Citrix Installation: Everything You Need to Know Before Installing Citrix

When it comes to Citrix installation, there are a number of things to choose from. Citrix has already released two dozen products with 200 names in 20 years. Its first virtualization product, Citrix Multi-User, was released in 1991 and was succeeded by WinView, WinFrame, and MultiWin. In 1998, the company released Citrix MetaFrame, which was later changed to Citrix MetaFrame XP, and Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server.

Citrix XenApp, the company’s most successful product, was released in 2008. While Citrix XenApp published remote applications, Citrix XenDesktop published remote desktops. In 2013, Citrix announced the EOL of Citrix XenApp and incorporated its functionality into Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop.

Multiple Citrix Products for Citrix Installation

With Citrix, businesses need to purchase licenses of multiple products and configure them to create and manage a full VDI. While Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop publishes virtual desktops, Citrix Virtual Apps publishes virtual applications. Citrix ADC (formerly NetScaler) is another crucial component that distributes heavy traffic loads among available servers. Client devices need to download, install, and set up a Citrix Receiver (now known as Citrix Workspace App) or access resources published on XenApp Servers. Citrix Gateway is required to access resources published over the Internet.

Organizations need to install and configure all of these tools separately to get their virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) up and running. There are other tools such as Citrix StoreFront, which enables businesses to create app stores and Citrix Studio to deploy Citrix Virtual Apps and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop. Citrix Director is a web-based tool that allows IT to provide remote support. There are several steps required for a proper Citrix installation.

Choosing Release Type

Before beginning your Citrix installation, you also need to choose whether to implement the current release (CR) or long-term service release (LTSR). With CR, you get three to four months of the release schedule and six months of mainstream support. If you want to get extended support, you have to pay additional fees.

Citrix released the CR with fast-paced organizations that address new business requirements with their existing Citrix products. LTSR, on the other hand, provides up to five years of mainstream support with the most extended intervals between feature upgrades of any version.

If you are planning to deploy a Citrix product with minimal upgrade efforts, fewer changes during a set timeline, and one that is predictable, you should perhaps consider LTSR.

Parallels RAS: Multiple Components in One Product

Parallels® Remote Application Server is a comprehensive virtual application delivery solution that is easy to deploy and maintain. It delivers applications and desktops from Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (RDS), virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), Azure Virtual Desktop and Remote PC without feature limitations. In addition, it is available for a variety of deployments including on-premises, hybrid and the public cloud.

With this single tool, you can publish desktops and applications remotely while effectively managing and monitoring the entire network from a single dashboard. Load balancing comes auto-configured by default and provides high availability of resources. Moreover, Parallels RAS is easy to deploy and use. Using a simple configuration wizard, you can get the tool up and running in minutes.

Parallels RAS is a comprehensive solution offering all VDI features in one package with a single licensing model. Installing Parallels RAS is straightforward – with the simple installation wizard, you can set up VDI within minutes without training. Also, it increases productivity by minimizing time to production. Parallels RAS is also highly scalable—you can add new users on the fly to accommodate the emerging needs of the organization.

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