Adam Marano's Blog
Determining application compatibility in a XenApp/Terminal Server environment has long been a task that tended to be hit or miss, or should we say, try it and see if it works for certain application. The Citrix Ready team and other teams in Citrix have been working with teams in Microsoft to try and ease this pain a little. I wanted to realy a tool that the TS team in Microsoft has been working on to help with the App Compat story moving forward with Longhorn and XenApp 5.0. The tool is called the Windows Server 2008 TS Application Compatibility Analyzer and is currently in Beta. As most of us know, the first step in being compatible with XenApp is to be compatible with Terminal Services. From my discussions with the MS TS team, this tool is NOT , nor designed to be backwards compatible with Windows Server 2003 and TS, but is definitely a step in the right direction for the future. I fully expect the cooperation we have with the MS team in this area will continue to grow and we are able to eventually have a better set of tools and data to help our joint customers better determine application compatibility in a XenApp/TS environment, and we are following the progress of this area closely in the Citrix Ready team to ensure we leverage such technology to grow the Citrix Ready program as well. So in the near future, you may find this tool, or similar tools being a pre-requisite for ISV applications to be come Citrix Ready.
Links:
Terminal Services Team Blog - Terminal Services Application Analyzer Beta
Microsoft Connect - Terminal Services Application Compatibility
TS Application Compatibility Download Beta Page
If you have other tools or favorite links to share that can help our Citrix Community with App Compatibility testing, please share you comments below.
You may have seen my previous posts on the really cool Celio Redfly Mobile Compaion, or as I like to call it, the XenDesktop mobile companion.
We'll they just became a member of the Citrix Ready family. They will be at Synergy in the Expo hall, so stop by and check them out. Also, we will have a unit or 2 at the Geek Speak Louge for you to check out connected to XenApp and XenDesktop.
I hope by now a lot of you know about the new "unconference" portion of Synergy 2008, Geek Speak Live. Part of Geek Speak Live is the Geek Speak Lounge (GSL). Basically is an area to meet at during the Live event and meet with other members of the Citrix community and discuss and share new ideas and topics. It's also where you can see some demos with a twist, more on this later!
First, here's the proposed GSL layout: 
There are 4 main demo areas. The twist is that the demos are intended to let you experience future Citrix technology more interactively, possibly using some applications and devices that aren't what you'd usually see us demo.
So here's the rundown:
Cool Devices - This section of the GSL features gadgets that can be today, or may be enabled tomorrow with the ICA client to become your XenApp or XenDesktop ICA end points. Customers are using cell phones and PDAs today to do this, but we have some new devices that are starting to change the game and starting to reach Nirvana Device status as described in Chris Flecks post. You'll get to try them out in the GSL, in exchange for you opinion and comments on how use of such devices can add value to your business, or not! Hopefully this demo area makes you think about app and desktop delivery in some new ways. For a quick preview of some of the devices that will be present, check out the Nirvana Devices Invade Synergy Geek Speak Lounge post. (Note: we originally had a BarCamp session on this topic, but due to the great response we've gotten from others willing to present, we've removed this from BarCamp. But you can still get the hands on experience and knowledge in the GSL on this subject).
Project Alice Demo - Haven't heard about project Alice, also referred to as Reverse seamless? It fits in very nicely with our XenDesktop story and is a sneak peak at some new technology we are working on to allow the user to leverage local applications running on the end point device in the context of their XenDesktop seamlessly. Image having those favorite apps you have on your laptop seamlessly showing up as part of your Corporate XenDesktop environment with out needing to switch between the local desktop and XenDesktop.
Project Apollo Games - You've probably seen some of the blogs on project Apollo. Apollo does a great job of enabling the new graphics intensive features of next generation applications in a Citrix environment (preview at Derek Thorslund's blog). Well this is the GSL twisted version of those demos. We're going to have 8 Dell XPS 710 gaming systems running an early version of Apollo, remoting an action game to Wyse Thin Clients. You've seen the CAD demos, now it's your turn to actually sit down and give the power of project Apollo some hands on time, in true Geek Speak fashion. While you probably won't be publishing games to your end user's any time soon, you should be able translate the power of this demo into how project Apollo can help you move to the next generation of graphic intensive applications in your Citrix deployment in the future. We'll have some of the apps Derek has blogged on with Apollo as well, for those non-gamers like myself 
Apollo Media Center - To further show off some of the new video capabilities the Apollo team is working on, we will also have an Alienware Area 51 system running Media Center in the GSL. And you guessed it, the Alienware system will be "Apollo-ized" and remoting videos out to a large screen monitor via a Wyse thin client. Again, maybe not what you'd do in production, but you should be able to translate this demo with a twist into better ideas on how to deliver some of those training videos and other multi-media out to your users in the future.
