Citrix Xen Desktop Interview Questions And Answers

• Citrix xen server provides server virtualization that enables one platform to host multiple operating system, whereas citrix xen desktop provides desktop virtualization that enables many operating systems to be shared in the datacenter.

• Citrix xen server allow the utilization of the server to be maximum, whereas citrix desktop virtualization allows better performance and efficiency as it is controlled and managed from one place.

Citrix Xen Desktop is a Desktop virtualization solution for business that need smart management of Desktops. Administrators need not manage applications individually on machines rather it can be done on the go with Citrix Xen Server, remotely. Citrix Xen Desktop enables the client machines to stream a live Desktop to the their machines through centralized Xen Server.

In order to get a new business startup quick and running, the elements like OS, Applications & User profiles can be packaged as single images and then deployed on datacenters. This process dynamically assembles desktops for each user. These images are maintained by administrators and according to the user tasks these images are deployed.

A Single Instance Management is referred as a task to apply updates and packages just once that is on the images that are maintained by the administrators at Xen Server. This means less storage is required to handle desktop in datacenter. This provides easy to manage features to the maintainers or administrators of the IT departments.

Citrix xend virtualization provides a single solution for desktop virtualization that gives on demand services for desktop and other applications. It allows the user to securely deliver the resources through the web to PCs and to the client area with high end user experience.

Desktop virtualization provides optimizations techniques to deliver the applications, data and desktop environment to the users. It further provides the security by managing all the applications and desktop systems at one place. It manages and updates different static desktop images from one place and allows the customization of applications to provide high performance, security and portability to each user.

Citrix xen desktop provides high level of virtualization to help businesses build their tool and increase their output or productivity day by day. The features that are provided are as follows:
• It enables the virtual space and workflow to increase the productivity.
• It provides latest features and help businesses with tools to incorporate those easily.
• It gives an easy to use virtualization platform to deliver fast, efficient and flexible applications.
• It manages, create and secure the desktop applications from one location.

Citrix has provided a platform that gives desktop virtualization and it delivers the desktop services and applications from anywhere to the users. It reduces the complexity and improves the security of the data. It provides a centralized place to manage the datacenter. It delivers high end experience for the user and provides high latency in the network. It offers reduced time for execution of the application and flexibility in the delivering customized desktops to both virtual and physical devices.

The three phases provided by Citrix Xen is as follows:
• Assess: This is a phase where the user groups gets profiled and prioritized according to the applications they are using. The decision of ordering and user segments virtualization takes place.
• Design: in this stage a process to create a detailed design will be included using the networking concept. It will include active directory, storage and image manipulation. This will be the phase where all the requirements will be finalized before install.
• Deploy: In this stage the xen desktop virtualization will be installed, tested and deployed according to the design.

Citrix Xen Desktop can be accessed globally from anywhere at any time and any device. This is actually an advantage of having a centralized server at location that serves to all the devices that can actually communicate to it and through minimal C itrix platform tools can actually stream a personally configured Desktop on the go.

FlexCast is a delivery model that ensures a flexible and wide range of modifications in virtualized images of every major OS virtualization such as RedHat Linux, Windows, Ubuntu Linux or Windows Server 2008. This provides a standard lock-down for user without personalized experience that does not save personalized options and preferences in usage.

The term VDI was coined by Intel and stands for Virtualized Desktop Interface. It is a technology that enables the hosted OS virtualization that meets high graphics and performance requirements to use the local machine resources that can actually leverage desktop streaming through Virtual server. The more powerful is client, the better becomes quality of service.

Citrix Xen Desktop works very well online as well as offline. Suppose the Xen Desktop streamed a desktop application on a client machine and suddenly the network is disconnected that does not allow further access to network. In this case the application streamed as a virtual desktop will run very well as if it has never been disconnected.

