Citrix XenDesktop ICA Optimizations and Tweaks
David Paoleschi sent over to me some quick tweaks when building a Citrix XenDesktop environment. Many of these optimizations specifically target XD environments that operate over WAN connections where latency might be an issue. Your Mileage may Vary. :)
Many of the settings were snagged from this Citrix Support DOC. I have also added some comments on the various settings when possible.
A very good document explaining many of these settings can be found here.
Optimization for WAN ICA settings
Edit the default.ica located under ‘C:\Inetpubwwwroot<Site Directory>conf’ with the following additions:
Under [WFClient] add the following:
· CPMAllowed=Off
Disables LPT Port redirection
· VSLAllowed=Off
Disabled the Printing Virtual Channel associated with LPT redirection
· UpdatesAllowed=Off
Disables Client update functionality
· OutBufCountHost=118
· OutBufCountHost2=118
This setting affects the max amount of server to client data that the connection will try and keep active at any point.
· OutBufCountClient=118
· OutBufCountClient2=118
This setting affects the max amount of client to server data that the connection will try and keep active at any point.
· OutBufLength=512
This setting aligns with the underlying packet size for wireless networks. Citrix testing has found this value to be the optimum value for most networks.
· PersistentCacheEnabled=On
Enabling the persistent cache decreases logon time and improves the performance of graphics operations during an ICA session
· MouseTimer=200
· KeyboardTimer=50
Enabling these parameters reduces the number of small mouse and keyboard packets sent to the server.
Intermediate mouse packets are discarded and a number of keystroke packets are coalesced into a single larger packet.
· ConnectionBar=0
Enables Full Screen only mode.
Under [Application] add the following:
· MaximumCompression=On
· Compress=On
Enables Maximum Data Compression
· ZLMouseMode=1
· ZLKeyBoardMode=1
These values enable SpeedScreen3 Latency reduction features.