In this chapter, you learned the fundamentals of virtualization from both the hardware and application perspective. With regard to hardware, we took a hypothetical example to demonstrate the benefits of virtualization and learned how to differentiate between Type-1 and Type-2 hypervisors. From an application and desktop standpoint, we introduced two major platforms that work together—Microsoft RDS and Citrix XenApp. The latter was classified into three categories—hosted applications, streamed applications, and hosted shared desktops followed by a brief summary of desktop OS virtualization with Citrix XenDesktop. We also explored a user logon process in XenApp as seen by the user and as executed on the server. On the vast topic of licensing, we explained current offerings from Microsoft and Citrix in terms of OSes, RDS, and XenApp as well as benefits derived from various product editions. Required components, such as StoreFront for web access, and recommended options for load balancing and external authentication, such as NetScaler and NetScaler Gateway, were reviewed and more content will follow as they become more relevant in later chapters. From the supportability point of view, we looked at the lifespan of XenApp and the maintenance duration and current vendor support offered by Citrix. Last but not least, we provided insight on Citrix certifications paths to help you solidify your Citrix skillset and advance your career.

To sum up, we briefly touched on the high-level aspects of the XenApp software, its requirements, and its use cases.

In the next chapter, we will analyze some use cases from real-world field implementations. As we enter the design phase, we will start laying the foundation of our XenApp solution. Stay tuned...