While a mandatory based profile solution was the original approach (something we leveraged in the earliest releases), we are not going to return to that method. Let me explain why and get your thoughts and opinions on this.

One request that has been commonly voiced has been around a mandatory style implementation. While previously we had leveraged a mandatory profile as the base, for many reasons we moved away from that approach. One key reason was to save time that the merging process required (the copying of the mandatory down first and then copying of all the net changes). All in the spirit of logon speed. Another key reason is that it really was not a mandatory profile anymore. Profile management captured all the net changes from that base mandatory. So no settings were enforced or re-written at next logon. Basically it was a holder of starting settings when a profile was loaded. But the net changes were always re-applied over the base so nothing was ever enforced. So in the end, you needed to leverage Group Policy to enforce any permanent settings anyway.

It's also been explained that having a mandatory approach enables customers without Group Policy delegation to have a means to control the profile settings. And mandatory by itself is a great solution albeit the limitations on the breadth of personalization - which the amount of personalization afforded by a mandatory solution is probably adequate for many scenarios. While you can redirect folders like My Documents, Favorites, Cookies and others, the ability to change anything registry related is prevented e.g. wallpapers, application configurations and such. But if you try to combine this with something like Profile management to enable those changes, how are you going to restrict what does not get saved? You would need to create an exclusion list of all the settings you want enforced (and thus excluded from being saved). Doable on a few settings but it will get unwieldy really fast. And I am willing to bet it's going to be harder than Group Policy to manage before long. In the end, it seems capturing all the settings and using Group Policy to enforce setting as required is the way to go and thus the direction for our profile management solution.

Finally, let's address the capability of having a base profile to start with. We do offer a template profile capability which you could think of as a Global Default User profile. When a user logs onto Windows and does not have an existing profile (be it local, mandatory, roaming or TS), Windows creates a new profile for that user based on the Default User profile located on that current machine. The fun of this is unless you want to sync all the Default User profiles across all the machines a user might likely log onto for the first time, the starting profile will different (although often only slightly) from user to user. Might not be a big deal initially or on smaller scales, but will be more problematic as your environment expands and grows.

The purpose of the template profile is to enable a consistence starting point for a new profile being created no matter the machine. The template profile can leverage a copy of the mandatory profile you use today but you just need to rename the NTUSER.MAN back to NTUSER.DAT (so no you can't use the same one as both the template and a mandatory). And the template profile has to be complete (e.g. the entire directory structure and NTUSER.DAT). Also keep in mind that this is used for profile creation. So changing the template is fine, but only affects new profile being created and not existing ones. Need to change or enforce a setting for all users? Then we are back to using Group Policy for those situations.

So that is where we stand today with our Profile management feature (a feature of both XenApp (Enterprise and Platinum) and XenDesktop (Advanced, Enterprise and Platinum). Of course this is always open to debate and discussion if you have scenarios that illustrate weaknesses to this approach that Citrix should pay more attention to addressing.

DABCC will be hosting a webinar Nov 4, 2009 on Web Interface customization leveraging Extentrix Web Optimizer ... details here: http://www.dabcc.com/media.aspx?id=647

You can register through the above link. Key topics covered:

– Make your Web Interface "look and feel" consistent with your corporate and intranet web sites
– Quickly add custom graphics and themes
– Simple and easy to use interface and available quick start templates get you up and running quickly
– Unrivaled support for mobile devices

Have you ever wanted to take a peek inside a training manual before registering for an instructor-led training course? You now have the opportunity with the our new Courseware Peek Inside online feature. This feature is currently available for the new CNS-300 Advanced Administration for Citrix Netscaler 9.0 Platinum Edition. Click here to check it out, and stay tuned as we roll this feature out for our other instructor-led training courses!

My role allows me to speak with many different people (customers, technologists, coworkers, administrators, etc). I've been able to see presentations comparing the different desktop virtualization solutions out there.  One of the problems I see is that many of the solutions only focus on one aspect of desktop virtualization, and that is the VDI model. 

VDI is only one aspect of the entire desktop virtualization solution.  This is a concept that many fail to comprehend. For example, I attended Gartner ITExpo last week and was amazed at how many people I talked to only thought about the VDI scenario (you know VDI, allowing you to have a remote virtual desktop running on a hypervisor in the data center).  When I talked to people about the other options, I could see their eyes light up.  

If you are reading this and only know about the VDI version, the I suggest you take a look at FlexCast to get a better understanding at all of the different options out there (FYI, even the CIO magazine identifies there is more to desktop virtualization than VDI). But in a nutshell, here's the deal... desktop virtualization includes:

1. Hosted shared desktop
2. Hosted VM-based VDI desktop
3. Hosted blade PCs
4. Streamed local desktop
5. Virtual Apps to installed desktops
6. Local VM-based desktop

I want to focus on the Streamed local desktops scenario. This is the one that really got people's attention at Gartner.  Why?  Because most organizations do not do a big bang effect of replacing their end point devices. Instead, most have a rolling lifecycle where each year a portion of the endpoints are upgraded and over the course of 3-4 years the entire desktop environment has been upgraded. Once the process completes, it starts over, never ending.  
 
