Citrix is targeting the next Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Long-Term Service Release (LTSR) for Q4 2019. What does this mean for administrators? It’s time to start planning your next deployment!

Servicing Options in Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops

Let’s quickly recap our servicing options. You can deploy the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops product line from one of our three release vehicles:

The Long Term Service Release (LTSR) typically comes out once every two or three years and is targeted for applications in industries that tend to require a long test or certification process before deploying. While this slows the pace at which you can take advantage of new features, it offers a predictable maintenance cadence for ongoing fixes in the form of Cumulative Updates.

Our Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Current Release (CR) typically has up to four releases per year and gives our on-premises customers access to new functionality and feature updates on a regular basis. CR customers can access new features quickly and adopt new releases as they see fit.

For the most up-to-date offerings, Citrix Cloud service releases are updated continuously with new features, fixes, security patches, and other improvements. We manage the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service offering so that administrators don’t have to worry about deploying and updating Citrix infrastructure components and can focus on their business goals. Citrix Cloud service also supports the LTSR VDA agent, enabling administrators to take advantage of a slower update cycle for their desktop or app images.

Regardless of which option you choose, all three share the same core codebase, ensuring application compatibility and a consistent experience. We’ll make most features in the cloud service today available in a future CR, and a year or two of CR functionality will roll up into an LTSR release.

Two Years of Feature Evolution

If you are currently on the LTSR track, Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 7.15 released a little more than two years ago. We have added a lot of new functionality since then. The HDX stack has undergone dozens of enhancements to maximize user experience, including optimizations for Microsoft Teams and protocol improvements. Administrator visibility and monitoring have improved through analytics and director evolution, and Citrix environments are more secure than ever before. For a better look at some of the feature evolution, check out our feature summary matrix and dig into our recent What’s New blog post for more details on specific releases.

Preparing for the upcoming LTSR

Our most recent Current Release was Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 1909, which shipped in mid-September. This is the base platform for the upcoming 1912 LTSR, which means you can get a head start on your LTSR testing right now.

The most important thing you can do to prepare for the next LTSR is to deploy 1909 CR into your pre-production environments today.

Rolling out 1909 CR today gives you a two or three month head start on your LTSR deployment. Right now is the best time to start evaluating the release to experience new features, verify application compatibility, and check out the user and administrative enhancements we’ve made.

Upgrades and Rollout

You’ll have options for deployment with the 1912 release. Many organizations have policies that dictate a clean install of the LTSR in production deployments, but Citrix will also support in-place upgrades from 1906 CR or 1909 CR, which makes testing easier.

Upgrades directly from 7.15 LTSR are also supported as long as you have stayed current with cumulative updates throughout the rollout.

If your organization is still on 7.6 LTSR, there won’t be a direct upgrade path. We encourage you to roll out test environments sooner rather than later because you have almost five years of new features to catch up on!

LTSR Components

When we talk about supportability of LTSR releases (especially when it comes to feature and functionality updates), the general rule of thumb is that the LTSR feature set is determined at ship. Cumulative updates are released regularly, but these primarily provide fixes and minor enhancements. Looking at it in more detail, three types of components are involved, and LTSR customers aren’t entirely excluded from taking advantage of new functionality.

  • Baseline components are required and must remain at the LTSR version to be eligible for LTSR support benefits. These are core components like the Controller, VDA Agents, and Provisioning Services.
  • Compatible components may be used as part of your LTSR environment but don’t qualify for the extended lifecycle or cumulative releases. These generally have their own installer, and admins may choose to upgrade to newer releases, or support may ask you to upgrade to resolve an issue. Items such as the license server, app layering engine, or even Citrix Cloud services that can connect to your on-prem environment apply here.
  • Excluded components are generally deprecated items, which are not recommended for use inside any LTSR environment.

For customers who might not have stayed up to date with Citrix technologies, there are new compatible components available as cloud services. For example, you’ve heard us talk about the intelligent capabilities of Citrix Workspace, a fully Citrix-managed cloud service. Using site aggregation, you can integrate it with your on-premises LTSR deployment, enabling you to take advantage of the predictability of LTSR for your virtual apps and desktops hosting, while getting the latest Citrix technology for your end users.

Supported Operating Systems

With both the 7.15 LTSR and 1912 LTSR available concurrently, we also wanted to share details around supported operating systems:

7.15 LTSR

  • VDAs: Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Server 2008R2, Server 2012R2, Server 2016
  • Management Components: Server 2008R2, Server 2012R2, Server 2016

1912 LTSR

  • VDAs: Windows 10, Server 2012R2, Server 2016, Server 2019
  • Management Components: Server 2012R2, Server 2016, Server 2019

Current 7.15 LTSR administrators may notice that Windows 7 and Server 2008R2 are no longer supported operating systems for the 1912 LTSR Virtual Delivery Agent. Don’t be alarmed. If you’re running these older operating systems, they are still compatible with the 1912 LTSR release. Simply deploy them using the existing 7.15 LTSR VDA Agent.

LTSR and Citrix Cloud Services

Many customers choose the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service offering through Citrix Cloud but continue to use the LTSR Virtual Delivery Agent for certification purposes. This requires fewer updates on the client image, while the service continues to be regularly updated with new functionality. This deployment type is fully supported and gives many of our customers in highly regulated industries a path to move to the cloud while retaining tight controls over the desktop. Our service offering is the only place you can mix and match CR and LTSR VDAs across your environment.

We discuss VDA compatibility and mixing/matching versions in our LTSR FAQ. We’ll update this document with more information when 1912 is publicly available.

Citrix Workspace app for Windows LTSR

The Citrix Workspace app for Windows has its own release cycle, independent of the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops releases. Customers may choose to use the LTSR client, which has an 18-month support cycle with cumulative updates or stay current with Citrix Workspace app current releases.

A preview of the Citrix Workspace app for Windows LTSR is scheduled to ship along with the 1912 LTSR in Q4 2019. General availability for the Citrix Workspace app for Windows LTSR is targeted for Q1 2020.

Citrix clients for mobile and desktop clients on non-Windows platforms follow the standard CR release cadence.

Next Steps and Resources

Now’s the time to deploy 1909 CR into your test environments and start experimenting with the new capabilities. You’ll be able to upgrade this environment directly to 1912 LTSR when it becomes available later this quarter. We know this is a busy time for IT, with annual projects wrapping up and 2020 planning under way, but we hope this gives you a great start on your next Citrix deployment.

Watch for updates to our LTSR FAQ and feature matrix page coming in December.

For Citrix Investors

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