Citrix XenDesktop, Real World Use Cases

Summary

The video explores Citrix XenDesktop FlexCast, showcasing its versatile methods for delivering virtual applications and desktops to any device—PCs, laptops, tablets, smartphones, thin clients, and legacy hardware. It highlights hosted shared applications, application streaming, VDI, VM-hosted apps, client-side hypervisors, HDX 3D, and go-to-my-PC alternatives, emphasizing seamless user experiences and centralized IT management. Users enjoy locally appearing applications and desktops while IT maintains security and performance from the data center. FlexCast enables modern OS performance on older devices, high-end 3D graphics delivery, and flexible remote access, demonstrating Citrix’s comprehensive solution for anywhere, anytime computing.

Takeaways

• 😀 Citrix XenDesktop FlexCast offers multiple ways to deliver virtualized applications and desktops, including hosted shared applications, streamed apps, VDI, and more.
• 😀 Hosted shared applications allow users to run apps from a server located in a data center, making the experience seem like the apps are running locally on the user's device.
• 😀 Citrix FlexCast enables legacy devices (like old PCs, thin clients, and laptops) to run modern applications by delivering them via a presentation layer protocol.
• 😀 XenDesktop provides the ability to deliver applications to tablets and smartphones, ensuring users can access enterprise applications anytime, anywhere.
• 😀 Citrix supports running Windows-based applications on non-Windows devices by using a presentation layer protocol to stream apps from the data center.
• 😀 VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) allows businesses to deliver full client OS desktops (e.g., Windows 7) from virtual machines running in the data center to endpoint devices, regardless of their location.
• 😀 XenDesktop’s VM hosted apps deliver only specific applications (not full desktops) from a VDI environment to endpoint devices like tablets or smartphones.
• 😀 Hosted shared desktops allow businesses to deliver server-based desktops to users, enabling them to use modern OS environments like Windows 7 on older, underpowered hardware.
• 😀 XenDesktop's streaming VHD feature enables the virtualization of physical devices by booting PCs from virtual hard drives stored on a network, reducing reliance on physical hard drives.
• 😀 HDX 3D technology within XenDesktop supports high-performance, GPU-accelerated graphics, allowing users to run 3D design applications from anywhere, even on low-bandwidth connections.
• 😀 XenDesktop offers a client-side hypervisor (ZenClient), enabling users to run multiple virtual desktops simultaneously on a single device, with corporate and personal desktops kept separate for security and convenience.

Q & A

What is the main purpose of Citrix XenDesktop FlexCast?

The main purpose of Citrix XenDesktop FlexCast is to deliver applications and desktops virtually in multiple ways, allowing users to access them on various devices while IT centrally manages and secures the resources in the data center.

How do hosted shared applications work in XenDesktop?

Hosted shared applications run on servers in the data center and are delivered to endpoint devices via a presentation layer protocol, giving the user the experience that the application is running locally, while IT retains full control and security.

What types of devices can receive hosted shared applications?

Hosted shared applications can be delivered to older PCs, thin clients, laptops, tablets, smartphones (iOS, Android, BlackBerry), and other endpoint devices, allowing access anywhere, anytime.

What is application streaming and why is it useful?

Application streaming involves packaging applications on a file server and delivering them to endpoints where they run locally or on virtual desktops. It is useful because it allows a single application version to be centrally managed and delivered to multiple platforms, including Windows and non-Windows devices.

What is the difference between hosted shared desktops and VDI in XenDesktop?

Hosted shared desktops provide multiple users access to a server-based OS, giving the impression of a local desktop, while VDI delivers full client OS virtual machines (like Windows 7) from a hypervisor to endpoint devices for an individual user experience.

How does VM-hosted applications differ from full VDI desktops?

VM-hosted applications deliver only individual applications from a VDI desktop session to endpoint devices, whereas VDI provides the full virtual desktop experience including the operating system and all applications.

What is the purpose of streaming virtual hard disks (VHD) in XenDesktop?

Streaming VHDs allows physical PCs to boot from a virtual disk captured from a real machine. This enables old devices to run virtualized desktops without local hard drives and allows thousands of devices to boot from the same image, simplifying management and deployment.

What functionality does HDX 3D Pro provide?

HDX 3D Pro leverages blade PCs with GPUs to deliver high-performance 3D and graphical applications to users over low-bandwidth connections, enabling engineering, medical imaging, and design applications to be accessed remotely on any device.

How does the client-side hypervisor feature enhance user experience?

The client-side hypervisor allows multiple virtual desktops to run simultaneously on a single endpoint device, separating corporate and personal environments. It supports snapshots, backups, and policies, ensuring IT control while giving users flexibility.

What is the 'Go To My PC' alternative provided by XenDesktop?

XenDesktop’s alternative to 'Go To My PC' uses the XenDesktop agent on a user’s office PC to allow remote access from anywhere, enabling users to connect to their office desktop securely via XenDesktop infrastructure instead of using a full VDI instance.

Why is XenDesktop considered device-agnostic?

XenDesktop is considered device-agnostic because it can deliver applications and desktops to a wide range of devices including PCs, laptops, thin clients, tablets, smartphones, and zero clients, without requiring specific hardware or operating systems.

How does XenDesktop improve IT management and security?

By centralizing applications and desktops in the data center and delivering them virtually, XenDesktop allows IT to manage updates, security, backups, and compliance centrally, reducing the risk and effort associated with managing individual endpoint devices.