I am really excited to see Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop 7.8 has released to web! With this release, there are too many exciting new features to detail out here, instead just take a look at my buddy Thomas Poppelgaard’s detailed list here. I’ve summarized some of the components I’m most excited about below…

What’s New in 7.8 (More details…):

  • AppDisks has finally shipped!  Woohoo!! Full integration in Studio for AppDNA and AppDisks.  More details…
  • Enhanced support for Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V)! Now there is no longer a dependency on the management and publishing servers in studio. Simply point Studio to your SMB shares where your App-V packages live, and voila! More details…
  • Applications node in Studio! Publishing applications to multiple delivery groups.  Who would have thought that would be needed (IMA to FMA product gap). More details…
  • Call Home – Citrix Call Home performs periodic collections of your system and product configuration, plus performance, error, and other information. This information is sent to Citrix Insight Services for proactive analysis and resolution. More details…
  • Framehawk support for HDX 3D Pro VDI. HDX 3D Pro support for the Framehawk virtual channel is extended from XenApp to XenDesktop VDI. This gives users greater flexibility to view large CAD models while on the move on a corporate or public wireless network, or working from an offshore location over a high latency connection. For more information on Framehawk, see Framehawk virtual channel.  This is huge for global manufacturing and AEC!
  • You can read more about the new features of 7.8, and those I didn’t mention, here…

This release of XenApp and XenDesktop has brought long awaited features, and has tremendous promise for existing Citrix customers. Whether you’re a fan of VMware App Volumes, FSLogix, LiquidwareLabs, Unidesk, (or others?) it’s safe to say the whole industry is embracing layering with open arms! Citrix has just lowered the barrier to entry for their existing customers by democratizing their newly developed layering tech.

In case you’ve been wondering, the AppDisks technology is available in every edition of XenApp and XenDesktop to customers with current renewals (Subscription Advantage or Software Maintenance). The Platinum edition adds more value by enabling you to gain deep AppDNA insight into the AppDisks layers. In this blog post, I’m going to go through a basic installation and configuration of XenApp & XenDesktop 7.8 for AppDisks and AppDNA to show a basic Proof of Concept environment. Let’s get started!

For this basic POC environment, I’ve built out four systems:

  • XenApp/XenDesktop 7.8 Delivery Controller (All components on a single server)
  • XenApp/XenDesktop 7.8 AppDNA Server (with local SQL Database)
  • XenDesktop VDI Master running Windows 10 and 7.8 VDA
  • XenApp Worker Server Master running Windows Server 2016 and 7.8 VDA

Continue reading my original blog post at itvce.com…

@youngtech