Scout – basvankaam.com

Heads up! Citrix Smart Check introduces diagnostics uploads and custom checks and alerts – deep dive (and video) included

Average time to read: 6 minutes

Throughout the last couple of months, I have written multiple posts on Citrix Smart Tools, with a special interest in Smart Check. Have a look here and here. Not that long ago I had a short talk with Mathew Varghese, the Director of Product Management for Smart Tools and Insight Services, which also includes Scout. He told me about, and showed me some interesting features that are coming to Smart Check, not that long from now (Q4).

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With XenDesktop & XenApp 7.14 comes Scout 3.0 – some big changes, read what’s new

Average time to read: 11 minutes

Version 7.14 of XenDesktop & XenApp comes with an updated version of Scout, version 3.0 to be exact – up from 2.23 before that. As you will find out throughout this post there are a couple of substantial differences between the two. I’ll start by highlighting some of the main features/capabilities of Scout as part XenDesktop & XenApp 7.13 and earlier versions, followed by how this is now handled within version 3.0. I have included a couple of screenshots as well.

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Citrix Smart Check — the latest addition to the Smart Tools portfolio. Make sure to take it for a test-ride

Average time to read: 5 minutes

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.

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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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Citrix… What they’re missing or might need to work on. Just thinking out loud here.

Average time to read: 10 minutes

During the last year or so I had couple of interesting discussions (trough CUGC, Twitter, real life etc.) on what Citrix might need to do from a business and application development perspective. Perhaps sell some of their products, reinvent, recode or reinvest in existing technology, innovate (which they’re doing) perhaps buy another company and so on and so forth. Of course it’s always easy to judge or come up with comments like these being a so-called sideline critic, but it’s not my intention to be the ‘wise guy’ here, I’m just thinking out loud, that is all.

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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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I’m presenting at the Dutch Citrix User Group… And to me that’s huge!

Average time to read: 6 minutes

After two years of blogging, hiding behind my MacBook :) and virtually on Twitter, Linked-In etc… the time has finally come to take the next step. On March 6^th I will be presenting at the next DuCUG event, or Dutch Citrix User Group in full, taking place at Dell in Amsterdam. In fact if you are reading this, chances are that I’m on stage at this very moment. For me it is an absolute first, not just at DuCUG but also with regards to presenting, or public speaking, in general. I have had multiple opportunities in the past but I just kept making up excuses so I wouldn’t have to go up on stage. Because to be honest, the thought of standing in front of a big crowd and doing ‘my thing’ kind of scares me. And DuCUG can be considered a big crowd, at least in my book. It has been sold out for weeks, as it always is, meaning that no less than 150 IT professionals will be there to hear what I, and others, have to say. It’s an honour to be part of their line-up, check their agenda (screenshot below), there are some ‘big’ names on there.

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