Citrix XenApp

[Caged]

Have been looking into XenApp as it seems a pretty cool way of handling quickly changing software requirements (e.g. no need to do a desk visit to install, apps are sanboxed etc.) but wanted some real-world information before I looked into it in any more depth. Is the app streaming as good as Citrix make it out to be, e.g. could it realistically be used to host Photoshop (assuming the server is more than up to the task) or would it still be a lot better to do a local install?

Another thing that appealed was its ability to stream apps to platforms that they don't run on natively - the one that springs to mind is Outlook 2007 on Mac OS. Has anyone done this and not wanted to kill themselves after?

I guess the next question is about alternatives - assuming that hardware specs on the desktops were more than capable of running all the apps and HDD space wasn't an issue, and all the apps were part of an image or some other deployment method, is there anything that can manage the licenses and allow users to "sign out" licenses for applications which then allows them to be used and the license returned after use? I know some companies make license servers for their products, but most don't and it would be nice if all the management could be handled from one place.

 

[Sin_Chase]

Performance of apps will largely be affected by your available bandwidth and how much quality you want out of it. I can 'play' a 3D game over VNC on 512 upload, you could not PLAY it, but you can see it/use the interface.

Could you run PS over it? Yes. Would I? No. The speedscreen/compression will detract from the whole point of graphics work in my opinion.

 

[iaind]

Dont get confused between application streaming and publishing.

Application streaming is used to deploy applications to thick clients that run a supported OS. So you could probably stream Photoshop to your PCs*, but you'd need a streaming image for each OS (1 for Vista, 1 for XP etc). It should run every bit as well as it would on the local PC, maybe taking a bit longer to start the first time as the RADE service caches the program.

Streaming does not provide any cross platform compatibility, for that you need application publishing. That's where you run the application on the server and access it with ICA - they can either be published in a seamless window or you can run a full desktop environment. Photoshop over this is a bad idea, IIRC you cant even install it on a terminal server enabled box. Other apps perform very well though. This is the solution you'd want to get Outlook on your Macs, it would be a piece of cake and would work very well.

You can use it in different ways in a mixed environment very effectively - stream your graphical/intensive apps to thick clients, publish apps to non compatible clients (macs) and publish desktops to thin terminals for basic office use.

*Double check this because products that require activation can be hit and miss