ADV1582BU Solve your Citrix Problems with VMware Technologies Mark Ewert, Lead Technologist, VMware Frank Anderson, EUC Solutions Architect, VMware Dewey Gripshover, Program Manager VDI Tech, GE #VMworld #ADV1582BU
Disclaimer This presentation may contain product features that are currently under development. This overview of new technology represents no commitment from VMware to deliver these features in any generally available product. Features are subject to change, and must not be included in contracts, purchase orders, or sales agreements of any kind. Technical feasibility and market demand will affect final delivery. Pricing and packaging for any new technologies or features discussed or presented have not been determined. 2
Agenda 1 Citrix XenApp to Horizon: Four Simple Options to Move Forward 2 Citrix XenDesktop: Migrate to the Next Generation of Virtual Desktops 3 XenApp / XenDesktop and Horizon Component Comparison 4 General Electric s Migration from Citrix XenApp to VMware Horizon 5 Migration Best Practices and Things to Consider 6 Tools to Help Simplify the Migration 7 Questions and Answers 3
VMware Horizon 6 introduced support for published applications and desktop sessions with RDSH. (Microsoft Remote Desktop Session Host services) Customers Need to Consider Making a Move Now Microsoft Windows Server 2003 support ended on July 14, 2015 XenApp 5.x End of Life XenApp 4.5 End of Extended Support Citrix XenDesktop 5.x End of Life VMworld 2017 Content: Not for If customers are not on Citrix XenApp or XenDesktop 7.15 they are facing a difficult upgrade. Now is the time to consider a better option. publication 4
Horizon RDSH: RDS Hosted Apps Innovation Hosted Apps and RDS Desktops USB Storage Devices Smart Card Skype for Business / Lync 2013 for RDS Desktops Client Drive Redirection URL Content Redirection File Type Association Printing Windows Media Redirection Scanning and Imaging Devices USB Redirection 3D Apps and Desktops with NVIDIA GRID User Environment Management HTML5 and Chromebook Clients Application Layering RDSH Image Management Load Balancing RTAV 5
Citrix XenApp and Horizon: Four Options to Move Forward Integrate XenApp with Horizon One Web portal for Horizon virtual desktops, SaaS applications, and XenApps Replace Citrix Web Interface or StoreFront with VMware Identity Manager Web portal Maintain existing XenApp RDS Hosts and Citrix Receiver client Migrate XenApp to Horizon Convert healthy XenApp RDS Hosts with installed applications to Horizon Replace XenApp Web Interface or StoreFront with VMware Identity Manager web portal Replace Citrix Receiver with Horizon Client Replace XenApp with Horizon Implement new Horizon RDS Hosts with installed applications Replace XenApp Web Interface or StoreFront with VMware Identity Manager Web portal Replace Citrix Receiver with Horizon Client Enhance XenApp with Horizon and vsphere App Volumes: Real-time application delivery with lifecycle management User Environment Manager (UEM) ThinApp application virtualization Horizon virtual Desktops Virtual SAN, NSX vsphere 6
XenDesktop: Migrate to the Next Generation of Virtual Desktops Migrate XenDesktop to VMware Horizon App Volumes: Real-time, personalized application delivery User Environment Manager Replace Citrix Delivery Controllers with Horizon Decommission PVS / MCS Migrate Web Interface and StoreFront to VMware Identity Manager Dedicated desktops Disposable Persistent desktops Generic Numerous desktop images Single Personalize generic desktops in real time Migrate applications to App Volumes Migrate user profile and app settings to UEM PVS, MCS, Composer Optional! Useful for storage optimization only Desktops deleted and redeployed on logout Deploy updates by replacing image NO RECOMPOSE Enhance XenDesktop with Horizon and vsphere App Volumes: Real-time, personalized application delivery User Environment Manager ThinApp application virtualization VSAN, and NSX PVS / MCS: optional or replace with Instant Clones vsphere 7
VMware NSX for Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop NSX is an excellent solution for Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop Advanced virtual networking Micro-segmentation Enables secure, multi-tenant deployment of XenApp with Citrix Netscaler Endorsed by Citrix in recent blog: https://www.citrix.com/blogs/2017/01/05/xendesktop-and-xenapp-interoperability-with-vmware-nsx 8
Components Comparison VMware Horizon, Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop
Citrix and VMware Components Comparison 10
Citrix and VMware Components Comparison 11
Citrix and VMware Components Comparison 12
Citrix and VMware Components Comparison 13
GE s Migration from Citrix to Horizon Introducing Dewey Gripshover, Program Manager VDI Tech at General Electric
GE Citrix Migration to Horizon View Legacy Citrix Environment 31 Citrix Servers (private vlan) Mix Windows Server 2003 & Server 2008 R2 XenApp 4.5 Legacy Windows 16-bit applications incompatible with Windows 7 5,000 users globally in Supply Chain, Avionics and Manufacturing Over $1m annually to maintain Dedicated desktops Stateless (JMP) Numerous desktop images 3 images Standard: 2 cores x 4 GB RAM Engineering: 6 cores x 16 GB RAM Advanced: 12 cores x 36 GB RAM Deploy AppVolumes based on Use Case Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) Avionics Requirements (ALM Suite) Manufacturing (CAMS) UEM for User Profiles and App Settings Printer redirection Limited access based on IP range and Time vrealize for VM & Application Monitoring GE VMware Solution vsphere 6.2 Horizon 7.1 Enterprise App Volumes 2.12 UEM 9.2 vrealize 6 for Horizon Windows Server 2012 R2 Stateless Linked Clones Approx. $4k annual maintenance 15