Let's now say you are embarking on a desktop virtualization project.  It seems like  a waste of resources and money to idle those desktops that are only 1 year old. They are powerful enough to run Windows 7 and the latest applications, so why would we not use the hardware we already have?  This is where the streamed local desktop comes in. It uses the same XenDesktop infrastructure, the same OS images, the same application layer and the same personalization layer.  The only thing that changed is the hardware layer.  
 
As money always seems to speak louder than words, think about it this way: If you have 3,000 desktops and they are replaced every 3 years on a rolling cycle, that means 1,000 of those desktop are less than 1 year old.  If you estimate 50-100 virtual desktops on a hypervisor (XenServer, ESX or Hyper-V) then you need 10-20 fewer physical servers, which is a substantial cost savings (and even greater if you are using a hypervisor that costs money).

So I encourage all of you to not think about the VDI-only solution but instead to look at your environment as a whole. Chances are you will see that VDI-only might work for you, but probably isn't the best way to run your business. Think about it this way... You can create documents in Notepad, but would you really base your business on a solution that only does one thing, or would you use a more complete solution like Microsoft Word that gives you options?  

Daniel - Lead Architect - Worldwide Consulting Solutions

• Twitter: @djfeller
• For the latest desktop virtualization information visit the Ask the Architect - Next-Generation site
• Questions - Then Ask The Architect

I have recently returned from Gartner ITExpo in Orlando.  It was quite interesting, especially some of the thoughts they had around the economy and impending recovery.  One thing stated during the conference should not be a surprise to anyone, during a recession you save your money by not taking on any new projects. By not implementing beneficial upgrades to your systems. By not delivering newer versions of your applications to users.  

This does have the benefit of saving money, but this can only go on for so long.  Eventually, your competitors will stop saving and start expanding. Where will you be?  

We are at a very unique inflection point that can have lasting ramifications to your IT infrastructure.  We are:

1. Coming out of a recession. We are very likely to see a slew of projects going across the tables to install this or upgrade that. So it is looking like the next 1-2 years will have IT taking on a lot of tactical projects.
2. Getting ready for a major operating system upgrade with Windows 7. Whether you are ready or not, Windows XP doesn't have much time left, and most people are skipping Windows Vista. How are you going to migrate?
3. Able to do things that were unheard of in previous years. We can virtualize a massive server into small chunks, we can do the same to an operating system, applications, and the user's personalization layer and deliver it to any type of device imaginable (phones, PCs, MACs).  

So what does this mean? It means you can continue running your environment like you have for the last 10-20-30 years, or you can ask yourself one simple questions: "Is there a better way?"

We have a very profound opportunity to correct the issues of the past.  And if we do it correctly, the resources required to update, maintain and support our environment will greatly reduce.  So when the next recession comes around, your organization will be ready with a fast and streamlined approach towards maintaining your IT environment as well as continuously providing new services.  But where to begin?  

Take a look at your infrastructure. What area requires a lot of time and resources to maintain?  Probably your desktop environment.  Let's investigate and fix it, but let's do it right.  Make sure you look at all aspects

1. The users: what do they need and how do they work
2. The devices: what type of devices, what capabilities
3. The locations: where are they located, what bandwidth pipes are available
4. The applications: how many are there, what level of dependencies do they have, who uses what

This information is critical.  This is what you need if you want to do the desktop virtualization solution correctly, from day 1.  Is it going to be something you can do in 10 minutes? No. Is it something you can implement in 1 hour? No. Why?  Because we are taking something that is seriously complex and trying to create a solution that can scale and simplify our lives. So during the next recession, we won't have to stop delivering new services, but can forge ahead and beat your competition with an entirely new delivery solution.  
Daniel - Lead Architect - Worldwide Consulting Solutions

• Twitter: @djfeller
• Ask the Architect - Next-Generation site
• Questions - Then Ask The Architect

We have had a great discussion going about user-installed applications and the need/risks associated with this type of solution. One of the comments I received in favor of allowing users to install applications was around Firefox. For those of you who don't use Firefox, there are thousands of add-ons a user can install to customize their browser experience. I personally have about five different add-ons configured with my Firefox implementation.

Now I've been advocating the need for IT to have a process in place that can handle the expansion of the application pool for the users as needed by:

1. Taking user requests for new applications/tools
2. Validating the need
3. Delivering in a timely manner

This is all well and good until we get to the topic of these add-ons. I don't expect any IT organization to have a requirement to support the add-ons. There are thousands of them. Think about it, do you really expect your IT to be spending time messing with these add-ons? And what would it look like for the user? A Firefox application with thousands of add-ons? CRAZY (I do wonder at what point that app would crash. Maybe need a MythBuster episode on it)

All of the sudden, I had a very enlightening experience. I just got my new XenDesktop 4 environment built. I went in an started to personalize my environment, including my 5 Firefox add-ons (remember I'm using pooled desktops from a single base image with roaming profiles). The next day, when I logged onto my virtual desktop, my Firefox starts up and BAM all of my add-ons are still there?!?!

