High Level First Look at Citrix’s AppDisks

IPM’s Rajen Das took the opportunity to install Citrix AppDisks in the IPM labs and gave us this high level report:

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Finally got around to implement this in the lab and I must say it works as advertised.

Lab setup:
(1) Citrix XenDesktop 7.8
(1) Citrix Provisioning server 7.8
(1) Citrix AppDNA server(latest)
(2) Microsoft Windows 10 VDA
(2) Microsoft Windows 2012 VDA (test pending)

Here are my findings so far:

1. The environment must be 7.8 all across including PVS 7.8 or use MCS.

2. You’ll need a separate server for AppDNA. Be patient during the installation; it took me 20 hours. It should be less on high-end servers.

3. AppDisk is available for all license types: XenApp Advanced, Enterprise and Platinum edition as well as XenDesktop VDI, Enterprise and Platinum edition.

4. AppDNA is only available on Platinum editions of XenApp and XenDesktop.

5. If you are using PVS, you’ll need the vDisk to be in maintenance mode. After the installation is completed and sealed, the maintenance version can be deleted.

6. Unlike App-V, new applications are only available after a reboot.

If you care about a having a pristine golden image and want to avoid having 100 applications on it, this solution may work for you. 

Questions for Rajen?  Leave them in the comments or follow him on @Neo124t