In This Article
The information in this article is meant to be used in the sales process.
Overview
This article provides guidance for running Microsoft Teams in the Evolve IP Cloud. Specifically, Workspaces (powered by Citrix) and DaaS (Powered by VMware).
For customers wishing to utilize the fully installed Microsoft Teams client within an Evolve IP Workspace or DaaS product, please refer to the following compatibility information.
WebRTC for Real Time Audio Video (RTAV)
WebRTC is an open standard capable of redirecting video, voice, and data in a peer-to-peer fashion from one instance/endpoint to another.
The Citrix Workspace app makes use WebRTC, and for MS Teams, this works by making audio & video stream connections to/from the user's local endpoint and the Citrix virtual machine. Because the connection is made directly between the devices, the encoding of the audio and video streams are offloaded to the local endpoint, which reduces latency and improves video quality.
Citrix has implemented WebRTC in the Windows 10 version of their Workspace app. Mac and Linux are on the roadmap, but there is no release date yet.
Citrix has made WebRTC aware of Teams and Jabber so that the applications can provide feedback regarding the experience. Finally, WebRTC performance seems to also be dependent on media capabilities of the peers and because of all of the components and connections involved, reliability establishing the connection is less than perfect.
VMware’s new optimizations also use the WebRTC components to accomplish the same effect, and this solution has been officially recognized by Microsoft as supported. The required media optimization components are part of the Horizon Agent and Horizon Client by default and there's no need to install any additional plug-in to use the optimization feature for Teams.
RTAV Resources
Teams Experience in DaaS with Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) for Reference
The table below provides guidance w/ general end-user experience running Teams inside DaaS and Workspaces. VMware (DaaS) and Citrix (Workspace) have a different approach to handling RTAV, see experience estimates below.
| Metric | Local Endpoint (Desktop, Laptop******) | DaaS (Windows 10 Endpoint*) | DaaS (Thin/Zero Client***) | Workspace Elite (Windows 10 Endpoint**) | Workspace Elite (Thin/Zero Client***) | AVD w/ RDP (Win 10 Endpoint) | AVD w/ RDP (Thin/Zero Client***) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outbound Video Quality |  | | | | Not Supported ***** | TBD Pending Future Update **** | Not Supported **** |
| Inbound Video Quality | | | | | Not Supported ***** | TBD Pending Future Update **** | Not Supported **** |
| Audio Quality (In/Out) | | | | | Not Supported ***** | TBD Pending Future Update **** | Not Supported **** |
| Overall RTAV Experience | | | | | | | |
| Screen Sharing |  | | | | | | |
| File Sharing | | | | | | | |
| Chat | | | | | | | |
*Win10 Home w/ VMware Horizon 5.4.2, w/ Media Optimization for MS Teams, DaaS View Agent 7.3.1
**Win10 Home w/ Citrix Workspace Client 20.2.0.25, MS Teams HDX Optimized on VDA
*** ThinOS or ZeroOS, Win10 IOT thin client not in scope for testing. ThinOS version 8.x, used for testing.
**** Based on 3/19/20 Azure WVD KB
***** Does not support RTAV or RTA for Dell Wyse 3040
****** The best RTAV experience utilizes the local endpoint resources versus leveraging the resources and RTAV optimizations of a virtualized environment.
Testing Notes & Important Consideration
Evolve IP recommends client testing of any RTAV experience before purchase via sales demo platform (available for DaaS and WS).
- DaaS CPU tested with both 2vCPU and 4vCPU as well as 4 GB RAM (Standard Seat) and 8 GB Ram (Premium Seat). Higher level seat provides greater multi-tasking capability, 2vCPU vs 4 vCPU did not significantly improve experience.
- Blast, PCoIP protocol on both thinOS and PCoIP Zero clients all yielded a similar experience.
- Win10 IoT thin clients not recommended due to high price-to-performance cost and high mgmt overheard with minimal benefit vs standard Win10 endpoint.
- Only DaaS and Workspaces were tested due to other protocols (i.e. RDP on WVD, Ericom, etc.) not having any published optimized Teams guidance.
Product Specific / Detailed Guidance
The details below are specific to Workspaces and DaaS seat levels. Certain seat types will be a better choice for clients depending on their user behavior / work habits. Also there are several differences and caveats of each solution noted below.
MS Teams Outside of Evolve IP DaaS
- Evolve IP can provide best-effort configuration assistance at best.
- Troubleshooting for DaaS will be the responsibility of the customer's DaaS provider who is "outside" or said another way, not Evolve IP.
- Due to this being the customer's deployment we can only offer guidance based on vendor documentation and that is the limit of our support.
- We recommend that all agents and software are running the latest version that is publicly available.
- Evolve IP can provide a demo seat to test OUR deployment of Teams with Citrix.
- Two week proof of concept (POC) is in play
- This is the normal POC process to validate functionality on an Evolve IP platform.
