Citrix Licences

[cookie_monster]

I'm sure in the past someone told me that in education if you ordered a Citrix licence that you always got the 'Enterprise' version but i've recently found out that we can buy the 'Advanced' version for less.

Can anyone think of a killer feature that we'll be missing if we don't buy enterprise, i've looked through the comparison sheet and can't see anything obvious?

We do use secure gateway but I think you can use that with advanced.

Cheers.

[karlieb]

A full feature comparison can be downloaded here.

The majority of schools where we have deployed XenApp have been via Advanced licenses.

To get additional features like provisioning and application performance monitoring that will definately add value (but cost even more) you need to go to the Platinum Edition.

There is an upgrade path to the other version from Advanced if you decide you need the additional features in the future.

[cookie_monster]

Ok thanks, I think i'll look at advanced then.

[cookie_monster]

Anyone else care to offer an opinion?

[Ric_]

One of the biggest bonuses IMHO is Installation Manager - it just works!

You also get capacity planning/load testing plus other features like profile tuning (which I haven't had chance to play with yet).

One of the coolest reasons to plump for Platinum though is the session recording - imagine the accountability! You just click on a username and can watch back a user's session in realtime!!!

[cookie_monster]

I'll have to look into Installation Manager i've not read anything about it.

We can't afford platinum so that's ruled out.


EDIT: Installation Manager does look good but I don't see us having more than 6 Citrix boxes so i'm not sure it's worth the extra.

Cheers.

[Ric_]

@cookie_monster: IM does make installing software a lot easier - it automatically takes the servers out of the farm and then re-adds them once its finished. It has an incredibly good package creator too.

[cookie_monster]

@ - karlieb, can you tell me if it's possible to downgrade, I've been told that you can't downgrade from Enterprise to Advanced.

[cookie_monster]

I've had a reply and it's simple Citrix just rip you off and you have to buy them all again, wow they make MS look like a charity.

[Ric_]

I've had a reply and it's simple Citrix just rip you off and you have to buy them all again, wow they make MS look like a charity.

But why would you want to 'downgrade' them when you already have them?

[localzuk]

But why would you want to 'downgrade' them when you already have them?

So when you want to use cheaper licenses in the future, ie. adding more to the bundle, you don't have to buy the expensive enterprise ones - you can just get advanced, and then use the ones you'd bought as enterprise as advanced.

Or at least, that'd be why I would do it if I had enterprise licenses.

[cookie_monster]

and then use the ones you'd bought as enterprise as advanced

That's the part that you can't do. I asked that and the licences cannot be mixed you either have all advanced or all enterprise, you can't have an advanced site and use any enterprise licences as advanced licences. Apparently this is due to the way the licencing works, you don't licence server componants you licence the CALs and the level of CAL tells you what server features you can use


Ric_ we're trying to cut costs and currently Enterprise is £30 more per licence, as we're about to buy another 100 or so it really adds up.

[moggy]

So when you want to use cheaper licenses in the future, ie. adding more to the bundle, you don't have to buy the expensive enterprise ones - you can just get advanced, and then use the ones you'd bought as enterprise as advanced.

Or at least, that'd be why I would do it if I had enterprise licenses.

We have Enterprise and have realised that the benefits above Advanced don't really outweigh the difference in cost (about £30 a license today). However, I've been told that you can't downgrade Citrix. You'd have to buy Advanced to replace all the Enterprise licenses. In our case that would mean a cost of £4900 just to go to a lesser version.

Has anyone else had this advice, or has anyone actually done a downgrade without buying the Advanced license?

Thanks Citrix, even Microsoft don't charge when you downgrade from Vista to XP!

[karlieb]

Yes it does seem a bit unfair

[Ric_]

What happens if you join an 'advanced' server to your farm? Or will the license server not allow you to install advanced licenses as well as enterprise?