Citrix have released a new version of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop 7 1906 which is now available for download.

Citrix Virtual Apps (former name: XenApp) Citrix Virtual Desktop (former name: XenDesktop)

Citrix raises the bar of for user experience and new product release of following technologies:

• Director 1906
• Virtual Delivery Agents 1906 for ServerOS and ClientOS
• Virtual Delivery Agents 1906 for Desktop OS Core Services
• Virtual Delivery Agent 1906 for Linux
• Provisioning 1906
• Storefront 1906
• Profile Management 1906
• Workspace Environment Management 1906
• Session Recording 1906
• Applayering 1905
• AppDNA 1906
• Workspace App 1906 for Linux
• Workspace App 1906 for Chrome
• Workspace App 1906 for Android
• Workspace App 1906 for HTML5
• Workspace App 1906 for ChromeOS

What’s new in Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop 7 1906

This product release includes the following new, modified, and enhanced features.

Note:

New product names and version numbers were introduced in Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 7 1803. That information is retained in this article for reference.

Universal Print Server server component

In earlier releases, when installing the UPS server component on your Windows print server, ports 7229 and 8080 were opened in the Windows firewall automatically. Now, the installer gives you the choice of having the installer open these ports automatically or skipping modifications to the Windows Firewall so that you can configure it manually. For details, see Install core components.

When using the command-line interface, you must include the /enable_upsserver_port option to open those ports. For details, see Install using the command line.

Also, the Microsoft Visual C++ 2017 runtime is installed. The Visual C++ 2013 and 2015 runtimes are no longer installed.

Removal of Smart Tools agent

When installing a Delivery Controller or VDA, the Smart Tools agent is no longer installed.

• In the graphical interface, the Smart Tools page is now titled Diagnostics.
• In the command-line interface, /exclude "Smart Tools Agent" is no longer valid when installing a Delivery Controller or a VDA. The /includeadditional "Smart Tools Agent" option is no longer valid when installing a VDA.

Citrix Scout: Health checks and version check

You can now use Citrix Scout to run health checks on your Delivery Controllers and VDAs.

Also, when using the Collect or Trace & Reproduce features in Scout, a check is made to determine whether the Delivery Controllers and VDAs are running the latest version of the Citrix Telemetry Service. You are alerted if an earlier version is found, so that you can install the current version.

For details, see Citrix Scout.

Citrix Director 1906

Session Auto Reconnect

The Sessions page on the Trends tab now includes information about the number of auto reconnects. Auto reconnects are attempted when the Session Reliability or Auto Client Reconnect policies are in effect. The auto reconnect information helps you view and troubleshoot network connections having interruptions, and also analyze networks having a seamless experience.

The drilldown provides additional information like Session Reliability or Auto Client Reconnect, time stamps, Endpoint IP, and Endpoint Name of the machine where the Workspace app is installed. This feature is available for Citrix Workspace app for Windows, Citrix Workspace app for Mac, Citrix Receiver for Windows, and Citrix Receiver for Mac. This feature requires Delivery Controller version 7 1906 or later, and VDAs 1906 or later. For more information, see:

• Sessions
• Auto client reconnect policy settings
• Session reliability policy settings
• Session Auto Reconnect

Session startup duration

Director now displays the session startup duration divided into Workspace App Session Startup and VDA Session Startup time periods. This data helps you to understand and troubleshoot high session startup duration. Further, the time duration for each phase involved in the session startup helps in troubleshooting issues associated with individual phases. For example, if the Drive Mapping time is high, you can check if all the valid drives are mapped properly in the GPO or script. This feature is available on Delivery Controller version 7 1906 or later and VDAs 1903 or later. For more information, see Diagnose session startup issues.