I did some investigation into this. Well, this is an example of an intelligent application design. The add-ons are located within the user's profile (the roaming portion). User's are able to customize the Firefox application without any special tools/utilities. The discussion about Firefox and the add-ons is now a non-issue as the application manages this for us.

So, 1 application down, only 999,999 to go   The point is you need to test before deciding if something will or will not work.

Daniel - Lead Architect - Worldwide Consulting Solutions

• Twitter: @djfeller
• Ask the Architect - Next-Generation site
• Questions - Then Ask The Architect

With the release last month of HDX 3D for Professional Graphics as a feature of XenDesktop, Citrix now offers two alternatives for delivering high-end 3D graphics from hosted applications. Let's compare these two solutions.

HDX 3D Pro Graphics on XenDesktop

Our premier solution for 3D professional graphics is based on hosted Windows desktops and works with either the XenDesktop 3 or XenDesktop 4 Desktop Delivery Controller. HDX 3D Pro Graphics features our most advanced technologies for data compression, making XenDesktop the best solution on the market for delivering 3D graphics to remote workers. For top level performance, we offer GPU-based compression, leveraging NVIDIA graphics processors with 96 or more CUDA cores. The compression level is automatically adjusted based on bandwidth. Just below that is CPU-based JPEG XR compression (no special GPU required). JPEG XR (the 'XR' stands for 'Extended Range'), formerly known as HD Photo, is an ISO/IEC standard for high dynamic range image encoding. These compression options are supported by the HDX 3D online plug-in for Windows, a special version of the ICA client. With advanced compression and other clever innovations, HDX 3D Pro Graphics delivers a good experience even at 2 Mbps and 200 ms roundtrip latency. And, of course, it delivers a high definition "like local" experience on high bandwidth, low latency connections.

Application compatibility is excellent with HDX 3D Pro Graphics because the applications run on a standard Windows XP operating system (and Windows 7 support is in development). It doesn't matter whether the applications use DirectX/Direct3D or OpenGL or whatever. HDX 3D supports True Color, important when a very large number of colors, shades, and hues need to be displayed, as with high quality photographic images or complex graphics. Customers are already using HDX 3D to work with models with more than a million parts, and 64-bit OS support is coming soon, which will enable huge amounts of memory to be addressed.

These comments from our customers sum it up best:
• So far this is the only product to have anywhere near acceptable performance
• Everyone is loving it
• 50 to 75% better than our existing solution
• In pure Swedish, it is "sh$@#ing good"!
• At 1.5 Mbps it is still very usable
• We have been extremely impressed

HDX 3D on XenApp for Windows Server 2008

For many organizations, HDX 3D on XenApp provides a great solution for delivering professional graphics, since Windows Server 2008 now enables a graphics card to be used for 3D rendering on Terminal Services / Remote Desktop Services. While hardware acceleration is limited to DirectX/Direct3D-based applications, that may be all you need depending on the specific applications your end users require. OpenGL based applications are CPU-rendered but they perform much faster on 64-bit Windows than on 32-bit so you may find that to be adequate. Of course, if you really need hardware acceleration for your OpenGL applications, go with HDX 3D Pro Graphics on XenDesktop.

Compression options with HDX 3D on XenApp are not quite as extensive as on XenDesktop but are generally sufficient for intracontinental WAN access. The highest level of compression is obtained by selecting Heavyweight JPEG, a special variant of JPEG that uses arithmetic encoding instead of the normal Huffman encoding. It gives a further reduction in bandwidth of around 10 to 20% without changing the pixel quality at all (compared to standard JPEG), at the cost of higher CPU consumption. With Progressive Display, users get a responsive experience even over WAN/Internet connections because images are delivered with lossier compression while being moved and quickly resolve to full resolution when motion stops.

A single graphics card in the server can support multiple concurrent users, depending on their usage characteristics. I spoke with a customer using an entry-level NVIDIA FX 370 GPU and they support four concurrent users on an HP 360 G5 server with a dual-core Xeon processor and 4 GB of memory running 32-bit Windows Server. They estimate that they will be able to support 12 to 16 simultaneous users on a dual quad-core server with 64-bit Windows Server and 32 GB of memory. Again, it depends on the application and the work profile of the users. A more powerful GPU, like the NVIDIA FX 5600 or 5800, will help with scalability, too.

HDX 3D on XenApp supports lossless compression (important in Healthcare), but color depth with DirectX hardware acceleration is currently limited to 16-bit High Color. True Color support (16 million colors) is offered with CPU-based rendering, and True Color with GPU hardware acceleration is planned for the near future, making HDX 3D on XenApp a great option for delivering PACS applications over hospital campus networks.

A Look Ahead

How will these technologies evolve in the future? 64-bit Windows XP and Windows 7 support is planned for HDX 3D Pro Graphics on XenDesktop, and True Color support is coming soon for HDX 3D on XenApp. Windows Server 2008 R2 is likely to bring some benefits, too. And as the graphics and hypervisor vendors introduce GPU virtualization, we expect to leverage that on both XenApp and XenDesktop; some exciting progress in this area is already happening in the lab. Expanding the VM Hosted Apps feature of XenApp to encompass 3D graphics apps would be a natural step.

