XenApp Expert Series - Informational, News, Interviews (2009) The show where we interview the experts to get you the latest research and technology news on XenApp application virtualization. Host Vinny Sosa (@vinnysosa) interviews Product Strategist Derek Thorslund (@derektcitrix) to help everyone understand the HDX Technology stack. This is part one of multiple videos that will dig deeper into HDX technologies. Episode 3, Season 1.

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Learn more about Citrix HDX

Citrix Service Provider Business Overview Webinar

Find out more about the Citrix Service Provider Program including topics such as ...
• Business proposition for hosting Windows applications
• What/who are the target market(s)
• Projections for revenue growth and why SaaS should include non-web apps
• Why did Citrix provide subscription based licenses and how do they work
• How does XenApp help Terminal Services
• What value does XenServer and Essentials add to the Hosting Provider
• What is the difference between hosting applications and hosting desktops
• What is a Citrix Service Provider

Americas:
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/822345865

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT

EMEA:

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

9:00 AM - 10:00 AM EDT

Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/527632217

Pacific:

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

9:00 PM - 10:00 PM EDT

Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/826234609 

New Tolly report shows that NetScaler 9.1 with nCore technology significantly outperforms F5's latest software release, BIG-IP v10. The results were astounding. Tolly conducted a battery of standard load balancing and acceleration tests and found that F5 introduces at least 3X more latency than NetScaler across all test scenarios. The report details the impressive performance NetScaler's nCore technology and highlights a significant deficiency with F5's architecture, namely latency. For example, it takes F5 2533.4 milliseconds to deliver an 8KB object versus 1.5 milliseconds for NetScaler. That's a significant negative impact to the end user experience and productivity, which can directly affect a company's bottom line.

To view the full Tolly report, click here

Tap into the power of AppExpert!

It's being described as "powerful" and even "tremendous."  

Partners are raving about it. They've experienced it for themselves. They are witnesses to what it can do - the value, the benefit, the profit.  

"What is it and where can I get it?" you ask yourself. 

It's the Citrix Key Play Marketing Kits of course! And you can find them in the Marketing Tools section of My Citrix. 

Try it. Execute on it. Like magic, these Key Play Kits will transform your marketing department into a marketing powerhouse. Smooth, easy, flexible, manageable - kits designed for immediate action. Whether your marketing team is comprised of 2 or 22 or your budget is busting with dollars or just busted, you'll marvel at what you accomplish. 

It's no fairy dust. It's real. We even have partners on tape talking about what the Key Play Marketing Kits have done for them. See their excitement. Listen to their testimonials. Watch this video and other videos from Citrix TV and be amazed. 

If you're already using the Key Play Marketing Kits, share your success and comment back to this blog. Let us know how these kits are helping you fine tune your go-to-market strategies and improve your business. 

I know this sounds like a very strange headline, but those who know me know that I have a passion for offshore fishing. Getting out early when the sun is just coming up over the horizon, I see an ocean of opportunity.

In theory, I could run around the ocean all day doing what we call blind trolling, just pulling baits behind the boat hoping that a fish takes one of them. Obviously, this is a very inefficient use of time, gas, and well, it's just plain boring.

Instead, my first job is to fish for birds. Let me explain. With migratory fish, such as Mahi Mahi and Kingfish, a large school will feed on baitfish clustered up where shallow water over the reefs meet the deep sea. When they do this, birds will circle overhead and dive down to grab the leftovers floating on the surface. When you find the birds, you find the fish.

I view the desktop virtualization marketplace as being like the ocean. There are billions of dollars worth of opportunity in the next few years, but let's face it, no one is going to cast a wide enough net to grab all of the opportunity so we have to look for the birds, in this case specific desktop virtualization methodologies, features and benefits that hold the greatest value for customers.

Virtualization is becoming a widespread buzzword for specific computing models. As Solution Advisors, your job is to break the desktop market opportunity down into consumable parts. When your customers talk about desktop virtualization, are they talking about reducing complexity, providing better support, or making sure their desktops are secure? Stopping the discussion when your customer says they have a desktop virtualization strategy may be similar to running right over the fish.

