{"id":1409,"date":"2014-11-17T10:20:25","date_gmt":"2014-11-17T15:20:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/?p=1409"},"modified":"2015-02-04T10:14:43","modified_gmt":"2015-02-04T15:14:43","slug":"citrix-demystified","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/citrix-demystified\/","title":{"rendered":"Citrix Demystified"},"content":{"rendered":"<script>fsg_json['fsg_post_1409'] = [\n{id: 1451, image: 'http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/files\/2014\/11\/VAPPS_2.png', extlink: '', thumb: 'https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/files\/2014\/11\/VAPPS_2-150x150.png', permalink: '<div class=\"galleria-layeritem\"><a title=\"Permalink\" href=\"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/citrix-demystified\/vapps_2\/#0\"><div class=\"galleria-link-bookmark\"><\/div><\/a><\/div>', layer: '<div class=\"galleria-infolayer\"><div class=\"galleria-layeritem\" style=\"padding-right: 20px;\"><\/div><div class=\"galleria-layeritem\"><a title=\"Permalink\" href=\"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/citrix-demystified\/vapps_2\/#0\"><div class=\"galleria-link-bookmark\"><\/div><\/a><\/div><div class=\"galleria-layeritem\" style=\"padding-right: 20px;\"><\/div>'},\n{id: 1513, image: 'http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/files\/2014\/11\/SPSS_save1.png', extlink: '', thumb: 'https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/files\/2014\/11\/SPSS_save1-150x150.png', permalink: '<div class=\"galleria-layeritem\"><a title=\"Permalink\" href=\"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/citrix-demystified\/spss_save-3\/#0\"><div class=\"galleria-link-bookmark\"><\/div><\/a><\/div>', layer: '<div class=\"galleria-infolayer\"><div class=\"galleria-layeritem\" style=\"padding-right: 20px;\"><\/div><div class=\"galleria-layeritem\"><a title=\"Permalink\" href=\"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/citrix-demystified\/spss_save-3\/#0\"><div class=\"galleria-link-bookmark\"><\/div><\/a><\/div><div class=\"galleria-layeritem\" style=\"padding-right: 20px;\"><\/div>'},\n{id: 1425, image: 'http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/files\/2014\/11\/new_folder_star.png', extlink: '', thumb: 'https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/files\/2014\/11\/new_folder_star.png', permalink: '<div class=\"galleria-layeritem\"><a title=\"Permalink\" href=\"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/citrix-demystified\/new_folder_star\/#0\"><div class=\"galleria-link-bookmark\"><\/div><\/a><\/div>', layer: '<div class=\"galleria-infolayer\"><div class=\"galleria-layeritem\" style=\"padding-right: 20px;\"><\/div><div class=\"galleria-layeritem\"><a title=\"Permalink\" href=\"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/citrix-demystified\/new_folder_star\/#0\"><div class=\"galleria-link-bookmark\"><\/div><\/a><\/div><div class=\"galleria-layeritem\" style=\"padding-right: 20px;\"><\/div>'},\n{id: 1426, image: 'http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/files\/2014\/11\/new_folder_plus.png', extlink: '', thumb: 'https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/files\/2014\/11\/new_folder_plus.png', permalink: '<div class=\"galleria-layeritem\"><a title=\"Permalink\" href=\"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/citrix-demystified\/new_folder_plus\/#0\"><div class=\"galleria-link-bookmark\"><\/div><\/a><\/div>', layer: '<div class=\"galleria-infolayer\"><div class=\"galleria-layeritem\" style=\"padding-right: 20px;\"><\/div><div class=\"galleria-layeritem\"><a title=\"Permalink\" href=\"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/citrix-demystified\/new_folder_plus\/#0\"><div class=\"galleria-link-bookmark\"><\/div><\/a><\/div><div class=\"galleria-layeritem\" style=\"padding-right: 20px;\"><\/div>'},\n{id: 1434, image: 'http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/files\/2014\/11\/jmp_new_project.png', extlink: '', thumb: 'https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/files\/2014\/11\/jmp_new_project.png', permalink: '<div class=\"galleria-layeritem\"><a title=\"Permalink\" href=\"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/citrix-demystified\/jmp_new_project\/#0\"><div class=\"galleria-link-bookmark\"><\/div><\/a><\/div>', layer: '<div class=\"galleria-infolayer\"><div class=\"galleria-layeritem\" style=\"padding-right: 20px;\"><\/div><div class=\"galleria-layeritem\"><a title=\"Permalink\" href=\"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/citrix-demystified\/jmp_new_project\/#0\"><div class=\"galleria-link-bookmark\"><\/div><\/a><\/div><div class=\"galleria-layeritem\" style=\"padding-right: 20px;\"><\/div>'}\n];<\/script>\n<p>Citrix is an application virtualization product that allows users to connect to a suite of applications not installed on your computer from a wide range of computer systems and mobile devices, both on and off campus. \u00a0One way to access Vassar\u2019s Citrix applications is to install the Citrix Receiver on your\u00a0computer or device.