Citrix and RES Software Solutions

Transcription

1 Citrix and RES Software Solutions Application Delivery Infrastructure with Virtual User Workspace Management Executive Summary. Citrix solutions allow IT professionals to build an application delivery infrastructure that enables on-demand access to applications through the datacenter. RES Software solutions provide IT administrators with the ability to centrally manage user workspaces within this context, regardless of application delivery methodology. Both solutions focus on helping IT create the right environment so that mission critical applications can be securely and efficiently accessed and utilized by end users in a way that improves productivity, lowers costs and enhances business agility. User workspace management is the perfect complement to Citrix infrastructure because this unified approach abstracts user settings, profile information, environment variables, etc. from the physical devices (desktops, laptops, servers) and applications. By virtualizing user workspaces beyond the hardware, application and geographical parameters, administrators are no longer bound to the time-consuming methods of developing and maintaining group policies or complex scripts to manage the Windows user environment. RES Software is a European company that provides such a unified management approach. Since 1999, the company has been developing software to address the shortcomings of existing tools and approaches for managing user configurations and settings, data and device security, application access, system performance, auditing and documentation. The outcome of these years of development is a new and exciting approach to managing your Windows users, which enhances the value and effectiveness of Citrix application delivery infrastructure. Because the focus of RES PowerFuse is on the user and his or her workspace, the user s profile and settings are contained in a database independent of operating system. As a result, each user s desktop and related workspace variables are independent of application deployment methodology, and thus are self-contained and dynamically self-provisioning based on the conditional parameters defined in the user s settings. With user workspace management, IT administrators can leverage their Citrix application delivery infrastructure in a way that maintains the security of their sensitive data and applications with conditional access to these resources based upon specific environment variables. Further, user productivity can be enhanced because there is consistency and optimization of the user experience regardless of location, underlying operating system, or application delivery methodology. Automated documentation and event audit tracking of the entire environment as well as at the individual user level ensures that IT administrators are able to meet IT governance standards and compliance requirements. Lastly, costly IT staff resources are freed up from mundane user configuration and maintenance tasks, thereby enabling a focus on business agility initiatives. As a result of these benefits, RES Software is the perfect complement to Citrix application delivery technology, enabling centralized management of the user workspace while simultaneously providing on-demand user configuration flexibility to meet the needs of the business.

2 Page 2 The balance of this document provides additional details regarding how RES Software adds value to the Citrix environment. For ease of navigation, the benefit areas alluded to above and listed below are linked to their respective sections in the document. Table of Contents RES Software Benefits for Citrix Environments Increase user productivity Individualize and dynamically provision workspaces Provide consistent user experience independent of operating system, location, applications, etc. Enhance Security Lockdown desktops as needed and reduce vulnerability to malware Manage access to corporate data and drives Extend IT governance/regulatory compliance Automate and obtain detailed configuration reports and enable audit tracking Improve IT administrator efficiency Centralize management of user workspaces Minimize number of supported server images Simplify publishing of applications on Citrix infrastructure Beyond Citrix: RES Software Benefits for Windows environments in general Increase user productivity Individualize and dynamically provision workspaces Preclude the need for scripting to address user configurations Challenge: How to manage complex Citrix user configuration issues without resorting to complex policies or custom scripting. Solution: RES PowerFuse provides IT Administrators with a central console that enables total management of Windows and Citrix clients without the need for complex policies or custom scripting. To ensure that end users have access to the applications and resources

3 Page 3 needed to perform their job, IT Administrators are able to configure critical end-user attributes with a click of a mouse. These attributes include: environment variables, drives and port mappings, network printers, registry settings, home directories, profile maintenance, ODBC connections and file and mail configurations With RES PowerFuse, configuration management is enabled through RES PowerFuse s PowerLaunch technology, regardless of whether the environment uses Active Directory or Novell Directory Services. Attributes are centrally managed at the Global, Organizational Unit (OU), Group, User, Application and RES PowerFuse PowerZone level. Without RES Software, IT Administrators must manually configure login/logoff scripts along with complex GPOs and registry settings for each group or individual. Benefits: RES PowerFuse gives IT Administrators the ability to centrally manage multiple types of Citrix application delivery scenarios through a uniform console. Through RES PowerFuse, all of these management tasks are accessed and performed in the same way, down to the user attribute level, without regard to application delivery methodology or the need for customized scripting. Provide access to correct applications and resources regardless of location, device, etc. Challenge: How to provide access to correct applications and resources that may conditioned by location, device or other Windows variable. Solution: RES PowerFuse PowerZones technology provides IT Administrators with the ability to dynamically determine appropriate setting based upon client IP address, server IP address, IP range, client name, server name, and other environment variables. Based upon the location from which the user logs in, PowerZones dynamically reconfigures the user with different settings and IP security levels in order to control the availability of applications, printers, etc and other environment resources. Benefits: PowerZones enables more efficient utilization of system resources and results in the correct user experience for users who are mobile and subject to logging in from various locations and desktops. It also provides another level of security for the environment and enables compliance with IT governance policies and regulatory requirements. For example, a PowerZone can be used to prevent financial applications from being accessed from a nonsecure site, such as from a hotel login. Integrate local applications and Citrix applications into one desktop environment Challenge: How to integrate local applications and Citrix delivered applications into one user workspace environment Solution: There may be some instances where IT determines that certain applications need to run locally on a desktop or workstation, but other applications are delivered using a Citrix application delivery methodology. When this occurs, users are often frustrated at not having the ability to have an integrated workspace containing both local

