Community Roundtable

COMMUNITY ROUNDTABLE

Members discuss all things Citrix and CUGC, as well as other emerging technologies and topics relevant to the community.

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CUGC Members Presenting at Citrix Synergy 2019!

By Tobias Kreidl posted 6 days ago
CUGC Members Presenting at Citrix Synergy 2019! Every year, we at HQ are excited to see so many familiar CUGC names and faces in the Citrix Synergy session catalog. If you're a Synergy first-timer or just haven't picked out your sessions yet, the role-based  Paths to Success  on the main Synergy page are a great place to start. You can always customize from there. However you choose your sessions, we wanted to highlight those featuring our own CUGC members, leaders and frequent content contributors: Breakout Sessions, Meet the Experts Theaters, and Fireside Chats: SYN139: Citrix and Microsoft: a value-add across your workspace  with Matthew Crawford ...

Everything is bigger in Texas - CUGC Texas XL 2019

By Darrell Doty posted 20 days ago
Everything is Bigger in Texas – CUGC Texas XL 2019   Everything truly is bigger in Texas as CUGC holds its first Texas XL event. People from all over the Lone Star state converged on Austin, TX at the University of Texas Club, home of the Texas Longhorns. This would be the first XL event for them, and the turnout did not disappoint with members coming in from all the major CUGC participating cities in Austin , Dallas-Fort Worth , Houston  and many smaller cities all over the state. With a day of presentations by leading experts in the field and sponsors that were engaged in the conversations, the time was well spent and would not disappoint those in ...

Citrix Cloud: Minor Enhancements, Great Experience!

By Saadallah Chebaro posted 23 days ago
Introduction: Unified Endpoint Management, Modern Device Management, User Environment Management, Digital Workspace, Workspace Cloud, Workspace App and End User Computing all have one thing in common: it's all about the end-user experience…! Aside from the general perception of cloud computing benefits such as availability, cost, management, OPEX and so on, Citrix Cloud Workspace offering enables seamless correlation, unification, and integration, of different services such as EUC, UEM, ADM, ADC, MCM, and Analytics to the ultimate aim of making end-users more productive and IT admins less reductive. To win over end-users, which ...

Raleigh-Durham CUGC Meeting March 2019

By Alain Assaf posted 30 days ago
On March 25th, 2019, the Raleigh-Durham CUGC meeting took place at Boxcar Bar and Arcade in Raleigh. The Boxcar is located in Raleigh's revitalized warehouse district. We had a great turnout with partners, vendors, Citrix representatives, and numerous CUGC members. CUGC leaders Patrick Fish and Alain Assaf greeted visitors and handed out cupfuls of tokens for later arcade goodness. Bitdefender kicked off the meeting with a deep-dive into their suite of GravityZone products. After a short break for food and games. CTP Tobias Kreidl presented his findings when using GPUs to improve end user experience.  After Tobias' talk, our attendees socialized ...

Dutch Citrix User Group Event Recap - March 15, 2019

By Chris Jeucken posted 03-22-2019
DuCUG March 15th 2019 Recap Last week there was another Dutch Citrix User Group event. A bi-annual Citrix event in the Netherlands with a focus on all-things Citrix (and anything related). I was one of the attendees and I will provide a recap of this edition. As usual, the event was opened up by DuCUG crewmember Niek Boevink. After a sincere welcome, he talked about the evaluations of the previous edition. In this one, the session ‘ Automation of Citrix Images ’ by fellow Citrix Technology Advocate @Chris Twiest  was the top rated one. The first session of this edition was about podcasts. As guests, they had Sander Noordijk and @Eric van Klaveren ...

A Synergy Hotel Deal for CUGC Members

By Neil Spellings posted 02-21-2019
As many of my twitter followers or blog readers will know, each year at Synergy I organise a community hotel discount in a decent hotel near the Synergy venue . Having worked as an independent for many years, I fully appreciate that the cost of attending Synergy can put many people off, with the triple-hit of unpaid leave, travel & hotel costs and conference fees. So, I try to help in any way I can to encourage more people, especially independents like myself, to attend. Each year I publish my Ultimate Synergy Guide on my blog with tips and advice on travel, accommodation and how to get the most out of Synergy. Before I open up this year's hotel ...