\u00a0 Alternatively, you can use a web browser to access the Citrix applications via VApps (Vassar Virtual Applications), which can be found at http:\/\/vapps.vassar.edu.\u00a0 Academic applications available on Citrix, via either the Citrix Receiver or VApps, include JMP, MATLAB, SAS, and SPSS, among others. \u00a0The VApps web interface is shown in Figure 1.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1451\" style=\"width: 952px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a data-postid=\"fsg_post_1409\" data-imgid=\"1451\" href=\"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/files\/2014\/11\/VAPPS_2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1451\" class=\"wp-image-1451 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/files\/2014\/11\/VAPPS_2.png\" alt=\"VAPPS_2\" width=\"942\" height=\"489\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/files\/2014\/11\/VAPPS_2.png 942w, https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/files\/2014\/11\/VAPPS_2-300x155.png 300w, https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/files\/2014\/11\/VAPPS_2-500x259.png 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 942px) 100vw, 942px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1451\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 1.<\/strong> View of a typical VApps session.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>LOAD BALANCING<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While the ability to access software via Citrix is an invaluable resource for faculty and students alike, both factions have historically found the\u00a0file system\u00a0to be confusing and frustrating.\u00a0 Faculty frequently inquire, \u201cWhere should I save my files?\u201d or \u201cWhere did my files go?\u201d\u00a0 Much of the confusion results from the fact that all applications on Citrix are configured to be load balanced between two <em>or more<\/em> servers.<\/p>\n<p>Load balancing\u00a0is a way to distribute incoming traffic among servers hosting the same application content. \u00a0Load balancing\u00a0aims to optimize resource use, maximize throughput, minimize response time, and avoid overload of any single resource (<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=Load_balancing_(computing)&amp;oldid=628928076\">Wikipedia<\/a>, 2014).\u00a0 When one application server becomes unavailable, the load balancer directs new application requests to other available servers in the pool. When you launch an application on Vassar\u2019s Citrix system, you will be directed to a given server based upon a set of rules designed to keep the system load balanced.\u00a0 There is no way to specify a specific server when you log on.\u00a0 If you were to save files to the Citrix server during one session (Server A), there is a 50% chance (or more) that you will be directed to a different server (Server B) on a subsequent session.\u00a0 When this happens, you will not have access to files saved during your previous session.\u00a0 It will seem like your files have disappeared.\u00a0 Eventually, you will end up back on Server A, and your files magically reappear. \u00a0The load balancing configuration used by Vassar\u2019s Citrix applications is likely the primary reason\u00a0many Citrix users have had been so baffled by the file system.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SAVING FILES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Where should you save your files when working on Citrix?\u00a0 There are a few\u00a0options to choose from. \u00a0Select &#8220;Save\u00a0As&#8221; and scroll to &#8220;Computer&#8221; in the drop down menu. \u00a0You will see a number of drive options similar to those shown in Figure 2.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1513\" style=\"width: 594px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a data-postid=\"fsg_post_1409\" data-imgid=\"1513\" href=\"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/files\/2014\/11\/SPSS_save1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1513\" class=\"wp-image-1513 size-large\" src=\"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/files\/2014\/11\/SPSS_save1-1024x744.