which means that you’re connecting to internal TRU resources on the NetScalers IP addr (NSIP) but you connect using different ports e.g ICA Proxy on 8443 so lets begin with the setup.

1. Login into your NetScaler using the NS Admin Web UI do not provide a SubnetIP Addr (SNIP) just select Do It Later and proceed with the initial setup as per normal.
2. Now that you have setup your NetScaler you need to license it so remain logged into and open a new tab in your browser of choice and Google “Citrix Eval Store” or save this link – http://store.citrix.com/store/citrix/en_US/cat/ThemeID.33753000/categoryID.63401700
3. Select under Networking -> NetScaler ADC
4. Next select the following model “VPX” select variation e.g “Platinum 1000” select duration e.g “90 Days”.
5. Complete the onscreen process note that you will require a .Citrix.com account or you need to create an account.
6. Once you receive an e-mail with your key/code head over to at https://www.citrix.com/account/toolbox/manage-licenses/allocate.html or goto and select find and allocate your licenses or look for the licensing button (link) and select it.
7. If your key/code it not visible select “Don’t see your product?” in text in/around the top right-hand side. A pop-up appears now enter in the code provided on e-mail from the Citrix Eval Store e.g “CTX34-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX” and continue.
8. You will need to enter in the Host Id of your NetScaler it can be found once logged in using the NS Admin Web UI “NetScaler -> System -> System Information” then look under the heading “Hardware Information” and you find “Host Id” copy and paste it into the required field and then download the license file.
9. In the NS Admin Web UI click the cog icon top right then select licensing and upload the license and select to reboot the NS to apply the license.
10. Log back in and enable the features that you require e.g right click on the “NetScaler Gateway” and select “enable” e.t.c

Setup Type Choice 8443 Default without an Azure L/B for XenApp using the XenApp/XenDesktop Wizard
Now that you have setup NetScaler within your Azure subscription in your chosen region you’re ready to begin setting up NetScaler to front virtual apps & desktops (Server OS 2012 R2 or 2016) powered by XenApp 7.11+.

Sample Text Based Diagram

User	Azure	NetScaler	StoreFront	XenApp
https://FQDN:8443/	↔	Accepts requests from Azure to NSIP on https://8443 (Single IP Mode)	Accepts requests on the Gateway & Call-back FQDN on https://FQDN:8443	Accepts & launches user’s virtual app(s) & desktop(s) as requested

1. Login to your NetScaler VPX click “Settings -> Licensing” now check that License type is Platinum and Model ID 1000
2. Select the XenApp/XenDesktop wizard and review the prerequisites carefully prior to continuing BUT in summary you’ll need an SSL Cert, LDAP service account + details, XenApp 7.11+ environment with StoreFront.
3. Enter in the static IP addr assigned by Azure or OTHER METHOD of your NetScaler VPX YES that’s right!
4. IMPORTANT STEP: Change the default port of 443 to 8443 on the Gateway IP addr
5. Set Up the rest of the XAD wizard as normal
6. IMPORTANT STEP: Setup StoreFront to allow remote access however the configured default gateway and Call-back FQDN addresses MUST include 8443 e.g https://go.x1co.eu:8443 instead of just https://go.x1co.eu
7. Setup external DNS entries e.g go.x1co.eu to point to your NetScalers static IP addr found in the Azure ARM Web UI and once you have verified it is functioning correctly using a shell (IPCONFIG /FLUSH after settin-up the DNS entries waiting 10-15 min depednant upon your ISP) the open up an internet browser and type in e.g https://go.x1co.eu:8443 and dont forget the :8443 at the end of the FQDN.
8. Attempt to login either using sAMAccountName e.g username or userPrincipalname e.g username@x1co.eu and then you should be able to successfully login and launch your virtual apps & desktop as per the below image.

Image 1

Setup Type 443 for XenApp using an Azure Load-Balancer & the NetScaler XenApp/XenDesktop Wizard

Sample Text Based Diagram

User	Azure	Azure Load-Balancer	NetScaler	StoreFront	XenApp
https://FQDN/		https received request and forwarded to NetScaler on https://FQDN:8443	Accepts requests from Azure L/B on https://FQDN fwd to NSIP on https://8443 (Single IP Mode)	Accepts requests on the Gateway from HTTPS://FQDN but the Call-back FQDN is on https://FQDN:8443	Accepts & launches user’s virtual app(s) & desktop(s) as requested
	↔	https://FQDN ↔ AzureL/B ↔ NetScaler:8443	NetScaler https://FQDN:8443 ↔https://FQDN StoreFront	StoreFront Call-back https://FQDN:8443
StoreFront configured NetScaler Gateway https://FQDN

