Citrix | Vikash.nl

Setup and configuration of Citrix Provisioning Services 7.8

May 15, 2016February 10, 2017 - by Vikash Jhagroe - Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Recently Citrix has releasedÃ‚Â Citrix Provisioning Services 7.8 (PVS). I wanted to see how this works, so I decided to set it up in my homelab and share the setup and configuration steps with you guys.

I will be needing this component to stream my desktops and servers. Citrix Provisioning Services (PVS) eliminates the need to manage, update and patch individual systems. Instead it allows us to use a master image to provision computers. This master image (vDisk) can be used simultaneously by multiple computers.

In this post I will show you how to:

Install PVS
Basic configuration using the PVS wizard
Create a PVS farm

My lab setup:

Windows 2012 R2 server with patches and updates which I will be using to installÃ‚Â PVS
Downloaded PVS ISO fromÃ‚Â www.citrix.com
Service Account in Active Directory
Local domain (vikash.nl)
Domain controller (dc01.vikash.nl)
Hypervisor Hyper-V 2012 R2
SQL server (sql01.vikash.nl)
Citrix License Server (dc01.vikash.nl)
All servers running as virtual machines

Install Citrix Provisioning Services 7.8

Mount the ISO to using Hyper-V manager on your virtual server and start the setup. Click onÃ‚Â Server Installation.

The setup wizard will automatically detect the required components and will prompt to install them. Click onÃ‚Â Install.

Click onÃ‚Â Yes to install the SQL components.

Click onÃ‚Â Next on the welcome screen.

Accept the license agreement and click onÃ‚Â Next.

Enter the username and organization name. Select theÃ‚Â all users option and click onÃ‚Â Next.

Choose the installation folder. In my case I left this default. Then click onÃ‚Â Next.

Click onÃ‚Â Install to start the installation.

Click onÃ‚Â Finish to finish the installation.

You will get a warning message about the PVS Console. We will install this later. Click onÃ‚Â OK.

Now the Provisioning Services Configuration Wizard will automatically start. Click onÃ‚Â Next.

You will now be prompted to choose a DHCP option. When the PVS server is running DHCP (local service), chooseÃ‚Â The service that runs on this computer. In my case my DHCP is running on my router, so I chooseÃ‚Â The service that runs on another computer. Click onÃ‚Â Next.

Choose the PXE options. If your virtual machines will boot using the PXE service, enable this. In my environment I will be using a bootable ISO for all the virtual machines running from PVS. You can see Ã‚Â hereÃ‚Â how to create a bootable ISO. So I chooseÃ‚Â The service that runs on another computer and click onÃ‚Â Next.

Now we have to create a new farm since this is my first PVS server. ChooseÃ‚Â Create farm and click onÃ‚Â Next.

The wizard will create the database now. The active directory account running the configuration wizard should have rights to create the database on the SQL server. Otherwise make sure the database is created beforehand and that you have the correct account to login to the database. Enter the SQL fqdn and click onÃ‚Â Next.

Enter the database name. If this is an existing database, choose the name using the dropdown menu. Make sure to select the correct Active Directory group to manage the PVS server (Farm Administrator group). Enter the other information needed to create the farm and click onÃ‚Â Next.

Select the destination to store the virtual disks for the virtual machines running from PVS. Give it a name and click onÃ‚Â Next.

Enter the license server fqdn. Click onÃ‚Â Next.

Now we have to specify an account for running the PVS service. This will be used to run the Stream and Soap service. Enter the correct information and click onÃ‚Â Next.

The target devices running from PVS cannot update their own password in the Active Directory, so we must enable PVS to do this for us. Make sure this is enabled and click onÃ‚Â Next.

Check the network communication settings for management and streaming. Select the correct interface, check with your network admin in case this is not clear. In my case my PVS server has one NIC. Click onÃ‚Â Next.

Next you will be prompted to enter the TFTP options. Enable it and click onÃ‚Â Next.

Now everything is setup to finish the configuration wizard. Click onÃ‚Â Finish.

If you have Windows Firewall running on your server, you will get a message about that. Make sure you disable it later or open the necessary ports. Click onÃ‚Â OK.

