Archive for the ‘Citrix’ Category

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Recommended: Free Citrix XenDesktop 7 CXD-102 course

Wednesday, August 21st, 2013

Hi Folks,

i would like to introduce the free Online Course CXD-102 “Introducing to XenDesktop 7” from Citrix.

This course is a requirement to visit an instuctor-led XenDesktop 7 course and it also introduces the architecture of XenDesktop7, the product itself and the main know how regarding the major changes compared to XenApp.

You will find the course here: http://training.citrix.com/mod/ctxcatalog/course.php?id=595

CXD-102

CXD-102

If you don’t have an Citrix Account you can create also a Citrix Account for free via the Login Page.

Cheers
Michael

Posted in XenApp, XenDesktop | No Comments »

Tip: Citrix Support Tools

Friday, July 12th, 2013

Hi Folks,

i already point to some support tools from Citrix but most people don’t know how much tools are available.

These tools can be useful for a couple of issues like printing, licensing and a lot of more.

If you are using Citrix products you should get a look here: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX126294

Cheers

Michael

Posted in Citrix | No Comments »

Tip: Citrix session drops if you open a second ICA connection in a XenApp/XenDesktop session

Tuesday, July 9th, 2013

Hi Folks,

i just got an issue where the user opens a session from an IGEL Linux / Windows PC to a XenApp / XenDesktop environment. This works fine until the user starts a second session in the first session to an other XenDesktop/XenApp environment.

The connection are done thru a Storefront server.

If this issue happens also to you, try the following registry setting in the Server / Desktop the user connects first.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Citrix\Dazzle]

“WSCReconnectMode”=”0”

Please note: Test in advance, i do not provide any warranty that this will fix the issue at all or for a data loss in case of a wrong impementation. You are fully responsible if you apply this setting!

Cheers
Michael

Posted in IGEL Universal Desktop ES / ES W7, IGEL Universal Desktop LX (ARM), IGEL Universal Desktop LX/OS (x86), VDI in a Box, XenApp, XenDesktop | No Comments »

Info: Important to know if you want to try a IGEL OS with Citrix XenDesktop 7

Tuesday, July 2nd, 2013

Hello Folks,

if you already Setup a XenDesktop 7 Test Environment to test it with you IGEL Thin Clients you should be aware that the current inbuild receiver is not optimized for XenDesktop 7.

For Windows based devices you need Citrix Receiver 4 for Windows and for Linux you need Citrix Receiver 13, last one is still not released by Citrix. For Windows based devices you might be able to upgrade the Receiver by your own but for Linux you have to wait for the official release. See also: http://www.citrix.com/cms/ready/excalibur-overview/faqs/

Why is this important to know, XenDesktop 7 brings a lot of new Features and these Features are mostly not supported by the old Receiver Versions. This can cause Performance, Display or other issues (like no multitouch Support if a touch Screen is used).

So you can Setup your XenDesktop 7 Environments but for your final PoC you should wait for the right Receiver Version. 🙂

This do also apply for the XenApp Feature Pack 2.

Cheers
Michael

Posted in Tips and Tricks, XenApp, XenDesktop | No Comments »

XenDesktop 7 is available for download

Wednesday, June 26th, 2013

Hi Folks,

XenDesktop 7 is available for download at www.citrix.com. Not direct IGEL related but it might be intresting for you. 😉

Cheers

Michael

Posted in XenApp, XenDesktop | No Comments »

Troubleshooting Seamless Application in a Citrix XenApp Environment

Wednesday, May 15th, 2013

Hi,

it’s not directly related to IGEL but there is a cool tool to troubleshoot/configure the Seamless Application handling runinng on Citrix XenApp (display Issues or similar).

citrixst

You can download the tool here for free: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX115146

Please also read: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX101644

 

You need to play around with this tool a little bit….

Cheers

Michael

Posted in XenApp | No Comments »

New Tool: XenDesktop Helper

Wednesday, May 8th, 2013

Hi Folks,

i’ve written a small tool that i need for my own but maybe you can also use it…. It’s primary based on the idea that you can not figure out the Client IP, MAC-ID or Hostname in a connected XenDesktop/VDI in a Box session with user rights in a Login script in a simple way, also it can force a user logoff if the Client Hostname or IP do not fit compared with a given variable. The result will be displayed and also written into the registry to use it with other scripts, see also the readme for more informations.

xdhelper

 

The download is available in the www.cloud-client.info download area, this tool is not directly related to IGEL but of course it can be used in a XenDesktop/VDI in a Box session running on an IGEL Thin Client.

