I've noticed an interesting trend over the last couple of months. More and more of my customers are talking about Citrix. I think it's the "cost-cutting" mode that we're all in these days, and while I don't know a lot about Citrix, I know it has been one way that customers are cutting back on desktop hardware, etc.
So, I've been getting more and more questions about Notes on Citrix and how to make it perform for the Notes 8.x client. So..in the interest of helping to educate the masses, I decided to learn about it myself and let you all in on some great configurations our Notes/Citrix team has been working with! So...here you go!
We all know the Notes 8.x client isn't exactly what we would call "light". There's a LOT of stuff in there (and that's OK)! With Expeditor being used as a foundation and with all the great plug-ins and features we've added, it can take a fair amount of memory to run. And, apparently, therein lies the issue when trying to put Notes clients on Citrix for end-users. And, what exactly does that mean to you, the Notes or Citrix administrator?
Well, in the Notes 7.x days, a typical Citrix deployment would be able to house approximately 35 Notes users on a single Citrix server. When Notes 8.0 came along, things worked a little bit differently. Initially, the Notes 8.0 client did not collocate all components and this caused issues when running on centralized servers - like Citrix. And, the Notes 8.0 client footprint was very large in comparison to 7.x and therefore the number of users you were able to place on a single Citrix server was significantly smaller - possibly even 1/3 of what you were able to house before! Obviously, this was not optimal and made it so that many customers running Citrix would be faced with what many called an "undeployable" situation.
Obviously, with more and more of you running Citrix, something had to change! So, in 8.0.2, the focus was on scalability improvements - including a reduction in the memory footprint in general and then the developers asked themselves the question "Is there anything specific to Citrix that can help?". So, they collaborated with Citrix and brought a Citrix engineer on-site to work with the dev team to see what could be done. And lo and behold - cool things happened!!!
One of the performance changes from 8.0.2 was a Notes-specific setting that was created that helped with the java class setting. It had no major impact on single user clients, but made a significant impact in a multi-user client setting - like Citrix. Essentially, it made it so that the client could share java classes across all the clients - saving a lot of resources!
Another change was the ability to support PAE on 32-bit systems, which allows 32-bit applications to access memory beyond the 4GB RAM limit. So, when we move from a base Citrix system (Win 2003 with 4GB RAM) to a system with 8GB RAM, we can effectively double the number of users on that system. So we're taking better advantage of the hardware.
Then, for Citrix only, development made the option to support running the Notes client on a 64-bit system - which means you can now have access to "almost unlimited" amount of memory. What does this mean in terms of deployment? Well, development tested a quad-core, 32Gb system and showed that they could increase the number of users on the system from 40-60 users to almost 150 users on a single Citrix system! That's a HUGE benefit for those of you running Citrix! You could potentially reduce the size of your Citrix farms!
Of course, there are a TON of details out there on how to do this and I guarantee I'm not doing this justice (I'm not a Citrix administrator)!! So take a look for yourself... There is a white paper about scalability for Notes 8.0.2 on Citrix XenApp 4.5. that outlines all this information including the testing configurations and results. This white paper is currently about Notes 8.0.2, but will be updated for 8.5 in the very near future.
So..there you have it!! Citrix administrators rejoice!!
Oh..and the developers aren't done! This is an evolving process and obviously they would like to do more. As we move forward with new Notes releases, the developers are looking to improve more - like the installation process on Citrix or easier upgrades from previous versions of Notes. This might eve include making the install program Citrix-aware. But..the developers need your help! What do you need? What do you see, as a Citrix administrator that concerns you about Notes on Citrix? What issues/concerns do you have? Feel free to comment here or send me an email and I'll forward that information on! Your feedback will help!
Lotus Protector Converted Me!
