CTX131001 - XenApp 6.5 - Implementing ICA MultiStream / MultiPort - Virtual Channel Groups and Priorities - Citrix Knowledge Center

CTX131001 - XenApp 6.5 - Implementing ICA MultiStream / MultiPort - Virtual Channel Groups and Priorities - Citrix Knowledge Center:

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Summary

This article contains information about the Citrix ICA Channels and their priorities. These channels and priorities are used in XenApp 6.5 Multi-Stream Multi-Port ICA.

Background

In XenApp 6.5 and XenDesktop 5.5, with Receiver 3.0 (including Online Plugin 13.0), Citrix introduced support for true network based Quality of Service (QoS) to the ICA/HDX protocol.

QoS is a mechanism to prioritize network traffic to help ensure that the most important data gets through the network as quickly as possible.

Multi-Stream and Multi-Port ICA allow assigning a separate TCP Port for each of the four groups of ICA Channels. These TCP ports can then be assigned unique priorities on Network Devices.

To decide if it is required and to decide how to implement Multi-Stream and Multi-Port ICA in an environment, it is necessary to understand what the ICA Channels are, and how they are divided into the four priority groups. This article contains these details.

Default ICA Virtual Channel Groups and Priorities

The following table lists the default priorities for each ICA Virtual Channel in XenApp 6.5. This table includes both Single Stream ICA, and Multi-Stream ICA (with Multi-Stream Policy enabled).

Note: These priorities apply to XenApp 6.5.

The following are the numerical priorities in the XenApp 6.5 ICA/GPO:

Very High = 0
High = 1
Medium = 2
Low = 3

Assuming that Branch Repeater is not in use in the environment, to implement Multi-Stream and Multi-Port ICA, complete the following tasks:

Enable Session Reliability, and therefore enable CGP.
Note: With Branch Repeater, CGP is not required.
Enable and configure the Multi-Stream and Multi-Port ICA/GPO Policies.
Configure Network Devices to assign QoS as desired to each configured port.

Default ICA Virtual Channel Priorities

Channel Name	Description	Single Stream (XenApp 6.5)	Multi-stream (XenApp 6.5)
CTXCAM	Client audio mapping	0	0
CTXTWI	Seamless Windows screen update data (ThinWire)	0	1
CTXCTL	Citrix Control Virtual Channel	0*	1
CTXEUEM	End User Experience Monitoring	0*	1
CTXFLASH	Citrix Flash Redirection	0*	2
CTXGUSB	USB Redirection	0*	2
CTXSBR	No longer used. Previously: Citrix Browser Acceleration	0*	1
CTXSCRD	Smartcard	0*	1
CTXCLIP	Clipboard	1	2
CTXLIC	License management	1	1
CTXPN	Program Neighborhood	1	1
CTXTW	Remote Windows screen update data (ThinWire)	1	1
CTXVFM	Video server video (not ThinWire video)	1	1
CTXCCM	Client COM port mapping	2	3
CTXCDM	Client drive mapping	2	2
CTXMM	Citrix Windows Multimedia Redirection	2	2
CTXCM	Client management (Auto Client Update)	3	3
CTXCOM1	Printer mapping for non-spooling client (Thin client devices)	3	3
CTXCOM2	Printer mapping for non-spooling client (Thin client devices)	3	3
CTXCPM	Printer mapping for spooling clients	3	3
CTXLPT1	Printer mapping for non-spooling client (Thin client devices)	3	3
CTXLPT2	Printer mapping for non-spooling client (Thin client devices)	3	3
OEMOEM	Used by Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs)	3	3
OEMOEM2	Used by Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs)	3	3