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Deployment Best Practices for Citrix XenApp over Galaxy Managed
Network Services
Table of Contents
Broadband networks oer high-bandwidth but can often exhibit
high-latency and/or higher jitter with certain wireless
technologies. The unique nature of high-latency networks causes
poor performance amongst latency-sensitive applications.
Citrix XenApp, when used with Galaxy Managed Network Services, can
provide an eective application delivery experience over satellite
connections. Utilizing Citrix policies to regulate and optimize
XenApp features in conjunction with proper implementation of
SpeedScreen Latency Reduction provides a desirable end-user
experience for satellite network subscribers.
This article will provide an overview on how to optimize Citrix
XenApp to eectively deliver applications to broadband satellite
users.
Executive Summary
Deployment Best Practices for Citrix XenApp over Galaxy Managed
Network Services
Deployment Best Practices for Citrix XenApp over Galaxy Managed
Network Services
Best Practices & Recommendations
General High-Latency Network Considerations
In a low-latency, high-bandwidth environment, administrators rarely
have to take latency into account. Administrators utilizing
satellite (and in some circumstances other wireless) based Galaxy
Managed Services for IT service delivery can improve end user
experience by reducing client-to-server round trip times, caching
data, batching records and packets, and leveraging compression and
acceleration technology. Here are some general best practices on
how to optimize network communications over high- latency
networks:
Limit the number of client to server round trips - Every round trip
from a remote client, through the satellite network and back will
typically take between 600 – 800 milliseconds, and occasionally
more. While the approximate one second round trip seems almost
trivial, a process that makes multiple round trips will become an
issue. On a LAN this is not a concern. It is denitely a problem
when multiple transactions must take place sequentially over a
satellite or other high latency wide area network.
Cache Infrequently Changing Data Locally - Cached data does not
have to be fetched over the network, thus decreasing total network
trac and making the user experience better – increasing user
productivity: clients will not have to wait on an operation to
complete before performing another one.
Batch Data Records Together - Multiple ‘records’ transfer, either
upload or download, to/from a server over the network are almost
always best batched together rather than sent individually. This
may seem like antithetical advice to keep network payload small,
but pushing on a record by record basis will entail a heavy price
in communication overhead involving multiple server requests and
round trips. The real saving is in reducing these round
trips.
Leverage Galaxy Performance Enhancing Protocol (PEP) and TurboPage
- Galaxy’s comprehensive package of acceleration and compression
technologies is embedded in every HN router. The result is
dramatically improved throughput and response time through
mitigation of satellite delay, meaning Hughes customers experience
wire-line or better performance of broadband IP applications.
Galaxy routers utilize Galaxy’s patented Performance Enhancing
Proxy (PEP) to optimize the performance of many widely used
Internet protocols.
Citrix XenApp Recommendations The SpeedScreen Latency Reduction and
Citrix Policy features of Citrix XenApp provide an eective solution
to Galaxy Managed Services by eectively delivering applications
over high-latency networks.
The following diagram depicts the testing environment used for this
engagement:
Deployment Best Practices for Citrix XenApp over Galaxy Managed
Network Services
Citrix XenApp was tested to evaluate the delivery of
bandwidth-demanding applications over high-latency connections for
several dierent application types, including productivity,
client/server, and browser- based applications. EdgeSight for Load
Testing was scripted with Microsoft Oce (Productivity), Internet
Explorer (Browser), and Hyperion (Enterprise Client/Server)
applications to ensure a consistent experience when using a
LAN-based connection versus a satellite-based link. Visual
observation of end- user experience and performance metrics from
EdgeSight for Load Testing from both types of network connections
were gathered and analyzed.
Figure 2 – Lab Environment Layout
Results from integration testing show that Citrix policies
optimized for satellite communications in conjunction with the
SpeedScreen Latency Reduction features of XenApp provided the best
end user experience for Galaxy Managed Network subscribers. Other
features, such as the Citrix Access Gateway, were also tested to
measure their eectiveness when used with XenApp server.
Deployment Best Practices for Citrix XenApp over Galaxy Managed
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The following provides an overview of the results and related
recommendations:
Access Gateway (Secure Gateway Mode/Secure Access Client) – For
congurations that require SSL VPN Access or utilize the
Secure-Gateway functionality of Access Gateway, there was no
signicant loss in performance or functionality when used in
conjunction with XenApp published applications using default
congurations. Network Administrators and engineers should design an
appropriate access strategy in accordance with their company’s
security policies.
XenApp WAN Policies – During the testing, the default WAN Citrix
policy for satellite communications was congured and enforced. This
policy will ensure applications delivered by XenApp servers are
optimized. In addition, administrators should disable any ICA
virtual channels that are not required (i.e. audio, client drive
mappings, etc.) or limit any virtual channel functionality (i.e.
default printers, printing bandwidth, etc.). Managing the ICA
virtual channels will minimize any unnecessary communications
overhead between the XenApp server and client. Conguration
instructions for implementing Citrix policies can be found in
Appendix “B” of this document.
SpeedScreen Latency Reduction - Network latency and bandwidth
availability can impact the performance of connections to published
applications and content. SpeedScreen technology allows
administrators to congure several features to improve connection
speed and responsiveness. SpeedScreen Latency Reduction Manager
helps reduce a user’s perception of latency with mouse click
feedback and local text echo. Enabling mouse and local text echoing
on several applications improved the end user experience with
applications delivered by XenApp. Server-side and client-side
instructions for conguring SpeedScreen Latency Reduction can be
found in Appendices “C” and “D” sections of this document.
