Looking for good resources

Zaits

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone has a good book they'd recommend for XenServer 5.5 and XenDesktop. I'm not looking for one book that covers both topic's, but rather two books if possible. Also I'm not looking to learn this material to take the exam, I'm looking to learn this material for my job. If anyone has any recommendations that would be great.

Thanks,

MentholMoose

I don't know of any books that covers XD or XS. There are books on Xen, which will probably be somewhat applicable to XenServer. Check Amazon for those, I haven't read any so I can't recommend one.

I learned both products using the documentation and doing labs. The evaluation guide for XD is quite useful for getting started:
Evaluating XenDesktop

Citrix does have e-learning for both products, but the self-paced online courses are US$1200 for non-partners. They also have instructor-led training. I didn't do any of these, but since you have to do this for work you could ask them to pay for some courses. In hindsight I probably should have requested some training. Citrix has a couple free courses that might help:
CXD-100-3W: Citrix XenDesktop 4 Technology Overview
CEX-100-1W: Introducing Citrix Essentials for XenServer 5.5

Also there's this, which is good for learning XD:
TechNet Virtual Lab: Implementing Citrix XenDesktop 4 on Hyper-V R2

The Citrix Support Forums are quite useful. You can always ask questions here, but the Citrix forums have a lot more people who are into Citrix products.

dstock7337

Aside from official courseware and support forums, I'm not aware of any other study material. It would be nice if there were books/cbts, etc with review questions, like Microsoft, Comptia, Cisco, etc. have but I think the Citrix market is too small for publishers to make a profit off of it.


Here is Citrix's latest Exam Prep guide for the test:
http://www.citrixtraining.com/uploadfiles/1/courses/A17_Preparation_Guide3.pdf

I wish there were more but there isn't. The next best thing would be to obtain demo software from Citrix and setup a test lab. I believe Xenserver (basic) is free now and the other software can be obtained on a free trial basis.

Hope this helps.