Tag Archives: VDA

Citrix Virtual Apps & Desktops 7 2012 Unlocking Potential with What’s New

The following article blends describes feature capabilities and changes to the Citrix Virtual Apps & Desktops (CVAD) 2012 Current Release (CR) either used on-premises or via the CVAD Service in Citrix Cloud platform – http://citrix.cloud.com/. The current documentation is officially accessible under the current release node within Citrix eDocs at What’s New* accessible at –
https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/whats-new.html.

Suggested Upgrade Guidance to CVAD 7 2012
Citrix have published the following micro site “Citrix Upgrade Guide” – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/upgrade, it is worth mentioning when using this web tool to understand the source vs. target release strategies, you’ll need to factor in the name change from e.g XenApp to Citrix Virtual Apps when using the tool.

It is advisable prior to embarking on any potential upgrades as a good leading and practical practise, perform due diligence review of connected endpoint ecosystem, thus ensuring and avoiding any potential blockers. Every Citrix Administrator (Admin) should bookmark the following online PDF document entitled – “Citrix Workspace app Feature Matrix” https://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/data-sheet/citrix-workspace-app-feature-matrix.pdf.

Alternatively if you are finding it a challenge to successful prepare a plan to upgrade your CVAD environment from its current release cycle to the current 2012 release, then perhaps you should be evaluating a shift towards consuming your on-premises Access and Control Layers as a Service operating model from Citrix Cloud CVAD Service. There is a detailed online document available at – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops-service/migrate.html and if you require a reminder of who manages what then before sure to read the following technical security overview for the CVAD Service available at – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops-service/secure.html#security-overview which covers off the high level architecture, credential handling and the follow of data and isolation.

Overview of What’s New and Changes to CVAD 7 2012 Current Release (CR)

IT Administration
1.While this is NOT new please be minded that hosting connections to public clouds e.g CloudPlatform, AWS EC2, Azure and of course GCP are not supported with CVAD current releases (CR) – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/upgrade-migrate/upgrade.html#remove-pvd-appdisks-and-unsupported-hosts, if you require this capability you’ll need to adopt a Citrix Virtual Apps & Desktops (CVAD) Service operating model from the Citrix Cloud or standardise on the last Long Term Service Release (LTSR) which is 1912 – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/1912-ltsr.
2.Citrix Workspace Environment Management (WEM) 2012 agent is now bundled into the Virtual Delivery Agent (VDA) installer for the GUI – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/install-configure/install-vdas.html#step-7-wem-agent and for automation purposes – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/install-configure/install-command.html#command-line-options-for-installing-a-vda which allowing you to configure WEM ACL f/w; agent port/cache location/data sync port; connectors vs. WEM server. The agent now includes new cache utility options (-RefreshSettins or -S; Reinitalize or -I); An optimised startup workflow which been resolved including a new Citrix Cloud connector behavioural awareness strategy; WEM agent is retiring associated legacy agent cache sync service inline with the End of Life (EoL) Microsoft Sync Framework 2.1 see – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/workspace-environment-management/current-release/whats-new.html for move details and remediation readiness.
3.Support for transparent and non-transparent proxies for “Rendezvous” check out – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops-service/hdx/rendezvous-protocol.html#proxy-configuration, to validate the configuration launch “cut session.exe. -v” in console and evaluate the output referencing – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops-service/hdx/rendezvous-protocol.html#rendezvous-validation. If you are using a data/network redirection agent to fwd your network traffic to cloud like ZScaler Private Access (ZPA) be mindful of the current leading recommendations – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops-service/hdx/rendezvous-protocol.html#additional-considerations. If you are not familiar with what and why “Rendezvous” then learn and understand how it works which includes a detailed connection flow diagram – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops-service/hdx/rendezvous-protocol.html#how-rendezvous-works.
4. The 2012 Linux VDA supports Machine Creation Services (MCS) on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) which you can learn to setup and configure at – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/linux-virtual-delivery-agent/current-release/installation-overview/use-mcs-to-create-linux-vms.html#use-mcs-to-create-linux-vms-on-gcp; continuing efforts to remote physical standard vs. high-end workstations sat in the Workplace the Wake on Local Area Network (LAN) capability is now available for Linux endpoints; finally support for new Linux distro releases Ubuntu 20.04 and RHEL 7.9 and 8.3; you can learn more about what else is new at – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/linux-virtual-delivery-agent/current-release/whats-new.html.
5.Citrix Provisioning Service (PVS) 2012 includes a wealth of fixed issues – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/provisioning/current-release/fixed-issues.html.

Employee Experience
1.Drag and Drop to copy files between your local endpoint and the delivered Citrix virtual app and or desktop. To learn more check out the “CTXDND” under “Multi-Stream virtual channel assignment setting” at – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/policies/reference/ica-policy-settings/multistream-connections-policy-settings.html#multi-stream-virtual-channel-assignment-settings, also be mindful or the current known limitations in the What’s New for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (CVAD) 2012*.
2.Web Camera redirection issues resolved for Microsoft Surface Pro 4 endpoints*.
3.Support for the Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) API framework allows and enable scanning/imaging Citrix virtual apps feature and function access on scanning endpoints themselves.* You can learn more at – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/devices/twain-devices.html.
4.The Linux Virtual Delivery Agent (VDA) 2012 release introduced a macro amount of meaningful experience features like automatically MTU discovery to avoid performance degradation and session connection failures of CVAD ICA/HDX sessions; support for the “Rendezvous protocol” allowing Linux ICA/HDX to bypass the Citrix Cloud Connector when using the Citrix Gateway Service with CVAD Services.
5.Drag and then drop files between a Citrix ICA/HDX session and the employees local endpoint*, this feature requires Windows CWa 2002 for Windows.