I've had many times all the conditions are right; the fish are there, our bait is good, but they just won't bite. Rather than write the whole trip off, sometimes adapting our approach makes all the difference. There have been times when kingfish that wouldn't touch a ballyhoo, go crazy for a pilchard.

And so it is with selling in the virtualization space. Are you planning your fishing trip this way? Are you willing to adapt or look for new opportunities in the same fishing area? Just as with fishing, patience and persistence pay, but we have to be flexible to change. Remember to look for the birds. They should be flying just over the desktop.

Good luck and good fishing!

Citrix provides a wealth of materials to help you market and sell desktop virtualization . For access to them, go to http://successkits.citrix.com and sign in with your My Citrix credentials.

Last month we released the Power and capacity management tech preview for XenApp. If you're using server-side application virtualization and delivery with XenApp, then you'll want to check it out. We've put out a couple of blog posts (1 | 2), a demo, and a couple of videos on it including a XenApp Expert Series video and audio episode with Sridhar Mullapudi (Product Manager). We also have a new episode coming up in July with Juliano Maldaner (the Architect). What's more, both of these rock stars are getting together to do a TechTalk on this same topic.

The TechTalk is going to cover the features, functions and components of Power and capacity management and the guys will also talk about how to deploy it for virtual server infrastructures or physical machines using Wake on LAN. They'll even provide some tips on using this technology to help with migrations.

The great thing about this vs. the other content we've created already is that there's a Q&A at the end so if you're interested in the technology, now's the time to ask your questions.

Stay Updated! Follow XenApp... XenApp on Twitter | XenApp TV-Radio | XenApp Tech Previews

I'm constantly revisiting Synergy-in-a-Box to use the messaging and demo examples for many ongoing and upcoming communications and promotions. If you haven't had the chance, take a look at all of the resources there. There's a wealth of content you can use in your marketing and sales initiatives - keynote videos, several positioning presentations on the core Citrix Delivery Center products and lots of demos to illustrate the latest virtualization platforms.

It's of great value to those who couldn't attend and just as useful as a repository of information for those who did. Take advantage of Synergy-in-a-Box soon. Next year's Summit and Synergy, May 10-14 in San Francisco, will be here before we know it.

Check out the newest Branch Repeater customer case study posted on citrix.com at http://citrix.com/English/aboutCitrix/caseStudies/caseStudy.asp?storyID=1855157
 Lately I have been discussing with partners and customers about how enterprises pursuing M&A strategy or with distributed branch offices often face the kind of challenges that Consolidated Graphics faced. Enterprises with far flung offices and locations are now looking at ways to reduce the cost of delivering applications to branch offices while improving user experience and productivity. Check out the case study to see how Consolidated Graphics:

• • Enabled datacenter consolidation for cost savings
  • Simplified IT administration
  • Doubled throughput on existing T1 lines, avoiding need for network upgrades
  • Improved the user experience at branches

Happy reading!

Sai
Twitter:@SaiAllavarpu

Citrix Branch Repeater: http://www.citrix.com/English/ps2/products/product.asp?contentID=1350184

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Hopefully by now you will have noticed that the Access Essentials name has changed to XenApp Fundamentals, so the big question is - why didn't we just call it XenApp Essentials ?

It might not surprise you that I've been asked this a LOT over the last couple of months.  The answer however is a little more surprising - it is all down to going global!  Whilst the global economy is the worst that we've experienced since the birth of modern computing, it's  a well kept secret that SMB customers are still spending on IT.  It was recently noted by Forrester that  "SMB IT spending will grow 3.2% in 2009 (vs. a decline of 3% overall)".
That's why we are defying the recession and expanding our markets with XenApp Fundamentals.  By taking XenApp Fundamentals to China, we are localising a Citrix product in Chinese for the first time, and quite simply Fundamentals translated better than Essentials! 