Important: It’s called XenDesktop Helper and not XenApp Helper->Do not use this tool with XenApp!!

Have Fun!
Michael

Posted in Tools, VDI in a Box, XenDesktop | No Comments »

Solution: Using XenApp 6.5 and Lync 2013 together with the IGEL Linux

Tuesday, March 12th, 2013

Hi Folks,

it looks that Lync 2013 is arriving in the Enterprises. So what do you need to use it together with your IGEL Linux based Thin Clients?

First of all a Windows 2008 R2 Server running XenApp 6.5, i recommend to run it on the latest patch Level. Setup the XenApp 6.5 policies like mentioned here http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp65-admin/hd-realtime-video-conf-wrapper-xa.html otherwise you will not be able to use Lync 2013.

Setup also a Lync 2013 Server in your Environment and install the Lync 2013 Client coming with Office 2013 on your XenApp Server(s). Attention: Do not use the Lync Basic Client, it will not work on a Terminal Server (Microsoft and Citrix!). After the Lync 2013 Client Installation is finished make sure to install KB2760512 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2812461 thru Windows Update or as a direct download. If Lync 2013 Hotfix 2760512 is missing misc issues in the Terminal Server environment can happen if Lync 2013 is used  incl. a full Lync 2013 client crash!

In the IGEL Setup browse to Sessions->ICA->ICA Global->Multimedia and enable Multimedia Redirection and HDX Realtime WebCam Redirection. I did enable also HDX Realtime Media Engine at the client but i did not install the Citrix Optimization pack for Lync 2010  on the Server because Lync 2013 is currently not supported  by this pack (and Lync 2010 is not supported on Terminal Server by Microsoft) but it was also not really required during my tests to improve the result. Also create a XenApp session or connect thru XenApp/PN (Webinterface).

Lync 2013,XenApp 6.5 and IGEL UD LX together

After i done my setup it works without any issues for me, of course you need a good network without high latency’s. I’ve tested this also in customer WAN networks and mostly it performs quite good, but still this depends on the network quality and you should test it also by your own. So you have no written guarentee from my side!

Be also serious if you change the possible resolutions for HDX Realtime in the IGEL Setup, i’ve discovered some issues if playing to much with different resolutions (hostmmtransport.dll crash on XenApp Server). This is not IGEL related, i was able to reproduce it also with a regular Windows based Laptop as i played with several resolutions; so for your first try check this out in a Lab and not in an production Environment!

Cheers
Michael

Posted in Microsoft, Solutions, XenApp | No Comments »

Test: Using IGEL Linux based Thin Clients together with Citrix CloudGateway Enterprise

Friday, February 15th, 2013

Hi Folks,

today i’ve tested the IGEL Universal Desktop LX/OS together with Citrix XenApp 6.5, XenDesktop 5.6 and VDI in a Box 5.2 and Citrix CloudGateway Enterprise (LAN and WAN thru Citrix Netscaler).

I’ve used the internal Webbrowser coming with the IGEL Linux for the connection, in both cases (LAN and WAN) it works like a charm. For my test i’ve used the IGEL Firmware 4.11.100.

CloudGateway thru IGEL Universal Desktop LX Webbrowser

 …and connected to a session (XenApp 6.5)

 

Connection thru CloudGateway to XenApp 6.5


If you plan to upgrade your Citrix Environment to CloudGateway this should work for you, so the IGEL Linux based Clients seams to be ready for the new Citrix products. Official i’ve read no confirmation from IGEL about this, so in anyway you should test this to confirm the results. If you discover issues here feel free to contact me.

Update: I forgot, in the screenshots the Desktop Connections to XenApp,XenDesktop and VDI in a Box are missing but i works also fine for me.

Cheers
Michael

P.S.: The old PNAgent Service Site is now called “Legacy” in Citrix products…..

