This is a continuation of an earlier post on XenApp Platinum related video interviews from Citrix Synergy.

As part of Synergy Underground project, we interviewed many of the people in the XenApp booth in the TechLab to talk about the different features and components of Citrix XenApp Platinum.

(Each of these videos were shot and streamed live to the Underground site via a Nokia N95 cell phone. The convenience and ability to stream live video directly to the net is the trade off for the lower audio and video quality. Read this post for an explanation of the process and a video on how the live streaming worked.)

Smart Auditor for Citrix XenApp with Kiran Kulkarni

Citrix Edgesight Monitoring for XenApp with Sean Connelly

Citrix EdgeSight for Load Testing with James Millington

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.

This whitepaper recently released by out guys in consulting covers the design considerations on how policies can impact your XenApp (Presentation Server) 4.5 environment...

---

There are numerous ways to apply a configuration or security setting onto a group of servers within a Citrix Presentation Server environment. Because policies are so unique, diverse and customizable, there is no single, correct method toward policy design. However, this document will give the key areas to consider when deciding on the appropriate approach to implementing a setting using a policy.  
This design consideration will look at the following types of policies and the comm on practices associated with them:

• Citrix Presentation Server policies: These policies are defined within the management console on Presentation Server and only apply to connections using the Citrix ICA protocol but not the Microsoft RDP protocol. Presentation Server policies also allow for the configuration of Presentation Server-specific options like Session Printers and Progressive Display. The power of these policies is that they have the ability to be filtered based on users, location and even the method for launching the published applications. Many of these filters are only available within Presentation Server.
  
  
• Active Directory Policies: These policies are configured within Active Directory. They are applied to organizational units (folders), domains, sites, etc. within the Active Directory structure. A single Active Director y policy can consist of a computer policy and a user policy. A computer policy consists of settings that affect the physical computer and impact all users logging onto the computer while a user policy affects the user and is applied on all systems the user logs on to. Local server policies and custom policies are types of Active Director y policies and are described as:
  
  
  • Local Server Policies and Settings: Local Server policies are similar to Active Directory policies, except they are managed on a server-by-server basis and configured locally on that specific server, where Active Directory policies are managed centrally and can impact hundreds or thousands of users or computers with a single application of a policy.
    
    
  • Custom Active Directory Policy Templates: Custom ADM templates, like the Citrix icaclient.adm template, are Active Directory or Local Server policies used to make configuration settings. They can be custom registry settings or simply standard policies re-organized as two examples. The concept of custom templates is supported, but depending on the author of the custom template, supportability by either Citrix or Microsoft might not be available. Organizations will have to verify the supportability of custom ADM templates. Also, any custom template used might already have settings configured, potentially causing issues with the environment. It is highly recommended to test custom policies in a test environment before implementing in production.

The following five areas are the basis f or the design decisions for an enterprise deployment of Presentation Server. These types of policies will be impacted by the following design areas:

• Policy Type
• Policy Integration
• Policy Filters
• Policy Prioritization
• Policy Precedence
  
  

Download it here

I had a chat this Friday with Orestes who's the Director of Product Management for the XenApp product line, formerly known as Presentation Server.

We talked about the name change - clearing the smoke aroung it, a look down the road - project Delaware (XenApp 5.0 for Windows Server 2008), and the upcoming Synergy event.

Register for XenApp 5.0 Early preview: http://www.citrix.com/delaware/earlyrelease

Register for Synergy: http://community.citrix.com/synergy-registration

Have Fun!
Gus Pinto

Ok, I think this would be an interesting one for the community. Audio (voice & sound) content is becoming more important to customers - day-to-day applications that require clear audio (e.g., listening to a voicemail attached in your email), VoIP/softphone calls, dictation applications, etc. If you have applications or use cases that require audio (voice or sound) over XenApp, please read on...
Take a listen to the recorded audio clip (no video) below - the clip was recorded over XenApp to an ICA client. As you listen to the clip, think about whether the audio quality is, in your opinion, good enough for you day-to-day use? After listening to the audio clip, please vote in our poll below. By the way, it's recommended that you watch/listen to the clip from a locally installed browser.

Oh, and if you cannot see the voting buttons (green checks).... you'll need to login to vote. And if you don't have a login, you can easily create one here.

