Month: March 2012

Home lab

For my work I’m using the following dell_optiplex_990_888738_g1hardware for my testing and repro of issues. My lab consists of a Dell Optiplex 990 with the following specs:

  • CPU:Intel Core i7 2600 3,4 GHz quad-core
  • Memory:16 GB DDR3 PC3-10600
  • HDD:SEAGATE 1TB ST3100033AS SATA300 7200RPM 32MB
  • NIC:Intel® 82579LM gigabit
  • Switch:Netgear 8 port gigabit switch
  • OS: Citrix XenServer 6.0.2.1 (with patches XS602E001, XS602E002)

xs-icon-start My permanent setup consists of the following virtual machines:

  • 1 Windows 2008 R2 Domain Controller
  • 1 Citrix VPX License server running all licenses for the Citrix products
  • 1 Windows 2008 R2 with Citrix Provisioning Services version 6.1

xs-icon-pause For testing purposes I’ve got the following virtual machines ready to boot:

  • 1 Windows 2003 R2 with Citrix Presentation Server 4.5
  • 1 Windows 2008 SP2 with Citrix XenApp 5
  • 1 Windows 2008 R2 SP1 with Citrix XenApp 6.5
  • 1 Windows 2008 R2 SP1 with XenDesktop 5.5
  • 1 Windows 2008 R2 SP1 with XenDesktop 5.6
  • 1 Windows 7 SP1 X64 for testing
  • 1 Windows 2008 R2 SP1 with Citrix Web Interface 5.4

XenApp 6.0 to 6.5 Upgrade Utility

Description

XenApp 6.5 does not provide a binary upgrade path from XenApp 6.0. For some environments, the ability to create a new virtual machine image or clean installation XenApp 6.5 servers might not be possible.

The script performs what normally would be a long process of manually uninstalling XenApp 6.0 components in a select order, then installing XenApp 6.5. The following steps are performed:

  • Checks to see if XenApp 6.0 is installed or not, and if the XenApp 6.5 installer is available.
  • Prompts for a password to silently run the install process after reboot.
    Note    : This is not stored by the script but is stored by the operating system in the Task Scheduler.

Continue reading “XenApp 6.0 to 6.5 Upgrade Utility”

Add a USB disk to a XenServer

I’ve been playing around and setting up my home lab (see another post coming up) to create my own test lab for Citrix.

I’ve got a 1 TB disk in my server but it runs out of diskspace very quickly when you are creating multiple VM’s and test machines. So I thought why not attach an extra USB disk to my server. In this way I can place some XenDesktop machines on the external drive and keep the internal drive for my permanent test VM’s.

Well that was easier thought than executed.

I’ve connected my USB disk to the server and did a “fdisk –l” to see if the USB disk was recognized.

Continue reading “Add a USB disk to a XenServer”

Advanced Farm Administration with XenApp Worker Groups

Citrix has released a great document on the advanced farm administration with XenApp worker groups.

Here’s a preview of the document.

The release of XenApp 6 adds powerful new features for XenApp administrators through integration with Active Directory (AD). All user and server settings can now be managed through AD policies, while applications and load balancing can be managed through a new container known as a worker group.

Worker groups allow similar XenApp servers to be grouped together to greatly simplify the management of XenApp farms. By publishing applications and managing server settings via AD and worker groups, administrators can reduce the time to deploy new XenApp servers and increase the agility of their environment.

In this white paper, we consider a fictitious company with a large, geographically-distributed XenApp farm. This company must deliver applications to two distinct groups of users with different needs. This white paper outlines the new worker group features in XenApp 6 and shows how any company can leverage worker groups to simplify their farm management. Throughout the paper, we detail the best practices for creating and managing worker groups and how these can be applied in an enterprise XenApp deployment.

You can download the document here.

Project rainmaker now available in the Cloud provider pack

Last week, Citrix announced the availability of the Cloud Provider Pack. One of key technologies in this pack is the app orchestration technology (developed under the code-name of Project Rainmaker).

So what does app orchestration provide?

Simplified Farm Management: Just create your pools of XenApp Session Hosts and pools of XenApp Controllers – the tasks of joining these to manage capacities across multiple XenApp farms happens automatically.

Multi-tenant Configuration: Support for different types of isolation – Session-based, Server-based and Farm-based on a per-app/desktop basis. Continue reading “Project rainmaker now available in the Cloud provider pack”

XenApp 6.5 Downloads Reference List

The following MD5 and SHA256 information is provided to assure download completion and accuracy. Verify the MD5 or SHA256(s) before using a downloaded package to install a product, post to a centralized location for broader access, or burning to media. Continue reading “XenApp 6.5 Downloads Reference List”

Citrix App Studio Quick Deployment Guide

This article describes how to install Citrix App Studio using a very simple configuration. It includes an brief overview of Citrix App Studio’s basic deployment architecture followed by a guided walkthrough that shows how to set up the simplest possible configuration so you can get started using Citrix App Studio right away.

Basic Deployment Architecture

A Citrix App Studio basic deployment consists of an Active Directory domain, a Microsoft SQL Server, at least one Citrix App Studio management server, and servers running Citrix XenApp components. All servers need to be running Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 and must have .NET 4.0 installed and .NET 3.5 installed as a server role. They can be either physical machines or virtual machines running on one or more hypervisors.

The following diagram shows the components of a basic deployment:

Continue reading “Citrix App Studio Quick Deployment Guide”

Hotfix for Citrix Desktop Director 2.1

Hotfix package name: XD210DDirector001.zipFor: Computers running Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (32-bit or 64-bit) with Service Pack 2, or Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 with Service Pack 1 installed

Replaces: All previous versions Date: March, 2012 Languages supported: English (US), Japanese (JA), Simplified Chinese (SC) Readme version:1.00

Readme Revision History

Version Date Change Description
1.00 March, 2012 Initial release

Important Note(s) about This Release

Caution! This release may require you to edit the registry. Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Citrix cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk. Continue reading “Hotfix for Citrix Desktop Director 2.1”

How to Enable Full Page Heap for the IMA Service

Summary

The IMA Service sometimes becomes unresponsive or crashes because of a heap corruption.

Background

Heap corruption results from application coding mistakes or corrupt external data.

Although various hotfixes exist, it is not always possible to identify which module (Citrix or non-Citrix) is responsible for heap corruption because the effects of heap corruption usually reveal themselves over time. Continue reading “How to Enable Full Page Heap for the IMA Service”

FAQ Re-release XenServer 6.0.2

Q: How can I check if my system is up to date and the two required hotfixes are installed?
A: In XenCenter, select a Pool, and then click the General tab. If the hotfixes are installed – they will be listed in the Updates section as shown below:

XC-Updates

Q: XenCenter shows that the hotfixes are not installed, what should I do to bring my system up to date?
A: You will need to install two hotfixes. Refer to CTX132823 – Hotfix XS602E001 – For XenServer 6.0.2 and CTX132824 – Hotfix XS602E002 – For XenServer 6.0.2 and for more details.

Continue reading “FAQ Re-release XenServer 6.0.2”