If you were able to join us live for our What’s New and Next with Citrix: Licensing and LTSR updates, we appreciate all the great questions we got from the audience. If you weren’t able to join us, we’ve put together this blog with all the questions we answered live on the webinar plus answers to questions we ran out of time for. We’ll go over questions on licensing, the 2402 Long Term Service Release (LTSR) for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, and Citrix Observability.
Citrix licensing updates
We received a lot of questions around the Citrix licensing updates and what that means for our customers. If you don’t see the answer to your question here, we encourage you to reach out to your account team so they can help you get an answer about your specific situation.
Do individuals on previous Citrix licenses and license add-ons automatically get grandfathered into the new license types?
No, we’re not going to transition you automatically from one license to another. Effectively, with this change to our SKUs, we’re stopping sales of all discontinued SKUs and instead are offering Citrix for Private Cloud, Citrix Universal Hybrid Multi-Cloud, and Citrix Platform License subscriptions. For a closer look at what’s included in the new subscriptions, please refer to our feature matrix. If you’re curious about what that means for your business, reach out to your account team for more information.
Your account team will work to find the most important renewal events coming up for your business and will convert you to the Universal Hybrid Multi-Cloud or Citrix Platform License. This will simplify your renewal process so you only have to have renewal conversations once a year, instead of multiple times a year. This will help you focus on deploying and adopting Citrix.
What happens to individuals who have standalone or add-on Analytics licenses?
As part of our new licensing packages, we’re retiring all the add-on and standalone license options. Citrix Analytics for Performance and Analytics for Security will be part of the Citrix Platform License. Odds are, if you are an Analytics customer today, the Citrix Platform License will be a good fit for you. In the interim, existing standalone Analytics customers are able to renew their licenses until the end of the year. Your account team will help you figure out which license makes the most sense for your business and help you get the most out of your Citrix entitlement.
What licenses are required for Citrix DaaS for Amazon WorkSpaces Core?
Any license with cloud capabilities works with Citrix DaaS for Amazon WorkSpaces Core. If you have a Citrix DaaS license, or if you have converted to the Universal Hybrid Multi-Cloud or the Citrix Platform License, you can leverage the Citrix DaaS for Amazon WorkSpaces Core tech preview. You can find it in your Web Studio Console under the Citrix Cloud Console.
Which license type includes Citrix Session Recording?
All Citrix license types now include Session Recording.
How can I mix the old Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops licenses with the new Citrix for Private Cloud License in our existing on-premises environment?
When customers renew or expand the smaller portion of their asset base with Citrix for Private Cloud (CPC), they get the best edition/type which is Premium with Concurrency; however if the larger portion of their existing licenses is Advanced or Standard or U/D, on renewal they could get into a mixed edition situation. To address this scenario we have introduced compatibility licenses, you can read more in our support article.
Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 2402 LTSR
The LTSR is a release vehicle. It’s a version of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops that you implement into your on-premises Citrix infrastructure. As long as you have licenses for on-premises Citrix, you can implement the 2402 LTSR in your environment. For more information on compatibility, how to upgrade, and included features, check out our Citrix LTSR Master Class.
Is Web Studio an option or a replacement?
We have both Web Studio and on-premises Citrix Studio available as options starting with the 2311 Current Release (CR). When you install Web Studio, it will become the default option, but you can switch back to the on-premises version if desired. However, Web Studio has specific advantages, as it’s been modernized to help admins better manage APIs, it’s lightweight, and has more automation and search capabilities.
Can you mix LTSR VDAs, specifically the 2203 LTSR VDA with 2402 infrastructure?
Yes, you can mix LTSR VDAs as all of our LTSRs are designed to be backwards compatible. You can continue to use 2203 LTSR VDAs until the software goes End of Life (EOL). However, it is important to note that new features are often dependent on the VDA version, so those VDAs may not be able to take advantage of the latest and greatest feature sets.
Can I upgrade from 1912 CU1 LTSR to LTSR 2402 directly in my on-premises environment without risk?