Tell Us about Your Experience with HDX 3D

If you're using either of the HDX 3D technologies described above, I'm sure other customers would like to hear your story. Please tell us about the 3D applications you deliver, your data center and network, and how your users are benefiting.

Derek Thorslund
Citrix Product Strategist, HDX

There has been a lively discussion going on in the VDI related Blogosphere kicked off here by Dan Feller and Brian Madden here. This issue of whether or not to allow "User Installed apps "exemplifies the dichotomy that IT Pros struggle with architecting a system that meets the business challenges of security, cost, and compliance plus at the same time satisfying the needs of knowledge workers with high demands and expectations.

As VDI expands from task oriented deployments to broader general purpose PC replacement scenarios this issue is likely to gain more attention. Most companies don't condone user installed apps but many do allow users to have administrator rights to their work PC and may look the other way regarding what an individual installs on their own. When it comes time to virtualize everything for VDI however now they need to pay attention. But how big an issues it ?

Dan indicates from an IT best practice standpoint it is better to develop an effective workflow that speeds and automates the IT approval, packaging, and delivery of new apps that individuals need to be productive. Will knowledge workers accept this solution ? As the commenter's indicate, this works for some but not all situations. Brian Madden proposed another alternative, just give the power users a second VM for unique/personal apps. Keep the corporate VM pristine under IT control and let users have their own separate sandbox if warranted. This may be a bit of a brute force solution but would work If the costs are justified. I like it because I do it myself now, although I use lab VM's as a sandbox vs IT delivered VM's. The commenter's however also found issues with this solution due to costs plus compliance issues about what SW/data gets installed into those user VM's. Some offered up BYOC as a solution if users really needed their own environment. There are many 3rd parties looking to enable User Installed apps as well, however even if the technical challenges are solved will IT support/endorse/allow this? Let me put forth another option/proposal, sometimes when I'm on a system thats not mine or a thin client I connect to my home PC via GoToMyPC and keep it running as long as I need it. This gives me access to apps that are not provided by IT, I have all the freedom to install what ever I want and IT doesn't need to deal with infrastructure costs or compliance issues. Yes this assumes that the power user has their own powered on PC and GoToMyPC does not currently have all of the features I might want for this solution, but you get the idea.

Let us know what you situations you face, is it a problem and do you see a solution for it? If you have another idea or comments on the above, please share it.

Citrix XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 for Windows Server 2003 has a very cool feature called Secure Clipboard Control. The technical folks may know this feature as "Read-Only Client Drive Mapping and Clipboard", but the end results are the same: it further mitigates risks of data leakage.

Granting remote users CDM access is great because they can open local files with server published apps. But they also have the ability to save server documents locally thereby increasing the probability that confidential data leaks out beyond the enterprise. Some customers have tried to tackle this problem by disabling CDM and clipboard altogether, but that does not offer users flexibility - what if administrators want to only let users save documents back on the server? This is where the new Secure Clipboard Control setting can help. It is a really simple feature for administrators to configure, yet provides an added level of flexibility (users can save documents to the server, but cannot save documents to the local device) administrators didn't have before.

To enable the feature in the registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Cdm\Parameters, create a DWORD value with value name ReadOnlyMappedDrive and value data 1.

To enable one way clipboard In registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Citrix\wfshell\Virtual Clipboard, create a DWORD value with value name ReadOnly and value data 1.

After rebooting the server all users that connect will only be able to read documents from their mapped drives and will only be able to copy and paste text into a published application. Data that is copied into the published application clipboard (via CTRL-C) will not show up in the client's clipboard paste buffer. Whenever the user tries to save a file to a mapped drive they will get an error saying they don't have permission to write to the location because XenApp has the drive open in read-only mode.

For now both settings are server wide so remote users will have to be confined to specific machines where the settings are enabled. You can find out more about this feature at CTX123002 and in Citrix eDocs here.

Learn more about Citrix XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2

• Official Press Release - http://citrix.com/English/NE/news/news.asp?newsID=1857726
• XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 release Web Site - http://citrix.com/xenapp/featurepack2
• XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 Executive Video - http://citrix.com/xenapp/fp2/video
• XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 Release Webinar - http://citrix.com/xenapp/fp2/techtalk
• XenApp feature matrix by platform, version and edition - http://citrix.com/xenapp/comparativematrix
• XenApp Expert Series videos for this release - http://citrix.com/xenapp/fp2/expertseries
• XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 Blogs- http://community.citrix.com/blogs/tag/xa5fp2
• Download XenApp technology previews - http://citrix.com/xenapp/techpreviews
• XenApp Product Page - http://citrix.com/xenapp/

Follow XenApp on | | |

As the first opportunity to really interact with customers and partners on a large scale after the XenDesktop 4 and FlexCast announcements, Tuesday's CitrixLive!was a really exciting day for many of us at Citrix.  Ron Lott, Frank Anderson and I had the opportunity to do the Q&A sessions for FlexCast, our name for the uniquely numerous methods Citrix has of delivering virtualized desktops and applications, all under one product, XenDesktop 4.  As my XenDesktop counterpart SME, Frank is an incredibly savvy technologist and fellow Citrite, with a rather impressive employment history with some of Citrix's largest and most successful partners, customers, and XenApp rollouts.  I knew him when he was at Disney and Emory, but have really enjoyed watching him work over the last couple of years in a vital role on our XenDesktop product team... just a great guy to work with.  But I digress...