What's your impression of the audio quality in the sample audio clip?	Choose
Poor – if it's my only option, then I cannot use it with my voice/audio application
Bearable – I can use it to communicate with others, but only if I have to
Acceptable – I can use this on a daily basis
Great – When can I have this?

If you have questions, please click on my name and feel free to contact me!

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:

• Citrix XenApp on Windows Terminal Services: A Feature Analysis
  

Our search for the Nirvana Device has led me to Las Vegas and CTIA 2008.  Citrix has been working with a number of partners around the concept of the Nirvana Device, and a lot of them are here this week.  The plan is to try and get as many demo devices that I can and report my findings in my blog as related to their use from my hotel room at the show.  So let's start off with my current baseline config of my remote office in my hotel room in Vegas. 

Device: OQO, maker of the Model 2 UMPC (www.oqo.com), and a Citrix Alliance partner.  You may have seen them at iForum or Citrix Summit over the last year.

I've actually been using OQO Model 2 as my primary device over a year now, and UMPCs such as the Model 2 used with Citrix App Delivery work great.  In the FTL office, I dock the Model 2 and the doc has 2 VGA outputs, so I run a dual monitor setup and drive a 21" and 19" monitor from my desk.  I also have a doc at home connected to my home office monitor via a KVM switch.  So when working from home, I simply KVM from my home PC and use the same device that I use from work.   At the CTIA show, I'm docked and connected to the Philips flatscreen TV in my hotel room.  Of course, the form factor of the Model 2 is also great when attending meetings at the office, or working from home on the couch (note: I'm over 40 and have no problem seeing text on the OQO's native screen, but some will have issues clearly seeing text on a device this small, reading glasses may be required by some J).  The Model 2 I have has built in EVDO Rev A from Verizon, which works great when on the road or at home (using it from my hotel room as I type this entry).  I can see this type of devices being used by others like myself that just prefer a small form factor UMPC, as well as some good tactical usages with Citrix customers, where a standard sized laptop is just to big.  Some pics of the baseline remote office setup below:

 
 
As you can see, several of the Nirvana Device concepts that Chris Fleck mentioned in his original post (Original Nirvana Device Post) are already in play.  Being the Model 2 is a UMPC and not a smart phone, I'm cheating a little, but:
-          I am docked and using the hotel's flat screen TV as a larger monitor

-          I am using an external Bluetooth mouse and keyboard

-          I am using a WWAN connection for my network

-          I am using Citrix App Delivery to do my work

While I don't plan on giving up my OQO any time soon, I am going to see what I can find at the show that I could use in the same basic configuration that I'm using the OQO in.

Off to my 2^nd meeting of the day, and hopefully will return tonight with some more Nirvana Device candidates to try out. 

Most of us know or have heard about Virtual Appliances.  Mostly single purpose virtual machines usually running on some variant of Linux today.  So why is this beneficial?

-          Ease of installation - import the VM and start it up

-          Preconfigured - maybe not fully preconfigured, but much more than having a stack of OS and product CDs and bare metal to start with

-          Reduced maintenance costs - starting with a preinstalled and mostly configured solution tends to reduce the number of errors associated with the install and configuration when done from scratch

So why not a Virtual Application Delivery Appliance (VADA)?  A preinstalled and mostly configured XenApp or CAE server that already has a targeted application published in the virtual machine.  A virtual machine that I get from my ISV that I start on my XenServer server.  Web Interface and PNAgent are already setup with defaults.  I add my users to the published application and start delivering the app.  Kind of a normal virtual appliance, but on digital steroids to enhance performance.

This is already starting to happen!  Our Platform Development Group at Citrix has been increasingly having discussions with ISV alliance partners to do just what is explained above.  Some are doing it; others are looking at the feasibility of doing it with their solution.  They have an application, or multi-component software solution that they want to, or are required to deliver via Citrix Application Delivery, and they want to simplify the process for both the customer and themselves as much as possible.  Maybe the deployment of the solution is a standalone environment and not to be part of a bigger farm.  Maybe there are reasons that their solution should run on dedicated server(s) and they simply join an existing farm.  In either case, by deploying their solution as a VADA (I'll let marketing guys change this acronym later), they can greatly reduce their installation/deployment cycle, and spend more time on training the customer on use of the solution, thus increasing customer satisfaction (VADA Bing VADA Boom!).  Post-installation maintenance should also be lower, being a large percentage of the OS and application installation has been automated by creation of the tested baseline virtual machine image which already contains the OS, XenApp and the published application, all following best practices established in the ISVs controlled lab environment.

