• Category Archives Citrix

  • Citrix Tech Preview: Aruba – Personalized VDI in a Box

    Posted on by Phillip Jones Comment

    Citrix announces a technology preview of Project Aruba that extends the simple affordable all-in-one Citrix VDI-in-a-Box with personal vDisk technology to reduce costs by delivering highly personalized virtual desktops with the cost-efficiency of desktop pools.  The solution delivers transforms Windows into a simple VDI-based cloud service .

    The industry is rapidly moving from the PC era to the cloud era. Businesses of all sizes want to adopt desktop virtualization and realize its benefits of driving efficiencies, adopting mobile workstyles and improving continuity – but  many face tight budget and resource challenges.

    Citrix VDI-in-a-Box address these needs head on.  The VDI-in-a-Box design eliminates multiple moving parts that run up the cost and complexity of VDI. The all-in-one patented VDI grid architecture runs on inexpensive off-the-shelf servers.  Scaling simply involves adding another server, with nothing to rearchitect or reconfigure.

    Reduce costs
    Project Aruba delivers complete end-user personalization and flexibility while dramatically lowering costs by layering end-user applications and preferences as personal vDisks on cost-efficient desktop pools.  This solution reduces costs and delivers virtual desktops for less than the cost of PCs without compromising  rich end-user experiences.  Key features include:

    • Personalized virtual desktops: You no longer have to choose between consolidating management using desktop pools versus delivering end-users the flexibility to install their own applications and data.  Project Aruba eliminates the need to create separate static desktops to carry forward end-user customization by coupling single-instance management with the ability to have individual user workspaces for their applications and data.
    • Single instance management: Rather than juggling many persistent desktops, IT can maintain one master copy of desktop images while preserving the personalization of user applications and data. This dramatically reduces maintenance efforts and cuts datacenter storage costs up to 90 percent.
    • Support for Windows 2008 R2: Project Aruba manages Windows 2008 R2, Windows 7 and Windows XP –based virtual desktops – enabling customers to select the ideal virtual desktop environment based on compatibility and costs.
    • Cost-effective Windows-as-a-Service with VDI: Project Aruba extends the Citrix vision of enabling Windows-as-a-Service and adds a simple yet highly cost-effective VDI option based on Citrix VDI-in-a-Box to the already successful Citrix Service Provider (CSP) portfolio of hosted-shared desktops with XenApp, and enterprise-class desktop virtualization with XenDesktop.  The newly released reference architecture for Desktops-as-a-Service provides a validated blueprint for service providers looking to deliver VDI-based Desktops-as-a-Service at a fraction of the costs of other alternatives while complying with Microsoft licensing.
    • Windows 8 support (Beta): Project Aruba runs Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 8 virtual desktops.  All features of Windows 8 including the new Metro interface are fully supported.  Since Windows 8 is not yet generally available, this feature is currently in Beta.
    • Simpler, more flexible: Project Aruba makes management even simpler and more efficient with added features such as access to multiple data stores for optimizing storage, and a touchless DTAgent that updates the desktop agent on all golden images and their desktop instances  automatically when the VDI-in-a-Box software is upgraded.

    Citrix is transforming desktop virtualization into a cloud service that can run anywhere.  For smaller customers that want a simple VDI solution, this tech preview combines the  affordable all-in-one VDI-in-a-Box with personal vDisk technology to deliver personalized virtual desktops for less than the cost of PCs.

    Citrix has also made available a license migration path from VDI-in-a-Box to XenDesktop for customers that want to extend beyond VDI to leverage the full flexibility of XenDesktop while preserving their investment.  The end-user experience is consistent across both products as both VDI-in-a-Box and XenDesktop use the same HDX stack and Citrix Receiver.

    Access the Project Aruba Technology Preview here.


    Aruba Citrix Tech Preview XenDesktop

  • Citrix Netscaler 10

    Posted on by Phillip Jones Comment

    Citrix systems recently announced the release of Citrix Netscaler 10. I am excited about several of the new features that Netscaler has to offer. This major release has over 160 new features.

