Consider this an evergreen article with *pro-active adds/moves/changes inclusive of errors/mistakes until I remove this statement.
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Microsoft is partnering with Citrix to use the company’s Citrix Workspace portal as its “preferred digital workspace solution,” and Citrix is using Microsoft Azure as its preferred cloud platform. The Windows and Mac Citrix Workspace clients support Team optimization at the time of writing this article with Linux on the way. Installing Teams on a VDI environment When installing Teams on a VDI environment, it must be installed a certain way.
The following content is a brief and unofficial prerequisites guide to setup, configure and test delivering Microsoft teams within a Citrix virtual desktop powered by Citrix Virtual Apps & Desktops (CVAD) Service – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops-service.html in Citrix Cloud prior to deploying in a PoC, Pilot or Production environment. The views, opinions and concepts expressed here are those by the author only and do not necessarily conform to industry descriptions nor leading practises. The views expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Citrix.
Shortened Names
SKYPE FOR BUSINESS – skype4b
CITRIX VIRTUAL DESKTOP – cvd
CITRIX VIRTUAL APP & DESKTOP – cvad
VIRTUAL DELIVERY AGENT – vda
HIGH DEFINITION EXPERIENCE – hdx
VIRTUAL DESKTOP – vd
VIRTUAL APPS – va
REALTIME MEDIA ENGINE – rtme
CITRIX WORKSPACE APP – cwa
MICROSOFT TEAMS – teams
CURRENT RELEASE – cr
LONG TERM SERVICE RELEASE – ltsr
Citrix and Microsoft jointly support the delivery of Microsoft Teams from Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops using optimization for Microsoft Teams. This joint support is the result of close collaboration between the two companies. Teams devices from certified partners help you get the most out of your Microsoft Teams experience.
Very Importantly Notice*
“This feature depends on a future Microsoft Teams release. We will update this description as information about the version and release date become available.” referenced directly from – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/multimedia/opt-ms-teams.html#system-requirements.
Introduction
In May 2016 I published the following blog post entitled “Deploying Skype for Business 2015-16 (Offloaded) from a Citrix HDX Optimised Virtual App or Desktop” available at – https://axendatacentre.com/blog/2016/04/25/deploying-skype4b-2015-offloaded-from-a-citrix-hdx-virtual-app-or-desktop/. Suggested before you continue reading this post please read the “Optimization for Microsoft Teams” documentation on Citrix eDoc’s at – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/multimedia/opt-ms-teams.html or study if you are pressed for time the below architecture diagram for ease of use, of the joint Citrix + Microsoft solution to offload the audio/video processing of Teams from a Citrix Virtual Desktop to the employees local endpoint that is required to run a supported OS + Citrix Workspace app + Real-Time Media Engine (RTME). I still encourage you to please read the documentation in full prior to continuing reading.
Check out the Architecture for the HDX Offloading for #Teams with @Citrix – https://t.co/iUxrG9l8M4 – Optimization for Microsoft Teams p.s please read the NOTE at the top of the document article. pic.twitter.com/PXq0mYaitI
— Lyndon-Jon Martin 👨🏻💻 (@lyndonjonmartin) August 6, 2019It is also worth understanding Microsofts basic architecture overview of the solution which is available at – https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-for-vdi#teams-on-vdi-with-calling-and-meetings.
The Employee Experiences with Teams HDX Offloaded
Windows
Linux (x64 Linux distributions only)
Understanding a HDX Optimised vs. Non-Optimised CVAD Deployment
The following HTML diagram depicts the differences between (un)optimised, I’ve also included a few suggested considerations as well.
| Non-Optimised | Optimised for HDX Teams Offloading | |||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||
1. It’s very important to recognise that employees will find themselves in a situation where the connected end-point is unoptimised during work from home scenario e.g COVID-19 and therefore you should plan for these scenarios by implementing the right vs. relevant HDX policy strategy “Balanced” vs. “Preferred” see below guidance.
2. Educate employees when using a non corporate device e.g personal device at home during to COVID-19 they will likely be consuming an un-optimised version of Teams in CVAD, its important to set a exception to avoid unnecessary help desk tickets/calls.
3. Any and all exchanged IM’s and documents live within the CVAD lens meaning that your IP + Pii in any documents lives within the employees CVAD resource e.g Virtual Desktops when they exported it from a IM’s vs. channel(s) in Teams. It is also important to recognise that those same IMs’ vs. channel(s) originate and are available in Microsoft Teams on any device as the source, so if employees re-frame teams outside of your Citrix virtual desktop your IP + Pii in documents could be exfiltrated if the employee device(s) are not properly managed by IT e.g MEM, UEM, MAM, Secure SaaS check out – https://www.mycugc.org/blogs/lyndon-jon-martin/2020/03/27/secure-saas-on-zero-trusted-vs-earned-trusted-devi for more information.
LTSR vs. CR Strategy for HDX Offloading of Microsoft Teams?
It’s worth understanding that if your CVAD deployment strategy is to use the Long Term Service Release (LTSR) then you will not receive any new features only bug fixes this thinking keeps inline with the current CVAD strategy between CR vs. LTSR (stability and long-term – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/1912-ltsr.html) release cycles. Consuming a CR branch means that you can unlock new features as they become available by upgrading your CVAD on-premises of upgrade the CVAD Service components within your Resource Locations (RL).
| Release Strategy | New Features | Bug Fixes | Documentation |
|---|---|---|---|
| CVAD Service | |||
| On-premises Current Release (CR) | https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/multimedia/opt-ms-teams.html | ||
| Long Term Service Release (LTSR) |
Pre-requisites & System RequirementsKey Highlights Only
The full and complete list is available at – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/multimedia/opt-ms-teams.html*, there is also a Citrix TechZone article published at – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/tech-zone/design/reference-architectures/optimizing-unified-communications-solutions.html. The below are the key highlights that should be focused on to be successful.