So why not just jump on this band wagon today?  As always there's a few "gotchas". 

-          Licensing - while a bit easier on the Linux side, what we are discussing here is Microsoft Servers and Citrix Application Delivery products.  Usually ISVs do not have access to distribute licenses for either of these.

-          Server Virtualization Platform - So which platform does the ISV support (XenServer, VMWare, HyperV).  I think you can see some of the benefits of having a standard virtual machine image format, and why it's good that 2 of the 3 vendors listed are working towards such a standard. 

-          Please add your "gotchas" below.

 Intent of this thread is not to indicate the right or wrong way to approach the above scenario, but to get your feedback and ideas on the concept.  I find this concept very intriguing.  So give us and the other readers of this blog your input below.  Respond with your "gotchas" or respond to others "gotchas" on how they should be resolved.  I'll be sure to send a link to this post to our interested ISV partners, so they get the input.

I kicked it off, help me finish it! 

References:

Satori Group VADA blog post

How can you submit your topic of choice for a Citrix technical webcast? It's very simple. Just reply to this blog post. We are requesting input from you to understand what XenApp (the new name for Presentation Server) technical topics you want Citrix to discuss with you via our TechTalk webcast series.

While you think about some topics, let me point you to some of our most popular technical webcasts for Presentation Server. These might spark some ideas. I encourage you to watch these, but you also have the option to skip to the end of this post and submit your favorite topics.

Best Practices for Upgrading/Migrating to Citrix Presentation Server 4.5
Thinking about upgrading to Citrix Presentation Server 4.5? Learn directly from our expert the necessary steps for a successful implementation.

Tuning Citrix Presentation Server to Get More Users per Server
Do you want to get more users on your Citrix Presentation Server? Are you ready to learn how 64-bit architecture can remove performance bottlenecks from application delivery? Then learn from Citrix and Microsoft engineers on how to leverage 64-bit technology to increase the number of users per server.

Using Citrix Apps Offline: Understanding Application Streaming in Citrix Presentation Server 4.5
Hear directly from the architect how Application Streaming provides you with the flexibility to stream applications to remote users who need local CPU resources, require local peripherals or need to work offline.

Discover What's New in Citrix Presentation Server 4.5 Feature Pack 1
Get an in depth technical overview of the latest features of Citrix Presentation Server 4.5 including SmartAuditor & EasyCall technologies.

Designing Citrix Presentation Server Farms for Maximum Scalability
Find out from our experts the critical design considerations needed for any Citrix Presentation Server environment. Learn how to design your server farm zones for high scalability. Also, find out about data store sizing, architecture & operation and how to plan for future deployments based on farm growth.

Using the Citrix Presentation Server 4 Universal Printer Driver
Go 'under the hood' with Gary Barton as he discusses new printing architecture that addresses real-world printing dilemmas.

Graphics Acceleration & ICA Client Enhancements
Learn how Citrix Presentation Server 4.5 can help increase the performance and usability of graphics-intensive applications. Also, learn about some of the ICA client enhancements in this release.

Health Assistant Automated Server Recovery and Configuration Logging
Hear directly from the engineers about the new server health checks and recovery actions in Presentation Server, how to increase application availability with Independent Management Architecture (IMA) Thread Pooling, and how to resolve the on ramp black hole situation with Load Throttling. Also, learn about the Configuration Logging design and security features and how to filter and generate reports.

Web Interface & Active Directory Federated Services (ADFS)
Find out from our experts about the Web Interface support for advanced application delivery, the architecture behind web-based application delivery, the architecture and benefits of ADFS integration in Citrix Web Interface, and how to configure ADFS integration in Citrix Web Interface.

What XenApp technical topics do you want to hear about?

