Category Archives: XenDesktop

XenApp 7.6 XenDesktop 7.6 including Feature Pack (FP) 1

The following content is a brief and unofficial prerequisites guide to setup, configure and test XenApp 7.6, XernDesktop 7.6 prior to deploying in a PoC, Pilot or Production environment by the author of this entry. The views, opinions and concepts expressed are those by the author of this entry only and do not necessary conform to industry descriptions or best practises.

Shortened Names
XENAPP – xa
XENDESKTOP – xd
VIRTUAL DELIVERY AGENT – vda
LIGHT WEIGHT DIRECTORY PROTOCOL – ldap
ACTIVE DIRECTORY – ad
CERTIFICATE SIGNING REQUEST – csr
CONNECTION LEASING – cl
FULLY QUALIFIED DOMAIN NAME – fqdn
RECEIVER FOR WEB – rfw
CERTIFICATE AUTHORITY – ca
STOREFRONT SERVICES – sfs
PUBLIC KEY INFRASTRUCTURE – pki
NETSCALER GATEWAY – nsg
SECURE TICKET AUTHORITY – sta
DOMAIN NAME SERVER – dns
DYNAMIC HOST CONFIGURATION PROTOCOL – dhcp
FEATURE PACK – fp

What’s New now with Feature Pack 1 (FP1)
0: If you are new to XenDesktop 7.x, XenApp & XenDesktop 7.5, 7.6 then I would suggest that you begin by reading and reviewing the Technical Overview of XAD 7.6 – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-architecture-article.html and follow on by understanding the System Requirements for XAD 7.6 at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-system-requirements-76.html.
1: XenApp – http://www.citrix.com/products/xenapp/whats-new.html.

2: XenDesktop – http://www.citrix.com/products/xendesktop/whats-new.html. 3: How to setup and configure session pre-launch and lingers for XAD 7.6 – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-dg-manage-sessions.html#xad-dg-manage-sessions__prelaunch-linger including a video from Citrix TV is embedded below. 4: Connection Leasing (Previously or rather similar to Local Host Cache (LHC) under XenApp 6.x and downwards) provides the ability to allow end-users within your organisation the ability to continue to access Citrix published desktops, applications even if your MS SQL highly available database is offline using the new feature in XAD 7.6. Please note that you should always still have a H/A SQL database environment in-place and connection leasing does require the 7.6 VDA. For more information please read and review – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-connection-leasing.html#xad-connection-leasing. 5: How-to perform a XenApp 6.5 migration – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-xamigrate.html#xad-xamigrate and the general eDocs node that covers off migrations from previous versions of XenApp 6.x and XenDesktop 4.x, 5.x are covered at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-upgrade-existing-environment.html. 6: Overview & Understanding High Definition eXperience (HDX) under XAD 7.6 including Flash and USB/Drive redirection, GPU Sharing and Network traffic priorities – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-hdx-landing.html. 7: For a complete and full list of what’s new in XenApp 7.6 and XenDesktop 7.6 take a look at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-whats-new.html. 8: What’s new in the XAD 7.6 FP1? Check out http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-whats-new-7-6fp1.html for a list of the full details. I’ve provided summary below of what it includes: – Session Recording which/was formerly Smart Auditor. – Updated Citrix Licensing. – Updated Director which includes enable/disable session recording for the detail check out http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX142260. – HDX Real-Time Optimization Pack 1.7 for Microsoft Lync 2013 the details here at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/hdx-realtime-optimization-pack-17/lync-realtime-optimization-pack-17.html. Detailed How-to Upgrade to Citrix Receiver 4.2.x.n 1: Learn what is required in order to perform an upgrade of your existing Citrix Receiver 3.4 implementation to to 4.2.100 by download this handy and useful PDF best practises guide at – http://docs.citrix.com/content/dam/en-us/receiver/windows/4-2/downloads/Receiver_for_Windows_4.2_Upgrade_Best_Practice_Guide.pdf. 2: It is also worth mentioning that the current new Citrix Receiver for Windows 4.2.x.n now supports TLS 1.1, 1.2, Start menu integration & shortcut management, USB 3.0 and so much more please check out – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/receiver-windows-42/receiver-windows-42-about.html#receiver-windows-42-about for more information so upgrading does and will provide numerous useful benefits for CTX SysAdmins and there end-users. Upgrading & Migration
1: XenApp 7.5 Migration Guide – http://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/products-solutions/xenapp-75-migration-guide.pdf.
2: Upgrading & Migration Microsite for XenApp 6.x to XenApp 7.5 – http://www.citrix.com/products/xenapp/tech-info/upgrade.html.
3: Introduction to XenApp 7.6 Upgrade Planning recorded GoToWebcast from 07/102014 available at – https://citrix.webcasts.com/viewer/event.jsp?ei=1040823. If you would any overview please read the orginal events web page at – http://www.citrix.com/events/introduction-to-xenapp-76-upgrade-planning.html. Citrix Education
1: CXA-104 Citrix XenApp 7.6: Overview – – http://training.citrix.com/mod/ctxcatalog/course.php?id=925. 2: CXA-105 Getting Started with Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop 7.6 – http://training.citrix.com/mod/ctxcatalog/course.php?id=973 3: CXA-208 Moving to XenApp 7.6 – http://training.citrix.com/mod/ctxcatalog/course.php?id=1096. 4: CXD-105 Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop Help Desk Support – http://training.citrix.com/mod/ctxcatalog/course.php?id=1011. GUI Installation & Overview for XenApp 7.6, XenDesktop 7.6
1: XenApp 7.6 Reviewers Guide provides a simple installation overview which can be downloaded at https://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/oth/xenapp-reviewers-guide.pdf and the XenDesktop 7.6 equivalent can be found at – https://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/products-solutions/xendesktop-reviewers-guide.pdf. Unattended Installation of XAD 7.6 Infrastructure Components & The VDA
1: The installation executable is located at x64\XenDesktop Setup\XenDesktopServerSetup.exe within the installation media path. The below is an example and simply replace x with mounted ISO, CD/DVD drive letter or the UNC path to the XAD7.5-6 installation media. If you do not include the /xenapp switch it will automatically install XenDesktop.

