Follow on Twitter
Post to Twitter
Do you have a CCA for XenApp 5? If the answer is yes, you are well-positioned to advance to a brand new level of Citrix certification!
The Citrix Certified Advanced Administrator™ (CCAA) for Citrix XenApp 5 for Windows Server 2008 is a new designation to recognize advanced administrator-level specialists who possess Citrix XenApp expertise. Because the CCAA builds upon the CCA for XenApp 5 foundation, current CCAs for XenApp 5 are only two requirements short of earning this credential.
The CCAA allows IT professionals to validate technical skills required for the implementation of advanced XenApp 5 for Windows Server 2008 features and perform additional functions including monitoring, optimizing and troubleshooting*.
To advance your CCA for XenApp 5 to a CCAA, follow the steps below:
Step 1 - Complete training course: CXA-300-1I Advanced Administration for Citrix XenApp 5.0 for Windows Server 2008
Step 2 - Pass certification Exam: A08 Advanced Administration for Citrix XenApp 5.0 for Windows Server 2008
If you have any questions, please visit www.citrixeducation.com or contact training@citrix.com.
*Note: Content in the CCAA for XenApp 5 certification training and exam is based on the Windows Server 2008 version of the product. Therefore, previous experience in and/or knowledge of Windows Server 2008 is highly recommended.
If you have a Direct3D based application that consumes a lot of CPU running on Windows Server 2003, consider hosting it on XenApp 5 for Windows Server 2008. The reason? Under WS08, Direct3D apps can take advantage of graphics processing hardware on the server to do the graphics rendering. As a result, you'll likely find that you can provide better performance to your users and increase the number of concurrent users per server compared to using software rendering (see my earlier blog post). The one key limitation is that the apps must run in 16-bit (5-6-5) color mode ("High color") since the solution does not currently support 24-bit or 32-bit color. Also, running on a hypervisor is not yet possible, until the hypervisor and graphics vendors introduce GPU virtualization technology.
DirectX hardware acceleration can be used together with the Progressive Display feature of HDX 3D. One customer recently commented that the bandwidth requirement to deliver a particular Direct3D graphics application with good performance using these technologies was 1.5 Mbps for the first user plus 0.5 Mbps for each successive user. This has made XenApp a very attractive platform for delivering the application to their remote users.
Derek Thorslund
Product Strategist, HDX Multimedia Virtualization
Offer available through 10/19/08
The Citrix XenApp 5 beta exam, A05 Implementing Citrix XenApp 5.0 for Windows Server 2008, is currently offered at NO COST to all candidates through 10/19/08. Candidates have the opportunity to show their expertise and get ahead of the crowd on the next XenApp certification.
Because this exam is in beta, exam takers will have the chance to provide feedback and shape the final version. Candidates who pass the beta exam will earn the new Citrix Certified Administrator (CCA) for Citrix XenApp 5 on Windows Server 2008 at no cost.
*The last da to take the beta exam is 10/19/08. To register for the exam, visit http://www.vue.com/
Now that XenApp 5 has been released to web, you will be probably looking to migrate your current farm or just create a test one. Jo Harder did an amazing job of putting together an all-you-need-to-know document that will help you understand all the technical aspects and requirements for installing XenApp 5 as well as step-by-step procedures on how you can migrate to XenApp 5.
XenApp Migration Reference Table
XenApp 5 Operating System and Platform Support
Farm and Server Interoperability Scenarios
This morning we announced Citrix XenApp 5. You can visit the product page for details on everything related to XenApp 5. Here you can download the updated feature matrix, XenApp 5 & Windows Server 2008 feature analysis, Top 8 reasons to upgrade and a link to register for the upcoming XenApp technical Webcasts. The technical Webcasts will cover XenApp 5 functionality as well as best practices for migrating/upgrading to XenApp 5.
The XenApp 5 bits will be uploaded to MyCitrix download page on Sept 4th. And, don't forget to register for the Sept 9th first ever live XenApp virtual event!
On August 5th, I am presenting with Microsoft Terminal Services product manager on XenApp and Windows Server 2008. We will talk about Windows Server 2008 platform enhancements, new features in the upcoming XenApp release and some best practice tips that we learned from our early adopters. Click here to register for the Microsoft TechNet webcast.