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"584\" height=\"424\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/files\/2014\/11\/SPSS_save1-1024x744.png 1024w, https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/files\/2014\/11\/SPSS_save1-300x217.png 300w, https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/files\/2014\/11\/SPSS_save1-412x300.png 412w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1513\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 2.<\/strong> Common options for saving files on Citrix are shown. Do not save files to the Citrix server space, indicated by the green box. Your network U-drive, indicated by the blue box, is the ideal place to store your Citrix files. Alternatively, you may store files on your local drive.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Your U-drive, a network drive that you can access from any Citrix server, is the best place to store your Citrix files.\u00a0 It is by far the safest environment to store files, because it is backed up 24\/7\/365, with up to 3 levels of media. \u00a0Each user is allotted up to 2 GB of U-drive storage. \u00a0Your U-Drive will be identified as: <span style=\"color: #ff00ff;\">username (\\\\winfile02\\home$) (U:)<\/span>. \u00a0Your Vassar user name will replace &#8220;username&#8221; as shown in Figure 2. \u00a0Students&#8217; U-drives will be identified as: \u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff00ff;\">username (\\\\stufile02\\home$) (U:)<\/span>. \u00a0\u00a0If you choose to save to your local machine, you will not, in most cases, be able to access those files when you are working from another location. \u00a0For example, files saved to your office desktop computer will not be accessible\u00a0when you are working from home.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SIMPLIFYING ACCESS TO YOUR FILES<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"p\">I recommend that you create a separate folder on your U-drive for each VApps application that you use. \u00a0 Settle on a clear, consistent naming convention (<em>e.g.<\/em>, My SAS Files, My JMP Files, etc.). \u00a0You can create these folders the first time you save to your U-drive from a given program. \u00a0Depending on the program, &#8220;Save As&#8221; will offer you the option either via a new folder icon (<a data-postid=\"fsg_post_1409\" data-imgid=\"1425\" href=\"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/files\/2014\/11\/new_folder_star.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-1425\" style=\"padding: 0pt; vertical-align: middle;\" src=\"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/files\/2014\/11\/new_folder_star.png\" alt=\"new_folder_star\" width=\"18\" height=\"15\" \/><\/a> or\u00a0<a data-postid=\"fsg_post_1409\" data-imgid=\"1426\" href=\"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/files\/2014\/11\/new_folder_plus.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1426\" style=\"padding: 0pt; vertical-align: middle;\" src=\"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/files\/2014\/11\/new_folder_plus.png\" alt=\"new_folder_plus\" width=\"19\" height=\"18\" \/><\/a>) \u00a0or a &#8220;New Folder&#8221; button near the top of the &#8220;Save As&#8221; window. Alternatively, you may be able to access your U-drive via your local computer. Most Windows allocations will be set up with your U-drive as a mapped network drive. \u00a0In this case, you can simply open Windows Explorer and navigate to Computer \u2192\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff00ff;\">username (\\\\winfile02\\home$) (U:)<\/span>, where you can create new folders and access your files. \u00a0This drive is normally not mapped on Mac allocations. \u00a0To connect to your U-drive from a Mac, click on the Finder, go to the &#8220;Go&#8221; menu, and click on &#8220;Connect To Server.&#8221; Enter\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff00ff;\">smb:\/\/<span class=\"il\">winfile02<\/span>.vassar.<wbr \/>edu\/home$\/[username]<\/span>\u00a0in the Address field, click the &#8220;+&#8221; button to save to favorites, and click &#8220;Connect&#8221; to mount the space.\u00a0 The space gets mounted at \/Volumes\/[username], but it should also appear on the desktop, depending on how the Finder preferences are set.<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-bottom: 20px;\"><\/div>\n<p>Once you have created new folders to organize your U-drive, you can create shortcuts, default folders, libraries, etc. that will simplify access to your files. \u00a0Unfortunately, the process must be repeated, due to load balancing, in order to\u00a0implement access points on each server hosting the particular software being used. \u00a0You should use the same name on each server for whatever access points\u00a0you create. \u00a0Since you cannot specify which server will be used for each Citrix\/Vapps session, it may take a few VApps sessions (logging out and logging back in) before you have logged into each server and created identical access points on each. \u00a0Below are some examples of how to\u00a0facilitate\u00a0access to your U-drive.