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Hey did you hear, XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 released and boy does it pack some punch! Two features especially stick out for me...
- VM hosted apps - enables customers to host and deliver applications from centralized virtual machines running desktop operating systems for the fastest rollout of apps and 100% app compatibility.
- Power and capacity management - introduces policy-based server workload management and maintenance enabling IT to instantly optimize server farm performance and reduce power consumption.
Now, take these features and couple them with the power of Provisioning Services! If you have not tried to leverage Provisioning Services with your XenApp infrastructure, you are truly missing out! Imagine being able to stream one application workload (OS and applications) to one, ten, one hundred or more XenApp servers whether physical or virtual. Yes, ONE APPLICATION WORKLOAD! The best part, you can manage these application workloads centrally from one console. Take this logic and couple it with Power and capacity management and now you have a truly dynamic XenApp farm! No more over provisioning farms and no more overkill with hardware! You can now provisioning XenApp farms with ease based on capacity enabling huge cost savings in the datacenter. Application workloads when you need them!
Recently, Provisioning Services 5.1 Service Pack 1 was released and we made some improvements to enhance XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2. Provisioning Services 5.1 Service Pack 1 will support VM hosted apps and enable you to stream one application workload to one, ten, one hundred or more virtual machines. Image that! This feature will now be part of XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 Enterprise and Platinum. This will make your VM hosted apps a breeze to implement and drastically reduce the management overhead!
Provisioning Services 5.1 Service Pack 1 also introduced some minor licenses changes to accommodate the VM hosted apps feature but also simplified the way you leverage Provisioning Services with XenApp. No more need to download a license key and license file for Provisioning Services. Now, just download your XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 Enterprise or Platinum license and Provisioning Services will just work! Here is what enabled when leveraging Provisioning Services with XenApp:
- XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 Enterprise: unlimited streaming of VM hosted apps virtual machine application workloads.
- XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 Platinum: unlimited streaming of VM hosted apps virtual machine application workloads and unlimited streaming of physical or virtual XenApp servers.
Provisioning Services comes packed with great features as well! Check it out:
- Offline database support: Provisioning Services hosts continue operation even in the event of a Provisioning Services database failure or outage.
- Server maintenance mode: Place a Provisioning Services host into "maintenance mode" to automatically move streaming sessions to other Provisioning Services hosts in the farm.
- Offline vDisk maintenance: Boot Provisioning services VHD images directly in XenServer or Hyper-V for "offline" maintenance without the need for a streamed device.
- Multiple partition vDisks: Image systems that have multiple physical/logical drives into a single vDisk.
- Standard image NIC teaming: Enables teaming of NICs on provisioned systems using Intel or Broadcom based NIC teaming drivers.
- Auditing and enhanced logging: Provides enhanced ability to monitor system and administrator activity.
If you have been using Provisioning Services, thanks! If you have not... what are you waiting for, this is a must have feature for every XenApp farm! Time to optimize and streamline your farm leveraging the most powerful XenApp to date, XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2!
Learn more about Citrix XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2
- Official Press Release - http://citrix.com/English/NE/news/news.asp?newsID=1857726
- XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 release Web Site - http://citrix.com/xenapp/featurepack2
- XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 Executive Video - http://citrix.com/xenapp/fp2/video
- XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 Release Webinar - http://citrix.com/xenapp/fp2/techtalk
- XenApp Expert Series videos for this release - http://citrix.com/xenapp/fp2/expertseries
- XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 Blogs- http://community.citrix.com/blogs/tag/xa5fp2
- Download XenApp technology previews - http://citrix.com/xenapp/techpreviews
- XenApp Product Page - http://citrix.com/xenapp/
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Comments (4)
Oct 08
Anonymous says:
Interesting blog Pete. I'm a XenApp Enterprise customer and want to use PVS to p...Interesting blog Pete. I'm a XenApp Enterprise customer and want to use PVS to provision my current and future XenApp farms. Your post would suggest I no longer require to upgrade to Platinum licensing.
Quote: Provisioning Services 5.0 Service Pack 1 also introduced some minor licenses changes to accommodate the VM hosted apps feature but also simplified the way you leverage Provisioning Services with XenApp. No more need to download a license key and license file for Provisioning Services. Now, just download your XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 Enterprise or Platinum license and Provisioning Services will just work!
Is this true?
Although you do also say.......
Quote:
Here is what enabled when leveraging Provisioning Services with XenApp:
XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 Enterprise: unlimited streaming of VM hosted apps virtual machine application workloads.
XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 Platinum: unlimited streaming of VM hosted apps virtual machine application workloads and unlimited streaming of physical or virtual XenApp servers.
You don't mention "unlimited streaming of physical or virtual XenApp servers" under Enterprise.
Can you clarify please?
Many thanks
Oct 08
Pete Downing says:
The goal here is to simplify the licensing around the products. Prior to SP1 yo...The goal here is to simplify the licensing around the products. Prior to SP1 you needed an XenApp license file and a PVS license file. NOW, you only need to download XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 which will include the download option of Provisioning Services. Your XenApp Enterprise or Platinum license will enable Provisioning Services to work. No need for a Provisioning Services license. Provisioning Services is a feature of XenApp Enterprise and Platinum.
What I stated is true:
XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 Enterprise: unlimited streaming of VM hosted apps virtual machine application workloads.
It is what is states... if you want to use VM hosted Apps in XenApp Enterprise, you can leverage PVS to stream the OS to the virtual machines. XenApp Enterprise WILL NOT let you stream the physical or virtual XenApp servers or technically any server.
XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 Platinum: unlimited streaming of VM hosted apps virtual machine application workloads and unlimited streaming of physical or virtual XenApp servers.
Again, it is what is states... if you want to use VM hosted Apps in XenApp Platinum, you can leverage PVS to stream the OS to the virtual machines. XenApp Platinum WILL let you stream the physical or virtual XenApp servers. So, if you want to simplify the way you manage your XenApp farm, you can leverage Provisioning Services but only in Platinum.
So you still have reason to upgrade to Platinum... to leverage Provisioning Services to stream XenApp workloads to your XenApp farm(s). Another reason to upgrade to platinum is the Preferential load management or power and capacity management as mentioned above! This with Provisioning Services makes for a truly dynamic XenApp farm giving you the ability to scale up and down based on capacity!
Hope this helps!
Pete
Oct 08
Anonymous says:
Thanks for clarification Pete.Thanks for clarification Pete.
Oct 08
Pete Downing says:
The confusion whas stemmed from: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX117378 Th...The confusion whas stemmed from:
http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX117378
There should be this:
Q: Can Provisioning Server 5.1 Service Pack 1 provision physical or virtual XenApp Enterprise servers?
A: No, Provisioning Server 5.1 Service Pack 1 when used with XenApp Enterprise XenApp Enterprise WILL NOT let you stream the physical or virtual XenApp servers. XenApp Enterprise will allow the ability to leverage Provisioning Services to provision the OS to the virtual machines being leverage in VM Hosted Apps.
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