1. You will require the following MSFT teams version “1.2.00.31357” in order to be able to take advantage off the HDX Offloading capabilities within a supported CVAD environment. The following Citrix Workspace app (CWa) versions are the suggested vs. minimal versions that will be required to HDX offload Teams A/V traffic onto the employees endpoint:
Windows
Minimum Version: Citrix Workspace app 1911 for Windows
Download (1911):https://www.citrix.com/en-gb/downloads/workspace-app/legacy-workspace-app-for-windows/workspace-app-for-windows-1911.html
PDF Documentation (1911): https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-workspace-app-for-windows/1911/citrix-workspace-app-for-windows-1911.pdf
Linux
Minimum Version: Citrix Workspace app 2006 for Linuxrunning on x64 Linux distributions.
Download (2006): https://www.citrix.com/en-gb/downloads/workspace-app/linux/workspace-app-for-linux-latest.html
PDF Documentation (CR): https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-workspace-app-for-linux/citrix-workspace-app-for-linux.pdf
Mac – Technology Preview
Technology Preview Version: Citrix Workspace app 2009 for Mac OSXrunning on 10.15.
Download (2009): https://www.citrix.com/en-in/downloads/workspace-app/betas-and-tech-previews/workspace-app-tp-for-mac.html
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2. Avoid using the .exe installer for Teams – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/multimedia/opt-ms-teams.html#microsoft-teams-installation.
3.The Citrix HDX Teams policy “Microsoft Teams redirection” – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/policies/reference/ica-policy-settings/multimedia-policy-settings.html#microsoft-teams-redirection, is ON by default as per https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/multimedia/opt-ms-teams.html#microsoft-teams-installation.
4.CTXMTOP is a Citrix HDX virtual channel used for command and control purposes and no media is therefore exchanged between the CWa running on the end-point and the VDA running in the resource location (data centre).
5. In terms of network connectivity requirements PLEASE NOTE that MSFT Teams utilises Media Processor servers in Office 365 for meetings which affects the behaviour of two peers in point-to-point call scenarios, you can learn more at – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/multimedia/opt-ms-teams.html#network-requirements, you should be thinking about near to local breakout from end-points to ensure IP transmits to Office365 over the most efficient and faster available route to avoid any/all employee experience degradation this will also directly apply to any MSFT teams clients on native devices that aren’t HDX Offloaded so take note! If you are a Citrix SD-WAN customer take a look at – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/multimedia/opt-ms-teams.html#citrix-sd-wan-optimized-network-connectivity-for-microsoft-teams likewise if you are not a Citrix SD-WAN customer please take the opportunity to understand why you need to be thinking about an SD-WAN solution for your modern workplace.
6. You will need to update your Windows Firewall ACL on Windows endpoints to avoid the offloading failing by allowing “HdxTeams.exe (HDX Overlay Teams)“, you learn more at – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/multimedia/opt-ms-teams.html#firewall-considerations.
7. Understanding Screen sharing – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/multimedia/opt-ms-teams.html#screen-sharing-in-microsoft-teams.
Deploying HDX Offloading (HDX Optimisation Pack ) for Microsoft Teams in a Citrix Virtual App vs. Virtual Desktop
1.The minimum on-premises control plane required is 1906 running the 1906.2 VDA reference – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/multimedia/opt-ms-teams.html#system-requirements and
2.You need to enable the following policy in Studio for 1906 see page at 668 – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/downloads/citrix-virtual-apps-and-desktops-1906.pdf to enable “Microsoft Teams redirection” which is also documented at – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/multimedia/opt-ms-teams.html#system-requirements.
3.Endpoints should be running Citrix Workspace app for Windows 1907 but the recommended version is 1909 and be sure to configure the Windows ACL for Windows Defender Firewall to allow the “HDX Overlay Teams” app to traverse the right vs. relevant networks for more information please check out – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/multimedia/opt-ms-teams.html#firewall-considerations.
4. The Citrix TechZone micro-site includes few detailed Proof of Concept web document at – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/tech-zone/learn/poc-guides/microsoft-teams-optimizations.html#policy-settings entitled “Proof of Concept guide for Microsoft Teams optimization in Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops environments” to help you setup, configure and deploy Microsoft Teams through a CVAD session or lens. It is a must read and therefore I have chosen to not repeat of any of the authors great work expect what was in my original post 06/08/2019.A fellow Citrix colleague Wendy Gay, published a simple guided step by step overview at – https://citrixie.com/2020/04/14/installing-teams-optimization-pack/ which is worth reading.
Microsoft Teams Leading Deployment Practises for Teams in Citrix VDI
1. Migrate Teams on VDI with chat and collaboration to Citrix with calling and meetings – https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-for-vdi#migrate-teams-on-vdi-with-chat-and-collaboration-to-citrix-with-calling-and-meetings.
2. Teams on VDI performance considerations – https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-for-vdi#teams-on-vdi-performance-considerations.
