C H A P T E R 2 Introduction to the ICA OS/2 Client Overview The ICA OS/2 Client lets you access a Citrix WinFrame or MetaFrame server from a client running IBM OS/2 Warp. When connected to a Citrix server, the ICA OS/2 Client provides additional features that make remote computing just like running applications on a local desktop. The Citrix ICA OS/2 Client has the following features: Low bandwidth requirements Color depth and resolution Transparent Clipboard Access Application Publishing Support Client Device Mapping Basic Encryption Disk Caching and Data Compression SpeedScreen Hotkeys Web Browser Support Business Recovery Multi-session Support Euro Currency Symbol Support Some client features are available only when connecting to MetaFrame for Windows NT and MetaFrame for Windows 2000 servers.
6 Citrix ICA OS/2 Client Administrator s Guide Important This version of the ICA OS/2 Client does not support the following features commonly supported by other Citrix ICA Clients: Transport protocols other than TCP/IP Seamless windows Audio SpeedScreen Latency Reduction Low Bandwidth Requirements The highly efficient Citrix ICA protocol typically uses 20K of bandwidth for each session. Color Depth and Resolution On the ICA OS/2 Client, you can configure an ICA session to have a color depth setting of 16 or 256 colors. You can also specify the size of an ICA session window up to a maximum resolution of 1024 by 768 pixels. Transparent Clipboard Access You can use the clipboard to cut and past text between applications running locally on the client computer and applications running remotely in the ICA session. Access to the local clipboard is transparent, and requires no special procedures. Using the familiar Windows cut, copy and paste commands, you can transfer text back and forth between local and remote applications. Application Publishing Support Client Device Mapping The ICA OS/2 Client supports the use of ICA connection files to connect to a Citrix server or to a published application that contains all of the information necessary to launch a user session or an application. All the user needs to do is double-click on the ICA connection icon on the desktop. The Citrix ICA Clients support client device mapping. Client device mapping allows a remote application running on the Citrix server to access printers, disk drives, and COM port devices attached to the local client computer. This feature is
Chapter 2 Introduction to the ICA OS/2 Client 7 Client Printer Mapping Client Drive Mapping Client COM Port Mapping not available when connecting to MetaFrame for UNIX Operating Systems 1.0 and 1.1 servers. Client printer mapping allows a remote application running on the Citrix server to access printers attached to the client computer. Users who access a Citrix server with the Citrix ICA Client can transparently access their local printers and disk drives (fixed and removable). The drive letters used for drive mapping are configurable and long filenames are supported. Client drive mapping allows drive letters on the Citrix server to be redirected to drives that exist on the client computer; for example, drive H in a Citrix user session can be mapped to drive C of the local computer running the Citrix ICA Client. These drive mappings can be used, by File Manager or Explorer and your applications, just like any other network mappings. The ICA Client COM port redirector gives Citrix ICA Client users access to virtually any peripheral that requires a COM port for operations. COM port mapping is similar to printer and drive mapping, and allows users to access a COM port on the client computer as if it were connected to the Citrix server. Encryption This release of the ICA OS/2 Client supports Basic encryption. Disk Caching and Data Compression These features increase performance over low speed asynchronous and WAN connections. Disk caching stores commonly used portions of your screen (such as icons and bitmaps) locally, increasing performance by avoiding retransmission of locally cached data. Data compression reduces the amount of data sent over the communications link to the client computer.
8 Citrix ICA OS/2 Client Administrator s Guide SpeedScreen The ICA OS/2 Client supports SpeedScreen technology. SpeedScreen is an ICA protocol agent SpeedScreen is a combination of technologies implemented in ICA that decreases bandwidth consumption and total packets transmitted, resulting in reduced latency and consistent performance regardless of the network connection. SpeedScreen is not available when connecting to MetaFrame for UNIX 1.0 and 1.1 servers. Hotkeys The Citrix ICA OS/2 Client provides hotkeys that can be used to control various functions while in an ICA session. Web Browser Support Business Recovery The ICA OS/2 Client provides Web browser support for application launching. Application launching executes an application on a Citrix server when a hypertext link is selected in a Web page. Clicking a hypertext link launches a new window that connects to a Citrix server. The published application runs in this new window and is not tied to the Web page. Closing the Web page does not affect the application running in the new window. The Citrix ICA OS/2 Client includes the additional intelligence to support multiple server sites (such as primary and backup) with different addresses for the same published application name. This feature provides for consistent connections to published applications in the event of a primary server disruption. Users now have an even higher level of fault tolerance and seamless user experience. Reconnect to disconnected sessions If your ICA connection drops off, or is disconnected, you can reconnect to the disconnected session by running the appropriate ICA file and re-entering your user credentials. If the user credentials match, then your session is restored.
Multi-session Support Chapter 2 Introduction to the ICA OS/2 Client 9 The ICA OS/2 Client is multi-session capable. This means that the user can have multiple ICA sessions running simultaneously on his OS/2 client machine. Euro Currency Symbol Support The ICA OS/2 Client supports creation of the Euro currency symbol. It is also possible to cut and paste Euro symbols between native desktops and client windows.
10 Citrix ICA OS/2 Client Administrator s Guide