Author: Nerd

Stratodesk NoTouch Center in Azure

Nerd

If you don’t know, I love VDI and Security things, but I have a special place for thin clients in the VDI world.  I have been using and managing thin client solutions for around 14 years and I have seen many solutions come and go and what works and what doesn’t.  The admin nerd in me loves the simplicity of a thin client solution over a traditional Windows endpoint.  Having to manage its domain membership, group policies, OS patching and third-party application patching gets to be a full-time job pretty quickly depending on the number of devices to manage.  When we move to a thin client solution, we still must manage them, but they typically will also be the same OS and patch level of other components and can be managed from one console instead of multiple.  The administrative benefits are great but also the security nerd comes out and knows there is massive attack surface difference with having a purpose-built device to connect to VDI systems.  Most thin clients will have to be patched less than monthly unless there is a security issue. Third-party applications are usually included in those updates, they get configured typically once and you’re done. … Read more

Slow Rural Internet

Nerd

Rural Internet & 4G LTE Goodness If you live out in the middle of “nowhere” without high-speed internet then this blog is for you.  There are a lot of people that don’t have this problem because most metropolitan areas have some form of high-speed internet.  I have been struggling with this since for 6 years when the house we got didn’t have Cable Internet like the seller mentioned and was not in the service area from anyone.  How bad is it compared to the normal options like Cable or Fiber that most people have access too?  Really bad it can be thousands of times slower than most other options people have.  Examples of Slow DSL – Someone is watching any streaming service but anyone in the house uploads a picture to anything and the internet will come to a crawl for 2-5 minutes for most pictures.  These slow systems have the most difficult time uploading anything.  You want to upload a 100MB movie it will take around 1-2 hours in most cases.  I don’t think there could ever be a Media creator with this type of Internet because you cannot share things with the world because of the time it takes and how all other task will… Read more

VMware Horizon Agent & Client Log Collection Guide

Nerd

How to setup VMware Horizon Debugging There will be a time in any deployment when you need to get more logs and VMware has done a great job of making this pretty easy.  You can go through this process below to get the logs you need to open up a support case along with if you want to hunt through for errors too.  You will find some interesting stuff in these logs about timing, data flow, session policies, reconnections, connections and many other items. You can get logs from multiple places using “support.bat”. Windows Horizon Client C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Horizon View Client\DCT IGEL Linux Client Windows Horizon Agent C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware View\Agent\DCT Launch the Virtual Desktop in need of log collection (Server or Desktop OS) Navigate to with a Command Prompt or PowerShell screen “C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware View\Agent\DCT” You can either launch this from Explorer or from the Command Line.  I normally do it from the command line to watch its progress and be able to spot errors along the way without the CLI disappearing when it is done and or errors out. Depending on your CLI restriction policies for Command Prompt and or PowerShell you may see this upon execution. In this deployment command… Read more

Citrix Rebrand 2018

Nerd

The Most Important Link https://www.citrix.com/about/citrix-product-guide Warning:Super Long Blog, sorry. Citrix has just changed the names of about everything which at first, I thought it was a bad idea, but if I step back and look at it I think it should help build better product association with the Citrix name.  This will get a bit wordy, but I think it should help out at some level. There is a conclusion at the bottom, I promise.  They did this pretty smooth from the Day 1 Keynote and releasing more information from there in Day 2.  They never said the words XenServer, ShareFile, NetScaler or XenApp\XenDesktop they referred to them loosely as their new name and some things on their website started to change also so it didn’t still from the show which was great. Citrix is the brand and the name after it is the product\function now. “Throughout 2018, you will see exciting changes as we unify our product portfolio. As we make it easier to use Citrix products, we’re also making it easier to understand the value of our solutions with new names. We’re devoted to simplifying the way you experience Citrix Workspace, Citrix Networking, and Citrix Analytics solutions to deliver secure… Read more

Citrix Synergy 2018 Keynote Day 1 Notes

Nerd

This was my first time getting to do this as a CTP and it was awesome to be around such a great team and getting to be part of the conference.  I hope this almost play by play set of notes is helpful to someone out there on the internet. The Future Of Work! David Henshall President\CEO Talked about the 448 Earthquake sending some seismic waves to this conference. Most happy about some of these announcements are going to be coming to people Talked about learning to fly and how multiple things have to work together to fly and you have to have a strategy. Talked about the point of return and how having a strategy lets you get to the destination you want vs just running out of fuel and turning around. More and more remote works but most people now work in 4 places a day. Millennials are not coming they are here and they are making a big difference, they will be the largest working group that have outpaced the Boomers and Gen X. 1 Year = All Data Ever (That’s a lot of Data) Talked about the Diversity of Apps, Devices and Work Styles and we… Read more