The GSL should be a great place for you to meet with other members of the Citrix Community, discuss new ideas and hopefully come up with some new ones!
Thanks to Intel for sponoring the event, and the list of other partners supporting the GSL effort:
Alienware, Dell, Wyse, Nokia, Sprint, Celio, i-Mate, Impatica, Icuiti
We look forwared to meeting you there!
Adam
Wanted to do a quick post on some of the cool gadgets we will be demoing in the Geek Speak Lounge at Synergy 2008 sponsored by Intel. Alot of the devices are the ones you may have seem me blog on earlier, and a few are potential candidates to add into the mix down the road. Here's your chance to get hands on with some of these next generation access devices, and BYOG (Bring Your Own Gadget) that you think would make a good Nirvana Device candidate for use with Citrix:
If you look close you'll see 4 of these devices actively connected to a XenDesktop, and 2 of them remoting that desktop from the device out to a larger screen in true Nirvana Device fashion!
Devices shown starting in the front and moving counter clockwise:
- i-Mate 9502
- Impatica Showmate
- Nokia 810N
- HP iPAQ 210 - accessing a XenDesktop
- i-Mate 6150 (behind the iPAQ) - accessing a XenDesktop connected to the 22" Dell Monitor
- Celio Redfly Mobile Companion
- Sprint Treo 700wx (on the Redfly) - accessing a XenDesktop connected to the Redfly
- Nokia E90 - accessing a XenDesktop
- Nokia E61i
All of the devices shown currently work with XenApp and XenDesktop except for the Nokia 810N. Intel will also be providing some prototype devices to show off as well.
We'll also be following up to this post with a full rundown of all of the cool stuff that you can see and use in the GS Lounge early next week!
Look forward to seeing you and hearing your comments in the Geek Speak Lounge at Synergy 2008
PS: You might even have a chance to one of these cool devices home with you from the show to use with your own XenApp and soon XenDesktop environment!!!
One of the most common questions I here from customers is "Does this app work on Citrix?". One of the goals of the Citrix Ready program is to help our customers and ISV alliance partners answer this question.
So how does an ISV answer this question when they are doing a sale into a customer? A lot of ISVs do not have access to a XenApp or CAE environment to really answer this question. Even if they did, they may not have any expertise to setup/configure XenApp or CAE to do testing.
To help this scenario, we have been working on the creation of MyCitrixLab. An online lab environment available to Citrix Alliance ISV Partners to Citrix Ready verify their application in both XenApp/CPS and CAE environment.
MyCitrixLab is currently in Beta testing with a few soon to be Citrix Ready ISV Alliance partners and is planned to go live by Synergy 2008. If you're an ISV and have interest in use of MyCitrixLab to help get your application Citrix Ready verified, please send an email to CitrixReady@citrix.com. Or feel free to look me up at Synergy in the Geek Speak Lounge at Synergy where we can give you a early look.
So what is MyCitrixLab:
- An online lab environment accessible via the internet that meets the configuration requirements specified in the Citrix Ready Verification Test Kits.
- Lab scheduling environment that allows an ISV alliance partner to schedule a 3 or 7 day lab environment for use with Citrix Ready Verification.
- SharePoint portal that contains additional information on use of the lab and helpful lab guides.
- FAQ - additional information on the use of the lab
- Verification Assist Guides that provide "extra details" on the use of the lab for a specific Citrix Ready Verification Kit. Step by step screen shots walk an ISV partner through each required step to complete the tests in a test kit if they are not familiar with a Citrix environment.
- Administrator guides for products
- Links to the Citrix Ready Verification Test Kits
- Discussion site that lab users can leave tips and tricks on use of the lab for other users.
