Part 8: Working with Citrix XenApp 6.5 – Introduction to Policies

What are Citrix Policies? Polices are used to build a secure XenApp environment that is also providing the necessary access to the users. Citrix policies are often used with Windows Group policies to build the best possible structure.
User Policies – ICA:

• Adobe Flash Delivery
• Audio
• Bandwidth
• Desktop UI
• File Redirection
• Multi-Stream Connections
• Port Redirection
• Printing
• Security
• Session Limits
• Shadowing
• Time Zone Control
• TWAIN Devices
• USB Devices
• Visual Display
• Server Session Settings

Computer Polices:

• ICA
• Licensing
• Power and Capacity Management
• Server Settings
• Virtual IP
• XML Service

Where do policies apply? We can apply policies against the following:

• Configuring Farms
• User and User Groups
• Configuring Client Devices with sound quality
• Providing the necessary access for users to access to their local drives within a Citrix session
• Access Control (Access Gateway)
• Access to windows clipboard
• Configuring Encryption for Plug-ins
• Configure session importance level

In what order are the policies processed? The policies are processed in the following order:

1. Local policies/GPO’s
2. XenApp Policies
3. Site GPO’s
4. Domain GPO’s
5. Organization Unit GPO’s

What happens if there is a policy conflict? In the case where there’s a policy conflict, the policies take precedence in the following order:

1. Organizational Unit GPO’s
2. Domain GPO’s
3. Site GPO’s
4. XenApp policies
5. Local Policies/GPO’s

What is policy prioritization? When policies contain conflicting settings, the policy prioritization allows us to define which policies take precedence. Policies that are defined with the lowest number are processed first. For example, policy with a priority of 1 will be processed before policy with a priority of 2.
All Polices can be configured either within Citrix AppCenter or within Group Policy Management Console. When XenApp is first installed, it extends the Citrix Policy configuration to the Group Policy Management Console. We can see this when opening GPMC
Within the Citrix AppCenter, the Polices tab can be found under Citrix Resources ->XenApp -> Farm -> Policies
On the next post, part 9, we’ll go over configuring and applying the policies.