You can upgrade to Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 2402 LTSR from:
- Virtual Apps and Desktops 7.15 CU9
- Virtual Apps and Desktops 1912 CU7 through the latest CU
- Virtual Apps and Desktops 2203 CU3 through the latest CU
- Currently supported CR versions of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops
Upgrading from the 1912 LTSR is a valid upgrade path, but it is critical to test in your QA environment before applying in production. Please be aware that latest CU is 1912 CU8, so there will be a lot of changes that are in CU8 which are not in CU1. In addition, if you’re upgrading from any of the LTSR versions we recommend upgrading to the 2402 LTSR version of the Citrix Workspace app, but the versions should be backwards compatible.
When will 2402 LTSR be available?
Citrix 2402 LTSR is currently available on our downloads site. After you log in the upgrade is available at this link.
If you are already on Citrix Cloud and upgrade to the 2402 LTSR, will you still need an on prem license server for Citrix Provisioning Service?
At this time, Citrix Provisioning still requires an on-premises license server to license PVS-based VDAs.
If all of my infrastructure servers are Windows 2016 Datacenter, is it possible to upgrade directly to the 2402 LTSR?
We do not support in-place Windows Operating System upgrades on infrastructure servers. Please update your OS first then install the new 2402 LTSR for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops as the system requirements are different for server operating systems.
Will the new LTSR have a Mac version of the Citrix Workspace App?
No, at this time only Citrix Workspace app for Windows has an LTSR release cycle.
Can you use both Web and MMC Studio?
Both versions read and write from the same Site database, so you can use either Studio version. Any changes you make in MMC Studio will be reflected in Web Studio, and vice versa.
Does the 2402 LTSR support MSIX for published applications?
Using MSIX for published applications has been supported since 2203 LTSR. In 2402 LTSR we have also introduced support for published desktops and single-session VDAs.
What are the latest improvements with Citrix UPM?
We have been working diligently on improving the performance and functionality of Citrix Profile Management. We have enabled profile streaming by default, which can help reduce profile loading time, as well as enhanced profile streaming to improve performance for multi-session VDAs.
We also now support multipath for the user store, which enables high availability in user profile deployment. You can provide extra profile data redundancy at user logon via supporting multiple user stores as well as dynamically choosing the best user store based on access performance.
Citrix observability
Is the cost analysis capability included with Citrix DaaS or do customers need Analytics or uberAgent too?
No, you will not need Analytics or UberAgent to use the cost analysis feature. Cost modeling and monitoring is part of Citrix Monitor in Citrix Cloud. The cost analysis feature is currently in a phased rollout approach, and it will automatically appear in your Citrix DaaS Monitor once it is available in your region.
Can I deploy uberAgent on any physical computer or do I need to have a specific Workspace app?
uberAgent is included as part of the Citrix Platform License, and the license allows you to deploy uberAgent on any physical or virtual endpoint. This means whether you have the Workspace app or not, you just have to install uberAgent.
How do the uberAgent configurations work?
You can individually configure uberAgent per device. This means you can send certain data to Splunk and other data to Azure, or send the data to both destinations. Admins can define which metrics are sent where and even configure uberAgent to send specific metrics to different destinations. For example, you can have user experience metrics sent to Splunk, and your security metrics sent to Azure for threat-hunting purposes.
Will uberAgent purely focus on end user experience, or can/will it provide any system management capability?
User Experience Management focuses on performance for machines, apps, and users, while Endpoint Security Analytics (ESA) focuses on security looking at compliance and threat detection
Is uberAgent compatible with Linux?
Currently Windows, Mac, and Browser use cases are addressed, but adding compatibility with Linux is under review.
Watch on demand
You can catch the What’s New and Next with Citrix: Licensing and LTSR on demand and access additional resources for each topic. If you have more questions that we haven’t answered here, we encourage you to reach out to your Citrix account representative for more information on what Citrix can do for you.
Disclaimer: This publication may include references to the planned testing, release and/or availability of Cloud Software Group, Inc. products and services. The information provided in this publication is for informational purposes only, its contents are subject to change without notice, and it should not be relied on in making a purchasing decision. The information is not a commitment, promise or legal obligation to deliver any material, code, or functionality. The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for products remains at the sole discretion of Cloud Software Group, Inc.
