Continuing with our Ask the Cloud Experts (ACE) monthly meetup series, we recently hosted our November ACE on image management in Citrix Cloud. In addition to delivering a brief presentation each month, the series is also designed to provide a channel for anyone and everyone to connect with Citrix experts for answers to any and all Citrix Cloud questions.
As promised, we have gathered all the questions you asked and have provided their answers below. This event is also available on-demand at the bottom of the ACE Meetup registration page. To view the recording, click the arrow under On-Demand Title at the bottom of the page and choose the November ACE meetup.
And make sure you join us for our December ACE Meetup on December 12 at 10 a.m. ET for a short presentation on Citrix Endpoint Management and a cloud Q&A. Sign up today!
Without further ado, here are the questions from our November ACE:
Is it possible to install and run the ADM agent in Azure?
Yes. In addition to the supported hypervisors like Citrix Hypervisor, VMware ESXi, MS Hyper-V, and Linux KVM, you can install the ADM agent on Microsoft Azure and on Amazon AWS, as well. It will be available in the vendor’s marketplace.
Can you use RemotePC in conjunction with Citrix Cloud?
Yes, RemotePC is fully supported by Citrix Cloud. Before you had to create the RemotePC catalog using the Remote Powershell SDK, but the option to create a RemotePC machine catalog has now been integrated in the Citrix Studio console.
Can session printer policies be configured from Citrix Cloud Studio?
Currently, to create and configure Citrix session printer policies, we recommend you use the AD GPMC. Why? Because delivery controllers hosted in Citrix Cloud have no way to retrieve printer information from the local customer network. If you try to create these policies from Cloud Studio, nothing will display (or you may even get an error) when browsing for network printers.
Is it possible for the Autoscale feature to actually create and delete VDA machines on demand?
Autoscale is a great feature that allows you to enable proactive power management actions of any registered VDA machines. Our engineering group has created a script that is being used as a tech preview. It will enable you to create and delete machines dynamically based on admin controls. The script will let you define a high watermark and a low watermark in terms of load and create/delete machines based on when these watermarks are crossed.
If you are interested please use the script and provide feedback. The feature will most likely be incorporated in the UI if there is good adoption based on the script’s usage.
How is GSLB used in Citrix Cloud’s back end?
Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB) can balance the load across data centers by directing client requests to the closest or best-performing POP or to surviving data centers in case of an outage. The Citrix Gateway service in Citrix Cloud has GSLB integrated into its architecture. That means no configuration or implementation efforts are required by the customer. This allows the gateway service to distribute load intelligently among its 12 point-of-presence locations.
What is Citrix Cloud?
Citrix Cloud is a console that gives you access to multiple Citrix technologies in the form of cloud-based services. It’s the fastest and easiest way for IT to enable business productivity through the secure delivery of apps, data, and mobility services.
Can a single account have presence on multiple locations?
A single account cannot have a presence in both multiple locations at a time. If an organization wants a presence in both the U.S. and the E.U. (for example), they must create two Cloud accounts and subscribe to the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service from both accounts
Is local host cache feature available for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service?
The short answer is yes, but with limitations. The main limitation being the local host cache works only with customer-deployed Citrix StoreFront. It does not work with Workspace. There are other limitations, as well, and you can find more information here.
Are all Citrix Cloud services available in all regions?
As described in our documentation, not all services are available in all regions. Certain services, like Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, have dedicated regional instances. However, some services are available in the U.S. When a service uses a region that is different from the one you selected for your organization, certain information (such as authentication data) may be transferred between regions as needed. When a service is globally replicated, all data in that service is stored in all regions.
What licensing information is being captured?
Currently, only license information associated with user logins is captured.
Does Citrix prevent cloud service usage if assigned licenses exceed purchased licenses?
No, Citrix does not prevent any service launches if you overuse your cloud license amount. License Usage provides information for understanding your cloud license usage, so Citrix expects that you will monitor your license assignments and stay within your purchased license amount. If, at any point, you believe that you are going to overuse your service, Citrix encourages you to contact your sales representative to discuss your licensing requirements.
How does analytics tie in to the Citrix security story?
It’s hard to find the right security experts for specific applications. Also, in a context of cloud where often loads of data are involved and new technologies are on the up rise, adding more people and money only works to a certain point. This is where AI/ML along with analytics will play a big part. We should see analytics as one key leg of a three-legged stool (workspace, networking, and analytics) with a symbiotic relationship among the three legs.
- Workspace is the employee experience; it brings together the apps, desktops, content into a cohesive intuitive place for people to get work done.
- Networking is critical to ensuring a well-connected, well-performing, and secure platform with data sources residing in multiple places both on-prem and cloud.
- Analytics allows organization to preempt trends and deliver increased value where its needed, which also enables organizations to drive insight from the interactions people make with their apps and data.
How can I run hybrid model but at the same time provide single pane of glass?
We have an amazing feature called Site Aggregation that makes it simple to add an existing on-prem site to Citrix Workspace. This allows users to enter their single Cloud Workspace URL and see/enumerate Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops from the cloud-managed site and an on-prem managed site.
Are users’ passwords and data saved in Citrix Cloud?
As described in our documentation, the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service stores only the metadata needed for the brokering and monitoring of the customer’s applications and desktops. Sensitive information, including master images, user profiles, and other application data remain on the customer premises or in their subscription with a public cloud vendor.
Do you know if there are any U.S.-based service dependencies when running out of the E.U.?
No. There are no dependencies. Citrix’s E.U. cloud can totally operate even if the US cloud is down, as long as the service in question is an E.U.-offered service.
Will services ever failover to U.S. control plane from the E.U. in the event of a major outage?
No. There are already redundancies in place to failover within the E.U. rather than to the U.S.
What happens if there is a conflict of policies?
Group policy settings are processed in the following order:
- Local GPO
- XenApp or XenDesktop Site GPO (stored in the Site database)
- Site-level GPOs
- Domain-level GPOs
- Organizational Units
However, if a conflict occurs, policy settings that are processed last can overwrite those that are processed earlier. This means that policy settings take precedent in the following order:
- Organizational units
- Domain-level GPOs
- Site-level GPOs
- XenApp or XenDesktop Site GPO (stored in the site database)
- Local GPO
What would be the recommended way of providing access to the help desk members to log in to Citrix Cloud Director? Is it necessary to have cloud account created for all the users even the help desk members?
For help desk administrators, they do need a Citrix account. As of now, for administrative access, we have two options: a Citrix Cloud account and Azure AD. Once you add the user to your Citrix Cloud console, you then assign them as a help desk administrator (we have a built-in role). Once assigned, when they log in, they will have access only to the Director and Monitor tabs.
How can customers who have traditional license models shift to subscriptions-based without losing their previous license investment?
We recommend that you reach out to your account team to discuss these options.
Where is the license information captured? Is there a way to pull a report of the users session for IT chargebacks?
Currently, the only licensing information is associated with the user’s login.
Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to register for our December 12 ACE meetup.
— Diego Acuña, Customer Success Engineer
