The document discusses Citrix XenApp 7.6 features including Instant App Access, which eliminates long login times by keeping sessions active in the background, and Application Prelaunch and Lingering, which provide a more desktop-like user experience. It also covers Connection Leasing, which allows resources to still be enumerated if the database goes offline by accessing a local XML file, and storage optimization techniques used in XenApp 7.6 to reduce IOPS.

1. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.
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7.6
7.6
Roman Kapitán
Citrix Systems, System Engineer

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XenApp 7.6 Instant App Access
A simple, two pronged approach
How it works:
•When user logs into Receiver, starts a XenApp session with “dummy” app
•Session remains until time expires or load too high
•User selected app immediately starts in same session Why it is good:
•Eliminates more than 90% logon time
•No long logon duration complaints
•User experiences instantaneous app launches
Application Prelaunch

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XenApp 7.6 Instant App Access
A simple, two pronged approach
How it works:
•When user closes last app in a session, the session remains active
•Session remains until time expires or load too high Why it is good:
•Users often close an app before starting another app
•Eliminates constant log off/on scenarios
•Provides a more desktop-like experience
Application Lingering

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The XenApp 7.6 User Logon Process
Logon & authentication
Profile load
GPO processing
Logon scripts
Drive mappings
Printer mapping
App launch
Auto-starts when Receiver starts
Pause until user selects app

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Two-Way Clipboard
One-Way (Client-to-Server) Clipboard
One-Way (Server-to-Client) Clipboard
No Clipboard
Granular Clipboard Security
All data
Only text
Only bitmaps

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XenApp 7.6 – Connection Leasing
Normal Operations
1.User authenticates to StoreFront
2.StoreFront forwards credentials
3.Controller authenticates user and enumerates resources via the DB
4.Receiver receives response and starts session
5.Controller logs resource access in local XML file
Site DB
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StoreFront
Delivery Controller
User
XenApp
XML File
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XenApp 7.6 – Connection Leasing
Database outage
1.User authenticates to StoreFront
2.StoreFront forwards credentials
3.Controller authenticates user and fails to enumerate resources as DB is offline
4.Controller accesses local XML file and enumerates resources
5.Receiver receives response and starts session
Site DB
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StoreFront
Delivery Controller
User
XenApp
XML File
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Good and Bad IOPS
Random Access
Sequential Access
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The XenApp & XenDesktop 7.6 Approach to IOPS
As RAM consumed, sequence and write larger blocks to disk
Place small, random writes in RAM
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Resource Tier
(Windows Apps & Non-Persistent Desktops)
Caching Tier
(RAM)
Storage Tier
(Local Disk)
Citrix provides simple and integrated storage optimization solution
•No specialized hardware
•No complex configurations
•No extra licensing costs
Read Cache
Write Cache
Master Image
HDD
Server Side Cache
VM Side Cache
Provisioning Services

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Windows 2012R2
Windows 7
IOPS
Native Disk
PVS (Disk Cache)
PVS (RAM Cache)
XenDesktop eliminates over 90% of the IOPS without any extra storage hardware

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Migration from XenApp 6.5 - Tools and Resources
Only Citrix has the expertise from 20+ years of server migrations
Recommendations & Best Practices Best practices documentation, Design guides, Architectural reviews, How-to videos in one place www.citrix.com/xenapp/upgrade Migration documentation : http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad- upgrade-xa65-to-vda.html http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad- xamigrate.html
Tools PowerShell Migration Tool intelligently analyzes your existing XenApp 6.5 environment and seamlessly imports select configurations into a XenApp 7.x environment

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Upgrade & Migration to XenApp & XenDesktop 7.6
From
Path to XenApp & XenDesktop 7.6
XenApp/XenDesktop 7.5
In-place upgrade from installer
XenApp/XenDesktop 7.0 & 7.1
In-place upgrade
XenDesktop 5.x
In-place upgrade – recommend upgrade from v5.6
XenDesktop 4
XenDesktop migration tool
XenApp 6.5
XenApp policies migration script, In-place upgrade of worker servers + WI/SF aggregation
XenApp 6.0 & earlier
WI/SF aggregation
Service-based migration workflow for XenApp under development – target early 2015

14. WORK BETTER. LIVE BETTER.