RSS Feed For Vishal Ganeriwala

Introducing Citrix Ready Challenge for Thin Clients

Vishal Ganeriwala — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:35:59 GMT

We invited all of Citrix Ready thin client vendor partners to demonstrate to the Citrix community what makes their solutions unique in our first-ever Citrix Ready Challenge. In order to participate in this challenge, vendors had to create a short video up to three minutes long that highlights the compelling advantages for their product line with XenDesktop.

The winners will be decided based on several categories by our team of judges ( Sumit Dhawan, Chris Fleck, Doug Brown)

On of the important categories is "Best overall offering (User Community Vote)". We want you to rate videos on Citrix TV and choose the winner in this category. The Winners will be announced in the first week of August. I will have more details in subsequent blogs.

We have created a page where you can easily view and rate all the videos.
http://www.citrix.com/citrixreadychallenge

Here are direct links to all the videos on Citrix TV by participating thin client partners (list alphabetically)

10Zig

Devon IT

IGEL

IGEL demos XenDesktop at Citrix Synergy

Wyse

XenDesktop Demo at Synergy - Wyse

If you have any questions regarding the contest, please let me know via comments.

Visit Citrix Ready Catalog for more partner products.

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How to develop applications and troubleshoot application compatibility issues for the Terminal Server and Citrix Platform

Vishal Ganeriwala — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 21:28:24 GMT

I have been working with lot of ISV vendors who looking to become Citrix Ready and get their product listed on the Citrix Ready Catalog.

One common problem they sometimes face is how to verify their application works with Citrix/Terminal Server. Microsoft Terminal services team has written really good blog post and posted a tool.

Here are some short cut links which you will find useful regarding Terminal Server Application compatibility

1 How to develop Applications for the TS and Citrix Platform
While most 32-bit and 64-bit applications run "as is" on Windows Terminal Services, some do not perform as expected due to differences in the platform between Vista and Windows 2008 Terminal Service

2 TS Application Analyzer
TS Application Analyzer is a runtime program analysis tool to enable administrators/users to determine if they can deploy an application on TS with confidence

3 TS Programming Guidelines
The TS Programming Guidelines provide information on how to design your application to ensure that it runs smoothly on Terminal Services and provides a rich, seamless, and integrated experience to your end users.

4 White paper: Application Readiness for TS
The TS Application Compatibility Connect program is aimed at providing content and tools to address application compatibility issues and to enable you to readily deploy your applications on TS. Anyone can join the Connect program to learn about ensuring

Please contact CitrixReady at citrix dot com if you are interested in becoming a Citrix Ready Partner.
Do you know of any other links or tools which can help with TS application compatibility issues?

UPDATE
check out blog by Vinny Sosa on Citrix application compatibility toolkit and and other resources

UPDATE 2
How to Effectively Troubleshoot Citrix Application Integration and Compatibility Issues?

*http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX101709*

UPDATE 3
Best practices for windows developers writing Seamless Application for Citrix

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Gourami presents a free tool to uninstall every version of a ICA client from a Windows 2000 or Windows XP Workstation

Vishal Ganeriwala — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:44:11 GMT

Gourami presents a free tool to uninstall every version of a ICA client from a Windows 2000 or Windows XP Workstation. It's given the name UNICA!

How it works:
When started with the correct command line options, UNICA searches the uninstall information of a workstation for every product which was released by Citrix and uninstalls it. UNICA waits till everything is finished uninstalling, and then launches the installation command line for deploying the new client.

This is a ideal tool when you have several different versions of the ICA client installed over several different workstations. This is also a great help if you have 2 or even 3 versions installed on the same workstation. UNICA automatically detects and uninstalls them.

Because UNICA uninstalls every product that is released by Citrix, it also uninstalls the presentation server console, or even presentation server itself. Therefore a safety is build in, UNICA is made not to run on Windows Server. But it is still recommended to not run UNICA on windows XenApp/Presenation servers.

UNICA does not require .NET framework or a new version of Windows Scripting Host to run. In some occasions when a computer is not equipped with Microsoft Common Controls, the MSCOMCTL.OCX needs to be next to UNICA.EXE.

Learn more

Gourami is also has product which are Citrix Ready.

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How can Citrix Ready and Citrix Technology Partners access their NFR licenses?

Vishal Ganeriwala — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:54:44 GMT

Not-For-Resale products are offered to our Citrix Ready Technology and Citrix Ready members for testing, development, and demonstration purposes. As an added value, members are eligible to receive free and/or discounted NFRs.

Citrix Technology Member	Citrix Ready Core Members	Citrix Ready Leaderships
3 NFR allotment	15 NFR allotments	30 NFR allotments

Additional Citrix Software NFRs are also available for purchase at a discounted rate.
Members are entitled to purchase discounted Citrix Hardware NFRs. Partners are eligible to order one (1) Hardware NFR product version per partner. Orders exceeding one (1) Hardware NFR product version per partner, or partners ordering additional Hardware NFR products who have received
previous Hardware NFR products, will follow an exception process and be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Accessing Allotted Software NFRs on MyCitrix.com site

To obtain NFR products please follow these steps:

1. Log in to http://www.citrix.com/MyCitrix
2. Go to My Tools and Choose a Toolbox
3. Select Partner Use Licenses from the menu
4. Click on the button "Get Software"
5. Select the product from the drop-down list
6. Select the Language
7. Click on Retrieve New Serial Numbers

Click on the name of the product and this will reveal the serial numbers
Copy the serial numbers and go to Choose a Toolbox

8. Select Activation System/Manage Licenses
9. From the drop-down select Activate/Allocate and paste the copied serial number in the space provided

10.Follow the instructions on the screen.

If you are not a Citrix Ready Partner and if you want to get more information about the program then you can learn more on how to become a partner at following URL

http://www.citrix.com/Citrixreadyinfo

If you are a developer just looking to try out XenApp/XenDesktop for developement/integration purpose you can download developer/eval licenses from following URL

http://community.citrix.com/x/bICsAw

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Virtual Desktops is a Reality for Thin Clients

Vishal Ganeriwala — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 17:30:57 GMT

Citrix and Wyse are working together to meet end-user demands. The Wyse Viance desktop appliance is purpose-built to work in concert with the delivery capabilities of Citrix XenDesktop. Together, this joint solution provides a virtual desktop that offers the best user experience, simplest administration, lowest cost of ownership, as well as a significantly lower environmental impact.

To learn more, attend the upcoming live webinar with Citrix, Wyse, and ESG. Join ESG's leading virtualization analyst Mark Bowker as he discusses desktop virtualization's impact on the endpoint device and how user experience is closely tied to the success of desktop virtualization deployments.

