The views expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Citrix.
This year I am honoured to be presenting at UCDay 2017 (founded by MVP Andrew J. Price) which is described as being the UK’s Premier Microsoft Community Conference (check out the speakers for a starters!) which is to be held on 9th October at National Motorcycle Museum, Birmingham, UK with this years sessions key focus on Microsoft Azure, Skype for Business, Office365, Exchange & Cloud. Personally I’ll be delivering the following community session entitled “Deploying Citrix (Cloud) Workloads in Azure and Beyond ARA” details about my session are available at – http://www.ucday.co.uk/timetable/event/deploying-citrix-cloud-workloads-in-azure-and-beyond-ara/ and if you have any asks vs. requests for me to cover during my session please feel free to DM on Twitter @ https://twitter.com/lyndonjonmartin or LinkedIn @ https://www.linkedin.com/in/lyndonjonmartin.
On a personal note I am seriously keen myself to take the opportunity to learn, network, connect with my peers and attend some of the other knock out sessions (when its NOT my session), so be sure to check out all the sessions at – http://www.ucday.co.uk/schedule/#not-set:all delivered by community IT Pro’s focused on EUC, UEM, Workspaces, Public Cloud (Azure), UC & Collaboration and more and then get registered for a ticket at – http://www.ucday.co.uk. For me attending UCDay is an absolutely MUST weather you’re a customer vs. partner vs. consultant vs. vendor (think Microsoft eco-system) and it will enable you to gain invaluable insights from industry experts focused on the above topics and more from around the globe YES thats right not just the UK! Check out the speakers bios at – http://www.ucday.co.uk/ourspeakers/.
As I published this blog post it got me thinking as this is my very first UCDay I’d like to understand the origins of UCDay, how as a presenter vs. attendee on the day I can benefit from attending this great event. So I posed the following questions to the Founder of UC and Cloud Day Andrew J. Price – http://lyncme.co.uk (Personal Site) whom is also an Office Servers and Services MVP.
1. How has UCDay changed vs. evolved since you first founded it and delivered that first opening keynote?
UC Day has evolved from a dedicated Microsoft UC Event into a leading Community Conference focusing on all the whole Microsoft 365 stack. When I originally started this journey I never expected it to grow as much as its done over the past 3 years. There is a lot of work happening in the background to continue the growth of this event to becoming a leading EMEA region conference that is free for all to attend.
2. What can attendees expect from the day based upon your experience?
Attendees can expect an action pack day full of networking with sponsors, peers and industry leaders in all things Microsoft Cloud related. UC and Cloud Day is a perfect platform for like minded invidiuduals to learn and grow as IT Professional and create new partnerships with our sponsors.
3. What are the key takeaways for attendees about the day vs. sessions?
Attendees will be able to take away knowledge from real world scenarios that our speakers encounter during their engagements with customers, as well new professional contacts that may assist with existing or future projects.
4. You are a MVP for Office Servers and Services what is it and how many other MVP’s will be at UCDay?
MVP Status is given to community leaders who go above and beyond the call of duty to share their experience with the Microsoft Community. I am recognised as Office Servers and Service MVP for my work within the Office 365 and Skype for Business communities. This year we will have over 20 MVPS across multiple award categories from around the global.
5. Any hints for what you’ll be discussing in your keynote at UCDay this year?
I will be talking about the “evolution” of UC Day and handing over to Microsoft who will be delivering the latest message about the “evolving” marketspace.
The following content is a brief and unofficial guide to testing and using ShareFile Workflows prior to implmenting it for a PoC. 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.
Understanding what is ShareFile?
Its a cloud-based file sharing service that enables users to easily and securely exchange documents from any cloud to any device or location around the global securely (HTTPS) with auditing, eSignature, document workflow, check in/out, multi-factor auth capabilties and so much more! For a good overview visit https://www.sharefile.com/features.
I love this why ShareFile video its simply brilliant! A good 2 minutes well spent that leaves you felling happy and understanding why ShareFile?
What are ShareFile Workflows?
It’s about wrapping a collaborative workflow around the actual document to acheive an outcome more efficently at a faster pace that before as all invited parties are able to collobrate on the same document by annotating with comments in any area and start a conversational thread with the ability to finally mark the annotated comment(s) as “Resolved” and the initiator of the Workflow can “Agree” to comment(s) using a simple thumbs up. Finally the invited party(s) have the ability to approve the workflow.