Coming back to the point of SMBs defying the recession, it's a theory I've had for a while (well, actually borrowed from Darwin) and one which was recently validated by a partner so I thought it was worth sharing.  There are over 50 million SMBs worldwide, and in times like these one of Darwin's strongest theories comes into play - survival of the fittest.  SMBs that grasp the opportunity, and use technology to gain a competitive edge, are the ones that will win.  Those that drastically cut costs in an attempt to maintain profitability are unlikely to survive as customer service generally suffers.

Many of our XenApp Fundamentals customers demonstrate the fundamental   - (pun intended )  impact that delivering real-time application access to anyone, anywhere can have.  For example, Trevor Jones, a thriving accountancy firm in the UK, increased its billable hours by 33% by enabling greater employee productivity. Another SMB, a recruitment company, increased its connectivity by 40% even though they already had a VPN, which had a significant impact on their customer service. The stats sound great don't they, but put simply, SMB customers can actually gain strength and market share by using technology that enables its people to work more productively.

So back to that partner who confirmed my theory - they had a customer that purchased XenApp Fundamentals and it had such a positive impact on their business, they were able to gain a significant competitive advantage. They went on to use the solution as part of their expansion strategy by delivering their existing systems to their newly acquired competitors. It is no surprise, they've quickly outgrown the 75 user limit and are now upgrading to XenApp Enterprise!

So there you have it, the secret is out. SMBs are where it's at, especially those who have the  vision to see this downturn through.  My other secret is that we have recently launched a new Citrix SMB partner portal (well, it's not so much of a secret now that 400 of you are already using it). Here you'll find everything you need to sell XenApp Fundamentals, including some fantastic new technical training and marketing campaigns.  Check it out at www.citrix.com/partners/smb   and if you have a XenApp Fundamentals customer you would like to shout about, let's do it! Just let us know !!!

Follow XenApp Fundamentals on twitter @ http://twitter.com/CitrixSMB \\

Laissez les Bon Temps Roulez (Let the Good Times Roll!) should be the unofficial slogan of this year's Microsoft Partner Conference going on in New Orleans July 13th-16th.

With the economy finally rebounding off its lows, this is the perfect time to regroup, recharge, and regain momentum for the rest of the year. If you've never been there, or haven't registered yet, now is the time. Check out: http://www.digitalwpc.com/

A good group of us channel types from Citrix will be at the Worldwide Partner Conference and we've got some great activities planned. Our joint virtualization campaign with Microsoft will get a big boost at this event. I won't let the cat out of the bag, but you'll want to stop by our booth and learn more about it.

We'll also be looking for good potential partners for the Citrix Partner Network. With the convergence of market interest in application delivery, server and desktop virtualization, and networking optimization, there's plenty of opportunity and we need good partners to help get the message out. We see more VMware partners showing interest in the superiority of our products and the value of partnering with a vendor that is truly channel focused, and has been for twenty years. If any of you reading this aren't Citrix partners and would like to be, stop by our booth and we'll help you determine if it makes sense for you.

Speaking of superior technology, come by and catch a quick demo of XenApp Fundamentals, XenDesktop, and our latest version of Branch Repeater. Each one of these can add a good bump to your bottom line.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone in New Orleans.

Growing up in Miami,Florida, I was naturally exposed to fishing. Although I was just a young girl, I can recall my father placing bait on a hook (I was too squeamish to do this myself) just before I casted a line with my rod, anxiously waiting for a bite. I wondered where the fish hung out, which was the best spot to find them, and if the water would be clear enough for me to see the bottom, where hopefully there would be interesting rocks, vegetation, and cool, colorful fish. 

Now at Citrix, I've had the opportunity to work behind the scenes on our partner web portal, My Citrix. Coming on board, there was a lot to do in the way of reorganizing the pages and making the left-hand navigation more clear. It seemed that the build consisted of a long string of stand-alone pages that pretty much started with a different letter, one for each in the alphabet. We weren't sure who was seeing what exactly and more importantly perhaps, who was missing what because they couldn't see some pages.