- Title: Learn Best Practices for Citrix XenApp and Windows Server 2008 from Early Adopters (Level 200)
- Presenters: Sridhar Mullapudi & Max Herrmann
- Webcast Length: 60
- Date/Time: 8/5/2008 8:00:00 AM Pacific
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.
Joe - Streaming Product Architect @ Citrix - expains what's new with Application Streaming on the next release of XenApp for Windows Server 2008.
If you think I missed something in this interview, let me know (gus.pinto@citrix.com) and I will hunt down Joe to cover more topics you guys want to know about.
cheers,
Gus Pinto
I've been spending a bit of time thinking about the relationship of Windows servers and the datacenter. In my role as a product manager, I often hear customer talk about their challenges and pains balancing applications, OS'es and hardware refresh cycles. And once a while, I catch myself recalling the simpler times of the past; when Windows NT, 3.51, 4.0 and even Windows 2000 were more manageable (Ok, relatively speaking). Today, IT organizations have to manage exponentially more apps, more users, and more flavors of servers than you can keep count of. 32-bit apps has been around for a l-o-n-g time. When Windows Server 2003 introduced 64-bit, only a limited number of apps were able to realize the benefits of better scalability, faster performance. Even today (5+ years later), customers still tell me they can't take their apps on a 64-bit OS because of driver compatibility. This has IT organizations painting themselves into the corner of supporting a complex matrix of 32-bit and 64-bit apps and OS'es. When you toss in legacy 16-bit application into the mix, you end up with a fairly complex mix of... spaghetti.
The next wave of Windows is coming. I'm not talking about Windows 2008, which was just released in Feb 2008. There are already talks about Windows "7" or Windows 2008 R2 - the codename for the next release of Windows (server and client). And in case you haven't heard... Windows "7" server will be 64-bit only. What will you do with your 16-bit and 32-bit apps? How will IT be able to catch up, or will this downward spiral continues? Or do you have everything under control?
Thoughts?
Want to understand the differences between Presentation Server 4.5 and Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2003? Take a look at the new 14-page Citrix Presentation Server on Windows Terminal Services: A Feature Analysis just completed by the Citrix Technical Marketing Team. But this is not just the Citrix perspective on what is different between the products. This document was co-developed with a couple of members from the Microsoft Terminal Services team (blog), so it is the view of Citrix *and* Microsoft on the products.
The analysis looks at these 5 areas:
- Centralized Control
- Application Compatibility
- Optimized User Experience
- Comprehensive Access
- Enterprise Scalability
By the way, If you combined download counts for earlier versions of the Presentation Server and Terminal Services side-by-side evaluation docs previously available on citrix.com, that combined count would rank as one of the top 5 most downloaded docs in the past 12 months... out of nearly 750 docs on the citrix.com site.
You can also see more Citrix coverage at the tag Windows Server 2008 on the Official Citrix Blog.
Take a read of the new feature analysis and let us know what you think by leaving a comment.
UPDATE 30 January 2009:
Since writing this post, the name of Presentation Server was changed to XenApp. Here is the new doc:
After sponsoring more than a dozen Microsoft launch events around the world, I have reached out to the virtual Citrix event team to get an understanding of the top ten questions we are hearing with respect to Citrix XenApp. While we all know that history tends to repeat itself, I was still surprised that the same questions we heard back when Microsoft launched Windows Server 2000 and 2003 came up again. The top 10 boil down to really only 2 key questions:
Question 1: Does Citrix and Microsoft compete in the virtualization space?
I would like to shed some light here. Citrix and Microsoft have shared a strategic partnership for more than 18 years and have worked closely together to innovate on the Windows platform. As recent as January, we announced an expanded relationship within the adjacent desktop and server virtualization markets. Through the alliance, Citrix and Microsoft will work together to ensure interoperability and cross compatibility with the Windows platform for server, application and desktop virtualization solutions. Furthermore, we are tightly integrated around the development of our upcoming release of XenApp on the Windows Server 2008 platform. There is no better evidence of this than our joint go-to-market plans that we are effecting. For example, we have been delivering joint presentations to our customers and the market as part of the Microsoft 2008 launch wave, and sponsored conferences and tours. And, for those of you who have not had a chance to attend one of the Microsoft events, take a look at the video clip that was shown at the Microsoft keynote and on their virtual launch site. It specifically highlights the tight integration between our two companies.