Approving the Workflow disables any further collaborating capabilities and therefore allows the initiator and most likely the document author to begin making necessary changes to the documents via a traditional installed, web or virtual Office app.
1. Login into https://*.sharefile.eu or .com from your favourite internet browser.
2. Once logged into select to Upload a sample Word or PowerPoint document with a screenshot of your organisations website and some text from a different webpage beneath it. If you’re already using ShareFile Drive Mapper drop it into a folder within your “Personal Folder” and if you have no idea what I am talking about you should def 100% STOP download it now from – https://www.citrix.co.uk/downloads/sharefile/clients-and-plug-ins/sharefile-drive-mapper.html and then read this CTX article before continuing to read further – https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX207791.
3.Once you’ve upload or synced the sample document refresh your internet browser and under “Recent Files” select the file and your see a preview (powered by MS Office365 Preview) of the document on the left and some actions on the right hand side look for “Initiate Approval” and select it which will open up a new browser tab with the following URL e.g https://citrixworkflows.sharefile.com/workflows/new?sharefileStreamId=xxxxxxxx where xxxxxxxx represents the ID of this workflow.
4. You’ll see a preview of your document on the right hand-side and on the left hand side your see a three workflow types (a) Get Approval (b) Collect Feedback (c) Create Request List
5. For this sample workflow we’ll going with option (a) Get Approval so select it
6. Select a due date e.g the next days date or a date within 7 days from the date of initiating the workflow so your approvers have time to respond if you aren’t able to view there calendar(s) so they can provide annotate and provide feedback on the sample document.
7. Add Approver(s) (Add people who are required to approve this document) E-mail address and Name (optional but preferred) and you can require that they have to login and I love this check box feature “Every approver must re-approve newly uploaded versions”!
8. My next favourite feature “CC’s” allows you to include any individual(s) whom can access the workflow workspace and comment, BUT they cannot approve the document workflow 🙂 !
9. You can also add message that the recipients will receive when you start the workflow.
10. Review your approvers, CC’s and message and then select to “Start Workflow”.
11. You can begin to annotate the document in your chosen area(s) including starting a conversation with all participant(s), while ShareFile e-mails them.
12. Approvers and CC’s receive an e-mail notification with a secure link too join the ShareFile workflow workspace that you have already started to work on.
13. You’ll receive notifications that participant(s) are commenting on your annotations, replying to your activity thread.
14. The Approver in this case has now agreed to all my annotations and has chosen to “Approve” the document approval workflow as he/she agrees with the suggested document changes, which the author can now begin to edit the way he/she would like to e.g online directly from ShareFile provided that you have the correct Office 365 subscription for more info check out “CTX208340 ShareFile Office Online Editing” – https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX208340.
15. You’ll also receive an e-mail notifying you that the workflow has been approved!.
There is also a simple overview of the Feedback and Approvals Workflow by Citrix ShareFile available at – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASEUqcaOt7k or watch the embedded video below.
In summary ShareFile Workflows helps you and your organisation collaborate on documents more efficiently to acheive outcomes at pace with better results!
The following content is a brief and unofficial prerequisites guide to setup, configure and test delivering Skype for Business 2015 as a Citrix virtual app or an app within a virtual desktop powered by Citrix XenApp or XenDesktop 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.
Shortened Names
SKYPE FOR BUSINESS – skype4b
XENAPP – xa
XENDESKTOP – xd
XENAPP/XENDESKTOP – xad
VIRTUAL DELIVERY AGENT – vda
HIGH DEFINITION EXPERIENCE – hdx
VIRTUAL DESKTOP – vd
VIRTUAL APPS – va
REALTIME MEDIA ENGINE – rtme
REALTIME CONNECTOR – rtc
Introduction
The following blog article provides a basic understanding of how to deploy Skype for Business 2015 with the HDX Optimisation Pack 2.0 within a Citrix XenApp, XenDesktop environment which offloads the audio and video to the users local end-point running Citrix Receiver and the HDX RealTime Media Engine on supported Windows, Mac or Linux OSes. This offloading capability is powered by latest v2 HDX Optimisation Pack 2.0 architecture which can be found at – https://www.citrix.com/blogs/2016/01/12/citrix-and-microsoft-unveil-v2-solution-for-skype-for-business/ joint worked on between Citrix and Microsoft.