By attending this webinar you will discover how you can benefit from XenDesktop and the out-of-the box Wyse Viance solution by:
• Reducing hardware and software costs by 40%
• Reducing IT operations costs by 30%
• Reducing worker downtime by almost 90%
• Increasing staff productivity up to 80%

Webinar Details:
Deliver Desktop Virtualization with Thin Clients
Date: March 25, 2009
Time: 8:00 am PST, 11:00 am EST, 4:00 pm GMT
Duration: 60 minutes
Speakers: Mark Bowker, Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group
Calvin Hsu, Director, XenDesktop Product Marketing, Citrix Systems
Hector Angulo, Product Manager, Wyse Viance Series, Wyse Technology

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Submit Your Citrix Ready Solution of the Year Nominations!

Vishal Ganeriwala — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:28:33 GMT

Citrix Ready Members,

Do you want your solution to get highlighted during Citrix Synergy? The Citrix Ready Solution of the Year Nomination form is NOW available.

The annual Citrix Ready Solution of the Year Award recognizes the Citrix Ready member that best excels in delivering solutions complementary to Citrix. This exclusive award is a unique opportunity for Citrix Ready members to showcase their solutions and to benefit from increased recognition within the Citrix channel eco-systems. This year the winner will be announced at our upcoming Synergy event May 3-7, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The deadline for nominations is April 6, 2009. If you have any questions related to the nomination process please email us at citrixready AT citrix.com.

Here is the list of partner who have won the award in the past

Enteo (now called FrontRange Solutions Inc.) (The award was know as Solution of the Year Award at that time)

Browse all Citrix Ready Product by Enteo

Wyse Technology

Browse all Citrix Ready Product by Wyse

NetApp

Browse all Citrix Ready Product by NetApp

Thank you,
Citrix Ready Team
http://www.citrix.com/citrixready

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Improve your XenApp investment with virtualization and high availability

Vishal Ganeriwala — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 14:45:44 GMT

How can you get an even better return on your XenApp investment? Virtualize it with Citrix XenServerTM. Then fortify it with Marathon everRun®. Fault tolerance for XenServer virtualization is the most cost-effective way to introduce the highest degree of application resiliency for your most mission-critical XenApp deployments.

Attend the upcoming Citrix and Marathon live webinar to learn how virtualizing Citrix XenApp with Citrix XenServer helps you:
• Lower operating expenses by consolidating XenApp servers
• Increase IT flexibility by provisioning XenApp across physical and virtual servers
• Enable zero-downtime maintenance with XenMotion live migration

You'll also discover how fortifying XenApp and XenServer with Marathon Technologies' everRun software give you the confidence to:
• Increase your SLAs for your most critical XenApp deployments
• Protect your Citrix License Server and Data Store from downtime with automated availability

Webinar Details:
Virtualize and Fortify XenApp for Lower Costs & Higher SLAs
Date: March 18, 2009
Time: 8:30 am PST, 11:30 am EST, 4:30 pm GMT
Duration: 60 minutes
Speakers: Sridhar Mullapudi, XenApp Sr. Product Manager, Citrix Systems
Peter Blum, XenServer Principal Technical Marketing Manager, Citrix Systems
Tom Reed, Sr. Solutions Architect, Marathon Technologies

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Launch XenApp Applications from an Internet Explorer Toolbar

Vishal Ganeriwala — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:12:03 GMT

For those of you looking to try something new and powerful for Citrix XenApp, I suggest you check out the new Extentrix Turbo Access Toolbar. A 30 day trial of this Citrix Ready™ verified product is available at here.

The toolbar integrates with Microsoft Internet Explorer and easily connects to your PNAgent
URL for complete secure and transparent published application launching. The toolbar provides
the following features:

• 3-D look and feel of icons
• 3-D adjustable icons
• Customization of toolbar content
o Show icons only
o Show text only
o Show text and icons
o Show and hide applications
• Single-sign on
• Always on demand

Extentrix ships two versions of this toolbar for personal use or enterprise use. The enterprise
edition requires Extentrix Web Services Application Edition 3.0 which is introduced by Chris
Fleck in an earlier blog posting here.

The personal edition allows anyone to leverage this tool independent of your organizations
published application entry point - the user simply points the toolbar to the company PNAgent URL and the tool takes care of the rest.

Download your free trial today!

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How to get an eval or a developer license for Citrix XenApp

Vishal Ganeriwala — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 03:29:27 GMT

Two years ago Citrix released developer licenses for Citrix XenApp. However I still see tons of requests for an eval license for trying out XenApp in support forums and community in general. The XenApp developer license gives a 2CCU license to evaluate XenApp for 12 months. It is a really good option to deploy a small lab for testing or build a XenApp environment for SDK development or testing but as Brian Madden mentioned in his blog while back this free edition of XenApp is not sufficient for "real" testing, but serious Citrix customers can still contact a reseller to get a 99-user, 90-day eval license. The 1 year developer license is also a good option for trying out XenApp in personal lab and getting Citrix certified. The developer licenses will work on XenApp 4.0, 4.5 and 5.0 servers.

Here is step by step process to get your own developer license.

Step 1: Sign up for a Free MyCitrix account

Step 2: Login to MyCitrix and select "Product Previews / Beta Releases - License Retrieval" from the "My Tools" widget.

Step 3: Select "Presentation Server Dev. Edition"

Step 4: Verify that you are assigned a license code and then Click Continue

Step 5: Search for a solution advisor or select "I cannot find my reseller" and continue.

Step 6: Verify the contact and address information

Step 7: Determine the hostname of License Server and click continue (Tip hostname is case sensitive)

Step 8: Retrieve and save your XenApp license.

If you are a hobbyist or geek like me who wants to try out XenApp server but don't want to install XenApp from scratch but want something quick. I have created XenApp Demo AMI (Amazon Machine Image) with a developer license and Chris Fleck has a video where he explains how to get your own XenApp Server in Amazon EC2 cloud in 15 minutes using the XenApp Demo AMI.

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Farm Monitor Vista Gadget for XenApp by nick holmquist

Vishal Ganeriwala — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 15:37:37 GMT

Nick has recently released a really cool Vista Gadget for XenApp. It is yet another use case of building innovative tools using MFCOM SDK. If you are a XenApp Admin check this tool directly at his blog

http://nickholmquist.com

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Sign up for live webinar by Forrester Research and Marathon Technologies on Server Virtualization for Better HA & DR

Vishal Ganeriwala — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 17:17:51 GMT

According to a recent Forrester report, available here at no cost, new server virtualization technologies make high availability and disaster recovery much more affordable and practical than traditional HA and DR approaches. These new technologies can help more companies (especially small and midsized ones) protect a much broader range of applications. Our partner, Marathon Technologies, is hosting a webinar with Forrester Research to explain how you can use Citrix XenServer and everRun VM to reduce the costs and complexity of HA and DR.

Live Webinar: Practical, Affordable High Availability and Disaster Recovery for a Tough Economy – Featuring Forrester Research
Date: February 24, 2009 Time: 8:30 am PDT, 11:30 am EDT, 4:30 pm GMT
Duration: 60 minutes
Speaker: Stephanie Balaouras, Principal Analyst, Forrester Research
Michael Bilancieri, Product Manager, Marathon Technologies

Register for this webinar now

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VMware loses to Citrix on fault tolerance!

