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Citrix MetaFrame
Presentation Server |
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Overview
ECM provides Citrix
MetaFrame Presentation Server for remote
access to applications.
It uses a mix of technologies to enable
remote users to run an application from
anywhere with an internet connection even
though they have never installed that
application. When a Citrix application
is started, it looks and behaves just
as though it was installed on the local
machine though it is actually installed on a
server.
The Benefits of using
Citrix include:
-
Platform independence
-
Greatly-reduced
administrative overhead
-
Increased return on
investment
-
Essentially
web-enables any Windows application
without loss of functionality
Applications are simply installed on a
Citrix server and made available to groups
of users using Active Directory permissions.
Users can then "remote control" the
applications from any computer with an
internet connection. Citrix technology
ensures that the applications behave nearly
identical to how they would if they were
installed locally. This model greatly
reduces administrative overhead for an
application, maximizes return on investment
and enables users of any operating system
platform to use windows applications.
Citrix Components
Citrix MetaFrame
Citrix MetaFrame is a general term used for
the underlying technology that Citrix
Presentation Server uses to do what it does.
In a nutshell, Citrix MetaFrame is a greatly
enhanced extension of the Remote Desktop feature
that comes with Microsoft Windows XP (known as
"Terminal Services" to network administrators).
Remote Desktop allows a user to create a
connection to another computer and view and
interact with the entire desktop of that
computer. The keyboard input/mouse
movements/video screen data is sent back and
forth to the remote computer. It is not practical to give each
remote user an entire desktop with its own
settings, files and program listings because of
security reasons and because it can be confusing
for a user to maintain two entire desktops.
Citrix Presentation Server makes only individual
applications available remotely. To the
user, it appears as another application that is
running locally on their computer.
Citrix MetaFrame extends the Remote Desktop
technology so that it is practical and secure to
allow remote users to run applications remotely
on a server by limiting their access to
applications only, as opposed to the entire
remote operating system. Best of all, it
does so in such a way so many users will not
even realize that an application they are
running is not running locally on their
computer.
Citrix Presentation Server
Presentation Server is a Citrix product that
works with the MetaFrame technology described
above. Its main job is to make
applications that are installed on the Citrix
server available to users who have installed the
Citrix client. It does so in two ways:
- Web Interface - The web interface
is a dedicated website that authenticates
users who have access to Citrix applications
using Active Directory. Once
authenticated, the web interface displays
icons for each application to which that
user has been given permission to use.
- Citrix Agent - The Citrix Agent
is an enhanced Citrix client that allows
icons to be saved as files locally on a
computer (called .ica files) that can start
applications in the same manner without the
web interface. The users' AD
credentials are passed by the client to the
Citrix server so that it is not necessary to
log-in to each Citrix-delivered application.
Citrix Benefits Explained
Following are several of the Citrix-specific
features that make it a valuable alternative to
Microsoft Terminal Services. In addition to providing the interface by
which users can connect to Citrix-delivered
applications, Presentation Server offers
extensive administration features. These
include:
- Software license management and
compliance - If only a limited number of
licenses are available to university users
at a time for a given application, Citrix
can keep the number of users under this
limit so that the University stays
compliant. This software purchasing
scheme can also save money since a certain
number of concurrent licenses can be
purchased instead of buying a license for
every user who will ever use that
application.
- Local Printer mapping - When a
user connects to a Citrix application, the
printers that are available to them when
using locally installed applications will
also be made available to them from their
Citrix applications despite the fact that
the application is actually running on the
remote Citrix server. Depending on
which operating system is used to connect to
Citrix, this is done automatically.
- Local Drive mapping - The local
hard drives are made available while
in a Citrix-delivered application in much
the same way that printers are made
available. Users can open or save
documents to and from their local hard
drives.
- Supports connection from most every
operating system - Citrix has a client
for over a dozen operating systems including
all Windows and Apple platforms, Linux,
Java, DOS, OS/2, AIX, Symbian and even PDA
Operating Systems like WinCE and PocketPC.
This enables users of most any platform to
enjoy the compatibility that Windows
applications offer.
- Low bandwidth is much less of a
problem with Citrix compared to Remote
Desktop - Since Citrix is only relaying
screenshots of that particular application
instead of an entire desktop, the bandwidth
required is greatly reduced. In
addition, the Citrix client uses more
advanced data compression so it makes the
most
of the bandwidth available. These two factors
amount to much better performance compared
to Remote Desktop, especially over dial-up
connections. Terminal Services over a
dial-up connection is next to impossible.
Examples of Citrix Solutions
Example 1
Scenario -
An expensive statistical analysis PC
application needs to be made available to an
entire department of 200 users.
Everyone uses the application, but not very
often - the departmental administrator
figures that no more than three people will
need to use the application at any given
time.
With Citrix...
The application can be installed on two
Citrix servers and made available to the 200
users via Active Directory permissions.
When they need to use the application, they
browse to the Presentation Server Web
Interface, install a small client (linked
from that page) and enter their AD
credentials. They can do this using
any operating system, regardless of
compatibility with the application.
The web interface displays
icons for the Citrix applications that are
available to them, including the icon for
the application they need to use. They
click the appropriate icon and the
application appears in a remote window that
looks and behaves just as if it were locally
installed on their machine. From this
application, they can print or save
documents back to their local computer.
In addition, those 200 users can connect to
that application from home or anywhere that
gives them a reasonably fast internet
connection (provided the license agreement
allows for staff use of the application from
home).
Instead of having to
purchase 200 individual licenses for the
software, the department need only purchase
three concurrent licenses, which each cost
more than an individual license but the
total investment is much less.
Without Citrix
- The department would have to purchase
200 individual licenses and install the
application on each computer. Only PC
platforms are supported - Mac users have to
borrow someone else's PC to use the
application. In order to use the application
from any PC computer outside their department,
they would first have to obtain a CD and
install the application on that computer.
Example 2
Scenario - A certain
e-mail client for the Macintosh platform is
not very compatible with the University's
Microsoft Exchange server system.
There are no other viable options for the
Macintosh platform that allows Mac users to
fully take advantage of Microsoft Exchange
e-mail and calendaring.
With Citrix...
Microsoft Outlook 2003 is made available to
Mac users via Citrix. With Outlook
2003, they are able to fully use Exchange
e-mail and calendaring. If they want
to check their e-mail or calendar from a
remote location, they can do so using the
Presentation Server web interface and
connect in the same way as described in the
above example.
Without Citrix...
The only alternative would be to wait until a
better e-mail client is released for the Mac
platform that will give them the
functionality they need. Another
alternative would be to use the Outlook Web
Access client but even with the premium
interface, some functionality is lost.
Other Citrix Product Information and Support
Support
Other Product Information
To contact ECM regarding these
services, click here.
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