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

http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX128328

Citrix released the XenDesktop 5 FAQ which contains answers to things you always wanted to know about XenDesktop 5.

For example:

• What happens if the database is unavailable?
• Which tasks require administrative access to the Data Store?
• Why does the XenDesktop Setup Wizard not seem to work with XenDesktop 5?

And much more interesting details. Grab it while it is hot: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX128328

Using AppSense Environment Manager with Citrix Provisioning Services is a killer combination. In fact in combination with an application virtualization solution it’s a true layer cake.

Unfortunately the AppSense Environment Manager and Citrix Provisioning Services aren’t working to good with each other if you doesn’t keep the following step in mind.

• Every change you do inside the Environment Manager policy trigger “Computer Start up” needs to be baked into the vDisk itself.
• If you’re using PVS to stream VHDs to client systems, not XenApp servers or virtual desktops, every configuration change needs to be baked directly into the vDisk.

Why you have to do this? It’s easy:

If you’re using the AppSense Management Center to deploy and manage AppSense configurations normally every configuration change is almost immediately deployed to the agents. In a classic desktop or XenApp environment thats fine but not if you use Provisioning services and here is why:

If you make changes inside the Computer start up trigger there is no problem deploying the new configuration. But as soon as you restart your target devices, which is deployed as vDisk in standard mode, the new configuration is gone. When the system now reboots the AppSense Environment Manager runs the Comptuer start up triggers from the old configuration which is baked into the vDisk. After this is done the AppSense deployment system actual starts to update the configuration again but now it’s to late. The updated configuration is not used as the Computer start up trigger was already triggered. In a XenApp / XenDesktop environment that’s the only thing you have to be concerned about. Normally the Environment Manager  configuration is deployed before users can log on and so every change to the user section works, even if this configuration change isn’t baked into the vDisk.

For physical target devices, like client computers, that isn’t the case as the user is able to log on to the system much earlier as in a XenApp / XenDesktop environment. In this case the old baked in configuration is used for the user section of Environment Manager or, if the timing is very bad, the user gets absolutely no configuration as the Environment Manager configuration is updated exactly when the user logs on.

But if you keep both points mentioned above in mind you should be got to go.

By the way, maybe some at AppSense is reading this, it would be awesome if it would be possible to change the location where the AppSense configurations are saved. Then we could choose a persistent location for the configuration and wouldn’t need to update the vDisk in almost every case when an update to the Environment Manager configuration is done. Also it would be nice if AppSense configuration updates would be done before the Computer start up trigger gets processed and also before the user is able to log on.

Many of our customers currently experiecing an issue that Internet Explorer pages are flickering if IE is published as application or even running inside a published desktop.

Every experienced Citrix guy will instantly think of the “Force Offscreen Composition” key for Internet explorer. But this key unfortunately doesn’t solve the problem.

In this case the root of all evil is the Citrix progressive compression feature which causes the flickering. This issue exists in every XenApp or XenDesktop release which contains the progressive display feature.

There are currently three workarounds available.

1. Disable progressive compression through Citrix policies. In XenApp 6 and XenDesktop 5 this is done by setting the progressive compression level to None.

2. Disable the EnableOSS feature on client side through a registry key. To disable the OSS feature open the registry (regedit.exe) navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Citrix\ICA Client\Engine\Lockdown Profiles\All Regions\Lockdown\Virtual Channels\Thinwire Graphics and change the EnableOSS data from “*” to “FALSE”.

3. Disable the EnableOSS feature through modification of your web interface instance. For this workaround open the default.ica of your specific web interface site (e.g. c:\inetpub\wwwroot\citrix\xenapp\conf\default.ica) using your favorite text editor and add the EnableOSS=False in the [Application] section.

For more information what exactly the EnableOSS setting just look at the Citrix eDocs library.

This issue is currently investigated by Citrix technical support so hotfixes for this issue should be available to a later date.

http://www.dabcc.com/article.aspx?id=17068

Doug Brown posted a very detailed article about upgrading XenClient and Synchronizer to SP1.

How to Upgrade to Citrix XenClient Service Pack 1 (SP1)

In combination with my little hint how to copy the upgrade package for Synchronizer you should be good to go.

Updating the Citrix XenClient Synchronizer is as simply as run a little shell script but frist you need to get this script copied to the Synchronizer itself.
The described way in the official admin guide for the Synchronizer Citrix suggests to place the upgrade file on a location which you can access through SSH.
In a Windows only world this isn’t that easy. Also the default configuration of Synchronizer doesn’t allow you to connect via SCP, for example with WinSCP.

The easiest way to copy the upgrade file to the Synchronizer is to enable SSH on the Synchronizer, which is done in two simple steps.

1. Log on as root to the Synchronizer console using XenCenter
2. Run  dpkg-reconfigure openssh-server

Et voila you can now connect to the Sychronizer using your favorite SCP client (I prefer CyberDuck or WinSCP) and copy the upgrade file directly to it.

For the rest of the update procedure just follow the admin guide.

By the way, kudos to Jesse Wright which posted this solution in the Citrix suport forum.

Today Citrix released the latest preview of their bare-metal type 1 client hypervisor. Citrix changed and added a lot to the RC2 release since the RC1 release.

New Features in XenClient RC2

• Support for Windows 7 x64 as guest VM
• Improved USB (support for integrated USB devices, new user interface for mapping USB devices between VMs and setting up persistent connections between VMs and USB devices)
• Support for Bluetooth devices
• Usability Enhancements
• Simplified VM upload and download process
• Improved display of upload/download progress
• Enhanced client authentication experience
• In VM alerting system
• Mouse pointer trails support
• Automatic slipstream of Intel Graphics drivers
• Intel AMT KVM Remote Control
• Intel Extended Page Tables support
• In place upgrade for XenClient
• Local authentication enhancements
• Secure Application Sharing enhancements
• Expanded hardware compatibility

New Features in Synchronizer RC2

• Dynamic Image Mode (Experimental)
• Simplified disk space expansion for image and backup storage
• Simplified and Expanded Synchronizer Setup
• In place upgrade for Synchronizer
• Scalability enhancements
• Usability Enhancements
• Revamped web console

Peter Blum from Citrix published two greate blog posts which cover the new enhancements and feature in detail:

XenClient 1.0 RC2 Released, New Features in XenClient Post 1 of 2
XenClient 1.0 RC2 Released, New Features in Synchronizer Post 2 of 2

The download of the new XenClient RC2 and Synchronzier RC2 releases can be found here:

http://www.citrix.com/English/ps2/products/feature.asp?contentID=2300346

Update: The official release notes and user/admin guides can be found here:

CTX126479 – Citrix XenClient 1.0 RC2 Release Notes
CTX126478 – Citrix XenClient 1.0 RC2 User Guide
CTX126481 – Citrix Synchronizer 1.0 RC2 Release Notes
CTX126480 – Citrix Synchronizer 1.0 RC2 Administrator Guide

With the release of Service Pack 1 XenDesktop 4 is the first enterprise-ready SHVD platform. This was announced by Burton Group, a division of Gartner, recently.

Burton Group developed evaluation criteria a server-hosted virtual desktop (SHVD) has to meet to become enterprise ready. The criteria include 53 features which are focused on security, management and user experience. The evaluation criteria is categorized in required, preferred and optional features.

With Service Pack 1 XenDesktop 4 meets 100% of the required features.

For more information about Burton Group, the evaluation criteria and Service Pack 1 for XenDesktop just visit the following links.

Announcement from Burton Group:
http://blogs.gartner.com/chris-wolf/2010/07/29/xendesktop-4-sp1-is-the-first-enterprise-ready-shvd-platform

Announcementfrom Citrix:
http://community.citrix.com/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=147783685

XenDesktop 4 Service Pack 1:
http://www.xendesktopmaster.com/xendesktop-4-service-pack-1-is-available-for-download/

Delegated Administration and Configuration Logging for XenDesktop 4:
http://www.xendesktopmaster.com/delegated-administration-and-configuration-logging-for-xendesktop-4/

As part of the previously mentioned service pack 1 release for XenDesktop 4 Citrix now released two additional components: delegated administration and configuration logging.

Delegated adminstration:
This feature allows you to control which administrator can do what in your XenDesktop farm. For example which desktop group he can control. Mainly it is absolute similar to the delegated administration functionality which is available in XenApp since several years.

Configuration logging:
Configuration logging allows you to keep track of administrative changes made to your Desktop Delivery controllers (DDC). For example if a Desktop group was created or a virtual desktop was shutdown through the Delivery Services Console, Presentation Server Console or a custom scripts using MFCOM this is logged and available as a report for later clarification.

Citrix released a video which is explaining and demoing these features in detail.

This update has to be installed on every DDC in your XenDesktop farm where you want to use these new features. Also you have to update your administrative workstations if you use the Desktop Delivery Console on it.

This update is optional, but highly recommended.

The update is available for download at http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX126122.
The documentation for this update is available at: http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xendesktop-bdx/cds-landing-page-jer.html

Citrix just released Service Pack 1 for XenDesktop 4.0 with over 40 issues fixed.

There will be no new installation media. Instead you have to install the both the agent and the server-side fixes manually on top of every XenDesktop installation.

Because of the level of stress and functional testing Citrix has done with this service pack they recommend the installation for every customer.Fixes for the virtual desktop agent:

Service Pack 1 XDE400VDAWX64SP1 (Version 4.0.5010) – For Citrix XenDesktop 4.0 Virtual Desktop Agent x64
http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX126019

Service Pack 1 XDE400VDAWX86SP1 (Version 4.0.5010) – For Citrix XenDesktop 4.0 Virtual Desktop Agent x86
http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX126019

Before you start install the update keep in mind that does and never did support installing the virtual desktop agent inside a RDP or even ICA session. You have to use the console.

Fixes for the desktop delivery controller components:

Hotfix DDCE400W2K3X64004 – For Citrix XenDesktop 4.0 for Windows Server 2003 (64-bit)
http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX125598

Hotfix DDCE400W2K3004 – For Citrix XenDesktop 4.0 for Windows Server 2003 (32-bit)
http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX125594

Citrix XenDesktop Desktop Delivery Controller – Services, Version 4.0.4547 (XDE400DDC002) – For Citrix XenDesktop 4.0
http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX125512

Citrix XenDesktop Pool Management, Version 4.0.4547 (XDE400PM003) – For Citrix XenDesktop 4.0
http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX125538

Citrix Desktop Delivery Controller Administration Snap-In, Version 4.0.4547 (XDE400AMC001)
http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX125573

It is very important to install at least XDE400PM003, DDCE400W2K3004 (32-bit or 64-bit) and XDE400DDC002 as they fix a memory leak only if all three of them are installed.