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23-May-2010

Posted by : Stephane THIRION

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Citrix Edgesight architecture scenario – part 2/2

Category : Citrix, EdgeSight, XenApp 5, XenApp 6, XenDesktop

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If you need to build an EdgeSight architecture for more than 6000 agents, you need to know you will have to split your database and EdgeSight server (web server) associated with it. This next architecture doesn’t include Edgesight database broker you will need for XenDesktop VDI deployment. If some of you are looking forward a VDI deployment for EdgeSight just let me know, Twitter, Facebook, email, comment or phone, I can make it simple for you, and you won’t need to read the 300 documentation pages ! This is a slightly different approach with file share and database broker…

A typical data upload size for an EdgeSight for Endpoints agent is 80KB. EdgeSight for XenApp agent data uploads are typically larger due to the greater amount of data collected and can reach 300KB. These data upload sizes depend on a number of factors such as the agent properties and the usage profile of the system hosting the agent.

From Edgesight Admin guide page 22.

Of course it depend how your worker are configured and what data you need to collect. I’m still trying to figure our how to calculate the amount of data transferred from agents to the web server, this is a complex calculation and it take a lot of time for something Citrix should provide.

So architecture for large environment is the same as the one you could watch in the previous blog – Citrix Edgesight architecture scenario – part 1/2 – except you need to split database and EdgeSight server. Only one Citrix license server and you can also keep one SQL Reporting Services for both Edgesight servers.

This configuration means you need to configure agents with a different http address, for example, at one customer I had 4000 XenApp servers and 5000 Endpoint agents, so I choose to split Endpoint agents on one Edgesight server and all XenApp on the other. This is not very handy when you want to check from XenApp servers to the endpoint statistics, but this is the way it is for now.  By multiplying EdgeSight environment, complexity is getting stronger and find the good information is sometimes a matter of hours instead of minutes…

What Citrix should consider for the future of Edgesight :

  • Stop to check Citrix licenses on the Edgesight Servers, only agents is enough I think, then we would be able to load balance Edgesight Servers and SQL Reporting Services servers, spliting wouldn’t be necessary.
  • Since we don’t have Resource manager anymore, consider to bring at least the same level of information in EdgeSight we had with RM with the Advanced license.
  • Make available a complete EdgeSight database diagram.
  • Provide a simple tool to build 1,2,3 custom report.
  • Correct these annoying bug : When a Desktop is publish, no statistics are recorded, this is the same for an application with an argument in the command line…

Useful Links :
EdgeSight Wikipedia
EdgeSight Forums

EdgeSight Under The Hood

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28-Apr-2010

Posted by : Stephane THIRION

Comments: (3)

Citrix Edgesight architecture scenario – part 1/2

Category : Citrix, EdgeSight, XenApp 5, XenApp 6, XenDesktop

Tags: , ,

During past years, I had to design and deploy several kind of Citrix Edgesight architectures, from the “POC” design to “Large deployment”. I had to consider what was the best way to use this product and handle the number of devices to monitor. One type of architecture I didn’t needed to use yet is with Citrix XenDesktop Virtual Desktop Monitoring and Edgesight Agent Database Server.

Since Ressource Manager (RIP) disappear with Citrix XenApp 6, Edgesight became a mandatory tool to have the big picture of your XenApp farms health. It’s of course a lot more than that with Platinum licenses, this will be the subject for another blog. This blog focuses on Citrix Edgesight 5.3.

Important notes regarding supported database :

SQL Server 2008 (Standard or better) or SQL Server 2005 SP2 or later (Standard or better). Note that SQL Server 2008 R2 is not supported,
Important: Note the following configuration requirements:
In SQL Server 2008, the Reporting Services Role called Manage Shared Schedules no longer exists as a stand-alone role; it is now part of the System Administrator Role. For more information, see Configuring Reporting Services for Citrix EdgeSight.
SQL Server must be configured for case-insensitive collation. Case-sensitive collation is not currently supported for this release.
SQL Server should be configured to use Windows Authentication or Mixed-Mode Authentication.
Reporting Services is included with SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2005. Reporting Services can be installed on a separate machine from the data source.
SQL Agent Service running and set to start automatically (if Reporting Services is installed on the machine)

First when you need to practice and want to check out what is Citrix Edgesight, you can easily setup a VM with Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 x64, install SQL 2008 and its SP1 with Reporting Services. Then you can configure Internet Information Services (IIS) to host Edgesight’s website and install the Citrix License Server as well on the same machine. Keep in mind this is for Proof Of Concept only and shouldn’t be used in Production environment.