3. Known issues and limitations – https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-for-vdi#known-issues-and-limitations
CWa Endpoint Update Release Strategy
It is important to recognise that you will need to manage the versions of supported CWa out in the field to avoid the HDX Offloading of Teams breaking and causing a degraded employee experience reverting to fallback of A/V. Please note that each supported OS platform has a different management strategy. You should also please take into account Microsofts recommendations – https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/teams-for-vdi#install-or-update-the-teams-desktop-app-on-vdi.
| Platform | Manual | Automatic | IT Controlled | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows | https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-workspace-app-for-windows/update.html#advanced-configuration-for-automatic-updates-citrix-workspace-updates | |||
| Linux | https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-workspace-app-for-linux/install.html#update |
Tech Insight – Microsoft Teams Optimization with Citrix
This video provides a detailed guided overview of the joint architecture, employee experience, optimisations inclusive of using Citrix SD-WAN, teams call routing and more. Originally posted to the Citrix TechZone at – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/tech-zone/learn/tech-insights/microsoft-teams-optimization.html.
Suggested HDX Broadcast (Remote Graphics Mode) Policyfor 7.15 Long Term Service Release (LTSR)
*Please be aware that Citrix eDocs is very clear when it states that Citrix does NOT support Teams HDX Offloading Optimisation for 7.15 Long Term Service Release (LTSR) as it is NOT listed as a supported CVAD platform, you still may wish however to test Microsoft Teams operationally e.g test out its impact on compute, I/O, user profile e.t.c and then purely for fallback failures aka NO HDX Offloading Optimisation BUT you will not be able to test the employee experience of HDX Offloading the audio/video traffic as it is NOT supported remember*). You’ll make use of your UAT 7.15 LTSR environment to be ready for a 2020-21 deployment on a supported CVAD release that supports HDX Offloading for Microsoft Teams, therefore use the built-in default HDX policy “Use video codec for compression” selecting “Use video codec when preferred” which means the following “This is the default setting. No additional configuration is required. Keeping this setting as the default ensures that Thinwire is selected for all Citrix connections, and is optimized for scalability, bandwidth, and superior image quality for typical desktop workloads.” reference the 7.15 LTSR documentation at – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/xenapp-and-xendesktop/7-15-ltsr/graphics/thinwire.html which will probably be ok for testing under the current release that you are consuming. Final Remember: CVAD formerly XAD 7.15 LTSR platform is NOT supported for Teams Optimisation. TIP: Definitions can change between CR vs. LTSR within the HDX stack which is consistently improving and being updated to offer better employee experiences all the time e.g introduction of net new H.264 standards so always be sure to check the differences between CR vs. LTSR and CR vs. CR versions.
Transitioning from Skype for Business to Teams
A number of few folks have asked the question can I mix and match Skype for Business and the Teams Optimisation Packs together? Its actually a complex answer but the immediate answer as of 03/08/2019 is below, BUT always be sure to circle back and review Citrix’s documentation for the latest supporting statements and interoperability at – https://docs.citrix.com around Teams Optimisation and when searching use “Teams Optimization”. Tip use American spelling for better results.
We only support windows CWA at the moment, which can coexist with RTME. A Mac CWA will be simply not load Teams in optimized VDI mode so we fall back to server side rendering.
— Fernando Klurfan (@CitrixFerK) August 3, 2019The response is complex and is as follows, answers received vary dependant upon your role Citrix vs. Skpye4B/Teams SysAdmin or Consultant. As I work at Citrix today (Aug 2019) lets focus on a Citrix based role to Teams response:
1. Complete LOB app readiness of Teams including new HDX services/API’s to enable HDX Offloading within a the master image but hidden + unavailable using techniques like disabling the services for each (whatever you prefer), Citrix app layering, MSFT app masking e.t.c. TIP: Pay attention to understand the compute utilisation differences between Teams vs. Skype4B there is a difference.
2. I still need to push out the required RTME to all employee end-points so I don’t want to break the employee experience while we transition to Teams. It is expected to have backwards compatible within Citrix Workspace app for older Virtual Delivery Agent (VDA) versions check eDocs for the backwards compatibility.
3. I only want to transition employees by AD or Citrix Delivery group (department, trusted test groups e.t.c) to Teams based upon point 2 and perform a staggered canary rollout like Citrix Cloud does for each of its services.
4. The person(s) within the Skype for Business/Teams based role(s) need to setup/conf and then test the audio/video codecs prior to enabling Teams at a company wide scale, for me personally this point is actually the most critical because as you offloading the audio/video to the end-point when using HDX Offloading the back-end compute + network resources low aka aren’t taken any much of a real hit HOWEVER if the HDX Offloading fails then you really, really need to understand the impact of processing of the A/V within the Citrix session and what affect it will have on the employees experience so when he/she is completed there final tests, you should prior to a final rollout perform a test side by side two identical end-points one optimised and the other un-optimised and be sure to capture the compute + network requirements client and server side, including the network traffic and score the experience out of 10 for voice and video, the test should be done with wired (where possible today), wireless (Wi-Fi) and 4G internet connectivity in two separate locations an Office (think QoS) and at home (no QoS).
5. Once you have the results from point 4 you may want to re-evaluate your existing HDX Broadcast policies (remote graphics mode e.t.c) and take into account a fall-back scenario if HDX Offloading fails whatever the reason, you may also prefer to leave it as is, however I would strongly suggest creating an emergency fallback HDX Broadcast policy stack but it should be DISABLED and only manually pushed out only if required. The fallback HDX Broadcast policy stack is to preserve the employee experience as best you can if something goes wrong and when I mean something goes wrong I mean a non-Citrix update breaks the optimisation somehow as in reality the Citrix components e.g VDA, HDX Services/API, RTME and Citrix Workspace app are less likely to change within a 12 month period.
