XenDesktopMaster

Yesterday Citrix annouced the free availability of Branch Repeater VPX (any model) for every new and existing Citrix XenDesktop Platinum customer. While this is a big addition for existing and new customers, implementing Branch Repeater VPX can be technical challanging.

Let my explain why:

First you need a physical server running Citrix XenServer or VMware ESX. This isn’t a big deal. But while the physical Branch Repeater appliances have file-to-wire network cards your virtualization host doesn’t. This means when your Repeater VPX or physical virtualization host are running into any trouble your connection which before was featured by Citrix Reapter is now offline.

What are the alternatives:

• Using the Repeater High-availability mode? No, you’re out of luck. This feature isn’t supported if you’re deploying Repeater as VPX.
• Using the high-availability features (NIC bonding, Restart HA) of the hypervisor? Again, you’re out of luck because it doesn’t help you if your Repeater VPX is crashing.
• Using Repeater WCCP or Virtual Inline mode? There you are.

In fact if you’re deploying Repeater in WCCP mode or Virtual Inline mode both have health checking capabilities. So if your Repeater isn’t available anymore your router is bypassing the Repeater and is sending the traffic another way.

For implementing WCCP or Virtual Inline mode you need to do some changes to your router, which in most cases shouldn’t be a problem but can also be very challenging when it’s managed by your ISP.

Anyhow now you know how to deploy a fail-proof Repeater VPX in your environment and you now can enjoy all the advantages of having Citrix Branch Repeater around.

For more information about the product announcement visit:
http://community.citrix.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=160366748

For details on how to deploy Branch Repeater VPX in WCCP or Virtual Inline mode take a look at the admin guide:
http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX126633