Installation guide

Chapter 1. Introduction to Windows Terminal Server and Citrix MetaFrame 5
Table 1-1 Differences between MetaFrame XPs, XPa and XPe
Typically if a MetaFrame server farm consists of two or more servers, a customer purchases
either Citrix MetaFrame XPa or XPe for its advanced load balancing capability.
Overall performance is improved in multiserver environments by using Load Balancing
Services. Using the Windows Calculator program (calc.exe) as a trivial example, if you decide
to publish Calculator to your users, you can make it available on two or more servers. Then,
when a user wants to use Calculator, the user’s client asks a server, called the Data Collector,
to identify those servers that are running the application. The Data Collector (DC) then
determines which server is the least busy. It notifies the user’s client software with the name
of the server to which it should connect to run the application. You can configure specific load
evaluator rules for each application based on parameters such as server user load,
application user load, CPU, and memory utilization.
The user’s workstation then executes Calculator on the least busy server. Of course, this all
occurs without the user being aware of it. With Load Balancing, you can specify to consider
parameters, such as CPU load, available memory, and so on, at various priority levels by the
Data Collector in determining which server is the least busy. We look at the Data Collector
when we look at a scalable Citrix solution in 4.3, “Large WTS and MetaFrame environment”
on page 31.
1.5 Web Interface
MetaFrame Web Interface, previously known as Citrix NFuse, is a component of MetaFrame.
You can download it from the Web at:
http://www.citrix.com
Web Interface allows a user to log on to a Web site to see a personalized list of applications
available from the server farm. Figure 1-4 shows an example display.
Version Product highlights Typical environments
XPs 򐂰 Single Server Operation
򐂰 Citrix Management Console
򐂰 Centralized Printer Management
򐂰 Centralized License Management
򐂰 Active Directory Support
򐂰 Advanced Shadowing
򐂰 Client Time Zone Support
򐂰 Web Interface
One server deploys applications for a
small-to-medium sized company.
XPa XPs features and:
򐂰 Multiple Server Operation
򐂰 Advanced Load Management
Large to enterprise server farms consist of
many servers.
XPe XPa features and:
򐂰 Application Packaging & Delivery
򐂰 Network Management
򐂰 System Monitoring & Analysis
Large to enterprise server farms consist of
many servers. Additional tools are necessary
to assist with management and application
deployment.