Back to FlexCast and the delivery options:

Simply put, FlexCast is all about enabling the broadest class of capabilities under a single product from a single vendor, in order to enable IT buyers and engineers to focus on the right implementation for their environment and users, without getting caught up in what many are finding to otherwise be a costly, multi-vendor solution that usually doesn't quite cut it.

After some of the questions on FlexCast during the CitrixLive! Event on Tuesday I thought it would be a good idea to start a blog series about FlexCast On-Demand Apps by presenting the matrix of application and desktop delivery options included in XenDesktop 4.  Dan Feller has posted a quick video over in his "Ask the Architect" Blog that goes into this as well.  Dan's posts are always a great resource so please check them out.  In follow on posts we will go into more detail about specific implementations from this matrix, which grows much larger when you take into account that some users actually use multiple desktops and scenarios, sometimes all at the same time.

In the matrix I have included traditional installation as "End-point Installed", not to include it as part of FlexCast, but to acknowledge it in perspective to the options enabled by FlexCast. 

I have also separated "Online streamed/app-v" and "offline application streaming/App-V" in order to clarify the target platform for these on-demand delivery types. "Offline" in the Citrix vernacular describes the ability of an execution platform to run an isolated app without requiring an active connection to to a back-end XenApp server. 

App Type \ Desktop Type	Hosted Shared Desktop	Hosted VM-Based Desktop	Hosted Blade  Desktop	Local Streamed  Desktop	Local VM-Based  Desktop	Installed Desktop
Online Installed
Online Streamed to Server
Online App-V Streamed to Server*
Offline Application Streaming
Offline Microsoft App-V**
End-point Installed***		3rd Party	3rd Party	3rd Party	3rd Party	3rd Party

    * Requires Microsoft VDI Suite - Premier
  ** Requires Microsoft VDI Suite - Standard
*** Manual or 3^rd Party ESD installs are not part of FlexCast 

As you can see, there are 28 discreet options to be considered for any single desktop implementation. This can at first sight be a little overwhelming.  I would argue that this is much less overwhelming than being forced into one particular desktop or application delivery solution and then trying to address all of the complexities of a growing number of access scenarios (i.e. are all of the users on campus? How many branches do we have to serve and what are the idiosyncrasies of each one?  What do you mean the CEO is working from a remote island with crappy internet access, next week, but still wants to work like they are on the dedicated 10Gb link we installed in his office yesterday)  OK, maybe that last one was a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point. 

With all of the other considerations to take into account, being hobbled by any solution that can only address the problem in a single, specific way, because that is all it can do, is often like painting a car with push broom, yep the paint will go on, but is the end result really what you were hoping for?  Citrix FlexCast pretty much covers every consideration that needs to be taken into account for cost effective desktop and application delivery.  Especially in light of current economics and increasing budget constraints, let alone consumer based end-user expectations that are outpacing the current capacity of corporate IT to deliver acceptable usability and service levels.

In the flexibility line of thought and in light of all of the pressure we are all under in a down economic climate, I'd like to share an excerpt that hit me from one of my favorite books while I was looking at this matrix and reflecting on the great opportunities that On-Demand Apps and XenDesktop 4 introduces.

All three quotes are from one book, they are not in sequence but they cover three thoughts...

The opportunity: 
"Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go."
 
The Trap to avoid:

"You can get so confused that you'll start in to race down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.

The Waiting Place...for people just waiting."
 
The Reward for getting it right:

"Oh! The Places You'll Go!

You'll be on your way up!
You'll be seeing great sights!
You'll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.

You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed. You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead. Wherever you fly, you'll be best of the best. Wherever you go, you will top all the rest."

Wow, I almost feel like Stuart Smalley after that one, anyway thanks for allowing me the tangent, and oh yes, thanks Dr. Seuss, one of the 20th centuries greatest philosophers!

Now, back to business... I am looking for the community to help this blog series evolve by asking questions, sharing examples, and pushing us to deliver more in those areas where you have real pain but no real solution yet.  These are the things that I would really like to be talking about, so let's have at it!

Kurt

I was away for a couple of week, but I'm back and very excited to tell you about the HDX Plug-n-Play for USB storage device. HDX Plug-n-Play for USB storage is another HDX/High Definition eXperience feature introduced in XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2. I believe this new feature will really eliminate many headaches for XenApp administrators and end users alike. So imagine, users now have the ability to plug-in their USB thumb drive/USB stick and use it with their XenApp delivered application at any time; before launching the application or while they are in the middle of working with the application. Effectively, users now have a local-like experience when interacting with a USB stick or USB disk drive.

