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The situation
With the latest release of Citrix Virtual Apps & Desktop (formerly XenApp/XenDesktop) the customer wanted to upgrade their desktop infrastructure to avoid any future support issues and ensure business continuity and stability
This included upgrading the customer’s Citrix ADC VPX (Netscaler VPX) to ensure full vendor support and leverage new features
Remote user connectivity needed to continue to be a seamless process, so PKI Certificates needed to be tested and refreshed
All work had to be undertaken so as not to disrupt the day to day running of the organisation and updates needed to be implemented with a seamless changeover
Our approach
A health check of the system was undertaken to identify current state and configurations and areas requiring remediation
Upgrade of Citrix Virtual Apps & Desktop to latest Long Term Service Release (LTSR)
Review and refresh of internal and external PKI certificates
Upgrade of Citrix ADC VPX to latest supported version
Design and build of a 2nd ADC (Netscaler) device in parallel to enable testing and avoid system downtime when migrating user, along with ensuring high availability and high resilience in the solution.
Knowledge and skills transfer and training of on-site IT teams to ensure seamless handover and enable ongoing management by staff
Outcomes achieved
Reduced maintenance: upgrading to newer versions has reduced the time and resources required for maintenance and updates
Increased supportability: upgrading to LTSR and newer versions ensured the system is supportable, the solution more robust and greater functionality for future requirements and development
Reduced risk of failure: fully supported Citrix® products and support ensures business continuity, stability and reduced risk
Seamless user experience: refreshing of PKI certificates for a further 24 months ensured remote user connectivity. The provision of operational documentation on the execution of this task enables the customer to perform this in future