Vishal Ganeriwala — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 18:53:48 GMT

Did that grab your attention? It sure grabbed ours!

As highlighted in a recent announcement the Sullivan Group selected a joint solution of Citrix XenServer and Marathon everRun VM over their existing VMware infrastructure to virtualize and protect their SamWare application suite from fault tolerance issues.

"We considered VMware, but for the cost and what we needed, a XenServer Enterprise license plus everRunVM were fine." Plus, earlier this year, "when we looked at VMware High Availability (HA), it was not at the same level as everRun VM; there wasn't an automatic failover feature to prevent downtime," Rob Jones, Director of IT, The Sullivan Group said. "Since we liked Xen and Linux, instead of investing in VMware we decided to go with XenServer and use Marathon (everRun VM) for fault tolerance."

Marathon is hosting a webinar with the Sullivan group this Wednesday, January 28th to discuss their selection and experiences with our joint solution. Join this webinar to learn more:

Customer Spotlight Webinar: How the Sullivan Group Got Reliable High Availability without Breaking the Bank

Date: January 28, 2009 Time: 8:30 am PST, 11:30 am EST, 4:30 pm GMT
Duration: 60 minutes
Speakers: Rob Jones, Director of IT, The Sullivan Group
Erika Simpson, Network Administrator, The Sullivan Group
Michael Bilancieri, Sr. Director, Products, Marathon Technologies

Register for this webinar now!

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New Consulting Whitepapers for XenApp 5.0 for Windows Server 2008

Vishal Ganeriwala — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:40:33 GMT

Daniel Feller just pointed me out to these new Consulting Whitepapers for XenApp 5.0 for Windows Server 2008. If you are working on XenApp 5.0 for Windows 2008 these are great bookmark links. They are all available for download via Citrix Support site.

Simplifying the Migration to XenApp 5 with XenServer - Getting Started Guide

Simplifying the Migration to XenApp 5 with XenServer - Reference Architecture

Simplifying the Migration to XenApp 5 with XenServer - Implementation Guide

You can get a list of all XenApp 5.0 whitepapers here

Consulting Whitepapers for XenApp 5.0 for Windows Server2003

Consulting Whitepapers for XenApp 5.0 for Windows Server 2008

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Citrix Ready Partner rPath releases a great video - Cloud Computing in Plain English

Vishal Ganeriwala — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:34:38 GMT

watch this 5 min video here.

Learn more about rPath and Citrix here

*Citrix and rPath

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MFCOM and PowerShell Webinar part 2 - Call for content

Vishal Ganeriwala — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 03:27:22 GMT

Brandon Shell (MVP PowerShell) and I are planning a more advanced level MFCOM and PowerShell Webinar to manage XenApp. We are looking for some input for the webinar content. Tell us what particular script or sample code you would like to see via comments. If you would like us to demo a particular method or a call then please leave us a comment. We would try our best to include it in the webinar.

Follow the link provided to view the previous webinar where Brandon explained how to write MFCOM scripts using PowerShell to manage XenApp.

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Register for Live Webcast - Dynamic Data Center and Virtualization Drives Operational Excellence at Emory Healthcare

Vishal Ganeriwala — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 15:50:55 GMT

Join Citrix and Egenera on November 11^th at 1:30pm EDT, as Dee Cantrell, CIO of Emory Healthcare (EHC), shares her award-winning experience leading The Virtualization Project. Learn how, by implementing technology from Egenera and Citrix, Cantrell and her focused team:

Improved TCO by 60 percent
Streamlined administration requirements by 80 percent
Created an affordable, scalable and highly available IT infrastructure.
Provided secure access under HIPAA Privacy and Security Regulations

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Live Webcast Virtualizing Exchange - The Cold, Hard Numbers on Why Citrix XenServer and everRun VM is the Best Platform

Vishal Ganeriwala — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:03:01 GMT

Moving your Microsoft® Exchange servers to the latest server virtualization technologies offers compelling benefits:

Flexibility to dynamically adjust to growth or peak work loads
High availability protection from common outages allowing users to stay connected
Disaster recovery that's simpler, cheaper and more reliable

Join Marathon and Citrix on November 11th at 11:30am EDT for a live webcast and learn how benchmark testing proves the best virtualization platform for Exchange is Citrix XenServer 5 coupled with everRun VM.

Register today at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/728234051

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Introducing Project Kensho Technology Preview on Citrix Developer Network (CDN)

Vishal Ganeriwala — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:23:53 GMT

Citrix Project Kensho provides administrators with highly usable tools that facilitate the export and import of virtual machines and virtual machine based workloads (virtual appliances) using the Open Virtual Machine Format (OVF) and Common Information Model (CIM) industry standards developed by the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF).

Project Kensho provides administrators with two utilities:

1 ) A management utility to import and export VHD based XenServer and Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines whose metadata is compliant with the Open Virtual Machine Format (OVF).

2) An interface to allow access to XenServer management functions through Common Information Model (CIM).

You can download, discuss and watch videos for the Kensho tool at Citrix Developer Network.

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Create a XenServer virtual machine from a template using XAPI

Ewan Mellor — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 12:06:05 GMT

Here is a code sample which will clone a virtual machine from a given template. I have also shown how to get the "MAC Address" of the newly created VM. Here is sample usage of the code

CreateClone <IP Address of XenServer> <UserName> <Password> <Template>

/// <summary>
/// Clone a Virtual machine from a template and determine virtual machines mac address.
/// </summary>
    public class Program
    {
        public static void Main(string[] args)
        {

            // Host information necessary to get started
            string hostname = args[0];
            int port = 80; // default
            string username = args[1]; ;
            string password = args[2];
            string template = args[3];

            // Establish a session
            Session session = new Session(hostname, port);

            // Authenticate with username and password. 
//The third parameter tells the server which API 
//version we support.
            session.login_with_password(username, password, API_Version.API_1_3);

            List<XenRef<VM>> vmRefs = VM.get_by_name_label(session, template);
            if (vmRefs.Count == 0)
                System.Console.WriteLine("Template not found");

            foreach (XenRef<VM> vmRef in vmRefs)
            {
                if (vmRefs.Count == 1)
                {
                    VM vm = VM.get_record(session, vmRef);
                    System.Console.WriteLine("Cloning VM '{0}'...", vm.name_label);
                    XenRef<VM> cloneVMref = VM.clone(session, vmRef,
                    string.Format("Cloned VM (from '{0}')",vm.name_label));
                    System.Console.WriteLine("Cloning VM '{0}'... Done", cloneVMref.ToString());
                    VM.provision(session, cloneVMref);
                    VM CloneVM = VM.get_record(session, cloneVMref);

                    foreach (XenRef<VIF> vifref in CloneVM.VIFs)
                    {
                        System.Console.WriteLine(VIF.get_MAC(session, vifref));
                    }
                }
                else { System.Console.WriteLine("More then one VM Template found with same name"); }
            }
        }

    }

On the other note XenServer 5.0 SDK has been released on the CDN and you can download the sample codes here

Please let me know what other samples would you like to see on the CDN regarding XenServer. If we had to do a webinar on XenServer API what would you like to hear about?