First Citrix Synergy Conference as a CTP

Nerd

First off, it really is just a “wow” moment that I never thought would happen between the 2017 and 2018 Synergy. It has been a wild 12 months from just being a normal Citrix Nerd to a Citrix CTA in September last year, to a Citrix CTP in February 2018. This Citrix Synergy is the most important to date because this is my first time being a Citrix CTP. I have always, and continue to, look up to all the current and past CTPs as my Citrix Super Heroes and now I have made it to the Citrix Justice League, or the Avengers, whichever you prefer. Important Links Main Schedule https://www.citrixsynergy.com/attend/schedule.html Breakout Sessions Schedule https://citrix.g2planet.com/citrixsynergy2018/event_agenda Have the Citrix Phone Apps (Have your confirmation code and the email you registered with) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/citrix-events-2018/id1112263332?mt=8 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.citrix.synergy&hl=en Top 5 Reasons I go to Synergy Meet People–I have made so many friends over the past 10 years of going and that is why it is number one. I have run into people that live all over the world but we all have one thing in common we use Citrix and we use it all different ways which is awesome. Hear from People related to number one but I love hearing presentations… Read more

Citrix Acquires Cedexis

Nerd

Citrix Acquires Cedexis, What does this mean?  I think there will be some cool stuff is ahead with this acquisition.  Citrix’s Software Defined Perimeter just got a whole lot bigger.  With Citrix’s current portfolio the control stopped at your door with your WAN connections with their SD-WAN and NetScaler Products.  Once you get to the Internet\Networks out there and head to all the providers for external “cloud” services all bets are off.  We get to control our datacenters and make the best out of our connections even if they are Internet connections, but we don’t get to control beyond that. Well with Cedexis we can take a look into the CDNs that you use and help make things more better.  If you think GSLB is cool right now with your NetScalers with this pairing your GSLB will be smarter and faster than ever with better monitoring and visibility. Cedexis glues together multiple CDNs and makes real time decisions by using agents which is a Javascript that goes onto your websites or maybe now on the NetScaler Gateway page to allow you to have visibility like this below with their Radar product of who is accessing your site and from where… Read more

Citrix Policy Lockdown 1.0

Nerd

Citrix Policies are not the coolest thing to mess with but they are very important and are very often overlooked from a security perspective.  I hope this quick blog will help you look at your policies differently and help you secure your deployment.  When I’m doing Citrix Security Assessments the weak policies are usually the second biggest finding (After Patching) because they usually are just defaults and or the filters and or their order make them weaker than most clients expect them to be with some of those factors. In this article, I will go over the basics of the Citrix security policies, the scary ones you should worry about, how to check if you’re at risk and how to fix them up.  Many of these settings are enabled by default because most customers need these settings but if you look at them just one more time in most cases you should be able disable many of them. Citrix Policy Big 4 Copy\Paste Bi-directional Copy\Paste Write Allowed Formats – All Drive Mappings On by Default Major Client Fixed Drives Client Network Drives Client Removable Drives Minor Client Floppy Drives Client Optical Drives USB Mounts Disabled by Default Restrict the Devices… Read more

Citrix Analytic Services, PreRelease Mini Deep Dive

Nerd
Citrix Analytic Services

Citrix Released Insight Services for HDX (Citrix) and Web Traffic a couple years ago and it was and is a great solution but I think they have finally doubled down.  They were able to see the value of the data they had from the NetScaler AppFlow streams. This is a great step for them in the security realm, pricing and packaging will determine how many of their existing deployments they can get this deployed in and how many new customers are drawn. When I compare Citrix and VMware right now, VMware has NSX which is an advantage in how they package it but you can run it with Citrix too but at a higher cost because of the packaging. This more adaptive security model is very appealing and if you have NSX and this you are doing what you can for sure but it doesn’t mean you are unhackable either. I believe this is one of the best bolt on things they have ever added and if the pricing and packaging is right it will be a hit. Here are some of the slides from Citrix Synergy 2017 as we go into this. https://www.citrix.com/products/citrix-workspace/form/citrix-analytics/ Going over the same scenario we… Read more

Citrix Synergy 2017 Late Recap

Nerd
Citrix Synergy 2017 Recap

First off this was my first year going not as a Partner but going as Independent Nerd. I have been going since 2007 to Citrix Events and this marked my 9th Synergy and earlier this year was my 10th Summit. High Level Agenda Changes Day 1 Vision and Tech Keynote + Expo Hall Day 2 Sessions + Malcom Gladwell + Sessions Day 3 Colin Powell + Sessions Normally they have a full day of sessions after a Keynote then Sessions each day with a couple announcements over 1-2 more keynotes. This time with the Tech Keynote there wasn’t any more announcements when it was done which was nice “Keynote Mic Drop Method”. There big announcement to me was Citrix Analytic Services and their focus on Security in every keynote. I will dive into it at the end. Major Announcements Citrix Security, Almost every PowerPoint, in every keynote revolved around security. Cool for me as a security nerd. Lots of SDWAN, Why to upgrade now, Good UniDesk sessions. Citrix Workspace Service, StoreFront Next Gen (Project Frontdoor) this is the VMware WorkspaceOne (Software Defined Perimeter, coined) Citrix Front Door getting ready XBOX 360 with Citrix, nerdy level 100. Citrix Analytic Services was… Read more