XenDesktop^® releases and improvements

Knowing the track record of how XenDesktop, its features, and its components have come about will help you to build a deeper understanding of the XenDesktop releases, and the ability to correlate them with the ultimate XenDesktop Project Avalon roadmap. You'll also be able to assess when a specific XenDesktop feature was released. However, this chapter doesn't include the details of the mentioned features or components.

Citrix^® Desktop Server 1.0

Released in April 2007, Citrix Desktop Server 1.0 (CDS) was previously code-named Project Trinity. Citrix Desktop Server was the first purpose-built solution with the DynamicDelivery technology, which automatically selected the right type of virtual desktop, and thus enabling IT administrators to deliver the best desktop for each user according to their needs. It supported all three of the most popular ways of installing a desktop operating environment in a data centre. It included Windows Terminal Server (TS), the server-hosted virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), and blade PCs-based assigned workstation desktops (blades). It featured two desktop delivery models:

• The server desktops, which were based on the Terminal Server
• The workstation desktops, which ran on VMware, Microsoft virtual server, the physical blade servers in a data centre, or any other end user PC

Workstation desktops can be pooled or assigned. The 32-bit Windows XP OS was supported for desktops. The product was priced starting at $75 per named user.

XenDesktop^® 2.0

Released in May 2008, after the acquisition of Ardence and XenSource, Citrix announced the release of XenDesktop 2.0. Citrix combined the desktop virtualization capabilities of XenEnterprise v4 with its Citrix Desktop Server product line, thereby forming a new product called XenDesktop. XenDesktop 2.0 used to be shipped in five editions.

• Express
• Standard
• Advanced
• Enterprise
• Platinum

It featured the Active Directory authentication, Desktop Delivery Controller, XenApp for Virtual Desktops, Provisioning Server, Desktop Receiver for Windows XP, and Windows Vista. It also supported the 32-bit Windows XP SP2 and the Windows Vista desktop operating systems. It supported hypervisor versions, such as Citrix XenServer 4.1, SCVMM 1.0, and VMware Infrastructure 3 (VMware ESX). The pricing model has been changed to concurrent user's mode, which begins at $75 per concurrent user.

XenDesktop^® 2.1

Released in September 2008, XenDesktop 2.1, in addition to enhanced components, it featured a Software Development Kit (SDK) and a way of creating disabled desktop groups. It supported the 64-bit version of Windows XP SP2 and the Windows Vista desktop operating systems. The hypervisor support was extended to the Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and the respective SCVMM version.

XenDesktop^® 3.0

Released in February 2009, XenDesktop 3.0 introduced the HDX technologies, including HDX MediaStream, HDX Plug-and-Play, and HDX Broadcast. At that time, the other new features were smart card support, profile management, local peripheral support, and user-driven desktop restart. It supported Windows XP SP3 and the Windows Vista 32-bit desktop operating systems. The hypervisor support remained the same. The pricing began at $75 per concurrent user.

XenDesktop^® 3.0 Feature Pack 1

Released in May 2009, in this feature pack, Citrix enhanced XenDesktop 3.0 smart card support, display performance with CGP, and audio functionalities. It introduced HDX RealTime, which delivers voice-over-IP to the on-premises users and HDX MediaStream for Flash, which is a trial version released for evaluation and not for production use.

XenDesktop^® 4.0

Released in November 2009, XenDesktop 4.0 introduced the FlexCast technology for improving scalability across multiple virtual desktop delivery models and for enabling enterprises to deliver virtual desktops to more users at a far lower cost. XenDesktop 4 includes all the functionalities of XenApp as an integrated feature, and it makes delivering on-demand applications a seamless part of the overall desktop management strategy.

The new features, such as active directory multi-forest support, site roaming and site failover for disaster recovery, IPv6 support, password manager, branch repeater integration, and alternate protocols /RDP integration have been included in this version. Enhancements have also been made to EdgeSight and profile management components. The HDX enhancements, such as plug-n-play USB Support, plug-n-play multi-monitor support, IntelliCache, and HDX 3D Pro graphics have been included in this version. The desktop support is extended to operating systems, such as Windows 7 (non-Aero) 32-bit or 64-bit, and 64-bit Windows XP and Windows Vista. The hypervisors support included Citrix XenServer 5.5, VMware Infrastructure 3, and VMware vSphere 4/4.1, and SCVMM 2008 & SCVMM 2008 R2.