x:\x64\XenDesktop Setup\XenDesktopServerSetup.exe /xenapp /components controller,desktopstudio /configure_firewall

2: Sample installation code to insert into a batch script from Citrix eDocs that will install the VDA on Desktop OS as a master image and it will include Citrix Receiver.


x:\x64\XenDesktop Setup\XenDesktopVdaSetup.exe /quiet /components
vda,plugins /controllers “Contr-Main.mydomain.local” /enable_hdx_ports /optimize
/masterimage /baseimage /enable_remote_assistance

If you are looking for how-to install the VDA for groups of machines in AD the please checkout this eDocs node the batch script that will allow you to install/configure or even remove the VDA – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-install-vda-adscript.html.
3: For more detailed information check out – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-install-command.html.

High-Definition user eXperience (HDX) 1: So what is HDX? That’s a very good question an introduction whitepaper to your questions can be found at – http://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/products-solutions/citrix-hdx-technologies.pdf. 2: Now that you’ve read through the whitepaper you will want to begin configuring and testing some of the HDX policies in Studio to test out HDX capabilities. Start with reading through the HDX eDocs node at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-hdx-landing.html. If your more interested in HDX 3D Pro which leverages GPU cards installed on workstations, servers within the data centre then I would suggest to start by reviewing – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-hdx3dpro-intro.html. For a visual aid surrounding of how GPU technologies with work XenApp & XenDesktop take a look at how GPU pass-through works at – http://www.nvidia.com/object/xenapp.html for with XenApp and for a vGPU works for XenDesktop check out – http://www.nvidia.com/object/virtual-gpus.html. 3: High Definition User Experience template policy in Studio explained and feedback requested – http://blogs.citrix.com/2014/11/13/citrix-studio-templates-help-needed-out-of-the-box-configuration-for-xendesktop-and-xenapp/. Citrix Unveils New Version of Market Leading Third-Generation Unified Platform for Application and Desktop Virtualization
http://www.citrix.com/news/announcements/aug-2014/citrix-unveils-new-version-of-market-leading-third-generation-un.html Citrix Offers Technology Preview of Linux Virtual Apps and Desktops Delivered from XenApp and XenDesktop

http://www.citrix.com/news/announcements/aug-2014/citrix-offers-technology-preview-of-linux-virtual-apps-and-deskt.html Deploying Unified Communications (UC) Lync 2010/2013 1: Lync Feature Matrix is available at – http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX200279 which is very useful for understanding what is and what isn’t supported and whether you need to deploy either the HDX Optimisation Pack of the Microsoft VDI Plug-in. 2: Delivery options for deploying Microsoft Lync for XenApp 7.6 or XenDesktop 7.6 explained in detail at – http://blogs.citrix.com/2014/10/23/delivering-lync-from-xenapp-and-xendesktop/. I’ve summarised your options below: – Generic HDX Realtime * Pure ICA/HDX between two end-points and the infrastructure. – HDX RealTime Optimization Pack for Lync® * Optimised softphone with offloading of the media engine by Citrix Note: 1.6 is for Lync 2010 and 1.7 is for Lync 2013 check out 1.7 – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/hdx-realtime-optimization-pack-17/hdx-realtime-optimization-pack-about-17.html which is compatible with Lync Server 2013, Lync Server 2010, and Lync Online (Office 365). – Microsoft® Lync® VDI Plug-in * Optimised softphone with offloading of the media engine by Microsoft check out the CTX article for a how-to at – http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX138408. – Local App Access utilises a * XAD policy applied to users to utilise the locally installed Lync app over published Lync app from XenApp. If you want to under more about how-to enable this XAD feature please review – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-76/xad-laa-intro.html. * Please refer to eDocs or CTX200279 3: UC with XenApp and XenDesktop Solutions Brief – https://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/products-solutions/unified-communications-with-xendesktop-solutions-overview.pdf.

