We have a production implementation of Citrix XenDesktop, XenApp and XenServer. Just trying to get an idea of who out there is doing desktop (or server) and application virtualization using products from Citrix? What products are you working with and how is it working for you?

 

I know there are a lot of VMWare people out there. I'm interested in your setups as well.

 

We're using Citrix Provisioning server to provision the XenDesktop virtual OS on the fly and to update the vdisks with patches, AV, etc to redistribute on next user logoff. The XenApp client is installed on the virtual OS (XP) which delivers the users applications via the XenApp Server Farm. All user settings/changes (permitted changes) to the virtual desktop get synchronized using User Profile Manager (more advance than roaming profiles). All settings/policy is managed through group policy. User workstations have been replaced with Wyse Terminals and some workstations will be converted to thin-clients.

 

Having this environment makes maintenance painless since all users (task workers) share the same vdisk. Copy the production vdisk, boot it in private mode, make necessary changes/updates, shutdown, change to shared mode, increment version number and force the provisioning server to check for vdisk updates. All a user has to do is logoff/logon to get the OS/AV updates. The reason these updates need to be applied every so often is because the shared vdisk discards any changes to it (not relating to profile or user settings) while the user is logged on, this includes antivirus updates.

 

This stuff is fun. Let me know if anyone is using this technology on a small or large scale. If you're not doing it and curious about the technology and how it all works or you want to see it in production, send me a reply. I can get more technical if you want.

 

Have a good weekend.