6. Citrix’s CR documentation for CVAD is updated to include a digram and overview of “Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business Coexistance” – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/multimedia/opt-ms-teams.html#microsoft-teams-and-skype-for-business-coexistance.
Managing Employee Experience when Teams HDX Offloading is NOT available
Most folks are not aware that you can control what happens when Microsoft Teams is NOT been HDX offloaded also referred to as Optimised in a Citrix Virtual Apps & Desktops session. You can achieve or rather control the following when “Fallback Mode” occurs either when a the employees connects from an unsupported endpoint + CWa version e.g CWa for HTML5 or they switch from a IT managed endpoint to a BYO endpoint with the incorrect CWa installed (older and unsupported) or IT has not updated the VDA stack within the master image within the Citrix Cloud Resource Location or preferred cloud data centre type.
You can when the optimisation is unavailable enforce no fallback or audio only (suggested and preferred), if you don’t set either of these options the default is to fallback to allowing the Citrix ICA/HDX protocol to do what it does best optimises the remoted session, you can learn more at – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/multimedia/opt-ms-teams.html#peripherals-in-microsoft-teams.
Suggested “Balanced” HDX Broadcast (Remote Graphics Mode) Policy for Fallback
In 2016 I proposed the following HDX policy for remote graphics “Use video codec for compression” to be set to “For actively changing regions” to preserve the employee experience in a fallback scenario, its now 2019 and my Suggested HDX policy remains unchanged as long as the key goal is to preserve the employee experience to meet that HD experience and it will come at a back-end compute + network traffic spike, including increased network traffic between server and client to process the video H.264/H.265 streams.
Once upon a time I was a SysAdmin and still am at my core so I’ll have an emergency HDX policy in place BUT disabled I call it “HDX Adaptive Display v2 (Balanced)” you configure it as follows selecting the following HDX policies in Studio:
1.”Use video codec for compression” then select “For actively changing regions“
2. “Preferred color depth for simple graphics” then select “16 bits per pixel” and also try 24.
3. Select “Frames Per Second” and select the target FPS to circa 25 from the default which is 30.
NEW 11/10/2019 you could look to utilise “Progressive Mode” – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/graphics/thinwire.html#progressive-mode, I have not tested this myself yet however it may work for your organisation if you already have it in-place actively.
I wrote a myCUGC article entitled “HDX Leading Best Practices for your Modern Secure Workspace” at – https://www.mycugc.org/blogs/cugc-blogs/2017/09/15/hdx-leading-best-practices-for-your-modern-secure which has some interesting thoughts and insights from nearly 2 years ago which you may find useful and yes I will write an updated article this year time permitting to complete my testing which requires extensive field testing with different devices I don’t just use a lab + network at home, I base 95% of all my article suggestions of what/how to configure settings vs. practises from my personal lab hosted in AWS EC2 in N.Virginia to delivered to end-points in the City of and Greater London, England so its not definitely poppy cop its real world + life scenarios and use cases that I test.
Suggested“Preferred”HDX Broadcast/RealTime/MediaStream (Remote Graphics Mode, Audio and Video) Policy inclusive of Fallback
YES I am contradicting the above suggested HDX Broadcast fallback policy, which I have now renamed to “Balanced” from my initial post and why it still remains is that it will support organisations of any size vs. scale vs. deployment rollout vs. connected devices supporting a balance between video, audio and the remoted display so when an outage occurs and neither I nor will you know what its going to be impacted for example it could be 1x MPLS circuit failure (tip check out Citrix SD-WAN link bonding demo from Jan 2016 vs. case study vs. product page) vs. degradation of all internet circuits due to bad BGP route injections, you get the idea. I’m cautious being an ex-SysAdmin/Consultant and therefore I will summary the key differentiators from my own perspectives as follows in order:
1. How important is the employee experience? For me personally this is always #1 as today’s 2019 reality, employees want an HD 4K experience consistently therefore my personal advise is utilise the built-in default HDX policies within the Current Release (CR) typically minus 2/3 of current CVAD release with your desired HDX employee experience policy tweaks.
2. Once you understand how the humans (employees) within your organisation work using Skype for Business vs. Teams you will have better context as to the WHAT should be in your fallback policy for DR, business continuity or just individual employee devices going into fallback mode. For example understanding your employees is key lets take a look at a practical example by industry vertical, a call centre employee is more interested in better audio quality with customers vs. a clinician on a video call discussing a patients surgical/recovery plan looking at patient records.
3. Re-evaluate once every 3-4 months by asking, polling quick surveys and looking at the metrics made available in both Skype for Business vs. Teams as lets be honest its not a light switch its a journey from one to the other.
Now that you understand your humans (employees) keeping point 3 in mind and begin building out your HDX employee experience policy which most likely be the using the defaults in the 19XN releases as the HDX product management team have done an brilliant job working with engineering decreasing the amount of toggles and dials to tweak the HDX protocol and its now these days automatically adapting and adjusting to maintain the human (employee) experience.
1.”Use video codec for compression” then select “Use video codec when preferred“
2. Select “Frames Per Second” use the default which is 30 or increase up to a maximum of 60.
3. Select “Visual quality” set to “High” going beyond this will incur high network bandwidth utilisation, but going beyond this is ok but remember if you are having continual networking performance issues unrelated to Citrix or the HDX offloading capability and employee experience has decreased overall think about a micro change for the current window and then revert. An example of using “Always lossless” is the clinician use case described above.