1. If you are choosing this option as your preferred lets hope then complete steps 1-5 and also step 7 to save you time!
2. IMPORTANT STEP: Setup StoreFront to allow remote access however the configured default gateway MUST BE e.g https://go.x1co.eu NOTICE NO :8433 YES not :8443 here. Now on the call-back FQDN addresses YOU MUST include 8443 e.g https://go.x1co.eu:8443 instead of just https://go.x1co.eu otherwise fronting NS with an Azure L/B to acheive HTTPS://FQDN for the XAD Gateway (ICA Proxy) will NOT WORK!!!!
3. Now switch to the Azure ARM Web UI. You should probably read the following useful resources – https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/documentation/articles/load-balancer-overview/ and for PowerShell creation check out – https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/documentation/articles/load-balancer-get-started-internet-arm-ps/ for any Citrix consultants out there.
4. Azure Load-balancer and click on the “+” at the top and provide a “Name” and for the type choose “Pubic” and select your Azure “Subscription” “Existing Resource Group” and its location (Same as NetScaler deployed instance) then click “Create”
5. Now it will list the available public IP addr just select the “+”
6. Enter in a name and choose your assignment choice “Dynamic” vs. “Static” and click OK.
7. Azure will then provision your Azure L/B (Wait….Maybe coffee or tea break?)
8. Once created select your Azure L/B
9. Select “Backend Pools” enter in a name then choose your availability set and then your VM’s or VM e.g NetScaler. Azure will then provision your Azure L/B with a backend pool (Wait….)
10. Select “Frontend IP Pool” click “+” enter in a name then choose your IP addr e.g NetScaler VM and then enter in a name (all names should differ makes identification easier so a good naming convention helps 🙂 now) and choose your assignment choice “Dynamic” vs. “Static” and click OK (Updating….)
11. IMPORTANT STEP: Select “Inbound NAT Rules” select the resource from your Frontend IP Pool list from the previous point (10). Select the service “HTTPS” and port to be 443 then select the target “NetScaler VM” and then vErY iMpOrtAnt select under “Port Mapping -> Custom” and in the “Target Port enter in 8443” and click save. (Wait…)
12: Now navigate to https://FQDN and attempt to login either using either sAMAccountName e.g username or userPrincipalname e.g username@x1co.eu and thereafter you should be able to successfully launch your virtual apps & desktop published by XenApp 7.11+. The below image represents the end goal when fronting an Azure NetScaler in Single IP Mode with an Azure Load-Balancer as per the below image.

NetScaler VPX in Azure Deployment Guide
http://docs.citrix.com/content/dam/docs/en-us/workspace-cloud/downloads/NetScaler-VPX-in-AZURE-Deployment-Guide.pdf

Advanced Setup & Configuration
The following how-to’s are from a 2016 Citrix Technology Advocates (CTA) – https://www.citrix.com/blogs/2016/05/23/expanding-recognition-for-community-contributors-citrix-technology-advocates/ Dave Bretty – http://bretty.me.uk/ which covers off how-to setup and configure FAS, NetScaler SAML/ADFS Proxy, Azure MFA and much more, so follow the links in order listed below.

1. http://bretty.me.uk/putting-it-all-together-citrix-xendesktop-adfs-azure-mfa-netscaler-unified-gateway-and-citrix-fas-part-1/
2. http://bretty.me.uk/putting-it-all-together-citrix-xendesktop-adfs-azure-mfa-netscaler-unified-gateway-and-citrix-fas-part-2/
3. http://bretty.me.uk/putting-it-all-together-citrix-xendesktop-adfs-azure-mfa-netscaler-unified-gateway-and-citrix-fas-part-3/
4. http://bretty.me.uk/putting-it-all-together-citrix-xendesktop-adfs-azure-mfa-netscaler-unified-gateway-and-citrix-fas-part-4/
5. http://bretty.me.uk/putting-it-all-together-citrix-xendesktop-adfs-azure-mfa-netscaler-unified-gateway-and-citrix-fas-part-5/
6. http://bretty.me.uk/putting-it-all-together-citrix-xendesktop-adfs-azure-mfa-netscaler-unified-gateway-and-citrix-fas-part-6/

