In this chapter, we dove into disk image management, focusing on two Citrix technologies: Machine Creation Services and Provisioning Services. We looked at the pros and cons of each technology. Luckily, with XenApp 7.5, we have the option to use either or both, depending on our situation. Although PVS is the more mature and enterprise-ready option, MCS is a viable candidate as well. Either solution allows us to reuse a master disk image multiple times. This ensures consistency as well as rapid deployment, enabling us to quickly scale out our environments from tens of servers to hundreds or even thousands of servers.

Now that we have our core XenApp infrastructure and our image delivery platforms defined, we can delve further into our supporting infrastructure components, including our database, file, print, and licensing systems.