Click onÃ‚Â Done after the configuration wizard has finished.

Install the Citrix Provisioning Services Console

In order to manage Citrix Provisioning Services you need to install the console. Run the setup from the Citrix Provisioning Services ISO and this time click onÃ‚Â Console Installation.

ClickÃ‚Â Next in the welcome screen.

Accept the License Agreement and click onÃ‚Â Next.

Enter the Customer Information and click onÃ‚Â Next.

Choose the installation path and click onÃ‚Â Next.

Click onÃ‚Â Install to begin the installation.

After the installation is finished, click onÃ‚Â Finish.

Now go to the Start Menu and start the Provisioning Services Console.

Right clickÃ‚Â Provisioning Services Console and click onÃ‚Â Connect to Farm….

Enter the correct fqdn, selectÃ‚Â Auto-login on application start or reconnect to automatically connect to the PVS server and then click onÃ‚Â Connect.

Now you should be able to manage the PVS server.

This concludes this tutorial. Feel free to contact me of you have any questions or comments.

You can also follow me on twitter or add the rss feed from the blog and you will be notified when I add new posts.

Citrix / Licensing Server

How to setup and configure Citrix Licensing Server 11.13.1.2

May 14, 2016February 10, 2017 - by Vikash Jhagroe - Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 3 minutes

I already did a setup and installation of Citrix Licensing Server 11.12.1 here, but it is always nice to have a setup guide for a new version.

Adding a Citrix Licensing Server to your environmentÃ‚Â is important if you areÃ‚Â going to setup and useÃ‚Â Citrix products and solutions. So let me show you how to:

install the license server
configure the license server
add a license file to the license server

My environmentÃ‚Â for the installation:

downloaded the Citrix Licensing Server 11.13.1.2 (Build 16002) for Windows (www.citrix.com)
Windows 2012 R2
domain name: VIKASH (vikash.nl)
account for setup: Administrator (VIKASH\Administrator)

Installing Citrix Licensing Server 11.13.1.2

Unpack the .zip file and start the installer.

You will be presented with the screen below. Accept the license agreement and click on Next.

Choose your installation path and click on Next.

Next you will be presented by the port for the Licensing Server. Change it as you prefer, just make sure that it doesn’t interfere with services using those same ports on your server. Click on Next and the installation will begin.

After the installation has finished, you will be presented with a summary screen. I selected the option not to participate in the Customer Experience Improvement Experience Program. Make your choice and click on Finish.

Now it is time to upload your license. Go to the Start Menu and start the Citrix License Administration Console.

Your default browser will open with the correct URL for the Citrix License Administration Console. Click on “Continue to this website” to move past the SSL warning. We can fix this later, for now it is not important. Your session will be encrypted using the SSL certificate installed with the Citrix Licensing Server anyway.

Click on Administration.

You will be prompted to log on. Use your Domain Administrator (or the user used to install the Citrix Licensing Server) to log on. Click on Submit.

Click on Vendor Daemon Configuration in the menu on the left site. Then click on Import License.

Now click on Browse to locate your license file. Then click on Import License.

Click on OK after the import is finished.

The Citrix Licensing Server will only read the imported licenses after a reboot, or after the Citrix Licensing Server has been restarted. Let’s restart the license server. In the Run dialogue box enter services.msc and click on OK.

Locate the Citrix Licensing service, select it and click on the reboot icon in the menu.

Now switch back to your browser and reload (or re-open) the Citrix License Manager Console and go to the Dashboard. Your licenses should now be visible.

HDX / HDX 3D Pro / XenDesktop

Thin clients and HDX 3D Pro support demystified

September 1, 2015February 10, 2017 - by Vikash Jhagroe - 3 Comments.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Recently I was presented with the following case. I was migrating from a Citrix XenDesktop 5.6 environment to a Citrix XenDesktop 7.6 environment. The new environment was running XenDesktop VDI’s with Windows 7 on Citrix XenServer. Because CAD and 3D application support was a requirement, the customer decided to use nVidia grid cards and use HDX 3D Pro.

