A virtual workspace with a single-sign-on feature
It is an optional download, provided on an as-is basis by Citrix to serve as an example. Before use, IT administrators must customize the scripts to suit their environment. The uninstall and install scripts may be used as noted in the upgrade guide for Citrix Workspace app for Windows. Version: 21.3.1.25 (2103.1) Checksums. Citrix Receiver cannot be detected on your computer. If you know Citrix Receiver is installed, click Continue. If you need assistance, contact your help desk. If you do not want to detect/install Citrix Receiver you can use the light version, with fewer features, in your browser. Use light version I agree with the Citrix license agreement.
Citrix Generic USB Redirection technology (CTXGUSB virtual channel) provides a generic means of remoting USB devices, including composite devices (audio plus HID) and isochronous USB devices. Cisco Bug: CSCug18734 - ENH: Citrix Receiver proxy on ASA support for backend Storefront server. Products (1) Cisco ASA 5500-X Series.
Adapting the modern workstyles and complex IT environments are both exhausting and frustrating as you’re forced to remember various account details for every single virtual app you owned. Not to mention the performance and security issues you’ll need to bear every time you’re bound to change from different devices. These situations are not only a waste of your time but also a big hindrance to your productivity in a day.
The good thing is there’s a simple way to resolve all of these troublesome issues. Spent more time on your productivity by using the Citrix Workspace App! This app is the latest addition to the reliable Citrix’s family of services.
An efficient virtual workspace app
The app is the most extensive technology the Citrix family of services has to offer.
Citrix Workspace App is a universal software client that allows you to instantly access anytime, anywhere all your workspace services without the trouble of individually sign-on, confusing passwords, and complicated interfaces. It’s the simplest way to work on all of your virtual apps, desktops, SaaS apps, files, and mobile apps on any device. The app isn’t only providing convenience to its users, but also offers security that stops others from interfering with your business. No doubt that this app will help you boost your productivity to a higher level!
More than just a revamped
If you’re thinking that this app came out of nowhere (or just a new addition to the family of Citrix services), well, you simply missed the highlights of Citrix Synergy 2018. The app was announced to play the role of the focal point of the end-user Citrix Workspace experience. It is the successor of Citrix Receiver, a software used primarily for connecting users to XenDesktop, XenApp desktops and applications. But there’s no need to worry since the app incorporates the full capabilities of Citrix Receiver, plus a dozen more.
Citrix is also committed in helping its customers through this transition and also working double-time to prepare significant resources you can use in simplifying the process involved in shifting through these technologies. The app’s features will come from all existing Citrix Receiver technology as well as the other Citrix client technology including the NetScaler plug-ins, XenMobile Secure Hub, ShareFile drive mapper, desktop app and sync. Additionally, it is also enhanced to deliver extra premium features concerning data loss prevention, secure access to SaaS apps, secure internet browsing capabilities, advanced search, and many more.
(In)dependent workspace app
The app is all great and efficient productivity-wise. It’s also created to look modern and appealing to the taste of its users as well as intuitive enough for beginners. However, in order to have full control of your virtual workspace, you’ll need to avail the other necessary Citrix services. The app can aggregate multiple services and deliver them through the new end-user interface but will only display the associated workspace resources to which your availed services are entitled. For instance, if you only have the Citrix Cloud XenApp and XenDesktop service, then the app will intelligently enumerate and deliver only the associated virtual apps and desktops included on your bundle. You’ll lose control with the items that do not include the XenApp and XenDesktop services such as the single-sign-on to mobile apps, SaaS apps, and web apps.
On the other hand, if you currently own multiple services including ShareFile service, then you’ll have access to all the virtual apps, desktops, and files as well as cross-service integration capabilities. It’s nice to have instant access to all your virtual apps and desktops but in order to do that, you’ll just have to spend a little and avail other Citrix services and bundles.
Where can you run this program?