Tech Insight – Microsoft Teams Optimisation with Citrix
What Supported Hardware Can I Use With Microsoft Teams?
Strongly suggested to only use Microsoft Teams certified headsets, speaker phones, conference phones, cameras e.t.c are listed and available at – https://products.office.com/en-us/microsoft-teams/across-devices/devices. Are my existing Citrix Ready thin clients, headsets, cameras e.t.c using with Skype for Business using Citrix’s HDX Offloading capability compatible? You will need to check with your vendor for there support status with the new optimisation pack for Teams and Microsoft Teams as there have been changes made from both Citrix + Microsoft.
Collection of SuggestedTroubleshooting for Microsoft Teams HDX Offloading in CVAD
Understand what Audio & Video (A/V) can be re-direction e.g web camera from supported Operating System (OS) vs. Citrix Workspace app (CWa) – https://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/data-sheet/citrix-workspace-app-feature-matrix.pdf – Citrix Workspace App (Earlier known as Citrix Receiver) Feature Matrix.
1. The Citrix Support site has a detailed article – https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX253754 which covers off multiple topics for troubleshooting failed HDX optimisations in a CVAD session.
2. How do I know if Teams is Optimised? https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/multimedia/opt-ms-teams.html#enable-optimization-of-microsoft-teams.
3. Troubleshoot MSFT Teams – https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/citrix-virtual-apps-desktops/multimedia/opt-ms-teams.html#troubleshoot.
4. Chromebook – Teams webcam audio problem – https://discussions.citrix.com/topic/408319-chromebook-teams-webcam-audio-problem/#comment-2063142.
The views expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Citrix.
-->This article describes the requirements and limitations for using Microsoft Teams in a virtualized environment.
What is VDI?
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is virtualization technology that hosts a desktop operating system and applications on a centralized server in a data center. This enables a fully personalized desktop experience to users with a fully secured and compliant centralized source.
Microsoft Teams in a virtualized environment supports chat and collaboration. And with the Windows Virtual Desktop, Citrix, and VMware platforms, calling and meeting functionality is also supported.
Teams in a virtualized environment supports multiple configurations. These include VDI, dedicated, shared, persistent, and non-persistent modes. Features are in continuous development and are added on a regular basis, and functionality will expand in the coming months and years.
Using Teams in a virtualized environment might be somewhat different from using Teams in a non-virtualized environment. For example, some advanced features might not be available in a virtualized environment, and video resolution might differ.
To ensure an optimal user experience, follow the guidance in this article.
Note
For details about Teams VDI on different platforms, see Teams features by platform.
Teams on VDI components
Using Teams in a virtualized environment requires the following components.
- Virtualization broker: The resource and connection manager to the virtualization provider, such as Azure
- Virtual desktop: The Virtual Machine (VM) stack that runs Microsoft Teams
- Thin client: The endpoint that the user physically interfaces with
- Teams desktop app: The Teams desktop client app
Teams on VDI requirements
Virtualization provider requirements
The Teams desktop app was validated with leading virtualization solution providers. With multiple market providers, we recommend that you consult your virtualization solution provider to ensure that you meet the minimum requirements.
Currently, Teams on VDI with audio/video (AV) optimization is certified with Windows Virtual Desktop, Citrix, and VMware. Review the information in this section to ensure that you meet all requirements for proper functionality.
Platforms certified for Teams
The following platforms have virtual desktop infrastructure solutions for Teams.
| Platform | Solution |
|---|---|
| Windows Virtual Desktop | |
| Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops | |
| VMware Horizon |
Windows Virtual Desktop
Windows Virtual Desktop provides AV optimization for Teams on VDI. To learn more and requirements and installation, see Use Teams on Windows Virtual Desktop.
Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops requirements
Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (formerly known as XenApp and XenDesktop) provides AV optimization for Teams on VDI. With Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, Teams on VDI supports calling and meeting functionality in addition to chat and collaboration.
You can download the latest version of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops at the Citrix downloads site. (You'll need to sign in first.) The necessary components are bundled into the Citrix Workspace app (CWA) and Virtual Delivery Agent (VDA) by default. You don't need to install any additional components or plugins on CWA or the VDA.
For the latest server and client requirements, see this Citrix website.
Proof Of Concept Guide For Microsoft Teams Optimization In ...
VMware Horizon Workspace and Desktop requirements
VMware Horizon is a modern platform for secure delivery of virtual desktops and apps across the hybrid cloud. To offer a great end-user experience, VMware Horizon provides media optimization for Teams. This optimization improves overall productivity across virtual desktops and apps, and enhances user experience when calling and meeting using Teams.
You can download the latest version of VMware Horizon from the VMware Downloads page. The required media optimization components are part of the Horizon Agent and Horizon Client by default and there's no need to install any additional plug-in to use the optimization feature for Teams.
To get the latest requirements and instructions on how to configure media optimization for Teams, see this VMware website.
Install or update the Teams desktop app on VDI
You can deploy the Teams desktop app for VDI using a per-machine installation or per-user installation using the MSI package. Deciding on which approach to use depends on whether you use a persistent or non-persistent setup and the associated functionality needs of your organization.
For a dedicated persistent setup, either approach would work. However, for a non-persistent setup, Teams requires a per-machine installation in order to work efficiently. See the Non-persistent setup section.