Citrix has partnered with Nokia on ICA clients for their Symbian devices for years.  I recently did an interview with the Nokia team on use of the Citrix ICA client for Series 60 3rd Edition devices such as E61, E70 and E90 devices for their Nokia Forum Pro.  These ICA clients can be downloaded from http://www.citrix.com/English/SS/downloads/details.asp?dID=2755&downloadID=165587&pID=186.

Snippet from the interview below: 

Helping enterprise IT departments

 The Citrix XenApp Client for S60 3rd Edition devices offers some very clear benefits to IT departments as well, Marano adds. "From an IT perspective, the flexibility of mobile devices can be scary," he says. "How do you encourage people to use them, but also make sure that they are used properly and securely? With this solution, the same infrastructure being used today for external laptops and desktops can be used to deliver applications to the Series 60 3rd Edition devices. Minimizing the number of technologies used to deliver business-critical data to end users regardless of device type, by standardizing on a single platform, is a key factor to consider."

The interview gives a good overview of use Nokia S60 devices, but also provides a pretty good overview on the use of mobile devices as a whole with XenApp.

The full PDF interview can be found at: http://www.nokia.com/NOKIA_COM_1/Developers/Success_Stories/Enterprise_&_productivity/Dev_succ_Citrix_SC_v1.0.pdf

My first blog on Mobile Devices and The App Delivery Center seemed to get enough hits that I thought I would follow up with a video demo to give a better view of XenApp applications actually being delivered to a mobile device.  Also felt that it would be good to describe the setup used to create the video, so details follow below.  The demo was intended to show a "real world" use case that a lot of us have been through.  The script for the video is that your boss sends you an email asking you to perform a number of tasks in preparation for an upcoming meeting:

-       update a Word document

-       update an Excel spreadsheet

-       verify a CAD document is up to date

-       join a GoToMeeting

All of these tasks are performed in the below video.  Details on the setup:

-       A real ATT 8525 device with the 10.0 WinMo ICA client was used to connect to  a XenApp 4.5 server

-       The server is hosted on the internet, outside of the Citrix network.

-       The Web Interface changes referred to in my Mobile Devices and The App Delivery Center blog post are in use on this demo server, thus you get the better app sizing described in the aforementioned post (http://support.citrix.com/forums/thread.jspa?forumID=136&threadID=91629&tstart=0).

-       Soti Pocket Controller was used to display the screen of the 8525 on my laptop

-       When connected to Soti, an active sync connection is used, which actually provides the network connection for the 8525.  So the native 3G data connection of the 8525 was not used, BUT.

-       I used the EVDO Rev A connection on my laptop to connect to the internet, so even though the device has ATT 3G connection, a Verizon EVDO Rev A connection was actually used in this case, thus a WWAN connection is being used.

-       Camtasia was used to capture the Soti output on my laptop

So now that you know the gory setup to get this capture, the video is below.  Hope this give a better picture of use of the Citrix Mobile ICA clients.

Obviously some clarity of the video was lost during conversion and upload to YouTube.  But I thing you'll get the idea!

Recently I have been working with the different teams here at Citrix implementing Provisioning Server in XenApp environments.  As we venture into this realm, we are finding remapping of drives is quite common in many 4.x, 3.x and XP implementations.  There are typically two scenarios I hear about:

• Users are confused when they perform a "Saves As" in an ICA session and they do not see their "C" drive a "C" drive.  Remapping addresses this issue minimizing support calls I image.
• Customers have spent a sizable amount of money creating application packages to work properly in a remapped environment.  To undo this would be another sizable amount of money so customers are not quick to revert. 

As Provisioning Server was introduced into the picture, people have asked... "What about the remapped drives?" Below is the explanation on how to ensure the remapping is seen when streaming a XenApp (Presentation) Server with Provisioning Server.

Below is the process to make a XenApp (Presentation) Server operable when streamed by a Provisioning Server with remapped drives are part of the baseline.

I will have a follow-on article discussing two partition scenarios coming soon!

As always, I am a huge fan of feedback, so please leave comments.

Summary

When using a Provisioning Server to stream a XenApp (Presentation) Server that has a remapped drive, Provisioning Server does not always boot with the proper drive letter therefore making the streamed target device inoperable. This article will provide the "How To" on creating a vDisk in with the Provisioning Server Image Builder when a XenApp (Presentation) Server is currently remapped.