StoreFront 2.5

Leave a Reply

The following content is a brief and unofficial prerequisites guide to setup, configure and test StoreFront 2.5, 2.5.2 prior to deploying in a PoC, Pilot or Production environment by the author of this entry. The views, opinions and concepts expressed are those by the author of this entry only and do not necessary conform to industry descriptions or best practises.

Shortened Names
XENMOBILE APPCONTROLLER – xac
XENDESKTOP – xd
XENAPP – xa
CERTIFICATE SIGNING REQUEST – csr
VDI-IN-A-BOX – viab
FULLY QUALIFIED DOMAIN NAME – fqdn
RECEIVER FOR WEB – rfw
CERTIFICATE AUTHORITY – ca
STOREFRONT SERVICES – sfs
WEB INTERFACE – wif
NETSCALER GATEWAY – nsg
SECURE TICKET AUTHORITY – sta
DOMAIN NAME SERVER – dns

What’s New
1: StoreFront API for an architecture overview and what capabilities are now available check out – http://blogs.citrix.com/2014/06/19/introducing-storefront-web-api/.
2: Update to the HTML5 Receiver Citrix’s agent free method to connected Web, SaaS, Windows Apps and Desktops (Server & Desktop VDI) checkout – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/receiver-html5-13a/receiver-html5-13-about.html#receiver-html5-13-about and also take a look at – http://blogs.citrix.com/2014/04/02/zero-install-receiver-for-html5-1-3-gives-enhanced-xenapp-and-xendesktop-experience/.
3: Improved customisation via cfg files to adjust the overall look and feel of Receiver for Web.
4: Folder View for Receiver for Web (RfW) checkout – http://blogs.citrix.com/2014/06/23/receiver-for-web-folder-view/. This does require a download from – https://www.citrix.com/downloads/storefront-web-interface/product-software.html with a valid Citrix.com account.

Installing & Deploying StoreFront
1: Review the System Requirements for StoreFront at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/dws-storefront-25/dws-system-requirements.html and remember to make a note of the required ports for internal SFS communication & the HTML5 Receiver if your going to deploy it. It is also worth ensuring that you have the correct infrastructure requirements in place e.g version of XenApp, XenDestop e.tc that is supported by StoreFront 2.5 ref – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/dws-storefront-25/dws-system-requirements-server.html, last but no least ensure your endpoint clients are updated accordingly to the lastest supported Citrix Receiver agent, HTML5 support Web Browser ref – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/dws-storefront-25/dws-system-requirements-client.html.
2: I would recommend that you download and read through the StroreFront Planning Guide available at – http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX136547, which covers off authentication between WiF and StoreFront, single and high-available deployments between two data centres leveraging a NetScaler Gateway which also includes deployment sizing from 500 through to 10000 users, how-to use features such as KEYWORDS:prefer=”application” when configuring SFS and the document contains a lot of useful information. *
3: Next download https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX133185 which will get your through an architectural overview and how-to install and configure SFS with an SSL certificates, NetScaler Gateway & STA for remote access, joining StoreFront servers to form a StoreFront cluster and much more. *
4: Finally howto customise your StoreFront 2.5 implementation end to end – http://blogs.citrix.com/2014/04/04/customizing-receiver-for-web-2-5/ from background re-branding, pre-announcements (pre-login), server side ASPX cfgs, language support and so much more.
5: *This CTX article is based off StoreFront 2.0 however I believe it still contains very useful information and resources.

Enhance The User’s Experience
A simple SRV record entry added to your DNS can make your users experience all that better and easier as all they need to remember essentially is there organisational email addr, password and optionally organisation specific a soft token e.g Symantec VIP or RSA SecureID.