Everything was running fine in the new XenDesktop 7.6 environment (server wise) and I started testing with thin clients which the customer already had. The thin clients did support HDX 3D Pro according to the manufacturer, so we were good to go. After logging in to the virtual desktop using said thin client, I got the little icon in the task bar telling me that HDX 3D Pro was enabled. But the desktop graphics performance was very poor. It was lagging, slow and was absolutely not fast in response. It felt a lot slower then the XenDesktop 5.6 environment.

Now after investigation I found that these thin clients did not support the H.264 codec fully. Using the HDX monitor I could see that they were using Deep Compression V2. But the cpu of the thin client was being hammered to the max when working on the XenDesktop 7.6 VDI.

The old XenDesktop 5.6 environment was running fine, but the graphics were off course Legacy mode. So the next step now was testing without the nVidia vGPU support in the VDI and enable Legacy mode graphics. That means disable vGPU support in the virtual machine in XenServer, disable desktop composition redirection and enable Legacymode graphics in the Citrix policies. Still the graphics performance was very poor, and HDX monitor showed me that Deep Compression V2 codec was still being used! I was not alone on this, searching the Citrix Forum resulted in:

Contacting Citrix support they eventually told me that I also had to reinstall the VDA agent in the virtual desktop and choose the option not to enable HDX 3D Pro support during installation. When this option is enabled during installation, it is not possible to use Legacymode graphics. This worked, the Windows 7 VDI reverted back to Legacymode graphics and the performance on the thin client was now very good.

So now the next step was to find out what thin client really supports HDX 3D Pro. Not partial support for the H.264 codec, but fully support it so we know for sure that Deep compression V2 codec performance would be good. I found out that manufacturers brand their thin clients with support for HDX 3D Pro or Citrix Certified or Citrix Ready, but they were unclear of the actual performance with HDX 3D Pro. Then I found some information which made clear what the HDX and Certified for Citrix should mean:

Check out the website here. Ok, this makes sense. With this new information I started searching for thin clients which are HDX 3D Pro Verified and with this feature enabled. Searching the Citrix Ready Marketplace I found a list of thin clients which were fully certified for HDX 3D Pro! Check the list here. A few of them were already mentioned in a Citrix Forum post hereÃ‚Â (mentioned earlier).

So this is something thatÃ‚Â is a little bit of a grey area. Looks like thin clients enabled for HDX 3D Pro does not mean automatically a good performance in the VDI where HDX 3D Pro is a requirement. You have to test, make sure, and then re-test. Otherwise you and your customer will end up with very disappointing results, making you and Citrix look bad while it is the manufacturers of the thin clients who are to blame in not being utterly clear on what their product do support and what you can expect performance-wise (yes I am looking at you Dell).

This is my experience, and I could be wrong on this off course. What are your thoughts in this?

StoreFront

Basic setup Citrix StoreFront 3.0

September 1, 2015February 10, 2017 - by Vikash Jhagroe - Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 5 minutes

In this blogpost I will show the basic setup of Citrix StoreFront 3.0. StoreFront is the component for making your published desktops and published app available for your end-users.

A fewÃ‚Â new features of Citrix StoreFront 3.0:

unified user experience
improved customisation
loopback communications (no more host file editing)
treating published desktops as published apps
delegate authentication to backend servers

My environment for this basic setup:

Windows 2012 R2 (sf01.vikash.nl)
Citrix StoreFront 3.0 setup (www.citrix.com)
SSL certificate (storefront.vikash.nl) using own CA infrastructure (dc01.vikash.nl)
Citrix XenDesktop 7.6 Controller (xddc01.vikash.nl)

Before we can proceed with the installation we need a SSL certificate. For lab purposes I have installed a internal CA (my domain controller) and requested a domain certificate. Using Internet Information Services Manager on my StoreFront server I requested a domain certificate.

Make sure that you request a proper SSL certificate for production environments! Contact me if you have any questions regarding SSL certificates in production environments.

