Citrix XenServer 6.5

Citrix XenServer 6.5

Citrix have released a major release of their hypervisor XenServer 6.5

I have with this blogpost gathered all the public informations available and created a blogpost on what I think is new with Citrix XenServer 6.5 and why this is great and how you can use this.

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Citrix Receiver 13 for Linux

Citrix have released Receiver 13 for Linux. This release is an amazine Receiver from Citrix that features lots of new powerfull features. Thin client vendors like Dell Wyse is going to be very happy about this release cause the user experience is truely amazing with this new client.

Check out this cool video Vipin Borkar from Citrix have created, where you see the powerfull new features

http://www.citrix.com/tv/#videos/9555

Whats new in Receiver 13 for Linux

  • Support for XenDesktop 7 features – Receiver supports many of the new features and enhancements in XenDesktop 7, including Windows Media client-side content fetching, HDX 3D Pro, HDX RealTime webcam compression, Server-rendered Rich Graphics, and IPv6 support.
    Note: Link-local network addresses are not supported in IPv6 environments. You must have at least one global or unique-local address assigned to your network interface.
  • VDI-in-a-Box support – You can use Receiver to connect to virtual desktops created with Citrix VDI-in-a-Box.
  • Self-service UI – A new graphical user interface (UI), like that in other Citrix Receivers, replaces the configuration manager, wfcmgr. After they are set up with an account, users can subscribe to desktops and applications, and then start them.
  • Deprecated and removed utilities – The pnabrowse command-line utility is deprecated in favor of the new storebrowse command-line utility. The icabrowse and wfcmgr utilities have been removed.
  • StoreFront support – You can now connect to StoreFront stores as well as Citrix XenApp sites (also known as Program Neighborhood Agent sites).
  • UDP audio support – Most audio features are transported using the ICA stream and are secured in the same way as other ICA traffic. User Datagram Protocol (UDP) Audio uses a separate, unsecured, transport mechanism, but is more consistent when the network is busy. UDP Audio is primarily designed for Voice over IP (VoIP) connections and requires that audio traffic is of medium quality (that is Speex wideband) and unencrypted.
  • Packaging – An armhf (hard float) Debian package and tarball are now included in the download packages. In addition, the Debian package for Intel systems uses multiarch (a Debian feature) for installations on 32- and 64-bit systems. 32-bit binaries are also available in RPM packages.
  • System Flow Control – Video display has been enhanced on low-performance user devices that connect to high-performance servers. In such setups, System Flow Control prevents sessions becoming uncontrollable and unusable.
  • Localization – Receiver is now available in German, Spanish, French, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese.
  • Keyboard improvements – You can now specify which local key combination (Ctrl+Alt+End or Ctrl+Alt+Enter) generates the Ctrl+Alt+Delete combination on a remote Windows desktop. In addition, a new option supports Croatian keyboard layouts.
  • Deferred XSync – While one frame is still on screen, Receiver can now decode tiles for the next frame. This provides a performance improvement compared with previous releases, in which Receiver waited for a frame to finish being displayed before decoding the next frame.
  • Audio and webcam playback improvements – Various changes are implemented that conserve CPU cycles and reduce latency.
  • Audio settings – Several new audio settings are now available in module.ini.

Source

Download Citrix Receiver 13 for Linux here

Vipin Borkar CTX blogpost about Reciever 13 for Linux new features

Citrix VDI-in-a-box 5.4

Citrix have released a new version of Citrix VDI-in-a-box 5.4

VDI-in-a-Box 5.4 provides support for Windows 8.1 virtual desktops and Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V. It also includes a range of enhancements that increase VDI-in-a-Box’s flexibility and a range of power tools for administrators. If you want to migrate your VDI-in-a-box platform to a XenDesktop 7 platform, there is now a wizard included in VDI-in-a-box 5.4, that lets you easy migrate your images, template configuration and user assignments.