If using the Citrix Receiver agent when logging in with the above access details it will auto configure the Store information for Citrix Receiver and you be able to launch resources delivered from XenApp, XenDesktop, XenMobile AppController and ViaB and if your where connecting using the agent less method i.e the HTML5 Receiver you will be able to the exact same resources launch directly from within any HTML5 web browser.

How do I enable the App tab by default in RfW, add drop down domains at the login web page, displayed user login id/name instead of display name, how do I hide Active, move the Apps and Desktops tab to an alt location and more so checkout – http://blogs.citrix.com/2014/06/20/receiver-for-web-faq/.

Create a StoreFront Cluster
http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/dws-storefront-25/dws-configure-server-group.html & http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/dws-storefront-25/dws-deploy-join.html.

Creating a High-Available & Load Balancing StoreFront Cluster
Firstly take a look at this diagram at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/dws-storefront-25/dws-configure-ha-example.html then follow process documented at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/dws-storefront-25/dws-configure-ha-lb.html.

How to Configure XenApp 6.5 and StoreFront 2.0 for Direct HTML5 1.0/1.1 Receiver Connections
http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX139239.

XenApp 7.5 XenDesktop 7.5

Leave a Reply

The following content is a brief and unofficial prerequisites guide to setup, configure and test XenApp 7.5, XenDesktop 7.5 prior to deploying in a PoC, Pilot or Production environment by the author of this entry. The views, opinions and concepts expressed are those by the author of this entry only and do not necessary conform to industry descriptions or best practises.

Shortened Names
XENAPPP – xac
FLEXCAST MANAGEMENT ARCHITECTURE – fma
INFRASTRUCTURE-AS-A-SERVICE – IaaS
XENDESKTOP – xd
XENAPP/XENDESKTOP – xad
INDEPENDENT MANAGEMENT ARCHITECTURE – ima
STOREFRONT – sf
HOSTED SHARED DESKTOPS – hsd
VIRTUAL DESKTOP INFRASTRUCTURE – vdi
HOSTED SHARED PUBLISHED WINDOWS APPS – hspwa
RECEIVER FOR WEB – rfw
REMOTE ACCESS – r/a

XenApp 7.5 XenDesktop 7.5 Announcement
Citrix have recently announced XenApp 7.5 which is built upon Flexcast Management Architecture (FMA) and has been available within XenDesktop 7.0, 7.1 within the App Edition license tier. The least releases also brings with it XA hybrid cloud provisioning meaning that SysAdmins now are able to extend there private cloud to IaaS hosted cloud providers (ISP’s) provided they leverage Citrix CloudPlatform which will enable quick scalability and elasticity and without having to learn the ISP’s chosen design, build, provision and management consoles to provision your environment as it’s all integrated into Studio. The announcement can be found at – http://www.citrix.com/news/announcements/jan-2014/citrix-xenapp-7-5-simplifies-windows-app-delivery-for-the-mobile.html and it’s also worth reading up on about the benefits and features of Flexcast technology for XA at – http://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/products-solutions/xenapp-datasheet.pdf?accessmode=direct.

What’s New & Different in XenApp 7.5 from XenApp 6.5?
0: Check out – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-75/cds-previous-xa-admins.html#previous-xa-admins.

What’s New & Highlights of XenApp/XenDesktop (XAD) 7.5
1: The platform architecture is now powered by FMA and not Independent Management Architecture (IMA) anymore thus providing enhanced scalability and ease of management through two consoles Studio which is used for deign, building, assigning polices and resources to users and Director which is used for management of user support & troubleshooting.
2: StoreFront 2.5 is included within XenApp and XenDesktop 7.5 app binaries and includes a number of new enhancements including an updated HTML5 Receiver, SDK to apply organisational logic if required and much more.
3: Support for Web Interface (WiF) 5.4 on supported Windows Server OSes.
4: AppDNA is included in Platinum edition.
5: Virtual Graphical Processing Unit (vGPU) and GPU support for supported Windows Desktop & Server OSes.
6: Support for Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1 in addition to current supported OSes in XenDesktop 7.0, 7.1.
7: The Citrix Profile management 5.0 is installed silently by default on master images when the Virtual Delivery Agent is installed (Note: You do not have to use Citrix profile management solution).
8: Support for IPv4, IPv6 or dual-stack (IPv4/IPv6) environments from clients to core components.
9: MCS support for Microsoft Key Management System (KMS) activation.
10: For a complete list please check out – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop-75/cds-75-about-whats-new.html and also review the XA 7.5 data sheet at – http://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/products-solutions/xenapp-datasheet.pdf.

