The following content is a brief and unofficial overview of the new HDX policy setting that enables HDX Adaptive Display v2. The views, opinions and concepts expressed are those by the author of this entry only and do not necessary conform to industry descriptions, best practises. The views expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Citrix.
Overview
In the release of XAD 7.11 (Seven11) a new Thinwire HDX policy was released which is part of the following policy Use video codec for compression” with the following option selected “For actively changing regions” which enables HDX Adaptive Display v2 – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/xenapp-and-xendesktop/7-11/whats-kmnew.html#par_anchortitle_59c9 which blends the following Citrix HDX Graphics modes H.264 & Thinwire Compatible Mode together to offer the best UX but also to provide a balanced apporach by implementing the most right vs. relevant HDX graphics mode to offer the best rich & HD experience or near to local-like experience while balancing all compute, network resources between the server and or desktop VDA over the organisational network, internet to the users end-point.
Understanding Actively Changing Regions
If you take a look at the below example of a YouTube web page (rendered in HTML in Oct 2016) e.g delivered as a virtual app published internet browser or a virtual desktop and you access the above YouTube web page HDX Adaptive Display v2 will selectively utilise H.264, Thinwire and overlay lossless text.
The following content is a brief and unofficial prerequisites guide to setup, configure and test delivering virtual apps and desktops powered by XenApp & XenDesktop 7.11 (Seven 11) 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
XENAPP – xa
XENDESKTOP – xd
XENAPP/XENDESKTOP – xad
VIRTUAL DELIVERY AGENT – vda
HIGH DEFINITION EXPERIENCE – hdx
INDEPENDENT COMPUTING ARCHITECTURE – ica
EXPERIENCE 1st – x1
VIRTUAL DESKTOP – vd
VIRTUAL APPS – va
THINWIRE COMPATIBLE MODE – tcm also known as ecm or thinwire+
UNIVERSAL WINDOWS PLATFORM – uwp
FEDERAL INFORMATION PROCESSING STANDARD – fips
SELF-SERVICE PASSWORD RESET – sspr
PROVISIONING SERVER – pvs
MACHINE CREATION SERVICES – mcs
AZURE RESOURCE MANAGER – arm
What’s New
1. XAD 7.11 infrastructure support on Windows Server 2016 for the Controller, StoreFront, Studio, Director, Server VDA, Session Recording Server & Agent, Universal Print Server.
2. Self-Service Password Reset 1.0 (SSPR) is now part of the StoreFront 3.7 & XAD 7.11 (Platinum feature) release and can be installed on Windows Server 2008 R2, 2012 R2 and 2016* and allows users to unlock or reset their AD passwords through a series of questions. For a detailed overview please read the CTX blog entitled “StoreFront 3.7 has been released!“- https://www.citrix.com/blogs/2016/09/14/storefront-3-7-has-been-released/
4. Publish URL’s, documents and media files from network shares (WAHOO!) is now available on as part of the XAD 7.11 release. It currently only supports publishing of content via PoSH cmdlets and all the examples can be found and a detaied overview of the feature is avaiable at – http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/xenapp-and-xendesktop/7-11/install-configure/publish-content.html*.
Example Publishing a Word Document from Citrix eDoc’s* New-BrokerApplication -Name ReadMe -PublishedName”ReadMe Document” -ApplicationType PublishedContent -CommandLineExecutable \\MyFolderShare\Documents\ReadMe.doc -DesktopGroup Content
Upgrading My Azure XAD 7.9 environment to XAD 7.11
Coming…
Installing a XAD 7.11 PoC environment on Azure
I have testing installing XAD 7.11 (Seven 11) onto Windows Server 2016 Technical Preview 5 or TP5 on Azure via the Azure Market Place – https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/marketplace/?term=Windows+Server+2016+TP5. The CLEAN installation that I performed did not have any issues or errors however the when creating the machine catalog for Windows Server 2016 TP5 even installing the Server DVA 7.11 it will revert to recommended VDA release of 7.8 only so you have been warned!
Once Microsoft releases Windows Server 2016 officially I will follow-up with an overview of setting up and configuring XAD 7.11 on Windows Server 2016 hosted on Microsoft Azure.