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eSmith Portal Help —
Windows Applications
(Revised
08/24/2007)
Citrix Help Index
Overview
Smith has switched to a new technology from Citrix for publishing Windows Applications. It has many advantages over the old solution:
- No more Java! -- the client installs as a native application on the client computer, and integrates with the browser similarly to Acrobat Reader
- Better compatibility -- so far, all tested browsers have worked with the tool – Internet Explorer, Mozilla variants, and Netscape variants, on both PC and Macintosh
- Smaller client -- the client is only 2MB, so it is faster to download and launch (the client is also available on the Smith IT Tools CD for 2004, for those who don't wish to download the client)
- Quicker page display -- the client is only is loaded when you actually launch an application, so the pages can draw without loading all of the helper code
- Windows applications in eSmith can work with your client computer -- you can save documents from the applications directly to the disk drives on your client computer, and can print to a printer attached to the client computer, with no intermediate steps
- No more login screens -- once you have saved your Netware account information in the portal you will have single sign-on access to the applications
- More tightly controlled application publishing -- faculty or staff who need applications published for teaching or administrative purposes can make the applications visible only to certain users, and can limit the number of copies of an application that are launched (to comply with licensing requirements)
Getting Started
The new Windows Applications channel uses a helper application that is installed on your computer. It works sort of like the Acrobat Reader; clicking a link to an application downloads a small file that is opened by the Citrix client, like clicking a link to a PDF opens Acrobat.
Clients are available for a wide variety of Operating Systems. Here are a few of the most popular:
Clients for systems not listed here might be available from the Citrix client download page
(Citrix Presentation Server Client). Smith IT only officially supports the Windows client, but we might be able to help out with some of the others as well.
In Internet Explorer you will see a warning message if you do not have the client installed. Installing the client and restarting IE will remove the warning. All other browsers will display a reminder that the client must be installed before launching applications.
Using Applications
The list of applications appears in a window in eSmith, similar to how they appear in the Windows Explorer or MacOS Finder.
The programs are organized into folders. If you enter a folder you can go back up a folder level by clicking on the "Up" button, and can go up to the root folder by clicking the "Top" button. Clicking an application's icon downloads a small launch file to your computer that is opened by the client, and the program will launch.
Pop up blocking software will not affect the operation of the Windows Applications. If your browser has a download helper/accelerator program installed (such as GetRight) the launch file might not be opened automatically but rather be saved to the disk. If this happens, you should reconfigure the helper application to ignore files downloaded from the host portal.rhsmith.umd.edu and bigapps.rhsmith.umd.edu.
About Accounts
The Windows Application client performs single sign-on to the Smith Netware network.
*** Click the 'Edit' button
in the top right hand corner of the
"Windows Applications" frame to see
this:
Undergraduates and others who do not have a Smith Netware account may pick the option "I do not have a Netware account." This will log them in with a generic account that provides the required drive mappings for the applications to function but does not have a home directory. Documents created with the Windows Applications should be saved to the user's local drives (please see the section ICA (Citrix) Client File Security for more information on saving locally. Other than not having a network home directory there is no lost functionality from not having a personal Netware account, but users who would like an account can apply for one here.
Users with Netware accounts can enter their username, password, and school status in this box, and the applications will be launched with the required drive mappings for the applications to function, as well as your "K" home directory.
Note: Different users might see different applications in this window depending on their group memberships. If you don't see an application but think you should, please contact portalhelp@rhsmith.umd.edu.
ICA (Citrix) Client File Security
The new Windows Applications system has the ability to read and write files from the computer you use to connect. This means, for example, you could create a Visio drawing through the eSmith portal and then save it directly to the floppy drive on the computer you are sitting at, no matter where that computer might be.
To do this, Citrix has to have the ability to map your drives to the server. This is analogous to your mapping the “K” drive from the Netware server. This is a safe operation done through secure protocols, but some people may be uncomfortable with having their local drives being connected to the server. Because of this, Citrix offers you control over this procedure.
When you initially connect to the Citrix server you will be prompted with the above message. These are the settings that control access to your machine’s local hard drive/floppy drive from the Citrix server. If you select “No Access,” your local drives will not be accessible from the Citrix server. “Read Access” will allow you to open files from your local computer, but you will not be able to save the files back to your local computer. “Full Access” will allow you to open and save files to your local computer.
The second question pertains to future connections. ‘Always ask me once per connection’ will display this message every time you connect to the Citrix server. ‘Never ask me again for this application’ will save the settings for the application you are running. So if you are running Visio and select this option, it will save the settings for Visio only. ‘Never ask me again for any application’ will save your selection for all applications and you will never be warned again.
Please Note: Whatever option you select, you will always have the ability to open from and save to your “K” home directory drive. This “K” drive connection is made directly between the Citrix server and the Netware server, and doesn't involve the computer from which you are using eSmith. If you’re uncomfortable with connecting your local drives, you can always work from your K drive.
Saving Documents
You can save documents directly to your local hard disk or floppy drives if you have allowed the client to make that connection (see the note above about ICA (Citrix) Client File Security). You should only save documents to your local drives or to your Netware "K" drive. Do not save any documents to the server's local drives (the "U" and "V" drives). They will be erased and will not be recoverable.
Printing from Windows Applications
The new Windows Applications system can print directly to the printers on your client computer. All of the printers connected to your computer (listed under your Start - Settings - Printers and Faxes menu) will be available. The printer can either be directly attached to your computer or be available over a network.
"ICA File Not Found"
On Windows computers with large hard
drives, the Temporary Internet Files
folder used by Internet Explorer can
become excessively large, causing too
much of a delay in the time required to
save the Launch.ica file and then
retrieve it for use by the client.
To resolve this issue, clear the browser
cache:
- In Internet Explorer select go
Tools > Internet Options
- Select the General tab
- In the Temporary Internet files
section of options, click the
"Delete Files" button.
- You may also want to click the
Settings button to decrease the
amount of disk space to use for the
Internet cache.
A note about connecting from MacOS
and Linux
The client as distributed by Citrix
does not include root signing
certificates for Thawte, the company who
provides our certificates. You can
download a fully configured Mac client
from
here...
simply unzip it and put it in your
Applications folder. We have
tested this client on 10.2, 10.3, and
10.4 for PowerPC and Intel MacOS.
For Unix users, or Mac users who want
to do it themselves,
download the appropriate client from
Citrix and then put
the Thawte root certificates into
the certificates folder of your
installation.
Here are the steps for installing the certificates on MacOS:
- Download the Thawte SSL certificates from:
http://www.thawte.com/roots
- Extract the zip file
- Copy all the files in Thawte Server Roots
folder to /Applications/Citrix ICA Client/keystore/cacerts folder
- In /Applications/Citrix ICA Client/keystore/cacerts folder, rename the following files:
- ThawteServerCA.cer --> ThawteServerCA.crt
- ThawtePremiumServerCA.cer --> ThawtePremiumServerCA.crt
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