- Lab Environment
- All of the actual lab servers/workstations area running on XenServer
- Citrix Presentation Server/XenApp preconfigured lab environments
- Lab environments uses of CPS 4.0 or 4.5 both 32bit and 64bit labs
- CPS servers in a farm preconfigured
- 2 client systems preconfigured for use with the CPS farm (1 XP and 1 Vista)
- 1 Domain controller for the isolated lab environment
- 1 SQL servers to use with apps the require a SQL database
- Citrix Access Essentials preconfigured lab environments
- Lab environments uses CAE 2.0
- 1 CAE server preconfigured
- 2 client systems preconfigured for use with the CPS farm (1 XP and 1 Vista)
- 1 Domain controller for the isolated lab environment
- 1 SQL servers to use with apps the require a SQL database
Note that this lab environment is reserved for use by Citrix Alliance ISV Partners solely for the intent of Citrix Ready verification of their product, so they can help properly answer the above questions "Yes, my app is Citrix Ready for XenApp and CAE!".
The current architecture of MyCitrixLab limits it use in most cases to ISV partners, being it is secured and isolated in such a way that no direct inbound ICA connections can be made from the internet, as well as being securely isolated from other labs being hosted in the environment. This level of isolation today prevents device and other IHV vendors from using the lab. Only the XP and Vista clients in the isolated lab environment have access to the CPS or CAE server's via ICA.
Some screen shots of MyCitrixLab below:
Pic 1: Logon/Sign Up page
Pic 2: WI Server page with scheduler shown
Pic 3: CPS lab server
Pic 4: Vista lab client system
Pic 5: MyCitrixLab SharePoint Portal
Satori Group uses XenServer, XenApp or Citrix Access Essentials to simplify and streamline delivery of their solution to their customers using Citrix virtualization technologies. Nice implementation of the VADA concept.
"Working closely with Citrix and Microsoft, Satori Group developed a virtual appliance for delivering a complete application solution to customers. Virtual appliances are preinstalled, pre-configured, ready-to-run enterprise applications packaged with an operating system inside a virtual machine. In contrast, a virtual machine, by itself, does not include applications."
Full release: Satori Group Partners with Citrix to Create Virtual Appliances for Turnkey Application Delivery
Use of the Citrix ICA client on mobile devices that have VGA resolution or larger, or companion devices such as the Celio Redfly changes the game a bit when using the Citrix ICA client to connect to full Win32 applications delivered by Citrix Xenapp. The increased resolution can leverage some configuration changes on the ICA client to get more optimal usage. Below are some tweaks that you can do to get a more "Nirvana" like experience with such devices. This setting was used in the demo blog entries previously posted.
Most Win32 applications are usable at a VGA 640x480 resolution, so I recommend running ICA in full screen mode on mobile devices that support VGA resolution. This allows the user to get rid of the program bar at the top of the screen and the navigation tool bar at the bottom of the ICA client. Comparison pictures below (Note: screen clarity is degraded in the below screen shots, native screen is clear). Caution, when you run in full screen mode, you will not have access to the local keyboard button, thus if you device does not have a QWERTY keyboard, you should have a Bluetooth keyboard connected.
HP iPaq 210 running ICA connection to SAP Enterprise Portal without the Full Screen option set. Notice the screen space that is lost at the top and bottom of the screen.
HP iPaq 210 running ICA connection to SAP Enterprise Portal with the Full Screen option set. This allows you to leverage the full resolution of the device.
To set the Full Screen option, simply follow the steps below. Note that this is a global option and all of the apps you launch will come up in Full Screen mode.
In the Programs area, start "ICA Client":
This should launch the ICA Client UI into your browser.
Select "Edit Global Settings" from this screen:
Select "Edit Preferences" on the next page:
Scroll down to the "Enable Full Screen" check box and select it:
Scroll down to the bottom and select the "Save" button:
So if you have a mobile device that supports VGA 640x480 resolution or higher, you might try the above settings to get a better user experience. Also, if you need to access another application on the mobile device while running a XenApp or XenDesktop session in Full Screen mode, you can always hit the Windows button on your device to pull up the devices start menu as shown below.
So our search for the Nirvana Smartphone, or companion device at CTIA 2008 comes to an end with this post. Our friends at i-mate have gotten us another device to put through the Hotel Acid Test. In this case an i-mate Ultimate 9502. I'll let you check out the full specs on their website, but this device packs VGA 640x480 resolution onto a 2.8" screen. The clarity of the screen is very good, allowing you to clearly read the text, but again, some may need to pull out the reading glasses when not connected to an external monitor. Stand-alone pics below:
Pic 1: 9502's browser connected to Web Interface.