For those not familiar with how USB storage worked prior to Feature Pack 2, let me explain... Let's say you are working with Microsoft Powerpoint delivered to you via XenApp. A co-worker stops by, hands you a USB stick and asks for a copy of the Powerpoint. Naturally, your instinct tells you to plug in that USB stick, go to Powerpoint - File - Save As... <bzzzz - wrong!>. Prior to Feature Pack 2, users must first plug in the USB stick before starting the Powerpoint. Otherwise, XenApp would not recognize and map the thumb drive in the session. Needless to say, it's not very natural, and couldn't be any less instinctive.
Many customers & admins I talked to are raving about this new feature in XenApp! They are excited because they no longer need to "re-train" users how to use USB drives with XenApp. IT no longer have to field support calls on why they don't see the USB stick in the application. Applications delivered with XenApp become ever more transparent to the end users...and that's a great thing!

How do I enable this feature? This feature is enabled by default. So, if you have policies to not allow use of USB sticks, you'll need to disable this feature in the registry by following the instructions below or in eDocs.

On XenApp 32-bit edition
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Citrix\Policies\DisableUSBRedirection
On XenApp 64-bit edition
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\Citrix\Policies\DisableUSBRedirection

Type: DWORD
Values:
1 = redirection disabled
0 = redirection enabled

Now, I also want to point out that this feature, like the HDX MediaStream for Flash is currently available on XenApp 5 for Windows Server 2003. Support on Windows Server 2008 is forth-coming and I'll be sharing more information on this site in the near future.

So, there you go... XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 makes life easier for admins and end users, again! And if you missed my first post on how XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 delivers a local-like experience with Adobe Flash content, take a look at HDX MediaStream for Flash
But wait! Tomorrow, Ola Nordstrom from our Security team will post our HDX Easter-egg feature called Secure Clipboard Control. Very cool feature for customers who require better control of information flow in an XenApp session. So, stop back tomorrow!

Learn more about Citrix XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2

• Official Press Release - http://citrix.com/English/NE/news/news.asp?newsID=1857726
• XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 release Web Site - http://citrix.com/xenapp/featurepack2
• XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 Executive Video - http://citrix.com/xenapp/fp2/video
• XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 Release Webinar - http://citrix.com/xenapp/fp2/techtalk
• XenApp feature matrix by platform, version and edition - http://citrix.com/xenapp/comparativematrix
• XenApp Expert Series videos for this release - http://citrix.com/xenapp/fp2/expertseries
• XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 Blogs- http://community.citrix.com/blogs/tag/xa5fp2
• Download XenApp technology previews - http://citrix.com/xenapp/techpreviews
• XenApp Product Page - http://citrix.com/xenapp/

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Hi folks! Today being the official launch party for Windows 7, I thought it would be a good time to give everyone an update on where we stand with client OS support for Access Gateway (AG).

Let me start off by saying that we were hoping to support 64-bit operating systems much sooner, but we had some unanticipated challenges that expanded the scope of effort required. Getting all of our Access Gateway plug-ins to support 64-bit Vista, as well as Windows 7 and MacOS, has been and continues to be a top priority for us this year. It's also critically important that we fit into the Citrix Receiver framework for delivering all the various Citrix plug-ins to the end user. We're nearly there.

I'm pleased to announce that we are releasing today version 4.6.1 of Access Gateway, Standard Edition which offers full support for 64-bit Windows Vista, Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit, and MacOS. You can get the clients and appliance firmware now from the Citrix.com downloads area: http://www.citrix.com/download/

As you know, we have three distinct variants of Access Gateway: Standard, Advanced and Enterprise, each of which has a separate lineage and uses different client protocols & endpoint analysis features. We are planning to deliver Win7, 64-bit and MacOS support for all three editions.

Vista 64-bit, Windows 7 & IE8

• AG Standard supports 64-bit Vista and Windows 7 today, using version 4.6.1.
• AG Advanced Edition users can log on from 64-bit machines if the appliance is upgraded to 4.6.1, but full support for endpoint analysis and IE8 is not available until AAC Hotfix 5, due out in early January.
• AG Enterprise Edition is expected to include a new 64-bit capable client in version 9.1.100, ETA is December.

Macintosh

Last month, we announced the availability of our first Access Gateway Plug-in for MacOS, which now connects to AG Standard Edition (4.6 or later) and Enterprise Edition (9.1.98 or later). Support for Advanced Edition is expected by January with AAC Hotfix 5. As we were closing down the release, Apple released their "Snow Leopard" (10.6) version ahead of schedule. We were planning not to offer 10.6 support until a few months later, because we were expecting this to be another large effort pertaining to 64-bit support. However, Apple did not enable 64-bit kernel mode by default in client machines, only on their XServe platform. This is good news for us, because the MacOS client seems to be working fine on 10.6 with the default 32-bit kernel mode.

One thing that makes 64-bit support on MacOS different from 64-bit Windows: with MacOS users can run 64-bit applications even if the kernel is running in 32-bit mode. Nevertheless, we do plan on supporting 64-bit kernel mode on the Mac with our next release of the Mac plug-in in Q1 of next year.

Not supported

To avoid prolonging our release schedules any longer, we made a couple of tough trade-offs regarding older operating systems. We decided that we will not be able to provide official support for:

• Windows XP 64-bit
• MacOS 10.4 ("Tiger")

(I've heard anecdotally that the 64-bit Vista client actually does work on XP 64-bit, but we have not fully tested it and we are not officially supporting it.)