The app can be utilized in various devices including Windows, Mac, Linux, Chrome OS, iOS and Android. You can download the app from the leading app stores or by simply visiting its official website and clicking right through the download page. Although, you’ll need to have access to Citrix Workspace Platform to unlock the app’s full capabilities. You can find the Platform in all Citrix Cloud services.
Is there a better alternative?
Since looking for the most suitable virtual workspace program for your needs can be troublesome at times, checking out one app will never be enough. Aside from Citrix Workspace, you can check out and try its well-known rival--VMware Workspace ONE. It is a digital workspace platform that delivers and manages any app on any device by integrating access control, application management, and multi-platform endpoint management. It also offers a wide range of features; most of them are comparable to what’s available in Citrix Workspace such as it's ability to give you a passwordless single sign-on to a catalog that provides easy access to virtual apps and files. VMware Workspace One isn’t necessarily better than Citrix Workspace as it works (almost) the same functions. You’ll only need to determine which product is the closest to delivering exactly what you need for you to be able to choose from the two.
Our take
The app has its own merits including the fact that it’s developed by one of the most reliable names in the digital workspace market. But for some users, this fact can also be considered as the app’s own downfall. Even if you can download the app for free, you can only fully utilize its potential by availing Citrix’s other services which come with a pricey subscription fee. The only thing that will stop you from liking the app is your unwillingness to try out the whole package of Citrix services. Overall, the app is really for user’s convenience and back-end security. It’s UI is designed perfectly modern-looking and beginner-friendly. It is also highly recommended for those who have already Citrix Receiver to start with since the app is a total upgrade of the cloud-based software.
Should you download it?
Only if you have already other Citrix services such as XenApp, XenDesktop, NetScaler, XenMobile, and ShareFile. The app will work perfectly managing your virtual apps and desktops through these services. Although you may also check out the app’s biggest rival, VMware Workspace ONE, to see which specific service fits your needs.
Highs
- Free download available
- Modern interface design
- Beginner-friendly features
- Offers single-sign-on to all your virtual apps and files
- From the reliable Citrix’s family of services
Lows
- Unlock the app’s full potential only by availing other Citrix paid services
- Needs access to Citrix Workspace Platform
- Complex transition process from Citrix Receiver to the app
Citrix Receiverfor Windows
18.8.0.0
Information
Notice
Methods of Softphone Delivery
- How the softphone application is delivered to the virtual desktop
- How the audio is delivered to and from the user’s headset or microphone and speakers
- By installing in the virtual desktop image
Alternatively, best practice is, by streaming to the virtual desktop using On-Demand Apps by XenApp (a feature of XenDesktop Enterprise Platinum edition).
This second approach has manageability advantages because the virtual desktop image is kept uncluttered. Once streamed to the virtual desktop, the application executes in that environment just as if it had been installed in the traditional manner.
Streaming Cisco IP Communicator into the Virtual Desktop
When creating the application profile for the Cisco IPC using the Citrix Stream Profile, you must select Advanced Install in the profile wizard. This is necessary because some registry keys must update as part of the profiling.
The streaming profiling sequence consists of two steps. In the first step, the Cisco IPC installation is profiled by selecting the Run install program or command line script option in the profiling wizard. A virtual restart is not required. At the end of the Cisco IPC installation, do not select Launch Cisco IP Communicator.
Once the Cisco IPC installation in the profile has completed, select Perform additional installations in the profiling wizard.
Update some registry settings in the newly created profile. Select Edit registry in the profiling wizard.
Complete the following procedure to disable CDP to prevent the software from displaying error messages:
Caution! Refer to the Disclaimer at the end of this article before using Registry Editor.
Click on Launch Windows Registry Editor to bring up Regedit. Using Regedit, create the following DWORD value in the registry with value of 0:
HKLMSOFTWARECisco Systems, Inc.CommunicatorEnableCDP = 0
Note: This change in the registry also disables the E911 functionality of the IP Communicator without warning to the end user.Select Finish Installations in the profiling wizard.
Complete, sign (optionally), and save the profile as you would with any other application.