Synergy SYN405: Best Practices for Implementing Administering and Troubleshooting Xendesktop 7.5

Pre-requisites, Understanding & How-to Install XenApp 7.5 and enable R/A for your PoC or Custer Demo Environment (DRAFT & MAY CONTAIN ERROR(S))
Coming soon!

XenDesktop 7.1

Leave a Reply

The following content is a brief and unofficial prerequisites guide to setup, configure and test XenDesktop 7.1 prior to deploying in a PoC, Pilot or Production environment by the author of this entry.

Shortened Names
ACTIVE DIRECTORY – ad
STOREFRONT – sf
REMOTE DESKTOP SERVICES – rds
VIRTUAL DESKTOP INFRASTRUCTURE – vdi
VIRTUAL DELIVERY CONTROLLER – vda
VIRTUAL GRAPHICS PROCESSING UNIT – vgpu
HIGH AVAILABILITY- h/a
VIRTUAL SHARED GRAPHICS ACCESS – vsga

Coming Soon!
In the interim I have selected a few links from Citrix eDocs which you may find to be useful relating to this new version of XenDesktop 7.1.

Deploy XenDesktop in a multiple forest Active Directory environment
http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xendesktop-71/cds-plan-multiple-forest.html

XenDesktop 7.1 VDA, Controller Platform Supportability
http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xendesktop-71/cds-xd71-support-platforms.html

Enable High Availability If Delivery Controller Fails
Firstly you need to adjust two registry entries within either the Windows Server or Desktop OSes to enable the VDA to be in high availability mode – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xendesktop-71/cds-plan-high-avail-vda-rho.html thereafter you will need to create custom *.ica file – http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX127392 to connect to VDA(s) installed on a Windows Server or Desktop OS to access your resources e.g Hosted Shared Desktop.

nVidia & Citrix Announcement at Synergy 2013
If you did not watch the LiVE announcement here is the 20 minute discussion and demonstration on stage streamed LiVE across the internet of the very latest in virtual Graphics Processing Unit (vGPU) technology delivered using a nVidia GRID K2 card, XenServer 6.2 + hot-fixes on XenDesktop 7.1 < a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwuPXT8jrv4">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwuPXT8jrv4.

How to setup and configure nVidia Virtual GPU (vGPU) in XenDesktop 7.1 DRAFT & MAY CONTAIN ERROR(S)
1: Check out – http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/grid-virtual-gpus-uk.html which explains the technology and provides a table of the maximum capable screen resolution, virtual GPU profile, number of supported monitors and users per nVidia GRID K1 or K2 card.
2: It is also worth reading this newly published HDX Technology white paper – http://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/products-solutions/citrix-hdx-technologies.pdf if your new to delivering hosted shared desktops (XenApp 6.5, XenDesktop 7.x), VDI desktops (XenDesktop 7.x) or just a generalised refresh surrounding HDX which is built on the strength of Independent Computing Architecture (ICA) protocol – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_Computing_Architecture.
3: What server hardware is supported for nVidia GRID K1, K2 cards – http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/buy-nvidia-grid-uk.html and here is where you can find the current specifications for the card themselves – http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/grid-vdi-graphics-cards-uk.html.
4: Review and understand the system requirements for HDX 3D Pro which is required in order to deliver the whole solution – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xendesktop-71/hdx-sys-reqs.html.
5: Explore, understand and review the GPU Acceleration for Windows Desktop OS’s in eDocs – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xendesktop-71/hd-3d-plan.html and it is also worth reading through GPU Acceleration for Windows Server OS’s as well at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xendesktop-71/hd-3d-gpu-acceleration-win-server-os.html.
6:Assuming you have not acquired a nVidia GRID K1, K2 card you should ensure that you download the latest possible and stable driver(s) – http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us and if you require assistance also make use of nVidia’s support – http://www.nvidia.co.uk/page/support.html. I would also recommend reviewing or contacting manufacture to ensure that you have the latest and or best supported BIOS to support the whole solution end to end.
7: Download print out the following Reviewers guide to getting started – http://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/go/reviewers-guide-remote-3d-graphics-apps-part-3-xenserver-vgpu.pdf. If your new to Citrix XenDesktop 7.1 and what to get started quickly follow on with this great Reviewers guide – http://www.citrix.com/wsdm/restServe/skb/attachments/RDY8316/XenDesktop%207.1%20Reviewer%27s%20Guide.pdf which is referenced from – http://www.citrix.com/skb/articles/RDY8316.
8: Install the K1 or K2 GPU cards into your chooses server h/w platform, download the XenServer 6.2 ISO burn it to CD and also download the required hot-fixes and service packs (SP) if required to enable vGPU. Insert the CD into the host and power and install XenServer 6.2 and install the latest version of XenCenter on your desktop and connect it to your successful installed XenServer 6.2 host. Note you should always ensure when setting a PoC or pilot that you keep in-line with your organisations best practises and polices.
9: Complete hot-fixes packing process and also install the nVidia GRID Manager into Domain0 (Dom0) as instructed in the reviewers guide.
10: Create your VM in XS and remember to add the vGPU, then power on the VM to install and configure the OS -> once the installation is completed install and enable the nVidia GRID drivers – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xendesktop-71/hd-3d-manage.html and then reboot the VM -> install Xen tools and reboot -> login install and configure as required your intensive 3D, graphical intensive applications -> join to your organisations domain and change the host name if required and reboot -> mount the XenDesktop 7.1 ISO to the VM and install the VDA (Decisions make a master images or enable R/A) and reboot -> Open Studio for XenDesktop 7.1 on your desktop and create machine catalogue and delivery group following the best practises of the reviewers guides mentioned above -> Open Citrix Receiver which can be downloaded at – and login and search for your newly created VDI desktop with vGPU and launch the resource and access one of your installed 3D or graphical intensive applications and begin testing and playing with different policies in XenDesktop 7.1 and tweaking your h/w as required to gain the maximin possible performance.
11: You can/could also test and try using – http://www.ozone3d.net/gpushark/#techdata although I have not tested this utility with a VDI desktop which is vGPU ready and enabled.