Session Reliability/ICA Keep-Alive – Session reliability allows a
client to reconnect and avoid inconvenience to a user during a
short network interruption. Instead of removing all unresponsive
applications and desktops from the client workbench, they are kept
open until the connection is re-established. ICA Keep-Alive enables
a server to detect broken sessions. If the server loses
connectivity to the client, the connection is placed into a
disconnected state, allowing a user to re- connect to a dropped
session. These settings can be implemented at the farm-wide/server-
default level or at an individual server level.
Figure 3 – Farm-Wide Session Reliability Settings
Deployment Best Practices for Citrix XenApp over Galaxy Managed
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Figure 4 – Server-Defualt ICA Keep-Alive Settings
For this testing scenario, setting the ICA keep-alive (utilizing
TCP port 1494) or Session Reliability (utilizing TCP port 2598)
values to 180 seconds allowed sucient time for reconnection in the
event a session would become interrupted. Before implementing
either option, administrators should consider the benets of either
session reliability or ICA Keep-Alive specic to their environment
and determine whether these settings should be applied to
farm-wide/server defaults or to specic servers. All settings should
be well-tested before implementing them in a production
environment. Refer to the Citrix XenApp Server Administrator’s
Guide for information on Session Reliability and ICA Keep-Alive
features.
Deployment Best Practices for Citrix XenApp over Galaxy Managed
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Appendix A - Lab Environment - Detailed Diagram
Deployment Best Practices for Citrix XenApp over Galaxy Managed
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Appendix B - Citrix WAN Policy Conguration Instructions
Deployment Best Practices for Citrix XenApp over Galaxy Managed
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Citrix WAN Policy Settings
Deployment Best Practices for Citrix XenApp over Galaxy Managed
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Citrix WAN Policy Settings (cont’d)
Deployment Best Practices for Citrix XenApp over Galaxy Managed
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Appendix C - SpeedScreen Conguration Instructions
Launch the SpeedScreen Latency Reduction Manager from the ICA
toolbar.
Click on NEW to launch the SLR wizard to add an application /
process.
The wizard will launch - click next.
Browse to the process/executable that you wish to enable for
SpeedScreen. Alternatively, you can use the “pointer” to select the
application window if it is already open. When completed, click
next.
To congure SpeedScreen Latency Reduction for a XenApp Server:
Deployment Best Practices for Citrix XenApp over Galaxy Managed
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Choose the local text echo, and click next.
Select whether this will be applied to ALL installations or
selected installations of the application, then click next.
Click Finish.
Click Apply / OK to save/exit the SpeedScreen Latency Reduction
Manager.
In Program Neighborhood window, select the custom ICA connection or
Application Set to congure.
In the Program Neighborhood toolbar, click the Properties
icon.
Click the Options tab in the dialog box to display the Options
page.
In the SpeedScreen Latency Reduction section, set the mode to On to
decrease the delay between user input and screen display. Turn on
both local text echo and mouse click feedback.
Deployment Best Practices for Citrix XenApp over Galaxy Managed
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To congure SpeedScreen Latency Reduction for an ICA Client
connection (Program Neighborhood Client):
To ensure SpeedScreen Latency Reduction is enabled, the following
Web Interface (version 4.x) settings are required for the Citrix
Web Client and Program Neighborhood Agent:
Edit the default.ica le located \Inetpub\wwwroot\Citrix\Web Site
Name\conf for a Web Interface site, or
\Inetpub\wwwroot\Citrix\PNAgent\conf for Program Neighborhood Agent
sites (NOTE: These paths reect a default installation of Web
Interface).
In the [Application] section, add: ZLKeyboardMode=1
ZLMouseMode=1
Deployment Best Practices for Citrix XenApp over Galaxy Managed
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Appendix D - Sample DEFAULT.ICA FILE with SpeedScreen
Settings
; ICA Override File ; ; Add ICA le settings that you want to be
sent to client devices ; to this le. Settings contained in this le
override any ; settings generated by Web Interface. This le is only
used when ; no bandwidth prole is selected. When a bandwidth prole
is ; selected bandwidth_xxx.ica is used. ; ; NOTE: The format of
this le has been changed from previous ; versions of Web Interface.
For backwards compatibility, you may ; continue to use legacy les.
All lines containing a tag of ; the form [NFuse_XXX] will be
ignored. ; [WFClient] Version=2 RemoveICAFile=yes
ProxyTimeout=30000 ProxyFavorIEConnectionSetting=Yes ProxyUseFQDN=O
[ApplicationServers] Application= [Application] Launcher=WI
TransportDriver=TCP/IP DoNotUseDefaultCSL=On
BrowserProtocol=HTTPonTCP LocHttpBrowserAddress=!
WinStationDriver=ICA 3.0 ProxyTimeout=30000
AutologonAllowed=ON
ZLKeyboardMode=1 ZLMouseMode=1 [EncRC5-0] DriverNameWin16=pdc0w.dll
DriverNameWin32=pdc0n.dll [EncRC5-40] DriverNameWin16=pdc40w.dll
DriverNameWin32=pdc40n.dll [EncRC5-56] DriverNameWin16=pdc56w.dll
DriverNameWin32=pdc56n.dll [EncRC5-128] DriverNameWin16=pdc128w.dll
DriverNameWin32=pdc128n.dll [Compress] DriverNameWin16=pdcompw.dll
DriverNameWin32=pdcompn.dll