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Faculty of Nursing Citrix Guide

Modified on: Fri, 4 Apr 2025 9:46 AM

Introduction

This document will go over how to use the Citrix environment (including HRDR) in the Faculty of Nursing.

 

Applicability

This article is primarily geared towards people who use the Faculty of Nursing Citrix environment. However, support staff may also benefit from this as well.

 

Details


Accessing the system
Installing Citrix Workspace App

Using Citrix Workspace App for HTML (aka open in a browser tab)

HRDR environment

Regular environment

Troubleshooting & FAQ

 

 

Accessing the system

  • Remote Connections
    • Ensure you have a Campus Computing ID (CCID) and a Nursing account from your supervisor first
    • First connect to the Campus VPN using the yourccid@nurs vpn context as shown below:
    • More details about getting the Campus VPN client can be found at: 
      VPN Overview & FAQ
      VPN installation KB
    • After successfully connecting to the VPN, from a web browser, navigate to https://agateway.ualberta.ca Citrix web portal, and sign in with your Nursing account.

  • Local Connections from campus
    • From a web browser, navigate directly to https://agateway.ualberta.ca Citrix web portal without the need for using VPN. Only your Nursing account is required to sign in.


Once you get to the Agateway Web Portal login screen, sign in with your STS account.


Installing Citrix Workspace App

Citrix Workspace App is required to be installed on any computer accessing the Citrix desktops or apps. Sessions can be opened within a web browser if Citrix Workspace App is not installed, however some session features may be unavailable. The Web portal will do a check to see if you already have Citrix Workspace installed or not, and will prompt you to install it if it doesn't detect it.


Find the installer in your Downloads folder.


Once the screen that shows Workspace App has been installed successful, click on Finish (Do not click on Add Account, as this feature is not used)

After Workspace App has finished installing, click on Continue on the Web portal to move on to the desktop selection screen.


You will be presented the home screen of the web portal, with two tabs at the top for Apps and Desktops. Depending on what access you have been provided, you may not see all of the available apps/desktops. 

 



Click on the app/desktop you wish to launch, and it should start.





Using Citrix Workspace App for HTML (aka open in a browser tab)


Alternatively instead of installing Citrix Workspace App, you can choose to open the Citrix resource within a web browser instead. This keeps simple and clean, but it does have some limitations, particularly around peripheral devices and file access with your local computer.


You can switch between using Workspace App for HTML and the standard Workspace App via the Account settings menu.

It will let you know how you are currently opening Citrix resources, and then give you the option to change it.



HRDR environment

To start with HRDR, you'll want to launch the HRDR desktop from the Agateway web portal. HRDR Applications are not available outside of the HRDR Desktop.



After you have connected to the HRDR desktop, you have a few options for accessing applications.

1) Some applications are available right within the desktop itself. Usually any app that is free to use/open source, or that the university has a site license for will be found right in the start menu. (Some examples include: Microsoft Office, Python, Adobe Reader, Google Chrome)

2) Any software that requires a license, will be accessed from the Citrix Workspace App (found in the Start menu). Alternatively, you can also open the Web Portal to access the Citrix applications, and the link can be found on your HRDR desktop.

Some users may have access to a dedicated license of certain software. As shown in the screenshot above, there are two presentations of SAS. One is a dedicated license, and the other is a shared license available to any HRDR user.



Accessing your files in HRDR:

There will be two mapped drives available within File Explorer.

P: Drive:

This is your personal home drive.  Files that you don’t plan on sharing can be stored here.  This is also the place where your old Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Favorites, Music, Pictures, and Videos folders will be stored after the migration.

R: Drive:

The R: drive is where the HRDR files are stored.



Regular environment

The regular Citrix environment is a slightly different than HRDR, in that applications can be launched individually without first logging into a desktop OS. This provides a little bit of flexibility if you just need quick access to a specific app. Do keep in mind that some applications are only available from the Windows 10 Desktop such as Adobe Reader, Microsoft Office, and web browsers.

Launch an application directly from the Agateway Web Portal:

Launch an application from within the Windows 10 desktop via Citrix Workspace App:

 

Accessing your files


The following mapped drives will be available to access files on the network.

P: Drive:

This is your personal home drive.  Files that you don’t plan on sharing can be stored here.  This is also the place where your old Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Favorites, Music, Pictures, and Videos folders will be stored after the migration. 

U: Drive:

This is your university dept./fac. shared drive.  Shared work files will be in this drive.

Z: Drive:

This drive is for sharing files between depts./facs. and is only used by staff who are granted access to files across multiple depts./facs. Depending on your access, you may not have a Z: assigned to you.

 


FAQ and Troubleshooting


Q. I'm having troubles signing into the VPN and/or Citrix web portal.

A. While there can be a number of reasons why this is happening, the most common is that the VPN and Citrix logins are two separate accounts. They will generally have the same username though, so it can get confusing.

CCID account = used for VPN

Nurse account = Citrix web portal


Q. My session gets disconnected if I haven't used it for a while.

A. There are session limits for most software. This is usually centered around letting other people use shared licenses, but also helps keep the system running smoothly by freeing up resources for other people to use. 

 

Q. What are the system specifications available to the Citrix servers?

A. 

HRDR Desktop Server 12 CPU Cores 64 GB RAM
HRDR App Server 16 CPU Cores 96 GB RAM
Regular Desktop Server 12 CPU Cores 64 GB RAM
Regular App Server 16 CPU Cores 64 GB RAM

 

Q. Why am I logged off the desktop and application servers each Sunday morning at 2:00am?

A. The Desktop and Applicaiton servers are restarted as planned scheduled maintenance to clear out unused sessions, free up memory, and allow updates to run.


Q. I was recently granted access to a specific piece of software, but I don't see it within the Citrix Workspace App.

A. Within the Citrix Workspace App, try clicking on the cog wheel in the top right corner, then selecting Refresh Apps.

 

Q. The application I was using through Citrix Workspace App is stuck or frozen.

A. You can go into the Citrix Connection Center to terminate or log off from the application server

Start by opening the Citrix connection Center, by right clicking on the Citrix Workspace App icon in the system tray

Then you can either log off from the server, or terminate the app.

 

 

Q. How do I change my Nursing password?
A. After you've connected to a Citrix application or desktop, you should see a black menu bar at the top of the screen. (May look slightly different on Macs)

Click the menu to expand it, and then click on Ctrl+Alt+Del

Click on Change a password

From here, provide the original password. Then enter your new password, and then confirm the new password. Then click on the arrow to submit the change.



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