Cloud Workloads with Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops – Any Alternatives?

Citrix announced that it will no longer support any deployments running on Cloud Workloads with Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 2003 and future Current Releases (CRs) if the deployments run workloads over public clouds such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform.

This blog post describes how this may affect Citrix customers and introduces Parallels® Remote Application Server (RAS) as an ideal alternative solution for delivering applications and virtual desktops over on-premises, hybrid and multi-cloud scenarios.

What does this announcement about Cloud Workloads with Citrix mean?

Citrix administrators deploying Virtual Desktop Agents (VDAs) to resources running over the cloud who are accustomed to upgrading their Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (CVAD) setup to the latest Current Release will need to choose an alternative. Here are some options for moving a virtual desktop and application delivery solution to a supported configuration:

Migrate the CVAD setup to the 1912 Long Term Service Release (LTSR). LTSR versions, with a support lifecycle of five years, are only updated using Cumulative Updates which include security patches and fixes. Therefore, customers will not be able to apply any updates containing the latest product features.

Migrate to the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service. This cloud service includes support for public cloud and on-premises workloads but may require a complete redesign of the customer’s setup. Certain infrastructure components such as Delivery Controllers, Director and Studio will be hosted and managed by Citrix, whereas customers will be required to deploy cloud connectors for every resource location, as well as manage all components of the resource layer.

Another important factor of this announcement about cloud workloads with Citrix, is that moving forward, if customers require to deploy hybrid models and need to remain on a Current Release version, then the use of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service in Citrix Cloud is mandatory. In addition, if a migration to Citrix Cloud is finally required, enterprises will still need to navigate through an array of product editions to decide which line best fits their needs and perhaps might even have to readapt their previously purchased licensing model.

Because this announcement applies to CR versions, those Citrix customers using the 1912 LTSR version or running Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service in Citrix Cloud won’t be affected.

Parallels RAS is a Great Alternative

Parallels RAS is an all-in-one application delivery and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solution that allows users to work remotely at any time and from any client device, including mobile platforms. When using Parallels RAS, enterprises have the flexibility to run workloads over both public cloud providers and on-premises infrastructure according to their needs, without having to analyze complex feature matrixes and subscription models.

There is only one full-featured product edition of Parallels RAS licensed by concurrent users that includes all enterprise features such as application and virtual desktop delivery, load balancing, high availability, reporting, monitoring and more. Also, support and software maintenance are included without additional cost.

In addition, the latest Parallels RAS 18 provides unified Microsoft Windows Virtual Desktop integration and enriches this Azure service. It does so by centralizing workload management and providing administrators the capability to easily manage workspaces, host pools and templates from one single point, the Parallels RAS Console.

The Windows Virtual Desktop service recommends FSLogix Profile Container as a user profile management solution. Parallels RAS provides the ability to deploy and configure FSLogix Profile Containers centrally—not only over Windows Virtual Desktop workloads but also over Remote Desktop Session Host (RDSH) and VDI workloads.

Running a pre-configured trial of Parallels RAS over Microsoft Azure or Amazon AWS is very straightforward. Pre-configured virtual machines are available on Azure and AWS marketplaces, and organizations can deploy a fully functional Parallels RAS setup within minutes with just a few clicks. All this makes Parallels RAS an ideal alternative to cloud workloads with Citrix, and you can give it a try for yourself with a 30-day free trial!

Download the Trial