What is the difference between Citrix and VMware?

Hypervisor

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops

Citrix offers support for a wide range of hypervisors. You can utilize Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware ESXi, or Citrix Hypervisor for on-premises installation. It may also be deployed using Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS).

VMware Horizon

Only the free VMware ESXi is available from VMware for on-premises installation. VMware Horizon may be set up on Azure, AWS, and IBM cloud if you want flexibility with support for different hypervisors.

Tip: HVD vs VDI

Connection broker

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops

Citrix's delivery controller services are available to brokers (DC). Using Citrix Studio and the Citrix PowerShell SDKs, IT administrators may communicate with the DC. One of the duties of a delivery controller might be any of the following:

• Liaising with hypervisors to create and update VMs.
• Communicating with the database to access resources.
• Load balancing.

VMware Horizon

Broker services are supplied by a view connection server made available by VMware Horizon (VCS). Among a VCS's responsibilities are:

• Communicating with the database to access resources.
• Load balancing.

Provisioning mechanism

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops

Machine Creation Services (MCS) and Provisioning Services (PVS) are two provisioning methods used by Citrix (MCS). The network plays a major role in the provisioning of virtual desktops by PVS notwithstanding its scalability. MCS excels at network resilience but fails at scalability.

VMware Horizon

Instant clones and connected clones are the two techniques that VMware uses to consolidate VM administration. In a manner similar to Citrix's MCS, link clones continuously duplicate a copy of a virtual machine (VM) that shares a virtual disk (vdisk) with the parent VM. In contrast, instant clones "fork" a desktop from an existing VM using the vmFork technology that comes with VMware vSphere.

Front-end system

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops

Storefront is the front-end solution for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops. To control user authorizations and authentication as well as to display user assignments, Citrix Storefront communicates with the DC. Additionally, it aids consumers in tracking their subscriptions.

VMware Horizon

VMware Horizon utilizes VCS as its front-end system.

External gateway

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops

The company's external gateway is known as Citrix Gateway (previously called the NetScaler Access Gateway). It functions as a web proxy to authenticate requests for access to corporate resources made by third parties.

VMware Horizon

The two substitutes for VMware Horizon's external gateways are the traditional security server and the universal access gateway (UAG). The required security server, a Windows-based security server, must be accessed by each VCS. In contrast, UAG is a recently launched external gateway that runs Linux and connects to a number of VCSs.

What Are the Limitations?

Because various licenses offer different functionality, deploying and managing VDI with Citrix is challenging. Organizations must upgrade from Citrix Virtual Apps to Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop to enable desktop-based and server-based VDI. Citrix Virtual Apps, even in its Platinum Edition, does not provide a full VDI.

How to Deploy

Organizations must assess what type of VDI they require for their infrastructures before using Citrix VDI (desktop, server, or session-based). They should also know that publishing apps require Citrix Virtual Apps or Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop Enterprise/Platinum.

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop, Citrix's VDI solution, works in both small and large environments, although it's oriented for the medium and large company. There are three versions of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop.

Virtual Desktops Standard

Organizations must assess what type of VDI they require for their infrastructures before using Citrix VDI (desktop, server, or session-based). They should also know that publishing apps require Citrix Virtual Apps or Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop Enterprise/Platinum.

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop, Citrix's VDI solution, works in both small and large environments, although it's oriented for the medium and large company. There are three versions of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop.

Virtual Apps and Desktops Advanced

More virtualization capabilities are included in this version, including server-based hosted apps, server-based virtual desktops, VDI (for both pooled and dedicated services), Remote PC access, and VM hosted apps.

The introduction of added tools to increase employee productivity, such as customized Skype and Microsoft Teams for companies, that are not accessible in Virtual Desktop Standard, is the key benefit of this edition. Citrix casting and Citrix SD-WAN for WAN optimization, which might improve an organization's efficiency, are still missing.

Virtual Apps and Desktop Advanced, like its Virtual Desktops Typical sibling, lacks standard security options like as FIPS compliance, Common Criteria certification, SmartAccess, Intelligent session recording, and SSL VPN capabilities.

Virtual Apps and Desktops Premium Edition

This version contains all VDI capabilities as well as Citrix Virtual Apps Premium, an upgraded version of Citrix Virtual Apps (formerly XenApp Platinum). It also comes with a few extras like seamless local apps, self-service password change, and a UX network analysis.

Note: You'll also need to buy Citrix add-ons like Citrix ADC if you want to implement a full-featured application and desktop delivery infrastructure with Citrix (previously NetScaler).

Printing issues

Citrix printing is a common source of frustration. The following are some of the annoyances:

• Citrix's printing is slow since it uses a virtual channel. As a result, printing across networks may be slowed by latency, packet loss, and a lack of capacity. The use of the correct protocol and PCL6-based drivers, as well as proper setup, may be able to assist solve this problem.
• Unable to print: Jobs that do not print at all are worse worse than delayed printing. Printing over a network while connected to a VPN, for example, may result in tasks not being received on the other end. Check to verify whether your devices can connect to your printers if this happens, since network settings might be the root of the problem.
• Misconfiguration of the printer: Citrix offers printer drivers for almost any printing scenario. However, if these drivers aren't set up correctly, users won't be able to take use of their sophisticated capabilities, rendering them inappropriate for their purposes. Printer redirection may be required in this instance.
• There is no printer: When you try to utilize linked printers for printing, they may not display at all. Faulty policies and absent drivers may be to blame when this happens. When the proper policy is set or the proper driver is installed, the problem is resolved.
• When errors emerge during printing or the printer stops working entirely, this may be traced back to issues with the Citrix and/or Microsoft printer services. Frequently restarting the services on the session hosts resolves the problem.

Tip: Learn about VDI vs. Citrix comparison!

What you need for VM safety

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