    Triscale is perhaps the most compelling and interesting feature announced in Netscaler 10 allowed you to scale up and out at will. Netscalers have thus far been a HA Active/Passive configuration and done well but can now work as a cluster. It introduces the 3 key factors around scalability which addresses all your needs immaterial of what nature of business you have and what is your deployment model.

    • Scale UP – on demand growth up to 5x on single hardware
    • Scale IN – consolidation of 40 appliances in single unit
    • Scale Out – capacity scale by adding nodes up to 32x


    The Clustering technology which enables Scale Out factor by 32x is just wonderful as it works seamlessly on all hardware and software NetScaler appliances. NetScaler 10 introduces this biggest infrastructure change where you can Cluster NetScaler nodes together to drive through any kind of performance and scalability requirement. It focuses on how easily you can transition from multiple nodes working in isolation to logical Cluster of nodes without any physical hardware requirement. It also has a simplified extension model where you can keep adding nodes based on your scale requirements without disrupting the production traffic. It helps reduce the power usage and rack space consumption from Datacenter/Cloud point of view and can be huge for a large deployment.
    Here are quick facts on Cluster:

    • Cluster of NetScaler nodes
    • Can be formed with 2 to 32 nodes
    • Single system image for end user
    • Built on NetScaler nCore architecture
    • No Chassis or new hardware required
    • Dynamic changes permitted

    Cluster Benefits:

    • Provides linear scalability
    • Higher Throughput
    • Configuration Scalability
    • In-built Fault Tolerance
    • Active-active Support
    • Active-standby Support

    Let us get to other functional and usability enhancements in NetScaler 10.

    Traffic Management Enhancements:

    • TCP Westwood support
    • Dynamic TCP receive buffer size
    • Advance policy support for SSL
    • Ability to flush Surge Queue
    • Rule Based Persistence for TCP/SSL_TCP
    • TXT record support in DNS
    • DBS Auto-scaling
    • Responder action for Timeout
    • Better Entity Scalability
    • String based custom server id persistence
    • Preferred backup list for GSLB Proximity
    • Rewriting NX domain responses
    • Slow Start fine tuning at Vserver layer
    • Multiple firewall LB vserver support
    • NetScaler Based persistent ETag
    • NetScaler tracing enhancements
    • Set-cookie header logging for Weblogs
    • Custom Client-IP header logging for Weblogs
    • Multiple Binding for Content Switching Policies
    • SIP Expression Support
      • Content Switching
      • Rewrite
      • Responder
      • Rate Limiting

    Lots of new features and capabilities, increasing the overall value of NetScaler solution. TCP Westwood can act really well in wireless environments. Entity scalability is critical for the larger deployments with huge number of entities around. SIP expression support makes us SIP aware at layer 7 and you can do all kind of layer 7 processing for SIP traffic… technically acting as a SIP firewall :)

    DataStream Enhancements:

    • Responder for DataStream
    • Rate Limiting for DataStream
    • Token LB for DataStream
    • AppFlow for DataStream
    • Logaction for DataStream
    • Caching for DataStream

    DataStream was the biggest innovation in ADC world recently and was introduced with previous release in NetScaler. Now with NetScaler 10 you have all the layer 7 feature modules supporting Database traffic, which add value to HTTP/TCP flows today. So it is completely integrated into the system with advance policy support. The advantages from DataStream Caching and AppFlow would be huge and a real game changer…
    AAA Enhancements:

    • SAML 2.0 Consumer Support
      • Service Provider Initiated
      • Identity Provider Initiated
    • NTLMv2 Session Support
    • NTLMv2 Signing Support

    NetScaler has the strong AAA module and adding further support for NTLMv2 protocol helps with seamless integration into the Microsoft environment. The real game changer here is SAML which is becoming standard authentication and SSO protocol for the Cloud services and deployments. Having SAML 2.0 consumer support is excellent because it enables us to work with various Identity providers. Along with providing other ADC services in Cloud, SAML support will make us de-facto choice for Cloud deployments.
    XA/XD (WIonNS) Enhancements:

    • Client Plugin Download options
    • Login Page Customization
    • Mobile Receiver client support
    • Handling Case sensitivity
    • Multiple Client Access Methods
    • Address Translation

    In order to ease up XenApp/XenDesktop deployments, one of the major step was to have the capacity to host Web Interface on NetScaler. It has huge benefits and to further increase the value proposition multiple enhancements are done to this module.
    Visibility Enhancements:

    • Action Analytics
    • AppFlow
      • New HTTP Export Parameters
      • Support for MySQL and MSSQL
      • EdgeSight record templates

    Visibility became the mainstream focus for us in last release where AppFlow was launched. AppFlow made it possible to see the statistics all the way from layer 2 to layer 7 which was not possible with older standards. As we get deeper into Cloud deployment and even within Enterprise, Visibility requirements are becoming more important and this release enhances the core AppFlow standard to add end to end application visibility.
    NetScaler 10 brings out another exciting feature called “Action Analytics” which is a runtime analytic engine generating all kind of visibility into the applications. It brings in the on-board analytic ability which can be fed back into the policy evaluation cycle. Think of the use case of Caching responses for only Top 10 URLs flowing through the system at any point in time…
    AppExpert Enhancements:

    • Ability to import Responder page
    • Support for HTML5 content parsing
    • New advance expression support

    AppExpert layer has been driving many exciting features in last many releases. This release addresses both functional and usability features for AppExpert.
    Optimization Enhancements:

    • Dynamic Cache Memory
    • Multi Part byte range support
    • Metadata optimization
    • Seek streaming

    NetScaler 10 adds substantial functional features to the optimization layer and brings out the benefits of Cache engine. With these core architectural enhancements the Cache engine can store more objects, process responses faster and handle multi part HTTP requests.
    Application Firewall Enhancements:

    • CEF Logging
    • CSRF learning
    • Click to Rule AppFw
    • Sessionless security
    • AppFw policy manager
    • Signatures for Response side checks

    On Security front as well the AppFw module comes with bunch of exciting enhancements. Click to Rule could be very handy and useful while you want to relax the protection rules. CEF logging can help integration with 3rd party security products. Sessionless security helps with reducing memory usage significantly on the NetScaler platform while resulting into better security.
    Networking Enhancements:

    • Network Profiles
    • Logical grouping of IPs
    • IPv6 Support
      • SNMP
      • LLB
      • PBR
      • DSR
      • RNAT
      • Route with VLAN as nexthop
      • Extension Header parsing
      • IS-IS Routing
      • Monitoring gateway health
      • ACL Enhancements
        • Increased Extended ACL              
        • Better ACL Flush support
        • Rename support for extended ACL and ACL6

    Networking infrastructure bucket has several useful enhancements and specifically the IPv6 support has come through a long way. This is a blockbuster release reducing IPv6 parity with IPv4 features and bringing them on same ground. Network Profile as a feature will be loved by everyone as it helps in several use cases. ACL enhancements are again very useful and would apply to most of the use cases.
    Other Security Focused Enhancements:

    • Configurable SYN cookie protection
    • Runtime detection of SYN attack
    • Protection against TLS Reneg attack
    • Adaptive request timeout for HTTP DoS

    Security has remained our focus and with every release NetScaler adds value to the core protection layer. With NetScaler 10 we have introduced better SYN attack protection ability with runtime detection engine. TLS renegotiation MITM attack was under heavy focus last year and we have core protection added with multiple options as well. NetScaler 10 also addresses the popular Slowloris and Slowpost kind of attacks which troubled many Application and Web deployments worldwide.
    Manageability Enhancements:

    • Lightweight GUI
    • Most pages moved to HTML
    • Pagination support on UI
    • Easy user navigation support
    • Load Balancing Templates
    • Deployment Wizard for BR LB
    • NITRO Enhancements
      • Exception handling
      • Accept header support
      • Content-Type header support
      • HTTP Error code utilization
      • Login auth token support
      • Authentication using HTTP headers
      • Allow warning in NITRO responses
      • Cluster support with NITRO

    Links:
    Netscaler 10 Documentation


    Citrix Netscaler Networking. Access Gateway

  • Citrix XenDesktop 5.6 and Provisioning Server 6.1 Released

    Posted on by Phillip Jones Comment

    Recently Citrix released to GA (general availability) XenDesktop 5.6 and Provisioning Server 6.1. Both of these upgrades fix many issues and offer new features. Below are some of the details on these two new product releases. I am really excited about Personal vDisk for Xendesktop as this allow users to join the pool and have their personalized installed apps follow them. I will blog more seperately about this new feature in the future.