4 Page 4 and Citrix-delivered applications. RES PowerFuse has innovative, patent-pending Subscriber technology that allows local applications to be seamlessly integrated into the Citrix environment. This enables the end-user to have one workspace in which to learn and work with both local and Citrix applications. Benefits: RES PowerFuse Subscriber technology enables a more fluid end-user experience, while at the same time reducing the requirement for additional administration and Help Desk support. Provide consistent user experience regardless of location, operating system, applications, etc. Provide a consistent access and application experience for mobile users Challenge: How to provide a consistent access and application experience to users who roam between locations without typical user profile corruption. Solution: RES PowerFuse decouples user profile information from the operating system and provides a level of protection that reduces profile corruption typically associated with roaming users. Based on the location from which the user logs in, RES Software dynamically reconfigures the user with different settings and IP security levels in order to control the availability of applications, printers and other Windows environment resources. Benefits: RES PowerFuse enables more efficient utilization of system resources and results in the correct user experience for users who are mobile. This capability also provides another level of security both at the user as well as at the desktop and server level. Within the Citrix environment, this translates into an improved user access experience and reduced Help Desk calls due to corrupted profiles associated with roaming or mobile users. Provide the same functional virtual user workspace independent of the underlying operating system Challenge: How to maintain the same functional user workspace independent of the underlying operating system Solution: RES PowerFuse enables multiple operating systems (OS) to be running in the environment, including Windows NT4, 2000, XP and most recently Windows Vista. This facilitates running Citrix application delivery infrastructure in a mixed OS environment a scenario which often results when not all applications have been ported to a new operating system. When this situation occurs, it is often difficult to maintain a unified management approach. RES PowerFuse enables IT Administrators to define a user workspace independent of operating system. Therefore, when a user logs onto and has access to applications running on different operating systems, he/she would not know the difference based on user interface.

5 Page 5 Benefits: RES PowerFuse provides a unified user workspace management approach that spans multiple operating systems deployed in the Windows and Citrix environment. As a result, this minimizes disruptions to user productivity since RES PowerFuse allows administrators to define a user workspace without regard to the operating system. In addition, this reduces the need for multiple policies that have to be written for each environment and/or individual user, along with the custom scripts to enable various configurations for applications. Enhance Security Lockdown desktops as needed and reduce vulnerability to malware Enable desktop lockdown to enhance security and reduce vulnerability to malware Challenge: How to lock down desktops as company policies dictate to enhance security and reduce potential vulnerability to malware. Solution: RES PowerFuse s Security Management technology provides the ability to centrally lockdown all or a portion of the user s environment, creating a well-managed, secure desktop. Security Management is a Kernel-level driver that prevents unwanted applications from executing in an end-user environment. By extension, this means that IT Administrators can even prevent unauthorized execution of programs accessed from the command line in addition to access through the desktop or Terminal Server. Additionally, Security Management s learning mode allows RES Power-Fuse to determine application component requirements to reduce configuration errors thereby creating optimum security. Benefits: RES PowerFuse prevents unauthorized access to applications, files and external storage devices, and these permissions are managed centrally but also able to be configured at the user level when exceptions arise. A log file continuously monitors access attempts and together these capabilities enhance the security of the environment. Additionally, RES PowerFuse Security Management provides the final level of network security against malicious malware and accidental internal threats, thereby creating a more stable and secure Windows environment, which in turn, helps enhance Citrix performance, security and uptime. Manage access to corporate data and drives Manage access to corporate data and drives Challenge: How to manage access to corporate data and drives Solution: RES PowerFuse minimizes the risk of unauthorized user access to applications or sensitive data. In addition, RES PowerFuse can also manage access to file types and locations. Further, RES PowerFuse provides Read-Only Blanketing, which allows IT administrators to