Which is your preferred language while writing XenServer API samples?	Choose
Microsoft C#
PowerShell
Python
Java
Other

Which is your preferred language while writing XenServer API samples?

Choose

Microsoft C#

PowerShell

Python

Java

Other

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Video - Getting started with Password Manager Provisioning SDK

Vishal Ganeriwala — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 17:40:02 GMT

If you looking to get started with Password manager provisioning server SDK then don't miss this video. Michol Monaghan and George Prado from Citrix explain how to install the Citrix Password Manager Provisioning SDK and run out of the box samples.

Here is the direct link to the video
http://citrix.utipu.com/app/tip/id/3267

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Video - How does XenApp Health Monitoring and Recovery Feature work (7 mins) ?

Vishal Ganeriwala — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 19:13:20 GMT

This is a great video from Ashish (Principal Design Engineer at Citrix Systems) explaining how does XenApp application delivery process work. Ashish explains different servers involved in the process and then he dives into health recovery and monitoring feature. If you want to understand how HMR prevents blackhole problem then this is a great video to watch.

If you are interested in writing custom HMR test then visit CDN page here

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CSEIT 2008 Presentations and Webcasts

Vishal Ganeriwala — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:42:54 GMT

CSEIT is an event presented by Citrix Escalation engineers and is mostly focused on troubleshooting of Citrix products. They had some really good sessions this year and the sessions are now posted on support site for download.

I highly recommend you to watch these free Citrix training videos/webcasts on NetScaler, XenServer and XenApp.

CSEIT 2008 Presentations

To view the CSEIT presentations and webcast recordings from the XenApp and NetScaler sessions, click the appropriate presentation title.

Note: A codec might be necessary to view some of the presentations. The codec is available at http://www.gotomeeting.com/codec

Here is a list of presentation I watched

XenApp presentations:

CTX117363 - CSEIT 2008 - Citrix XenApp Health Monitoring

CTX117380 - CSEIT 2008 - Troubleshooting Tools for XenApp Environments

CTX117386 - CSEIT 2008 - Understanding and Troubleshooting Citrix XenServer

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Citrix Synergy Flip Video contest update

Vishal Ganeriwala — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:37:44 GMT

We had a blast with the Citrix Synergy Flip Video Contest. I have posted all the videos at the YouTube site. You can watch videos via searching on YouTube with "Citrix Synergy" as the keyword or directly going to this link

http://www.youtube.com/profile_video_blog?user=citrixcdn

The contest will end on July 1st 12 PM EST. The top 3 most viewed videos at that date and time will win a Flip Video each.

To learn more about the Flip Video contest click here.

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Update on Flip Video Contest during Citrix Synergy

Vishal Ganeriwala — Fri, 16 May 2008 14:48:59 GMT

I blogged about the Flip Video contest on Wednesday you can read all the about the contest here.

Here is a list of questions I have received via email

Can I record the demos at the exhibit hall?
Yes go ahead record any interesting demos you see at the exhibit hall. We will be having some very interesting demos around XenApp, XenServer, NetScaler in Techlab.

Can I record sessions at the Geek Speak Bar camp event?
Absolutely, You can interview geeks and record their sessions.

What color of Flip Video will I win?
You will a white color Flip Video.

How will I get the Flip Video after my Video wins the contest by having most views on YouTube?
We will contact you via email and then ship the Flip Video to your office address.

here are some reviews and fun to watch videos of Flip Video

http://www.amazon.com/gp/mpd/permalink/m19O7AGT0BP8PR:m7KZHLZBM4RWC  (As easy as making a peanut butter and Jelly Sandwitch)
http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=71d05f5c938be70c6e84e4b5ea8dcd0e2be70830 ( Review by David pogue NY Times)

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Just shoot and win 3 Flip Video during Citrix Synergy

Vishal Ganeriwala — Fri, 16 May 2008 03:07:35 GMT

Do you want to record some of the fun and interesting things you will see during Citrix Synergy conference and share it with your friends and colleagues? We will be handing out 5 flip cameras every day for 3 days (May 20, 2008 - May 22, 2008) that's 15 first come first serve people. All you have to do is record 1 or more video clips less than 5 min long and give the Flip video back to me. The flip video can record an hour of video.

What is a Flip video camera?
Flip video is the number one bestselling, easy to use video camcorder on Amazon site. You can visit http://www.theflip.com to learn more.

What series of the Flip Video will be given to winner?
We are giving away the Flip Video Ultra series. http://www.theflip.com/products_flip_ultra.shtml

How do I sign up for the contest?
Sign up via sending an email to citrixblogger@ gmail.com or vishal. ganeriwala @ citrix.com or simply post a comment on the blog. The first 15 people to email or comment with their name will get an entry to the contest*.

What is the process for collecting and giving back the Flip video?
You will be able to collect the Flip video near the registration desk between 12:30 to 1:00 PM. If your name is in the list I will give you the camera. You will have to give the Flip Video back to me next day between 12:30 to 1:00 PM at the registration desk. You will also need to give me your email and phone number at the registration desk so I can track you if you are running late.

What are the rules for the contest?-

No video from the keynote.

No video from any breakout sessions.

Ask customers/friends/colleagues to withhold their last name and company to protect them from legal liability.

Do not Interview any Press or Analysts.

The video clips have to be less than or around 5 minutes.

Citrix may use these videos for promotion purposes and can decide not post a video if we find the content inappropriate.

Can you give me few examples of video clips to record?
You can record interesting XenApp or XenServer demos or partner product demonstration at the exhibit hall. You can interview your friends, colleagues or vendors and capture their view about the Synergy. Just be innovative and record fun, cool and informative videos. Show us Synergy through your eyes.

How will I recognize you at the registration desk?
Here is my picture. Click to enlarge.

How will I win a Flip Video?
I will upload all the videos to YouTube and tag them Citrix_Synergy08_flipcontest. The top 3 most viewed videos on YouTube will win the Flip Video. The contest will end on 6^th of June 2008 at 6 PM EST.