Wed, Jan 27th 2010 11:01a Andrea Waugh-Metzger I had to get this out before Lotusphere so you could take a look at it yourself b/c ok - I admit it..I'm a convert. I have to tell you..the things that are coming out of Lotus Development these days never cease to amaze me, and Lotus has gone and done it again! I had the good fortune to be able to shadow a Lotus Protector Proof of Concept installation. Lotus Protector for Mail Security is a content filtering solution that blocks spam and viruses out of the box and also provides rich conten [read] Keywords: admin
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More Virtual Desktop Questions
Mon, Nov 30th 2009 9:05a Andrea Waugh-Metzger WOW! I'm totally impressed! There are quite a few people out there using Notes on Citrix and you guys ROCK at providing your input!! Thank you guys so much for your great replies and information! I assure you...the Notes/Citrix team has been reading your responses and are planning some great documents/whitepapers to help out! So while we are on the subject..let me ask some other questions - some about Citrix, some not. Citrix Performance Some of you have stated your performance post N [read] Keywords: ibm
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Looking for Notes/Citrix Implementations
Fri, Nov 20th 2009 3:27p Andrea Waugh-Metzger Ok - we're looking for your help here. Are you running Notes on Citrix? Did you recently upgrade your Citrix environment and your Notes clients on Citrix? What were your trials/tribulations? What were your successes? Would you want to share your success story (either publically or anonymously)?? I've had many customers ask about running Notes on Citrix and how others are doing it. I know many of you are successful - some, wildly successfuly! We're looking to outline success (or trial) [read] Keywords: notes
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AdminCamp 2009
Wed, Oct 14th 2009 10:25a Collin Murray A bit late in blogging about this, but I recently attended and presented at AdminCamp 2009 ( http://www.admincamp.de/ ). This is a top-notch conference put on by a dedicated group of Notes & Domino practioners. I had lots of great discussions with customers and partners, and the Notes/Domino enthusiasm was contagious! Being a technical conference, there were lots of great presentations and a nightly discussion/Q&A session that many people participated in. Need deeper knowledge of DAO [read] Keywords: domino
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DAOS Updates for Domino 8.5.1
Tue, Sep 22nd 2009 11:24a Andrea Waugh-Metzger Now that we know Domino 8.5.1 is just around the corner (thanks, Ed Brill!), it's time to wet your whistles a bit on what you're going to see! Let's talk about something I know you'll really like .... DAOS!! Just when we thought those Lotus developers couldn't get any better, they've gone and outdone themselves! Here's what's coming for DAOS in 8.5.1. As we talk about what's new, we need to make sure we understand what you *already* get as a part of DAOS in Domino 8.5. Currently, when [read] Keywords: domino
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Just What is This Directory Integrator Entitlement Anyway?
Wed, Jun 17th 2009 10:45a Andrea Waugh-Metzger There's this great entitlement that came with your ND 8 licenses that I think just hasn't gotten enough press. This new entitlement is for Tivoli Directory Integrator, or TDI. You see, Notes/Domino R8 came with an entitlement to use Tivoli Directory Integrator - it's completely free for you to use - as long as Domino is one of the systems you use in your assembly lines. Have you heard of it? Well, let me tell you...you just might start singing it's praises if you aren't already! So, wha [read] Keywords: document
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DCT, ID Vault and DAOS, Oh My!
Thu, Apr 23rd 2009 9:39a Andrea Waugh-Metzger So much good information, so many resources, and so little time! If you're like me, you HAVE to be thinking that about all the great resources out there for information about the new features in Domino 8.5! However, in case you haven't seen them, I wanted to point out a couple of resources that I think are of "special" importance! Domino Configuration Tuner So, I've written a few entries about DCT and how totally AWESOME it is! I've had tons of customers use it already and they have just [read] Keywords: domino
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Domino 8.5 Performance Benchmarks
Thu, Mar 12th 2009 11:39a Andrea Waugh-Metzger We had some issues last week though with the blog and it disappearing from sight for a couple of days. Sorry to the readers out there! But...we're back, and so is some great news! In fact, it's such great news, I can't believe it's taken me this long to write about it! The Domino 8.5 Performance Benchmarks are out! This great article outlines the performance improvements seen in benchmark testing simply by upgrading from Domino 8.0.x to Domino 8.5. And let me tell you...there are some [read] Keywords: domino
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Making Notes ROCK on Citrix
Thu, Feb 12th 2009 10:57a Andrea Waugh-Metzger I've noticed an interesting trend over the last couple of months. More and more of my customers are talking about Citrix. I think it's the "cost-cutting" mode that we're all in these days, and while I don't know a lot about Citrix, I know it has been one way that customers are cutting back on desktop hardware, etc. So, I've been getting more and more questions about Notes on Citrix and how to make it perform for the Notes 8.x client. So..in the interest of helping to educate the masses, [read] Keywords: expeditor
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Post Lotusphere Entry by Russ Holden
Mon, Jan 26th 2009 10:35a Andrea Waugh-Metzger Well, Lotusphere 2009 came and passed, and what an event!! There was so much information to gather, and too little time to hit all the sessions. Suffice it to say - there's some GREAT stuff out there for you all in Notes/Domino 8.5 and in all our extended products! It's going to be a great year! For our first entry after the fabulous Lotusphere 2009, Russ Holden, Lotus Domino Chief Architect and IBM Distinguished Engineer wanted to say a few words and provide you all with an update on one [read] Keywords: domino
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