White Paper | Parallels Remote Application Server

Parallels Remote Application Server vs Citrix VDI-In-A-Box

Parallels RAS vs. Citrix VDI-In-A-Box 01

Table of Contents
Introduction .....................................................................................................................................................................................................3
Installation, Setup, and Hypervisor Support ............................................................................................................................................3
VDI-in-a-Box....................................................................................................................................................................................................3
Parallels Remote Application Server .........................................................................................................................................................3
Why Parallels Remote Application Server?...............................................................................................................................................3
Hypervisor Support ......................................................................................................................................................................................3
Multiple Hypervisors.......................................................................................................................................................................................3
High Availability................................................................................................................................................................................................4
Load Balancing...............................................................................................................................................................................................4
Publishing of Applications ............................................................................................................................................................................4
Wider Variety of Virtual Desktops ..............................................................................................................................................................4
Filtering Access to Virtual Hosts..................................................................................................................................................................4
Other Parallels Remote Application Server Advantages........................................................................................................................4
Backup..............................................................................................................................................................................................................4
Secure Access................................................................................................................................................................................................4
Printing..............................................................................................................................................................................................................5
Scanning......................................................................................................................................................................5
Second-level Authentication........................................................................................................................................................................5
Access via HTML5.........................................................................................................................................................................................5
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................................................................................5

Parallels RAS vs. Citrix VDI-In-A-Box 02

Introduction
Citrix® VDI-in-a-Box™ 5.x reached its end of sales on April 15, 2016, with its end of life scheduled for October 31, 2017. It
is a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) software specifically built for small- to medium-sized businesses. While it cannot
be compared to Parallels® Remote Application Server (RAS) as a complete virtual desktop and application delivery
solution, many ask why they should invest in Parallels Remote Application Server when they only need a VDI solution.
Below is a comparison of both products that highlights the advantages of Parallels Remote Application Server.

Installation, Setup, and Hypervisor Support

VDI-in-a-Box
It is relatively easy to install and set up Citrix’s VDI-in-a-Box. It has to be set up as an appliance / virtual machine on one
of the supported hypervisors: Microsoft’s Hyper-V®, Citrix XenServer®, or VMware vSphere® ESXi/ESX, and once ready,
the administrator has to follow very simple web-based wizards to create virtual guest images

Parallels Remote Application Server

Parallels Remote Application Server is very easy to install through a standard MSI file installation. Once installed, the
administrator can easily add a hypervisor of choice by following a simple wizard. Documentation on how to add each
hypervisor is available here:
parallels.com/eu/products/ras/resources/

Parallels Remote Application Server

Parallels® Remote Application Server (RAS) is very easy to install by running a normal MSI file installation and does not
have any requirements. Once installed, the administrator can easily add a hypervisor of choice by following a simple
wizard. Parallels RAS supports a wide variety of hypervisors, thus allowing administrators to run a mixed environment.
Parallels Remote Application Server can be installed on both Active Directory® networks and stand-alone machines/
servers using local authentication.

Why Parallels Remote Application Server?

Hypervisor Support
VDI-in-a-Box
VDI-in-a-Box only supports three hypervisors: Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix XenServer, and VMware vSphere ESXi/ESX.

Parallels Remote Application Server

Parallels Remote Application Server supports basically the same hypervisors as Citrix VDI-in-a- Box, thus giving the
administrator a wider range of software to use. For more information on which hypervisors Parallels Remote Application
Server supports, refer to the following link:
kb.parallels.com/eu/123403

Multiple Hypervisors
A single installation of VDI-in-a-Box can only support one hypervisor. With Parallels Remote Application Server, on the
other hand, you can integrate and manage different brands of multiple hypervisors all together from a central location,
the Parallels RAS Console.

Parallels RAS vs. Citrix VDI-In-A-Box 03

High Availability
Both VDI-in-a-Box and Parallels Remote Application Server infrastructures support multiple servers to ensure high
availability.
With VDI-in-a-Box, however, additional servers have to be added manually (going through the same original installation
procedure), while Parallels Remote Application Server servers can be added remotely with an easy-to-follow wizard.