nVidia GRID Technologies
Shared GPU for bare metal Windows Server running XenApp 6.5 for delivering RDS Workloads – http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/grid-xenapp-uk.html
Dedicated GPU for Virtual Machines on either a VMWare ESXi or XenServer 6.2 (hotfixes) hosts – http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/dedicated-grid-gpus-uk.html.
vGPU for Virtual Machines on a XenServer 6.2 (hotfixes) host – http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/grid-virtual-gpus-uk.htm

Infrastructure Considerations & Planning
Often individuals ask themselves how do I use my current or planned network, h/w infrastructure requirements to ensure support XenDesktop 7.0, 7.1 for VDI, RDS workloads?

1: Always refer to eDocs, CTX articles or white papers published by Citrix for the correct system requirements and best practises.
2: Citrix’s Project Accelerator http://project.citrix.com
3: Sizing XenDesktop 7 App Edition VMs – http://blogs.citrix.com/2013/10/31/sizing-xendesktop-7-app-edition-vms/
4: Go SuperSonic with XenDesktop 7.x Bandwidth SuperCodecs – http://blogs.citrix.com/2013/11/06/go-supersonic-with-xendesktop-7-x-bandwidth-supercodecs/
5: Storage and IOPS guidance for App delivery with XenDesktop 7 – http://blogs.citrix.com/2013/11/14/storage-and-iops-guidance-for-app-delivery-with-xendesktop-7/

XenApp 6.5

Leave a Reply

The following content is a brief and unofficial prerequisites guide to setup, configure and test XenApp 6.5 prior to deploying in a PoC, Pilot or Production environment by the author of this entry. The views, opinions and concepts expressed are those by the author of this entry only and do not necessary conform to industry descriptions or best practises.

Shortened Names
WEB INTERFACE – xml
STOREFRONT – sf
REMOTE DESKTOP SERVICES – rds
TERMINAL SERVICES – ts
VIRTUAL DELIVERY CONTROLLER – vda

nVidia Shared GPU
http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/grid-xenapp-uk.html

XenDesktop 7

Leave a Reply

The following content is a brief and unofficial prerequisites guide to setup, configure and test XenDesktop 7 prior to deploying in a PoC, Pilot or Production environment by the author of this entry. The views, opinions and concepts expressed are those by the author of this entry only and do not necessary conform to industry descriptions or best practises.

Shortened Names
REMOTE DESKTOP SERVICES – rds
VIRTUAL DESKTOP INFRASTRUCTURE – vdi
VIRTUAL DELIVERY CONTROLLER – vda
VIRTUAL GRAPHICS PROCESSING UNIT – vgpu
SERVICE LOCATION – srv

What is and does it do?
Citrix XenDesktop 7 allows you to deliver Remote Desktop Services (RDS), Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) workloads and secure remote access to an existing PC estate by installing the Virtual Delivery Agent (VDA) into those existing PC’s. All this capability is enabled from one single common architecture – FlexCast Management Architecture (FMA). If you are a Citrix XenApp 5.0, 6.5 Administrator I would encourage you to read through the following Citrix eDoc article – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xendesktop-7/cds-overview-info-previous-xa-customers.html and follow on with this free Citrix 2 hour long course covering XenDesktop 7 weather your sales, pre-sales, sysadmin or engineer its useful in getting your mindset ready for XenDesktop 7 – http://training.citrix.com/mod/ctxcatalog/course.php?id=595.