SSL Certificate request:

Open IIS Manager and click on create Domain Certificate:

Fill in the required information and click on Next:

Select the appropriate CA and set a friendly name for the certificate. Click on Finish:

We now have to bind this certificate to the Default Web Site on your Citrix StoreFront server. In my case this is sf01.vikash.nl. Start IIS Manager, expand Sites and click on Default Web Site. Then click on Bindings:

Click on Add:

Select https as Type and select the SSL certificate we just requested. Click then on OK:

Now we can see that SSL is enabled for the Default Web Site. Click on Close:

Now you can test the certificate by browsing to the default website of the StoreFront server:

If everything went well you should see no errors in your browser when requesting the page using https.

Installing Citrix StoreFront 3.0:

Start the setup by double-clicking onÃ‚Â CitrixStoreFront-x64.exe. Setup wil now start:

Accept the license agreement and click on Next:

The setup will install the required Windows Features and Roles. Review and click on Next:

Setup is now ready for install. Click on Install:

Installation in progress. Grab a coffee:

Click on Finish after installation of all the components:

Citrix StoreFront will automatically open and you will be presented with the Welcome to StoreFront screen. From here we can start the basic configuration of StoreFront:

Basic setup of Citrix StoreFront 3.0:

Click on Create a new Deployment:

Enter your Base URL. In my case it is https://storefront.vikash.nl. Click on Next:

Enter the Store name. In my case it is Vikash. Click on Next:

Now we have to specify Delivery Controllers so StoreFront knows where to get published apps or desktops. This is your XenDesktop or XenApp controller. Click on Add:

Enter a name for the Display name and set the correct Transport type, in my case it’s http. Make sure you select the correct version of XenDesktop of XenApp. Click on Add:

Enter the hostname of the controller and click on OK:

As you can see the controller has been added. Click on OK:

Click on Next:

Leave the defaults (None) on the Remote Access page and click on Create:

Click on Finish:

Now click on AuthenticationÃ‚Â in the left panel andÃ‚Â click on Configure Trusted Domains. By adding trusted domains the user can only set their username when logging in. This options also allows us to add multiple domain names as trusted domains and allow the user to select the appropriate one when logging in.

For now we have only have one domain. Select the Trusted domains only option, click on Add and enter the domain name (vikash.nl). Then click on OK:

Now click on Receiver for Web in the left panel and locate the Website URL. Time for some testing!

I will login using my test user (test01) from a virtual machine which is joined in my domain, so my SSL certificate will be trusted. Open the URL in a browser and enter the test user credentials:

The user is successfully logged in. I don’t have published apps or desktops yet. I show that in another blogpost. For now we have a working Citrix StoreFront 3.0 environment, ready for further testing.

You can also follow me on twitter or add the rss feed from the blog and you will be notified when I add new posts. If you have any questions feel free to contact me.

Provisioning Services

Basic setup Citrix Provisioning Services 7.6

July 4, 2015February 10, 2017 - by Vikash Jhagroe - 2 Comments.

Reading Time: 6 minutes

So I got some free time now to continue setting up my homelab. I decided to start with a basic setup and configuration of Citrix Provisioning Services 7.6 (PVS). I will be needing this component to stream my desktops and servers. Citrix Provisioning Services (PVS) eliminates the need to manage, update and patch individual systems. Instead it allows us to use a master image to provision computers. This master image (vDisk) can be used simultaneously by multiple computers.

In this post I will show you how to:

Install PVS
Basic configuration using the PVS wizard
Creating a farm

My lab setup:

Host running Citrix XenServer 6.5 SP1
Windows 2012 R2 server with patches and updates which I will be using to installÃ‚Â PVS
Downloaded PVS ISO fromÃ‚Â www.citrix.com
Service Account in Active Directory

Install Citrix Provisioning Services 7.6

Using XenCenter mount the ISO on the Windows 2012 Server VM and start the setup. The setup will start. Click on Server Installation.

If there are additional items to be installed, you will be prompted for them. Click on Install.

Click on YES.

Click on Next.

Accept the License Agreement and click on Next.

Enter your customer information in the User Name field and the Organization field. Select the option you need for “Install this application for”. Click Next.

Select the installation folder. In my case I left it default. Click Next.

Then click on Install to begin the installation.

Click on Finish the start the configuration wizard.

You will get a warning about the PVS console not detected on your system. Just click on OK, we will deal with this later.

The configuration wizards start, click on Next to begin configuration.