I have a question not answered above where do I ask it?
Just post a comment on this blog post and I will get back to you

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TechMentor Conference Automating Citrix Server Administration with Windows PowerShell

Vishal Ganeriwala — Mon, 12 May 2008 19:54:30 GMT

If you are attending IT professionals TechMentor event this week in Orlando then I would recommend you go and check out Bradon Shell's session on "Automating Citrix Server Administration with Windows PowerShell"

"In this session you'll learn how to use Powershell to make Citrix server management easier. We'll also walk through the Citrix road map and how Powershell fits in. We will cover several different common administrative tasks and show how Powershell can make these tasks faster and easier to perform, including publishing applications, unpublishing applications, getting application information, and getting servers online. We'll look at using the PowerShell pipeline, and see how to make your scripts output information that can be piped to other scripts. Finally, you'll learn how to use MFCOM, get information from it, and look at some of the gotchas you'll need to be aware of when dealing with it"

Brandon and I have recently done a webinar on PowerShell and Citrix MFCOM. You can view the Webinar at this URL
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/114744868

UPDATE:
I have got several emails asking me if there will be any session on PowerShell and MFCOM during Citrix Synergy event . There is no specific session on PowerShell and MFCOM but we have speakers giving advance classes on MFCOM SDK and Hands on training with MFCOM SDK during Synergy. If you still have questions regarding PowerShell and MFCOM then come by during my Geek Speak session and I will try my best to answer them

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Video Citrix Ranks in Top 10 Best Places to Work in Silicon Valley

Vishal Ganeriwala — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:32:45 GMT

After reading Gus Pinto's blog on Citrix being one of the top places to work at silicon valley. I found this video on http://www.bestplacestowork.tv/main.

You can also read more at Yahoo Finance

Vishal Ganeriwala
Do you sp34k G33k?

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Do you Sp34k G33k?

Vishal Ganeriwala — Tue, 13 May 2008 21:29:18 GMT

I am sure you all must have heard about the GeekSpeak Live event during synergy. Barry Flanagan and I are also doing GeekSpeak BarCamp on Wednesday May, 21st.

The goal for this is to give the technical audience at Synergy a chance to get together to discuss technical content most interests you. No marketing slides, no features and benefits, just hard core technical discussions about any IT topic that interests you and the attendees. You can run a white board discussion, present a technical presentation on your latest project, or show a demo of your newest creation with an SDK. Anyone can sign up for a slot. You may be an IT admin, a technology consultant, a Citrix technical employee, a technical employee of a Citrix partner (or competitor), or a student who loves technology and wants to share it.

We have 12 slots filled up so far. Read Barry's Blogs for more info here and here.

If you want to sign up then please comment on my blog or go directly to the GeekSpeak BarCamp page or comment on this blog.

Are you planning to attend the GeekSpeak Live and the GeekSpeak BarCamp?	Choose
Won't miss it for anything. Looking forward to meet all the geeks
No. I will miss all the fun

Are you planning to attend the GeekSpeak Live and the GeekSpeak BarCamp?

Choose

Won't miss it for anything. Looking forward to meet all the geeks

No. I will miss all the fun

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Mark Templeton Keynote at Interop Las Vegas 2008

John Jimenez — Tue, 06 May 2008 14:57:06 GMT

Mark Templeton took the center stage at Ineterop Las Vegas 2008 and challenged the global IT community to do something different by optimizing networking services, virtualization, and application acceleration to create a dynamic application delivery infrastructure that enables a more flexible way of providing applications to users.
watch his keynote on "how Citrix has moved its business in new directions"

Watch Mark Templeton Ineterop 2008 keynote

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The ultimate guide to Citrix MFCOM SDK

Vishal Ganeriwala — Thu, 01 May 2008 20:36:21 GMT

Last week Dr. SDK completed his ultimate guide to MFCOM (101 pages). This is the only guide you will ever need to understand and learn about MFCOM SDK. It covers everything up to SDK version 4.5.

It covers all the advance MFCOM topics such as multifarm management, publishing different type of Applications, policies, load evaluators and more.

Hope you enjoy reading it.

Download the ultimate guide to MFCOM SDK

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PowerShell and Citrix MFCOM recorded Webinar and Powerpoint slide deck

Vishal Ganeriwala — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:09:59 GMT

I want to thanks everyone who attended the webinar yesterday. If you missed the webinar then you can watch the recording at the following URL https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/114744868

You can also download the slide deck here Dowload link
If you are interested in learning PowerShell then subscribe to Brandon Shell rss feed. I totally love the way he explains PowerShell concepts.

I am going to send out a more detailed survey to everyone who attended the webinar. Your feedback will help us determine future webinars and chats.

Would you like to see an advance PowerShell and MFCOM webinar?	Choose
Yes
No

Would you like to see an advance PowerShell and MFCOM webinar?

Choose

Yes

How would you rate yesterday's webinar on a scale to 1 to 5 with 5 being Awesome?	Choose
1 Totally sucked
2 Just OK
3 Good stuff
4 Great.
5 Awesome

How would you rate yesterday's webinar on a scale to 1 to 5 with 5 being Awesome?

Choose

1 Totally sucked

2 Just OK

3 Good stuff

4 Great.

5 Awesome

Please let me know via comments what SDK and technology webinar you would like to see in future. I will try my best to get the experts do it for CDN members.

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Free Citrix videos and training

Vishal Ganeriwala — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:19:14 GMT

If you have missed these presentations and videos from CSEIT 2007 then take a look at them. These presentation are really technical and given mostly by Citrix escalation engineers.

http://support.citrix.com/article/ctx115136

To view the CSEIT presentations and webcast recordings from the Citrix Presentation Server and Citrix NetScaler sessions, please click the appropriate presentation title.

Note: A codec may be necessary to view some of the presentations. The codec is available at http://www.gotomeeting.com/codec.

Citrix Presentation Server

• CTX115207 - CSEIT 2007 - Printer Driver Management

• CTX115208 - CSEIT 2007 - Citrix Presentation Server Health Monitoring

• CTX115192 - CSEIT 2007 - Troubleshooting Tools for a Citrix Presentation Server Environment

• CTX115204 - CSEIT 2007 - Understanding and Troubleshooting the Application Streaming in Citrix Presentation Server 4.5

• CTX115202 - CSEIT 2007 - Brief Troubleshooting Guide

• CTX115225 - CSEIT 2007 - Citrix MFCOM Programming for Administrators

• CTX115228 - CSEIT 2007 - Using and Understanding Citrix EdgeSight 4.5

• CTX115206 - CSEIT 2007 - Citrix Presentation Server 4.5 / Feature Pack 1

Citrix NetScaler

• CTX115222 - CSEIT 2007 - NetScaler Architecture, Concepts and Networking

• CTX115226 - CSEIT 2007 - Monitoring the Citrix NetScaler Application Switch

• CTX115221 - CSEIT 2007 - Command Center 3.0

• CTX115227 - CSEIT 2007 - Printer Driver Management

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Troubleshooting Tools for Citrix Environment

Vishal Ganeriwala — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:54:07 GMT

If you are a Citrix administrator then you should definitely bookmark this link. Whenever I get stuck there is always a utility here which can help get out of my problem.

http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX107572

My favorite tools are

Tool	Description
Repair Clipboard Chain 2.0.1	The RepairCBDChain utility temporarily restores clipboard functionality.Run the RepairCBDChain utility on your workstation and/or inside the session desktop
Project MedEvac 2.11	The MedEvac tool is utilized to run checks against a Presentation Server farm to verify environment health. CTX108311
FarmAppUtil Tool	The FarmAppUtil tool saves all the application properties with users and servers assigned to those applications in an XML file. The tool also creates a text file with a folder structure. The XML file created from the application can be modified and used for republishing all the applications and also recreate the folder structure in the new farm. The other reason I like this tool is because I wrote it

<a href="http://technorati.com/claim/fjb6bznrzw" rel="me">Technorati Profile</a>

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Free Managing Citrix Servers via PowerShell and MFCOM webinar

Vishal Ganeriwala — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:58:26 GMT

Brandon Shell (http://bsonposh.com) and I are going to do a free webinar on PowerShell and Citrix

UPDATE : Tuesday 29th April 1PM - 2PM EST.