So partners were fishing for content amidst a very wide-spread seaofweb pages and links, unsure where the best watering hole really was for what they were hoping to catch. Action was needed. The fishermen, I mean partners, needed a more streamlined My Citrix. With the help of our Geo channel managers, other folks in the worldwide channel department, who fortunate for me, reside in Fort Lauderdale where I am, and key individuals from other business units that have offerings for partners, there are now 7 main categories that make up My Citrix content outside of the Toolbox.  

My Citrix

7 Categories (left nav links) 

• Product Resources
• Programs and Benefits
• Partner Education
• Marketing Tools
• Sales Tools
• Technology Tools
• Communications 

Think of these categories as the Seven Seas. Whether you're casting nets, trolling, or spear fishing, you can find content and resource material throughout My Citrix by first determining which ocean is most likely to have what it is you're looking for. Then once you make sail, navigate the rest of the pages by looking at the "Inside" box - this is your porthole to that section's build.  

So plot your course, whether by channel markers, the North Star, or your business plan, and get ready to sale the 7 categories, where in My Citrix, you'll find product updates of particular interest, a bountiful landscape rich with Key Play marketing kits, and your picking of resource material to serve as a very tasty catch of the day.

Efficiency begets savings

I don't know Stephen DiFranco, the Vice President of Consumer and Commercial Channels at Lenovo, a PC maker based in Research Triangle Park, N.C. , but I read his POV article in the June issue of Channelpro magazine with great interest. He has a very interesting perspective on the future role of the channel.

Mr. DiFranco's assertion is that the two tier distribution model as we know it today will change in the future as the role of the traditional Value Added Reseller continues to shift to something akin of a regional system builder - someone with the expertise to tell a customer what they need and the services to deploy the technology without actually selling the hardware or software. In this approach, the traditional distributor is now an e-tailer or retailer who provides an easy on-line method of distribution, shipping directly to the customer.

Over several years in the IT industry, I've often had the chance to ask Value Added Resellers what we, as vendors could do to help their businesses. The vast majority of the time, the answer is "Provide me with leads."

Leads may be the lifeblood of many businesses, but rarely has a partner suggested that we find ways to help them cut costs. Growing up on a farm, the message came through loud and clear. "The easiest dollar to make is the one you don't spend." Each dollar taken from the expense column goes directly to the profit column.

Are vendors doing all that they can to optimize profitability for partners? Do they develop products that have shorter sell cycles while providing services opportunities? Are vendors paying for value creation or simply account coverage? Do vendors pass on high value, low cost alternatives to partners? Are vendors reducing the administrative costs associated with partnership?

Across the board, I think Citrix does a good job of this. From providing education at cost, to creating products that are easy to justify, to providing modular marketing tools to help drive demand, Citrix helps improve profitability. Are we perfect yet? Of course not, but as you see, we are thinking about it.

Several Citrix products have been nominated for the 2009 Information Security Magazine / SearchSecurity.com Readers Choice Awards:

• NetScaler, Application security: Web application firewall, application/code vulnerability assessment/QA, Web services security
• Access Gateway, Remote access: IPsec, SSL VPNs and other remote access products
• Branch Repeater, Other: Branch optimization/application acceleration solution

Thanks to your support, last year we won the Bronze Award under the 'remote access' category for Citrix Access Gateway and the Bronze Award under the 'application security' category for Citrix App Firewall.

While technically not a security product, Branch Repeater does play a role in building a secure IT infrastructure. Branch optimization allows businesses to centralize applications and data in secure datacenters without sacrificing end-user performance.

Surveys have already gone out to readers of Information Security and SearchSecurity.com via e-mail. If you received one of these surveys please take a few minutes and vote.

This Tech Preview is open to everyone with a MyCitrix account (Create a MyCitrix account if you don't have one yet). Download the tech preview from our new tech preview site and access the support forum if you need help and to provide feedback. The forum has separate sections for bugs, enhancement requests, scripts, and general questions and discussion.