    Provisioning Server 6.1 now supports vSphere 5.x as indicated below for those of you deploying Citrix on VMware as well as some KMS licensing modifications.

    XenDesktop 5.6

    XenDesktop 5.6 includes the following new features and enhancements:

    • Personal vDisk – This feature is a personalization solution for virtual desktops. Two new types of catalog allow you to preserve the assignment of users to desktops even when the disk is cleaned at restart; the same user is assigned the same desktop for later sessions. The new catalogs are pooled with personal vDisk (for pooled-static virtual desktops) that you manage with Desktop Studio and streamed with personal vDisk that you manage with Provisioning Services. In addition, a dedicated storage disk is created, before logon, so users can store their data on the desktop, including any applications they install. For background information on this feature, see About Personal vDisks. New commands have also been added to the XenDesktop Software Development Kit (SDK) to support this feature.
    • System Center support – XenDesktop now supports Microsoft System Center 2012 Configuration Manager and Microsoft System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager.
    • Virtual Desktop Agent – A new version of the Virtual Desktop Agent fixes issues in the version included with XenDesktop 5.5.
    • Citrix Licensing – Citrix Licensing 11.10 lets you assign access to the License Administration Console using Active Directory Users and Groups.
    • Desktop Director – Desktop Director 2.1 supports personal vDisks and contains fixes since the last release. For more information, see the Desktop Director documentation.
    • Fixed issues – For information on the issues that have been fixed in this release, see CTX124164.

    Known Issues

    The following known issues have been observed in this version of XenDesktop:

    • If Microsoft Visual Studio is installed by an administrator on a master image, it may fail to start on virtual desktops that are created from the image. Reinstalling this application, updating the image, and restarting the desktops corrects this issue. [#0270259]
    • Desktop-background images (wallpapers) are lost when users switch between a desktop with a personal vDisk and a desktop without one. This issue occurs with Windows roaming profiles when users select images for the background. The issue does not occur with background colors. The workaround is to use profile management solutions, such as Citrix Profile management. [#0272970]
    • In some deployments involving Windows 7 virtual desktops with personal vDisks, users may notice that network drives are incorrectly displayed as offline, instead of unavailable, in Windows Explorer. These are deployments in which the Enable Offline Files policy is changed to Disable Offline Files in Microsoft Group Policy. To work around this issue, ensure that Disable Offline Files policy is applied on the master image before using it to create virtual desktops. [#0277774]
    • Desktop-background images (wallpapers) are lost when users switch between a desktop with a personal vDisk and a desktop without one. This issue occurs with Windows roaming profiles when users select images for the background. The issue does not occur with background colors. The workaround is to modify as follows the Registry on the desktop containing the personal vDisk, and to use a profile management solution, such as Citrix Profile management, to handle profiles stored on the desktop.

      Caution: Editing the Registry incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Citrix cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk. Be sure to back up the registry before you edit it.