Security
1.Familiarise yourself withy the Deprecation announcements – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/whats-new/removed-features.html.
2.*While the drag and drop files features in CVAD 2012 offers a brilliant and frictionless employee experience, you should consider the security risks, prior to implementation for example do all employee’s require this feature? Evaluate who actually would benefit from the capability and do they have a managed endpoint which IT controls? I would also ask yourself to assess the risk by the employees role and function within the organisation e.g key revenue generating employees?
2.CTXS licensing server build 33000 now includes updated versions of Apache 2.4.46 and OpenSSL 1.1.1g and new conf options for usage telemetry, which cover off Personally Identifiable Information (Pii) options and associated descriptions, learn more at – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/licensing/current-release/citrix-licensing-manager/settings.html#configure-usage-telemetry.
3. Federated Authentication Service (FAS) 2012 fixes a disconnect-on-lock feature ref [AUTH-787] if you are experiencing this issue you can find more detail at – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/federated-authentication-service/whats-new/fixed-issues.html.
4. Session Recording (SR) 2012 adds a wealth of good new features and continues to keep employees working from home compliant in regulated industries or it can be used for internal training. Some of the new features incl support for blocking of sensitive information – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/session-recording/current-release/log-events.html#sensitive-information-blocking;

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

Delivering a Virtual Desktop with the Linux VDA 1.0-1

The following content is a brief and unofficial prerequisites guide to setup, configure and test Linux VDA 1.1 (NOTE: The HDX 3D Pro video is a preview only from the Citrix YouTube channel) with XAD 7.3 FP3+ 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
INDEPENDENT COMPUTING ARCHITECTURE – ica
FEATURE PACK – fp
EXPERIENCE 1st – x1
DISTRUBUTIONS – distro’s
VIRTUAL DESKTOP – vd

Preview of HDX 3D Pro with a Linux VDA
Please note that the following YouTUBE video represents a preview only of HDX 3D Pro with the Citrix Linux VDA.

An Introduction & Overview
Citrix released the Linux VDA 1.0 which enables and allows for the safe, secure delivery of Linux based virtual desktops that are controlled by Citrix Studio however VM provisioning and on-going image management is maintained by traditional Linux tools these include but are by no means limited to Puppet or Chef.

Currently only the SuSE Linux and Redhat Enterprise Linux distro’s are supported however numerous Citrix professionals around the global have successfully setup and delivered a Linux VD utilise CentOS following the steps based in the “Installation Guide for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 1.1” which is available at – http://docs.citrix.com/content/dam/docs/en-us/xenapp-xendesktop/xenapp-xendesktop-7-6/downloads/Linux%20Virtual%20Desktop%20Installation%20Guide%20for%20Redhat%20Enterprise%20Linux.pdf or for CentOS focused approach check out – https://www.citrix.com/blogs/2015/08/25/installing-the-linux-vda-on-red-hat-or-centos-6/ written by Adrian Taylor – https://www.citrix.com/blogs/author/adriant2/.

As this is my first time writing about Citrix’s Linux support its worth noting and mentioning that Citrix provided a tech preview (TP) ref – https://www.citrix.com/news/announcements/aug-2014/citrix-offers-technology-preview-of-linux-virtual-apps-and-deskt.html prior to the official GA launch of the Linux VDA 1.0 which in my view received very positive feedback and comments in particular from with the UK/Ire Citrix partner community.

What’s New
1. Obviously my fav is “Support for Thinwire Compatible Mode” 🙂
2. The Linux VDA supports dual monitor out-of-the box with maximum resolution of 2560×1600 per monitor and can be configured to support up to 9 monitors.
3. Improved Active Directory and Centrify support*
4. Further extended OS support for Redhat and SuSE Linux enterprise editions. Please read the following for CTX blog article re support issues for other Linux OS disto’s at – https://www.citrix.com/blogs/2015/10/16/supporting-linux-distributions.
5. Linux XDPing which is available at –
http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX202015.
6. Support for Linux Dedicated VDI Desktops which in the initial Linux VDA 1.0 released targeted a hosted shared VD approach as Linux is a multi-user OS.
7: * For a comprehensive overview of all the features in the Linux VDA 1.1 please check out – https://www.citrix.com/blogs/2015/10/23/whats-new-in-linux-virtual-desktop-v1-1/.

Use Case(s)
Its essentially about providing customers with the choice and flexibility to delivery either a VD that is based upon Windows OS with Microsoft Office 20xn, 3rd party apps OR a supported Linux OS with OpenOffice/Libra Office, 3rd party apps.

Pre-requisites & System Requirements for Deploying the Linux VDA 1.1 (Draft + The Basic’s Only)
1: Download one or both Linux VDA’s for there Redhat or SuSE along with the script which is available at the Linux VDA download area – http://www.citrix.com/downloads/xenapp/components/linux-virtual-desktop-11.html.
2: The following Citrix Receivers are currently supported: Windows Receiver version v4.2+, Linux Receiver version v13.0+, Mac OSX Receiver v12+, Android Receiver v3.4+, iOS Receiver 5.9.4+, HTML5 Receiver 1.6 (via Access Gateway).
3:…..

More coming….