UPDATE 28th April : International direct dial + 1 617 801 6700

We are targeting audiences with following skill.
Basic Powershell, Basic Citrix Admin Skills and Basic MFCOM experience in VB script.

Here is the rough agenda for the webinar

Powershell Basics (about 20 mins)

Object Based
Self Teaching Get-Help , Get-Command, Get-Member

Properties
Methods
New-Object
ComObject
.NET Class

Managing Citrix Servers via PowerShell and MFCOM (about 20 mins)

Most Properties Return Objects (like Servers, Applications, Sessions)
Creating MFCOM object in Powershell
$variable = New-Object -com <MFCOM COM Name>
Examples
$mfobject = New-object -com 'MetaframeCOM.MetaFrameFarm'
$mfobject.Initialize(<int parameters>)
With just these two lines you can start exploring you Citrix Environment
$mfFarm = New-object -com 'MetaframeCOM.MetaFrameFarm'
$mfFarm.Initialize(1)
Getting Key Info To get From Farm Object
$mfFarm | Get-Member -MemberType Property # Gets just Properties
Admins
Applications
FarmName
Servers
Sessions
LicenseServer
Printers
Zones

Space is limited
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/114744868

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More top scripts on PowerShell and MFCOM

Vishal Ganeriwala — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:21:23 GMT

Citrix SDK guru's have converted more top downloaded MFCOM VB scripts to PowerShell-MFCOM Scripts. Bradon Shell has created 3 more PowerShell Scripts which are really useful.

*[Get-CitrixApplication.ps1 (Powershell)]
Returns Citrix Application Objects for AppName passed or RegEx

*[Set-CitrixServerLogon.ps1 (Powershell)]
Sets the Server to Enable or Disable Logons

*[Get-CitrixAppServer.ps1 (Powershell)]
Gets All the Servers for Specific App

If you are learning PowerShell then I highly recommend subscribing to his blog at http://bsonposh.com/.

Jason Conger one of the Citrix SDK guru's has also contributed a really cool MFCOM-PowerShell script.

Find-App.ps1

Here is a description of the script
"If you have a lot of published applications in several nested folders, it can be a challenge to locate exactly which particular folder contains a particular application. This script takes a parameter as a search pattern. The script then searches the published application directory structure and returns the full path to all applications that match the search pattern parameter. This saves time clicking through all the folders trying to find a published application."

If you are a Citrix SDK guru then feel free to contact me via comments or email. I would love to hear your experiences with our SDKs.

Vishal G
http://community.citrix.com/cdn/script-exchange/

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Top 5 Citrix MFCOM Scripts using PowerShell

Brandon Shell — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:36:21 GMT

Brandon Shell (MVP) has done an awesome job and converted top 5 MFCOM VB Scripts to PowerShell. Here is a list of scripts he has contributed

[Find-CitrixUser.ps1 (Powershell)]
[Get-CitrixPrinterInfo.ps1 (Powershell)]
[Find-CitrixIdleUser.ps1 (Powershell)]
[Get-CitrixSessionUser.ps1 (Powershell)]
[Set-CitrixPSVersion.ps1 (Powershell)]

If you are new to PowerShell then I would highly recommend visiting his site and learning more about Citrix and PowerShell samples. You can visit him at http://bsonposh.com/

Brandon and I are also planning to do a series of Webinar on MFCOM and PowerShell. I will post more information on signup and date tomorrow.

please let us know via comments what PowerShell scripts you would like to see on Script Exchange and we will try our best to get those samples out there.

UPDATE: I had couple of emails asking me on how to contribute to Script Exchange and share with the community. Watch this video to see how easy and simple it is to contribute.

Stay tuned
Vishal Ganeriwala
http://community.citrix.com/cdn

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Out of the box security for Web developers

Vishal Ganeriwala — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 19:23:40 GMT

If you are a Web developer or an IT administrator then AppFirewall feature of NetScaler can give you sound sleep at night and save you from some redundant implementation security within each application. Application Firewall by default provides following security features

Start URL check. Examines the URLs to which incoming requests are directed, and blocks connections to URLs that are not listed in the Start URLs list, or that a user has not reached by navigating to them from listed start URLs.

Cookie Consistency check. Examines cookies returned with user requests to see that they match the cookies your web servervset for that user. If a modified cookie is found, the cookie is stripped from the request before the request is forwarded to the web server.

Form Field Consistency check. Examines the structure of the web forms returned by users to your web server, and verifies that the structure of the web form and any default data are unchanged.

Buffer Overflow check. Examines requests to detect attempts to cause a buffer overflow on the web server.

Field Formats check. Examines the data a user returns using a web form on your web site and verifies that the data being returned for each field is valid for that field.

Deny URL check. Examines the URLs to which requests are directed, and blocks connections to all URLs specified in this list.

Cross-Site Scripting check. Examines requests and responses for scripts that attempt to access or modify content on a different web site than the web site where the script is located. When it finds such a script, it either renders the script harmless before forwarding it to its destination, or blocks
the connection.

SQL Injection check. Examines requests that contain form field data for attempts to inject SQL commands into a back-end SQL database, and when it detects injected SQL code, either renders the injected SQL code harmless before forwarding it to the web server, or blocks the request.

Credit Card check. Examines web server responses, including headers, for credit card numbers. If it finds a credit card number in a response, it either removes the credit card number from the response before sending it, or blocks the response.

Safe Object check. Allows you to create classes of protected content, such as social security numbers, and protects them in much the same manner as it does credit cards.

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Videos and resources on Citrix Online SDKs

Vishal Ganeriwala — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 15:02:05 GMT

Here is great summary and videos on how to integrate with GoToAssist/GoToMeeting/GoToMyPC SDKs from Terry Holland (Sr. Manager of Integration Services, Citrix Online division).

