is Citrix the solution?

[hellasnow]

I’m currently trying to find a better solution for accessing the network from outside the domain. I would like to act with the domain as if I were their locally. I use AutoCAD, Photoshop, 3D Viz, SketchUp, In-Design type files, so large for the most part. I currently have VPN setup and it will do with some patients of course.

the thought as of now is to build another server "Citrix Server" set it up with all the necessary apps and use it to gain access outside the office (no matter where the location may be).

The central location will have 2 T1's with a total of 40 +/- users. Then obviously high speed access from outside the "domain".

Will this solution give me speeds as if I were inside the domain locally?

I know Autodesk "doesn't support citrix metaframe" but have heard of people working with it. My biggest concern is the file size/speed.

Thanks for any input.

[nmX.Memnoch]

I would think any graphics type work would be sloooooow on Citrix compared to running the applications on a workstation. Then again, it may be faster if you're the only person using it. But, that's a lot of money to spend for just one person.

Once you get a VPN connection it's just as if you're on the network so you can open any file shares, RDP sessions, internal websites or anything else on the network. Once you connect with the VPN you can just open your image files from a network share. In your situation Citrix would be a good option if you didn't have a VPN.

Edited March 21, 2007 by nmX.Memnoch

[cluberti]

Citrix's speedscreen technology can help, but graphics-heavy applications generally run poorly over TS/Citrix connections due to the fact that sections of the screen (or the whole screen, for a large window or full-screen app) are redrawn to show changes. This is very slow, even with speedscreen enabled. It might work well enough for your needs but you'd have to test it. I can guarantee that it certainly won't match local workstation speeds, but it might be "good enough" for your users.

[hellasnow]

thanks for the feedback.

i currently have VPN working. i can access and work from outside the office fairly efficent but not like i'd like. problem is opening big stuff and working quick. if i have the time and using AutoCAD for instance i take the time to download the files then work localy, then upload them back to the server once done. this would basically be doing the oposite of what Citrix tries to implement.

it just seems that working through Citrix to access everything "remotely" would be much more effecient than VPN, but the intence graphic side of it is what scares me. just allot of money to get and try out to have it work poorly.

as for testing what would be the best way to tes this?

take an old box that has decent RAM/Processor speed and put server 2003 on it, Citrix software for 1 user and try that?

other than VPN and Citrix are there any other solutions out there?

i appreciate the thoughts guys/gals!

[CoffeeFiend]

it just seems that working through Citrix to access everything "remotely" would be much more effecient than VPN, but the intence graphic side of it is what scares me. just allot of money to get and try out to have it work poorly.

as for testing what would be the best way to tes this?

take an old box that has decent RAM/Processor speed and put server 2003 on it, Citrix software for 1 user and try that?

other than VPN and Citrix are there any other solutions out there?

Citrix is just somewhat better terminal services (for a lot of $). You can try with Terminal Services (even in trial mode, or using plain old Remote Desktop) over your VPN just to see. At least you'll see what to expect (Citrix could be somewhat better, but don't expect anything to be radically better).

Personally I wouldn't even bother. Graphics and CAD apps are possibly the worst thing you could try to do over RDP. Even slight lag is unbearable for this, and it requires LOTS of bandwidth too (far more than downloading/uploading a few files would). They're also rather CPU and memory intensive apps as well, making them not very good for Terminal Servers even over high speed LAN links.

And even if it worked OK-ish, the price of Terminal Server CALs, Citrix licenses and of beefy hardware for a terminal server means a lot of $$$. If the 40 users need TS CALs, that's already 6k$ in TS CALs, if only a half dozen of them need to be accessing Citrix at once, you're still looking at about 3.5k$ for that (for version 4.5), plus the new pricey/beefy server hardware (and possibly OS) -- that's if you don't need a small cluster/farm... Over 10k$ For something I would rather never have to use. Not to mention how much of a PITA it might be to get AutoCAD working on it in the first place...

Why is the VPN a problem? How big are the files anyways?

[Stoic Joker]

Assuming you're using a client to gateway VPN (which with 40 tunnels is a safe assumption), all you'd really need is a WINS server/proxy to get NetBIOS working through the tunnel.

Why drop thousands in a high-end server & TS licenses, when XP's remote desktop is free...simply send each user to their own internal desktop through the tunnel. (either leave them running or use WOL)

If the RDC is stripped down e.g. kill animation, connect back to local disks, printers, etc. and drop the colors a bit (CAD doesn't need True Color...) it might actually be tolerable.

Just a Thought

Stoic Joker