Special thanks to Brandon Shell, Nick Holmquist, Jeroen van de Kamp and Tony Zhang for their suggestions and bug reports - their feedback was crucial for this second version. We are looking forward to your participation as well.

If you are interested in participating in future private previews of the XenApp SDK's, please contact me at twitter at @aurelianolopez.

Sncerely,

The XenApp Commands team

Check out these Other Links and Resources
XenApp Tech Preview Page
XenApp on Twitter
XenApp blogs
XenApp Videos and TV

I was in Stockholm last week delivering a message on Cloud Computing.  During my visit Paul Dobson (our EMEA Marcom Manager) and I had an interesting encounter with the Editor of CIO magazine (Swedish edition).  It was a bit strange in that I found myself interviewing her instead of the other way around.  I figured if anyone had a pulse on the industry from a CIOs perspective it might be the people who take the time to write about them.  The one question that stands out to me during the conversation we had regarding Software as a Service and Cloud Computing was, "If you take Cloud Computing to its natural end state, is this the beginning of the end for CIOs as we know them today?"

Why is this question so pertinent? Because those companies who sell SaaS today are most accomplished because they sell around the IT organization, not necessarily through it.  Why is Salesforce.com so successful?  Is it because it has such a simple to use interface or the consolidation of information or the fact that the entire sales process from lead generation to customer management is all in one portal based package?  Or is it because the end user doesn't want to rely on the age old process of building a system based on arcane IT practices that often carry with it unbelievable cycle times for deployment.  Has IT really become obsolete and those of us in the industry are just afraid to admit it?

While I was in Europe I got the opportunity to speak with many companies from all sorts of market verticals.  Small municipalities, large government, manufacturers, developers and education to name a few.  What surprised me the most in these conversations was the general lack of understanding regarding the virtualization of applications.  There seemed to be a good understanding of server virtualization but the virtualization of applications was not well understood. So I began to ponder what the future might hold in regards to how information technology is done today and how the Cloud might affect it in the future.

Combined with the research we completed for the delivery of our Citrix Service Provider program for the SMB and this anecdotal information from IT managers in the field I noticed a trend.  When a company gets to be about 100 people it starts to understand the need for IT based on organic growth of the PCs and shrink-wrap software yielding an unwieldy system of Post-It notes, IT consultants and two or three general knowledge software application "experts" within the company. An IT manager is typically hired only after the need is so great that a single individual can't handle the work load.  And so the vicious cycle begins. 

The first IT manager is hired into a chaotic environment that is already understaffed and over budget.  As the company grows so do the needs of IT yet there never seems to be enough people to do the job and legacy systems continue to grow to keep the business growing without regard to a systematic approach to providing text book Information Technology.  CIOs are trained in this environment and as their career progresses they inherit the same problems at larger companies only on a bigger scale.  Over and over again this process repeats itself until the entire system begins to collapse from its own legacy operational weight.  The current economic conditions, although tough to stomach, have created a forcing function for CIOs and IT managers using this paradigm... change the way you do business or else.

Maybe I'm over simplifying this, but it seems to me there are only two ways to effectively "change" the way IT is done.  The first is to outsource everything in the data center including the delivery of applications utilizing web based technology.  The other is to virtualize the applications and the server farms to provide a much more efficient way to operate.  And maybe as the Cloud becomes more secure and seamless a combination of the two.  So why is there so much resistance to either or both of these approaches?

Is the Cloud the beginning of the end for CIOs?  I'm not really sure we can say today because it hasn't evolved yet.  But one thing is for sure, doing business the same old way just won't be tolerated any longer, either from the standpoint of the CFO or from the end user.  And the Editor of CIO didn't seem to have an answer either. 

What still blows me away is the lack of planning and strategic thinking around the development of a private cloud that takes all of this into consideration.  I can probably count on two hands the companies who seem to be seriously looking at a Systems approach to application delivery and information technology in general.