Note !!! – Citrix VDI-in-a-Box does not support HDX3D Pro.

Whats new in Citrix VDI-in-a-box 5.4

  • Windows 8.1 virtual desktops
    Create Windows 8.1 desktops and run them on any supported hypervisor.
  • Windows Server 2012 R2
    Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper V is now supported. You can also use Windows Server 2012 R2 desktops with HDX connections. Grids running on Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper V and Windows Server 2012 Hyper V can use shared storage.
  • VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
    VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5 Hypervisor is now supported.
  • Built-in HTML5 device support
    Use devices running HTML5-capable browsers to access VDI-in-a-Box desktops without StoreFront. This allows devices such as Chromebook to access VDI-in-a-Box desktops without additional server components.
  • Multiple computer domains
    If you use Active Directory as a user database, you can place the computer objects for VDI-in-a-Box desktops in more than one domain. This allows you to separate your users into different domains and meet regulatory or compliance requirements in your organization. For more information, see Use VDI-in-a-Box with Active Directory.
  • StoreFront smart card support
    Users can log on using smart cards when accessing desktops through StoreFront from non-domain-joined Windows devices.
  • SSL certificate multiple host names
    You can specify multiple host names on a single SSL certificate, which is more cost-effective than using a wildcard certificate. This enables you to specify the grid IP FQDN as the common name and add subject alternate names for the FQDNs of the individual vdiManagers. For more information, see Manage SSL certificates.
  • Install existing SSL certificates
    Install existing SSL certificates through the Manage SSL Certificate wizard. For more information, see Manage SSL certificates.
  • Follow-me desktops
    Time-share user devices among multiple user names where each user name is shared by a group of users: in a classroom or lab environment, for example. In previous releases of VDI-in-a-Box this was achieved through setting your entire grid to generic user mode. You now have the flexibility to support shared user accounts and dedicated user accounts in the same VDI-in-a-Box grid just by clearing a check box on an individual template. For more information, see Configure shared user accounts.
    Generic user mode is now reserved solely for avoiding user name verification after the user logs on to a desktop. For more information, see Configure generic user accounts.
  • Image save as
    You can save an existing image under a new name. This gives you the flexibility to easily create backups, or experiment with different image settings.
    If you need to pilot a new version of an image for a pooled desktop, you can update an existing image, save it with a different name, then edit an existing template to use this image. When testing is complete it’s easy to either continue using the updated image, move back to the previous version, or create subsequent versions if you need to continue testing.
    For more information, see Manage images.
  • Change images for pooled-desktop templates
    You can edit an existing template for pooled desktops and base it on a different image, provided the image is compatible with the template properties and existing desktops. This enables you to test new versions of images, as described above. For more information, see Manage templates.
  • Remote Assistance support
    Launch Windows Remote Assistance from the vdiManager console, enabling administrators or support staff to share users’ screens and shadow their sessions. For more information, see Manage user sessions.
  • Wizard-driven migration to Citrix XenDesktop
    If you need to move your entire VDI-in-a-Box deployment to XenDesktop, this easy-to-use wizard exports your images and generates PowerShell scripts that you can run to migrate all template configurations and user assignments to a XenDesktop deployment. For more information see http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX136081.

Source

Download Citrix VDI-in-a-box 5.4 here (Require MyCitrix ID)

Citrix VDI-in-a-box 5.3

Citrix have released a new version of VDI-in-a-box 5.3 lets cover whats new in this article.

VDI-in-a-Box 5.3 provides you with full Windows 8 support, improved supportability, and an enhanced IT experience.

Full Windows 8 support

Windows 8 support is enriched to include:

  • HDX connection to Windows 8 desktops, with DirectX support and video improvements. Smooth-motion video is now available on any device, over any network connection. Windows 8 is also supported on VDI-in-a-Box 5.2, but only through RDP.
  • Windows 8 personal desktop support. End users can now install applications, change their desktop settings, and store data on their Windows 8 virtual desktops.
  • Full support for Windows Server 2012 VHDX format (in VDI-in-a-Box 5.2, VHDX files are automatically converted to VHD).