<\/p>\n<ul style=\"list-style-type: square;\">\n<li>SAS\n<ul style=\"list-style-type: circle;\">\n<li style=\"margin-bottom: 10px;\">Create SAS libraries linked to a folder on\u00a0U-drive. \u00a0Click Tools \u2192\u00a0New Library. Give the library a name, click the &#8220;Enable at startup&#8221; box, browse to the appropriate folder on your U-drive (Look in: Computer), and click OK.<\/li>\n<li>Make shortcuts\u00a0to specific files. \u00a0Click Tools \u2192\u00a0New File Shortcut. \u00a0Give the shortcut a name and click the &#8220;Enable at startup&#8221; box. \u00a0Then, browse to the appropriate folder, and click OK.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul style=\"list-style-type: square;\">\n<li>JMP\n<ul style=\"list-style-type: circle;\">\n<li style=\"margin-bottom: 10px;\">Set file location preferences via the File \u2192 Preferences menu. \u00a0Select &#8220;File Locations&#8221; and set preferred locations for the &#8220;Data Files&#8221; and &#8220;Save As&#8221; directories. \u00a0Browse to the appropriate folder, click the box to &#8220;Always go to this directory&#8230;,&#8221; \u00a0Apply the changes and click OK.<\/li>\n<li>Create a new Project via the File \u2192 New\u00a0\u2192 Project menu or by clicking the &#8220;New Project&#8221; icon (<a data-postid=\"fsg_post_1409\" data-imgid=\"1434\" href=\"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/files\/2014\/11\/jmp_new_project.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1434\" style=\"padding: 0pt; vertical-align: middle;\" src=\"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/files\/2014\/11\/jmp_new_project.png\" alt=\"jmp_new_project\" width=\"16\" height=\"17\" \/><\/a>) in the Projects window. \u00a0Right-click on the new Project to add\u00a0folders and documents from your U-Drive and change other settings.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul style=\"list-style-type: square;\">\n<li>SPSS\n<ul style=\"list-style-type: circle;\">\n<li>Define startup folders for Open and Save dialogs. \u00a0Select Edit \u2192\u00a0Options and click on the &#8220;File Locations&#8221; tab. \u00a0Browse to the desired folders on your U-Drive. \u00a0Click Apply, and then OK. \u00a0Provide Session Journal location and file name, if desired.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul style=\"list-style-type: square;\">\n<li>MATLAB\n<ul style=\"list-style-type: circle;\">\n<li>Reset default &#8220;userpath&#8221; and change startup folder to new userpath.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul style=\"list-style-type: square;\">\n<li>Origin Pro\n<ul style=\"list-style-type: circle;\">\n<li>Specify\u00a0your &#8220;User Files Folder.&#8221; \u00a0Select Tools \u2192\u00a0Options and click on the &#8220;System Path&#8221; tab. \u00a0Click on &#8220;User Files Folder&#8221; and click the &#8220;Change&#8230;&#8221; button. \u00a0Browse to the designated folder on your U-Drive. Click OK to select the folder, to change the path of the folder, to close the restart notification, and finally to close the Options window. \u00a0Restart Origin to implement the change.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Remember that you will have to repeat the process on subsequent sessions until you have done so on each server hosting a particular application. \u00a0For a seamless experience, use the same names on each server when creating libraries and shortcuts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Citrix is an application virtualization product that allows users to connect to a suite of applications not installed on your computer from a wide range of computer systems and mobile devices, both on and off campus. \u00a0One way to access &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/citrix-demystified\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3429,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60637,60638,20922,943,60636],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-citrix","category-load-balancing","category-shelly-johnson","category-software","category-vapps"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3429"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1409"}],"version-history":[{"count":115,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1630,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1409\/revisions\/1630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/acs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}