Pic 2: 9502 connected to a published desktop.
So how did it do in our Hotel Acid Test, not bad. While the VGA resolution is a little tight on the native screen, it works well when output to a larger monitor. As with the 6150, there is no noticeable latency when outputting the video to the TV. The 9502 uses a RCA audo video cable to output to the external monitor, and it's not quite as clear as the 6150 which uses a VGA cable, but still very usable. The icons are a little fuzzy, but I'm having not problem using this setup. You also get a fade-in effect of the letters when typing, but again, not a big deal IMO. Again, the network connection is 3G WWAN on ATT, and latency while using Word is not an issue at all, very responsive.
Pic 3: 9502 connected to hotel TV using RCA audo/video cable.
You are currently limited to the 640x480 resolution even when attached to an external monitor, which is fine for most Win32 apps, or desktops. But it sure would be nice to have 1024x768 or larger functionality down the road. The VGA 640x480 resolution could also be less than optimal if connecting to an overhead projector while giving a presentation.
But in general, I'm liking this device as well. Seems to have a good mix features that's making using it with XenApp for this post rather comfortable. Very quick and responsive as I'm typing this post. Maybe not the ultimate Nirvana Smartphone, but definitely a potential contender in today's market. I can definitely see certain road warriors leaving their laptop at home if they have this in their pocket.
Being this is my last post, I had to try my favorite test on a mobile device, viewing a 3D AutoDesk design from XenApp on a mobile device over ICA, you gotta love SpeedScreen! We gotta get another video of this demo out, but this time running to an external monitor! A still shot shown below.
Pic 4: AutoDesk Design Review delivered by XenApp to the 9502 output to the hotel TV. I cut the flash on this pic so the screen didn't wash out as much.
Unfortunatley, you get not sense of the performance with a still pic.
Got some comments on this use case, give us your feedback.
As I stated in my previous post, there is no one Nirvana devicethat will fit everyone's tastes, so here's another twist on the topic.
Impatica Showmate is a device, call it a "puck", that you make a Bluetooth connection to from your smartphone using its Screen Projector software that you install on your smartphone. A VGA cable is connected between the Showmate and the monitor you want to use. You must register your mobile device with the Showmate. Simply start the installed client on mobile device, enter in a few numbers from the bottom of the Showmate to register. Then you just choose what registered Showmate device you want to connect to and hit select. Your screen then pops up on the monitor the Showmate is connected to.
Pic 1: Picture of the Showmate "puck", and VGA and USB power ports.
Impatica was in the BlackBerry booth at CTIA showing their Showmate working with BlackBerry phones. As part of the demo environment, they had the Rove Mobile Citrix Client on demo BB, and showed how they can remote the ICA presentation to an external monitor. As you can see from the show pics below, they have some novel ideas about using this type of setup on portable LCD screens and such that you would find in police squad cars or utility trucks. Great idea, especially when matched with the Rove Mobile Citrix Client to get access to all kinds of data from the secured data center.
Pic 3: Michael Doyle, Impatica Director, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer showing the Impatica Showmate at CTIA 2008.
Pic 4: Showmate displaying a BlackBerry screen onto a portable LCD monitor inside a customer UI, mock of a law enforcement unit. You can see the ICA session imbedded in the customer UI.
To stay consistent, I put the Impatica Showmate through the same hotel acid test I did with the other vendors. I must note that the Windows Mobile Impatica ScreenProjector client that I'm using as I type this is still in Beta. I used the Showmate with 2 devices, a Dell Axim X51v and an ATT 8525. Latency on the X51v was very noticeable at times on the X51v, but response was good when using the 8525. Note sure if this is related to old .vs. newer hardware/Bluetooth stacks, or the fact that the X51v has a larger resolution. In general basic text entry like I'm doing now is pretty good. Again, thanks to the Impatica team for getting us this beta to try. I'm sure they still have some tuning tweaks up their sleeves before GA.
The script is the same, in this case I'm using the Dell Axim X51v connected to the Showmate via Bluetooth to VGA out to the hotel's flat screen TV. This picture below is an actual picture of the creation of the text for this blog using a XenApp connection to a published desktop, and running MS Word on that desktop over ICA. This is where I stop and take the picture
Pic 5: Show mate connecting the Axim X51v running the ICA cleint to the hotel TV, and bluetooth mouse and keyboard.
