Architecture – Page 5 – basvankaam.com

VCNRW… A deep dive into the FMA, the 2016 edition – Presentation video!

Average time to read: < 1 minute

During E2EVC in Lisbon, Portugal, back in November 2015, I was asked by Helge Klein if I might be interested and willing to come and present at their first ever VCNRW full-day event over in Cologne (Köln), Germany. While I was honoured, I told Helge I wanted give it some thought mainly because I didn’t really had a topic ready at that time, but luckily that didn’t take too long. A few weeks later I accepted and the rest is history. While my presentation went ok, unfortunately my timing was a bit off and I finished about ten minutes early. Another lesson learned.

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E2EVC… The one in Lisbon. The XD 7.6 HA (im) possibilities – presentation video!

Average time to read: < 1 minute

A few moths ago, back in November 2015, Wilco van Bragt and I gave a presentation at E2EVC in Lisbon, Portugal. Our session was named: The XenDesktop 7.6 HA and Failover (im) possibilities, suggestions are welcome. We talked about some of the options we had (for example, Zones were not optional back then) in making our workloads highly available (Load Balancing included) using features and technologies like: StoreFront MultiSite configurations, Connection Leasing, Application groups and more. Next to that we also touched on some of the things still missing, at least according to our point of view. You can watch the full recording here.

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Book announcement: Inside Citrix – the Flex Management Architecture!

Average time to read: 7 minutes

As you might have noticed, lately it has been rather quite on basvankaam.com. But not to worry, I’m still here. While the number of blog posts from my end have been somewhat on the low side, I have kept myself busy *understatement* to say the least. Besides preparing three presentations (still a lot of work to do on those as well), which are all due in the next 2 months (Citrix Synergy included) I have been working on a big private project, a book!

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The ultimate Citrix printing internals cheat sheet! BIG Takeaway list included!

Average time to read: 21 minutes

In this article (part two) I’d like to focus on the Citrix printing pathways, how they differ and when one or the other will, or can be used. I’ll also highlight the universal print driver, server and printer together with a whole bunch of CTX defaults, best practices including some of the most common troubleshooting tools and a BIG list of takeaways. However, knowing what happens after a user hits print and how traffic flows throughout our infrastructure is probably the best place to start. I have also included a BIG list of takeaways, which is available as a separate download as well.

Citrix NetScaler… The basics continued, part four. What about SSL?

Average time to read: 9 minutesI think we all know port 443 and the SSL (Secure Socket Layer) protocol that goes with it right? When securing our inbound (incoming) as well outbound (outgoing) network traffic we have to deal with things like certificates, public and private key’s, certificate authorities (CA), and so on and so forth. This can be confusing. Where do certificates get applied, what is a CA, what types of certificates are there and which ones do we use? Also, once applied, how does the NetScaler actually know who it is communicating with and how is traffic secured? Using the NetScaler to offload SSL you say? Let’s have a look.

Continue reading Citrix NetScaler… The basics continued, part four. What about SSL?

Citrix NetScaler… The basics continued, part three. High Availability!

Average time to read: 5 minutesI think we are all familiar with the term High Availability, or HA in short. It simply means that if a single machine or system fails we will have another equally configured system, or multiple, in standby mode or actively participating a.k.a. active / active, ready to take over when needed. This way we won’t loose any of the functionality that the failing, or failed, machine was providing us with. Which in the case of the NetScaler could be anything from a Gateway to Load Balancing, SSL offloading, Content Switching and more. Needless to say that the Citrix NetScaler has some nifty build-in HA capabilities as well.

Continue reading Citrix NetScaler… The basics continued, part three. High Availability!

Citrix NetScaler… The basics continued, part two. Static routes, SNIP and MIP!

Average time to read: 5 minutesBefore we jump into what a static route actually is and why we would like, or need, to configure one we must first have a basic understanding of the so-called SNIP, or Subnet IP Address, in full. And while we are at it, we will have a quick look at the MIP, Mapped IP Address, as well. Both er important to understand how traffic flows through a NetScaler device.

Continue reading Citrix NetScaler… The basics continued, part two. Static routes, SNIP and MIP!

Citrix NetScaler… The basics continued, part one. VIP’s, Monitors and other objects!

Average time to read: 5 minutesWhen dealing with the Citrix NetScalers there is a lot to get your head around, especially when you are still relatively new to the product / technology. The different licensing models, all of the ADC (Application Delivery Controller) features (and there are a lot) the secure remote access gateway functionality and a whole bunch of abbreviations like NSIP, SNIP, MIP, VIP and so on and so forth, which will have your head spinning in no time. You have to know about monitors, static routes, load balancing, HA and more. A very interesting, powerful but potentially confusing product when starting out.

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Citrix IMA vs. FMA… XenDesktop components and terminology cheat sheet

Average time to read: 2 minutesThis 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.

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Troubleshooting the XenDesktop FMA… Citrix Scout deep dive – Part one!

Average time to read: 18 minutes

About two weeks ago I wrote (slides included) about my talk at the Dutch Citrix User Group (DuCUG) where I presented about troubleshooting the FMA. I also mentioned that when we do have to deal with CTX Support, and note that I’m not trying to sound negative here, we need to understand what to do when we are asked to inventory our Sites or to (CDF) trace certain components / modules for example. I also went into a bit more detail regarding CDF traces and the accompanying modules and trace messages that come with it, including some of the steps we can take to interpreted the collected data ourselves. That’s what I’d like to discuss in this (short) two part series as well, let’s have a closer look at Scout, CDF tracing / control, some of the FMA services (PortICA) etc… I’ll start out with some of the basics and take it from there.

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