Over the past couple of years I've had a number of customers and prospectives ask me for different ways of evaluating XenApp because they wanted to show someone how it worked really quickly without having to use their production system. Or, they got the Receiver for iPhone but didn't have their system configured to use it. Or, they were meeting with the head of another department at work and wanted to show them the power of application virtualization with Citrix XenApp.

Well, now you can with 3 easy ways to get an evaluation system to meet your specific needs.

• Eval in the Cloud - A pre-configured, rapid evaluation system that anyone can use to see the power of virtualizing applications for themselves. This system is great for anyone from an end-user to a non-technical family member. It requires no investment or hardware and doesn;t need any installation since it's already configured. EVAL LENGTH: 2 hours, 1-User

• Evaluation Virtual Appliance - A completely pre-configured virtual machine system running XenApp, the EVA runs on Xen or Hyper-V and helps your quickly virtualize your own apps and deliver them to anyone. It's got an illustrated quick start guide that leads you through the process of profiling, publishing and accessing applications. You can even add the machine to your domain. It's perfect for the techie that's new to XenApp but who doesn't want to get their hands covered in grease. This system is also perfect as a test bed for applications and application compatibility. It's also useful for testing scripts created with Workflow studio. Some admin's have even found it helpful for stdying up to take Citrix certification exams. EVAL LENGTH: 60-days, 99-User

• Product Media - This is XenApp installation media that is downloadable from Citrix.com. You can also order physical media from customer care. The great thing here is you'll have everything you need to create a completely customized evaluation environment including licenses which we've made available online. EVAL LENGTH: 90-days, 99-User

So the net-net is that there is now an evaluation option for nearly any scenario and you now have more options for getting demo or evaluation XenApp environments up and running with very little effort, if any at all. Check these options out for yourselves at the XenApp evaluation center.

Please let us know what you think.

Sincerely,
Vinny Sosa

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As many of you who follow my blog postings will realize, I love talking about Provisioning Services

• Provisioning Services Best Practices (6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, plus more to come) 
• Quickly deliver XenApp Servers with Provisioning Services
• Use Provisioning Services to Create XenApp Swing Servers

I've spent a significant amount of time discussing best practices for integrating XenApp and Provisioning Services and thanks to many of you and your questions, I've been able to create and define new best practices; all of which will make it easier for you two simplify you XenApp environments. 

If you are still wanting more information on the Provisioning Services for XenApp, then I highly recommend you attend this recently released TechTalk.  For those of you who have attended my TechTalks before, my goal is to explain the how's, the why's and the  when's for creating a solution of your own.  This TechTalk is no different as I go through the following topics

• How Provisioning Services overcomes many of the ongoing challenges associated with XenApp environments
• How to create and deliver a set of XenApp servers with  Provisioning Services        
• How to design a Provisioning Services solution while following recommended best practices
  

Who do I recommend that should watch and listen to the TechTalk?  Well, the following is a good idea:

1. Anyone who is trying to design a Provisioning Services for XenApp environment
2. Anyone who has heard of Provisioning Services and thought it sounded intriguing
3. Anyone who has a XenApp environment and wants to makes management easier
4. Anyone who knows already knows a lot about Provisioning Services. You might learn something new, or you might be able to provide me with some of your thoughts/insights. 
   

After watching the TechTalk, feel free to post a question or comment on this blog as I'm always interested in hearing your thoughts, suggestions and recommendations. 

BTW, you can reach me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/djfeller or on the blog site http://community.citrix.com/blogs/citrite/danielf

So, set aside 60 minutes, grab some food, go to this TechTalk link, sit back, relax and enjoy. 

Daniel - Sr. Architect (Worldwide Consulting Solutions)

Building your first workflow with Citrix Workflow Studio is incredibly easy. We include many templates with the Tech Preview that allow you to see how the product works quickly and easily.

First go download the product - http://www.citrix.com/wfsinsider (MyCitrix login required, but it is painless to get one.)

Once you download and install the product you will see the following the first time you launch it:

Just click the box where it says "Create a new workflow based on a Workflow Template" and you will see the following:

Provide a name for your new workflow and select one of the workflow templates that we included with the product. The easiest one to set up and understand for your first time is the one under "Windows Management" called "Start Stopped Services". Select that one from the list and click "OK". You should see the Workflow Studio Designer interface with the template loaded like this:

 You now have built your first workflow. Click "Start" to run the workflow and you should be presented with a list of the services that are currently in a stopped state on your machine. Much like the following:

If you select one or more services and click "OK" Workflow Studio will attempt to start those services.

Note: If the service is disabled Workflow Studio will not be able to start it and will return an error. Take a look at the workflow and see if you can modify it to exclude the services that are in a disabled state.

I would love to see comments on what people think about Workflow Studio and what they would like to use it for in their environment. I plan to post some more advanced workflow samples in coming weeks, so let me know what you would like to see.