Citrix changed the licensing to the named user pricing model. The XenDesktop 4 pricing began at $75 per named user for the standard edition. The VDI edition was priced at $95 per named user or $195 per concurrent user. The enterprise and the platinum editions were tagged at $225 and $350 per named user respectively. Citrix also started trade-up to XenDesktop 4 program, through which XenApp customers can trade their existing XenApp concurrent user licenses for a better version of XenDesktop. For one XenApp license, the customers would receive two XenDesktop 4 user licenses. Moreover, the trade-up starts at $45 per user.

XenDesktop^® 4.0 Feature Pack 1

Released in March 2010, the Feature Pack 1 offered significant improvements to the Windows 7 image quality, the HDX plug and play audio for VoIP, and profile management. It has been built on the XenDesktop scalability enhancements, which allow the users to access the virtual desktop five times faster. It incorporated all the XenApp 6 features, including integration with Microsoft App-V and support for the Windows Server 2008 R2 for delivery controller.

XenDesktop^® 4.0 Feature Pack 2

Released in September 2010, it featured the addition of two new technologies: Citrix XenClient and Citrix XenVault. The new XenClient technology was a ground-breaking client-side hypervisor developed in close collaboration with Intel, and it was optimized for the Intel Core vPro technology. It supports Citrix XenClient 1.0 for the XenDesktop 4 Enterprise and Platinum versions. The new XenVault technology automatically and transparently saves any user data created by corporate apps into an encrypted folder. This is ideal for contractors and businesses based on the BYOC (Bring Your Own Computer) model. XenVault automatically encrypts the data created by any corporate app that is delivered by Citrix XenApp or Microsoft App-V.

XenDesktop^® 5.0

Released in December 2010, XenDesktop has been re-written and re-architected, bringing unprecedented levels of simplicity for both the users and IT professionals and developers. XenDesktop moved away from Independent Management Architecture (IMA) to a new architecture called FMA, which has been written almost completely in .NET. A remote desktop service (formally Terminal Services) is no longer required on Desktop Delivery Controllers (DDC) and it doesn't use the IMA data store.

For end users, an entirely redesigned virtual desktop viewer makes the workspace feel familiar and inviting. The powerful new HDX enhancements include the support for 32-bit color, dynamic color compression, HDX RealTime video conferencing, and large-file printing optimizations. These would dramatically improve the performance of the system even over low bandwidth connections. It has improved the smart card single sign-on from the non-domain-joined user devices. It also supports an entirely new generation of web and software-as-a-service (SaaS) apps. Citrix unveiled an extensive new initiative to help customers move from the wow of desktop virtualization to the how of successful implementation.

For IT, its role-based features have greatly simplified the management tasks and reduced the total number of management consoles. The new Desktop Studio console has been designed for administrators, and the new Desktop Director console has been designed for Helpdesk users. The new installer makes it faster and more powerful, so much so that you can complete a new installation in 10 minutes. It introduced a new technology for easily creating virtual desktops, called Machine Creation Services (MCS), and single image desktop management. Microsoft remote assistance is now used for shadowing user desktop sessions. It has simplified policy administration by integrating Active Directory group policies. It has extended the FlexCast technology for supporting the new XenClient hypervisor and it has also extended the hypervisor support to XenServer 6, VMware vSphere 5.0, and SCVMM & Hyper-V for Windows Server 8 and SCVMM 2012. In addition, it introduced a comprehensive new SDK, which enables customers and partners to integrate and automate solutions with third-party systems management tools. The virtual desktop supported 64-bit Windows XP, Vista SP2, and Windows 7 (non-Aero).

The pricing for the VDI-only edition starts at $95 per user or device. The whole desktop and application virtualization in Enterprise and Platinum editions cost $225 and $350 respectively.

XenDesktop^® 5.5

Released in August 2011, it introduced the Personal vDisk technology, acquired from RingCube, which made the virtual desktops personal. XenDesktop 5.5 witnessed 150 new features, and these are the most significant enhancements ever to have been made to HDX technology, resulting in three times faster (HDX Broadcast) delivery of virtual desktops over the WAN to mobile and branch office workers. Printing and scanning became six times faster, and app launching became two times faster. There have been new Quality of Service (QoS) controls for ensuring superior user experience across any network conditions. It included significant multimedia, voice and video enhancements. It also comes with a new flash redirection technology, which delivers stunning video and audio experience even over WAN.