Requirements

Requirements for completing the task and a specific knowledge and/or hardware and software requirements:

• Basic knowledge and understanding of Provisioning Server for Datacenters 4.5
• Advanced knowledge of XenApp (Presentation) Server 4.x
• Basic knowledge of Active Directory, IIS, Windows System administration and Network Terminology
• A baseline install of Windows Server 2003 with latest patches and drivers
• A baseline install of XenApp (Presentation) Server on an existing Master Target Device
• A vDisk created and ready to image
• Knowledge of the Citrix Provisioning Server PS Integration Utility: CTX116063 (http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX116063)
• Assumes default remapping of C: to M:

Background

XenApp (Presentation) Server drive letter remapping is only necessary when users will be accessing and saving data on their local client devices from ICA sessions. For example, when a user uses Microsoft Word on a XenApp (Presentation) Server and perform a 'Save As' they will be asked where to save the document. Without drive mapping, the user can become confused because their local system drive may appear as drive V (as an example). With drive remapping, their system drive will show up a drive letter C.

The advantages of remapping server drive letters are:

• Users will be able to see their own local disk drives as the correct drive letters.
• If you need to change the drive letter, the XenApp (Presentation) Server installation program provides an easy way to do this.

The disadvantages of remapping server drive letters are:

• Any previously installed applications will most likely stop working.
• Any new installed applications, patches or hotfixes may not properly install.
• In some situations, unexplainable things happen on the server.

When dealing with a Provisioning Server that is streaming a XenApp (Presentation) Server down to a target device, the drive remapping may not correctly propagate to the vDisk therefore causing the XenApp (Presentation) Server to be inoperable upon boot. Below explain how to configure a XenApp (Presentation) Server that has a remapped drive so that it functions properly when streamed by Provisioning Server.

Procedure

The steps to complete the task:

1. Boot the master target device and log on to the system as a domain administrator or a domain user.
2. Install and configure Citrix XenApp (Presentation) Server.  At the end of the installation, you will be prompted to reboot
3. Reboot the master target device.
4. When the master target device is successfully restarted, log on to the system as a local or domain administrator, or a domain user (with local install privileges).
5. Install the Provisioning Server for Datacenters Target Device client software and then shutdown the master target device.
6. Boot the master target device, enter the BIOS configuration utility and configure the boot order to PXE boot first.  Save configuration settings and continue the boot process. When PXE booting a master target device for the first time, the Provisioning Server Streaming Service will prompt for the following:
   1. Client Name - Give the master target device a meaningful name
   2. Description - Give the master target device a meaningful description
   3. Select vDisk - Select the vDisk that was created and formatted for this installation
   4. Boot From - Select boot from hard drive
7. When the master target device is successfully restarted, log on to the system as a domain administrator, or a domain user (with local install privileges).
8. Double click on 'My Computer.'
9. The drives drive will appear (assuming the defaults) as follows:
   1. System = M:
   2. CD-Rom = N:
   3. vDisk = C: 
10. Right click on 'My Computer' and click 'Manage.' 
11. The 'Computer Management' service console will open.
12. Click on 'Disk Management' to view all disks associated with the Master Target Device.
13. Right click on the vDisk drive C and click 'Change Drive Letter and Paths.'
14. The 'Change Drive Letters and Path for C: (vDisks)' dialog box will open.
15. Click on the 'Change' button.
16. The 'Change Drive Letters or Path' dialog box will open.
17. Select a drive letter greater than the remapped system drive.
18. Click 'OK' to close the 'Change Drive Letter or Path' dialog box and click 'OK' to the 'Confirm' dialog box.
19. The drive letters should be as follows (assuming system drive letter is M):
    1. System = M:
    2. CD-Rom = N:
    3. vDisk = O:
20. Install the "PVS PS Integration Utility.msi" on the master target device.
    • As noted this utility does require a logon to invoke the cpsmods.vbs, which performs a series of steps that are critical for the XenApp (Presentation) Server to fully function while being streamed by Provisioning Server.  Several scenarios for completing the logon process are outlined in: CTX116063 (http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX116063)
21. Click "Next" on the "Welcome" dialog box.
22. Select the version of XenApp (Presentation) Server currently installed on the master target device and click "Next."
23. Click "Next" on the "Confirm Installation" dialog box.
24. Click "Close" on the "Installation Complete" dialog box.
25. Upon completion of the install, an icon will be created on the desktop of the master target device called either the "CPS 4.5 Integration Tool" or "CPS 4.0 Integration Tool."
26. Double click on the icon and a dialog box will appear indicating success.
27. Click "OK" and the "Client Image Builder" will automatically open and proceed to build the image to the vDisk mapped during the PXE boot process.
28. Build the vDisk pointing the 'Destination Drive' to the proper drive letter (Note: Be sure to 'Optimize' before building the image).
29. Upon completion of the image build, shut down the master target device.
30. The vDisk is now ready to stream to multiple Target Devices using Standard Image mode.
    

