The case for Citrix Metaframe XP

[stonetown]

Our company currently runs an NT4 network with two WIN2K terminal servers, there are plans to upgrade to Active Directory in the future, but not yet. The 2 Terminal Servers provide 2 separate applications only, the terminal server desktops are provided in addition to the current NT4 desktop. Each server provides a locked down desktop to clients and each sever provides a different desktop. The company is looking at expanding it's deployment of some applications across the enterprise and this will mean the expansion of terminal services.

What I would like to know is, what would be the benefits of going the Citrix route instead of expanding WIN2K terminal services?? What are the major benefits in terms of maneagability and deployment?? What are the licensing implications??

Thanks.

 

[CitrixEngineer]

I think most of the benefits of MetaFrame over "vanilla" Terminal Services are in the manageability and deployment features.

The "value-add" tools include;

Resource Manager - a system monitoring, analysis and reporting tool. To get an idea of what this is/does, think of perfmon, then add the features that would make it more useful, such as a window that actively watches the counters you need to monitor, then e-mails, SNMP's or SMS's you if something goes wrong. Then, when you get to whichever computer you're managing the farm from, you can create a historical report of that issue and trace where the problem originated. You can also monitor user sessions and resource usage, and bill by user, department or domain, if needed.

Published Applications - instead of having users log onto a desktop, you can create a web page, give users a "Program Neighborhood" tool or create icons directly on their local desktop that run the application from the server in a seamless mode, that, apart from the initial login, will seem exactly like running the application locally.

Installation Manager - Not only can you install an application once, to all servers in the farm simultaneously, but it will auto-publish.

ICA Clients - can be installed on just about anything with a processor, as opposed to anything running a Windows-based operating system, so you can run the apps on Macs, Linux/UNIX boxes, Palmtop devices, mobile phones...

Scalability - Metaframe scales to at least 501 servers (last I heard ). I haven't tested T/S capacity, but doubt it would exceed 30 or so.

I've got to miss everything else out, such as the Universal Printer Driver and client printing, Client Drive Mapping and Clipboard, Delegated Administration, Shadowing, Load Management, User Policies, Reboot Scheduling and so on due to time constraints; For full details on all of the benefits have a look through the info on Citrix's website. I think most on this forum will agree with me when I say it pretty much "does what it says on the tin", ie Citrix's marketing guys are quite careful to stick to the facts (despite some of the flowery language!).

As far as licensing is concerned, it's fairly straightforward;

For each non-Windows 2000 client you require a Terminal Services CAL. For each instance of the application that is likely to be run simutaneously, you require an application license. For each MetaFrame connection you require a Citrix connection license.

So if a user runs Word as a published application on his/her Linux computer, he/she will require a T/S license, a Citrix license and a Word license.

Hope this helps CitrixEngineer@yahoo.co.uk