Citrix WinFrame 1.6 Beta

Dial Up Your Applications

If you've used computers forany time, you've probably accessed another computer remotely, either by phone orby a network connection. In the beginning, the programs that made thiscapability possible were simple terminal-emulation programs that supported basiccharacter displays.

Later, terminal programs let you use emulation, such as VT-100, VT-220, andTektronix emulation, to display some rudimentary graphics. As GUIs began to gainmarket share, simple terminal programs were no longer adequate. Computer userswanted the same slick GUI and all its amenities, whether they ran programslocally or remotely. The UNIX community addressed this issue with the X WindowSystem.

In the Windows and DOS markets, programs such as pcANYWHERE let you runnative applications remotely. The programs executed on the remote machine--thehost--and the results were piped to your machine--the client. Thesesecond-generation programs were slow and offered access to only one user at atime.

The multi-user problem had many interesting solutions. One vendor offered aPC full of cards that were individual computers--one computer for each user.Multiprocessor computers are commonplace now, but then they were quite anovelty. Specialized software gave each user access to his or her own virtualcomputer. The problem was that every time a screen changed, the host computerhad to send all the information to the client computer. (Generally, the linkwasn't too fast to begin with.) All this traffic caused lengthy delays and madethe application an exercise in frustration for all but the most die-hard user.

Along Came Citrix
Citrix divided the problem into two parts: First, address the speedconcerns. If you had to wait 1.5 to 3 minutes for a screen update, thistechnology's success was going to be limited. Second, reduce the cost per user.If more users could use the same machine at the same time, companies couldamortize costs over those users.

Citrix developed a product that solved both parts of the problem: WinViewran on OS/2 and performed reasonably well. WinView made multi-user remote accesspossible at a reasonable speed, but the product wasn't really the one Citrixwanted to build. This situation was a case of Citrix being ahead of its time.OS/2 just didn't have the horsepower to do what Citrix had in mind.

We won't tell you that Windows NT's rapid rise and success saved Citrix.The truth is, the Citrix technology is so good that if NT weren't available,Citrix probably would have chosen some other platform. But in the end, NT isexactly what Citrix was looking for.

The result of this story is WinFrame for Networks. WinFrame is nota service that runs on NT; it's an extension to NT.

What? A proprietary version of NT? Well, sort of. When you installWinFrame, you are installing NT. Citrix has licensed the source code fromMicrosoft and extended the NT kernel to allow multiple simultaneous desktops forconcurrent users. Sounds confusing, but it really isn't.

Building on NT's strengths, such as Remote Access Service (RAS),scaleability, symmetrical multiprocessing (SMP) support, security, andremote-node communications, WinFrame adds concurrent multi-user event tracking,messaging, and performance monitoring. In addition, it provides utilities forconfiguration and multiple concurrent profiles. The coup de gras is theCitrix Intelligent Console Architecture (ICA) protocol. This protocol is whatmakes WinFrame faster than other remote-node software.

Installation/Configuration
Installation for WinFrame takes about the same time as installing Windows NTServer, and the installation program is the same. Currently, WinFrame runs onlyon Intel platforms. The Windows NT Magazine Lab chose a Telos100-MHz Pentium with 64MB of RAM and a 2GB SCSI drive. A 3Com 3C589 EtherLinkIII card rounded out the mix.

We didn't experience any surprises. The beta version we tested didn't addthe WinFrame icons to the Administrative Tools program group. But a quick callto customer support gave us a workaround and a promise to fix this oversight inthe shipping product.

Next, you configure a WinStation, which is like a virtual machine. If fiveconcurrent users will be logged on to your WinFrame machine, you need toconfigure at least five WinStations.

Configuration is straightforward. First, select the WinStationconfiguration icon from the Administrative Tools group. Next, choose theWinStation drop-down menu, and select New. Screen 1 shows a sample WinStationdialog. You tell WinFrame what network transport protocol to use in theTransport box, and in the Type box, you tell it what type of client computerwill communicate over this link.

Remotely Possible?
With the server taken care of, the client is next. WinFrame supports avariety of clients: DOS, Windows 3.11, Windows 95, and Windows NT. We focused onthe NT client.

The omnipresent InstallShield program lets you install the client portion.Insert the disk, run the setup.exe program, supply a directory path for theexecutables (or take the defaults), and you're done. Then, you can open theWinFrame Client group and click on the Remote Application Manager icon, as yousee in screen 2.