Why Customers Virtualize Skype for Business with Citrix
Understanding the HDX Optimisation Pack 2.0 vs. a Non-Optimised Deployment
The following is an oversimplified diagram which is also not intended to be 100% accurate but should provide you with a better understanding of the differences between an non-optimised vs. optimised delivery of a Skype4B virtual app from a Citrix environment.
Non-Optimised
Optimised with the HDX Optimisation Pack 2.x.n
VM
running Windows OS
VDA
7.x.n
Skype4B
Client + Media Engine
Internet
End-point
+ Citrix Receiver
VM
running Windows OS
←
→
VDA 7.x.n
ICA/HDX Virtual Channel*
↑
↓
Skype4B
Client
HDX
RealTime Connector powered by HDX Optimisation Pack 2.x.n
←
→
Internet
↑
↓
←
→
End-point
+ Citrix Receiver (Windows, Mac or Linux) *
HDX
RealTime Media Engine (RTME) powered by HDX Optimisation Pack 2.x.n
Deploying the HDX Optimisation Pack 2.0 for Skype for Business 2015 for XenApp/XenDesktop
0. Initiate a video call using Skype for Business from your PC using Skype for Business as a published virtual app on its own or in a virtual desktop between yourself and another individual with Skype4B installed locally on their PC or Mac. Open task manager locally and on the XenApp server or virtual desktop and watch the CPU, memory and bandwidth consumption during your video call and remember to adjust screen size during the call between small, medium and full screen.
1. Install Skype for Business 2015 client within your virtual desktop (*server or desktop Windows OS).
2. Publish the Skype4B 2015 virtual app or the virtual desktop that contains app.
3. Connect to the virtual app or desktop and verify that you can open and login to your Skype4B and ensure that its functioning as normal obviously it’s not optimized but will still perform video/audio calls thanks to the HDX technologies.
4. Close Skype4B 2015 and now install the HDX RealTime Connector e.g HDX_RealTime_Connector_2.0_for_Skype_For_Business.msi downloaded from Citrix.com.
5. Disconnect from the virtual desktop*.
6. Close any ICA/HDX sessions and close Citrix Receiver
7 Next install the HDX RealTime media engine HDX_RealTime_MediaEngine_2.0_for_Windows.msi downloaded from Citrix.com.
8. Start Citrix Receiver and reconnect to your published virtual Skype4B app or virtual desktop with Skype for Business 2015 installed and you should see the HDX RealTime Connector stating “Optimised.
9. Re-initiate your video call to the same user as in step 1 above and you’ll notice the difference immediately as the video will be crisp and sharp and again open task manager and repeat the same process and you’ll see the CPU, memory and bandwidth are low on the back-end but locally on your end-point the CPU, Memory and bandwidth increases to medium as the audio and video is now been processed locally on your end-point thanks to the RTME.
Deploying the HDX Optimization Pack 2.1 for Skype4B 2016
Follow the all the steps above BUT for use with the Skype for Business 2016 you need to use the “Click-to-Run” installer and adjust the configuration.xml file for the installation to use “current” switch for the default installation behavior as Office 365 ProPlus default installation behaviour is to use “Deferred for Office 365 ProPlus. To learn how-to reconfigure the XML file in greater detail please refer to – https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj219426.aspx for help.
Example of an HDX Offloaded Skype4B 2015 Video Call
The following picture depicts a Skype for Business 2015 video call HDX Offloaded using the HDX Optimization Pack 2.x.n between two Windows 10 virtual desktops hosted in different locations in the EU delivered to myself and a Citrite colleague in different locations within London. I myself was at partners customer event in the City using public Wi-fi that 200+ other people were connected to and using, he was at home in SW London connected to the internet over his home internet connection.
Microsoft on the Optimization Pack v2 Architecture
I’d suggest watching the following broadcast on YouTube entitled “SfB Video Broadcast: Ep 9. VDI” from the Skype for Business team providing a Microsoft perspective on the offloading capabilities for Skype4B with the Citrix Optimisation Pack 2.0. As a final thought discovery more about Skype4B at there YouTube channel which is accessiable at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfL-WUXlvFjLsUs4UCpPrsA.