MS Teams Inside Evolve IP DaaS
Evolve IP Workspaces Elite, powered by Citrix technology, is certified and optimized as well as supported by Evolve IP. The matrix below shows compatibility between Teams and Workspaces. Note, Workspaces is a session-based delivery allowing companies to share resources of a group of servers. | Workspaces Desktop | RTAV Support | Microsoft Certified | Optimized for MS Teams | Important Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Workspaces Std | NA | NA | NA | Microsoft does not support Microsoft Teams as a Published application. |
| Workspaces Pro |  | | | Workspace Pro meets the minimum requirements for MS Teams WITHOUT RTAV enabled. |
| Workspaces Elite | | | | Workspaces Elite supports all MS Teams features. |
Feature Limitations
- Citrix optimized MS teams provides a single incoming video stream during group calls. When there are multiple participants sending their video, only the dominant speaker’s video is shown at any time. This is also true for any version of Chrome. MS Edge does support multiple RTAV streams.
- When doing screen sharing in multi-monitor setups, it's possible only the user's main monitor is shared.
- During screen sharing, give control/take control may not be supported.
Resources
- The Citrix Optimization Guide for Microsoft Teams is a public guide that outlines all of the requirements for configuring the virtual desktop environment (EIP responsibility), and the endpoint devices accessing a virtual desktop (client responsibility). The optimization guide includes the following:
- Minimum endpoint requirements (hardware, operating systems, and software)
- Recommended peripherals (headsets & webcams).
- A list of supported thin clients from multiple vendors.
- Network considerations, and call flow information.
- Known limitations, and some troubleshooting information.
Dual Tone Multi Frequency (DTMF) and Teams Voicemail Limitation
DTMF allows a Teams user to send a dial tone to their voicemail to log in and set up their greeting, for example.
Evolve IP has seen with the latest version of Citrix VDA, Citrix Workspace App, and Teams (Optimized) installed that DTMF issues mostly go away.
Evolve IP has seen that when using earlier versions of the Citrix VDA, Citrix Workspace App, and Teams (Optimized), when a Citrix VDI user called into a meeting using the dial-in number, the call was connected, but users were not admitted to the meeting because DTMF tone was not sent.
Now that the feature is supportable, when the same user enters the conference ID, DTMF will recognize the ID being entered and admit user to the meeting.
The CWA versions that will support DTMF are:
- CWA for Windows 2102 or higher
- CWA for Linux 2101 or higher
- CWA for MAC 2101 or higher
MS Teams Inside Evolve IP DaaS
The below VMware Horizon DaaS support matrix provides information as it relates to MS Teams. Note, Evolve IP DaaS is a dedicated one-to-one deployment model providing clients with a dedicated CPU/RAM desktop.
| Desktop | Specs | RTAV Support | MS Teams Experience | Important Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DaaS Standard Seat | 2vCPU, 4GB RAM | | | MS Teams will function. However, RTAV performance may saturate the DaaS standard seat. Heavy multi-tasking is not recommended while on a video call. Inbound video performance and bi-directional audio quality tested excellent. Outbound video performance may be slow and grainy at times depending on users behavior and system configuration. |
| DaaS Premium Seat | 2vCPU, 8GB RAM | |  | MS Teams will function. Light multi-tasking OK on a video call. Inbound video performance and bi-directional audio quality tested excellent. Outbound video performance is acceptable. User experience and performance will vary based on users behavior and system configuration. |
| DaaS Ultimate Seat | 2vCPU, 16GB RAM | | | MS Teams will function. Most multi-tasking OK on a video call. Inbound video performance and bi-directional audio quality tested excellent. Outbound video performance is good. User experience and performance will vary based on users behavior and system configuration. |
Other considerations:
- Microsoft Teams with Real-Time Audio-Video is supported on Horizon Agent 7 and newer on Windows, Linux, and Mac clients.
- VMware's minimum requirements for running MS Teams with real-time audio/video (RTAV) is 4 vCPU and 4 GB RAM. Evolve IP has not observed a benefit to 4 vCPU vs 2 vCPU.
- Minimum requirements and additional information can be found in VMware's public guide: Configuring MS Teams for real-time audio/video.
- RTAV not supported on WYSE thin clients at this time. WYSE is planning a future update to thinOS to provide better support for RTAV.
- Evolve IP will support all of the above seat types with MS Teams by ensuring the platform is running at peak performance levels. However, the client is responsible for their own DaaS system configuration, policies and end user behavior and experience.
EvolveIP will troubleshoot DaaS performance issues with RMM and advise clients on what applications are utilizing DaaS resources.
- Teams on VDI 2x2 Gallery View is currently in public preview. Teams on VDI 2x2 Gallery View feature will enable to view up to four attendees videos in 2x2 Gallery View on VDI clients from Citrix, VMware when Teams client in VDI optimized mode. Follow these instructions to turn on public preview.
Settings in VMware Horizon DaaS to Enable
- Check the box to enable the Virtualization Pack for Skype for Business.
- Check the box to enable the Media Optimization for Microsoft Teams.
Teams Noise Suppression
Microsoft Teams offers three levels of noise suppression to help keep meeting participants focused. Presently this feature is not supported in Workspaces.
This is the link to the article that explains where to go to select the setting and the differences between the three suppression levels.