Citrix Linux VDA 1.4 CentOS 7.2 - Overview

Citrix XenDesktop now offers the capability to provision Linux virtual desktops based on RHEL/CentOS distribution in addition to SUSE.  This does not require a new infrastructure to support Linux desktops.  Basically, you configure a RHEL/CentOS image with the Citrix Linux VDA and configure it to register to your existing XenDesktop/XenApp Delivery controllers.

You can provision Linux desktops through a Catalog and Delivery group.  With the Citrix Linux VDA 1.4, you can also provision published applications in the same way as you can for Windows apps.  The apps installed on the Linux machine are enumerated and you select the ones you want to publish.

The latest Citrix Linux VDA 1.4 also supports Single Sign On (SSON), so applications presented via Citrix Receiver in a domain environment configured with SSON, will automatically be logged on to the Linux machine.

There are USB redirection and Extended HDX 3D Pro capabilities.

This blog series is a simple Proof-of-Concept (PoC) step-by-step guide, with a focus on Windows administrators.  Hopefully this will provide some guidance on how to present a Linux Desktop, but again the Citrix team should most likely work closely to configure and secure a Linux image.

Citrix does not offer yet the same capabilities as for the Windows XenDesktop VDI alternatives, so some Linux scripting capabilities will be required for mass deployments.  Capabilities such as PVS or MCS are not yet supported.

This goal of this step-by-step guide is for a Proof-of-Concept environment and shortcuts have been taken in order to get something up and running for a basic demonstration.