Workspace Environment Management 2311

Workspace Environment Management uses intelligent resource management and profile management technologies to deliver the best possible performance, desktop logon, and application response times for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops deployments. It is a software-only, driver-free solution.

Resource management - To provide the best experience for users, Workspace Environment Management monitors and analyzes user and application behavior in real time, then intelligently adjusts RAM, CPU, and I/O in the user workspace environment.

Profile Management - To deliver the best possible logon performance, Workspace Environment Management replaces commonly used Windows Group Policy Objects, logon scripts, and preferences with an agent which is deployed on each virtual machine or server. The agent is multi-threaded and applies changes to user environments only when required, ensuring users always have access to their desktop as fast as possible.

For information about upgrading, see Upgrade a deployment.

For information about installing the current release, see Install and configure.

Note:

Workspace Environment Management is covered by the Current Releases (CR) lifecycle of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops. For more information, see Product Matrix.

Technical overview

Workspace Environment Management (WEM) has the following architecture:

Workspace Environment Management architecture diagram

Infrastructure services. The infrastructure services are installed on a multi-session OS. They synchronize various back-end components (SQL Server and Active Directory) with front-end components (administration console and agent).

Note:

Infrastructure services cannot be installed on a domain controller. Kerberos authentication issues prevent the infrastructure service from working in this scenario.

Administration console. The Workspace Environment Management administration console is installed on a single-session or multi-session OS. It connects to the infrastructure services. You use the administration console to manage your Workspace Environment Management installation. For example, you create and assign resources, manage policies, authorize users, and so on.

WEM Public API service. The Workspace Environment Management Public API service provides HTTPS services to support the WEM web console and communicate with the WEM infrastructure service.

Agent. The Workspace Environment Management agent connects to the Workspace Environment Management infrastructure services and enforces settings you configure in the administration console. You can deploy the agent on a Virtual Delivery Agent (VDA). Doing so lets you manage single-session or multi-session environments. You can also deploy the agent on a physical Windows endpoint.

Note:

  • The agent cannot be installed on the infrastructure server. The agent installer fails in this scenario.
  • The Transformer feature is not supported on multi-session OSs.

SQL Server Database. Workspace Environment Management requires an SQL Server database to store its settings. The database can be hosted in an SQL Server Always On availability group if necessary. (For more information, see System requirements.)

Microsoft Active Directory Server. Workspace Environment Management requires access to your Active Directory to push settings to your users.

Tip:

You can download the latest Workspace Environment Management installer from the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops downloads page https://www.citrix.com/downloads/citrix-virtual-apps-and-desktops/. On that page, access the installer under Components of the latest version of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops.

Workspace Environment Management 2311