Preparation of the Virtual Desktop
Deploying and Starting Cisco IP Communicator
At this point, you are ready to publish and start the Cisco IPC in the same way that you would any other streamed application. You should publish two applications provided by Cisco:Cisco Citrix Receiver Download
- The Audio Tuning Wizard, which allows the end-user to customize and tune their endpoint audio
- Ciscoconfiguration IP Communicator, which is the softphone itself
Delivery of Audio to the User Device
Isochronous USB Redirection
Citrix’s USB redirection technology provides a generic means of remoting USB devices, including isochronous USB devices, such as headsets and webcams. This approach is generally limited to LAN-connected users because the USB protocol tends to be sensitive to network latency and requires considerable network bandwidth. Isochronous USB redirection has been found to work very well with Cisco IP Communicator, providing excellent voice quality and low latency.
Citrix Audio Virtual Channel
The Citrix Audio Virtual Channel (CTXCAM) and the Bidirectional Audio feature of XenDesktop enable audio to be delivered very efficiently. XenDesktop takes the audio from the user’s headset/microphone, compresses it, and sends it over ICA to the softphone application on the virtual desktop using the Audio virtual channel. Likewise, the softphone’s audio output is compressed and sent in the other direction to the user’s headset or speakers. This compression is independent of the compression used by the softphone itself (that is G.729 or G.711). It is done using the Optimized-for-Speech codec. This is, in fact, the Speex codec (see http://www.speex.org/), and its characteristics are ideal for voice-over-IP (VoIP).
Software on the User Device
To use either isochronous USB redirection or the optimized-for-speech audio codec, the user device must be equipped with either the Citrix on-line plug-in for Windows version 11.2 or later, or the Citrix Receiver for Linux version 11.100 or later. Citrix recommends you to use the latest versions of the Citrix Receiver to get the benefit of ongoing HDX enhancements.
System Configuration Recommendations
Check the priority of the Citrix Audio Service (CtxAudioService) on the Virtual Desktop Agent. If it is set to Normal, increase the priority to Above Normal. (It might in fact be a best practice to set the priority of CtxAudioService to High when using VoIP, but at the time of writing additional testing remains to be completed before confirming this as a recommendation.)
If using the Citrix Audio Virtual Channel, Citrix recommends setting the priority of the Audio virtual channel to 0 (real-time priority). See See CTX118836 - How to Optimize Audio for XenDesktop
Virtual Channel Priority changes have to be pushed out to the Virtual Desktop Agent by modifying the default PortICA XML configuration on the Delivery Controller. You can give “CTXCAM “(ClientAudioMapping virtual channel) higher priority through the XML Blob Priority section:
Edit XML file PortICASetDefaults.exe /o defaults.xml
In the <priority> section, the following setting should be specified:
< value>CTXCAM ,0</value>
All virtual channel names are seven characters long.
Priority levels:
(0) - High Priority (Real-Time)
(1) - Medium Priority
(2) - Low Priority
(3) - Background Priority
Save the xml files.PortICASetDefaults.exe /i modified_defaults.xml
To ensure adequate processing power for real-time traffic on a hypervisor, you must either allocate two virtual CPUs or disable the Citrix Gateway Protocol (CGP) which is used for the Session Reliability feature because it uses considerable CPU. Neither of these steps might be necessary on a powerful server.
If delivering softphones to users on a Wide Area Network (WAN) connection, the following additional configuration settings are recommended:Obtain XenDesktop 4 Virtual Desktop Agent Update 2 (or above), included with XenDesktop 4 Feature Pack 1, which includes an enhancement for network congestion to prevent delay in the audio path. This enhancement introduces voice energy detection, allowing ambient noise (silent packets) to be discarded. This feature is controlled using a registry key.
Use Citrix Repeater and Branch Repeater between the data center and the remote office for Quality-of-Service (QoS). The Citrix Branch Repeater is able to distinguish the priorities of the various ICA virtual channels to ensure that high priority real-time Audio data gets preferential treatment.