Best Practices and Things to Consider Citrix Migration
Best Practices and Things to Consider Choosing the best migration approach Is the simple way always the better way? Gradual vs. one-time migrations Garbage out, Garbage in Moving problems from Citrix into Horizon Scalability and testing Conduct pilot (live) Consider simulated scalability testing 17
Best Practices and Things to Consider: XenApp Migration Use Identity Manager Web portal to facilitate the migration Provides front end to make XenApp migrations seamless to users First integrate Identity Manager with XenApp then Migrate to Horizon Common to have multiple XenApp environments Typically aggregated with StoreFront, Web Interface, and/or NetScaler Identity Manager supports multiple farms Should XenApp farms match Horizon RDS farms? Application silos and load-managed server groups Putting all the apps on every server is this the right thing to do? Consolidate multiple XenApp versions on fewer Horizon RDS farms 18
Best Practices and Things to Consider: XenApp Migration Citrix NetScaler NetScaler now supports load balancing Horizon using PCoIP! Support for Blast Extreme coming soon (per Citrix) Don t forget Horizon maximums Large environments using desktops and applications may exceed pod limits Optimize the RDSH servers and Virtual Desktops Makes a big difference in scalability and usability VMware Windows OS Optimization Tool 19
Best Practices and Things to Consider: VMware Identity Manager VMware Identity Manager (vidm) / Workspace One Supports XenApp 5.x, 6.x, and 7.x and XenDesktop 7.x The Integration Broker syncs applications and user entitlements Supports single sign-on (SSO) Integration Broker supports Windows Server 2008 R2 and 2012 / 2012 R2 Integration broker requires IIS 7.0 (2008 R2) or IIS 8.0 (2012) (NOT for Web portal) SSL certificates needed on all components (Identity Manager, IB, and Citrix Farm) XenApp servers and XenDesktop Delivery Controller require Citrix PowerShell Remoting Deploy separate Integration Brokers for sync and SSO for large farms IDENTITY MANAGER DOES NOT PROXY OR TUNNEL CITRIX CONNECTIVITY 20
Best Practices and Things to Consider: vsphere for Remote Desktop Services VMware vsphere for RDSH servers No memory or CPU oversubscription (consider memory reservations) 1 vcpu to each physical core and enable hyper-threading (Intel) Disable BIOS-level CPU power saving vcpus: Less is more Four (4) vcpu is typically the sweet spot Do NOT exceed cores per physical CPU per RDSH server Scale out with more servers Disable DRS for RDSH servers and Horizon Connection/Security Servers Review and analyze memory demands for each application Dedicate ESXi hosts for RDSH Host Connection Servers and other support infrastructure in Management Block and virtual desktops in separate Desktop Block 21
Best Practices and Things to Consider: Storage and Network Storage for Virtualized RDSH servers Not as IO-intensive as virtual desktops HOWEVER: Still plan for login storms and optimal performance Conduct assessment to determine IOPS footprint and validate with pilot Network infrastructure Multiple application and desktop sessions from client requires more bandwidth than a single connection to a virtual desktop Be sure to assess network performance, especially the WAN Tune and optimize Blast Extreme and PCoIP Optimize the virtual desktops and RDSH servers 22
Tools to Help Simplify the Migration
VMware Horizon Migration Tool 24
Horizon Migration Tool Features The Horizon Migration Tool has the following features: For XenDesktop migrations: Environment checking Pool creation Pool migration Entitlement migration Migration status tracking Configuration validation For XenApp migrations: Environment checking Farm and Pool creation App pools & desktop pools migration Entitlement migration Horizon agent readiness checking of RDSHs App availability checking on RDSHs Compatibility checking 25
Horizon Migration Tool Supportability Supported XenApp & XenDesktop versions: XenApp & XenDesktop 7.6 and later (FMA) XenApp 5.0, 6.0, and 6.5 (IMA) Supported XenApp types: Server desktop Application (server installed) Supported XenDesktop types Manual Pool Automated Pool (only MCS random pool) Supported Horizon versions: Horizon 7.0 and later Horizon Cloud (16.11.0 and 17.1.0 releases) XenDesktop 7.6 and later migrations only Get it here: https://labs.vmware.com/flings/horizon_migration_tool 26
VMware Operating System Optimization Tool Automates optimizing virtual desktops and Microsoft RDSH servers for VDI Based on Microsoft and VMware operating system best practices Tunes Windows and disables unnecessary services and features Templates for Windows 7 10 and Windows Server 2008 R2 and 2012 / 2012 R2 Templates can be customized Supports local and remote systems Get it here: https://labs.vmware.com/flings/vmware-os-optimization-tool LoginVSI Template for Windows 10 +44% VSIMAX! https://www.loginvsi.com/blog/520-the-ultimate-windows-10-tuning-template-for-any-vdi-environment 27
Solve Your Citrix Problems with VMware Technologies Today! Driving Factors Windows 2003 End of Life XA and XD End of Support Citrix and XenApp Fatigue Integrate Migrate Replace Enhance Solutions for both XenApp and XenDesktop Integrate / Enhance XenApp Migrate / Replace XenApp Migrate / Enhance XenDesktop VMworld 2017 Content: Not for GO Professional Services Migration Assessments Plan and Design Services Infrastructure Upgrades Implementation Services Tools to Help Assessment Tools publication Migration Tool Optimization Tool 28
Questions and Answers