Anytime a new product release is unveiled I like to take a look at the features and improvements that may be important to the masses. With roughly two years between LTSR releases, the drop of the new Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 1912 LTSR <h2 surely has some features that were previously debuted in the CR track. Below is a chart outlining a few features newly added to the LTSR chain that is sure to impress! And man oh man, is it a list of goodies. Enjoy!
| Product | Feature | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery Controller | App/Desktop Probing & Reporting | Finally! With this addition Citrix Admins now have a Citrix provided tool for proactive monitoring of resources. https://www.citrix.com/blogs/2018/06/18/application-probing-your-proactive-application-monitoring-solution-from-citrix-director/ |
| Windows 2019 Compatibility | Pretty straight forward here…but important none-the-less. | |
| MCS for Linux Apps & Desktops | 7.15 LTSR allowed Linux VDAs, but now we can mass create the with MCS. | |
MCS Write-back Cache v2 | If you ever used MCSIO to save the IOPS hit on your storage, you know it had it’s problems. The v2 iteration now uses the tried-n-tested PVS drivers for Write-cache and yeah…it’s vast improvement in stability. http://blogs.ultima.com/citrix-update-highlights | |
| Multi-Reboot Schedules for Delivery Groups in the Studio | Tired of typing Set-BrokerRebootSchedulev2…wait what’s v2? Well no need to worry with that anymore. Now numerous machine reboot schedules can be set via Studio…making Admin’s lives easier. | |
| User Experience | User Personalization Layer | Worth upgrading alone for this feature! Think Personal vDisk’s are back, but better and supported! If you haven’t heard about this one, stop what you’re doing now and read up on Daniel Lazar’s post. https://www.citrix.com/blogs/2019/12/18/user-personalization-layers-for-citrix-virtual-apps-and-desktops/ |
| Office 365 User Layers | Similar to FSLogix’s approach, but allows a user to store their O365 related data in a “roaming” VHD. https://www.jgspiers.com/app-layering-office-365-user-layers/ | |
| Microsoft Teams Optimizations | Numerous advancements in AV codecs and general settings have created a much better experience for Teams. If your organization relies on Teams for daily operations, you’ll want to see these enhancements. | |
| Client Side | Varying DPI Settings for Multi-Monitors | Ever noticed when you extend to multiple monitor with a VDI or Published Desktop, odd things seem to happen. If you’ve got two different sized monitors this feature is now available in the new LTSR. |
| Copy-Paste from Client-Side to VDA Session | Miss that Copy-Paste function from your desktop to RDP sessions? Great news! Citrix now lets you do it with their App and Desktop sessions. Security folks take note, as this could pose a possible security risk. | |
| Battery Status on VDI | Ever been working on a VDI only to have your laptop or mobile thin-client’s battery die on you? Worry no more! Citrix now relays a Battery Status Indicator to your VDIs system tray. | |
| Security | Windows LSA Protection | Once you realize how easy it is to extract cached Windows password from memory via Mimikatz, you’ll be glad Microsoft finally got on this longtime threat. https://isc.sans.edu/forums/diary/Mitigations+against+Mimikatz+Style+Attacks/24612/ |
| Session Watermarking | Worried about data loss? Session watermarking will provide you with the source of the leak by stamping a watermark on any screen captures. | |
| SSL encrypted Print Jobs b/n VDA & CUPS | It’s always good to know that communication channels are encrypted. This one just so happens to focus on print jobs relayed to the Citrix Universal Print Server. | |
| Director | Application Analytics Dashboard | Provides detailed insights into Applications faults, errors, and real-time probing status. https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/director/troubleshoot-deployments/applications.html#application-analytics |
Whew! Now with all that covered, you’re likely thinking, so “what’s my upgrade path?” The good news is you can upgrade from the 7.6 LTSR or 7.15 LTSR assuming you’re on the current CU (CU8 and CU5, respectively). If you’re on the CR track, you’ll need to be at a minimum of 7.16.
Should you need assistance upgrading your environmet, feel free to contact us here at IT Benchmarq.