Question 2: What value does XenApp bring relative to the standalone offering of Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services
Similar to the past, Citrix will continue to build upon the strength of the Windows Server platform to provide customers an end-to-end application virtualization solution. Our solutions complement one another in that we will leverage the enhancements Microsoft has made in Windows Server 2008 around platform stability, security and scalability and extend the platform to introduce some enhancements to our core XenApp functionality. With the interest of not repeating what has already been written, take a look at Bryon Thomas's post, Citrix XenApp on Microsoft Windows Terminal Services - A Feature Analysis, which provided an introduction to a more technical analysis at the feature level that helps get at the heart of how Citrix embraces and extends the Windows Server 2008 platform. It is being revised based on some feedback we received to his post but a new version is due out soon so stay tuned.
We want to know what is burning on your mind. So if these are not the same questions you have, just leave us a comment. Inquiring minds want to know.
?
With the launch of Windows Server 2008 this past Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008, the question "Do I need Citrix or is Terminal Services enough" is back en vogue. In fact, the Google search for "do i need citrix with windows server 2008" is one of the top 3 search phrases driving traffic to my blog. In that search, my earlier post Evaluating Project Delaware and Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008 is the 6th-ranked result. Brian Madden's classic post, Do you need Citrix or is Terminal Server enough?, with 22,000+ views, is the top result. Clearly, people are interested in this topic. Today, Citrix took the next step to help customers understand the differences and released this new white paper:
Citrix XenApp on Microsoft Windows Terminal Services - A Feature Analysis
Compare the base-level features of Terminal Services within Microsoft® Windows Server® 2003 and Windows Server 2008 to the features of Citrix XenApp™ (the new name for Citrix Presentation Server) running on Windows Server 2003.
Take a read and let us know what you think. I expect this doc will be updated once Project Delaware is released.
UPDATE: The Feature Analysis on Windows Server 2008 has temporarily been removed as we make additional edits based on feedback (thanks!). The previous version is available here. Once the updates are completed, I will re-post the new version on this blog. I apologize for the inconvenience and understand the frustration this may cause.
Update 2: The new 14-page Citrix Presentation Server on Windows Terminal Services: A Feature Analysis is now available. Read more here.
There is a tremendous amount of energy and buzz circulating here at the Microsoft launch event in LA with more than 7,000 registered attendees. The keynote kicked off with Tom Brokaw who gave a profound speech on the power of technology and how it is the will of people to use technology for the greater good. This set the stage for the "heroes happen here" theme of the conference. Microsoft unveiled the concept of dynamic IT - a scenario where IT can manage complexity and achieve agility, protect information and control access, advance business with IT solutions and amplify the impact of people. Demos surrounding the three new products - Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008 - were shown along with a variety of customer vignettes to underscore the heroes theme and the importance of using technology to have an impact on society.
Post keynote, the partner pavilion opened and has been swamped with people. Citrix is a platinum sponsor so we have premier real estate however people have been lined up to get their name in the raffle and ask questions about our end-to-end virtualization story. Nothing is better than a demo, so we have been walking attendees through a live beta of XenApp (the new name for Presentation Server) on Windows Server 2008.
Even with only a few hours left in the day, the lines are growing and the conference is in high gear. I can't wait to see what others are saying about their experience here....
Before I get into Delaware details, let me give you the inside scoop on the project name. For those who haven't figured it out by now, all our XenApp releases are named after rivers. Project Delaware will be the first major release to support Windows Server 2008 and we have been working on this release for almost 2 years. It has been a great journey and we know its importance. It resembles the journey that George Washington took to cross Delaware river in 1776 as part of the American Revolution. And that's why we named it project Delaware. There you go, a useless fun fact about project Delaware.
When we talk about Delaware, we mention how we are embracing and extending the Windows Server 2008 TS platform. Our first goal was to take all the great functionality we have on XenApp and move it to Windows Server 2008. And we are leveraging the new TS re-architecture (where TS has been split into Local Session Manager and Remote Connection Manager to provide better stability and reduce the security threat surface) and security enhancements like UAC and service specific SIDs. We will also be supporting XPS printing protocol, ClearType font smoothing (great for applications like Office 2007), Special Folder Redirection (when user's click on "My Documents" or "Desktop" in a published application, they can be redirected to their local device folders - pretty cool) and IPv6 support through Secure Gateway.