Posted in IGEL Universal Desktop LX/OS (x86), Netscaler / Access Gateway, VDI in a Box, XenApp, XenDesktop | No Comments »

Difference between System on Chip (SoC/ARM) and regular Thin Clients (x86/x64)

Wednesday, December 12th, 2012

Hi,

since IGEL start selling the UD2 Multimedia, which is a SoC/ARM device, a lot of people start testing the device and sometimes a few questions came up. I will try to answer it in a fast way…

Q: Why is a ARM/Sytem on Chip (SoC) device cheaper then a “normal” Client?

A: The ARM Technology in general is cheaper then regular PC Technology but it’s not so powerfull. As sample, the NVidia Tegra 3 (Quad Core) ARM CPU (ARM High End) can be mostly compared with an INTEL Core 2 Duo or Atom CPU(x86 Low End). This is not bad but it’s not an Intel I7 Quad Core CPU at all, pointing to core’s and MHz is a fault for comparing ARM and x86/x64 in general.

Q: Why do a SoC/ARM based client provide fast/high Multimedia performance?

A: A lot of SoC/ARM devices are using a multimedia accelerator (DSP) and only applications which are able to use this accelerator provide a real good multimedia performance. This performance will be not provided in general! If an application has no idea how to deal with it, it will be much slower then on a regular Thin Client and the device needs to have an accelerator… Your ARM based Android Tablet do not have a chip like this, iam talking only about SoC Thin Clients here. 🙂

Q: Which Software clients/sessions are using this multimedia accelerator?

A: Only for IGEL UD2 MM (Firmware 1.03.100) it´s the Citrix Receiver, the RDP Client and the Media Player; other devices can provide different results. Update: For Flash content in Citrix sessions, Flash redirection do not work currently… No flash player for ARM, so flash based content in ICA will look very good for the user but the content is always rendered on the server side; this is important for bigger installations because this can increase the server requirements to an high level. This is a general issue for all ARM/SuC devices and i can not guarentee that this will change in the future. So server administrators should be aware and installations with an high demand for Flash content should check this out first.

Q: Is the 3rd party hardware support for an ARM/SoC device the same then with an regular x86 based client?

A: No, a lot of drivers are not available for ARM/SoC so you have to test it. For IGEL the USB2Serial Adapter works as example but WebCams or other devices that works on x86 based systems might not work together with the UD2 Multimedia. Same for other vendors… Test! Test! Test!

Q: Why are some sessions not available on an ARM/SoC device?

A: You can compare it to the Microsoft Surface (ARM-Windows 8 RT) and Surface Pro (x86-Windows 8 Pro) tablet or the hardware support question, it’s an other architecture and applications, drivers and operating systems must be designed for it. If not it will not work… Quite simple.

I hope this will solve some questions coming up…

Cheers

Michael

Posted in Citrix, General, Microsoft, Solutions | No Comments »

Note: IGEL UD2 Multimedia and Citrix Access Gateway/Netscaler

Wednesday, November 21st, 2012

Hello Folks,

if you got an SSL Error 4 if you try to setup an ICA Connection thru an Citrix Access Gateway / Netscaler with the IGEL UD2 Multimedia (ARM based, Firmware 1.03.100). Don’t try to solve it! Currently it looks that the Citrix Receiver for ARM based systems can not connect to a Citrix environment (XenDesktop, XenApp or VDIinaBox) thru CAG/Netscaler. In this case you have to use a x86 based system like the UD3 or UD5, with these devices i don’t got any issue during my test’s with Firmware 4.10.100.

I will post an update here if a solution is available.

Cheers
Michael

P.S.: This issue should also pop up with any other ARM based device using the Citrix Receiver for Linux and it don’t seems to be a general IGEL UD2 Multimedia issue. Iam only sorry that this is not mentioned in the release notes in any way….

Posted in IGEL Universal Desktop LX (ARM), Netscaler / Access Gateway | No Comments »

Tip: Application can’t be started from a mapped USB Memory with IGEL Universal Desktop LX/OS in a Citrix Session

Thursday, October 25th, 2012

Hello Folks,

try http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX105611 to solve this issue.