CUGC XL: Florida 2019 Recap

By Jenny Sheerin posted 01-16-2019
CUGC Meeting Supersized! What a great way to start 2019 with Florida’s first CUGC XL event in Orlando. We owe the successful XL to months of collaborative planning with CUGC Headquarters, as well as Jacksonville, Orlando, South Florida and Tampa’s local CUGC group leaders. It was a free all-day event packed with technical presentations from expert speakers, great conversations and information sharing in roundtable discussions, along with plenty of networking opportunities with peers and vendors to inspire the latest in solutions. The day started with registration and a delightful breakfast. Attendees got to network with peers and worked on completing their ...
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Monitoring Citrix Cloud with OData and PowerShell

By Eltjo van Gulik posted 01-16-2019
Since the introduction of Xenapp and Xendesktop 7, Citrix ships these products with the monitoring tool Director for all editions of its products. Director enables Citrix admins to proactively monitor their XenApp and XenDesktop environment in on-premises environments without the need for additional software or licenses. In the latest State of the Union survey of 2018 by the VDI Like a Pro  https://vdilikeapro.com/state-vdi-sbc-union-survey-2018/ , 18 percent of the respondents that were polled when asked 'Which public cloud (Remote App/DaaS) solution will you introduce or use?' responded with Citrix Cloud on Azure as their preferred solution. ...

Security Considerations and Best Practices for XenApp and XenDesktop

By Limor Wainstein posted 11-16-2018
When deploying Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops  within enterprises and governmental institutions, there are security standards you may need to comply. Unauthorized access to confidential data and data breach can happen if proper security measures are not in place. In this post, we’ll go through some of the top security practices that with keeping your virtual environment secure. We’ll also compare some aspects of Citrix security with other enterprise-ready VDI platforms.  Let’s get started. Managing User Privileges Users should be granted only the access capabilities they require. When it comes to Microsoft Windows, access privileges are applied ...

CUGC Women In Tech Mentoring Program – Class of 2018-19

By Esther Barthel posted 11-06-2018
I’m happy to announce that the CUGC Women In Technology Mentoring Program, Class of 2018-19 has started! We were able to successfully pair all of our applicants with mentors that match their interests and goals. Introduction emails have been sent out and the first one-on-one mentoring conversations and goal-setting have already begun. I’m also happy to announce that we have two new mentors joining the program this year: Jane Cassell, CTA Jane has over 25 years of IT experience, and is a  Senior End User Computing, Mobile & Virtualization Specialist/Architect. She was also recently featured as the CUGC November Member of the Month. Jeannine ...
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Bay Area CUGC Meetup October 2018

By Donald Wong posted 10-29-2018
On October 17, 2018, the second Bay Area CUGC meetup took place at SINO of Santa Row, located in a trendy hotspot of Silicon Valley. Based presumably on the feedback from the first meetup, the CUGC leaders decided to have it at a quieter venue. Even though it was at an open patio area, there was less noticeable noise so attendees could chat and adequately listen to the presentations. The turnout again was fantastic, as we had a great mix of customers, partners/VARs, and vendors, all well represented to share their diverse ideas.  After everyone had a chance to meet, greet, and check in, CUGC leaders Shams Madhani, Toan Thai, and Garren Quibelan kicked ...

2018 CUGC XL Midwest

By Nick Burton posted 10-10-2018
A BIGGER CUGC MEETING – IN THE MIDWEST!   CUGC XL Midwest was a collaborative effort between CUGC HQ and the five nearby local groups: Cincinnati , Columbus , Indianapolis , Louisville , and Northern Indiana . This day-long event was made possible due to the hard work of everyone and the support of our sponsors: The Speakers Our speakers consisted of five highly-renowned Citrix gurus, including Citrix employees, CTAs and CTPs, covering a wide variety of popular subjects:   Eduardo Molina , CTP, Cincinnati CUGC Leader - “Citrix Cloud with XenApp/Xendesktop on Azure/AWS” Jarian Gibson , CTP, Kansas City CUGC ...
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CUGC's 400th Meeting!

By Brian Dunlavy posted 09-24-2018
Houston CUGC was proud to host the 400th CUGC meeting on September 13, 2018 at Karbach Brewery. Houston CUGC leaders Jason Samuel, Brian Dunlavy and Randy Alderman were present to welcome everyone and cover local CUGC information before lunch was served. Leader Sean Roland arrived after battling Houston traffic, and unfortunately, leader Richard Maresca was unable to attend.   Once everyone settled in with food, expert guest speaker Ron Oglesby discussed part 1 of App Layering best practices.   Our event sponsor, Ivanti, was up next and John Hare was in town from Denver to discuss Ivanti's products. After John wrapped ...