Citrix Xen Desktop need not run on a desktop but a client applet for desktop is required to be installed at client-side. The whole functionality is orchestrated through a centralized Server. The technology is simple and follows modern and virtualized client-server architecture. Thus it is a model of cloud computing architecture.

The HDX technology is coined for term High Definition User Experience. This technology provides flexible compatibilities to multimedia devices and software as Flash, Audio, Video, USB, 3D graphics applications. This compliance ensures a fast and reliable experience through Citrix Xen Desktop throughout the usage.

Citrix Xen Desktop comes with an integrated hardened SSL VPN with advanced, policy-based access control lets you give users encrypted access to desktops, applications, and valuable intellectual property from anywhere while eliminating the risk of data theft or loss. Centralized data control provides high security compliance.

There are multiple choices of Hypervisors that comes along Citrix Xen Desktop solutions.
• XenDesktop on XenServer by Citrix
• XenDesktop on Hyper-V by Microsoft
• XenDesktop on V-Sphere by VmWare
These are the three major players in cloud computing solution industries and XenDesktop is supported by all three of them.

The On-demand Apps feature in FlexCast delivery is a feature provided by Citrix Xen Desktop to deliver software applications on a client request for usage. These applications are packaged as images which are isolated and independent to the compatible hardware. On-demand applications could be like a Microsoft office application running on Linux machine.

The Netscaler technology resolves issues of low speed internet and low bandwidth that needs to stream a desktop from a centralized server. This provides slow streaming compliance on the virtualization solution to provide optimum support and feature on the client machine.

Virtual desktop infrastructure is the practice of hosting a desktop operating system within a virtual machine running on a hosted, centralized or remote server. The term was coined by VMware Inc. Microsoft included a technology called virtual desktop infrastructure in Windows Server 2008. Intel has built hardware virtualization support into its processors, citing a growing need for client-hosted virtualization. Yes, virtual Desktop Infrastructure is provided by Citrix as Citrix Xen Desktop.

Xen is an open-source hypervisor that is somehow appealed to Citrix developers and Citrix Cloud services are based on further development of this hypervisors only. Xen being an open-source project has contributors from around the world. This is the only major open-source hypervisor that supports Dom-0. Thus it is the best choice for cloud developers till date.

Citrix xen desktop virtualization comes in different flavors and they are as follows:
1. Express edition- this is the edition which is a trial version and user can use it for 10 days. It has limitation as well on the usage.
2. VDI (virtual desktop interface) provides scalability and also virtual desktops using the client-server model.
3. Enterprise edition- it has all the tools available for customization and it is a cost-effective platform that provides flexibility, scalability and delivery of applications without any hassles.
4. Platinum edition- it is a complete package to deliver full performance monitor, Qos capabilities and services for end-to-end delivery. It has support for virtual desktop support.

Desktop virtualization provides the desktop operating system its environment and applications from the datacenter, whereas application virtualization only brings application from the datacenter.
Desktop virtualization brings only the desktop features not the application related to it, whereas application keep the desktop separate and bring only those applications that are required at a particular time. This way optimization and efficiency can be maintained.

Citrix xen provides high end functionalities to the user for desktop virtualization. It also provide the following features such as:
• High definition user experience: it provides high end multimedia graphics, real time collaborations and connectivity through peripherals. It provides breadth and depth for easy viewing of high end 3D graphics.
• FlexCast: provides fast delivery of the new technology that enables the delivery of hosted models to meet the requirement of the users.
• On demand apps: citrix provide the provision for on demand application to the users. It also provides the provision to manage the functionalities of applications on virtual desktops.

Virtual desktop interface is a form of desktop virtualization, whereas desktop virtualization is itself a different entity that is separated with others.
VDI create a virtual machine and execute the user's desktop inside it, whereas desktop virtualization allows running the customized desktop without any virtual machines.
VDI works only for few users that have different demands but it is unsuitable to meet all the demands for all users, whereas desktop virtualization meet and provide all the required features to the user.