Cheers
Michael

Posted in IGEL Universal Desktop LX (ARM), IGEL Universal Desktop LX/OS (x86), VDI in a Box, XenApp, XenDesktop | No Comments »

Tip: Fixing Windows focus issues in ICA sessions (XenApp/Presentation Server) for IGEL Universal Desktop LX/OS

Tuesday, October 9th, 2012

Hi,

if you’re working with seamless apps in an Citrix Environment it can happen, that sometimes a Window drops behind an other window. For example you are working in Outlook and open a Email and the new email Window appears behind the main Outlook window. For the user it Looks like the session is freezed or similar.

There are a couple of Settings to fix this but the disadvantage: you’re required to test it by your own. Application and environments are working different and there is no general rule how this can be fixed.

Open the IGEL Setup or the UMS Profile and go to System->Registry->ICA->WFCLIENT, here try to modify the following settings:

Settwifocus
Settwifocusontitled
Twidropfocus
Twifocusonraise
Twinewcontrol
Usedefaultvisual
Uselocalim
Useuservisualid
Twiemulatesystray
twiigenornenormalstate 

Regarding the results from the past i would prefer starting with the Settings marked in blue. In advance you should also try to change two settings from the IGEL OS, these settings can be found also in the registry->windowmanager->wm0 and then change:

focusonmap, focushint and/or preventfocusstealing

Also here, different combinations can provide different results depending on the environment.  

See also http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX101644&searchID=25075941 that provides a bunch of Server related settings, from the list try to setup option 14 (DON’T SEND DISABLE) to 8000. This also fixed some issues for me in the past.

If everything doesn’t help, try to contact the Software Vendor for your application; a couple of applications are not able to work seamless regarding the fact that they do not handle Windows in the Microsoft way (Application developed in Delphi as examble). Try also if a “Desktop Session” will bypass the issue for the user.

As said, you need to spend some time here and i can’t guarentee that this will fix the issue at all. Please test it serious and don’t roll out a not tested configuration to a bunch of thin clients at once. 

Cheers

Michael

P.S.: This can also happen for any Version of the Citrix Receiver for Windows, you can try the same settings here.

Posted in IGEL Universal Desktop LX (ARM), IGEL Universal Desktop LX/OS (x86), XenApp | 2 Comments »

Tip: Configure a Keyboard shortcut to minimize fullscreen Citrix or Microsoft RDS sessions for a Linux based IGEL OS

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012

Hello,

very often i’ve been asked how a Citrix or Microsoft RDS fullscreen session can be minimized in an IGEL Universal Desktop LX/OS firmware. By default IGEL has not enabled this but this task is simple to do….

Open the IGEL Setup or the UMS Profile, now go to User Interface->Hotkeys->Commands and select Minimize all Windows… Click on Edit now and activate the hotkey, i prefer CTRL¦ALT and ESC (Write Escape in the Hotkey field to set ESC) but you can also set other combinations of course. Please make sure that your set combination do not conflict with any other Linux or Windows key combination!

Close the Setup or the profile (assign the profile to an Client if not already done) and here you go.

Cheers

Michael

P.S.: One Extension, of course any local Client key mapping do not work if the keyboard is mapped into the session thru “real” USB redirection!

P.S.2: For ICA Sessions it could be required to Setup a second key combination to Stop the direct Keyboard Passthrough, this configuration can be found in the IGEL Setup->System->Registry->ica->wfclient and then configure the following Settings: keypassthroughescapechar and keypassthroughescapeshift. This can be also configured with a profile in the IGEL UMS. If you’re connecting thru the Firefox Browser (Citrix Webinterface) you have to Setup the configuration in the Default.ica file from the Webinterface!

Posted in IGEL Universal Desktop LX (ARM), IGEL Universal Desktop LX/OS (x86), Remote Desktop Services, VDI, VDI in a Box, XenApp, XenDesktop | 2 Comments »

Fix jumping Mousepointer for Citrix Receiver (Linux)

Monday, October 1st, 2012

Hello,

do you have dislocated offices and users reporting a jumping or flickering mouse pointer? From my expierence this is a bandwith/latency issue that should be investigated at all.

To fix or improve this for the Linux Version of the Citrix Receiver in an IGEL Firmware try:

System->Registry and then ica.wfclient.mousetimer=0, ica.wfclient.pointerclicktime=10 and ica.wfclient.pointergrabtime=10. All settings needs to be modified, test this with one device/user first before apply these modification to a bunch of clients.