HDX Broadcast now with Framehawk

The following content is a brief and unofficial prerequisites guide to setup, configure and test HDX Broadcast now with Framehawk with XAD 7.6 FP2 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
HIGH DEFINITION EXPERIENCE – hdx
UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS – uc
MICROSOFT – ms
NETSCALER GATEWAY – ns(g)
INDEPENDENT COMPUTING ARCHITECTURE – ica
FEATURE PACK – fp
NETSCALER UNIFIED GATEWAY – nug
NETSCALER GATEWAY – nsg
EXPERIENCE 1st – x1
STOREFRONT SERVER – sfs

What is Framehawk?
It forms part of HDX Broadcast technologies within the High Definition eXperience (HDX) stack providing an enhanced X1 UX over broadband wireless, cellular connections where users experience the effects of packet loss, congestion, latency and jitter. The technology came from the Framehawk acquisition made by Citrix in 2014 ref – https://www.citrix.com/news/announcements/jan-2014/citrix-acquires-framehawk.html. Framehawk is defined as light weight frame buffer protocol (UDP based) and adds a new virtual channel to the ICA protocol. The initial release is targeted at users connected to XAD 7.6 FP2 via TRU networks however as of 14/08/2015 ref * Framehawk is now also available for users running the latest up to date iOS Receiver – http://blogs.citrix.com/2015/08/03/receiver-for-ios-6-0-now-available-with-framehawk-support/ utilising NetScaler Gateway 11.0 build 62.10 ref the following CTX blog which also includes details surrounding the initial Framehawk release within XAD 7.6 FP2 at – *http://blogs.citrix.com/2015/06/30/our-first-release-of-framehawk-technologies/.

New Use Cases for Framehawk
The following official Citrix blog articles provides insight into some of the use cases for Framehawk – http://blogs.citrix.com/2015/08/17/new-use-cases-for-framehawk/.

HDX Framehawk Performance in XenApp and XenDesktop 7.6 FP3

Demonstration of Citrix (HDX Broadcast now with Framehawk) vs. VMware

Pre-requisites & System Requirements for Deploying HDX Broadcast now with Framehawk (Draft + The Basic’s Only)
0: The HDX Broadcast now with Framehawk admin guide is available at – http://docs.citrix.com/content/dam/docs/en-us/xenapp-xendesktop/xenapp-xendesktop-7-6/downloads/Framehawk%20Administration%20Guide.pdf which I would strongly suggest that you read through before undertaking any type of PoC or internal testing of Framehawk’s capabilities within your own home lab, organisation demo environment.
1: You need to download the XAD 7.6 FP2 components from http://www.citrix.com/downloads.html. Also download and the firmware update for NetScaler Unified Gateway 11.0 build 62.10** to upgrade your NUG V/A.Note: The current supported Citrix Receivers (update 22/08/2015) are the Windows Receiver 4.3 or iOS Receiver 6.0.
2: Download the DisplayStateGUI.exe * tool from http://blogs.citrix.com/2015/08/17/got-framehawk-weve-got-remote-access-tips-and-tricks/ its a good read by way so be sure to read through that official CTX blog articles aswell prior to deploying Framehawk in your Home/Test lab or for a customer PoC.
3: In your Citrix test or home lab environments snapshot all the relevant XAD 7.6 infrastructure components that requires which an update which is most rior to proceeding. This is typically a common leading best practise so that you revert back in the unlikely event of a failure or corruption of any components during the infrastructure update.
4: Once the updates have been completed successfully installed and you’ve rebooted your compoments seperately in an agreed maintenance window the launch Citrix Studio upon a successful reboot and create a new policy selecting the Framehawk policies and adding them to your test user(s) or group(s). It is not recommended to apply this HDX policy to all users within your Site but only those whom are experiencing high packet loss ref page 12 of the Framehawk Admin Guide. Also be sure to carefully review and understand the provided technical overview of each policy setting by reading the policy description.TIP: Type in frame in the search window to find the Framehawk policies in Studio quicker.
5: Also make sure that your install and update the server, desktop VDA’s within your template images or create a new set of template(s) for your desktop and server OSes. It’s your choice :-).
6: I’d suggest that you utilise a Windows end-point for your initial tests of Framehawk, so navigate to http://receiver.citrix.com which should auto detect your Windows endpoint and recommend that you download and install Citrix Receiver 4.3 for your Windows OS.
7: Once the Windows Citrix Receiver 4.3 has successfully installed and configure Receiver to point to your Citrix test or home lab environment and begin testing :-). TIP: Why not setup a DNS SRV record for e-mail based discovery check out – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/storefront/3/sf-plan/sf-plan-user-access.html.
8: Once your have configured Receiver a lunch a destkop and run DisplayStateGUI.exe * and also login into the new and update Director to check that your launch ICA/HDX session is in fact utilising using Framehawk and not DRC or the SuperCodec.
9: Once your happy proceed to snapshotting your NUG V/A and begin the firmware upgrade from your exsiting NUG build to the current supported firmware version which is 11.0 build 62.10**.
10: Once your have upgrade your NUG V/A and it is functioning as expected then proceed with the following to enable delivery of HDX Broadcast now with Framehawk via your NetScaler (Unfied) Gateway.
11: Enable DTLS in the settings of the VPN virtual server, enable and open 443 on TCP/UDP and unbind and rebind the SSL cert-key pair this second part is mandatory for more detail ref 16 of the Framehawk admin guide.
12: Deploy XAD 7.6 FP2 as your typically would utilising either the built-in wizards, manually using AppExpert e.t.c
13: Once its is successfully configured navigate to your external gateway FQDN and login to ensure that you can successfully authenticate and access your RfW powered by StoreFront 3.0 with the unified experience enabled ref – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/storefront/3/sf-manage/sf-receiver.html. Now logout and return to the NUG Admin WebUI.
14: Now complete the following steps within the NUG Web AdminUI to enable and allow Framehawk ICA/HDX sessions through your NetScaler Unified Gateway V/A:

– Click configuration tab -> NS Gateway -> Virtual Servers now click “Edit” then click “More”
– Select to enable DTLS then click “Ok”
– Now within the VPN Server screen click e.g “1 Server Certificate”
– Write down the name of the certificate
– Select your server cert and the click on Unbind above from the list of menu options and then save/close
– You be returned to the VPN Server screen and there will be NO certs that is normal. Now click on “No Server Certificate” to reopen it
– Click on the + sign
– Find your certificate within the list and click “Select” then when prompted click “Bind”.
– Ignore and click OK on the warning error message entitled “No usable ciphers configured on the SSL vserver/serivce”

15: Begin testing using Windows Receiver 4.3 from any supported Windows end-point.
16: If you wanted to enable and allow Framehawk access from iOS devices running Receiver 6.0 then please complete the following:

– On your SFS access App_Data dir of your Store in C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Citrix\Store\App_Data\
– Open the file entitled default.ica
– Under the [WFClient] section within the file add the following line of code Framehawk=On which should be under ProxyUseFQDN=Off
– Click “Save”

17: Begin testing using Citrix Receiver iOS 6 on an iOS device.
18: If you have downloaded the initial Framehawk Admin Guide is doesn’t including the remote access setup and configuration so please re-download the admin guide at – http://blogs.citrix.com/2015/08/17/got-framehawk-weve-got-remote-access-tips-and-tricks/. It well worth a re-read in my view to better understand Framehawk.

SYN230: HDX update: What’s new
If you want to learn what’s new and all the updates to Citrix HDX i’d suggest that you watch the following Citrix Synergy 2015 session entitled “SYN230: HDX update: What’s new”.

Supported Citrix Receivers
1: The current supported Citrix Receivers for Framehawk are the Windows Receiver 4.3+ and the iOS Receiver.
2: You can download either Receiver by visiting your OSes app store of by navigating to – http://receiver.citrix.com.
3: The current up to date Citrix Receiver feature matrix is available at – https://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/products-solutions/citrix-receiver-feature-matrix.pdf.

Upgrading a NetScaler 10.5.x.n Virtual Appliance to NetScaler Unified Gateway 11.x.n

The following content is a brief and unofficial prerequisites guide to upgrade from NetScaler Gateway 10.5.x.n to NetScaler Unified Gateway 11.x.n 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
VIRTUAL APPLIANCE – v/a
NETSCALER GATEWAY – nsg
NETSCALER UNIFIED GATEWAY – nug
VIRTUAL IP ADDRESS – vip

Deployment Preparation Overview (DRAFT & MAY CONTAIN ERROR(S))
The following is an upgrade process that I utilise within my own home lab. Please ref to http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/netscaler/11/license-upgrade-downgrade/upgrade-downgrade-the-system-software.html for an accurate and official upgrade process.

