About two and a half years ago I published the ultimate Citrix XenDesktop 7.x internals cheat sheet, version 1.0 and it turned out to be a big hit. In the meantime, it has been viewed over 80.000 times already. All the more reason to start working on version 2.0. Since I have been writing about Citrix technologies for the last couple of years I have built up a broad archive, which I can now partly (re) use and re-write to come up with an even more detailed edition, version 2.0 of the Citrix XenDesktop 7.x internals cheat sheet. I would strongly advice you to download a .PDF copy – If you like the blogpost, you’ll love the .PDF, trust me! It includes a full Table of Contents making it easier to navigate.
The one-stop shop for Citrix Smart Check – sneak peak of upcoming version included
In the past I have written numerous times about Citrix Insight Services, or TaaS before that, which stands for Tools as a Service (don’t be confused, Insight Services was just another name change from TaaS). Smart Check builds upon these services and offers (at least) the same type of pro-active checks (equal to Insight Services) keeping your XenApp and/or XenDesktop Site healthy at all times. However, it is important to note that Smart Check is a completely new service on its own, part of the Smart Tools portfolio (formerly known as Citrix Lifecycle Management Services), which are a 100% Citrix cloud based, though they can be applied on-premises as well. This post is meant to provide you with all relevant information on Smart Check available today as well as any future developments going forward.
Inside Citrix: Web Interface & StoreFront — XML-based user authentication
Initially, with the introduction of StoreFront it relied solely on its authentication service for user authentication purposes. This, as you might be aware is different from Web Interface, which will directly contact one of the configured Delivery Controllers where the Broker/XML service will take over. Since Web Interface is still widely deployed and used in (large) production environments (and StoreFront now also supports XML based user authentication) I would like to talk, in a bit more detail about both authentication methods available today.
For your convenience – 100+ Citrix XenApp & XenDesktop FMA facts listed!
I like, no wait, I love lists… there, I’ve said it. But no, really, I think (bulleted) lists are one of the best ways to share facts and knowledge. That’s also why I used multiple lists in my book, dozens of them containing hundreds of bulleted (FMA) facts. Throughout the various chapters I highlight multiple so-called ‘FMA facts’, 116 in total to be exact and I conclude each chapter with a list of key takeaways. This post is meant to share with you most of the FMA Facts that I came up while writing The FlexCast Management Architecture, though I did slightly alter quite a few of them.
Citrix Smart Check — the latest addition to the Smart Tools portfolio. Make sure to take it for a test-ride
A few months ago Citrix renamed their Lifecycle Management Services to Smart Tools. Take a look at this post from fellow CTP Andrew Wood, it explains in-detail what Citrix Lifecycle Management Services is all about, including the name change. Smart Tools consists out of four distinct services each fulfilling their own purpose, for this post I would like to focus on the Smart Check service.
Demystifying the Citrix XenApp logon, enumeration and launch steps — new details included
This continues to be a topic of interest. Not only is it interesting and fun (right?) to know what is going on underneath the hood once you fill in your user credentials, it can also be very helpful when it comes to troubleshooting certain issues. While I have written about the login, enumeration and launch processes before, again I managed to include a couple of subtle changes/details.
The long awaited… XenApp and XenDesktop 7.12 Local Host Cache
Finally, it’s here, with XenApp and XenDesktop version 7.12 Citrix has re-introduced the Local Host Cache functionality. A long awaited feature by many Citrix admins globally. Though many of us are familiar with the LHC feature within 6.5, LHC as part of the FlexCast Management Architecture, which is basically what we are talking about here, is architected differently, or built from the ground up even. This has resulted in a more robust solution, immune to corruption (at least that’s the general idea) also needing less maintenance. Let’s have a look and see what it is about.
How to configure zones in XenDesktop and XenApp 7.7 plus some extra’s!
Yes, Zones are back! This seems to be a very popular quote on Twitter and Linked-In ever since Citrix released XenApp/XenDesktop 7.7 last week. And to honest, I’m exited as well. Are these the zones we were, or are used to in XenApp 6.5? No. But they’re close. After I installed XenDesktop 7.7 the morning after its release, I had 3 zones up and running within 5 minutes, and that’s only because I didn’t read the ‘manual’ up front. Let’s have a look and see what we come up with along the way. I took the bullet approach on this one. Scroll down for some screenshots on how to configure XenDesktop / XenApp zones.
An in-depth look at the Citrix FMA Server VDA… The one that (almost) got away!
Ever since the introduction of XenDesktop 7, where the FMA took over and XenApp was integrated, a lot has been written with regards to its components, services, agents and so on. What surprises me though, is that the Server VDA is (almost) never mentioned, while this is, or at least was a brand new component. Never before was it optional to install a (relatively) lightweight agent onto a XenApp server, it was basically all or nothing.
Citrix IMA vs. FMA… XenDesktop components and terminology cheat sheet
This post is meant to provide you with a quick comparison, a cheat sheet if you will, between the two architectures. As you all (should) know by now, with the introduction of XenDesktop 7.x XenApp became part of the Flexcast Management Architecture, or FMA in short, and with this came certain terminology and conceptual changes. Here I would like to show you how each former 6.5 (IMA) XenApp component has its equivalent in the FMA world. Although technically there are some differences, on the functional side of things there is not much between them. To be clear, I’m not focusing on features that are in IMA and (still) not in FMA.