Articles In Infrastructure

By Ryan Lee, Posted in Infrastructure

Leveraging Citrix StoreFront High Availability and Subscription Synchronization As consultants, engineers, and architects we are regularly challenged with complex scenarios each with their own very specific requirements. These scenarios can really put our skill set to the test and require us to sometimes think outside of the box to achieve our customer’s or companies’ end goal. I have been working with Citrix for nearly 12 years in some form or capacity, with the last 5 years geared primarily towards desig... read more.

• May 23, 2016

By Brian Wagner, Posted in Infrastructure

If you have worked with a NetScaler SDX before, there might have been a time in which you lost access to the VPX due to a change in configuration (say, adding a route). The easy solution is to reboot, typically reverting back to the last configuration. But then you don't get to troubleshoot what's happening, and may have a hard time figuring out what may need to be changed to get to the desired state. Well, it turns out you can connect to the console of the VPX through XenServer. The steps are below: ... read more.

• December 17, 2015

By Josh Ledford, Posted in Infrastructure

I get asked about GSLB quite often, so I thought I would hammer this out. Let me know what you guys think. And full disclosure, I am a NetScaler kind of guy. You can ask me about other solutions, but in my opinion, nothing does this as well as NetScaler. Again, solely my opinion. So let’s start with the basics - general load balancing is a service that distributes requests evenly across backend resources. This can be done for a variety for reasons: performance, disaster scenarios, high availability, etc.... read more.

• October 29, 2015

By Ken Phelan, Posted in Infrastructure

Facebook announced a program this week to have their employees live with 2G data access speeds on Tuesdays (2G Tuesdays). This gives their employees perspective on what it’s like to use Facebook in an emerging market like India. I love this. How many times have you complained to a developer about the speed of their product only to hear them tell you how great the product performs for them? Well, good for you and your super-high-end PC with the local data store. A few years ago, I abandoned my noteb... read more.

• October 28, 2015

By Hank Smith, Posted in Infrastructure

Citrix announced the release of XenMobile 10 this past January although it was officially available for download in February. XenMobile 10 brings some new features and some much needed enhancements. New Features and Enhancements I will not go over all the new stuff (you can read that here), however I do want to go over the new features and enhancements that I have heard many customers requesting. XenMobile Server – Citrix combined the AppController and XenMobile Device Manager server into a single... read more.

• March 04, 2015

By Ryan Lee, Posted in Infrastructure

What the SHA is going on with my Citrix Access?!? The news is that SHA1, a very popular hashing function, is on the way out. Strictly speaking, this development is not new. The first signs of weaknesses in SHA1 appeared (almost) ten years ago. In 2012, some calculations showed how breaking SHA1 is becoming feasible for those who can afford it. In November 2013, Microsoft announced that they wouldn't be accepting SHA1 certificates after 2016. So what does this mean to you and your Citrix Environment? To u... read more.

• January 22, 2015

By Hank Smith, Posted in Infrastructure

Many customers that are using Microsoft Threat Management Gateway (TMG) already know that Microsoft will not be releasing any new versions or updates (minus security updates). While TMG is still supported (extended) by Microsoft until 2020, there are other options out there that should be considered. Recently Gotham worked with a customer to replace the TMG environment that was front-ending their global SharePoint solution with a NetScaler MPX 5500 solution to provide the following: Authentication pag... read more.

• January 02, 2015

By Brian Wagner, Posted in Infrastructure

Windows XP end-of-life (EOL) was highly publicized. Some companies have been in the clear for awhile, others made a mad dash to the finish, while a few are still struggling (http://www.crn.com/news/applications-os/300072525/irs-misses-windows-xp-deadline-inks-extended-support-deal-with-microsoft.htm). But, I can say it has been on people's radar for awhile. Windows 2003 seems to be the sleeper. Windows 2003 will reach EOL in July 2015. Server upgrades are a different type of challenge, as they support ap... read more.

• August 21, 2014

By Chaim Landau, Posted in Infrastructure

With the release of Citrix Receiver 4.x, Citrix has done away with the Program Neighborhood Agent (PNAgent), and with it, the ability to automate the creation of shortcuts to published applications on the user’s desktop. A customer recently asked me for a solution to this problem and I was able to get around it using the method below. When using Receiver 4.x, users are able to add published applications as favorites. When a user adds an application as a favorite, a Citrix-compiled .exe gets created and p... read more.

• May 14, 2014

By Brian Wagner, Posted in Infrastructure

Citrix was able to converge the management and infrastructure for XenApp and XenDesktop into one product with the release of XenDesktop 7. There are many benefits to having a single architecture and shared infrastructure between the two products. Not advertised, but I believe the most important benefit, is a common feature set and single development thread for both products. This will drive faster innovation and improve support. The product was XenDesktop 7, and new terminology for the supported workloads c... read more.

• February 18, 2014