Melvin’s Citrix Blog

Application Streaming – In XenApp 4.5 (Presentation Server 4.5) 9 March, 2008

Application Streaming - In XenApp 4.5 (Presentation Server 4.5)

Citrix’s Admin Guide for Application Streaming says this:

The application streaming feature simplifies application deployment to end users. With the application streaming feature, you can install and configure an application on one file server and deliver it to any desktop or server on demand. Upgrading or patching an application is simple, because you are required only to update or patch an application stored in one place: on the file server.

But what is Application Streaming?

In a nutshell, Application Streaming involves profiling an application and storing that profile on a file server which can then be deployed to a client desktop. I always think of it as a mixture of Application Isolation Environment mixed with Installation Manager.

But what does profiling mean?

Profiling is the process of recording all the installation changes (registry, file system, plug-ins etc) of an application, and then compiling them into a profile file (e.g. *.profile).

But what if I use different client operating systems with different service pack levels?

A profile is made up of potentially many targets – one for each operating system, or service pack, or language or drive letter.

The trick is to ensure that there will be only  one possible matching application to be streamed. That is to say, targets cannot overlap.

Targets will appear in the file system as *.cab files.

To clarify:

A Profile is made of targets.

PROFILE: Adobe

    TARGET: Adobe: Windows XP

    TARGET: Adobe: Windows XP + SP1

    TARGET: Adobe: Windows 2000 Professional

    TARGET: Adobe: Windows Server 2003

Ideally we would want to have one Profile with one Target, which suites all operating systems and service Packs etc.

How will you know if this will be the case? Testing, Testing and more Testing.

The application will be deployed to the client device if the client has the Streaming Client installed. If the client does not have the Streaming Client installed, then the application can be configured to either not launch or launch from the XenApp Server. The XenApp servers have the streaming client installed by default.

The process is of streaming is achieved as follows:

The client or server will receive a .RAD file from the web server. The .RAD file has instructions for the streaming client for setting up the isolation environment as well as the location of the file server which stores the .profile file. The .profile file has the targets which are then sent to the client device for launching in the isolation environment.

Useful links:

• Application Streaming Video from Citrix – it lists all the links below.
• Streaming Guide CTX112526 Presentation Server 4.5
• Streaming Guide CTX113700 Presentation Server 4.5 Feature Pack 1
• Streaming Internals CTX110303
• Application Streaming: Delivery and Profiling Best Practices CTX114663
• Streaming Implementation Guide CTX113428
• Enhanced Security in Application Streaming for Desktops CTX110304
• Troubleshooting Application Streaming Issues CTX113304
• Citrix Support Forums: http://support.citrix.com/forums – Look for Application Streaming under Presentation Server 4.5 and Components.