When it comes to extending the platform, we will have a brand new Web Interface with lots of end user usability enhancements, key application streaming enhancements, EdgeSight 5.0 and Preferential Load Balancing. In the coming months, I will go through the details of each one of these features. Except for Preferential Load Balancing and Special Folder redirection, other features should be available for Windows Server 2003 customers as well. Btw, if you haven't registered, please register to receive notifications and updates when we have our Delaware Early Release.
For years Citrix XenApp (the new name of Presentation Server http://www.Citrix.com/XenApp) customers have been using XenApp, as an application delivery solution, each year, getting more value as Citrix continually improves and adds more functionality as the needs of users increase. (To learn what Citrix is doing for the next release or XenApp, refer to project Delaware http://www.Citrix.com/Delaware).
These customers understand the relationship between XenApp and Terminal Services and how together they provide a powerful solution. A question I often get asked is; do I see a day when the functionality of TS will be enough that the need for XenApp will be lessened? Some customers expect this is just a matter of time and assume one day Terminal Services will be enough.
The simple answer in my view is that TS will never be enough, because the good enough bar continues to move up. The good enough bar is the level where a customer is comfortable with the functionality that they are prepared to accept that level of functionally, usability, security etc, is enough for their organization.
To correctly answer the question you need to ask what is good enough? It is a different answer for different organizations. It's not just a matter of size or even complexity but it's about what dependency the organization is putting on the overall solution and how does an organization see this changing over time.
Also if you asked what was good enough in 2003 and what is good enough today you will get a very different answer as organization's needs have changed in so many different ways.
This change in what is good enough, the changing levels of the good enough bar, is due to a number of factors:
IT has become more critical, and many would not survive today without their IT systems and for some, IT is extremely strategic and is a competitive weapon.
IT has also become much more complex, with all business processes now automated and each linked in some way. Security issues have also raised the good enough bar, organization are looking for the most secure way to provide application access to users.
Users needs have also become more complex, using many more applications; they are much more demanding, expecting to have access to their systems all the time.
Applications themselves are also more complex, and there are multiple generations of application types with organizations.
I'm sure there are a number of other factors you could add that continue to drive the good enough bar upwards.
Finally this is not a static environment, the good enough bar of tomorrow will be much higher than today.
Understanding that the good enough bar is always changing you can understand why I would say that TS is not good enough even with the new features of Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008 ( http://www.Microsoft.com/WindowsServer2008 ), because organizations are not prepared to take a risk and deploy a system that could be otherwise improved by adding more value.
Citrix XenApp uses the Terminal Services platform to provide the most complete application delivery solution with the best, centralized control, application compatibility, optimized user experience, comprehensive access and scalability.
As more customers realize the enormous benefits of this new model of computing; delivery all applications anywhere to their users; they will want the best possible solution, one that has the most complete set of features. A solution that has the best chance of being successful today and also adapt to their future needs. Whether an organization is deploying a few application or all their applications, they should look at the most complete solution knowing they will end up with the best end result.
Then there is the question of cost. What customers have found is it takes less time and resources to deliver a solution that is more complete, that works as a complete system, than try to piece bits together, this weighed with the risk factors shows it's always better to start with the most complete solution the 1st time rather than add functionality later. There are too many other things that need to get done, why take the risk?
Organizations that have been using XenApp for more than 6 years know this question has come up each time Microsoft releases a new version of Windows Server with added Terminal Services functionality. To date this has been with Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000 Server, Windows Server 2003, and now with the new Windows Server 2008. So for all of theses and for the next release of Windows Server the answer is 'no' TS is not good enough because the good enough bar continues to move up!
To understand more about XenApp and Terminal Services, I would refer you to another blog by Bryon Thomas on Terminal Services and XenApp, Bryon lists a number of tools available that list the enhanced value of XenApp and he is asking for suggestions on what other tools are needed. ( http://community.citrix.com/blogs/citrite/bryont )
I welcome your comments and views on the concept of the good enough bar, how is it rising in your organization?
Nabeel Youakim
VP & Product Line Executive,
Applications Virtualization Group, Citrix Systems