Introduction

Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server 3.0 (MPS 3.0) is the latest in a line of products from Citrix Systems. Building on the many versions of software before it, MPS 3.0 provides the latest enhancements and features for remote computing. Citrix chose to re-brand the MetaFrame server line as MetaFrame Presentation Server in 2004, to go along with their new MetaFrame Access Suite label. The MetaFrame Access Suite encompasses both the original server software and several other products, including Password Manager and Conferencing Manager that have been developed or purchased by Citrix over the last few years. Together they expand the reach of remote computing.

What is MetaFrame Presentation Server? As the core technology to Citrix s product suite, it is the foundation for the rest of the MetaFrame Access Suite products. As a third-party add-on for Microsoft s Windows Terminal Services, it provides advanced remote access capabilities for system administrators. It interacts with the underlying architecture of Terminal Services to improve the remote application process

Citrix MetaFrame groups their servers into farms, a group of Citrix servers with a common set of information, referred to as the data store. Within a farm, servers can be broken into different subsets based on everything from function to location.

In this chapter, we look at the history of the MetaFrame products. We also explore how they fill the gaps in Microsoft s Terminal Services technology, and why you might prefer to add MetaFrame to your Terminal Services environment. The decision to add Citrix is...