Overview
Up until now, companies that were using Workspace on Citrix Cloud had to use a generic URL on the cloud.com domain. Citrix now gives you the ability to use a customer-owned domain, which helps with corporate branding, and makes it easier for users to remember the URL. It also helps with companies that are migrating from a NetScaler Gateway to Workspace, as they can migrate over their existing Gateway URL.
For example, users at a company named AstraForge would typically access Workspace using a generic domain URL such as https://astraforge.cloud.com. Now, in addition to the generic domain URL, companies can personalize it further with an existing URL they own, such as https://cloud.astraforge.com.
Prerequisites and Considerations
There are some important things to consider when using this feature:
- You will be asked to provide a domain FQDN that is available for use. This can be a newly registered domain or one that you already own.
- The domain must be in a subdomain format, such as “your.astraforge.com.” You cannot use a root domain (astraforge.com).
- Custom domains cannot contain any Citrix trademarks. For customers that have been using a NetScaler Gateway for a while, it is common to see words such as “Citrix” or “XenApp” in the URL, which are trademarked by Citrix. In these cases, customers will need to come up with a new custom URL when they migrate over. A full list of trademarks can be listed here.
- Private DNS configurations are not supported. The domain you choose must be configured in public DNS. Any CNAME records and values included in your domain configuration must be resolvable by Citrix.
- After the URL configuration is complete, the provisioning process can take up to 24 hours to complete. The custom URL will not be ready to use until the provisioning is complete.
Use Your Own Certificate (Optional)
The custom URL gives you the option to add your own certificate instead of using a Citrix maintained certificate. If you choose to use your own certificate, it has the following requirements:
- It should be PEM encoded.
- It should remain valid for at least the next 30 days.
- It should be used exclusively for a custom Workspace URL. Wildcard certificates are not acceptable.
- The common name of the certificate should match the custom domain.
- SANs on the certificate should only be for the custom domain. Additional SANs are not allowed.
- The duration for which the certificate is valid should not exceed 10 years.
Is the Custom URL Worth Using?
The custom URL has many benefits, but it might not be worth it for all customers. IT administrators will still be responsible for maintaining DNS and certificates (if you are bringing your own). With the generic cloud.com URLs, no maintenance is required, Citrix handles it for you. This should be considered when you are deciding to use a generic cloud.com or a company-branded domain name.