Why is this?

Twitter

I wanted to you to let you know that the Citrix TechEdge event being held on Monday, May 4th at the MGM Grand Convention Center in Las Vegas at Citrix Summit and Citrix Synergy, will be a day packed with in-depth knowledge on the latest troubleshooting tools, methodologies and fixes for your Citrix Application Delivery Infrastructure.
If you can't make it to the show, don't worry, you'll be able to join the
conversation online:

• Twitter at http://search.twitter.com
  
  • Enter: #TechEdgeP   (Partners)
    
  • Enter: #TechEdgeC   (Customers)
    
• With each Tweet you can reply to comments, ask questions, provide event feedback, broadcast key takeaways, post links, news, photos, etc.
  

• If you already use Twitter, you can simply use #TechEdgeP or # TechEdgeC
  

• Feel free to begin to participate now on what you expect from Citrix TechEdge 2009.
  

Note that Citrix TechEdge is encouraging both show attendees, colleagues that can't attend and online enthusiasts to join the conversation on Twitter, so we expect a large turn-out. We hope that you will not only participate, but that you will also spread the word about Twitter: #TechEdgeP or #TechEdgeC.

Find out more about TechEdge 2009.

Check out more posts in the Citrix TechEdge 2009 series.

The approach for applications delivered from a third party off-premise data center is a growing rapidly.  According to one estimate it was an $8.8 Billion market in 2008, growing to $17.6 Billion by 2011.  The bulk of this growth will happen in the Small to Medium Business (SMB) segment.  According to Gartner, Small Business is defined as 1-99 employees while Medium Business is 100-499 employees.  This emerging market for applications delivery and data management is not fulfilled by shrink wrap applications purchased at the local Office Depot.

Recent research points to the fact that the SMB is fed up with trying to maintain these applications and also fed up with having to employ a staff of IT managers just to keep the wheels from falling off their business. These companies have been forced to look very closely at their expenses during this protracted economic recession and high on their list of budget cuts is IT as it represents hard cost and intangible value.  A few of the continuing issues that IT has been unable to solve on-premise (in the SMB) is the simplified management/storage of data, office productivity application upgrades, database management and web site enhancements.  As a result, these traditional on-site IT functions are rapidly moving off premise.

Some of the small businesses I've spoken to recently are trying to set up simple CRM systems, Voice over IP and Business Class email.  They are looking to 3^rd parties for the implementation of these systems in order to offload the IT function as they are really only interested in the services themselves.  They want support of the services but not the burden of employee overhead and the ongoing headache of data center facilities issues.  They told me it is becoming more and more difficult to find IT managers who are competent and who understand the complexities of their business.  These companies tend to be in the 20-199 employee range which cuts across both Small and Medium business.

So these companies have a real dilemma in that they want to take advantage of all the innovation in information technology but don't want to pay for a full time staff to implement it.  As the notion of off premise applications delivery or Software as a Service has gained more awareness, this becomes at least one option for consideration.  But what of the custom applications that a Law firm has developed to search through client files?  Or what about the data files that are used to run multi-million dollar CNC machines in a manufacturing shop?  How about a 30 employee insurance retailer with home grown software for CRM?  Most of these companies are already dealing with the mess created by an IT employee who wrote custom code for their core business and then bailed to take a higher paying job somewhere else.

For the past 5-10 years small outsourcing IT companies called System Builders have been growing their businesses at break neck speeds because of the demand previously mentioned.  These nimble firms provide IT expertise jobbed out to the SMB at rates that undercut a full time on-site staff.  They have become a viable alternative to high priced IT employees who used to work directly for the SMB. 

In some cases, the SMB has his own data center on premise but it is configured and maintained by these System Builders.  When we consider the 500 Million end points (SMBs worldwide) who are in need of this type of service it's not surprising that alternatives approaches are being used.  One such alternative is SaaS and service providers who support this segment are also growing at double digit rates.  Configuring and maintaining a data center is one thing, but who provides the delivery mechanism and support for software delivered as a service? 