Desktop probing

This feature automates health checks of virtual desktops published in a Site, thereby improving the user experience. To initiate desktop probing, install and configure the Citrix Probe Agent on one or more endpoint machines. Desktop probing is available for Premium licensed Sites. This feature requires Delivery Controller(s) version 7 1906 or later and Citrix Probe Agent 1903 or later. For more information, see Desktop Probing.

Virtual Delivery Agents (VDAs) 1906 for Windows

Version 1906 of the VDA for Windows Server OS and the VDA for Windows Desktop OS includes the following enhancements (in addition to the VDA installation and upgrade items listed above):

Legacy TWAIN enhancements

We made significant enhancements to the overall code quality to bring more stability and reliability to the legacy TWAIN feature.

New time zone control policy setting

The Restore desktop OS time zone on session disconnect or logoff policy setting specifies the time zone behavior when a user disconnects or logs off from a single session. For more information, see Restore desktop OS time zone on session disconnect or logoff.

Optimization for Microsoft Teams

NOTE:

This feature depends on a future Microsoft Teams release. We will update this description as information about the version and release date become available.

We added optimization for desktop-based Microsoft Teams using Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops and Citrix Workspace app. Optimization for Microsoft Teams is similar to HDX RealTime Optimization for Microsoft Skype for Business. The difference is, we bundle all necessary components for optimization for Microsoft Teams into the VDA and the Workspace app for Windows. For more information, see Optimization for Microsoft Teams and Policies.

Support for Local Security Authority (LSA) protection

We now support the use of Local Security Authority (LSA) protection on a single-session desktop OS. In Windows, you can configure extra protection for the LSA process to increase the security for the credentials that it stores and manages.

Globalization

The Windows VDAs are localized in Dutch. For globalization information, see CTX119253.

Virtual Delivery Agents (VDAs) 1906 for Linux

Version 1906 of the Linux VDA includes the following new features and enhancements:

Support for PBIS

Starting with this release, you can use PowerBroker Identity Services (PBIS) to join Linux VMs to the Windows domain. For more information, see Easy install, Install Linux Virtual Delivery Agent for RHEL/CentOS, and Install Linux Virtual Delivery Agent for Ubuntu.

Enhanced configuration for smart card authentication

Citrix is further enhancing configuration for smart card authentication. For example, when you run the ctxsmartlogon.sh script for configuring the smart card environment, you can now specify the path to a wanted smart card driver. For more information, see Pass-through authentication by using smart cards.

Support for specifying printer drivers

Starting with this release, you can specify a printer driver through the Printer driver mapping and compatibility policy in Citrix Studio. For more information, see Print.

Support for the monitor service daemon

The monitor service daemon monitors key services by periodical scanning. When detecting exceptions, the daemon restarts or stops service processes and cleans up process residuals for releasing resources. The detected exceptions are recorded in the /var/log/xdl/ms.log file. For more information, see Monitor service daemon.

Support for Google Cloud Platform virtualization environment

As of the 1906 release, Linux VDA adds support for the Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

Citrix Provisioning 1906

This release of Citrix Provisioning includes a new wizard in the provisioning console used to export devices to the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Delivery Controller. It also contains support for Citrix Hypervisor 8.0 and introduces accelerated Microsoft office activation. Numerous fixes and enhancements are also part of this release. See the fixed and known issues for additional information about this release of Citrix Provisioning.

NOTE:

Use the most recent version of the Citrix License Server for the latest features. If you are upgrading from an existing version to the newest version, the most recent version of the license server is available by using the product software. When you do not upgrade to the latest version of the license server, the product license enters the 30-day grace period. For more information, see Licensing.

Citrix Provisioning devices export wizard

The devices export wizard exports existing provisioned devices to the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Delivery Controller. This wizard augments the existing import functionality from Studio’s machine creation wizard in Citrix Cloud implementations. For more information, see Using the Export Devices Wizard.

NOTE:

The devices export wizard is the preferred method for adding existing devices in your Citrix Provisioning farm to a Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Delivery Controller.