6 Page 6 render all local drives on a server or workstation as read-only, without the need for scripting or changing Windows security permissions. Benefits: The ability within RES PowerFuse to manage access to file types and locations at the user and location level increases company security, yet still allows administrators the flexibility to override the setting when needed. Extend IT Governance/regulatory compliance Automate and obtain detailed configuration reports and enable audit tracking Enhance compliance with IT governance and regulatory requirements Challenge: How to automatically document the environment to enhance compliance with IT governance and regulatory requirements Solution: RES PowerFuse provides information about users and the location, client, IPaddress, and protocols they work on in order to properly troubleshoot and audit your environment to ensure compliance with your company s IT governance standards. Through the RES PowerFuse Access Control List, which incorporates detailed information regarding the user settings for applications, configuration, security, performance, and monitoring and auditing, the IT Administrator can obtain Instant Reports. These reports can be generated at the total environment level or at any branch of the Access Control list details. Instant Reports can be viewed on line or generated as a PDF document without need to install any additional Adobe Acrobat software. When the PDF file is opened with Adobe Acrobat Reader, the Table of Contents generated by RES PowerFuse will be available as bookmarks, to simplify access to critical sections. Further, this document can be circulated, as appropriate, to management or other IT personnel for review or submission as part of an audit process. Benefits: Without the Instant Reports capability of RES PowerFuse, obtaining such comprehensive documentation regarding the Citrix environment would be time-consuming and potentially prohibitive. With Instant Reports, IT administrators have the detailed information needed, down to the Windows environment variables, to monitor and take action as necessary to enhance compliance with IT governance standards and regulatory requirements. Centrally manage user workspaces from the datacenter Improve IT Administrator efficiency Centralize management of user workspaces Challenge: How to centrally manage user workspaces from the datacenter Solution: RES PowerFuse provides IT administrators with a central console that enables total

7 Page 7 management of the Windows physical devices as well as user workspaces. As such, the software brings together a unified approach with powerful capabilities for access control, license control, user configurations, desktop lockdown, enhanced security and performance optimization all in an easy to use solution. Benefits: The RES PowerFuse management console can be accessed anywhere in the domain by administrators who have been given rights to do so. This means that management is no longer dependent upon physical location, but can be virtualized to accommodate remote administrators. An administrator in an outlying office can access the console in order to make changes on the fly without having to request such changes back in the datacenter. In addition, IT responsiveness is enhanced as user needs may be addressed in practically real-time, meaning that new applications can be provisioned at a click of a mouse, without requiring a reboot of the user s physical desktop. Minimize the number of supported server images Minimize the number of server images yet enable multiple user environments Challenge: How to minimize the number of server images, yet still enable multiple user environments Solution: Many IT Administrators have preferred the traditional Citrix published desktop model, as it most closely parallels the typical Windows environment, which reduces the learning curve associated with users having to learn a new user interface when applications are deployed under a different model. However, as user needs have evolved, so has IT complexity and it has been difficult for IT Administrators to support the need for individualized user environments under the Citrix published desktop model without resorting to additional server hardware. This is because under a server-centric computing paradigm, users logging onto a server receive the benefit of the user interface and applications that are part of that server s image. Users requiring a different set of applications or functional workspace within their published desktop needed to log onto a different server. To compensate, IT Administrators have often resorted to silo-ing their applications and user environments by server(s) so that they can deliver the right applications and user workspaces to users in one department or group as opposed to another with different requirements. This has resulted in server proliferation and increased IT maintenance of server images, not to mention the potential performance issues and downtime associated with server problems and fail-over limitations. RES PowerFuse eliminates this challenge because the software has been designed from the user s perspective. That means that it is the user profile which dictates which user interface, workspace and applications are delivered to the user as opposed to being constrained by the server image.