Before going further you need to estimate the Edgesight SQL Database size regarding the number of agent deployed. Couple of year ago I had to request the mathematics law to Citrix support to know about that; now there is a tool

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10-Apr-2010

Posted by : Stephane THIRION

Comments: (2)

Citrix XenApp – Hiding system drives part 2/2

Category : Citrix, Microsoft, Presentation Server 4, Presentation Server 4.5, Windows 2003, Windows 2008, Windows 2008 R2, XenApp 5, XenApp 6

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This is the second part, here is the link to the first part : Citrix XenApp – Hiding system drives part 1/2

If you read the first part, now you know how to apply the Microsoft Windows 2003/2008/R2 GPO to hide A,B,C or/and D drives. But what’s happening if you have a E: drive or O: ? You cannot use this GPO anymore, you need to create your own. This is simple to understand how it works, just read what’s follow.

By default the Hide Drives part in the system.adm file look like this :

POLICY !!NoDrives
   EXPLAIN !!NoDrives_Help
      PART !!NoDrivesDropdown          DROPDOWNLIST NOSORT REQUIRED
         VALUENAME "NoDrives"
          ITEMLIST
                NAME !!ABOnly           VALUE NUMERIC 3
                NAME !!COnly            VALUE NUMERIC 4
                NAME !!DOnly            VALUE NUMERIC 8
                NAME !!ABConly          VALUE NUMERIC 7
                NAME !!ABCDOnly         VALUE NUMERIC 15
                NAME !!ALLDrives        VALUE NUMERIC 67108863
                ;low 26 bits on (1 bit per drive)
                NAME !!RestNoDrives     VALUE NUMERIC 0 (Default)
          END ITEMLIST
     END PART
   END POLICY
 
[strings]
ABCDOnly="Restrict A, B, C and D drives only"
ABConly="Restrict A, B and C drives only"
ABOnly="Restrict A and B drives only"
ALLDrives="Restrict all drives"
COnly="Restrict C drive only"
DOnly="Restrict D drive only"
RestNoDrives="Do not restrict drives"

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10-Apr-2010

Posted by : Stephane THIRION

Comments: (5)

Citrix XenApp – Hiding system drives part 1/2

Category : Citrix, Presentation Server 4, Presentation Server 4.5, Windows 2003, Windows 2008, Windows 2008 R2, XenApp 5, XenApp 6

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Hiding system drives C, D, floppy if there is still one and CDRom seems to be easy but I saw many many time at some customer’s place administrator unable to complete this simple operation. The reason is in most of the case, the administrator doesn’t really know how to manage GPO and what is difference between user and machine GPOs.

First you need to know there is a built-in GPO in Microsoft Windows 2003 / 2008 / R2 with these settings ready to be set.

To set it up, you need to create a new GPO or edit an existing one and find these two GPO bellow as follow :

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18-Mar-2010

Posted by : Stephane THIRION

Comments: (2)

Citrix EdgeSight 5.3

Category : Citrix, EdgeSight, Uncategorized, XenApp 5, XenApp 6

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With this new version, Citrix give support to XenApp 6 and Microsoft Windows 2008 R2. Beware, the new Edgesight XenApp Client 5.3 is only made for Windows 2008 R2 and XenApp 6. For prior OS and XenApp version you must use the 5.2.1 version. There are a bunch of new reports available now, since Resource Manager is dead, Citrix needs to implement everything what we were use to find in RM. This is a small step but nothing big except for the licensing part, a brand new section is dedicated for licenses reporting.

What’s new ?

  • Monitoring of Citrix License Servers and reporting on license usage by product group or individual products. The license servers to be monitored are specified at Configure > License Monitor Configuration > License Servers. License usage reports are available on the Track Usage tab.
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10-Mar-2010

Posted by : Stephane THIRION

Comment: (1)

Citrix XenApp 6 release date !

Category : Citrix, XenApp 6, XenDesktop

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Citrix XenApp 6 Sets New Standard in On-Demand App Delivery for Physical and Virtual Desktops

New Release Simplifies Management, Enhances Scalability and Expands High-Definition Support for Macs, Smart Phones and Microsoft Platforms

3/10/2010 » SANTA CLARA, CA » Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTXS), today announced Citrix® XenApp™ 6, the de facto standard for centralizing applications in the datacenter and delivering them as an on-demand service to both physical and virtual desktops. XenApp 6 offers major new enhancements that simplify computing for IT, including easier central management, enhanced enterprise scalability and seamless integration with Microsoft technologies like App-V and Windows Server 2008 R2. XenApp 6 also improves productivity for end users with extensive new high-definition HDX™ technology enhancements and simplified self-service access to apps from any device, including PCs, Macs, laptops and smart phones.

The new enhancements to XenApp 6 will also be available as an integrated feature of the company’s comprehensive desktop virtualization solution, Citrix XenDesktop™ 4. Mainstream adoption of desktop virtualization requires a proven, scalable solution with the ability to deliver any type of virtual desktop to any user on any device, and to be able to interchange delivery technologies at any time. With more than half the ROI of virtual desktops coming from centralized app management, this integration provides an unparalleled advantage over any other desktop virtualization solution on the market today. This powerful combination makes it easy for customers to deliver apps as an on-demand service to any user, on any device, across a broad range of both physical and virtual desktops.

