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CITRIX: A Simple Way to Access
Your Work Computer from Home
By Matt Howard
Have you ever wanted
to work at home? CITRIX is your answer. It is essentially having direct
access to your work computer at home. Anyone with a SLAC userid/computer
acocunt can use this extremely convenient way to access your computer
desktop from home. All you need is a computer (Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP,
Unix, Linux, or Mac) with an internet connection.
CITRIX is a simple way
to access your desktop, your drives and even your printers at work, all
from home—or from any computer in the world with internet access—using a
web browser with all the settings on your work computer. If you don’t
want to run the entire desktop, you can just run individual programs.
For example, Microsoft Outlook opens automatically at your Inbox.
“I used to come in [to
my office] to read mail and work in the evenings and weekends. CITRIX
has changed all that,” said Neil Calder (COM), a more than satisfied
CITRIX user. “I can do everything from my computer at home. It’s fast
and easy to use.”
CITRIX gives you
access to all of your drives, so you can access any of your files. It
even allows access to your C drive (called the L drive on CITRIX), so
you can easily move files from your home computer onto your work
computer.
“It’s a secure way of
gaining access to your applications here at SLAC,” according to Brian
Scott (SCS), head of the CITRIX team. Since it is run through a Web
browser, CITRIX is extremely secure, which is the main reason it is the
preferred method for employees to use working from home. You don’t have
to worry about managing or updating it because, unlike other methods,
CITRIX is always managed and updated by SCS.
“Our primary design
goal for the CITRIX Farm was to create a facility that would provide a
consistent user experience to our remote users coming across the
Internet without compromising security,” said Ricardo Kau (SCS) who was
in charge of the CITRIX implementation project.
To use CITRIX all you
have to do is complete an account request form. You get a speedy reply
from the CITRIX team and then download the program. You can then sign
on, using your regular SLAC account (from slaccitrix1.slac.stanford.edu
or slaccitrix2.slac.stanford.edu). Once you sign in, you are ready to
access your computer desktop or to run individual programs.
Two sets of machines
at SLAC make this possible. The first one allows everyone access to
standard software, and the second is for special licensed software that
only some people have access to.
“In order to use a
licensed only application on CITRIX, the user must have a valid license
for the software and be added to the software group,” explained Tim
Miller (SCS), who works on the CITRIX program. “Licensed software is
software that requires that you have paid for it.”
All employees at SLAC
are encouraged to use CITRIX in place of other commonly used methods
because it is much more secure and reliable. If you encounter any
problems, please go to www2.slac.stanford.edu/comp/helptrak/ and choose
CITRIX from the desktop support bar.
For account request:
www2.slac.stanford.edu/computing/windows/services/citrix/
For standard software:
www2.slac.stanford.edu/computing/windows/services/citrix/applications.htm
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