      In HKLMSoftwareCitrixpersonal vDiskConfig, change the value of the EnableUserProfileRedirection key from 1 to 0 [#0272970]

    • Do not use Desktop Studio to administer a mixed-controller site. Desktop Studio displays misleading information in a mixed site and cannot be used to create and manage objects in it. For example, if you have two controllers but only upgrade one to XenDesktop 5.6, the Pooled with Personal vDisk catalog type appears in Desktop Studio but you cannot create virtual desktops with it. The workaround for this issue is to upgrade fully all controllers in the site before using Desktop Studio to manage it (and only to follow supported upgrade paths). [#0276786]
    • Citrix recommends planning your hypervisor hardware requirements so the reduction in CPU performance when personal vDisks are used does not detract from the user experience. The reduction is also affected, especially in large-scale deployments, by your choice of operating system (OS). For example, in some environments Windows 7 machines with personal vDisks significantly outperform the equivalent Windows XP machines, allowing more Windows 7 machines to be hosted on each hypervisor. Choosing that OS rather than Windows XP therefore means you purchase and maintain less hardware. Citrix continues to investigate differences in operating system performance and continues to optimize XenDesktop scalability. [#0284660, #0284706]
    • You may fail to create viable machines if a node in a Hyper-V cluster is paused or offline. In some scenarios, the Failover Cluster Manager Console shows that resources are allocated for machines but Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager and XenDesktop cannot recognize them. To work around this issue, manually remove these resources using the Failover Cluster Manager Console and ensure all nodes are healthy (not paused or offline) before creating the machines again. [#285696]
    • The error “Citrix Personal vDisk failed to start” may be displayed on a desktop with a personal vDisk. If the error includes “Status code: 7” and “Error code: 0x2000000b”, this indicates that a master image has been distributed but the Virtual Hard Disk (VHD, part of the personal vDisk) is full. To work around this issue, on the image increase the percentage value of the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWARECitrixpersonal vDiskConfigPercentOfPvDForApps, and redistribute the image. [#287292]

    Citrix Provisioning Server 6.1

    Starting with this release, see http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX131938 to view a list of fixed issues and hot fixes since the previous Provisioning Services release.

    This release contains the following new enhancements:

    • Support for Personal vDisks — Citrix XenDesktop with personal vDisk technology is a high-performance enterprise desktop virtualization solution that makes VDI accessible to workers who require personalized desktops using pooled-static virtual machines. Target devices that use personal vDisks are created using the Citrix XenDesktop Setup Wizard. Within a Provisioning Services farm, the wizard creates and adds target devices with personal vDisks to an existing site’s collection and assigns an existing shared-mode vDisk to that device. The wizard also creates XenDesktop virtual machines to associate with each device. A new type of catalog exists in Citrix Desktop Studio that allows you to preserve the assignment of users to desktops; the same users are assigned the same desktop for later sessions. In addition, a dedicated storage disk is created (before logon) for each user so they can store all personalization’s to that desktop. Personalizations include any changes to the vDisk image or desktop that are not made as a result of an image update, such as application settings, adds, deletes, modifications, documents, etc.
    • Support for Microsoft System Center 2012 Configuration Manager (SCCM) – The vDisk Update Management feature now supports SCCM 2012 environments.
    • Support for Microsoft System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) – The XenDesktop Setup Wizard and Streamed VM Setup Wizard now support SCVMM 2012 for Hyper-V environments.
    • Provisioning Services support for KMS licensing no longer requires local administrator privileges. Provisioning Services SoapServer KMS licensing now requires the same VHD mount privileges as Microsoft Windows (SE_MANAGE_VOLUME_PRIVILEGE, which is included in Administrators group by default).

      Note: If upgrading from a past release, be sure to reset the privileges accordingly.

    • Hypervisor support for ESX 5.0.

    Known Issues and Limitations

    In this Provisioning Services release, the following known issues has been identified:

    XenDesktop Setup Wizard
    BUG0278019 — In a streamed XenDesktop environment, the preferred mechanism for creating streamed desktop catalogs is to use the XenDesktop Setup Wizard, which is available from the Provisioning Services Console. While the XenDesktop Desktop Studio console also provides a mechanism to create streamed catalogs by ‘importing’ information from Provisioning Services, it is not the preferred mechanism because using it can lead to duplicate desktops being created in multiple catalogs (an unsupported configuration). To avoid this, only create new catalogs using the XenDesktop Setup Wizard, and only use the streamed catalog creation mechanism in Desktop Studio if you are reconstructing a catalog from previously created VM’s.

     Links to Download (Requires MyCitrix login)


    Citrix Provisioning Server XenDesktop