With per-machine installation, automatic updates is disabled. This means that to update the Teams app, you must uninstall the current version to update to a newer version. With per-user installation, automatic updates is enabled. For most VDI deployments, we recommend you deploy Teams using per-machine installation.
To update to the latest Teams version, start with the uninstall procedure followed by latest Teams version deployment.
For Teams AV optimization in VDI environments to work properly, the thin client endpoint must have access to the internet. If internet access isn't available at the thin client endpoint, optimization startup won't be successful. This means that the user is in a non-optimized media state.
Dedicated persistent setup
In a dedicated persistent setup, users' local operating system changes are retained after users log off. For persistent setup, Teams supports both per-user and per-machine installation.
The following is the recommended minimum VM configuration.
| Parameter | Workstation operating system | Server operating system |
|---|---|---|
| vCPU | 2 cores | 4,6, or 8 It's important to understand the underlying non-uniform memory access (NUMA) configuration and configure your VMs accordingly. |
| RAM | 4 GB | 512 to 1024 MB per user |
| Storage | 8 GB | 40 to 60 GB |
Non-persistent setup
In a non-persistent setup, users' local operating system changes are not retained after users log off. Such setups are commonly shared multi-user sessions. VM configuration varies based on the number of users and available physical box resources.
For a non-persistent setup, the Teams desktop app must be installed per-machine to the golden image. (To learn more, see the Install or update the Teams desktop app on VDI section.) This ensures an efficient launch of the Teams app during a user session.
Using Teams in a non-persistent setup also requires a profile-caching manager, for efficient Teams runtime data synchronization. Efficient data synchronization ensures that the appropriate user-specific information (such as a user's data, profile, or settings) is cached during the user's session. Make sure data in these two folders are synched:
- C:UsersusernameAppDataLocalMicrosoftIdentityCache (%localAppdata%MicrosoftIdentityCache)
- C:UsersusernameAppDataRoamingMicrosoftTeams (%appdata%MicrosoftTeams)
Note
A roaming folder (or, if you are using folder redirection, a caching manager) is required to ensure that the Teams app has the runtime data and files required to run the application. This is necessary to mitigate network latency issues or network glitches, which would otherwise cause application errors and a slow experience due to unavailable data and files.
There are a variety of caching manager solutions available. For example, FSLogix. Consult your caching manager provider for specific configuration instructions.
Teams cached content exclusion list for non-persistent setup
Exclude the following from the Teams caching folder, %appdata%/Microsoft/Teams. Excluding these items helps reduce the user caching size to further optimize your non-persistent setup.
- .txt files
- Media-stack folder
- meeting-addinCache (%appdata%MicrosoftTeamsmeeting-addinCache)
Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise considerations
Consider the following when you deploy Teams with Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise on VDI.
New deployments of Teams through Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise
Before you deploy Teams through Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise, you must first uninstall any pre-existing Teams apps if they were deployed using per-machine installation.
Teams through Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise is installed per-user. To learn more, see the Install or update the Teams desktop app on VDI section.
Teams deployments through Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise updates
Teams is also being added to existing installations of Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise. Since Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise installs Teams per-user only, see the Install or update the Teams desktop app on VDI section.
Using Teams with per-machine installation and Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise
Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise doesn't support per-machine installations of Teams. To use per-machine installation, you must exclude Teams from Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise. See the Deploy the Teams desktop app to the VM and How to exclude Teams deployment through Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise sections.
How to exclude Teams deployment through Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise
To learn more about Teams and Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise, see How to exclude Teams from new installations of Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise and Use Group Policy to control the installation of Teams.
Deploy the Teams desktop app to the VM
Download the Teams MSI package that matches your VDI VM operating system using one of the following links:
Note
For government clouds, see Install Microsoft Teams using Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager for the download links to the MSI files.
The minimum version of the Teams desktop app that's required is version 1.3.00.4461. (PSTN hold isn't supported in earlier versions.)
Install the MSI to the VDI VM by running one of the following commands:
Per-user installation (default)
This process is the default installation, which installs Teams to the %AppData% user folder. At this point, the golden image setup is complete. Teams won't work properly with per-user installation on a non-persistent setup.
Per-machine installation
This process installs Teams to the Program Files (x86) folder on a 64-bit operating system and to the Program Files folder on a 32-bit operating system. At this point, the golden image setup is complete. Installing Teams per-machine is required for non-persistent setups.
The next interactive logon session starts Teams and asks for credentials.
Note
These examples also use the ALLUSERS=1 parameter. When you set this parameter, Teams Machine-Wide Installer appears in Programs and Features in Control Panel and in Apps & features in Windows Settings for all users of the computer. All users can then uninstall Teams if they have admin credentials.It's important to understand the difference between ALLUSERS=1 and ALLUSER=1. The ALLUSERS=1 parameter can be used in non-VDI and VDI environments, while the ALLUSER=1 parameter is used only in VDI environments to specify a per-machine installation.
Uninstall the MSI from the VDI VM. There are two ways to uninstall Teams.
PowerShell script: You can use this PowerShell script to uninstall Teams and remove the Teams folder for a user. Run the script for each user profile in which Teams was installed on the computer.
Command line: Run the following command.
This process uninstalls Teams from the Program Files (x86) folder or Program Files folder, depending on the operating system environment.
Teams on VDI performance considerations
Teams PowerShell Overview
There are a variety of virtualized setup configurations, each with a different focus for optimization. For example, a configuration might focus on user density. When planning, consider the following to help optimize your setup based on your organization's workload needs.
