In This Article |
This article provides guidance for running Microsoft Teams in the Evolve IP Cloud. Specifically, VMware & Citrix DaaS. For customers wishing to utilize the fully installed Microsoft Teams client within an Evolve IP DaaS product, please refer to the compatibility information in this article.
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 endpoint client makes use WebRTC, and for MS Teams, this works by making audio & video stream connections to/from the user's local endpoint and the DaaS 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 endpoint client. Mac and Linux are on the roadmap, but there is no release date yet.
Citrix has made WebRTC aware of MS Teams, so that the applications can provide feedback regarding the experience. Finally, WebRTC performance seems to also be dependent on media capabilities of the local endpoint 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
The table below provides guidance w/ general end-user experience running MS Teams inside VMware DaaS & Citrix DaaS. Both VMware & Citrix DaaS have a different approach to handling RTAV compared to Azure Virtual Desktops (AVD). See experience estimates below.
Metric | Local Endpoint (Desktop, Laptop******) | VMware DaaS (Windows 10 Endpoint*) | VMware DaaS (Thin/Zero Client***) | Citrix DaaS (Windows 10 Endpoint**) | Citrix DaaS (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 Pro w/ VMware Horizon 5.4.2, w/ Media Optimization for MS Teams, DaaS View Agent 7.3.1
**Win10 Pro 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 AVD 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 Considerations
Evolve IP recommends client testing of any RTAV experience before purchase via sales demo platform, which is currently available for VMware & Citrix DaaS. |
Evolve IP DaaS powered by Citrix technology, is certified and optimized as well as supported by Evolve IP. The matrix below shows compatibility between Teams and Citrix - DaaS. Note, Citrix is a session-based delivery allowing companies to share resources of a group of servers.
DaaS | RTAV Support | Microsoft Certified | Optimized for MS Teams | Important Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Citrix Published Applications | NA | NA | NA | Microsoft does not support Microsoft Teams as a Published application. |
Citrix 2vCPU; 4GB RAM | This DaaS desktop meets the minimum requirements for MS Teams WITHOUT RTAV enabled. Evolve IP does not recommend this size for MS Teams with RTAV | |||
Citrix 2vCPU; 8GB RAM | This DaaS desktop meets the minimum requirements for MS Teams WITH RTAV enabled. However, the experience is poor when running other applications alongside MS Teams. Evolve IP does not recommend this size for MS Teams with RTAV. | |||
Citrix 4vCPU; 16GB RAM | Supports all MS Teams features. Evolve IP recommends this size for MS Teams with RTAV. |
Feature Limitations
Resources
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:
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.
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:
EvolveIP will troubleshoot DaaS performance issues with RMM and advise clients on what applications are utilizing DaaS resources.
Zoom and WebEx are only tested and supported with their associated version of their agent plugins. For example: Zoom VDI version 5.11.21530 & Zoom Plug-In version 5.11.21530 - Tested and supported - Tested and unsupported Blank - Untested |
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