Access Gateway Client OS Support

To summarize, the supportability matrix that we are filling in over the next few months looks like this:

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to let me know.

Thanks,
Jay Tomlin
Sr. Product Manager
Citrix Access Gateway
jay (dot) tomlin (at) citrix (dot) com

I am pleased to announce that Access Gateway 4.6.1, Standard Edition was released today. This release of Access Gateway Standard Edition supports the following:

• Access Gateway Plug-in support for Microsoft Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit)
• Access Gateway Plug-in support for Microsoft Windows Vista 64-bit
• Access Gateway Plug-in for Mac OS X
• Microsoft Internet Explorer 8

The following new features are included in 4.6.1:

Access Gateway Plug-in and Citrix Receiver Integraton
Access Gateway Standard Edition supports Citrix Receiver, Citrix Merchandising Server, and Dazzle, which are components of the Citrix Delivery Center. Citrix Receiver, Citrix Merchandising Server, and Dazzle streamline the installation and management of application delivery to user desktops. For more information, see Integrating the Access Gateway Plug-in with Citrix Receiver.

Secure Ticket Authority redundancy
You can configure multiple redundant Secure Ticket Authorities (STAs) for users accessing their resources through the Access Gateway. This enables you to mitigate against the possibility of the STA becoming unavailable midway through a user's session, preventing reconnection to the session. When redundancy is enabled, the Web Interface attempts to obtain and deliver to the Access Gateway two tickets from two different STAs. If one of the STAs cannot be contacted during a user session, the session continues uninterrupted using the second STA. To configure the STA for redundancy, you must be using Web Interface 5.2 and Access Gateway Standard Edition, Version 4.6.1. For more information about configuring the Web Interface, see Configuring Access Gateway Settings in Web Interface 5.2.

A list of fixed issues is available from this article.

Installation
In Access Gateway 4.6, Standard Edition, the operating system on the Access Gateway is updated. With this update, upgrading from earlier versions of the Access Gateway is not supported. You must perform a clean installation of Version 4.6 or 4.6.1 on the Access Gateway appliance if it is running an earlier version of the software. If Version 4.6 is installed on the appliance, you can upgrade to Version 4.6.1.

For more information about installing 4.6.1, see this helpful article.

David
Twitter - http://twitter.com/citrixreadiness
Citrix Support on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/citrixsupport

It's been a very hectic week and a bit since Citrix announced XenDesktop 4. As owner of the Trade-up to XenDesktop 4 program for XenApp customers, I have been fielding lots of questions from partners, analysts, customers and Citrites as the word has been spreading rapidly. I thought it would be a good idea to follow up with a blog post series that captures many of the questions and answers.

Before I get into the first question, let me do a quick refresher on the program. First, the program is designed to make it very easy and attractive for any XenApp customer to trade-up to XenDesktop 4. Any customer, who is current on Subscription Advantage (SA) that Trades-up all their licenses to XenDesktop 4 at once, gets 2 XenDesktop 4 user or device licenses for every 1 XenApp concurrent license. The pricing is such that they save 80% off the purchase of new XenDesktop 4 licenses. If a customer doesn't want to trade up all their licenses at once, they can trade-up a portion of them and receive 1 XenDesktop 4 user or device license for every 1 XenApp CCU. Pricing is set such that the customer saves up to 70% off the purchase of new XenDesktop 4 licenses. In both cases, customers can use their existing SA renewal budget to fund the bulk of the Trade-up. This program is similar to the Upgrade to XenApp Platinum that we introduced to coincide with the launch of Platinum in Q1 of 2007 and was very well received by our customers. In fact approximately 70% of the upgrades to Platinum happened at SA renewal time.

If a customer has expired SA, no problem. They can Trade-up any Enterprise or Platinum licenses going back to MetaFrame XP. Pricing is set such that the customer saves up to 50% off the purchase of new XenDesktop 4 licenses.

In all cases, customers get another year of Subscription Advantage and when they renew, they do so at the lower XenDesktop 4 rate.

One of the first things that comes up is - "who should consider the Trade-up?" Before I answer, consider the following two key points. XenDesktop 4 contains all the functionality of XenApp (including the latest goodies introduces in XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 like VM Hosted Apps, HDX enhancements for Flash and Power and Capacity Management) as well as all the latest XenDesktop 4 features (such as FlexCast Delivery Technologies). Customers who Trade-up and implement XenDesktop 4 can leverage all their XenApp experience to deliver apps the way they always have and full virtual desktops as well. What is even cooler is point two. If you Trade-up your licenses now, you don't have to implement XenDesktop 4 until you're ready. Your current XenApp implementation will run on your new XenDesktop 4 licenses. You can update your infrastructure when you're ready. One last little pitch. XenDesktop 4 works with any existing storage management and server virtualization infrastructure (including VMware).

All that said really any customer who has a concurrency ratio of 2:1 or less or multiple users per device should consider the Trade-up. If your organization is thinking about desktop virtualization now or in the future, you should consider the Trade-up. If you're about to embark on a desktop refresh with Win 7 and are looking at ways to reduce desktop management costs, consider the Trade-up.

