United Kingdom | The Evolution of Citrix Machine Creation Services with Microsoft Azure

James Kindon - 09.12.2021

The Evolution of Citrix Machine Creation Services with Microsoft Azure

United Kingdom | The Evolution of Citrix Machine Creation Services with Microsoft Azure

In this blog we are tracking the progress of Citrix MCS and Microsoft Azure.

United Kingdom | The Evolution of Citrix Machine Creation Services with Microsoft Azure

There is a lot of constant improvement being executed by the MCS team at Citrix, the release cadence is impressive and the feature enhancements significant. I spend a lot of time in Microsoft Azure with Citrix Cloud with a lot of happy clients. I thought it would be worth to keep a rolling tally of new features with MCS and how it relates to Azure, so we don’t lose sight of how much value add is provided.

I will do my best to maintain this list as and when features come out, as well as some commentary around their value where I can. It is important to be across the options when designing your delivery platform on Azure, many changes have a direct implication on the ongoing operational costs associated with running workloads on/in Azure, as well as availability and global deployment options. Looking at what we have now, vs what was available 12 months ago, many designs and deployments would look remarkably different.

NOVEMBER 2021

Feature: Support for displaying Azure Marketplace purchase plan information

Detail: When creating a machine catalogue, you can now view purchase plan information for master images originated from Azure Marketplace images

OCTOBER 2021

Feature: Improve performance by preserving a provisioned VM when power cycling

Detail: Citrix added a setting Retain VMs across power cycles to the Machine Catalog Setup > Disk Settings page of the Full Configuration management interface. The setting lets you preserve a provisioned VM when power cycling in Azure environments.

Be wary of cost implications associated with persistent OS disks

Feature: Ability to update persistent MCS catalogues

Detail: Citrix introduced the Update Machines option for persistent MCS catalogues in the Full Configuration management interface. The option lets customers manage the image or template the catalogue uses. When updating a persistent catalogue, consider the following:

Only machines you add to the catalogue later are created using the new image or template. We do not roll out the update to existing machines in the catalogue This is significant given the previous method wasn’t easily understood for those not in bed with PowerShell

Feature: Provision VMs on an Azure dedicated host

Detail: Citrix added an option, Use a host group, to the Machine Catalogue Setup > Master Image page of the Full Configuration management interface. The option lets clients specify which host group they want to use when provisioning VMs in Azure environments

Feature: Bind a machine catalogue to a Workspace Environment Management configuration set

Detail: A machine catalogue can now be bound to a Workspace Environment Management configuration set on creation. Customers can also choose to bind the catalogue after they create the catalogue.

Whilst not specifically an MCS feature, it is an enhancement that MCS will consume, so it makes the list of goodies.

SEPTEMBER 2021

Feature: Informative description for image updates

Detail: Change details associated with catalogue updates can now be added via PowerShell using the masterImageNote attribute. This functionality is useful for administrators who want to add descriptive labels when updating an image used by a catalogue. 

Hopefully this lands in the GUI shortly for general consumption 

Feature: Azure VMware Solution (AVS) integration

Detail: Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service supports AVS, the Azure VMware Solution. Clients can leverage the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktop service to use AVS for provisioning workloads in the same they would using vSphere in on-premises environments

Feature: Same resource group for multiple catalogues

Detail: Clients can now use the same resource group for updating and creating catalogues in the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Service. This process:

  • Applies to any resource group which contains one or more machine catalogs
  • Supports resource groups that are not created by Machine Creation Services
  • Creates the VM and associated resources
  • Deletes resources in the resource group when the VM or the catalogue is removed

Feature: Retrieve information for Azure VMs, snapshots, OS disk, and gallery image definition

Detail: You can display information for an Azure VM, OS disk, snapshot and gallery image definition. This information is displayed for resources on the master image when a machine catalogue is assigned. Use this functionality to view and select either a Linux or Windows image

Feature: Support for non-domain-joined catalogues

Detail: Citrix added an identity type, Non-domain-joined, to the Machine Catalogue Setup > Machine Identities page of the Full Configuration management interface. With this identity type, MCS can create machines that are not joined to any domain

Feature:Support for using a machine profile when deploying MCS workloads in Azure

Detail: This option lets you specify which machine profile you want the image to inherit the configuration from when creating VMs in Azure environments. The image can inherit the following configurations from the selected machine profile:

  • Accelerated networking
  • Boot diagnostics
  • Host disk caching (OS and MCSIO disks)
  • Machine size (unless otherwise specified),
  • Tags placed on the VM

This is awesome. If you have needed to implement my Accelerated Networking scripts, then consider using this feature instead

Feature:Support for Windows Server 2022

Detail: Requires minimum VDA 2106

AUGUST 2021

Feature: Support for additional Azure storage types

Detail: You can now select different storage types for virtual machines in Azure environments using MCS

Feature: Support for selecting the storage type for write-back cache disks

Detail: In the Full Configuration management interface, when creating an MCS catalogue, you can now select the storage type for the write-back cache disk. Available storage types include Premium SSD, Standard SSD, and Standard HDD

JUNE 2021

Feature: Access Azure Shared Image Gallery images

Detail: When creating a machine catalogue, you can now access images from the Azure Shared Image Gallery on the Master Image screen

Feature: Always use standard SSD for an identity disk to reduce cost in Azure environments

Detail: Machine catalogues use the standard SSD storage type for identity disks. Azure standard SSDs are a cost-effective storage option optimised for workloads that need consistent performance at lower IOPS levels.

You can read more about the benefits of this change here and utilise the provided scripts to convert existing deployments

MAY 2021

Feature: Studio supports selecting Azure Availability Zones

Detail: Previously, PowerShell was the only choice to provision machines into a specific Availability Zone in Azure environments.

When using Studio to create a machine catalogue, you can now select one or more Availability Zones into which you want to provision machines. If no zones are specified, Machine Creation Services (MCS) lets Azure place the machines within the region. If more than one zone is specified, MCS randomly distributes the machines across them

Feature: Azure ephemeral disk

Detail: Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service supports Azure ephemeral disk. An ephemeral disk allows you to repurpose the VM cache to store the OS disk for an Azure-enabled virtual machine.

Ephemeral OS disks require that your provisioning scheme use managed disks and a Shared Image Gallery.

Feature: Improved performance for MCS managed VDAs on Azure

Detail: This enhancement changes the default values for Absolute Simultaneous actions for the hosting connexion to 500, and Maximum new actions per minute for the hosting connexion to 2,000. No manual configuration tasks are required to take advantage of this enhancement

APRIL 2021

Feature: MCS I/O support for Azure VMs without temporary storage

Detail: MCS I/O now supports machine catalogue creation for VMs which do not have temporary disks or attached storage

Feature: Support for Azure Gen2 images

Detail: You can now provision a Gen2 VM catalogue by using either a Gen2 snapshot or a Gen 2 managed disk to improve boot time performance

Feature: Disabling table storage accounts

Detail: Machine Creation Services (MCS) no longer creates table storage accounts for catalogues which use managed disks when provisioning VDAs on Azure

Feature: Eliminating locks in storage accounts

Detail: When creating a catalogue in Azure using a managed disk, a storage account is no longer created. Storage accounts created for existing catalogues remain unchanged. This change is applicable for managed disks only. For unmanaged disks, there is no change in the existing behaviour. Machine Creation Services (MCS) continues creating storage accounts and locks

Feature: Use a client-managed encryption key to encrypt data on machines

Detail: Studio adds a setting called Client-managed encryption key to the Machine Catalogue Setup > Disk Settings page. The setting lets you choose whether to encrypt data on the machines to be provisioned in the catalogue

MARCH 2021

Feature: Azure dedicated hosts

Detail: Azure dedicated hosts allow you to provision virtual machines on hardware dedicated to a single customer. While using a dedicated host, Azure ensures your virtual machines would be the only machines running on that host. This provides more control and visibility to clients thereby ensuring they meet their regulatory or internal security requirements.

A pre-configured Azure host group, in the region of the hosting unit, is required when using the HostGroupId parameter. Also, Azure auto-placement is required.

When using Azure dedicated hosts, selecting the Azure Availability Zone has no effect. The virtual machine is placed by the Azure auto-placement process.

Feature: Support for Azure server side encryption

Detail: Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service supports client-managed encryption keys for Azure managed disks. With this support you can manage your organisational and compliance requirements by encrypting the managed disks of your machine catalogue using your own encryption key

Feature: Provision machines into specified availability zones on Azure

Detail: You can now provision machines into a specific availability zone in Azure environments. With this functionality You can specify one or multiple Availability Zones on Azure. Machines are nominally equally distributed across all provided zones if more than one zone is provided the virtual machine and the corresponding disk are placed in the specified zone (or zones).