More Information

For more information on drive remapping please following these links: http://www.brianmadden.com/content/article/Should-you-remap-drive-letters-when-installing-MetaFrame-Presentation-Server

http://support.citrix.com/article/ctx457309

Note: This procedure will be available with pictures as a TechNote in the Knowledge Center.  I will update with the link once it is posted.

In the process of working on a project I had to gather all of the ports used by Citrix XenApp (the new name for Citrix Presentation Server). I had to look in a number of documents and KB articles. All I have to say is WHEW! I thought this might be useful for someone out there since I would have liked to have something similar. There are other ports too but I felt they weren't important (or perhaps I didn't understand how important they were so I left them out   ). Many of these are not Citrix ports but rather the service ports that we use to communicate into the infrastructure (such as LDAP). Hope this helps someone. If you find an obvious error or something omitted, please be sure to comment to this post. Enjoy!

Definitely nice to see that regardless of all of these ports, all clients/users need to connect are HTTP(S)-TCP ports 80 or 443.

NOTE: For more information on commonly known ports, visit http://www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers. 

• Application Performance Monitoring (powered by Citrix EdgeSight)
  • EdgeSight Agent to Edgesight Server - TCP 80/443 (Payload and alerts)
  • EdgeSight Web console (non-IMA) to RSCorSvc on EdgeSight Agent - TCP 9035
  • EdgeSight Agent internal communication - TCP 9036 (client-side database) NOTE: After EdgeSight 4.5, replaced with IPC)
  • EdgeSight database - SQL 1433 (configurable)
• Client-side Application Virtualization -
  • Streaming Client to Application Hub (File Server/Share) - SMB 445
• EasyCall -
  • To client - HTTP(S)-TCP 8443 (PSync)
  • To Admin console (non-IMA) - TCP 443
  • To LDAP Directory- TCP 389
  • To PBX - port varies by vendor
• Independent Management Architecture (IMA) Services - TCP 2512, 2513
• Licensing Service - TCP 27000, 27009 (configurable)
• Server-side Application Virtualization
  • Management Console (Using IMA) - TCP 2512, 2513
  • Application requests - TCP XML 80, 8080 or 443 (configurable)
  • Access to Applications Virtualized on the Server - ICA-TCP 1494, 2598 (Session Reliability)
• Single Sign-on (powered by Citrix Password Manager)
  • Management Console (non-IMA) or Agent to Password Manager Service - TCP-443
  • Management Console (non-IMA), Agent or Service to credential store
    • Network File Share Credential Store - TCP/UDP 445 (CIFS) or TCP/UDP 135-139 (NetBIOS)
    • Active Directory Credential Store - TCP/UDP - 389, 636, TCP - 3268, 3269
    • Novell File Share Credential Store - TCP/UDP - 524  
• SmartAccess (powered by Citrix Access Gateway)
  • Standard and Advanced Edition
    • Client connections- TCP-SSL 443 (configurable)
    • Advanced Access Control (AAC) to Appliance communication - TCP 80 or 443 (configurable), 9001, 9002, 9005
    • Management Console
      • to Appliance (non-IMA) - 9001, 9002, 9005
      • to AAC - IMA-TCP-2513
  • Enterprise Edition
    • To client - SSL-TCP 443
    • To internal network - SSL-TCP 443, Native Authentication port (i.e. RADIUS 1812, LDAP 389), Native application ports (i.e. ICA-1494)
    • Management console (non-IMA) - SSH-TCP 22, HTTP(S)-TCP 80/443
• SmartAuditor -
  • Management (non-IMA) - Use local console on Agent or on Server.
  • Agent to Broker (Recording and Policy Check) - TCP 80/443 (configurable)
  • Player to Broker - TCP 80/443 (configurable)
  • Agent to Server (Metadata and Video)- Microsoft Message Queuing,
    • Default - TCP: 1801; RPC: 135, 2101*, 2103*, 2105*; UDP: 3527, 1801 (*These port numbers may be incremented by 11 if the initia choice of RPC port is being used when Message Queuing initializes. A connecting QM queries port 135 to discover the 2xxx ports.)
    • Over SSL- TCP 80,443
• WAN Optimizer -Guidance provided was to get it from Admin Guide
  • Appliance to Appliance - Pass-through native application port (e.g. ICA-1494, HTTP-80, LDAP-389)
  • Management Console (non-IMA) - TCP 80
  • Client to Appliance - TCP 443
• Web Interface
  • Client connections - TCP 80/443 (configurable)
  • Server-to-server - TCP XML 80/8080, 443 (using SSL Relay)
  • Management console (partially IMA) - DCOM 135 (+ configurable high port range), IMA-TCP 2513, TCP 80/443

