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.
Going to Citrix Synergy? Don’t miss these CTP hosted sessions – complete overview
During Citrix Synergy, the CTP hosted sessions are among the highest rated, and with good reason. They are, almost without exception highly technical and will provide you with an unbiased view in every way possible. Below you will find an overview on all Synergy session presented by Citrix CTP’s, or Citrix Technology Professionals in full. Note that I’m not saying other sessions are less interesting or of a lower quality, not at all. It’s just that being a CTP myself I’d like to advertise the program (and its members) from time to time, that’s all really.
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.
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.
Citrix StoreFront… The tale of two Stores. Hiding, authentication and visuals!
There are a couple of reasons why you might want, or need, to use multiple StoreFront stores. One example would be when dealing with a multi tenant environment and you want to be able to apply different configurations per store. You might have an external and an internal store, hiding certain recourses from your users. And what if you want to apply different authentication mechanisms, or you want to give certain stores and individual look and feel? As we can now easily do with StoreFront 3.0, or easier then before anyway.
HP Moonshot revisited. Well… by me anyway
During the last year or so I have had my eye on the HP Moonshot platform. I followed what other community members had to say about it, how HP marketed the product and of course the announced partnership between HP and Citrix, introducing the Workspace Pod series at Summit not that long ago. I was rather skeptic, and I guess I still am. On the other hand, I also acknowledge that times are changing and that, if the use case fits, HP Moonshot might be a valuable solution, it just depends.
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.
Citrix Synergy 2015, here’s what to expect. Or not.
Next week I will be in Orlando attending my first ever Citrix Synergy and as you can imagine there’s a lot to be excited about and look forward to. To name a few… there will be dozens of technical deep dive and Geek Speak sessions, meeting up with community friends, getting to know new people, the Keynote, new and (hopefully) surprising product announcements, dinner parties, other parties :) the welcome reception, TechEdge, the closing appreciation party in the Universal Studio’s etc. And besides all that I also have my very own Match.Geek sessions to look forward to (exiting stuff). Yes, I think it’s safe to say that we will all have a great time in Orlando, once again. Like many others, I have my expectations and hopes on what will be announced at Synergy this year, so without further ado I’ll list them here.
Citrix XenApp & Microsoft (online) Lync… Things to be aware of. My findings!
Just recently I was in the process of researching to use Lync online (Office 365) in a XenApp HSD environment for one of our customers. To be honest I expected this to be a relatively straightforward process, install the software, configure, perhaps adjust my sizing numbers somewhat, test and take it from there. But what I found was that using Lync online combined with XenApp has its limitations. Of course some of these limitations can be dealt with, others however, we just have to except or take another route completely.