The HDX components included the following:

• HDX MediaStream - Second generation flash redirection, server-rendered video, Windows media redirection, multi-stream ICA - including UDP for audio
• HDX RichGraphics - Microsoft RemoteFX Support, Windows 7 Aero Redirection, and 3D Pro Enhancements
• HDX Plug-n-Play Enhancements
• HDX Monitor to monitor and analyze HDX performance

It supports faster application delivery with the inclusion of the new Citrix XenApp 6.5 as an integrated feature. The new instant app access feature reduced the application launch times by almost 50 percent. It unveiled unparalleled native user experience on smart phones and tablets. It has enhanced the support for Microsoft technologies, including Microsoft RemoteFX, which provides Aero-based Windows 7 desktops, and App-V management tools integration. Hypervisor support has remained almost the same. The virtual desktop support was extended to Windows 7 Aero 32-bit or 64-bit.

XenDesktop^® 5.6

Released in March 2012, this new version has fully integrated personalization technology with the addition of two new types of catalogues. The new catalogue are "pooled with the help of personal vDisk" (for pooled-static virtual desktops), which you can manage with the help of Desktop Studio, and "streamed with personal vDisk", which you can manage with the help of provisioning services. It has fully integrated the support for Microsoft System Center 2012 Configuration Manager (SCCM 2012) and for Microsoft System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM 2012). Citrix also announced the release of Citrix AppDNA 6 software, which enables the rapid assessment and migration of applications.

The virtual machines with personal vDisks are supported by Windows XP 32-bit with SP3 and Windows 7 (non-Aero). The supported virtual machines without personal vDisks include Windows XP, Windows Vista (non-Aero) with SP2, and Windows 7 (non-Aero).

XenDesktop^® 5.6 Feature Pack 1

Released in June 2012, this is installed only as an upgrade to a XenDesktop 5.5 or a XenDesktop 5.6 deployment. This release unveils new features, such as remote PC access, a universal print server, the Citrix mobility pack, and the XenDesktop Collector support tool. It introduces enhancements for HDX 3D Pro and leverages the GPU hardware acceleration for the 3D applications based on OpenGL and DirectX. It enables replacing complex and expensive workstations with much simpler user devices, moving graphics processing into the data centre for centralized management. The other HDX enhancements include the HDX RealTime optimization pack for Microsoft Lync and HDX RealTime webcam video compression support for Cisco WebEx.

XenDesktop^® 7.0

Released in June 2013, XenDesktop 7 is the first product release of the Project Avalon. It is called the Excalibur release. Project Avalon is a multi-phased initiative by Citrix for delivering Windows apps and desktops as Cloud services. XenDesktop 7 integrates both XenApp and XenDesktop technologies into a new unified and Cloud-style FMA. It has enabled scalable, simple, efficient, and manageable solutions for delivering Windows applications and desktops.

Citrix released new and redesigned management and delivery components, which provide administrators with a unified management experience. It has made XenDesktop 7 available in app edition. It has devised a new, streamlined installer, which will guide you through the installation of all of core components, such as delivery controller, StoreFront, license server, studio, director, and Virtual Delivery Agents (VDAs).With EdgeSight integration, the web-based director user interface has been redesigned. StoreFront replaced the Web Interface component and featured enhancements including desktop appliance sites. MCS supported the creation of desktops and server OS VMs. For XenApp administrators, the entire XenDesktop FMA architecture brings a lot of new concepts, features, component mappings, and learnings.

XenDesktop 7 featured new HDX mobile technologies, which deliver an intuitive and mobile-friendly experience. The fully incorporated H.264 compression raised the WAN bandwidth efficiency, added innovative touch screen capabilities, and provided support for translating multi-touch gestures and finger swipes into smooth navigation and scrolling commands. New compression capabilities for supporting the dynamic optimization of the full HD video (webcam) bit rate has made HD videos viewable on 3G mobile networks. It included Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 support, desktop composition redirection, Windows media client-side content fetching, multicast support, real-time multimedia transcoding, User Datagram Protocol (UDP) audio for server OS machines, HDX 3D Pro, rich graphics and video rendering from the server side, and improved flash redirection.

