Blog posts tagged with 'unix'
As a follow up to Sridhar's post about Future of XenApp for UNIX I'll like to dig a little deeper on what options there are for publishing Linux applications and desktops though the existing Citrix UNIX product offerings.
There are a variety of methods on how this can be achieved and they are all generally variations on the use of XAU/CPSU as a broker to serve the Linux applications/desktops to ICA clients from the environment they are run in.
The simplest way to achieve this is to use separate Linux servers to run the applications/desktops and publish the mechanism to access these on the XAU/CPSU server. Any of the existing platform versions of XAU/CPSU (Solaris x86/x64, Solaris SPARC, AIX POWER or HP/UX PA-RISC) can be used in this method. The publishing mechanism is commonly a shell script that uses remote shell access (eg rsh, ssh) which is made easier if network user accounts are available but this is not a requirement. Other things to think about is session load balancing, if a multi-server XAU/CPSU farm is used to broker session there are advantages to tying individual Linux servers to particular XAU/CPSU servers. If there are differences in the performance characteristics of the Linux servers this can be evened out through XAU/CPSU load balancing tools.
A variation of the above is to make use of Solaris 10 x86/x64 Linux Container technology. This is a capability introduced in Solaris 10 where Linux applications are run in a Linux container on the Solaris 10 system. A Linux Container is effectively a Solaris kernel with Linux kernel interfaces (system calls, /proc, etc) with standard Linux distribution user-land components (utilities, etc) and Sun claims a high-level of binary compatibility with Linux distributions. In this variation XAU/CPSU can be installed on the same Solaris 10 x86/x64 server that hosts the Linux Container and through shell scripting mechanisms already mention access to the Linux applications/desktop can be achieved. Now that Solaris 10 x86/x64 is officially supported on HP, IBM and Dell hardware as well of course on Sun's own x86/x64 hardware there is a range of hardware vendor supported options here.
Another variation is the use one of the x86/x64 server virtualization solutions to virtualize both the XAU/CPSU and Linux servers. The requirement here is the support for both Solaris x86/x64 and Linux x86/x64 virtual machines. The example below shows how it might be achieved with XenServer virtalizing Linux and Solaris 10 servers once Sun completes their paravirtualized kernel and drivers. However, any other server virtualisation technology that can virtualize the Linux and Solaris servers can be used to provide a similar solution.
Options in this area are appearing all the time and and some may well warrant investigation. One recent announcement from Transitive offers capabilities to run Solaris SPARC binaries on Linux x86/x64.
So I hope I have shown there are ways to architect a solution to publish Linux Applications/Desktops with existing XAU/CPSU offerings but do please do tell us what you think.
As a follow up to Carlo's post on XenApp for UNIX, I would like to discuss our future for the UNIX product. XenApp for UNIX is a fully supported, maintained and enhanced product. Since we released Presentation Server for UNIX 4.0, the product has been following an incremental feature delivery model. Since the 2005 release we have added over 80 feature enhancements like seamless improvements, session query utility, enhanced diagnostic logging, roaming user support, adding support for Solaris x86/x64 platform, Solaris SPARC license server, Virtual Channel SDK, Enhanced keyboard and wheel mouse support, Solaris zones support, enhanced server farm publishing options etc. Instead of coming up with a brand new release (like PS for UNIX 4.5 or 5.0), we have opted to get these enhancements as public hot fixes and feature packs. e.g. we added Solaris x86/x64 support when we released PS 4.5 Feature Pack 1. And we will have the next feature pack update for UNIX that will align with the upcoming Delaware release.
The reason for using this delivery model is it speeds up our feature development and helps our customers easily adopt the functionality they need. The customer can install these updates as either hot fixes or as feature packs based on their needs. Of course, you need to be current on SA in order to use the features.
Regarding support for Linux platform, we still don't see a huge market for Linux apps. Also, we might not have native Linux support but some of our customers use XenApp for UNIX as a proxy to serve Linux applications. We will soon have a KB article explaining how you can do that.
One of the most common questions I get from people who work with a UNIX environment is if Citrix can virtualize applications running on a UNIX platform. The answer is: "ABSOLUTELY!".
Citrix XenApp (the new name for Citrix Presentation Server) can virtualize applications running on UNIX platforms, including Sun Microsystems Solaris 8, 9, and 10, Hewlett-Packard's HP-UX 11 and 11i, and IBM AIX 5.1, 5.2, and 5.3. Additionally, Citrix supports over 30 operating systems with the ICA client including Windows, Macintosh, and Linux.
The Solaris edition of Citrix XenApp for UNIX requires:
- Solaris 8, SPARC version or
- Solaris 9, SPARC version or
- Solaris 10, x86/x64 or SPARC versions
Be aware that the Solaris x86/x64 edition of Citrix XenApp for UNIX is available only on Solaris 10.
The HP-UX edition of Citrix XenApp for UNIX requires:
- HP-UX 11 or
- HP-UX 11i
The AIX edition of Citrix XenApp for UNIX requires:
- AIX version 5.1 or
- AIX version 5.2 or
- AIX version 5.3
Then, the next question in everyone's mind is: "Where can I get more information regarding UNIX support?".
Since I know this specific information is not accessible just from one location in our website (action item for Citrix: improve this), below I'm pointing you to the main URLs where you can download documentation and the clients to get more familiar with our support for all of the UNIX platforms mentioned above. Notice that since we renamed the product line recently, we haven't had the opportunity to update the XenApp name on all of our documentation (another ongoing action item for Citrix). Happy reading!
Citrix Presentation Server for UNIX Administrator's Guide
Citrix SSL Relay for Citrix Presentation Server for UNIX Administrator's Guide
Clients for UNIX Administrator's Guide
Beyond the information provided in these documents, what questions do you have about XenApp for UNIX?
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