Supportability improvements

Use VDI-in-a-Box even more effectively with these improvements in supportability:

  • Single sign-on for remote users connecting through Access Gateway from the VDI-in-a-Box web interface. For details of how to configure single sign-on, seeConfigure secure remote access using Citrix Access Gateway.
  • More specific error messages for end users using the VDI-in-a-Box web interface.
  • Improved image distribution troubleshooting tool.
  • Logging improvements, including centralized log collection for multi-server grids. For details of how to configure centralized log collection, see Collect logs.

Enhanced IT experience

Use VDI-in-a-Box more easily with the following enhancements:

  • Wizard-based SSL certificate installation and management. For details of how to install and manage certificates, see Manage SSL certificates.
  • Support for Citrix XenServer 6.2, which provides increased VM density per server and other performance and scalability enhancements.
  • VDI-in-a-Box now works with XenMobile (Enterprise or App edition). Citrix App Controller provides a single point of access to all your business resources, including virtual desktops, mobile apps, SAAS apps, and data. For more details, see Use Citrix App Controller with VDI-in-a-Box.
  • If you need to update your hypervisor address, you can enter the new address through the server configuration settings in the VDI-in-a-Box user interface. For more details, see Update hypervisor addresses.
  • The Citrix Universal Print Server package (already supported in previous releases of VDI-in-a-Box) is now available directly from the VDI-in-a-Box product download page. Using the Universal Print Server means you do not need to install printer drivers on your images. For further details about printing with VDI-in-a-Box, see Manage printing.
  • End User License Agreement (EULA) now integrated into the setup wizard.

Source

Download Citrix VDI-in-a-box 5.3 here (Require MyCitrix ID)

Citrix HDX RealTime Optimization Pack 1.4 for Microsoft Lync 2010

Citrix have released a new version of Citrix HDX RealTime Optimization Pack 1.4 for Microsoft Lync 2010.

Citrix HDX RealTime Optimization Pack for Microsoft Lync version 2010 provides a highly scalable solution for delivering real-time audio-video conferencing and VoIP enterprise telephony through Microsoft Lync in XenDesktop, XenApp, and VDI-in-a-Box environments. HDX RealTime Optimization Pack leverages your existing Microsoft Lync infrastructure and inter-operates with other Microsoft® Lync® endpoints running natively on devices.

HDX RealTime Optimization Pack consists of both client and server components:

  • The client component, called Citrix HDX RealTime Media Engine, is integrated with the Citrix Receiver on the endpoint device and performs all signaling and media processing directly on the user device itself, offloading the server for maximum scalability, minimizing network bandwidth consumption and ensuring optimal audio-video quality.
  • The server-side (and virtual desktop) component, Citrix HDX RealTime Connector, is a connector to the Microsoft® Lync® client that drives the RealTime Media Engine on the endpoint. The RealTime Connector runs in the virtual server environment alongside Microsoft® Lync® and communicates signaling information over a Citrix ICA virtual channel to the RealTime Media Engine running on the user device.

What’s new in 1.4

  • Citrix added support for the Meet Now feature of Microsoft Lync. Your users can join a meeting through optimized voice and video or by phone.
  • Citrix added support for LogiTech C920 carmeras for Windows and Linux Ubuntu desktops and HP ThinOS on HP terminals.When using a LogiTech C920 camera with the Optimization Pack, the CPU on the terminal sending the video doesn’t limit the video resolution of the camera. The terminal can send up to HD (720P) video to the other parties in the call (depending on the codec used in the call, the processor speed of the recipient, and the network restrictions set by the Lync administrator).

Source

Download Citrix Optimization Pack 1.4 for Microsoft Lync 2010 here (Require MyCitrix ID)