Windows versions of the Receiver do not show this effect in general, they are just slower in this scenario.

Cheers

Michael

Posted in IGEL Universal Desktop LX (ARM), IGEL Universal Desktop LX/OS (x86), VDI in a Box, XenApp, XenDesktop | No Comments »

Improve LX/OS performance for ICA sessions

Tuesday, September 18th, 2012

Hello Folks,

here are some settings that can improve the User experience for ICA sessions, mostly this is important for smaller devices like the old UD2 or UDC migrated old devices.

All settings can be found in system->registry, please test the settings one by one and not all at the same time! Use on your own risk! Test in advance!

General:

x.xserver0.backingstore: activate
x.xserver0.backingstorepolicy: WhenMapped

ICA related:

x.xserver0.backingstorepolicy
ica.wfclient.enableoss
ica.wfclient.twredundantimageitems (300 or 1000)
ica.wfclient.useserverredraw

Speedscreen:
ica.wfclient.speedscreenbacompressedcachesize: 1024 or 4096
ica.wfclient.speedscreenbacompressionenabled
ica.wfclient.speedscreenbadecompressedcachesize: 4096
ica.wfclient.speedscreenbamaximumcompressionlevel: low
ica.wfclient.speedscreenmmasecondstobuffer: 5

Please note: This might improve the user experience but it don’t have to be, depending on the user scenario/environment!

Cheers
Michael

Posted in IGEL Universal Desktop LX/OS (x86), VDI in a Box, XenApp, XenDesktop | No Comments »

Fixed: IGEL LX/OS and images are Tinted Blue in Published Photoshop when using XenApp 6 (CTX128332)

Friday, June 8th, 2012

In XenApp 6 environments it can happen that images are tinted blue in a published Photoshop session, for the Windows Citrix Receiver is a fix available which is mentioned here: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX128332

To setup this for a Linux based IGEL Thin Client or a UDC converted device open the profile or IGEL Setup and set System->Registry->ICA->wfclient->enableoss to disable. In general tweaks like this can be found in the wfclient area in the IGEL Setup or the profile in the IGEL UMS. If a setting is not available it might be a good idea to contact the IGEL support to provide information’s like this to the IGEL development.

Cheers
Michael

Posted in IGEL Universal Desktop LX/OS (x86), XenApp | No Comments »

USB redirection with Citrix XenApp and Microsoft Remote Desktop Services

Wednesday, June 6th, 2012

Did you ever ask the question what extended USB redirection in the IGEL product description means? No… It’s not USB redirection coming with VMWare View, XenDesktop or RemoteFX; this is included in the clients by default. It’s a solution called “USB for Remote Desktop” from Fabulatech. This solution was primary designed to offer USB redirection for Microsoft’s Remote Desktop Services.

Since the latest version it also support XenApp and it’s maybe a good add-on if you require “real” USB redirection for your users or devices with the benefit that you can configure all the devices from remote with the IGEL Universal Management Suite. To get more information’s have a look here: http://www.usb-over-network.com/partners/igel/

Important: In the IGEL firmware release notes you can see what version of Fabulatech USB for Remote Desktop is installed, on the Terminal Server’s the same or compatible Version is required; don’t try to mix it! You also need the Advanced Feature Set for the IGEL Thin Client to be able to use it.

Cheers
Michael

Posted in Solutions, VDI, VDI in a Box, XenDesktop | 3 Comments »

Using Citrix VDI in a Box 5 with IGEL Linux clients (Firmware 4.09.100 or higher)

Saturday, May 19th, 2012

Hello,

before the firmware release 4.09.100 it was only possible to use Citrix VDI in a Box 5 thru the XenApp configuration in the IGEL Universal Desktop LX/OS but not with the Firefox browser. Since the 4.09.100 you can also use the firefox browser but:

You need to enable a setting in the registry for this, it’s only mentioned with a short context in the release notes for the 4.09.100 firmware.

Open the IGEL Setup or the UMS profile and go to System->Registry and enable the setting browser_plugin.ica.vdi_fix.

After this configuration the VDI in a Box Webinterface works like a charm for the users.

Cheers
Michael

Posted in IGEL Universal Desktop LX/OS (x86), VDI in a Box | No Comments »

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