Let's look at an example of a customer who has 1,000 licenses of XA Platinum at a 2:1 concurrency ratio and is considering Trade-up (Please note that prices here are SRP. No volume discounting has been applied). Of course, first thing they would do is go to the Trade-up calculator to check out the dynamics. If the customer Trades-up 100% of their licenses, they'd get the 2-for-1 and would have 2,000 XenDesktop 4 user or device licenses. To fund the Trade-up, they'd take their $50,000 of budgeted SA renewal and add $45,000. Now they have the ability to deliver full virtual desktops as well as applications. The renewal rate of SA the following year would be based on the $35/user or device and would be $70,000. Not bad considering they have more than twice the functionality they had before and double the number of licensed users or devices. Plus, the licensing flexibility gives the customer to provide access unlimited virtual devices per user or unlimited users per virtual device depending on whether they choose a per user or per device model.

We worked hard to make it easy for our customers to add desktop virtualization to their working XenApp implementations, to minimize risk and to reward them for their loyalty.

Probably enough for the first post. More to come.

Bill Hartwick, Sr. Director of Product Marketing for XenApp

Over the last couple of months there has been lots of communication around the XenApp 5 FP2 release.

One of the components of XenApp that was updated with FP2 which hasen't received much publicity is the Web Interface 5.2 update.

I would like to take sometime to share with you what is new in this release.

For those of you who haven't had a chance to review the new features, see the list below, then watch my video for an overview of each feature and basic use case.

New features in Web Interface 5.2

• XenApp VM Hosted Apps
• XenDesktop User Roaming
• Disaster Recovery
• New Management Console
• Secure Ticket Authority Redundancy

David
Twitter - http://twitter.com/citrixreadiness
Citrix Support on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/citrixsupport

Award nominations for Citrix

Citrix wanted to let you know that some of our products have been nominated for the SYS-CON Virtualization Reader's Choice Award and the Cloud Computing Readers' Choice Awards. These awards recognize excellence in the virtualization and cloud-based software, solutions or services provided by the industry's top vendors.

We wanted to let community members know about this nomination, since the final award winners will be determined through a public voting process. The voting period for these awards is now open and will end on Oct. 23 .

If you feel inclined to vote for a Citrix product for one of these awards, we would appreciate your support! To vote, please visit the Virtualization Readers' Choice Awards and the Cloud Computing Readers' Choice Awards voting pages. You will need to include your e-mail address and select one product in each category. Then, place your vote by clicking "vote now" on the bottom of the Web page. Award winners will be announced the week of Nov. 2.

Thank you for your consideration!

Don't miss this webcast as our Systems Engineers discuss the new technical features and benefits of XenDesktop 4. Find out why XenDesktop is the most flexible way to centralise and deliver your desktops.

In this webinar you will learn:

• What's new in the latest version of XenDesktop 4
• Best practices for upgrading to the latest release

Click below to learn more:
http://www.citrix.com/English/NE/events/event.asp?eventID=1857244

In this session you will learn about the key improvements in Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, and new license bundles from Microsoft in addition to how Citrix and Microsoft continue to innovate together to further develop and enhance desktop virtualisation.

In this webinar you will learn:

• What's new in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2
• About new virtual desktop licensing bundles from Microsoft
• How Microsoft and Citrix work together to deliver virtual desktops

Click below to learn more:
http://www.citrix.com/English/NE/events/event.asp?eventID=1857900

You are invited to the next meeting of the New York Metro Citrix Users Group.

The User Group provides members with an opportunity to share and learn about common issues and utilization of Citrix® technology. Additional discussions include technology design and infrastructure, enterprise solutions and ideas, trends, and upcoming activities of interest.

Agenda:
4:00 Opening Remarks - Mediator
4:05 Citrix Announcements - Citrix
• Product Updates
• Beta Announcements
• Tech Releases
4:30 Application Virtualization - Streaming
• Citrix
• Symantec
• Microsoft
4:45 Citrix VPX - Citrix
5:15 Open Discussion - ALL
• Feature Requests
6:00 Next Meeting - Agenda Requests

This event will be hosted by Ivan Carrasco, Corporate Network, Depository Trust Clearing Company and supported by Citrix Systems.

Click below to learn more:
http://www.citrix.com/English/NE/events/event.asp?eventID=1857032

You are invited to the next meeting of the New York Metro Citrix Users Group.

The User Group provides members with an opportunity to share and learn about common issues and utilization of Citrix® technology. Additional discussions include technology design and infrastructure, enterprise solutions and ideas, trends, and upcoming activities of interest.

Agenda:
4:00 Opening Remarks - Mediator
4:05 Citrix Announcements - Citrix
• Product Updates
• Beta Announcements
• Tech Releases
4:30 Application Virtualization - Streaming
• Citrix
• Symantec
• Microsoft
4:45 Citrix VPX - Citrix
5:15 Open Discussion - ALL
• Feature Requests
6:00 Next Meeting - Agenda Requests

This event will be hosted by Ivan Carrasco, Corporate Network, Depository Trust Clearing Company and supported by Citrix Systems.

Click below to learn more:
http://www.citrix.com/English/NE/events/event.asp?eventID=1857031