At the uber-SaaS level companies like Salesforce.com come to mind.  But when it comes to niche applications, business continuity and business customization a support tier must be involved in order for the SMB to get what they need. There are three distinct priorities for the SMB in this regard; Integration and support, working with a few trusted vendors, and tiered service offerings.  System Builders and Managed Service Providers (MSP) fill these requirements and are absolutely necessary in order for the eco-system to be balanced.  Without these partners, the SMB is left to solve his own problems which is contrary to the current trends.

Just as the SMB has a specific focus for their collective businesses, System Builders and MSPs are also focused on the delivery of applications, data storage and services to support each of these.  Therefore, a second tier must be introduced to handle the aggregation of these tens of thousands of System Builders and MSPs for training, license reporting, product fulfillment and marketing.  Software and Hardware Distributors fulfill this role.  Distributors usually have multiple products at their disposal, work across regional boundaries, move vast amounts of product and can provide better volume discounts as a result. Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) use these distributors as the first tier of the channel in order for them to concentrate on the development of the applications themselves.

ISVs sell to their authorized Distributors who in turn train and support the System Builders and MSPs.  Each player in the chain provides a unique value proposition and in the end work together for the benefit of the end user to complete the requirements for software and services.  This model is also proving to be the most cost effective way to provide Information Technology/Systems to the SMB space.

So if you are a System Builder, MSP or even an SMB looking to solve your business problems related to IT, Citrix has some pretty interesting solutions that all come through our (you guessed it) Distribution channel.  Check out how to get in contact with one through our web site.

As part of the Citrix Technical Support Escalation team that focuses on Debugging/Code analysis, Kapildev Ramlal is constantly learning new technologies and thinking of ways to help improve the support process at Citrix. Kapildev will be presenting the following sessions at Citrix TechEdge during Citrix Summit and Citrix Synergy 2009: End-to-end virtualization with Citrix Delivery Center, with a focus on Citrix XenApp, and then his in-depth session will cover Troubleshooting tools and methodology for Citrix XenApp 5 environments.
Q. How has XenApp improved from a support perspective over the past year?

Kapildev: Over the past year XenApp has improved significantly from a performance standpoint. With the release of hotfix rollup pack 3 for XenApp 4.5 and the release of XenApp 5.0, there has been some tremendous IMA improvements. As we know, IMA is the backbone of XenApp, and is considered the most critical component of the Farm. From our internal stress testing, we have found that IMA is now more stable than it has ever been in the past, so I expect to see less support cases opened regarding performance issues.

Q. What XenApp and Citrix Delivery Center tips will attendees learn at your session this year?

Kapildev: I hope that attendees would pick up several troubleshooting tips and techniques that they can readily use in their own environments. For my session, I've updated several tools and techniques as things have evolved a bit with the release of Windows Vista and Server 2008. For example, I include tips on how to enable local debugging on Windows Server 2008, which can be extremely useful for live debugging and analysis. It is becoming more common to see servers with 16+GB of RAM, so learning how to debug and analyze complex server related issues live, can save precious time on a trip to Citrix or Microsoft.

Q. What new tools or techniques are you using to troubleshoot XenApp?

Kapildev: We have had some improvements with our internal tool development process, and because of them, we now have a lot more public Citrix tools available for use on our Citrix Knowledge Center. These tools not only help automate time consuming tasks, but they also help expedite the time it takes to resolve problems.

Q. What types of cases have you worked on this past year? Why?

Kapildev: I have covered several synchronization and memory related cases over the past year. I believe this is mainly due to the wide variety of applications that can be run on a XenApp server. Because of this, the chances for a rogue application or driver causing problems on a system will be increased. Surprisingly not all of these cases were Citrix problems. In most of these cases, which I have worked on, the problem usually turned out to be a problem with a 3rd party application, and usually that 3rd party vendor already had a fix for the problem.