1: Download the firmware of your choice if more than one is available at – http://www.citrix.com/downloads/netscaler-adc.html. Please note that your will require either a valid Citrix account to download the firmware.
2: Upload the *.tgz file you downloaded to the following location on your NS V/A “/var/install“. Once you have confirmed its successfully uploaded disconnect and close your (s)FTP application. I use WinSCP myself which can be downloaded at – https://winscp.net/ as my (s)FTP client.
3: Open a Secure Shell (SSH) connection to the NS V/A and enter in the username and password access details where prompted. Once your have successfully logged in type “shell” then type “cd /var/nsinstall” to change to the nsinstall directory and then type “ls” to confirm the uploaded file is there.
4: Now to unpack the tarball package by typing in “tar –xvzf build_X_XX.tgz”, where build_X_XX.tgz (TIP: Enter in B and press TAB to complete typing the name of the file) is the name of the NS firmware build that we will be upgrading to. Once the tarball is successfully unpacked type in “ls” verifying that you can see the extracted files from the tarball.
5: Now type in “./installns” to begin the upgrade process and where prompted type in “Y” to reboot the NS V/A
6: Move to your hypervisors mgmt. console and watch the NS CLI reboot and once you can see the NS login prompt within the CLI navigate to the NS mgmt. IP addr and login using your NS access details and verify that the NS V/A has been successfully upgrade to your firmware of choice by looking at the firmware version in the top right-hand corner of the WebUI.

HDX Realtime and Microsoft Lync 2013

The following content is a brief and unofficial prerequisites guide to setup, configure and test Lync 2013 with XAD 7.6 and the HDX RealTime Optimization Pack 1.7-8.x.n for Microsoft Lync 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.

Summarising your Lync 2010, 2013 Deployment Options on Citrix XenApp/XenDesktop 7.x
The following Lync deployment methods are supported by Citrix including utilising Lync Online and Office 365 ref – http://blogs.citrix.com/2015/04/03/deployment-guide-for-microsoft-lync-2013-in-vdi-environment/.

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 Citrix Receiver at end-points.

Microsoft® Lync® VDI Plug-in
Optimised softphone with offloading of the media engine by Microsoft however this approach does require Windows end-points.

Local App Access *
XAD policy applied to utilise (preferred) the locally installed Lync app over delivered Lync app.

* Please refer to eDocs or CTX200279 for the Lync Delivery Feature Matrix http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX200279. For HDX Realtime Licensing Q&A please check out – http://www.citrix.com/go/products/xendesktop/feature-matrix.html.

Deployment Guides
1: Delivering Microsoft Lync to XenApp and XenDesktop Users – https://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/products-solutions/delivering-microsoft-lync-to-xenapp-and-xendesktop-users.pdf
2: Microsoft Office 365 for Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop 7.x – http://www.citrixandmicrosoft.com/Documents/Deployment%20Guide%20-%20Office%20365%20for%20XenApp%20and%20XenDesktop.pdf

HDX RealTime Optimization Pack 1.8
The latest released optimisation pack 1.8 supports the Lync Server 2013 Autodiscover Service and Microsoft Skype for Business client in Lync UI mode, the Microsoft Lync 2013 client, and the Microsoft Lync 2010 client (Call Park, Call Pick Up & Call forwarding and simultaneous ringing controls). There is also now support for Mac with support for the Microsoft Windows 10 technical preview, for more information check out the official documentation at – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/hdx-optimization/1-8.html and what’s new in XAD FP2 – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/xenapp-and-xendesktop/7-6/xad-whats-new.html.

HDX RealTime Optimization Pack 1.7
HDX RealTime Optimization Pack consists of two component’s the client (media engine is integrated into Citrix Receiver) and server (HDX Realtime connector). A technical overview of how the optimisation pack works and helps to improve the users over all experience with Lync 2013 can be found at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/hdx-realtime-optimization-pack-17/hdx-realtime-optimization-pack-about-17.html including a network diagram. Citrix have also recently released at the time of writing this blog article a great CTX article entitled “Remote Access with Citrix HDX RealTime Optimization Pack” available at – http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX201116 explaining how-to and where to deploy NS(G) for Lync 2013.

The below is an embedded Citrix TV video entitled – Ask the Architect “Citrix Optimisation Pack for Microsoft Lync”:

Microsoft Lync 2013 VDI Plug-in
As stated at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/hdx-realtime-optimization-pack-17/lync-realtime-optimization-pack-17.html Citrix recommends the Microsoft Lync 2013 VDI Plug-in for customers using Lync 2013 with Windows devices. For information about this solution, see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj204683.aspx and http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX138408.

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.

XenMobile AppController 9.0

Citrix Technology Advocate (CTA) Blog by @lyndonjonmartin

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