Xenapp 6.5

IristheangelIristheangel Mod Posts: 4,133 Mod
in Citrix Certifications
This forum seems largely abandoned but I figured I would post here anyways. I'm taking the Xenapp 6.5 1Y0-A20 exam on Friday. Wish me luck, big empty forum!
BS, MS, and CCIE #50931
Blog: www.network-node.com
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  • ajs1976ajs1976 Member Posts: 1,945 ■■■■□□□□□□
    Good luck
    Andy

    2020 Goals: 0 of 2 courses complete, 0 of 2 exams complete
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  • lunchbox67lunchbox67 Member Posts: 132 ■■■■□□□□□□
    Good luck ... it's something I need to do also
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  • N2ITN2IT Inactive Imported Users Posts: 7,483 ■■■■■■■■■■
    Good luck. Citrix has always peaked my interest but never enough exposure to it.
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  • pumbaa_gpumbaa_g Member Posts: 353
    Best of luck, which material are you studying from?
    [h=1]“An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less until he knows absolutely everything about nothing.” [/h]
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  • whatthehellwhatthehell Member Posts: 920
    Cheers and good luck

    XOXO,
    Big Empty Forum :)
    2017 Goals:
    [ ] Security + [ ] 74-409 [ ] CEH
    Future Goals:
    TBD
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  • ptilsenptilsen Member Posts: 2,835 ■■■■■■■■■■
    Good luck. I haven't looked into the certification, but I was actually fairly disappointed by the XenApp implementation I worked on. Citrix does a few things no one else really does that I think have a lot of use, but I didn't like the difficulty of configuration compared to, say, just plain RDS/Terminal Services. However, this is all based on fairly brief exposure in a rushed situation in which I didn't have time to really get to learn it.

    Either way, it's out there and it definitely has it's uses. Good luck!
    Working B.S., Computer Science
    Complete: 55/120 credits SPAN 201, LIT 100, ETHS 200, AP Lang, MATH 120, WRIT 231, ICS 140, MATH 215, ECON 202, ECON 201, ICS 141, MATH 210, LING 111, ICS 240
    In progress: CLEP US GOV,
    Next up: MATH 211, ECON 352, ICS 340
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  • onesaintonesaint Member Posts: 801
    Good luck!

    We use Xen now for all our virtualization, but it's Xen in RHEL, which I'm under the impression is a whole different beast than Xenapp.
    Work in progress: picking up Postgres, elastisearch, redis, Cloudera, & AWS.
    Next up: eventually the RHCE and to start blogging again.

    Control Protocol; my blog of exam notes and IT randomness
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  • pumbaa_gpumbaa_g Member Posts: 353
    Iristheangel I thought you were working on MCITP:EA have you switched tracks? I am on 643 currently so once I complete MCITP:EA then planning to give shot to Citrix. Would really appreciate any pointers on reference/study material so that I can start hoarding it up icon_wink.gif
    [h=1]“An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less until he knows absolutely everything about nothing.” [/h]
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  • IristheangelIristheangel Mod Posts: 4,133 Mod
    I'm still working on my MCITP:EA, but my boss said that if I pass the Xenapp test before the end of the month, he will pay for it. I've been using the Xenapp 6.5 administrator's guide as well as having little mini-power sessions with my boss where he teaches me the ropes. It's the most unorthodox way that I've studied so far but I think I'll pass
    BS, MS, and CCIE #50931
    Blog: www.network-node.com
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  • ChooseLifeChooseLife Member Posts: 941 ■■■■■■■□□□
    Best of luck! I entertained the idea of pursuing the Citrix certification track back in the day when I was administering it, but eventually moved to other technologies.. That was in the days of MetaFrame/PresentationServer version 2/3/4... To this day I often get contacted by recruiters seeing Citrix on my LinkedIn profile, so it seems to be hot. In other words, looks like a great opportunity for you, Iristheangel, good luck!
    “You don’t become great by trying to be great. You become great by wanting to do something, and then doing it so hard that you become great in the process.” (c) xkcd #896

    GetCertified4Less     - discounted vouchers for certs
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  • ajs1976ajs1976 Member Posts: 1,945 ■■■■□□□□□□
    ChooseLife wrote: »
    Best of luck! I entertained the idea of pursuing the Citrix certification track back in the day when I was administering it, but eventually moved to other technologies.. That was in the days of MetaFrame/PresentationServer version 2/3/4... To this day I often get contacted by recruiters seeing Citrix on my LinkedIn profile, so it seems to be hot. In other words, looks like a great opportunity for you, Iristheangel, good luck!
    I've been told there is not a lot of demand, but when a position comes up it is very hard to find someone with the right experience.
    Andy

    2020 Goals: 0 of 2 courses complete, 0 of 2 exams complete
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  • ajs1976ajs1976 Member Posts: 1,945 ■■■■□□□□□□
    onesaint wrote: »
    Good luck!

    We use Xen now for all our virtualization, but it's Xen in RHEL, which I'm under the impression is a whole different beast than Xenapp.

    Xen on RHEL is similiar to XenServer. XenApp is something different. XenServer is server virtualization where XenApp is application virtualization, an extension to

    When Citrix acquired XenSource (?) it released the XenSource product as XenServer and renamed Presentation server to XenApp. When it released the desktop virtualization product it was named XenDesktop.

