Workspace Environment Management service
Note:
- The Workspace Environment Management service is available globally, with US-based, EU-based, and Asia Pacific South based instances. We are working to enable Workspace Environment Management service instances in more regions.
- Workspace Environment Management service is also available in Citrix Cloud Japan, a cloud that is isolated and separate from Citrix Cloud. Japanese customers can use the service in a dedicated Citrix-managed environment. For more information, see Citrix Cloud Japan.
- For information about Workspace Environment Management service customer data storage, retention, and control, see Customer data management.
- Since July 2023, Microsoft has renamed Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) to Microsoft Entra ID. In this document, any reference to Azure Active Directory, Azure AD, or AAD now refers to Microsoft Entra ID.
Introduction
The Workspace Environment Management service uses intelligent resource management and Profile Management technologies to deliver the best possible performance, desktop logon, and application response times for the following deployments:
- Citrix DaaS (formerly Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops service) and Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops
It is a lightweight, scalable user environment management solution that simplifies IT administration and optimizes desktops for the best possible user experience.
Important:
To manage Azure Virtual Desktop with the Workspace Environment Management service, you must purchase the Citrix Optimization Pack.
The following are highlights of the Workspace Environment Management service:
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User workspace management
- Manages applications, printers, network drives, external tasks, and more
- Filters assignments
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User resources management
- Monitors and analyzes application behavior in real time
- Adjusts RAM, CPU, and I/O intelligently in the user environment
- Preserves the amount of resources required by applications in focus
- Throttles background processes without compromising the user experience
- Improves application responsiveness
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User profiles management
- Uses Citrix Profile Management to manage user profiles across sessions and endpoints
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Logon performance optimization
- Delays unessential processes from the logon process to improve logon times
- Applies logon-related configuration in the background, after a user logs on
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Easy setup and configuration
- Eliminates most of the setup tasks that the on-premises version of Workspace Environment Management requires
Technical overview
Workspace Environment Management (WEM) service has the following architecture:
The following components are hosted in Citrix Cloud and administered by Citrix as part of the service:
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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). We ensure that sufficient infrastructure services are provided on Citrix Cloud.
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Administration console. You use the administration console, available on the service’s Manage tab, to manage your user environment using your web browser. The administration console is hosted on a Citrix Cloud-based Citrix virtual Apps server. The server provides a Citrix Workspace app for HTML5 connection to the administration console.
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Azure SQL Database. Workspace Environment Management service settings are stored in a Microsoft Azure SQL Database service, deployed in an elastic pool. This component is managed by Citrix.
The following components are installed and managed in each resource location by the customer/partner:
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Agent. The Workspace Environment Management service agent connects to the Workspace Environment Management infrastructure services and enforces the settings you configure in the administration console. All communications are over HTTPS using the Citrix Cloud Messaging Service. 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.
All agents use local caching, ensuring that agents can continue using the latest settings if the network connection is interrupted.
Note:
The Transformer feature is not supported on multi-session operating systems.
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Microsoft Active Directory Server. The Workspace Environment Management service requires access to your Active Directory to push settings to your users. The infrastructure service communicates with your Active Directory using the Citrix Cloud identity service.
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Cloud Connector. The Citrix Cloud Connector is required to allow machines in your resource locations to communicate with Citrix Cloud. Install Citrix Cloud Connector on at least one machine in every resource location that you are using. For continuous availability, install multiple Cloud Connectors in each of your resource locations. We recommend at least two Cloud Connectors in each resource location to ensure high availability. If one Cloud Connector is unavailable for any period of time, the other Cloud Connectors can maintain the connection.
Get started
To set up a Workspace Environment Management deployment, see Build a deployment.
To install the agent, see Install and configure.