XenApp 5

I have been in training this week for Citrix, so I figured I should spread the word on some of the things I've learned. The training is all on Presentation Server 4.5, but there was some good info on the new release which is called XenApp 5... But you already knew that. I'll summarize some of the highlights.

Web Interface 5.0 for Windows.
The old web interface was how can I say this politely, less than impressive. There is a very nice face lift for the 5.0 version. Let's face it with all the eye candy out there now a nice user interface is not only the norm, but becomes part of function.

• Breadcrumb navigation bar which replaces the old Home, Top, and Up links.
  
• User-selectable views to allow preferred display of published resources, with new features like tree views and group views.
• User-assistance to give helpful hints and help for the end users.
• Simple and Advanced modes for a more customizable look and feel.
• Mobile experience enhancements for the users with hand-held devices and integration with the Access Gateway.
• XenDesktop Support which allows users to access virtual desktops through the web interface.
• Web Interface for Sharepoint which makes it possible to deliver XenApp published apps and resources on to Sharepoint 2007. (Separate install)

XenApp Plugin for Hosted Apps. This plugin is basically new name for the Presentation Client Agent. It's functionality remains very similar, but the look and feel have changed.

• Improved support for Vista and Office 2007.
• Updated menu structure.
• little or no user configuration required.
• Web Interface integration and streamed app integration.
• Password change capability.

XenApp Plugin for Streamed Apps. This plugin provides streamed applications from the target, file, or web server to XenApp servers and client desktops. Some of the new features include:

• Integration with XenApp Web Plugin and XenApp Plugin to stream apps to the desktop.
• No user configuration required, and seamless integration to the end users.
  
• Improved inter-isolation communication between multiple applications that are running in isolated profile environments.
• Differential synchronization to reduce latency and improve performance.

Resource Manager for XenApp. This module received a face lift powered by Citrix EdgeSight technology, which was previously a platinum level feature. It still supports the original reporting as the previous version of Resource Manager with some new features:

• Session-level performance counters.
• Real-time alerting.
• More pre-configurable and customizable and reporting.
• Integration with Health Check Agent.
• Active application monitoring.

Citrix License Server 11.5. This new updated license service is backward compatible, but is now flexlm based. Basic requirements for a license server:

• Internet Explorer 5.0 or higher.
• Tomcat 4.1.24.
• JRE 1.6.0_5 or later.
• Apache HTTP Server 2.0.49.
• IIS must be installed prior to install.
• ASP.Net, Windows Authentication Security, and IIS Mangement 6.
• supported on Windows 2000, 2003, and 2008

XenApp 5.0 Platinum Edition components. Here is the overview.

• Application Performance Monitor powered by Citrix Edgesight. This component adds ICA monitoring, service-level management and more to the Resource Manager feature included in the Enterprise Edition.
• Single Sign-on powered by Citrix Password Manager 4.6 SP1. Password Manager provides secure and managed access to applications running in the Citrix environment as well as the local apps on the desktop.
• Citrix Accelerator Plugin formerly WANScaler Client License. Provides WAN optimization and applicaiton accceleration for home-based, mobile or small office users.
• Citrix SmartAuditor. Records and plays user sessions using policies to automatically trigger the recordings.
  
• EasyCall. Embeds VOIP like triggers allowing users to click any telephone number in any app to make a call.
  

VSS options in vRanger

For those of you who have used vRanger you may have noticed the VSS option and not fully understood what it means and when to enable it, so here's the skinny...
Prior to ESX 3.5 update 2, there was no good way of running a backup on the vm drives that would actually freeze the vm and get an OS aware snapshot without using their VSS service. That all changed when VMware updated their tools in ESX 3.5 update 2. Now VMware includes their own Snapshot service that does this as well. In prior versions the best option was to use Vizioncore's VSS service to accomplish this task.

Basically there are 2 Scenarios:

Scenario 1:

1) Older versions of ESX Server 3.5 update 1 or below, open the configuration window in vRanger. select the Install VSS option. Select the VM and install the service. It should display successful, and will run as a service on that vm in computer management. This service will freeze the writes to the vm when the VSS option is selected during backup.



2) The next step is to configure the backup. In this case select the options for disable guest quiescing and enable VSS.



Scenario 2:

1) When using ESX 3.5 update 2 and later use VMware's "Volume Shadow Copy Sevice Support" from the vmware tools. To make sure this service is installed on the vm go under add/remove programs, select vmware tools, and select modify. Make sure "Volume Shadow Copy Service Support" is installed.



2) Now configure the backup options in vRanger and make sure the VSS option and the disable quiescing options are de-selected. This will allow the vm to freeze the os and using the vmware snapshot to integrate with VSS on the vm OS.