Feature: Azure Shared Image Gallery

Detail: Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service supports Azure Shared Image Gallery as a published image repository for MCS provisioned machines in Azure. Administrators have the option of storing an image in the gallery to accelerate the creation and hydration of OS disks. This process imp.roves the boot and application launch times for non-persistent VMs

FEBRUARY 2021

Feature: Support for Azure Gen2 images

Detail: You can now provision managed disks using Gen2 VMs in Azure environments to improve boot time performance

Feature: Extended support for Citrix Managed Azure

Detail: Citrix Managed Azure is now available in the following Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service editions: Standard for Azure, Advanced, Premium and Workspace Premium Plus

Feature: Support for placing master images in Azure Shared Image Gallery

Detail: Studio now provides you an option to place master images in Azure Shared Image Gallery (SIG). SIG is a repository for managing and sharing images. It lets you make your images available throughout your organisation.

Citrix recommend you store a master image in SIG when creating large non-persistent machine catalogues because doing this enables faster reset of VDA OS disks.

Feature: Retain system disk for MCS machine catalogues in Azure

Detail: Studio now lets you control whether to retain system disks for VDAs during power cycles. Ordinarily, the system disk is deleted on shutdown and recreated on start-up. This ensures the disk is always in a clean state however results in longer VM restart times. If system writes are redirected to the cache and written back to the cache disk, the system disk remains unchanged.

To avoid unnecessary disk recreation, use the Retain system disk during power cycles option, available on the Machine Catalogue Setup > Disk Settings page. Enabling the option reduces VM restart times but increases your storage costs. The option can be useful in scenarios where an environment contains workloads with sensitive restart times

Feature: Studio now supports creating MCS machine catalogues with persistent write-back cache disk

Detail: Previously, PowerShell was your only choice to create a catalogue with a persistent write-back cache disk. You can now use Studio to control whether the write-back cache disk persists for the provisioned VMs in Azure when you are creating a catalogue. If disabled, the write-back cache disk is deleted during each power cycle to save storage costs, causing any data redirected to the disk to be lost.

To retain the data, enable the Use persistent write-back cache disk option, available on the Machine Catalogue Setup > Disk Settings page.

JANUARY 2021

Feature: Azure Shared Image Gallery

Details: Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service supports Azure Shared Image Gallery as a published image repository for MCS provisioned machines in Azure. Administrators have the option of storing an image in the gallery to accelerate the creation and hydration of OS disks from the master image. This process improves the boot and application launch times for non-persistent VMs

DECEMBER 2020

Feature: Standard SSD disk type support for Azure

Details: Studio now adds support for standard SSD disk type. Azure standard SSDs are a cost-effective storage option optimised for workloads that need consistent performance at lower IOPS levels.

OCTOBER 2020

Feature: Use direct upload for Azure managed disks

Details: Direct upload eliminates the need to attach an empty managed disk to a virtual machine. Directly uploading to an Azure managed disk simplifies the workflow by enabling you to copy an on-premises VHD directly for use as a managed disk. Supported managed disks include Standard HDD, Standard SSD and Premium SSD.

Feature: Single Resource Group in Azure

Details: You can now create and use a single Azure resource group for updating and creating catalogues in Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops. This enhancement applies to both the full scope and narrow scope service principals. The previous limit of 240 VMs per 800 managed disks per Azure Resource Group has been removed. There is no longer a limit on the number of virtual machines, managed disks, snapshots, and images per Azure Resource Group

SEPTEMBER 2020

Feature: Support for a new machine type

Details: This release adds support for the NV v4 and the DA v4 series of AMD machines, when configuring Premium Disks for a machine catalogue.

AUGUST 2020

Feature: Improved boot performance for Azure system disks

Details: This release supports improved boot performance for Citrix Cloud implementations using Azure when MCSIO is enabled. With this support, you can retain the system disk. This provides the following advantages:

  • VMs and applications now boot and launch with performance like how the golden image is served
  • Reduction in API quota consumption, deleting and creating the system disk, and state transition delay caused when you delete a VM

This blog was originally published on jkindon.com and reposted here with permission.

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United Kingdom | The Evolution of Citrix Machine Creation Services with Microsoft Azure

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United Kingdom | The Evolution of Citrix Machine Creation Services with Microsoft Azure

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