2019 CTP & CTA Applications Now Open!

By Perrine Crampton posted 09-11-2018
2018 CTP/CTA meeting with Citrix CEO, David Henshall It's ALIVE! We are excited to announce that we are now accepting applications for the CTP and the CTA classes of 2019! The application will remain open until October 31, 2018 . This year, CTP and CTA candidates may apply for one, or both, programs via the single application. However, candidates may be members of only one program. As such, those who apply for both programs will be awarded into the most appropriate program by the nominating committee. If you fit the program qualifications, please apply . CTP Program eligibility CTA Program selection criteria Special Note - ...
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CUGC Women in Tech Mentoring Program – Getting Ready for the Next Class!

By Jo Harder posted 08-31-2018
CUGC Women in Technology Mentoring Program – Getting Ready for the Next Class! “I really enjoy being a mentor in the CUGC community. It's great to listen and help others grow in the field of technology in a way that's important and special to them. This program brings people together in a way that's building a network of remarkable individuals, and I am thankful to collaborate with such amazing women.”  –Theresa Miller,  CTP, Founder of 24x7 IT Connection, LLC and CUGC Women in Tech Mentor “I’ve been fortunate and thankful to have some wonderful mentors that helped guide me through the twists and turns of my career, and the CUGC WIT program provides ...
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Recap: 1st Bay Area CUGC Meetup

By Donald Wong posted 07-09-2018
First-Ever Bay Area CUGC It might come as a surprise to many in the San Francisco Bay Area that this was the first-ever Citrix User Group Community (CUGC) meetup, especially considering we are located in one of the largest concentrations of technology-based firms around the world. But, there is a first for everything and we are excited about future meetups, and garnering the momentum generated from this event. We had close to 40 participants for the inaugural event, ranging from customers and vendors to sponsors and partners, and other attendees who just wanted to learn a bit more about CUGC.   Location Our venue was The Farmers Union, located in ...

Recap: CUGC XL–Northeast

By Nicolas Ignoto posted 06-20-2018
Recap of the first Citrix User Group Community (CUGC) XL event in New York City. Hosted at the Microsoft Technology Center on June 14, 2018. First Ever Northeast CUGC XL The first-ever Northeast CUGC XL in New York City was held last week. This all-day, FREE event was the first of its kind in the Northeast and was co-organized by the New York Metro, New Jersey and Connecticut/RI CUGC local groups. We were excited to once again bring together IT professionals—and, for the first time, from many different locations. The event garnered a lot of interest, as we hit a record-high number of registrants (more than 300)! Featured Speakers We put ...
  User Created CUGCXL NortheastXL

My First Citrix Synergy

By Steve Elgan posted 05-29-2018
Hello CUGC Community! This year I was lucky enough to attend my first Citrix Synergy event! This is something I have been looking forward to for a long time. However, my family has been in a season of growing, and having little kids at home makes it very difficult to get away for extended periods of time. I'd first like to thank my wife for playing super-mom at home the entire week that I was gone. I know it was challenging for her to do all the work alone. Thank You Malissa! For the last three years, I have been engaging with our community. First, on the local level by co-leading our Omaha CUGC group (along with four excellent leads) and having some success ...

CUGC in XL Sizes–Great Plains Recap

By William Vetter posted 04-18-2018
CUGC  in XL Sizes! T he CUGC XL: Great Plains was a huge success , and  it couldn’t have been possible without YOU–the community. From the users to the leaders, the speakers to the vendors, and all of our wonderful guest presentations–your input and contributions are  what helped make this such a successful event. Quoting our panel speakers at the end of the CUGC XL: “YOU are shaping the content.” For those of you who couldn't attend, here is a quick recap of the 2018 Great Plains CUGC XL Presentations: The day started off with breakfast, w hile CTA and Citrix Senior Architect Martin Zugec  present ed his  concepts on “Ransomware Kill Chain ...

Solutions to Replicate/Sync Your Citrix Provisioning Services (PVS) Store

By Chris Twiest posted 03-28-2018
Everyone who uses Citrix Provisioning Services (PVS) knows that it is important to make your vDisk and PVS servers High Available. There are two ways to do this. You can share high available (centralized) storage between your PVS servers or you can attach local storage to each PVS server to create a local store. In the real world, I have seen the local storage option way more times than the shared storage option. And for good reason: it's just easier to setup. Just create two VMs with an extra virtual hard-drive to both and you’re done. But to create high availability the vDisks must be available to both servers in their local storage. The challenge here ...
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