To add a new remote application, you need to know which network protocol touse and the name of the WinFrame server. You also need to supply a valid userID, domain name, and password for automatic logon. If you don't, you must log onto the WinFrame server just like any other NT server. Once you establish theconnection, you can run any program on the WinFrame server.

WinFrame's ability to save the connection as an icon on your desktop is anespecially nice touch. If you enable the automatic logon feature, you noticelittle difference between a locally running application and a remote one. Fromthe user's standpoint, all computing is occurring on the WinFrame server. Yourlocal client receives and sends only a minimum of information. The result isremote application execution that rivals local execution. (You can also runWindows applications on the Internet at 28.8Kbits per second--Kbps--or even atIntegrated Services Digital Network--ISDN--speeds, using the ICA protocol thatmakes WinFrame so fast. A beta version for this purpose is available fromCitrix's Web site at http://www.citrix.com/hotspot.htm.)

Dial-Up Execution
So far, so good. WinFrame certainly passed the network connection test. Buthow well would it fare on dial-up? You can use two methods to access WinFramevia modem: RAS and the WinFrame Remote Application Manager. To access a WinFrameserver via RAS, connect to the RAS server, which can be on the same physicalmachine as the WinFrame server. If you connect to the WinFrame server viaNetBIOS, you must configure your RAS server and client to support NetBIOS.

Once you connect to the network via RAS, you return to the RemoteApplication Manager. Launch your remote application as if you were connectedlocally. Performance is considerably slower for screen updates because the ICAprotocol is competing for bandwidth with the other protocols RAS is supporting.

A much better solution is to use Citrix's--you guessed it--RemoteApplication Manager and set up a serial connection, as in screen 3. You mustinitialize a WinStation to support dial-up connections--it's the default foradding new WinStations. Next, you need to add a dial-up connection in the RemoteApplication Manager, which you do the same way as a network connection. Themajor difference is that for a dial-up connection, you select a serial deviceand install a modem.

WinFrame uses the modem.inf file that comes with NT and, unfortunately,doesn't auto-detect your modem. (A nice feature would be to add auto-detectionfor the release version.) After you install the correct modem and specify theserial port and phone number, you're ready to go. You can provide a user ID,domain name, and password or let the user enter them on connection. Then, clickyour newly created Connection icon, and NT automatically dials the WinFrameserver, establishing a connection. You will immediately notice an improvementover RAS.

While not as fast as a direct network connection, the ICA asynchronousconnection is much faster than RAS. Citrix claims the connection is at least 50%faster. Although we didn't run any formal tests--this is a beta product--we haveno reason to dispute that number.

Other Clients
Each of the different clients can access the WinFrame server and remotelyexecute programs that they might not be able to execute locally. Imagine a DOSclient running Office 95! NT's Gateway for Macintosh service provides access toNovell networks, handling remote printing just like any other NT client.

WinFrame uses NT security: You have no secondary security scheme to dealwith. We commend Citrix for this approach. Coping with the day-to-day tasks ishard enough for administrators, without having to maintain two separate securitysystems.

Management
WinFrame's management is a hybrid. For ordinary functions, such as security,user administration, and resource management, NT provides the tools. However, tomake applications available, see who's connected to your system, and manageWinStations, you use WinFrame's tools. The WinStation Administration program,which you see in screen 4, lets you track WinStations available on the WinFrameserver, users who are currently accessing it, and the processes that remoteusers are using.

Now, recognize that when you install new software, you can't just installthe software. First, you need to make sure you are logged on as the localadministrator of the server, and execute the command changeuser/install from theconsole. This command puts WinFrame into a system-install mode and lets youinstall the application globally instead of individually for a specific user.After you install the software, you must run changeuser/execute from the commandline to put WinFrame back into execution-only mode. Subsequent installationswill then be treated as user-specific installs.

Rock Solid
I was disappointed to find that WinFrame is available only for Intel-basedsystems. The idea of a quad-processor Alpha, MIPS, or PowerPC server has greatpossibilities.

That limitation aside, WinFrame provides a rock-solid remote-computingenvironment that is inextricably tied to NT. The features that you ordinarilyfind in separate programs are available in a single, scaleable package. Addcentral management and superb integration with NT, and you have a trueenterprise solution for remote-computing needs.