Configure the DHCP options according to your infrastructure. I have selected the option “The service that runs on another server”. Select this option is you have a separate DHCP server installed. Click on Next.

For the PXE services I have selected “The service that runs on another computer”. This is the scenario I see in most of the cases with customers running PVS. In many cases they have a seperate PXE server running for Thin-Clients. Select the option you see fit for your infrastructure. Click on Next.

Now we have to create the PVS farm. In another post I will cover the “Join existing farm” option. For now let’s create a new one. Click on Next.

Enter the information to setup the PVS database on the SQL server. Select the appropriate instance, otherwise leave blank. Click on Next.

In the New Farm windows enter the information according to your company/infrastructure. It will already suggest the database name. You can change it, or select the appropriate database. I also added the Active Directory Administrators group. Click on Next.

Enter the Store name and the path where you vDisks will be stored. Click on Next.

Enter the hostname or ipadress of you licensen server. I also checked the option “Validate license server version and communication”. Ã‚Â Click on Next.

Enter the service account you created in Active Directory to setup the Stream and Soap services. This service account will also be used to setup the database. Note that this user must have db_writerÃ‚Â and db_reader access, so I made this account the owner of the PVS database. Click on Next.

I use the default to updateÃ‚Â the computer password in the Active Directory. Click on Next.

Select the network card for management and streaming, in my case there is only one. Check the communication ports. I left them default. Click on Next.

I choose not to install TFTP server, as I will be booting using an ISO. This ISO tells my client device (target) where my PVS server is. I will cover this in a later post. Click on Next.

Check the information on the overview screen. Click on Finish.

You will get a notification about the firewall. Click on OK.

Now wait for the wizard to complete the configuration. It should end with all the green checkmarks. Click on Done.

Install Provisioning Services Management Console

Now we need to install the PVS Console for management purpose. This console can be installed on a remote server (like a management server). I choose to install this on my local PVS server.

Start the setup from the Provisioning Services installation ISO. Click on Console Installation.

Click on Next in the Welcome screen.

Accept the license agreement. Click on Next.

Enter your customer information in the User Name field and the Organization field. Select the option you need for “Install this application for”. Click Next.

Choose the installation folder. I left mine default. Click on Next.

Select the setup type. Click on Next.

We are now ready to install. Click on Install.

Click on Finish.

Start the PVS console and enter the information of the PVS server. Click on Connect.

We now have a working Provisioning Services server. In another post I will show you how to create and configure master images using Provisioning Services.

You can also follow me on twitter or add the rss feed from the blog and you will be notified when I add new posts. If you have any questions feel free to contact me.

XenDesktop

Basic setup Citrix XenDesktop 7.6

July 4, 2015February 10, 2017 - by Vikash Jhagroe - Leave a Comment

Reading Time: 3 minutes

In this post I will show you how to do a basic installatoin of Citrix XenDesktop 7.6. I will be needing this to publish my desktops and applications. I will cover the configuration in another post, check back again for that. So for now let’s start the setup.

In this post I will show you how to:

Basic installation of XenDesktop 7.6

My lab setup:

Host running Citrix XenServer 6.5 SP1.
Windows 2012 R2 server with patches and updates which I will be using to install XenDesktop Delivery Controller.
Downloaded PVS ISO fromÃ‚Â www.citrix.com

Install Citrix XenDesktop 7.6

Using XenCenter mount the ISO on the Windows 2012 Server VM and start the setup. The setup will start. Click on Start in the XenDesktop option:

Click on Delivery Controller to start the setup.

Accept the License Agreement. Click on Next.

Select the components you want to install. I already have my setupÃ‚Â license server. I will setup a dedicated StoreFront server, covered in another post. Click on Next.

I have a dedicated MS SQL Server running, so I won’t install SQL Express. Click on Next.

Check the firewall port configuration. I left this default. Click on Next.

Check the summary window. Click on Install.

After the installation has finished you will get an overview. Click on Finish.

Citrix Studio will launch and from here you can start by configuring your XenDesktop infrastructure. I will cover this in another post, so please check back soon.

You can also follow me on twitter or add the rss feed from the blog and you will be notified when I add new posts.