Hi Folks,
in the release notes for the IGEL Firmware 5.03.100 IGEL mentioned that “single” ICA session are not possible with the Citrix Receiver 12/13 for Linux and XenDesktop/XenApp 7.x:
"- ICA sessions created on the IGEL device only work with Citrix XenApp servers up to version 6.5."
This statement is not really true because in Citrix Terms it means only ICA Sessions based on the Citrix IMA Service (XenDesktop or XenApp 7.5 is using FMA), it is not right for sessions based on a Server IP Address or Hostname where the IMA service is not required/used.
This is also mentioned in the Citrix Edocs in the XenDesktop/XenApp 7.5 Feature description:
- Custom ICA files — Custom ICA files were used to enable direct connection from user devices (with the ICA file) to a specific machine. In this release, this feature is disabled by default, but can be enabled for normal usage using a local group or can be used in high-availability mode if the Controller becomes unavailable.
If configured right it can be also used as small HA “solution” for smaller installations with only one XenDesktop/XenApp controller server, please refer also to: How to enable simple XenDesktop/XenApp 7.5 HA Mode
To enable the feature in general follow this article: Enable direct ICA connections for XD/XA 7.x
In the ICA Session configuration in the UMS Profile/local Thin Client configuration use only the Server IP/Hostname for the connection (see picture below), if you have more than one Server you need to create seperate profiles for each server and assign the profiles to different clients. Of course this is a “manual” work but you are still able to use the ICA sessions if required, a Citrix Storefront or Webinterface Server is not required in this case. If HA mode is enabled like mentioned also a XenDesktop/XenApp 7.x controller can be offline for a short time period (for example maintenance).
Disadvantage:
1) It will only work in LAN environments.
2) No Load Balancing, the clients will always connect to “one” server or you have to configure “several” ICA sessions per Client.
3) No “roaming” sessions if the User use several Thin Clients and these Clients are connecting to different server.
4) Not really usefull for large environments.
It will work with Citrix Receiver 12 and 13 for Linux but also older Receiver Versions (any OS) should work with it.
Cheers
Michael