Citrix TV & YouTube Videos To Watch
SYN320: XenDesktop 7: What You Should Know About FlexCast Management and XenApp Migration
– http://www.citrix.com/tv/#videos/8493.
Citrix XenDesktop 7 3D Pro Demonstration – http://www.citrix.com/tv/#videos/9008.
XenDesktop 7 Masterclass – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSFJ0xx7ztY.

XenDesktop 7 Handbook
Check out the blog article announcement – http://blogs.citrix.com/2013/10/10/new-xendesktop-7-handbook-published. You download the XenDesktop 7 Handbook directly at – http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX139331 and the XenDesktop 5.x Handbook at – http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX136546.

Components of XenDesktop 7 Explained
1: Studio is allows you to design and build your RDS, VDI workloads.
2: Director allows you to support and monitor your organisations XenDesktop 7 virtual machines, user sessions via MS RemoteAssistance, historical trending & metrics, network analytic’s if you have a NetScaler.
3: Delivery Controller is responsible for brokering the connections to your servers (ICA/RDS), virtual machines (VDI) or existing workstation PC’s.
4: Citrix Licensing Server is responsible for checking in/out of your FlexCast licenses. XenDesktop 7 requires CLS 11.11.
5: StoreFront provides users with a self-serve AppStore to tab to click to add your Windows hosted apps, hosted shared desktops (Windows Server 2008 R2) or VDI desktops (Windows 7,8).
6: Machine Creation Services (MCS) is built into XenDesktop 7 which enables as allows you to provision virtual machines from your master VM images. All you need to do to configure it is to input either XenServer, Hyper-V (Requires SCVMM) or ESX (Remember to trust the root certificate) hypervisor FQDN and the access details.
7: Provisioning Services (PVS)
8: User Profile Manager 5 (UPM) is built into XenDesktop 7 and provide Citrix’s profile management solution.
9: MS SQL is required to store configuration information and details about your XenDesktop 7 site. MS SQL express, standard, enterprise and data center* editions are supported and for H/A configuration options please visit this eDocs article at – *http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xendesktop-7/cds-sys-requirements.html.
10: Virtual Delivery Agent (VDA) is responsible for delivering a hosted shared desktop, windows hosted app and VDI desktop to users brokered via the Delivery Controller.

What Editions Are Available? VDI, App (XenApp capabilities e.g delivery of RDS workloads) , Enterprise and Platinum. To compare the feature sets of edition please check out – http://www.citrix.com/go/products/xendesktop/feature-matrix.html. At the time of writing this post you are required to login to Citrix.com with your access details.

Setup & Configure nVidia GRID VIRTUAL GPU (vGPU) on Citrix XenDesktop 7.1
To learn how-to setup and configure a test demo or PoC environment to leverage the vGPU capabilities of XenServer 6.2 and XenDesktop 7.1 Tech Preview check out – http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/grid-virtual-gpus-uk.html. You can download the XenDesktop 7.1 Tech Preview at – and the system requirements can be found at – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xendesktop/cds-xendesktop-71-landing-page.htm and the HDX system requirements please check out – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xendesktop-71/hdx-enhance-ux-xd.html.

NVidia Resources
XenApp 6.5 GPU Sharing – http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/grid-xenapp-uk.html.
XenDesktop vGPU – http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/grid-xen-desktop-uk.html.

Multi-Site Configurations & High Availability
Coming soon! I will cover multiple data centres and sites and how-to enable and ensure H/A access to your published resources if you lost/lose communication with your XenDesktop 7 delivery controller(s) and the pitfalls. I would strongly recommend your environment is N+1 and with VM’s common these days setting and configuring an N+1 environment should be best practise for H/A, business continuity and DR.

How-to Enable Local App Access
Coming soon! However in the mean time please refer to http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xendesktop-7/laa-configure-enable.html#laa-enable.dita.

XenDesktop Introduction Training Course CXD-102
Citrix training offers a 2 hour introduction course to XenDesktop 7 for free. The course is available at – http://training.citrix.com/mod/ctxcatalog/course.php?id=595.

Howto Configure Email Based Discovery& Why It’s Important
Configuration of email based discovery using SRV records is simple and greatly enhances the users login experiences as they all know there email addr and domain password much like logging into Facebook, Twitter e.t.c so offering the same login user experience weather users are in or outside or the organisation means they don’t need to remember logging in with the following format domain\username and domain password they can simple use there corporate email addr and domain password.

