[THIN] Re: Can Internet-based WAN links be reliable?

  • From: "David Teague" <DavidT@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 10:55:02 -0500

Ken,
  My Company has over 200 users that connect via citrix into our ASP. We
do not use VPN. On our side we have two multi-plexed T1's to provide
bandwidth, it is actually over kill, we are usually right around the
300kbs in usage. We have customers who connect via dial up, home
dsl/cable business dsl/cable and of course full T1's and more, very
rarely do any of them complain about speed issues, and when they do it
is usually something in between us causing the trouble, but that happens
very very rarely.

David Teague
Support Analyst
TMTsoftware
919-493-4700
-----Original Message-----
From: thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of kenw@xxxxxxxx
Sent: Sunday, March 13, 2005 1:41 PM
To: thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [THIN] Can Internet-based WAN links be reliable?

I'm looking for anyone who has found a way to get good reliable Citrix
performance over the public Internet.  Or is that an oxymonon?

I have several clients using Internet-based connectivity for Citrix
support
of small remote offices. And I've just about run out of patience with
erratic performance.  

Some sites seem to perform pretty well, some poorly, and the service is
quite variable.  Clients complain of jerkiness, slowness, and hung or
dropped sessions.  

I've been using Citrix for 10 years.  I've tuned the TCP stacks, set up
keepalives, run packet traces, and so on.  I've tried monitoring load,
ping
times and packet loss with MRTG.  About the only thing I've ever found
that
really works is private networks -- but those are bloody expensive.

High ping times are a rough predicter of performance problems,
especially
when combined with packet loss, or when due to very long haul or
satellite
connections.  My endpoints are rarely overloaded, so there's not much I
can
do there.

There are expensive products that claim to optimize intersite
performance,
but so far as I can see, those are all intended to optimise bandwidth on
congested llinks.  They really don't seem to offer much for unreliable
connections with plenty of spare endpoint bandwidth, or for high-latency
satellite links.  But I can't claim to have tested them much.

All of these offices are using DSL or Cable modems with static IPs and
IPsec VPNs between Netopia (R910 or equivalent) NAT routers.  In some
cases, we also provide connections from remote individual PCs, using
PPTP,
to those same routers.  None of these sites are currently using "bare"
ICA
sessions through open ports on the routers.  I don't believe these
issues
are related to the use of VPN connections, but I can't swear to it.

So I'm looking for success stories.  What really works?

/kenw

Ken Wallewein
K&M Systems Integration
Phone (403)274-7848
Fax   (403)275-4535
kenw@xxxxxxxx
www.kmsi.net
********************************************************
This Weeks Sponsor: RTO Software TScale
TScale provides a cost-effective way to improve performance, capacity
and stability for thin-client servers like Citrix MetaFrame or Microsoft
Terminal Services running Windows NT, 2000 or 2003.
http://www.rtosoft.com/enter.asp?id)6
********************************************************** 
Useful Thin Client Computing Links are available at:
http://thin.net/links.cfm
ThinWiki community - Excellent SBC Search Capabilities!
http://www.thinwiki.com
***********************************************************
For Archives, to Unsubscribe, Subscribe or 
set Digest or Vacation mode use the below link:
http://thin.net/citrixlist.cfm
********************************************************
This Weeks Sponsor: RTO Software TScale
TScale provides a cost-effective way to improve performance, capacity and 
stability for thin-client servers like Citrix MetaFrame or Microsoft Terminal 
Services running Windows NT, 2000 or 2003.
http://www.rtosoft.com/enter.asp?id)6
**********************************************************
Useful Thin Client Computing Links are available at:
http://thin.net/links.cfm
ThinWiki community - Excellent SBC Search Capabilities!
http://www.thinwiki.com
***********************************************************
For Archives, to Unsubscribe, Subscribe or
set Digest or Vacation mode use the below link:
http://thin.net/citrixlist.cfm

Other related posts: