The Citrix Blog

Jo Harder

  1. Long-Distance Licensing

    By Jo Harder · Published on 1 year ago · 5 Comments

    Suppose that you're a Citrix administrator that needs to use a remote Citrix License Server so that users from a contractor, subsidiary, or a customer acquire licenses from somewhere other than the main Citrix License Server that supports the core XenApp or XenDesktop farm. What's the best way to do this?Depending on the Citrix technology and version that is being licensed, the options differ. ...

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  2. Is Your User Profile Data Homeless?

    By Jo Harder · Published on 1 year ago · 8 Comments

    Last week, I met with about 50 medium-sized customers in small group sessions to discuss the bits and bytes of designing and implementing Citrix solutions. Although we touched on many aspects of a successful Citrix environment, all eyes lit up when the topic focused on user profiles. The average number of users that these IT professionals supported ranged from a few hundred to ...

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  3. Can You Dodge Your User Profile Enemies Faster Than Captain Jack?

    By Jo Harder · Published on 1 year ago · No Comments

    Let's face it: user profiles are not known to be the favorite subject of administrators and architects. But, they're necessary for a successful XenApp and/or XenDesktop implementation.When it comes to user profiles, what is administratively easy can cause a mutiny by unhappy users. Not addressing user profiles means that a default profile to be used. In most cases, that's undesirable ...

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  4. User Profiles—Options, Trends, and Pitfalls

    By Jo Harder · Published on 1 year ago · No Comments

    User profiles are certainly one of the more confusing aspects of any XenApp and/or XenDesktop implementation. What is the required user experience? How many resources will be accessed at once? What are the backend requirements? And the list of questions goes on and on . . .So far as options, gone are the days when a Microsoft user profile was ...

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  5. Answers to Your Questions about Optimizing XenApp and XenDesktop Access Across the WAN

    By Jo Harder · Published on 1 year ago · 4 Comments

    Thanks to all that attended the TechTalk live on August 25th! Almost as many individuals have already watched the recording compared with those that attended live. Could you tell that my favorite part was dissecting the ICA packets?This WAN Optimization TechTalk session will be repeated for the EMEA audience on October 7th, and all are welcome to attend. So if you ...

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  6. A Mixed Farm Consisting of XenApp 5 and 6?

    By Jo Harder · Published on 1 year ago · 5 Comments

    I recently got involved with a customer that said he had applied "the new feature pack" for XenApp 5 for Windows Server 2003 so that it could co-exist in a farm with XenApp 6 for Windows Server 2008 R2. When attempting to add servers to the farm, the new servers would fail. No servers could be added to the farm. The new ...

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  7. Desktop Virtualization From the User Perspective

    By Jo Harder · Published on 1 year ago · 1 Comment

    As techies, it's easy to get caught up with all the innovative technology that XenDesktop offers. But, let's switch chairs and look at XenDesktop from a user perspective because it's the user that must fully embrace virtual desktops. If not, it's just another cool technology.What exactly does the user want? Everything! The virtual desktop has to be easy, ...

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  8. Dissecting ICA Packets

    By Jo Harder · Published on 1 year ago · 5 Comments

    I promise, it's nothing like dissecting frogs in science class. No forceps or scalpel. No nasty smells. But dissecting ICA packets does separate the geeks from, well, the rest.Dissecting ICA packets is free. All you need is something like Network Monitor from Microsoft and a programmer calculator. Just download Network Monitor from the Microsoft site and change your ...

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  9. What’s In That ICA Packet?

    By Jo Harder · Published on 1 year ago · No Comments

    Network administrators think about packets like car pools: if you stuff more into each "vehicle," it's more efficient, right?Not when it comes to ICA packets. Let me explain. The standard network maximum transmission unit (MTU) is 1500 bytes. The default maximum for ICA data is 1460 bytes, allowing for some overhead before the packet traverses the network.Typically, ICA traffic is comprised of many ...

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  10. Prioritizing ICA Print Jobs

    By Jo Harder · Published on 1 year ago · No Comments

    Let's say that you're a retail establishment that uses XenDesktop or a XenApp hosted application for point of sale. Your customers expect a fast, pleasant transaction, which includes printing the receipt and handing it to the customer . . . without a wait. How can you ensure that happens?Print jobs are sent across the WAN based on standard network printing or the ...

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