Windows Apps as a Service

This blueprint documents deploying Citrix XenApp in a public cloud environment to deliver Windows applications from the cloud. Citrix XenApp is provided as an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) running in Amazon EC2. With Citrix XenApp AMI, both hosted application and streaming application is supported. Customers and prospects will benefit from using this blueprint to gain experience with hosting applications, streaming applications and for testing applications prior to delivering them in their corporate environment.

Technical Overview

In this scenario, a single XenApp image instance can be started on Amazon EC2 infrastructure to deliver application content (hosted and streamed). The Application Streaming Profiler has been installed on the same XenApp server providing instant ability to configure application profiles for Streaming.

You can use this demo server to test pre-configured hosted and streamed applications. To do this, point your browser to the public IP of your instance. Log in with the local administrator username and password. To use the pre-configured Streamed to client published application, make the following changes on your client device:

• Open Firefox Streamed application property and select modify all properties. Under Basic->Location change the "Citrix Streaming application prodile address to http://<Public Ip of the server>/streaming/profile/firefox/firefox.profile
• Add the URL for the Web Interface site (http://\[Instance-IP-Address\]) to your browser's Trusted sites list
• Install the  Streaming plug-in and the XenApp Hosted plugin on you client device

You can also use this machine to Profile, install, and publish your own applications.  Everything you will need to do this is already pre-installed.  Just add your application to the server.  Use the Administrator's Guides on the Citrix Knowledge Base located at support.citrix.com for step by step setup instructions.

Locating and Starting Citrix AMI's:

The Citrix AMI's can be located in Elasticfox, by navigating to "Images." Enter "Citrix" in the images field. The Citrix C3 images will be listed. You can launch any of them by performing a right-click and selecting "Launch Instance of this AMI."

Domain Authentication:

This AMI is not a domain controller. You should be able to authenticate to a domain controller in the cloud, or at the datacenter over a VPN.

Computer Name:

The computer name or hostname of this machine is tied to the Citrix XenApp License file, and you should not change the name. You can change the name if you obtain your own license file.

AMI Specifications:

AMI ID:

ami-e4e2018d

Bucket:

citrix-c3-lab

AMI Filename:

XenApp5.0_32bit_v1.4.manifest.xml

Credentials:

Username:  Administrator
Password:  Citrix123
Domain:    CTXSlic1

Platform:

Windows Server 2003 Service Pak 2, 32 bit. This AMI is based on or built on the Amazon base AMI ami-db4daab2, a windows authenticated platform that allows you to use authentication port numbers with the image. This machine is not part of a domain, and uses a local hostname.

Citrix Components

The following Citrix components are installed on this Server:

• XenApp 5.0 for Windows Server 2003
• Hotfix Roll Up 4
• Web Interface 5.1.1
• Streaming Profiler 1.3
• Streaming Plugin 1.3.1
• Citrix license Server 11.6.1
  

Licenses:

BYOL - Bring Your Own Licenses.

• You will need a license for Citrix XenApp, this image contains a developer license.
• You will need a license for Microsoft Terminal Services.

Citrix Configurations

Because Amazon EC2 uses NAT, in order to get the XenApp server to work with clients outside of EC2, the following will need to be performed.

Launch the Citrix Access Management Console in the XenApp server. In the Citrix Access Management Console, navigate to Citrix Resources -> Web Interface -> http://<public-server-address>/Citrix/XenApp.

For external client access:
Select Manage secure client access -> Edit secure client access settings.
Set the Default access method to "Alternate".

Run "Altaddr" from a command prompt.
Open a command prompt on the Windows Server.
Type if "Altaddr /SET x.x.x.x" <return>, where x.x.x.x is the External IP Address of the XenApp server.

For internal client access:
Select Manage secure client access -> Edit secure client access settings.
Set "Add". Type in the Client IP Address, and Mask.
Note: An entry will need to be made for this XenApp server, and all other machines on the cloud internal network, if they want to access this XenApp server through the Web Interface.

Port Numbers:
Make sure the Amazon Security Group, in addition to your firewall and Router allows the following ports to pass through:
Tcp port 1494 citrix ica
Tcp port 2598 citrix session reliability
Tcp port 80 http
Tcp port 443 https
Tcp port 3389 rdp

Citrix Applications

There are two Web Interface sites created on this server. One Access Platform site and one XenApp Services site.
The following applications are published on the XenApp server:

• Installed Applications: Wordpad, Internet Explorer, Desktop
• Streamed Applications: one Streamed to server application (FireFox), one Streamed to client application (Firefox)

An application is already profiled and can be streamed to Windows 2003, Windows XP, or Windows Vista Target machine.  The application is Firefox and the profile is located in the following folder:  C:\ApplicationHub\Profile\FireFox.  The Profiled application is published to allow HTTP Streaming.

Application Streaming Profiler

As a best practice, the Profiler should be installed on a machine that matches the intended target operating system.  For example, if the application will be streamed to a Windows Server 2003 server then the profiler should be installed on a Windows Server 2003 and the profile should be created on that machine.

Application Streaming Plug-in

To stream applications for offline access the XenApp Hosted plugin as well as the Streaming plug-in is required on the client machine.  Only Windows Client Machines are supported.  The streaming plugin cannot be installed on a machine that is a domain controller.

Application Publishing

There are two methods for streaming applications.  You can use the SMB protocol or the HTTP(S) protocol.  If the application will be accessed over the Internet, use HTTP(S) streaming.  To configure HTTP(S) streaming, in the Access Management Console publish the application by pointing to the URL of the profile.

For Application Streaming best practices and configuration see CTX116414 at  http://support.citrix.com/article/ctx116414.