Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB) Powered Zone Preference

GSLB powered zone preference is a feature that integrates Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, StoreFront, and Citrix ADC to provide clients access to the most optimized data center based on the client location.

In a distributed Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops deployment, StoreFront might not select an optimal data center when multiple equivalent resources are available from multiple data centers. In such cases, StoreFront randomly selects a data center. It can send the request to any of the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops servers in any data center, regardless of proximity to the client making the request.

The client IP address is examined when an HTTP request arrives at the Citrix Gateway appliance. The real client IP address is used to create the data center preference list that is forwarded to StoreFront. If the Citrix ADC appliance is configured to insert the zone preference header, StoreFront 3.5 or later can use the information provided by the appliance to reorder the list of delivery controllers and connect to an optimal delivery controller in the same zone as the client. StoreFront selects the optimal gateway VPN virtual server for the selected data center zone, adds this information to the ICA file with appropriate IP addresses, and sends it to the client. StoreFront then tries to launch applications hosted on the preferred data center’s delivery controllers before trying to contact equivalent controllers in other data centers.

For more information about configuring this solution, click here
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