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03-Mar-2010

Posted by : Stephane THIRION

Comments: (8)

Citrix Online Plug-in for Mac, SSL Error 61: You have not chosen to trust…

Category : Apple, Citrix, Mac OSx Snow Leopard, Secure Gateway VPX, XenApp 5, XenApp 6, XenApp Plugin, XenServer 5.5

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In this post I explain how I tried to troubleshoot this issue, if you need the solution, go at the end of this post.

My company (Activlan) had to renew our certificate installed on our Citrix Secure Gateway 3.1.3. As you might know, Citrix has issued some virtual appliance and I had to chose between, Citrix Access Gateway 4.6.2 VPX and Netscaller VPX Express (Free !). My choice was to integrate a Citrix Access Gateway (CAG) mainly because we are using other product to manage VPN to all our customers and I wanted to install what I needed, nothing less, nothing more.

So here we go, I got my xva file from MyCitrix account and I just deploy it on our XenServer, very easy, very simple, just some clicks. Once installed and basics configuration set, I had to generate the CSR (Certificate Signing Request) and wait for Verisign to send me the certificate I had to use with the CAG. This was a big adventure and of course I should have read the manual before, and configuration isn’t so easy but I guess when you do it all day long you begin to know everything and I can say now, I know how to troubleshoot a CAG from the client side to the Web Interface.

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21-Feb-2010

Posted by : Stephane THIRION

Comments: (5)

Citrix XenApp tuning tips

Category : ArchY.net Site, Citrix, Presentation Server 4, Presentation Server 4.5, Windows 2008 R2, XenApp 5, XenApp 6

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There are many post around to tune Citrix XenApp in many ways and there are even more to tune Microsoft Windows 2008 R2.

I want to begin a new document as we had with Citrix Metaframe 1.8 tuning tips on Microsoft Windows NT4 TSE. This was a great document and very helpfull in many way.

If you have any ideas, agree on what I will write or disagree, I take everything to form a big document available online for everyone.

First I would like to know if we should create a wiki-like to let everyone working on the document and add/change at will, what do you think ?

Which is the best way to realize Citrix XenApp tuning tips

  • A wiki where everyone can add/change (69%, 9 Votes)
  • A thread on the forum (31%, 4 Votes)
  • By email (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Another (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 13

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If you choose other please add a comment bellow !

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14-Jan-2010

Posted by : Stephane THIRION

Comments: (3)

How to debug Java website publish application

Category : Presentation Server 4, Presentation Server 4.5, Windows 2003, Windows 2008, Windows 2008 R2, Windows 7, Windows XP, XenApp 5, XenApp 6

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These last days I had to find out what was wrong with an extranet publish through XenApp. This extranet is using java and the issue users reported was random disconnection with a java popup. Find out what is wrong with extranet application is very hard because this is just a published browser with an URL pointing to a website in another company, everything works well until one day… My goal was to bring as much information and details as possible to the extranet’s support team and I needed to use the java console and grab the most verbose log possible.

First you need to publish the Java Control Panel,

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13-Jan-2010

Posted by : Stephane THIRION

Comments: (0)

Citrix XenApp 6 TP : Many news 2/2

Category : Citrix, Merchandising Server, Password Manager, Receiver, Single Sign On, SmartAuditor, XenApp 6

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Many new features have been updated with XenApp 6 Technical Preview (Project Parra), UPM, Merchandising Server, Single Sign On, SmartAuditor. I will show you in the post the main part (for me) User Profile Manager 3 Tech Prev, a bit about Merchandising Server 1.2 and Single Sign On 4.8.

User Profile Manager 3 Tech. Prev.

Here is a list of new featured inluded in this TP

  • Citrix streamed user profiles. With Citrix streamed user profiles, files and folders are synchronized on the local computer only when they are needed, which speeds up logon and logoff. (Registry entries are cached immediately.) This feature includes the following settings in the ADM file.
  • Cache entire profile. Profiles are synchronized locally after logon as a background system task, without any feedback to users.
  • Active profile write back. Files and folders (but not Registry entries) that are modified can be synchronized to the user store in the middle of a session, before logoff.
  • More supported operating systems. Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 are now supported.
  • Diagnostic enhancements. Administrators can now set the computers and groups to be monitored using the Diagnostic Facility in the Daily Management Console. They no longer have to configure logging in the ADM template and force a group policy update (that they may not have permissions for). In addition, new event log messages display the full path to the user store for each user logon.
  • For further deployment information, including how to add the ADM file in the download to Group Policy, see the installation topics in the Version 2.1 documentation.
  • Installation enhancements. Profile management checks for more errors during installation and, if they are encountered, writes messages to the event log. A new command-line switch installs Profile management without the .ini files that were previously used for configuration.

You can see bellow installation screenshots :

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