8 Page 8 Benefits: IT Administrators can now build fewer server images consisting of more applications and user environments; each user will then only receive those applications and the desktop UI that is specified in his/her profile. This means less server proliferation, less IT maintenance, on-demand configuration flexibility and more business agility as user needs can be addressed in a real-time mode. Simplify publishing of applications on Citrix infrastructure Publish/Unpublish applications to Citrix from within RES PowerFuse central console Challenge: How to easily manage and publish applications within a Citrix application delivery infrastructure without resorting to additional scripts or multiple management consoles Solution: The RES PowerFuse console allows IT administrators to directly manage Citrix published applications and content on the Citrix Presentation servers. Session Window size, colors, sound, encryption, mapped drives, application specific printer setting, etc. are just some of the variables that can be controlled. In addition, IT administrators can publish and unpublish applications within Citrix by simply right-clicking on them in the Start Menu/ Application List and selecting Publish or Unpublish. Benefits: This visibility and management functionality within the RES PowerFuse console enables greater efficiency for Citrix administrators as it can streamline the configuration of what is often very complex application parameters required for publishing within a serverbased computing environment. In addition, the ability to quickly unpublish an application can be useful for quick turnaround when a server is not responding or when a server needed to be taken out of operation for quick maintenance. Beyond Citrix: Additional benefits for Windows user environments Beyond Citrix: Additional RES Software Benefits for Windows user environments Citrix is the recognized industry leader in application delivery infrastructure, and can deliver applications via the datacenter out to a published desktop, or via published applications to the desktop or browser interface. However, as the global economy evolves and IT struggles to provide the business agility required by the competitive marketplace, companies need a solution with which to gain flexibility, adaptability and speed in managing their overall Windows IT infrastructure. RES Software solutions provide that foundation and are a keystone in building the type of management approach that enables efficient and automated management and maintenance of both the Windows and Citrix environments. Regardless of application delivery methodology, configuration and user workspace management is still the smoking gun that impacts IT agility. Because RES Software solutions are designed

9 Page 9 from the user perspective, they enable the level of granularity critical to enabling on-demand configuration scenarios without sacrificing the integrity of the environment or requiring costly and time-consuming IT staff and resources. As such, RES Software virtual user workspace management provides many additional benefits, not the least of which are detailed below Simplifying access management to applications and device throughout the Windows environment to ensure that users only have access to applications and resources needed to perform their job Providing dynamic access to user workspaces containing different applications and system resources based on conditional parameters Ensuring seamless roaming for mobile users while diminishing roaming profile corruption Enabling faster and reliable printer access with the ability to designate a back-up printer for fail-over purposes Reducing user frustration due to cumbersome logon/logoff times Enabling secure access to applications in an manner that is easily auditable and helps ensure IT governance and compliance Optimizing system performance that adapts to CPU and Memory usage as well as to user and applications configurations at the desktop as well as at the server level. Selectively controlling access to USB devices based on location, user, application, and other Windows environment variables. Monitoring and restricting the non-business use of company desktops and applications Tracking and reporting application license usage as well as user/group/ou, etc. performance and usage variables using RES PowerFuse PowerTrace technology In summary, RES Software solutions are an excellent complement to Citrix application delivery infrastructure and to the underlying Microsoft environment as well RES Software solutions provide the management foundation from which to achieve IT agility in the Window and Citrix workspace.

10 Page 10 About RES Software RES Software is a company based in Europe expanding its operations in North America. Since 1999, the company has been developing software to address the shortcomings of existing tools and approaches for managing user configurations and settings, data and device security, application access, system performance, auditing and documentation all issues IT professionals fight daily. The outcome of these years of development is a new and exciting management paradigm shift one that captures the benefits of centralized IT control but maintains the flexibility of usercentric, distributed computing. RES PowerFuse and RES Wisdom are the company's leading virtual user workspace management, change and configuration software solutions. RES PowerFuse abstracts or virtualizes the user workspace from the physical devices (servers, desktops, printers, etc.), thereby optimizing IT efficiency and user productivity regardless of location. RES Wisdom provides a similar centralized approach to configuration and change management for the physical desktop. Together, these products enable administrators to centralize and control virtually every task related to Windows workspace and desktop management in their organization. This visibility and total environment control is accomplished through a simple point and click user interface which precludes the need for specialized IT staff or custom scripts to address user configuration issues, and allows IT management to delegate many aspects of user configuration and change management to less technical staff or Help desk personnel without fear of compromising security. For more information, please contact us at americas@ressoftware.com. RES Software 6250 Shiloh Road, Suite 20 Alpharetta, GA Tel: Fax: Web: RES Software, the RES Software logo and all other RES Software product names are either registered trademarks or trademarks of RES Software in the United States and/or other countries. Any rights not expressly granted herein are reserved by RES Software. Microsoft Windows, Internet Explorer, and Active Directory are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Citrix and ICA are registered trademarks, and Citrix Presentation Server is a trademark of Citrix Systems, Inc. and/or one or more of its subsidiaries, and may be registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. Adobe, the Adobe logo, the Adobe PDF logo, and Reader are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. Novell, the Novell logo, the N logo, GroupWise, NDS and NetWare are registered trademarks of Novell, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other product names, company names, marks, logos, and symbols are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.