Brian Madden created a webinar that helped to explain some core communications processes. That might also be useful and you can find it here (called Understanding and Designing Presentation Server Farms).

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.

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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....

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 1^st 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

Have you seen or are you even aware of Citrix's Technical Video Library?  Well, consider this your official invite to watch these videos.  Educational format preferences are of course a personal thing.  Some people enjoy reading the books and admin guides while some prefer online training whereas others work best with instructor lead training formats.  Ultimately multiple formats must be available in order to best match the personal preferences of content as well as what works best for any given individual.  Thus enter our Technical Videos - not to replace any of our existing educational tools but a video format to deliver technical content on the more popular technology areas and topics.

The purpose of these videos is a focused and technical delivery on product features, architectures, capabilities and the basics of how things work.  The intent is to create a library of concise videos on numerous topics and subject areas.  If I want to learn the nuts and bolts of Presentation Server's architecture, then I can watch this 30 minute video in the library that covers what I need to know to get started.

These videos will cover the technical details and information that's required to get you knowledgeable, comfortable and moving forward in the right direction.  Now of course this is technology we are talking about so after one video we are not promising to turn you into a subject matter expert but they will certainly get you started.  We work to keep them in the 20-40 minutes range to make watching them easier and more flexible - hit just the topics you want, when you want.

Well, why are you still here - check them out now at http://www.citrix.com/techvideos. And of course, please comment on these current videos as well as let us know what other topics you would like to see delivered.

Citrix is heads-down working on the launch of Project Delaware, the next version of Presentation Server. And Microsoft is finalizing launch details for its Heroes Happen Here launch events for Windows Server 2008 (along with Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008), which begins on February 27, 2008 in Los Angeles. At this event, you will see the new Terminal Services features first-hand, but don't wait until then to get a sneak-peek of some of those features.

With the upcoming release of these new products from Microsoft and Citrix, organizations are asking themselves with increasing frequency questions like:

• Will I still need Presentation Server?
• Will Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008 meet my needs?
• Why should I pay more for Presentation Server as compared to Terminal Services?

These questions are nothing new to the Terminal Services teams at Microsoft and the Presentation Server teams at Citrix. In fact, in my nearly 6 years at Citrix, these same questions are asked continually, and more frequently as we near product launches.  But the truth is, new releases of Presentation Server are **always** complementary to new releases of Terminal Services.  Maybe that's why Microsoft named Citrix Global ISV of the year in 2003 and again in 2005.

If you are considering Terminal Services and Presentation Server, are all of your questions answered in these items?:

• Value-add to Terminal Services
• Citrix Value-Add to Windows Terminal Services White Paper (updated link below)
• Performance Evaluation of Presentation Server 4.5 and Windows Terminal Services White Paper  (updated link below)

Will an update to these docs answer your questions? Or would you like to see something new?  What questions do you need answered when considering these products?

 Leave a comment and let us know.