Load Balancing

An out-of-the-box installation of Parallels Remote Application Server has an enabled and preconfigured load balancer.
Administrators can also choose from two different load balancing methods: resource-based and round robin.
In contrast, to enable load balancing for VDI-in-a-Box, administrators have to manually configure a “virtual IP” for the
whole grid and manually configure the DNS server and NetScaler® as well.

Publishing of Applications
With VDI-in-a-Box, administrators can only publish virtual desktops. However, Parallels Remote Application Server,
integrated with a hypervisor or multiple hypervisors, allows administrators to publish desktops, virtual desktops, and
applications from the available operating systems on the hypervisor.

Wider Variety of Virtual Desktops

With VDI-in-a-Box, administrators can only create and distribute virtual guest images of Windows® XP, Windows 7, and
Windows 8 operating systems.
With Parallels Remote Application Server, administrators can create and distribute virtual guest images of Windows XP,
Windows 7, and Windows 8 operating systems. If there are server-based operating systems running on the hypervisors,
Parallels Remote Application Server can also be used to publish and manage their desktops and applications.
If the hypervisor is Parallels, you can also create guest clones of server-based operating systems with Parallels Remote
Application Server.

Filtering Access to Virtual Hosts

VDI-in-a-Box allows administrators to filter access to a virtual guest or a number of virtual guests by username, group, or
IP address.
Parallels Remote Application Server allows administrators to filter access to a virtual guest by username, group, IP
address, MAC address, gateway, and client used, thus offering more flexibility

Other Parallels Remote Application Server Advantages

Backup
While a Parallels Remote Application Server configuration can be easily backed up from the console with a click of a
button, a VDI-in-a-Box configuration cannot. There is no such available solution; one has to switch off the server and
perform a manual backup.
Secure Access
To easily provide desktops securely over a single port (and not have conflicts with firewalls) with VDI-in-a-Box, the
administrator has to use a third-party application called Citrix Access Gateway™ or NetScaler Unified Gateway™.
Parallels Remote Application Server, however, can provide such functionality with an out-of-the-box installation.

Parallels RAS vs. Citrix VDI-In-A-Box 04

Printing
VDI-in-a-Box supports universal printing (for redirection of printers connected to the client machine or network printers)
via the Citrix Universal Print Server only.
Therefore, if printers are not supported by the device, printing is not possible unless the administrator installs an OEM
driver or deploys and configures an additional component, the Citrix Universal Print Server, which requires a Windows
OS-based print server.
With Parallels Remote Application Server, on the other hand, universal printing is available in an out-of-the-box
installation. Although all users can print on any type of printer from any type of device, even network-attached printers,
Parallels RAS does not support network printers with universal printing.

Scanning
Scanning is not supported in VDI-in-a-Box, while Parallels Remote Application Server has a built-in universal scanning
service that allows users to scan documents using TWAIN-supported scanners.

Second-level Authentication
VDI-in-a-Box does not support any sort of integration with a one-time password authentication mechanism, therefore
authentication is limited to a normal username and password.
Parallels Remote Application Server, however, supports integration with Radius, DeepNet, and SafeNet servers, so a
one-time password can be implemented to ensure stronger authentication. Parallels Remote Application Server also has
smart card authentication, allowing users to log into the Parallels Client using their smart card rather than the traditional
username and password.

Access via HTML5

Published resources on Parallels Remote Application Server can also be accessed via an HTML5-capable browser.
This means that users do not need to use a native client to access their published resources, but can use any browser,
such as Chrome™ or Firefox®. This enables low-spec devices, such as a Chromebook™, to connect and use resources
published by Parallels Remote Application Server. Once the HTML5 portal is accessed, the published resources will be
streamed over HTTP.

Conclusion
VDI-in-a-Box is an easy-to-use VDI management solution for small and medium businesses alike, though the system is
very limited in terms of functionality. For example, users cannot scan and print from all type of devices, and administrators
can only create guest image clones and cannot do any other managerial tasks related to the hypervisor.

In addition, with VDI-in-a-Box, implementing some of the basic functionality included in a standard Parallels Remote
Application Server installation requires the installation and configuration of additional components, some of which are third
party and available at an additional cost.

On the other hand, Parallels Remote Application Server is a complete VDI, desktop, and application delivery solution that
also allows you to manage users without the need to install and configure additional components.

Parallels RAS vs. Citrix VDI-In-A-Box 05