Tested Software
Citrix Receiver Cisco Anyconnect
Test Environment and Configuration
Windows Server 2008 Domain Controller
XenDesktop 4 Desktop Delivery Controller (DDC)
Windows XP Virtual Desktop Agent
Windows 7 Virtual Desktop Agent
Cisco IP Communicator 2.1.3
WANem WAN simulator
The testing was performed using the Optimized-for-Speech audio codec and the bidirectional audio virtual channel.
A Windows 7 laptop with locally installed CIPC client software was used on the test network as the second party for calls made from Virtual Desktop Agent sessions as well as from a native CIPC client during testing.
A physical Windows XP workstation with locally installed CIPC client software was used as the XenDesktop client. Calls were made from this machine from locally installed CIPC and also from CIPC running in XenDesktop sessions which were started from this machine.
WANem running on a physical workstation was used for simulating WAN conditions in the network between the client machine and the XenDesktop Virtual Desktop Agents.
Virtual Desktop Agent Operating System Platforms
Windows XP SP 3 32-bit (Dual virtual CPU, 512 megabytes RAM, XenServer 5.5 virtual machine)
Windows 7 32-bit (Dual virtual CPU, 1024 megabytes RAM, XenServer 5.5 virtual machine)
Client Operating System Platform
Windows XP Service Pack 3 32-bit on the physical machine
Client configuration: Dell Precision T3400 (Intel Core2 Duo, 4 gigabytes RAM, 160 gigabyte hard drive)
WAN Conditions
A WAN simulator was used to introduce network disruptions on the network links. Testing was done with the following range of network conditions simulated by WANem running on a physical machine.Bandwidth: 128 kilobits per second to 2 megabits per second
Latency: 0 milliseconds to 100 milliseconds one-way, 0 milliseconds to 200 milliseconds round trip
Packet loss: 0 percent to 2 percent
Jitter: 0 milliseconds to 20 milliseconds one-way (0 to 20 percent of latency)
Test Results
Summary: Subjective Evaluation of Audio Quality over WAN
| Packet Loss (%) | Network Latency (roundtrip [ping time]) | ||||
| 0 ms | 50 ms | 100 ms | 150 ms | 200 ms | |
| 0.0 | E | E | E | E | E |
| 0.5* | E | E | E | E | E |
| 1.0 | E | E | E | E | G |
| 1.5 | G | G | G | G | F |
| 2.0 | G | G | G | G | F |
The generally recommended packet loss metric to support VoIP is 0.5 percent or less. However, depending on customer expectations, higher packet loss might be acceptable.
Impact of High Jitter
Cisco Wsa Citrix Receiver
| Packet Loss (%) | Network Latency (roundtrip [ping time]) | ||||
| 0 ms | 50 ms | 100 ms | 150 ms | 200 ms | |
| 0.0 | E | E | F | P | P |
| 0.5 | E | E | F | P | P |
| 1.0 | E | E | F | P | P |
| 1.5 | E | E | F | P | P |
| 2.0 | E | E | F | P | P |
The XenDesktop 4 release does not include jitter buffering. High levels of VoIP jitter over the ICA connection from the user to the Virtual Desktop Agent platform can result in bad call quality or delay in the conversation.
Field Evaluation
On the LAN, isochronous USB redirection was used. The softphone performed “perfectly”. The voice quality was judged to be “essentially just as good as that provided by a physical Cisco handset.”
Testing with at-home workers was done using typical ADSL2 network connections ranging from 2 megabits per second to 20 megabits per second down, and 0.5 to 1.0 megabits per second up. The Optimized-for-Speech codec was used. The voice quality was judged to be “great” and “perfectly usable”.
Without voice energy detection (discarding of low-energy “silent” packets), latency on congested WAN connections can become excessive. Voice energy detection was introduced as a hotfix enhancement and is included in XenDesktop 4 Virtual Desktop Agent Update 2 (which is part of XenDesktop 4 Feature Pack 1).
Enhanced 911
Disclaimer