There is a great Citrix blog article that covers covers configuration of e-mail based discovery in and outside of your organisation leveraging a NetScaler Gateway check out – http://blogs.citrix.com/2013/04/01/configuring-email-based-account-discovery-for-citrix-receiver/.

The process below is for configuration of SRV records within a trusted corporate environment. If you would like to know more about what else you can configure in terms of SRV records check out – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SRV_record, http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc961719.aspx (A Windows 2000 article but will get you thinking if your new to SRV records) and howto add other resources records into your organisations DNS – http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc772362.aspx.

1: Launch your Microsoft DNS management console
2: Right click on your organisations Forward Lookup Zone that contains the StoreFront FQDN
3: Click “Other New Records”
4: Scroll down and select “Service Locaiton (SRV)” and click “Create Record”
5: Your organisations domain should already be pre-populated e.g citrix.lab or axendatacentre.com
6: Type in “_citrixreceiver” in the Service feild
7: Type in “_tcp” in the Protocol field
8: Type in “443” in the Port number field or 80 if you don’t use 443 internally
9: Type in “storefront.domain” in the Hosting offering this service e.g storefront.axendatacentre.com or storefront.axendc.local
10: Save/Commit the changes and close the current active window in DNS
11: Navigate to physical or virtual machine install and launch Citrix Receiver when prompted enter in your email addr and password when prompted.

Troubleshooting
Open up a Windows Command prompt and execute these two commands below and for more information in validating your SRV records check out – http://support.microsoft.com/kb/816587.

1: Type in “ipconfig /flushdns”
2: Type in “nslookup”
3: Type in “set type=srv”
4: Type in “_citrixreceiver._tcp.domain” e.g _citrixreceiver._tcp.axendatacentre.com

Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 & Windows 8 Support
http://blogs.citrix.com/2013/10/08/citrix-xendesktop-with-flexcast-management-architecture-adds-support-for-windows-server-2012-r2-and-windows-8-1/.

More coming soon!
In the mean time check out https://www.citrix.com/products/xendesktop/overview.html and Design Guide: Mobilising Windows Apps (Requires Form Input From Citrix)

XenServer 6.2

Leave a Reply

The following content is a brief and unofficial prerequisites guide to setup, configure and test XenServer 6.2 prior to deploying in a PoC, Pilot or Production environment by the author of this entry. The views, opinions and concepts expressed are those by the author of this entry only and do not necessary conform to industry descriptions or best practises.

Is My Server Hardware Supported?
1: Navigate to http://hcl.xensource.com/ to verify if your server hardware is compatible of supporting XenServer.
2: Check to see if your CPU supports either Intel VT or AMD-V for more information about these hypervisor enabled CPU’s please visit – http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86_virtualization.

XenServer Is Now OpenSource
http://xenserver.org.

How-to setup and configure GPU Virtualisation (vGPU) & GPU Pass-Through (DRAFT & MAY CONTAIN ERROR(S))
This is a collection of great CTX, Blog articles to aid you in further understanding the GPU differences, jargon and how-to get started today.

1: Start by downloading and upgrading your XS host(s) to 6.2 SP1 by following this CTX article at – http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX139788.
2: While you review the documentation and start planning an upgrade window(s) for your Demo/PoC XS host environment (Always do a PoC before attempting to put anything into Production) you’ll need to read some more valuable documentation at – http://www.citrix.com/go/xendesktop/3d/materials.html and download and read through the relevant Reviewers guide, to get started ASAP for vGPU read “Part 3: XenServer GPU Virtualization (vGPU)”. I would also recommend navigating this nVidia link to learn more about the GRID technology and cards – http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/grid-virtual-gpus-uk.html with your next stop being – http://www.citrix.com/go/private/vgpu.html, then – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xendesktop-71/cds-get-started-new-prepare-master.html followed by optionally either for Desktop OS – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xendesktop-71/hd-3d-plan.html and Server OS – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xendesktop-71/hd-3d-gpu-acceleration-win-server-os.html depending on weather you want to delivery rich graphics to users on a hosted shared desktop (RDS Workload) or VDI.
4: I would also recommend that if you do have compatible hardware on the HCL to check that you have sufficient power (Amps) to your rack/cabinets and sufficient number of PSU’s in the server or blade chassis to support the extra power draw.

vGPU Monitoring
http://blogs.citrix.com/2014/01/22/xenserverxendesktop-vgpu-new-metrics-available-to-monitor-nvidia-grid-gpus/

GPU Sharing Technology Tech Preview
. These features are now available in XenServer 6.2 SP1 check out – .

Coming soon!
In the mean time check out – Citrix XenServer .