HDX direct, Direct Workload, and Rendezvous explained and differences

[Tyd Ros]

Hello all,

 

I am having trouble wrapping my  head around HDX direct, Direct Workload, and Rendezvous. Anyone have a tip to crack my thick skull. 

 

All of these technologies appear to be  ways to direct traffic to the most direct route to your VDAs or Citrix gateway bypassing unnecessary traffic paths?  It seems like Direct workload and HDX direct  are similar by but HDX direct has more features.   How is rendezvous different then those two.

 

Also, can you use rendezvous with HDX Direct or Direct workload>

 

 

Can someone explain these as I have read the articles a few times and im not getting it.   Thanks!

[James Kindon]

A standard Cloud connection flow does this assuming you are using the Gateway Service:

 

Citrix Workspace handles Authentication and Resource Enumeration -> The user launches a desktop -> The connection is tunneled via the Gateway Service -> through the Cloud Connector -> To the VDA

 

If you turn on Rendezvous Protocol, the following occurs:

 

Citrix Workspace handles Authentication and Resource Enumeration -> The user launches a desktop -> The connection is tunneled via the Gateway Service directly to the VDA. The Cloud Connector is no longer in the connection path. The VDA reaches out to the Gateway Service on 443 to make this happen

 

Direct Workload Connection changes things again:

 

Citrix Workspace handles Authentication and Resource Enumeration -> The user launches a desktop -> IF the network where the user lives has been defined as a network location in Citrix Cloud AND that location has direct line of sight to the VDA -> The Gateway Service is bypassed entirely, and the user connects straight to the VDA

 

This makes it very similar to a traditional storefront flow on-prem. You now have a single connection from endpoint to VDA

 

HDX Direct is the future of Direct Workload Connection, it will effectively do the same thing, but you will not need to define network locations for the behavior to occur. It uses the Gateway Service to establish a connection, and then learns if there is a direct connection to the VDA possible. There are certs and other info passed around along with some use of STUN etc to make this secure a bit more robust

 

[Tyd Ros]

On 1/17/2024 at 11:05 PM, James Kindon said:

A standard Cloud connection flow does this assuming you are using the Gateway Service:

 

Citrix Workspace handles Authentication and Resource Enumeration -> The user launches a desktop -> The connection is tunneled via the Gateway Service -> through the Cloud Connector -> To the VDA

 

If you turn on Rendezvous Protocol, the following occurs:

 

Citrix Workspace handles Authentication and Resource Enumeration -> The user launches a desktop -> The connection is tunneled via the Gateway Service directly to the VDA. The Cloud Connector is no longer in the connection path. The VDA reaches out to the Gateway Service on 443 to make this happen

 

Direct Workload Connection changes things again:

 

Citrix Workspace handles Authentication and Resource Enumeration -> The user launches a desktop -> IF the network where the user lives has been defined as a network location in Citrix Cloud AND that location has direct line of sight to the VDA -> The Gateway Service is bypassed entirely, and the user connects straight to the VDA

 

This makes it very similar to a traditional storefront flow on-prem. You now have a single connection from endpoint to VDA

 

HDX Direct is the future of Direct Workload Connection, it will effectively do the same thing, but you will not need to define network locations for the behavior to occur. It uses the Gateway Service to establish a connection, and then learns if there is a direct connection to the VDA possible. There are certs and other info passed around along with some use of STUN etc to make this secure a bit more robust

 

Thanks @James Kindon!! Of course you of all people comes here and lays down a such a great response!!

[James Kindon]

? Hopefully it's on the money ?