 UPDATE 22 January 2009:
Since writing this post, the name of Presentation Server was changed to XenApp, Project Delaware was released, and a couple of web links were broken. Here are the new links:

• XenApp and Terminal Services
• Citrix XenApp 5 and Windows Server 2008: A Feature Analysis

Don't miss out on the great new Presentation Server Platinum training opportunity just announced at Summit this week!  See details below.....

StayCurrent, a promotion offering accelerated, in-depth technical training on Citrix Presentation Server(TM) Platinum Edition. Intended to encourage partners to update their skills, the promotion features an accelerated training course that combines several courses adding up to 11 days of training in five days. The course is offered at the promotional rate of $2,500, which is 55 percent off current pricing. This offer is also valid through the next Citrix Summit partner event (October 2008).

Partners may access further information on this training program and others by going to www.citrix.com/partnertraining and logging in with a valid My Citrix account. 

Go for it!!!!

Hello, this is my first post in this community, so let me start with a brief introduction: my name is Juliano Maldaner, a product architect on the Presentation Server team. One of the areas I'm working on is the simplification of Presentation Server management experience for upcoming releases. We're introducing some exciting new concepts and would like to hear your feedback!

Managing a Presentation Server farm requires much more than configuring Presentation Server components: Operating System and Application settings are as important. A successful environment must maintain PS, Operating System, and Application settings correctly configured and consistent across all servers in the farm. Maintaining this consistency throughout the farm life cycle is one of the major challenges for PS Administrators.

The Windows platform provides an outstanding tool to address these configuration management challenges: Active Directory and Group Policy. An overwhelming majority of PS deployments use Group Policy in some capacity. Integrating PS settings into GPO is possible with MFCOM scripts, but far from ideal. Most use GPO for Windows and Application settings, and Citrix management consoles for PS configuration. Because all settings must be synchronized, we realized that the management experience would be greatly simplified if PS Session Policies and Server settings were within Group Policy Objects themselves!

Presentation Server settings/policies embedded into Group Policy Editor

The main benefit of this integration is the creation a single management template for platform, applications and Citrix configuration. All operations performed with Group Policy Management Console will include Presentation Server parameters as well. Resulting Set of Policy reports will show all Citrix and platform configuration - a great help for troubleshooting and planning. Backup, Restore, and Migration will allow saving and moving configurations from farm to farm, making replication of environments much easier than what it is today.

Another key benefit is the separation of PS settings and servers. Group Policy Objects are associated with Organization Units, and not with individual servers or users. Common management operations - adding capacity to a silo; repurposing a server; or replacing a broken server - are greatly simplified: simply change the server OU membership, and the settings associated with that silo will automatically apply to the server.

Application Publishing 

The Group Policy integration will NOT require Active Directory schema changes. For this reason, PS objects such as Applications and Administrators will continue to be managed via Citrix management consoles. Application Publishing will be modified to allow association of Applications with Active Directory Server Groups and Organization Units. This way, apps will be automatically published as soon as the server is assigned to the correct Organizational Unit.

Policy Filters 

Presentation Server Group Policy extension will improve GPO filtering capabilities to include all filters existing on CPS 4.5 session policies - including SmartAccess. These filters will only apply to the Citrix part of the GPO, platform configuration will apply regardless of the filter result.

The Citrix policies within GPOs will also allow filtering on a per-setting level - native Group Policy only allow filtering per-policy level. Some Presentation Server features require complex filtered settings, for example: proximity printing based on client IP address. This feature will allow the configuration of such policies within a single GPO.

What about environments without Group Policy? 

There are some important scenarios where Group Policies cannot be used:

• Environments using other Directory services;
• Applications that require anonymous (local) accounts;
• Organizations that restrict or deny AD delegation to PS administrators.

To support these environments, IMA will provide a global Group Policy Object, applied to all servers in the farm. This farm-wide GPO replicates the existing Farm Default settings. Per-server override is possible by configuring the server's Local Group Policy Object.

Our goal is to maintain feature parity with PS 4.5 if Group Policy is not used. However, the Administrator's experience will be optimized for Active Directory and GPO scenarios.

Active Directory and Group Policy are fundamental for a successful Presentation Server environment. Group Policy integration will bring major improvements to management experience, leveraging existing IT infrastructure and knowledge. The feedback we've received so far has been very positive, please let us know what you think!