Support for Citrix Hypervisor 8.0

This release provides experimental support for UEFI virtual machine provisioning on Citrix Hypervisor 8.0. Citrix Hypervisor is the complete server virtualization platform from Citrix, you can use to create and manage a deployment of virtual x86 computers running on Xen. See the Citrix Hypervisor documentation for more information.

Consider the following when using this functionality:

• Windows guest operating system UEFI boot on a provisioned virtual machine is an experimental feature. For more information, see Experimental features.
• Known limitations include:
  • UEFI VM with NVRAM.
  • Citrix Provisioning Accelerator with UEFI VM on Citrix Hypervisor 8.0.

Accelerated Microsoft office activation

With this release of Citrix Provisioning, an administrator can force the immediate activation of a Microsoft Office license once a system starts up. In previous releases, Key Management Service (KMS) Microsoft Office activation did not complete before a user logs in to the VM. This delay resulted in users encountering licensing warning messages, which led users to believe that they were not using a licensed version of Microsoft Office.

To access this new feature:

• use Microsoft Volume Licensing tab in the virtual disk Properties screen. Click the Key Management Service (KMS)radio button, then click the Accelerated Office Activation check box. Select OK to apply the configuration change to the virtual disk.

• use the Citrix Provisioning Imaging Wizard. In the Microsoft Volume Licensing screen, click the appropriate license management option for the virtual disk. Click the Key Management Service (KMS) radio button, then click the Accelerated Office Activation check box. Select Next to apply the configuration change to the virtual disk and continue configuring the virtual disk.

Citrix Storefront 1906

StoreFront 1906 includes the following new features. For information about bug fixes, see Fixed issues.

StoreFront Protocol Handler Support now includes Linux

When users on supported Linux platforms open a Citrix Receiver for Web site, and Citrix Workspace App for Linux 1903 or higher is installed, the browser automatically opens ICA files using Citrix Workspace App for Linux at launch. The client detection work flow for Linux, which determines whether Citrix Workspace App for Linux is installed, is now identical to Citrix Workspace App for Windows and Citrix Workspace App for MAC clients when Chrome and FireFox browsers are used. In previous releases, users on Linux were required to manually open a downloaded ICA file first.

Citrix Analytics service

You can now configure Citrix StoreFront so that Citrix Workspace App can send data to the Citrix Analytics service. Citrix Analytics aggregates metrics on users, applications, endpoints, networks, and data to provide comprehensive insights into user behavior. To enable this feature, import a configuration file from the Citrix Analytics service into a StoreFront server or server group using new PowerShell cmdlets. This enables all stores to communicate with the Citrix Analytics service. Configuration details are described in Citrix Analytics service. PowerShell details are provided in Citrix StoreFront 1906 SDK PowerShell Modules.

This functionality is supported for the following scenarios:

• Stores which are accessed by browsing to Citrix Receiver for Web sites in HTML5-compatible browsers. CAS data is supplied when launching resources using either the native Citrix Workspace app or using HTML5.
• Stores which are accessed from Citrix Workspace app 1903 for Windows or later.
• Stores which are accessed from Citrix Workspace app 1901 for Linux or later.

StoreFront SDK PowerShell Modules updated

The Citrix StoreFront SDK PowerShell Modules are updated and republished as version 1906. Changes include new PowerShell cmdlets to support the Citrix Analytics service. See Citrix StoreFront 1906 SDK PowerShell Modules.

Citrix Profile Management 1906

This version includes the following enhancements and addresses several issues to improve the user experience.

Enable native Outlook search experience

The Enable native Outlook search experience feature now supports the Microsoft Outlook 2016 64-bit edition.

Citrix Workspace Environment Management 1906

What’s new in Workspace Environment Management 1906

Workspace Environment Management 1906 includes the following new features. For information about bug fixes, see Fixed issues.

NOTE:

New product names and version numbers were introduced in Workspace Environment Management 1808. That information is retained in this article for reference. For more information, see New product names and New product and component version numbers in this article.

