Category: Architecture

The long awaited… XenApp and XenDesktop 7.12 Local Host Cache

Average time to read: 8 minutes

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.

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What’s your strategy? Windows 10 Servicing Branches, Deployment Rings & tooling

Average time to read: 7 minutes

With the introduction of Microsoft Windows 10 also came a couple of new ways to deploy and maintain Windows installations, this is what Microsoft refers to a Windows as a Service, or WaaS. Meant to make the life of the IT professional a little easier. As you might know, Windows 10 is supposed to be the final version of Windows, and thus new functionalities and features will be delivered in smaller incremental updates, two to three times per year as opposed to every 3 to 5 years prior to Windows 10, when a new version of Windows was released. This also introduces a couple of challenges when it comes to upgrading, updating and maintaining new and current installations. For this they came up with WaaS as mentioned earlier. Let’s have a look at what this means from a servicing and update perspective.

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Citrix Call-Home, a potential successor for Scout — here is what you need to know

Average time to read: 4 minutes

Citrix Call Home according to the e-docs pages “Call Home collects diagnostic data and then periodically uploads telemetry packages containing that data directly to Citrix Insight Services for analysis and troubleshooting”. A nice summary, but of course there is a bit more to it. Below I have put together a brief ‘did you know that’ overview, a somewhat different format then what you are used here on basvankaam.com — let me know what you think.

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13 reasons that MIGHT prevent companies from successfully leveraging public cloud services

Average time to read: 7 minutes

Cloud computing seems to be the holy grail, at least that is the impression I get when I scroll down my Linked-in and Twitter timelines. Don’t get me wrong, like everybody else I’m also excited about everything that is going on around ‘the cloud’ and the potential it brings to the table, never mind the type of public cloud service used. I mean, no upfront investments, flexibility, burst capacity (up and downscaling) at our fingertips, ease of management and maintenance and so on, what’s not to like? But, ‘the cloud’ is also just getting started, it isn’t ‘mature’ and/or seen as proven technology by many – there are still a bunch of reasons why companies might wait to leverage (public) cloud computing in general, go hybrid or perhaps won’t join the cloud movement at all, at least not for the first couple of years. I just wanted to put this out there and see what you guys think.

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Inside Citrix – The making of & lessons learned!

Average time to read: 20 minutes

Now that my book is out in the open I get a lot of questions about my approach. People are really interested to find out how long it took me to complete, what kind of tools I used, where I found the time, what drove me to write a book in the first place and of course what I’ve learned along the way. And since I like to share… hopefully this post will answer most, if not all of these and other questions you guys might have.

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Citrix XenApp single machine setup – Cheap, fast and supported!

Average time to read: 8 minutes

We all know that Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop are both well established within larger enterprises. Smaller companies however, also often rely on Citrix (using XenApp mostly) to securely deliver their applications and/or desktops to their end-users. Today I would like to focus on how to deliver XenApp hosted applications and desktops while minimizing costs and maximizing both performance and manageability. Note that this is not going to be a Microsoft RDSH vs. Citrix debate, instead I will assume that XenApp licenses are already in-place.

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Kindle e-book available now! Inside Citrix – The FlexCast Management Architecture

Average time to read: 5 minutes

It was always my intention to create an e-book version of my book as soon as I had it finished for print, and since I choose the Create Space self-publishing platform it had to be in the so-called Kindle format. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to offer it on Amazon, as I did with my paperback version as well. To be honest, of all the research I did, I didn’t spend any time looking at how to create a Kindle e-book. Something I would regret later on. I just assumed it would be fairly straightforward to convert a Word and/or .PDF document into a nicely formatted Kindle file. Boy was I wrong.

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What’s new… Printing in Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp 7.9? A more in-depth look.

Average time to read: 6 minutes

While there have been some major announcements at Synergy, like the Microsoft / Citrix pact including Azure, Office 356, Windows 10 VDI and more, some huge improvements to MCS regarding I/O storage optimizations, including MCS provisioning for the Nutanix Acropolis Hypervisor, the Federated Authentication Service, which was also (very) well received, I’d like to focus on a few smaller enhancements. Though ‘small’ does not mean less important, au contraire – as the French would say.

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Citrix Synergy SYN508 – Houdini’s guide to Citrix printing, slide deck

Average time to read: < 1 minute

Last Tuesday I gave my first ever Citrix Synergy presentation. It was a so-called Expo Theater session as part of the ‘Meet the Experts’ program over at the Citrix booth. Exiting to say the least. Luckily it went well and I received some very positive feedback. Afterwards multiple attendees approached me asking for the slide deck. I promised to make it available on basvankaam.com as soon as possible. So here it is. Just imagine the slide animations being in there as well. If you have any questions and/or other remarks please let me know by leaving a comment, a PM on Twitter, or just send me an email. Thanks everybody.

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Available NOW! My book: Inside Citrix – The FlexCast Management Architecture!

Average time to read: 4 minutes

Today I am extremely happy and proud to announce that my first ever book is now available for purchase over at Amazon. Continue reading to order your copy. Inside Citrix – The FlexCast Management Architecture focuses on the FMA, mainly from an architectural point of view. It will discuss, in detail all of its main components and services, their primary roles and responsibilities, including some of the most common optional components, features and/or closely related technologies. From the basics to deep (er) dives where applicable, I will make sure to include something for everybody. Do note that this book is not meant as an installation and/or how-to manual, instead it will dive deeper into the FMA, the true foundation of Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp.

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