- Minimum requirement: Some workloads might require a setup using resources that are above the minimum requirements. For example, workloads for developers who use applications that demand more computing resources.
- Dependencies: These include dependencies on infrastructure, workload, and other environmental considerations outside the Teams desktop app.
- Disabled features on VDI: Teams disables GPU-intensive features for VDI, which can help improve transient CPU utilization. The following features are disabled:
- Teams CSS animation
- Giphy auto-start
Teams on VDI with calling and meetings
In addition to chat and collaboration, Teams on VDI with calling and meetings is available with supported virtualization provider platforms. Supported features are based on the WebRTC media stack and virtualization provider implementation. The following diagram provides an overview of the architecture.
Important
If you currently run Teams without AV optimization in VDI and you use features that are not supported yet for optimization (such as Give and take control when app sharing), you have to set virtualization provider policies to turn off Teams redirection. This means that Teams media sessions won't be optimized. For steps on how to set policies to turn off Teams redirection, contact your virtualization provider.
Network requirements
We recommend that you evaluate your environment to identify any risks and requirements that can influence your overall cloud voice and video deployment. Use the Skype for Business Network Assessment Tool to test whether your network is ready for Teams.
To learn more about how to prepare your network for Teams, see Prepare your organization's network for Teams.
Migrate from Skype for Business on VDI to Teams on VDI
If you're migrating from Skype for Business on VDI to Teams on VDI, besides the differences between the two applications, there are some differences when VDI is also implemented. Some capabilities that aren't currently supported in Teams VDI that are in Skype for Business VDI are as follows:
- Per-platform policy to disable some AV features in VDI
- Give and take control when app sharing
- Screen share from chat without audio
- Simultaneous video and screen sharing send and receive
Teams on Chrome browser versus Teams desktop app for VDI
Teams on Chrome browser doesn't provide a replacement for the Teams desktop app for VDI with AV optimization. The chat and collaboration experience works as expected. When media is needed, there are some experiences that might not meet user expectations on the Chrome browser:
- The audio and video streaming experience might not be optimal. Users might experiences delays or reduced quality.
- Device settings aren't available in browser settings.
- Device management is handled through the browser and requires multiple settings in browser site settings.
- Device settings might also need to be set in Windows device management.
Teams on VDI with chat and collaboration
If your organization wants to only use chat and collaboration features in Teams, you can set user-level policies to turn off calling and meeting functionality in Teams.
Set policies to turn off calling and meeting functionality
You can set policies by using the Microsoft Teams admin center or PowerShell. It might take some time (a few hours) for the policy changes to propagate. If you don't see changes for a given account immediately, try again in a few hours.
Calling polices: Teams includes the built-in DisallowCalling calling policy, in which all calling features are turned off. Assign the DisallowCalling policy to all users in your organization who use Teams in a virtualized environment.
Meeting policies: Teams includes the built-in AllOff meeting policy, in which all meeting features are turned off. Assign the AllOff policy to all users in your organization who use Teams in a virtualized environment.
Assign policies using the Microsoft Teams admin center
To assign the DisallowCalling calling policy and the AllOff meeting policy to a user:
- In the left navigation of the Microsoft Teams admin center, go to Users.
- Select the user by clicking to the left of the user name, and then click Edit settings.
- Do the following:
- Under Calling policy, click DisallowCalling.
- Under Meeting policy, click AllOff.
- Click Apply.
Microsoft Teams Citrix Hdx
To assign a policy to multiple users at a time:
- In the left navigation of the Microsoft Teams admin center, go to Users, and then search for the users or filter the view to show the users you want.
- In the ✓ (check mark) column, select the users. To select all users, click the ✓ (check mark) at the top of the table.
- Click Edit settings, make the changes that you want, and then click Apply.
Or, you can also do the following:
- In the left navigation of the Microsoft Teams admin center, go to the policy you want to assign. For example:
- Go to Voice > Calling policies, and then click DisallowCalling.
- Go to Meetings > Meeting policies, and then click AllOff.
- Select Manage users.
- In the Manage users pane, search for the user by display name or by user name, select the name, and then click Add. Repeat this step for each user that you want to add.
- When you're finished adding users, click Save.
Assign policies using PowerShell
The following example shows how to use the Grant-CsTeamsCallingPolicy to assign the DisallowCalling calling policy to a user.
To learn more about using PowerShell to manage calling policies, see Set-CsTeamsCallingPolicy.
The following example shows how to use the Grant-CsTeamsMeetingPolicy to assign the AllOff meeting policy to a user.
To learn more about using PowerShell to manage meeting policies, see Set-CsTeamsMeetingPolicy.
Migrate Teams on VDI with chat and collaboration to optimize Teams with calling and meetings
If you have an existing implementation of Teams on VDI with chat and collaboration in which you had set user-level policies to turn off calling and meeting functionality, and you're migrating to Teams with AV optimization, you must set policies to turn on calling and meeting functionality for those Teams on VDI users.
Set policies to turn on calling and meeting functionality
You can use the Microsoft Teams admin center or PowerShell to set and assign calling and meeting policies to your users. It can take some time (a few hours) for policy changes to propagate. If you don't see changes for a given account immediately, try again after a few hours.
Calling polices: Calling policies in Teams control which calling features are available to users. Teams includes the built-in AllowCalling calling policy, in which all calling features are turned on. To turn on all calling features, assign the AllowCalling policy. Or, create a custom calling policy to turn on the calling features that you want and assign it to users.
