CITRIX ANNOUNCES ITS LATEST LTSR PART 1

Citrix’s last Long Term Service Release (LTSR) was released in 2022, and since then Citrix introduced many new features via their Current Releases (CR). That means 2 years of new features are coming to Citrix’s newest LTSR, in addition many of Citrix’s customers are still using 1912 LTSR, therefore there are almost 4 years of new features to discover.

 Important – it is essential for 1912 customers to begin prepping for an upgrade, as 1912 goes EOL in Dec 2024.

Citrix previously announced that the new LTSR will be coming early 2024, which means it’s time to start planning the upgrade! 

OAS, South Africa’s leading Citrix Service and support provider, will assist any client through the upgrade process. The upgrade LTSR offers a variety of new features which will be discussed in future blog posts, however if upgrading from 1912 click on feature matrix to view all the new features plus Citrix has included an LTSR version for Citrix Workspace app thus enabling organizations to upgrade their environment to include endpoint clients. 

OAS recommends the following considerations before upgrading: 

• System requirements and supportability – emphasis on operating systems
• Testing – exploring the new features – always test the latest CR and/or validating the upgrade path
• Make sure the upgrade plan is compatible for the organization‘s environment

(N.B. OAS will guide any organization through the process – request a consultation – click here) In this post OAS will discuss:

• Supportability – especially when it comes to operating systems
• Testing – exploring the new features (by testing the latest CR) and /or validating the upgrade path
• Confirming whether or not the upgrade plan right for the current production environment.

Supportability

It is essential that the environment is supported by Citrix, Microsoft, and other 3rd party vendors. In order for this to happen, from the Citrix side, the current environment will need to ensure that it will meet the system requirements and supported versions for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (CVAD) and Citrix Workspace app.

 N.B. CVAD 1912 LTSR is the last LTSR version to support Windows Server OS 2012R2. 

If the organizations that have 2012R2 servers, it will need to migrate to a more recent operating system in order to install the next LTSR. Additionally, Windows Server OS 2016 went end of life (EOL) in January 2022, so unless the company has purchased extended support it will need to migrate. 

This operating system requirement applies to both Citrix infrastructure servers and VDA servers as a block to upgrading is the OS of a VDA is due to the lack of the necessary application requirements. Furthermore, if the current applications running, require 2012R2 or 2016, it is important to start discussing with the company’s application teams about migrating to a supported OS. 

Another key software platform to consider is the current Microsoft SQL Server version. 

CVAD 1912 LTSR is the last LTSR version to support SQL 2008R2, 2012, and 2014. If so it is extremely important to migrate to a new SQL database on a supported version. 

Further considerations: 

StoreFront 2308 onward no longer allows additional new XenApp 6.5 resources using the StoreFront console. If the current environment is still using XenApp 6.5 (which is long past its EOL).

It is critical to migrate any resources left on 6.5 to a supported CVAD version. 

The PNAgent site (also known as XenApp Services) is also deprecated from StoreFront 2308 forward. 

Regarding various compliance guidelines – such as FIPS, Common Criteria, and 508 accessibility – the new 2024 LTSR will support these requirements like the rest of the LTSR releases. 

For Citrix Workspace app across endpoint devices, this upgrade cycle is a good time to ensure that the environment is on a supported version. Citrix Workspace app 1912 LTSR went End of Life earlier this year, therefore the company needs to include upgrading the Citrix Workspace app as a part of its upgrade plan.

If still using the CR versions of the Citrix Workspace app, please refer to the Citrix our lifecycle matrix to determine when the current version goes End of Life. 

Testing 

With a plethora of new features coming to the new LTSR, it’s important to test that the new features meet the organization’s requirements. The next LTSR is built off the Citrix’s latest 2311 CR, so it is highly recommend installing CVAD 2311 or the LTSR Early Access Release (EAR) into a test environment to try many of the new features. 

The LTSR EAR is planned for release shortly before the official LTSR rollout therefore review the latest LTSR to LTSR feature matrix in order to compare the features that came out in 2203 and view the LTSR to CR feature matrix to view the features that have come out since 2203.

Before the LTSR is available (Citrix Downloads page) it is critical to test out the new features and the process of upgrading the infrastructure.

Once the LTSR is available OAS recommends upgrading the test environment using the chosen upgrade path (either in-place or net new). 

1) Practice the process of upgrading the environment 

2) Identify any quirks or interactions with other software or customizations during upgrades.

For the migration paths, upgrading from 1912 LTSR CU5 and up and any version of 2203 LTSR to the new LTSR are targeted for support. 

Be sure to contact OAS to for support during this process.

Recommended reading: 

Tech Paper about parallel migrations.