Action Groups

Action Groups functionality has been added to the administration console Actions pane. This functionality lets you configure a group of actions that you want to assign to a user or user group. For more information, see Action Groups.

Administration console

The administration console user interface has changed:

• In Actions, there is a new Action Groups pane. In the Actions > Action Groups pane, there is a new Action Group List tab for configuring a group of actions that you want to assign to a user or user group.
• An “Enable Notifications” option is provided on the Advanced Settings > Configuration > Agent Options tab. You can use this option to control whether the agent displays notification messages on the agent host when the connection to the infrastructure service is lost or restored.

Upgrade enhancement

This release includes the following enhancements to improve the user experience with the upgrade of Workspace Environment Management:

• After upgrading the infrastructure service, the fields on all the tabs of WEM Infrastructure Service Configuration are automatically populated with the data you previously configured. As a result, you no longer need to type the required information manually after you upgrade the infrastructure service.
• After upgrading the database, the fields in the Database Upgrade Wizard window are automatically populated with the data you previously configured. As a result, you no longer need to type the required information manually after you upgrade the database.

Profile management

Workspace Environment Management now supports all versions of Profile Management through 1903. The following new option is now available on the Administration Console > Policies and Profiles > Citrix Profile Management Settings > Synchronization tab:

• Enable Profile Container (option for eliminating the need to save a copy of the folders to the local profile)

VMware Persona settings deprecation

Support for VMware Persona settings has been deprecated. All VMware Persona settings content will be removed from the documentation in the next release. For more information, see Deprecation.

Citrix Session Recording 1906

This release includes the following new features and enhancements:

• Web browsing activities can be logged. Previously available as an experimental feature, logging of web browsing activities is now fully supported. You can use this feature to log user activities on supported browsers and tag the events in the recording. For more information, see Log events and Event logging policies.
• Recording viewing policies. You can now use the Session Recording Policy Console to create recording viewing policies and add multiple rules to each policy. Each rule determines which user or user group can view the recordings originating from other users and user groups you specify. For more information, see Configure policies.

Citrix Applayering 1905

This release includes the following features and improvements.

• Support for:
  • The following Citrix updates:
    • Citrix Hypervisor version 8.0
    • Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops version 7 1903
    • Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops version 7.15 LTSR CU4
    • Citrix Provisioning version 1903
    • Citrix Provisioning version 7.15 LTSR CU4
  • Windows Server 2019 as an OS Layer.
  • Microsoft Office 2019 requires that you upgrade the App Layering machine tools. See this recipe for details.
  • Support for secure connections on the appliance, using TLS 1.2, when sending email via SMTP.
• Hyper-V connector improvements:
  • The connector now uses BITS server to copy files to and from the appliance.
  • During file copies, progress reporting now includes the percent complete, rather than just elapsed time.
  • A CIFS file share is no longer required on the Hyper-V server. (UNI-72849)

Labs features in this release

Labs features are previews of potential functionality for future releases. While a feature is in Labs, you should not use it in production. There is no guarantee that Labs feature will remain in the product, nor that the feature will work as originally designed if and when they are released.

The Labs features available in this release include the following:

• App layers can be assigned as Elastic layers on layered images that use a different OS layer: Until now, Elastic layer assignments required that the App layer assigned use the same OS layer that was used to create the App layer. Now you can try assigning an App layer as an Elastic layer on a layered image that uses a different OS layer.IMPORTANT:There is no guarantee that an App layer will work on a different OS layer than the one used to create it. If there are issues, you can disable this feature and allow the App layer to be used only with the OS that you used to create the layer.

To use a Labs feature, you need to enable the feature first.

Supported platforms

For information about platforms supported by Citrix App Layering, see System requirements.

Upgrade path

You can upgrade from any previous Citrix App Layering 4.x version to the current release.