GoToAssist Integration Presentation Available for Viewing:
The following recorded presentation describes all the techniques for integrating GoToAssist. Topics include how to automate the launch of a GoToAssist session for end users, how to streamline support agents' tasks and how to integrate and locally save session data. After the general overview (20 min), there is a section on how to approach integration with a CRM system (10 min) and a final section on the out-of-box Database Integration (10 min). Total viewing time is 40 min.
https://www.gotomeeting.com/register/334585120

GoToAssist Integration Services Website:
http://www.gotoassist.com/intServices.html

GoToMeeting Corporate Integration Presentation Available for Viewing:
The following recorded presentation describes all the techniques for integrating GoToMeeting Corporate. Topics include an overview of integration options, the Organizer API and the Administrator/Reporting API. The presentation also includes some examples. Total viewing time is 20 mins.
https://www.gotomeeting.com/register/605056742

GoToMeeting Corporate Integration Services Website:
https://www.gotomeeting.com/pre/corp/integration.tmpl

GoToMyPC Corporate Integration Presentation Available for Viewing:
The following recorded presentation describes all the techniques for integrating GoToMyPC Corporate. Topics include an overview of integration options, the out-of-box Provisioning Tool, the Administrator API and the Reporting API. Total viewing time is 20 mins.
https://www.gotomeeting.com/register/295522528

GoToMyPC Corporate Integration Services Website:
https://www.gotomypc.com/corp/integration.html

Please leave us feedback on our Citrix online SDKs.
Thanks

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Citrix WorkFlow Studio public beta coming soon - Video

Vishal Ganeriwala — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 21:19:50 GMT

Gus Pinto and I caught Derek Slayton Product manager for Citrix Workflow Studio who just came down to Ft Lauderdale and we couldn't pass the opportunity to learn more about WFS and share with CDN members.

Watch this short video on Frameworkx site.

http://frameworkx.com/blogpost.aspx?id=1&c=1389

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An interpretation of the Citrix SDKs EULA for the rest of us

Vishal Ganeriwala — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 20:07:36 GMT

There was a recent flurry of emails when a Citrix partner wanted to know whether they could redistribute our SDK libraries as a part of the integration with their tool. Brad Pedersen (Chief Architect and Senior Fellow) confirmed that we allow distribution of Citrix libraries with products modified using the SDKs. In fact, we encourage our customers and partners to embed, integrate, and distribute our libraries. This way, we grow the Citrix ecosystem and the community.

I have also posted the revised EULA on the Citrix Developer Network so you don't have to download and install the SDK to read it. The EULA clarifies the above distribution rights.
http://community.citrix.com/display/cdn/Citrix+End+User+License+Agreement

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How to get the Client IP address or hostname of a Citrix session or Terminal Services Session?

Vishal Ganeriwala — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 19:56:31 GMT

Have you ever tried to get the Client IP address for a Citrix or terminal services session and got stuck? I have had several emails asking me on how to do it. Well I thought I might just blog about it. I can think four ways to do it and if you can add to the list then please do via comments. So let's get to the business right away.

1. The simplest way is to use the MFCOM API to get a list of session and enumerate each session to get username and the Client IP address. Here is a code snippet.

Set objFarm = CreateObject("MetaFrameCOM.MetaFrameFarm")
objFarm.Initialize(1)
For Each objSession In objFarm.Sessions
WScript.Echo "User name : " & objSession.UserName
WScript.Echo "IP Address: " & objSession.ClientAddress
Next

You need to be an admin on XenApp (Formerly known as Presentation Sever) Farm to run MFCOM queries. You can read more and download the MFCOM example here.

2. Use WFAPI SDK WFEnumerateSessions method to get a list of all the sessions on a server and then use WFQuerySessionInformation to extract Client IP for each session on the server I have written a Sample program on how to do it. Follow this link to download WFAPI and Csharp .Net program which enumerates all sessions on a server and their Client IP address.

3. Use native terminal Services API. Similar to WFAPI use TSEnumerateSessions to get a list of sessions on a server and then use TSQuerySessionInformation to extract Client IP address each session on the server. To read more follow this link to download Terminal Services API sample example written in Csharp .Net.

4. You can also use ICO SDK and GetClientAddress API to get client IP within a ICO session The ICA Client Object is the framework that exposes the functionality of the Citrix ICA Win32 Client to third party applications. The ICA Client Object (ICO) SDK enables developers and administrators to modify the behavior and appearance of a Windows 32-bit Citrix ICA client. The SDK is a series of documents that detail available application programming interface (API) in the Citrix ICA client Follow this link to download an ICO example which illustrates the use of methods and properties available to get client network name and IP address information using Citrix ICO SDK.

Code snippet for ICO in JavaScript

function GetClientNetworkName(form)
    {
        form.netname.value = document.ICO1.GetClientNetworkName()
    }
    function GetAddrCnt(form)
    {
        form.addrcnt.value = document.ICO1.GetClientAddressCount()
    }
    function GetAddr(form)
    {
        form.addr.value = document.ICO1.GetClientAddress(0)
    }

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Introducing Citrix Workflow Studio on CDN

Vishal Ganeriwala — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 23:35:53 GMT

Citrix Workflow Studio has gained popularity in just few days and technology preview hasn't been released yet!. Google has over 44,000 results for "citrix workflow studio".

Most of the results are blogs and articles talking about Citrix plans on releasing "workflow studio". Gus Pinto has written really good six part series (with lots of pictures) on the Citrix workflow studio. I have made two videos, "Getting Started with workflow studio" and "Writing your workflows using templates" for those who want to see workflow studio in action (the tech preview edition may actually look slightly different but most of the concepts will remain the same).

Citrix developer site(CDN) will host a dedicated section and enable the community to share "workflow studio templates". I am really excited about the new ways we will be able to bring together different technologies and make them work in union and automate IT processes.

Stay tuned for more workflow studio videos and news.

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Citrix Developer Network blog has moved!

Vishal Ganeriwala — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:34:03 GMT

We have integrated the Citrix Developer Network blog with the official Citrix blog. Please update your CDN RSS feed link to
http://feeds.citrix.com/officialcitrixblog/group/cdn . The integration provides better stats on blog postings and provides a single interface to post blogs. Here are some stats on the popular CDN blogs

This integration also makes it easier for our readers as well to get all blogs at a central place. I am planning to post couple of blogs this week so don't forget to update the feed URL.

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Presentation for Virtual Channel SDK webinar

Vishal Ganeriwala — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:17:56 GMT

We had a good turn out for today's webinar on virtual channel SDK. Here is a link to download the slide deck.

There will be a follow up webinar sometime in February which will cover more advance topics for virtual channel developers. Please leave a

feedback on the webinar if you attended and let us know what you will like to see next in the series.

UPDATE: I have uploaded the recording you can now download it

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Webinar - Introduction to Citrix Virtual Channel SDK

Vishal Ganeriwala — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:18:08 GMT

Sign up for Citrix Virtual Channel SDK Webinar.