    Citrix marketing loves to rename its products. Metaframe --> MetaFrame XP --> MetaFrame presentation server --> Presentation server --> XenApp. Its very annoying.
    Andy

    2020 Goals: 0 of 2 courses complete, 0 of 2 exams complete
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  • IristheangelIristheangel Mod Posts: 4,133 Mod
    Alright, I passed. Not by much at all but a pass is a pass. Whatever. I'll take it
    BS, MS, and CCIE #50931
    Blog: www.network-node.com
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  • ptilsenptilsen Member Posts: 2,835 ■■■■■■■■■■
    Well done! How hard was it? How much total time do you think you put into it? What do you think of Xenapp, having now spent some time getting to know it?
    Working B.S., Computer Science
    Complete: 55/120 credits SPAN 201, LIT 100, ETHS 200, AP Lang, MATH 120, WRIT 231, ICS 140, MATH 215, ECON 202, ECON 201, ICS 141, MATH 210, LING 111, ICS 240
    In progress: CLEP US GOV,
    Next up: MATH 211, ECON 352, ICS 340
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  • IristheangelIristheangel Mod Posts: 4,133 Mod
    I have been working with XenApp for about four weeks now. I wouldn't say this test was hard at all. Even a noob can look at the questions and answers and use common sense to answer at least half right. Since you only have to get 61% to pass, it's not really hard to study up to get to the point of passing.
    BS, MS, and CCIE #50931
    Blog: www.network-node.com
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  • ptilsenptilsen Member Posts: 2,835 ■■■■■■■■■■
    Thanks for the feedback. That makes a lot of sense. From what little I've seen of some practice questions, it seemed like anyone with any knowledge of session virtualization (RDS & terminal services) could almost pass it off of that knowledge and educated guessing. If you had to ballpark (you do!), how much cumulative time would you say you spent on it over the four weeks? Twenty hours? Forty?

    How do you feel about the actual technology? Having learned it, would you be more apt to implement or recommend it over (well, on top of) Remote Desktop Services or another solution (e.g. VDI)?
    Working B.S., Computer Science
    Complete: 55/120 credits SPAN 201, LIT 100, ETHS 200, AP Lang, MATH 120, WRIT 231, ICS 140, MATH 215, ECON 202, ECON 201, ICS 141, MATH 210, LING 111, ICS 240
    In progress: CLEP US GOV,
    Next up: MATH 211, ECON 352, ICS 340
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  • IristheangelIristheangel Mod Posts: 4,133 Mod
    20 hours would be about right. I definitely would recommend it over RDP since it's less bandwidth intensive and there's a lot of pros to it. Citrix created a great product that's DEFINITELY useful. I can understand the shift from PCs to thin clients for the average business user. I think learning more Citrix while getting myself through my MCITP:EA will definitely round me out. After I get both, I'm heading back to my real loves: Networking and security
    BS, MS, and CCIE #50931
    Blog: www.network-node.com
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  • pumbaa_gpumbaa_g Member Posts: 353
    I am just wondering since I am still studying for 643 how much difference is there between Remote Desktop Services in Wintel environments and Citrix? Till now what I have seen in Windows Remote Desktop Services I like but using Hyper V with Remote Desktop Services for VDI I am not sure about especially with the clunkiness of Hyper V. I am still partial to Vmware and its ease of use. Any thoughts?
    I may be wrong as I am not able to use Hyper V on my Desktop and that may give me a lopsided view on things.
    [h=1]“An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less until he knows absolutely everything about nothing.” [/h]
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  • whatthehellwhatthehell Member Posts: 920
    Congratz on the pass!

    So sounds like you didn't use any kind of reading material to pass it? Just labbing?
    2017 Goals:
    [ ] Security + [ ] 74-409 [ ] CEH
    Future Goals:
    TBD
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  • ptilsenptilsen Member Posts: 2,835 ■■■■■■■■■■
    @Pumbaa, XenApp 6.5 actually runs on top of RDS, and previous versions have run off Terminal Services. XenApp is middleware for Windows, in a sense. It provides a bunch of features and enhancements, including and perhaps most notably, an alternative protocol to RDP.

    As far as VDI, which is different, Citrix, MS, and VMware all offer solutions that can integrate with their hypervisor or (for VMware and Citrix) run on other hypervisors. XenApp and RDS are session virtualization solutions, as opposed to system or application virtualization solutions. Session and desktop virtualization can compete or work side-by-side, depending on the needs of the environment and what ends up getting implemented.
    Working B.S., Computer Science
    Complete: 55/120 credits SPAN 201, LIT 100, ETHS 200, AP Lang, MATH 120, WRIT 231, ICS 140, MATH 215, ECON 202, ECON 201, ICS 141, MATH 210, LING 111, ICS 240
    In progress: CLEP US GOV,
    Next up: MATH 211, ECON 352, ICS 340
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  • QHaloQHalo Member Posts: 1,488
    Iristheangel wrote: »
    I have been working with XenApp for about four weeks now. I wouldn't say this test was hard at all. Even a noob can look at the questions and answers and use common sense to answer at least half right. Since you only have to get 61% to pass, it's not really hard to study up to get to the point of passing.

    Impressive to say the least. Congrats and thanks for the review. I was about to start the XA6 stuff before I found out they were retiring it. Citrix seems to retire exams very quickly.
    http://vwilmo.wordpress.com

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  • JubeiYagaruJubeiYagaru Member Posts: 47 ■■□□□□□□□□
    I'm sitting here in my office at one of the Citrix locations in Ft.Lauderdale, wondering if maybe I should take the time to work on my certs as well. Maybe today I'll grab a machine out of lockup and start messing with it.
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  • pumbaa_gpumbaa_g Member Posts: 353
    ptilsen for your insights :) really helpful
    [h=1]“An expert is one who knows more and more about less and less until he knows absolutely everything about nothing.” [/h]
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