About Kapildev Ramlal
Kapildev has been with Citrix Technical Support for about five years. He started as a technical support engineer, and had a strong motivation for learning programming, C/C+, and Windows internals. One year later, he transitioned into the Global Escalation team as an Escalation Engineer. On the Escalation team, he's been able to learn debugging user mode and kernel mode Windows components, and has been actively assisting with analyzing complex development analysis cases. He's also developed several software application utilities for Citrix including CDFControl, Print Detective and TSUserLog (to name a few). He holds certifications in Network, A+, MCP, CCA. When he's not learning a new technology, he loves to be playing music.

Do you have an XenApp troubleshooting area that you would like Kapildev to focus on during his presentation? Leave a comment.

Check out more posts in the Citrix TechEdge 2009 series.

Nelson Esteves has moved through the ranks as part of the Citrix Technical Support team. He started out as a level one support engineer on the XenApp team, and now is an Escalation Engineer for the NetScaler and Advanced Access Gateway (AAG) support team. Nelson will be presenting the following sessions at Citrix TechEdge during Citrix Summit and Citrix Synergy 2009: End-to-end virtualization with Citrix Delivery Center, with a focus on Citrix Access Gateway, Enterprise Edition (AGEE), and then his in-depth session will cover Integrating and troubleshooting Citrix Access Gateway, Enterprise Edition.
Q. How has AGEE improved from a support perspective over the past year?

Nelson: AGEE has evolved to a bigger and better product. With the 9.0 release we are able to meet most of users demands such as full Microsoft SharePoint Integration as well as Branch Repeater acceleration. From a support perspective, the new filtering capabilities of network tracing on the appliance is great not to mention the ability for more granular control such as choosing packet type and size.

Q. What AGEE and Citrix Delivery Center tips will attendees learn at your session this year?

Nelson: During the breakout session, attendees will learn with great detail how pre and post-authentication scans work and how to configure them properly. They'll also learn how AGEE integrates with XenApp via Web Interface. I'll show what's involved on the login process to Web Interface and how Smart Access works in the background. In addition to all that they'll learn how to successfully decrypt a network trace and how to troubleshooting SSL errors when launching a published application via a pre-recorded troubleshooting video. The CDC presentation will explain how AGEE integrates with XenDesktop as well as Web Interface and NetScaler.

Q. What new tools or techniques are you using to troubleshoot NetScaler?

Nelson: The new filtering system when taking network traces was a great addition, and it made troubleshooting a lot faster since we can now select what we want to filter instead of having to handle very large network trace files.

Q. What types of cases have you worked on this past year? Why?

Nelson: I have handled cases related to VoIP issues via the VPN, SSL Errors when launching applications, Microsoft SharePoint integration issues, and several others. Most of the VoIP issues had to do with the software being used since it didn't have an option for VPN configuration. We need to make sure the call manager server receives the VPN user Intranet IP and not its local IP. SSL Errors were due to clients either not having the proper certificates installed or misconfiguration on the AGEE or Web Interface (missing STA, wrong STA URL, missing STA port, etc.). SharePoint integration has been challenging since the release of 9.0, but now we have corrected all the errors we have encountered.

About Nelson Esteves
Nelson has been with Citrix Technical Support for a little over three years. He started as level one support engineer working on core products such as XenApp, Password Manager, Installation Manager and Resource Manager. He was then transferred to the Web Security team working with Web Interface and Access Gateway. One year later he was promoted to the frontline NetScaler support team, and about a year after that he became an Escalation Engineer supporting NetScaler, Application Firewall and AGEE. He holds certifications in A+, Net+, MCP, CCNA and CCA for Citrix NetScaler 8 Platinum Edition. He's also pretty quick on his feet, as an amateur soccer player, and has played in local tournaments and traveled with the Florida select team.Do you have an AGEE troubleshooting area that you would like Nelson to focus on during his presentation? Leave a comment.

Check out more posts in the Citrix TechEdge 2009 series.