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/341397335

Citrix Developer Network presents Introduction to Citrix Virtual Channel SDK. Watch and learn directly from the Citrix experts. The one hour webinar will cover
• Brief Introduction to ICA protocol
• What is ICA virtual channel?
• Possible uses of custom virtual channels
• Virtual channel components
• Client-Server data exchange
• Introduction to Virtual Channel SDK
• Sample virtual channel demo

Title: Introduction to Citrix Virtual Channel SDK
Date: Friday, January 25, 2008
Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EST

System Requirements
PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 2000, XP Home, XP Pro, 2003 Server, Vista

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.3.9 (Panther®) or newer

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Dr SDK Webinar - What's new in MFCOM SDK 4.5

Vishal Ganeriwala — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:30:53 GMT

As promised in my previous blog. I am posting the webinar done by Dr.SDK on what's new in MFCOM SDK 4.5. The webinar explains the changes in the MFCOM application object and how you could publish a streaming application. The audio quality of the webinar is not the greatest in the world but I still think video is worth downloading to see Dr SDK explain useful examples.

Download the Webinar

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CSEIT 2007 MFCOM Presentation

Vishal Ganeriwala — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:33:22 GMT

I recently learned that CSEIT team has uploaded my CSEIT presentation on MFCOM SDK on support site. The presentation introduces MFCOM SDK and goes over some basic examples in VB script. If you are new to MFCOM SDK I would recommend you to download the presentation from support site. I am also going to upload webinars from Dr.SDK done last year on application publishing and MFCOM SDK 4.5. Check back later this week to watch those videos.

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AppExpert Visual Policy Builder

Vishal Ganeriwala — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 06:29:42 GMT

Simple and Intuitive Application Delivery Policy Creation

The AppExpert Visual Policy Builder is a GUI-based environment that simplifies creating even the most complex application policy expressions. The AppExpert Visual Policy Builder can define any NetScaler application traffic management policy, regardless of what functional module is being invoked or whether it is acting upon header or payload content

Administrators are freed from knowing proprietary API calls, writing or debugging programs, or learning safe and efficient programming techniques - allowing them to focus on relevant application and business actions. Application policies can also be defined via the NetScaler command line interface.

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High Level Presentation Server SDK Architecture

Vishal Ganeriwala — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:53:00 GMT

Here is a high level architecture diagram of MFCOM SDK and how the it work.

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Managing Multiple Farms using MFCOM SDK.

Vishal Ganeriwala — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:31:50 GMT

Currently mfreg is used to point to a specific Presentation server in a farm from the client machine. All the MFCOM calls get routed to that specific machine and talk to MFCOM running on that Presentation Server. This technique uses DCOM client machine defaults when it gets new MFCOM interfaces on that machine.

The main drawback with the above method is that it always points to only one server in the farm and you could potentially manage only one farm. What if you want to manage more than one farm by talking to more than one server in the same program? You can achieve this programmatically instead of using mfreg.

Basically it involves using the "servername" of the Presentation Server where MFCOM is running while creating objects and interfaces. We will look at how this could be achieved in C# and VBScript.

In C# :
These simple function in C# creates an interface of Type T on a server named "serverName".

object GetComObjectForServer<T>(string serverName)
{
try
{
Guid guid = typeof(T).GUID;
Type t = Type.GetTypeFromCLSID(guid, serverName, true);
return Activator.CreateInstance(t);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Trace.WriteLine(ex);
return default(T);
}
}

Once interface is created, then client security for that interface needs to be set. Pass in the above object to the method below to set the Client Security. Then you can use the interface and access its methods and properties.

void SetClientSecurity<T>(T obj)
{
if (obj == null)
throw new ArgumentNullException("obj");

IntPtr ptr = Marshal.GetComInterfaceForObject(obj, typeof(T));

if (ptr == IntPtr.Zero)
throw new ArgumentException("can't get COM interface for object", "obj");

int result = NativeMethods.CoSetProxyBlanket(
ptr,
10 /* RPC_C_AUTHN_WINNT */,
0 /* RPC_C_AUTHZ_NONE */,
pServerPrincName,
6 /* RPC_C_AUTHN_LEVEL_PKT_PRIVACY */,
3 /* RPC_C_IMP_LEVEL_IMPERSONATE */,
IntPtr.Zero,
0 /* NONE */);

Marshal.Release(ptr);
if (result < 0)
Marshal.ThrowExceptionForHR(result)
}

private class NativeMethods
{
private NativeMethods() { }
[DllImport("ole32.dll", PreserveSig = true, SetLastError = false)]

public static extern int CoSetProxyBlanket(
IntPtr pProxy,
int dwAuthnSvc,
int dwAuthzSvc,
IntPtr pServerPrincName,
int pAuthnLevel,
int pImpLevel,
IntPtr pAuthInfo,
int capabilities);
}

In VBScript (WSH):

To create an object on the remote machine in WSH just use the ServerName in CreateObject.

Set theFarm1 = CreateObject("MetaFrameCOM.MetaFrameFarm", ServerName1)
Set theServer1 = CreateObject("MetaFrameCOM.MetaFrameServer", ServerName1)

Set theFarm2 = CreateObject("MetaFrameCOM.MetaFrameFarm", ServerName2)
Set theServer2 = CreateObject("MetaFrameCOM.MetaFrameServer", ServerName2)

If ServerName1 and ServerName2 CPS Servers belong to two different Farms, then you have theFarm1 and theServer1 pointing to Farm1 and theFarm2 and theServer2 Objects pointing to Farm2.

These above mentioned techniques will help you to create MFCOM objects and interfaces on any CPS Server without restricting yourself to one CPS Server in a program pointed by mfreg. You still need to run mfreg to resgiter MFCOM on the client machine but you could either just register locally or even preferred CPS Server. The above mentioned methods ignore the server pointed by mfreg.

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AppExpert Policy Engine

Vishal Ganeriwala — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 17:08:10 GMT

Full Bi-directional Application and User Intelligence

The extensible AppExpert Engine loosely couples client and server application flows, provides visibility into and inspection of application traffic, and enables a shared policy management framework to control all functional modules. It is composed of two key components:
Application Switching Engine
The application switching engine decouples client requests and server responses, and provides direct and complete visibility into Web application transactions. The application switching engine is a native, integral component of the AppExpert platform, and delivers critical optimizations such as TCP connection multiplexing and TCP traffic buffering.

It also enables integrated NetScaler functional modules to act intelligently upon administrator-defined application content (e.g., client redirects, HTTP content caching, data encrypt/decrypt, data compression) or modify application content (e.g., insert, rewrite, transform) - all transparently to the application.
AppExpert Policy Framework
The AppExpert policy framework is a common, leveraged mechanism enabling all NetScaler functional modules (e.g., AppCache, AppCompress) to interact with the application traffic. This AppExpert Policy Framework enables:

Administrators to use a single environment — the AppExpert Visual Policy Builder) to define and manage application policies, regardless of what NetScaler functionality is being invoked
Commonality of application policy expressions across different NetScaler functional modules
Encapsulation and abstraction of much of the infrastructure associated with writing policies (e.g., the object model, API calls and command syntax)
Different NetScaler functional modules to interoperate on the same application flow without conflict (e.g., ability to compress encrypted content, ability to cache compressed content)

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