XenDesktop 7 is built as an open platform, and it supports deployment on any hypervisor or Cloud management solution, including the Citrix Cloud platform (which is powered either by Apache CloudStack) or Amazon Web Services (AWS). It introduced the addition of new capabilities, such as the following:

• Universal print server functionality included within the delivery controller
• New machine catalog options, applications, and desktops
• Local App Access
• Microsoft app-V integration
• IPv6 support
• AppDNA
• Improved profile management
• Configuration logging
• Delegated administration
• VDAs auto-update delivery controller details
• Client folder redirection
• Improved VDA management settings
• Enhanced and integrated error reporting
• Support for group policies configured in the Citrix mobility pack
• Personal vDisk enhancements
• Support for Microsoft Key Management Services (KMS) activation with Machine Creation Services (MCS)
• Support for fast user switching by using RDP connections
• Remote PC access support for Windows 8

The Citrix Ready partners deliver XenDesktop 7 optimized solutions, such as:

• CA technologies to support the new infrastructure management capabilities
• Dell introduced DVS-Enterprise Integrated Storage
• The NVidia Grid vGPU technology enabled enhancements, which made a new Citrix HDX 3D technology that supports an unmatched direct GPU access

The Host hypervisor support included:

• XenServer 6.2
• VMware vSphere 5.1 Update 1
• SCVMM 2012 and 2012 SP1

The virtual desktops support the following:

• Windows Desktop OS
  • Windows 7 SP1
  • Windows 8
• Windows Server OS
  • Windows Server 2012
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

The minimum supported provisioning services version is 7.0, and the License Server is v11.11.

Citrix has discontinued most of the legacy features in this release, including:

• Legacy printing
• Direct SSL connections
• Secure ICA encryption below 128-bit
• Secure Gateway
• Web interface
• Shadowing users-to-users and supporting Microsoft remote assistance
• Anonymous users
• Session pre-launch
• Power and capacity management
• The initial Flash v1 redirection
• Local text echo
• Loopback support for virtual IP
• Smart auditor
• Single sign-on (SSO)
• Oracle database support
• Health monitoring and recovery (HMR)
• Custom ICA files
• The management pack for System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) 2007
• CNAME function
• The quick deploy wizard
• Native device drivers on delivery controllers
• Remote PC service configuration files and PowerShell script for automatic administration and Workflow Studio

The XenDesktop 7 editions were available in licensing modes, such as per-user, per-device, or on a concurrent basis. The new XenDesktop app edition was made available only for XenApp customers who were using the entire hosted-shared (RDS) app and published desktop workloads. The upgrade to the XenDesktop app edition was offered without any additional charge for XenApp Enterprise and Platinum customers with an active subscription.

XenDesktop^® 7.1

Released in October 2013, Citrix termed XenDesktop 7.1 as a platform. The XenDesktop platform is based on the new architecture Simplified FlexCast Management, which is compatible with the latest Microsoft technologies. The new features include the Virtual Graphical Processing Unit (vGPU), which allows multiple VMs to access a single physical GPU, and provides full support to 3D graphics. The Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) capabilities redirect flash- graphics for OS, such as Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, and 2012 R2. It supports virtual desktops and applications for the operating system Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2.

It supports the following hypervisor solutions:

• XenServer 6.2
• VMware vSphere 5.1 Update 1
• SCVMM 2012, 2012 R2 and 2012 SP1

XenDesktop^® 7.5

In March 2014, along with XenDesktop 7.5, Citrix released XenApp 7.5 as a separate product, which shared the unified FMA architecture and management. XenDesktop takes the enterprise desktop virtualization deployments to hybrid provisioning by allowing businesses to use public Clouds, such as AWS or any Citrix Cloud Platform that is powered by the Apache CloudStack Cloud. This improves their flexibility and leads to the growth or transformation of their virtual desktop infrastructure. While the hypervisor's support is extended to VMware vSphere 5.5, neither VMware vSphere 5.5 nor Hyper-V hypervisors are supported by the Citrix CloudPlatform. The Citrix CloudPlatform only supports XenServer 6.2. On the other hand, AWS doesn't offer the desktop operating system instances. So, you can provision the applications and desktops only on supported Windows server operating systems.

The remote PC access is enhanced such that it supports the Wake on the LAN for PCs that support Intel Active Management Technology (AMT), or PCs with the Wake on the LAN option enabled in the BIOS. Also included full AppDNA support for the automated analysis of Windows application suitability for application virtualization through XenApp, App-V, or XenDesktop. It also features StoreFront 2.5 and supports Web Interface 5.4 without providing support for any additional operating systems or enhancements. The virtual desktops operating system support remains the same.