The Showmate form factor is interesting in that you can see the device, or derivative of this device being imbedded in other devices to meet different goals, as shown in there show demo pciture above with a custom UI on the mountable LCD screen. Imagine the use case of a utility working or law enforcement office having a mobile device that when in there car or truck is having applications and data delivered to them via XenApp or XenDesktop. But once they exit their vehicle, they take the mobile device with them and continue to have the same apps and data delivered to them, just on the native screen of the mobile device. Whether it be a policeman on foot, or a utility working working on a transformer in the bucket of his boom truck. A very interesting modular device approach IMO. But at the same time, I can see road warriors carrying the Showmate with them to do presentations from their mobile phone, or use in the hotel as I am. You can read more on their website, but they already have a lot of road warriors using their Showmate today. They also have a product that compresses PowerPoint presentations, and then an optimized viewer to run the presentation from the mobile device. You can get more details on this from their website.
So does the Showmate pass the Hotel acid test? Yes, I've been able to create this post using the Showmate, and my mobile device, and it does provide benefits described around a Nirvana Deviceuse case. So it's definitely another option, with it's own twist on the Nirvana Device seach.
Like this twist, tell us why or why not. As always, we are looking for your input on defining the Nirvana Devicefor use with XenApp and XenDesktop.
The next find on our quest for the Nirvana Smartphoneis the i-mate Ultimate 6150 (i-mate 6150 web site) shown below. The 6150's native screen resolution is VGA 640x480, making it natively more suitable for displaying Win32 apps via XenApp than most QVGA screens.
Pic 1: 6150's browser connected to Web Interface ready to authenticate.
Pic 2: 6150 running a full published desktop at 640x480. I probably should have cleaned the screen before taking the picture
So what makes the 6150 a Nirvana Devicecandidate (Original Nirvana Device Post), it's got video output natively built into the device. The 6150 comes with a VGA adapter cable that connects into the side of the device, so you can then connect it to a monitor that accepts VGA input. The 6150 comes with software that when activated changes the device resolution to 1024x768, turns the 6150's screen into a touchpad mouse and displays the 1024x768 output to the connected monitor. Unfortunately, the cable that I have with my demo device is only about 4ft long and did not reach to the table that was working from, so I'm using my Bluetooth mouse and keyboard instead. Might be something for the i-mate team to look at.
Pic 3: 6150 External output software.
Pic 4: 6150 connected to the hotel's flatscreen TV, running a published desktop from XenApp. MS Word is open and I'm working on this text using this setup. The 6150 is the at the base of the TV in this pic.
All of the work to create this post will be using the 6150 connected to a published desktop in my hotel room using the flat screen TV as an external monitor (except for photo resizing which I will do with my OQO, being I don't have photo shop installed on our XenApp demo server). Seems like a real world use case to me.
In general, I like the 6150, and it is the closest device I've gotten my hands on to date to hit Chris Fleck's Nirvana deviceconcept. Personally, I like devices to have a QWERTY keyboard on the native device as well, and I hope to get a chance to try the i-mate 8150 down the road, which does have a QWERTY and VGA out capability. I also like the fact that the VGA feature is native to the device, so I don't need to carry anything extra but the VGA cable. Flip side is that unlike the Redfly (Celio Redfly post), if I don't have a monitor handy, let's say in the airport, I'm restricted to the native screen of the 6150. Hey, if i-mate gives me a really long cable, maybe I can plug into one the TVs in the airport that always running CNN
So how do I rate the 6150 as a Nirvana device candidate, again I give it an "I like it". I think I'd like the 8150 even better with the QWERTY keyboard, but in terms of it being a smartphone that I can run XenApp applications natively and then attach it an external monitor to extend the usability, it passes my initial hotel acid test. At the end of the day, a Nirvana SmartPhoneis a personal choice. So if you're interested in the concept, I'd say that the i-mate 6105 is one to have a look at.
As always, give us your feed back on this topic. I've got a few more entries on more devices from the show to come. Hopefully one will be the Nirvana Smartphone you're looking for to use with XenApp or soon XenDesktop, and you can leave the laptop at home on that next business trip. As with all of the devices being tried, we will get some more hands on time with them when I get back to FTL. We'll try and update if we find anything new.
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