StoreFront v3.0 and new Unified Receiver Experience – First Impressions (Part 3)
The Citrix Gateway plug-in automatically handles Internet Connection Firewall in Windows XP and Windows Firewall in Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1. Users who want to send traffic to FTP over a Citrix Gateway connection must set their FTP application to perform passive transfers. NetScaler Gateway Plug-in for Mac OS X 10.9. NetScaler Gateway Plug-in for Windows 8.1. Proxy support for traffic policies. Support for Internet Explorer 11. NetScaler Gateway Plug-in 3.0 supports the following: Mac OS X 10.9. Client certificate authentication. Device certificates. Endpoint analysis scans. Known Issues in This Release. Having a NetScaler Gateway on the inside load balancing the StoreFront servers is far better than using regular load balancing. You get to use HDX Insight Center (which I blogged about when it first came out here “ How to use Citrix Netscaler Insight Center to report on web, HDX, and Access Gateway (AGEE) traffic )”. The following steps details how to create the Session Policy for Citrix Receiver for Windows or Mac, and Mobile Devices on NetScaler Gateway: Navigate to NetScaler Gateway Policies Session. In the Session Policies field, click Add. In the Name field, type the Name of the Session Policy. For example, ReceiverPolicy; Click the box with the. Q: When I install the NetScaler Gateway plug-in for OS X, it prompts to install Growl as well. A: Growl is a global notification system and pop-up notification implementation for the Mac OS X. Applications can use Growl to display small notifications about events which might be important to the user.
I was mostly interested in the new customization options and how to switch from the previous Green Bubble UI (a.k.a. the Classic Receiver Experience) to the new Unified Receiver Experience. So I’d like to start a little blog series about my first steps with StoreFront v3.0, covering:
- Evaluating the Google Chrome Support
With Receiver for HTML5 you get the full Citrix experience with Chrome devices. The following features have been added in the latest version v1.7:
- Pure Socket Connection
- Session Reliability
- File Transfer
- Access to Google Drive
- Single App Kiosk Mode
- New Receiver UI
Note: when connecting with Receiver for HTML5 v1.7 you still need a NetScaler Gateway. Without a NetScaler Gateway you cannot utilize Receiver for HTML5. Requirements can be found here. For a PoC of Receiver for HTML5 without NetScaler Gateway by directly connecting to StoreFront v3.0 read this blog article (coming soon).
Enable HTML5 Support for Receiver for Web for the corresponding site by clicking Deploy Citrix Receiver:
You can verify the installed Receiver for HTML5 version in the center pane for the selected Receiver for Web site:
Enable Use Receiver for HTML5 if local install fails:
Note: in case your MMC crashes as soon as you click Deploy Citrix Receiver and you receive the following error:
Read the following blog article to solve the issue: Citrix StoreFront v3.0 MMC crashes with error – MMC has detected an error in a snap-in and will unload it
After having enabled Receiver for HTML5 login to your NetScaler Gateway and do not install the Citrix Receiver plugin during logon. Simply click Log On and bypass the Citrix Receiver installation through StoreFront:
Then launch any Published Application available and verify whether the session will be launched in a separate browser tab using Receiver for HTML5:
When using Receiver for HTML5 for the first time you’ll be greeted by the Getting Started wizard:
You can Start the Tour optionally as it explains the Receiver for HTML5’s tab functions when clicking the Tools icon:
- Tools
- Copy and Paste
- Upload Files
- Download Files
- Ctrl+Alt+Del
You can launch multiple Published Applications as they’re all being executed within the same session and browser tab (thanks to Session Sharing):
Citrix Studio confirms that we’re connected using Receiver for HTML5:
Further reading:
StoreFront v3.0 and new Unified Receiver Experience – First Impressions (Part 3)
downloadWhy can't I download this file?
To deploy an updated version of NetScaler Gateway Plug-in for Mac OS X, complete the following procedure:
- Log on to NetScaler Command Line through any SSH client and run the following command to switch to the shell prompt on the appliance:
shell
- Run the following commands to open the directory that contains the Macintosh client:
root@ns# cd /var/netscaler/gui/vpns/scripts/mac/
root@ns# ls -la
total 20518
drwxr-xr-x 2 root 2 512 Jul 16 10:13 .
drwxrwxrwx 5 daemon 2 512 Jul 4 12:31 ..
-r--r--r-- 1 root 1001 10485754 Apr 23 02:31 Citrix_Access_Gateway.dmg
-r--r--r-- 1 root 1001 12 Jul 16 10:14 macversion.txt
- Run the following command to back up the existing version of the plug-in:
root@ns# mv Citrix_Access_Gateway.dmg Citrix_Access_Gateway.dmg.bak
Netscaler Gateway Plug In
- Upload the new version to the same directory and with the exact same name Citrix_Access_Gateway.dmg by using any file transfer application such as WinSCP:
root@ns# ls -la
total 20518
drwxr-xr-x 2 root 2 512 Jul 16 10:13 .
drwxrwxrwx 5 daemon 2 512 Jul 4 12:31 ..
-r--r--r-- 1 root 2 10469427 Jul 16 10:13 Citrix_Access_Gateway.dmg
-r--r--r-- 1 root 1001 10485754 Apr 23 02:31 Citrix_Access_Gateway.dmg.bak
- Ensure that the permissions for the new file are read-only, if necessary run a change mode command:
root@ns# chmod 444 Citrix_Access_Gateway.dmg
- Run the following command to view the version and build number of the plug-in in the macversion.txt file:
root@ns# cat macversion.txt
2.1.2 (102)
Netscaler Gateway Plugin 3.0 For Mac Pc
- Change the macversion.txt file to the version and build number installed; in this example 2.1.2 (200) using vi or edit or any other text editor.
When a user connects to the NetScaler Gateway portal using an older client, they will be prompted to upgrade: - The pluginlist.xml file exists only in NetScaler Gateway version 11.0 and later. Modify the version and compatibleFrom attributes as shown in the following example:Sample plugin node with type 'MAC-VPN' in pluginlist.xml before update.Sample plugin node with the version and compatibleFrom updated to 3.1.4 (357).