CTX DaaS and vGPU - Experiences from the field
In one of my recent projects, I had the following setup and challenges to address:
- Dedicated VDIs with vGPU, located on-premises.
- Utilization of Citrix Cloud.
- Configuration of the Workspace and Gateway Service.
- CAD designers using Solidworks.
Challenges
- Achieve minimal latencies
- Optimal graphic performance
The solution was found in a new feature called “Adaptive Access Based on User’s Network Location”.
This blogpost was initially written when this feature was still in preview and had to be explicitly enabled by the PM. Adaptive Access was made generally available on 02/11.
The article describes how to activate the feature.
Configuration Steps
To configure the tags, you need to enable a feature toggle “Adaptive Access” in workspace configuration.
To configure the tags, you need to enable the “Adaptive Access” feature toggle in the workspace configuration.
When you enable this, a new default tag will be created, along with internal and external tags, to manage undefined IP rules
Default tags: LOCATION_INTERNAL, LOCATION_EXTERNAL, LOCATION_UNDEFINED
Define network locations using their respective public IP addresses and assign a unique tag.
In the Access Policy, you can set different policies based on the user’s location.
This results in nice 1 ms latency user sessions as the Workspace App communicates directly with the VDA.
Update November 2023
Based on input from Rody Kossen, I adjusted the policy settings and gained new astonishing insights.
A prerequisite is a VDA 2305 (or higher) and the Workspace app 2305 (or higher).
For the Workspace App, the following setting must be activated via GPO/Registry:
Administrative Templates \ Citrix Components \ User experience \ H265 Decoding for graphics
- Enabled
Registry Key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Citrix\ICA Client\Graphics Engine
- EnableH265 =”dword:00000001″
This results in the use of the H.265 codec, reduces the CPU load, and improves the user experience.
Note: Don’t disable “Hardware acceleration for Graphics”.
More can be found here:
Graphics and display | Citrix Workspace app for Windows
Maximizing User Experience with Advanced Video Codec Support in Citrix HDX – Citrix Blogs
The Citrix policy that I use for this use case
External Policy
Allow visually lossless compression. User setting – ICA\Graphics
- Enabled (Default: Disabled)
Graphic status indicator. User setting – ICA\Graphics
- Enabled (Default: Disabled)
Target frame rate. User setting – ICA\Visual Display
- 60 fps (Default: 30 fps)
Use video codec for compression. User setting – ICA\Graphics
- For the entire screen (Default: Use when preferred)
Visual quality. User setting – ICA\Visual Display
- Build to Lossless (Default: Medium)
Internal Policy
Allow visually lossless compression. User setting – ICA\Graphics
- Disabled (Default: Disabled)
Graphic status indicator. User setting – ICA\Graphics
- Enabled (Default: Disabled)
Target frame rate. User setting – ICA\Visual Display
- 60 fps (Default: 30 fps)
Use video codec for compression. User setting – ICA\Graphics
- For actively changing regions (Default: Use when preferred)
Visual quality. User setting – ICA\Visual Display
- Always Lossless (Default: Medium)