Communication Ports Used by Citrix Technologies *updated

Written by Thomas Poppelgaard. Posted in Access Gateway, App Streaming, Branch Repeater, Citrix, Dazzle, Delivery Services, Edgesight, HDX, HDX3D Pro, Merchandise, Netscaler, Provisioning, Receiver, Reciever, Synchronizer, Webinterface, Whitepapers, Workflow Studio, XenApp, XenClient, XenConvert, XenDesktop, XenServer, XenVault

Fred Donovan from Citrix have updated the whitepaper - Communication Ports Used by Citrix Technologies to version 1.5 (April 2011)

Overview

This document provides an overview of ports that are used by Citrix components and must be considered as part of Virtual Computing architecture, especially if communication traffic traverses network components such as firewalls or proxy servers, where ports must be opened to ensure communication flow.

References

The assignments are listed by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), updated regularly, and revised when new information is available and new assignments are made. The specific location of the port numbers list is available at the following Web site: http://www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers.

Microsoft Article “Network Ports Used by Key Microsoft Server Products”.

Microsoft Article ID 832017 “Service overview and network port requirements for the Windows Server system”.

Download WhitePaper - Communication Ports Used by Citrix Technologies here

Service Pack 1 for XenClient/Synchronizer

Written by Thomas Poppelgaard. Posted in Synchronizer, XenClient

Citrix just released Service Pack 1 for XenClient 1.0! This update is basically maintenance release that includes over 100 fixes for both the XenClient hypervisor and the Synchronizer virtual appliance. This update brings bug fixes, stability and speed improvements, and it also includes a few new features.

The following new features where added and/or enhanced on the XenClient Hypervisor:

  • Support for additional laptops:
    • Lenovo T510
      • Core i5 and Intel HD Graphics
    • Panasonic Toughbook 52
      • Core i5 and Intel HD Graphics
  • Initial support for Windows 7 SP1 (Windows 7 SP1 Beta)
  • Improved system boot time
  • FlexCast integration – support for Streamed VHDs from Provisioning Services
  • Improved playback and recording support including default volume level enhancements
  • Revamp of VM auto boot experience to provide a close to native boot experience
    • Ability to boot directly to a VM
    • Ability to background launch additional auto boot VMs
    • Authentication to XenClient only when needed
  • Static IP configuration for wired networks
  • Blocking of unsafe configuration changes when a VM is asleep or hibernated
  • Increased reliability of wireless connections
  • Improved support for internationalized text entry
  • Proper handling and reporting on systems with dual batteries
  • Improved reliability of Application Discovery when using Secure Application Sharing
  • Support for Blu-Ray playback from internal and USB connected drives
  • Ability to use raw VHD files created with XenConvert tool
  • Security improvements
The following new features where added and/or enhanced on the Synchronizer for XenClient:
  • Improved support for connecting to Synchronizers with non-standard hostnames
  • Improved cross-browser compatibility of user interface
  • Improved support for internationalized text entry
  • Robustness improvements to VM image transfers
  • Ability to cache AD credentials offline with Dynamic image mode
  • Disk space usage accuracy improvements
  • Ability to upload a VM based on
Download Service Pack 1 for XenClient 1.0 here: http://www.citrix.com/xenclient/tryit 

Citrix Synchronizer 1.0 final released

Written by Thomas Poppelgaard. Posted in Synchronizer

Citrix have fixed some stuff to the final version of Citrix Synchronizer 1.0 to XenClient.
Please read the release notes. Enjoy

Release notes of Synchronizer 1.0
http://support.citrix.com/servlet/KbServlet/download/24998-102-648098/Synchronizer_1_0_Release_Notes.pdf

Download Synchronizer 1.0 final here
http://support.citrix.com/servlet/KbServlet/download/24998-102-648098/Synchronizer_1_0_Release_Notes.pdf

Citrix Synchronizer 1.0 RC2

Written by Thomas Poppelgaard. Posted in Synchronizer, XenClient

Highlighted features in this release – click here to download

  • Dynamic Image Mode (Experimental)

This is one of the most exciting capabilities that we added in RC2 and it really spans both the backend and the client. This capability allows layering of VM images. By separating the image into different layers (Base OS, Apps, User profile) administrators can maintain a single copy of the base image in the datacenter. As the base image is updated the Synchronizer will automatically generate a delta to upgrade the image deployed on existing XenClient systems or send the latest version to new XenClients. This not only allows for upgrades to your deployed virtual desktop images but allows roll-to any version of an image. So you can rollback or roll forward to any version of the VM image with a few mouse clicks. So if you deploy an update and it has some unintended interaction, no problem just flip a switch and roll everyone back. The user profile data is stored in a separate layer that allows it to remain untouched as the rest of the system is updated or rolled back. Additionally by separating the user data into a separate layer backup sizes are dramatically reduced. This is being delivered as an experimental feature in this release as it’s a new model for image deployment and we want to get feedback on how it works for you in your environment.

  • Simplified disk space expansion for image and backup storage

Administrators will now be able to easily increase the amount of storage available for storing VM images and user backups. Now you can simply shutdown the Synchronizer appliance, increase the data disk drive in XenCenter and boot up the appliance. The Synchronizer will automatically find and use the newly added space it’s as simple as that.

  • Simplified and Expanded Synchronizer Setup

Citrix have revamped the Synchronizer setup process to be cleaner and easier to use. This includes streamlined HTTPS support and support for static networking configurations.

  • In place upgrade for Synchronizer

Just as you can move XenClient from RC1 to RC2 Citrix also added the ability to upgrade Synchronizer to RC2 while keeping existing settings, images, and backups intact.

  • Scalability enhancements

Citrix Synchronizer wizards have been doing a bunch of scalability testing and optimization to increase the data transfer throughput and increase the number of XenClients per Synchronizer server. Citrix will share some more detailed results including rules of thumb by the time we GA. Citrix have also optimized the storage of compressed VM image and user backup data to reduce the amount of storage space required on the backend.

  • Usability Enhancements

Citrix spent a lot of time on incorporating usability feedback into this release. Citrix have a crack team of UX experts at Citrix that watched ITPros first use of the system and Citrix learned some great information about how to make the product even simpler to use. While Citrix made a host of enhancements and these are some of the ones that stand out:

  • Revamped web console

Citrix have done a big revamp of the web admin interface touching almost every square inch of the UI. Citrix got a chance to incorporate a lot of valuable feedback from the UX testing and feedback from users in our beta programs. And Citrix are not done yet, look for additional enhancements in the GA release as well. Some highlights are below:

New user and group details pages with ability to easily view and modify user and group assignments

New multi-step assignment wizard

Version and author information display enhancements

Device filtering support

Recent Comments

Thomas Poppelgaard

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Hi Youngtech

Citrix have created this knowledge article http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX131993

So i would say yes there is support from Citrix now, i still have people telling me that if you turn on “Interrupt safe mode” then the issue is still there and vSphere 5 doesn’t work with Citrix Provisioning Server 6

Dane Young

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Thomas,

Did Citrix actually make a statement that this is supported now? Send me a DM on Twitter @youngtech if you don’t mind. I’m very curious if Citrix is now supporting PVS w/vSphere 5.

Thanks!
–youngtech

Ro

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Sorry, not to nag, but it’s called Apple iOS, or just iOS. Not Mac iOS. OS X is often called Mac OS X.

Thanks for a great blog. It’s a great resource to keep up with the virtualization world.

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