Citrix AppDNA 1906

AppDNA 1906 does not include any new features. For information about bug fixes, see Fixed issues.

IIS configuration for AD Integrated Login

Changes are required to the way IIS is configured if you are using AD Integrated login. For more information, see Integrated Login.

New product and component version numbers

In this release, the AppDNA version number is displayed in the user interface and documentation in the same numeric format as Citrix Virtual App and Desktops (1906). The file version continues to use the 7.x format (7.21). For a full description of this format, see New product and component version numbers.

Citrix Workspace App 1906 for Linux

What’s new in 1906

Improved UI experience with latest webkit support

In earlier releases, the self-service UI required libwebkitgtk Version 1.0. Since, the webkitgtk version 1.0 is deprecated, most Linux distributions have deprecated support. Going forward, Citrix Workspace App for Linux is dependent on libwebkit2gtk (2.16.6+).

Following are the advantages of the upgrade:

• Improved UI experience. The webkit2gtk requirement is compatible with Browser Content Redirection feature. Use webkit2gtk version 2.24 and above for a better YouTube viewing experience.
• The webkit2gtk (version 2.16.6 or above) improves the sign-in experience with respect to layout and time taken to sign-in.
• The app works better with the newer Linux distribution and is abreast with the latest webkit security fixes.

NOTE:

On some Linux distributions webkit2gtk is not available. Following options help you install it:

• Build the webkit2gtk from the sources before installing Version 1906.
• Download the web package from the Downloads page. Only web launches are supported in this package.
• Move to a newer Linux distribution where webkit2gtk ( 2.16.6+) is supported.

Language support

Citrix Workspace app for Linux is now available in the Dutch language.

VDA Keyboard Layout

The VDA keyboard layout feature helps you use the “VDA” keyboard layout regardless of the client’s keyboard layout. It supports the following types of keyboards: PC/XT 101, 102, 104, 105, 106. To use this feature, modify the KeyboardLayout=(Server Default) section of the wfclient.ini file and relaunch the session.

Secure SaaS with embedded Citrix Secure Browser [Experimental]

Prerequisite:

To launch the SaaS applications, ensure libgtkglext1 package is available.

Secure access to SaaS applications provides a unified user experience that delivers published SaaS applications to the users. SaaS apps are available with single sign-on. Administrators can now protect the organization’s network and end-user devices from malware and data leaks by filtering access to specific websites and website categories.

Citrix Workspace app for Linux support the use of SaaS apps using the Access Control Service. The service enables administrators to provide a cohesive experience, integrating single sign-on, and content inspection.

Delivering SaaS apps from the cloud has the following benefits:

• Simple configuration – Easy to operate, update, and consume.
• Single sign-on – Hassle-free log on with single sign-on.
• Standard template for different apps – Template-based configuration of popular apps.

NOTE:SaaS with Citrix Embedded Browser is supported only on x64 and x86 platforms. ARMHF is not supported.

For information on how to configure SaaS apps using Access Control Services, see the Access Control documentation.

For more information about SaaS apps with Citrix Workspace app, see Workspace configuration in in Citrix Workspace app for Windows documentation.

Citrix Workspace App 1906 for Android

What’s new in 1906.1

This release addresses issues that help to improve overall performance and stability.

Citrix Workspace App 1906 for Chrome

What’s new in 1906

Support for high DPI client scaling for app sessions

Starting in this release, Citrix Workspace app for Chrome allows the operating system to control the resolution of an app session. Citrix Workspace app for Chrome supports high DPI client scaling for app sessions on a single monitor. Earlier versions of Citrix Workspace app for Chrome allowed the operating system to control the resolution of desktop sessions only. For more information, see DPI scaling.

Citrix Workspace App 1906 for HTML5

What’s new in 1906

This release addresses a number of issues that help to improve overall performance and stability.

Source

Download Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 7 1906 here (requires MyCitrix ID)