Meeting policies: Meeting policies in Teams control the types of meetings that users can create and the features that are available to meeting participants that are scheduled by users in your organization. Teams includes the built-in AllOn meeting policy, in which all meeting features are turned on. To turn on all meeting features, assign the AllOn policy. Or, create a custom meeting policy to turn on the meeting features that you want and assign it users.
Assign policies using the Microsoft Teams admin center
To assign the AllowCalling calling policy and the AllOn meeting policy to a user:
- In the left navigation of the Microsoft Teams admin center, go to Users.
- Select the user by clicking to the left of the user name, and then click Edit settings.
- Do the following:
- Under Calling policy, click AllowCalling.
- Under Meeting policy, click AllOn.
- Click Apply.
To assign a policy to multiple users at a time:
- In the left navigation of the Microsoft Teams admin center, go to Users, and then search for the users or filter the view to show the users you want.
- In the ✓ (check mark) column, select the users. To select all users, click the ✓ (check mark) at the top of the table.
- Click Edit settings, make the changes that you want, and then click Apply.
Or, you can also do the following:
- In the left navigation of the Microsoft Teams admin center, go to the policy you want to assign. For example:
- Go to Voice > Calling policies, and then click AllowCalling.
- Go to Meetings > Meeting policies, and then click AllOn.
- Select Manage users.
- In the Manage users pane, search for the user by display name or by user name, select the name, and then click Add. Repeat this step for each user that you want to add.
- When you're finished adding users, click Save.
Assign policies using PowerShell
The following example shows how to use the Grant-CsTeamsCallingPolicy to assign the AllowCalling calling policy to a user.
To learn more about using PowerShell to manage calling policies, see Set-CsTeamsCallingPolicy.
The following example shows how to use the Grant-CsTeamsMeetingPolicy to assign the AllOn meeting policy to a user.
To learn more about using PowerShell to manage meeting policies, see Set-CsTeamsMeetingPolicy.
Control fallback mode in Teams
When users connect from an unsupported endpoint, the users are in fallback mode, in which AV isn't optimized. You can disable or enable fallback mode by setting one of the following registry DWORD values:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftTeamsDisableFallback
- HKEY_CURRENT_USERSOFTWAREMicrosoftOfficeTeamsDisableFallback
To disable fallback mode, set the value to 1. To enable audio only, set the value to 2. If the value isn't present or is set to 0 (zero), fallback mode is enabled.
This feature is available in Teams version 1.3.00.13565 and later.
Known issues and limitations
Client deployment, installation, and setup
- With per-machine installation, Teams on VDI isn't automatically updated in the way that non-VDI Teams clients are. You have to update the VM image by installing a new MSI as described in the Install or update the Teams desktop app on VDI section. You must uninstall the current version to update to a newer version.
- In Citrix environments, if the user disconnects from the Virtual Machine while Teams is running, Teams updates can result in the user to be in a non-optimized state for AV when they reconnect. We recommend that users quit Teams before they disconnect from Citrix Virtual Machine to avoid this scenario.
- Teams should be deployed either per user or per machine. Deployment of Teams for concurrent per user and per machine is not supported. To migrate from either per machine or per user to one of these modes, follow the uninstall procedure and redeploy to either mode.
- Windows Virtual Desktop and VMware don't support MacOS and Linux-based clients at this time.
Calling and meetings
The following calling and meeting features are not supported:
- Any multi-window functionality like the new meeting experiences or any functionality that comes with the new meeting experience
- Enhanced emergency services
- HID buttons and LED controls between the Teams app and devices
- Background blur and effects
- Broadcast and live event producer and presenter roles
- Location-Based Routing (LBR)
- Call park
- Call queue
- Shared system audio/computer sound
- Media bypass for Direct Routing
- Zoom control
Note
We're working on adding calling and meeting features that are currently only available in non-VDI environments. These might include more admin control over quality, additional screen sharing scenarios, and advanced features recently added to Teams. Contact your Teams representative to learn more about upcoming features.
The following are known issues and limitations for calling and meetings:
- Interoperability with Skype for Business is limited to audio calls; there is no video modality.
- Only a single incoming video stream is supported in meetings or group calls. When multiple people send video, only the dominant speaker's video is shown at any given time.
- Incoming and outgoing video stream resolution is limited to 720p resolution. This is a WebRTC limitation.
- Only one video stream from an incoming camera or screen share stream is supported. When there's an incoming screen share, that screen share is shown, instead of the video of the dominant speaker.
- Teams doesn't switch to use the last audio device that a user selected, if the device is disconnected, and then reconnected.
- Outgoing screen sharing:
- Application sharing is not supported.
- Give control and take control:
- Not supported during a screen sharing or application sharing session.
- Supported during a PowerPoint sharing session.
- Citrix-only limitations
- When screen sharing in a multi-monitor setup, only the main monitor is shared.
- High DPI scaling on CWA is not supported.
For Teams known issues that aren't related to VDI, see Support Teams in your organization.
Troubleshooting
Troubleshoot Citrix components
Teams crashes or the Teams sign in screen is blank
This is a known issue with Citrix VDA versions 1906 and 1909. To work around this issue, add the following registry DWORD value, and set it to 204 (hexadecimal).
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWARECitrixCtxHookAppInit_DllsSfrHookTeams.exe
Then, restart VDA. To learn more, see this Citrix support article, Troubleshooting HDX optimization for Teams.
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