Citrix announced two new Citrix Ready programs for driving the hybrid Cloud and low-cost initiatives. The new Citrix Ready Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) Cloud for XenDesktop supports businesses by helping them find a Cloud operator whose infrastructure supports XenDesktop. Citrix Ready low-cost converged infrastructure verified solutions are tested for their scalability deployments, which range from a few hundred to a few thousand desktops. These provide performance and maintain a high availability of resources. Citrix also introduced a limited time XenMobile promotion, which included a free XenMobile MDM or 20 percent off the XenMobile enterprise for XenApp and XenDesktop platinum edition customers, which was valid until September 30, 2014.

XenDesktop^® 7.6

Released in September 2014, XenDesktop is built on third-generation FMA, and it is designed to be deployed in the Cloud and in hybrid environments. It features instant access to virtual apps by retaining the application pre-launch, session linger, and anonymous logon features that were made popular by the earlier versions of XenApp. The new connection leasing feature enables high availability and provides resilience in withstanding the temporary loss of database. It delivers an unmatched user experience through improved graphics performance, which includes improved image sharpening, visually enhancing the lossless compression, and extending the DirectX/2D rendering capabilities. It is also USB 3.0 ready, and it provides the generic redirection of the latest USB 3.0 peripherals, such as webcams, headsets, and Lync phones. To enhance the user experience of Windows apps on the mobile devices, Citrix released a new update for the HDX Mobile SDK. The new enhancements in provisioning services employ commodity servers and the RAM so that the IOPS load on storage is dropped by 99 percent, which obliterates the cost barriers for delivering high-performance storage.

It's the only unified platform which is Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) compliant under the Common Criteria (CC) evaluation. It features the security enhancements that enable the granular policies over clipboard content filtering and directional control, so that potentially malicious data, perhaps embedded in the Rich Text Format, cannot be pasted to the secured environment. It supports the secure connections between users and VDAs. The Platinum edition includes the full power of the Citrix AppDNA application migration technology, which simplifies app migrations to the latest versions of Windows. In close partnership with Microsoft, Citrix developed the Citrix Connector 7.5 for System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM), and it has released a new reference architecture for deploying XenApp and XenDesktop on Microsoft Azure, which materializes the Citrix Workspace Services vision on Azure. It integrates and enhances the existing XenApp 6.5 deployments, and it also streamlines the Cloud deployments with the verified IaaS providers.

Enhancements have been made to Citrix Studio and Citrix Director. The new features in Studio include enhanced reporting and application folders. The new features in Director include licensing alerts, the view hosted applications usage, monitoring hotfixes, an expanded filtering feature, and the Director has also been made compatible to XenApp 6.5. The enhanced connection throttling settings provide control and they improve host performance.

They support both the virtual IP and the virtual loopback for the applications published on machines running Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012 R2. The Remote PC access enhancement limits a local user from disconnecting a remote session without the permission of a remote session user. It provides support for the HDX Real-Time Optimization Pack 1.5 for Microsoft Lync. It also provides support to the receiver for Chrome 1.4 and the Receiver for HTML5 1.4. These receivers include the ability to convert document files into PDF files from hosted applications or applications running on the virtual desktops, so that users can view and print them from their local device.

The new Citrix StoreFront 2.6 has the following features:

• Simplified store configuration in the administration console
• A receiver for the Web My Apps Folder View
• Support for the pass-through authentication by XenApp 6.5 through the Kerberos constrained delegation
• Support for smart card authentication by XenApp Services
• Single Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) access
• Receivers for mobile platforms, such as iOS and Android

The virtualization resource support has been extended to XenServer 6.2 SP1 with hotfixes. The virtual desktops operating system support remains the same. The Citrix CloudPlatform supports XenServer 6.2 SP1 with hotfixes, VMware vSphere 5.5, and it does not support the Hyper-V hypervisors.

XenDesktop^® 7.6 Feature Pack 1

The XenDesktop 7.6 feature pack 1 was released in March 2015, and it features the Session Recording capability, which lets admin users record the on-screen activity of any user's session. It is accompanied by a new Citrix Director, version 7.6.200, through which the session recording can be enabled or disabled. The Session Recording is based on Citrix's popular SmartAuditor technology. Using Session Recording, one can instantly record difficult to reproduce errors and provide faster resolutions for the users' issues. The feature pack includes the latest HDX Real-Time Optimization Pack 1.7, which has further enhanced the performance of Microsoft Lync in XenDesktop environment for the users of Linux and Windows devices. It also has a new version of Citrix Licensing 11.12.1, which is equipped with the Citrix Licensing Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP), and the Call Home capability.