Self Service Plugin / StoreFront / Merchandising Server / Citrix Access Gateway (Part1)

Here’s a little blog post about the StoreFront Express (CloudGateway Express) behind a Citrix Access Gateway and the Merchandising server. What I want is to deliver the Self Service Plugin to the end users as easy/simple as possible.

In Part 1 I’m going to show you what the Citrix Receiver looks on Windows and OSX and how the Self Service Plugin looks. There are tiny bit’s about customizing the StoreFront.

Oké here is my lab environment:

LAB Jeroen

If you want to know how the CAG and StoreFront servers are configured to work with each other, contact me Knipogende emoticon Can’t give to much information on the post Emoticon die tong uitsteekt

Remote users (To be exactly only me Knipogende emoticon) connect through de Citrix Access Gateway (looks like this):

image

And when authenticating, they see their available applications, which are presented by the StoreFront server.

image

Nothing new, nothing fancy Knipogende emoticon Well the StoreFront looks kinda fancy isn’t it? Just like the Receiver on the iPad. And for the end users the same user experience.

So what if the workstation doesn’t have the Citrix Receiver installed. What message will the StoreFront display?

image

When checking the box and click on Install. The file will be downloaded from the StoreFront server. The file can be edited for your needs. When there is a new Citrix Receiver,  you must add it to the StoreFront server and change a file to enable update. Here is a screenshot of the file: C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Citrix\StoreWeb\web.config (Assuming default installation)

image

Here you can change the stuff to your needs:

  • Enable or Disable the PluginAssistant (To Disable the client installation offer from StoreFront);
  • Enable or Disable client upgrades at login;
  • Location and/or name of the installer files.
    At the bottom of the screenshot you see: ReceiverConfiguration. With this option you can enable or disable the left-bottom icon in the StoreFront website. What???? Here’s the screenshot

Knipogende emoticon

image

 

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With this option we can access our applications locally from the desktop without using the StoreFront WebSite. You need the Citrix Receiver 3.1 for this to work. It look like this:

image

So now we got a nice looking Self Service Portal for my end users. Yes, just the same as the old Program Neighborhood. Knipogende emoticon But now it’s the same user interface as the website.

On an OSX system the Citrix Receiver looks like this:

image

And when configured it look like this:

image

The problem is that the interface is different then that from the Windows Citrix Receiver. If you want the same interface for both platforms. Downgrade Bedroefde emoticon the Citrix Receiver to version 3.0. Download the Self Service-Plugin 2.1 from the Citrix website. (You need a mycitrix account for that).  Then the Windows Receiver look like this:

image

For now, I’m using:

  • Windows: Citrix Receiver 3.1 (Green look and feel self service plug-in);
  • OSX: Citrix Receiver 11.4.3 (Dazzle look and feel self service plug-in).
    In Part 2, I’m going to talk about the Merchandising server. And how to deploy pre configured Receivers and plug-ins to the end points.

16 thoughts on “Self Service Plugin / StoreFront / Merchandising Server / Citrix Access Gateway (Part1)

  1. Jeroen,

    Mooi artikel en ben in afwachting van Deel 2. Kun jij me prive mailen voor de informatie die je niet in je post hebt staan? Dus CAG icm Storefron 🙂

    George

  2. Hi,

    I’m interested in getting the configuration for the CAG and storefront to work with the native receiver. I have the storeweb working but can’t get the native receiver to work.

    Thanks,

    Dave

    1. Hi Dave,

      To be honest, wait until there is a new version of the StoreFront. I can get it to work, but then there is something else not working anymore. To get everything working: iOS, Android, OSX, Windows with the latest Reciever versions is not so easy. There are a lot of questions about this, and I will try to make a blogpost about it. But time time time 😉

      Jeroen.

  3. Hey Jeroen,

    Goed artikel. Ben bezig met de setup van de CAG icm Storefront en ben wel nieuwsgierig in de configuratie die je hier niet hebt gepost. Zou je die willen mailen. Merci.

    Gr Rob

  4. Beste Jeroen,

    Je hebt een duidelijk stuk geschreven. Ik heb ook een lab gebouwd maar zit met de configuratie van de selfservice plugin. Zou je mij documentatie hiervan willen mailen. Alvast bedankt en keep up the good work.

  5. Hey Jeroen

    What is your experience with citrix receiver on a xenapp with published desktop?

    I made the experience that with receiver many of my customers “lose” their store configuration.
    What I did is I set the store in HKLM, but it doesn’t carry over…

    1. What you can do is set that users can’t change/add a store. Edit the following line in the registry: HKLMSOFTWARE(Wow6432Node)CitrixDazzleAllowAddStore change from A to N.

  6. Hi Jeroen,

    I’m still quite new with this, but it looks to me using storefront to deliver and update plugins is easier that merchandising server. What are you thoughts on this?

    Cheers

    1. The easy way is to use StoreFront. But with the Merchandising server you have more control over the deliveries and it’s possible to deploy plugins and other software packages (App-V client for instance.)

  7. Jeroen,

    It was a time ago, me mensioning about storefront. I m in a position now to implement Web Interface 5.4 with secure gateway 3.31 combined with merchandising server and XenApp 6.5 farm.
    I had storefront 1.2 with netsclar 10 vpx up and running but, i will give it a little bit of exrta time to develop. It seems to me not finished yet as a product.

    Greetings,

    Daniel Celik

    Virtualisation Engineer at Leiden University

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