Did you know it is possible to access XenApp/XenDesktop applications and desktops straight from the Clientless Access portal when using NetScaler? This eliminates the need for users to click and open “Virtual App and Desktop Access” (part of Client Choices) since instead the resources are integrated right in to the Clientless Access section.
Digging in to the Citrix logon process
When you are troubleshooting slow or failed Citrix logons, no doubt that it helps to know a bit about the background events that take place to achieve a successful logon. Unfortunately it isn’t quite as simple as handing your logon credentials to StoreFront and being granted access to your apps and desktops.
Citrix Application Session Prelaunch
Application Prelaunch is a feature that was available in XenApp 6.5, gone in FMA v7+ and now back again in XenApp/XenDesktop 7.6. The goal of prelaunch is to “pre-prepare” a session in the background for a user when they launch Citrix Receiver for Windows so that when they do eventually click to launch the resource the prelaunch session is replaced with a regular session and startup time is much faster.
SmartControl and SmartAccess
Both SmartAccess and SmartControl are similar in practice. One is implemented at the Delivery Controller level with the use of Citrix policies (SmartAccess) and the other is implemented at the NetScaler Gateway level (SmartControl). SmartControl was introduced in NetScaler v11, and is a Platinum feature.
PVS Reverse Image with VMware vCenter Converter
This post shows you how to perform reverse imaging of a vDisk to update either the PVS Target Device software, VMware Tools or something else that may break your PVS stream! We will be using a mixture of VMware vCenter Converter and Windows 2012 R2 to mount the VHD. This post will also (not something I was expecting it to) go over diagnosing the VHD (vDisk) if it becomes corrupt or the PVS image has a System Reserved partition.
Citrix ThinWire HDX Graphics Modes – what is right for you?
Desktop Composition Redirecton (DCR) (Deprecated in XenApp and XenDesktop 7.12), ThinWire Legacy, ThinWire+, Framehawk (deprecated in Virtual Apps and Desktops 1811). Which HDX display mode should you be using? There’s no quick and easy answer as the real question is which mode will fit in to your infrastructure and business/user requirements.