ArchY.net » Microsoft

Remote Desktop published application – Double upper case issue

Stephane THIRION — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 13:25:16 +0000

At one of my customer place, we need to publish mstsc.exe (RDP Client) through XenApp 4.5 on Windows 2008 x64. Users complained about a weird keyboard behaviour. While typing in their session, users stated using shift for the first letter, the second letter was upper case as well. I’va made a quick video to show you this issue, you can watch it bellow :

On the Citrix Web Interface, one ICA file is used as a template for ICA file creation, default.ica. I edited this file to check what was in :

Code block

[WFClient]
COMAllowed=Off
CPMAllowed=On
ClientName=
KeyboardTimer=50
MouseTimer=10
OutBufCountClient=118
OutBufCountHost=118
OutBufLength=512
PersistentCacheEnabled=On
ProxyFavorIEConnectionSetting=Yes
ProxyTimeout=30000
ProxyUseFQDN=Off
RemoveICAFile=yes
TransparentKeyPassthrough=Local
TransportReconnectEnabled=On
UpdatesAllowed=Off
VSLAllowed=On
Version=2
VirtualCOMPortEmulation=Off

In the WFClient (section bellow) I found the line KeyboardTimer=50 which mean at the end of the specified time period the keyboard data are sent to the server. I didn’t wanted to modify this value without beeing able to test it before, so I right clicked on the published Remote Desktop icon to download the launch.ica file (generated with the defgault.ica and the 50ms value) saved it and the edited it changing the keyboardTimer value to 25 then 15 then 10 and finnaly 5. I had the issue until the last value 5ms tested.

Now I need to make some more test to check if the bandwith consumed is really highter compare with the 50ms default value. I will update this post with the statistics result (Edgesight)

Update : 1st July 2010

I’ve used Citrix Edgesight to check what’s going on while I run some test toward ICA Session Traffic and ICA Session I/O. To run this test I created a script which open notepad and type a text (about 30/40 lines) so the same text input will be use for all the tested values.

I made this test with KeyboardTimer=50 (default), KeyboardTimer=25 and KeyboardTimer=5 and here are the results :

I did blank the “non needed” data to avoid confusion and as you might notice, there is not a huge difference between these different values. I decided to commit the change for wan users and I will check in deeper statistics will real usage on weeks/month, before/after the change.

I wanted to blog this issue because this is an annoying one and you might search a long time around the mstsc configuration, registry tips and tunning before finding out this was the KeyboardTimer value in the default.ica file on the Citrix WebInterface. You can also add the line KeyboardTimer=## (your value) to your WFCLIENT.INI file in your user profile directory, it should make the trick if you don’t want to commit this change for everyone using the WebInterface.

Sources : http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX103444

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EventLog parser (WMI) and export to Excel vbscript

Stephane THIRION — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 17:12:52 +0000

Today my need was very simple, I needed to build a script to collect logs in application event log on many XenApp servers. The goal with the following script it to use MFCom to get the target XenApp server list and export everything from the last 7 days and a specific keyword to an Excel file. This is very far to be perfect but it works and it did the job I needed

Let’s share !

Code block

Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
 
'Path and name of the Excel file
FileExport = "d:\temp\yourfile.xls"
'Name of your management Server (Must have MFCOM SDK if not a XenApp Server
CtxFarms = Array("XenappManagementserver.domain.inc")
'Folder in the XenApp Management Console, must begin with Servers/ ex : Servers/APPLICATION1
TargetPool = "Servers/ApplicatioForlder"
 
If (objFSO.FileExists(FileExport)) Then
	objFSO.DeleteFile(FileExport)
End If
 
Const CONVERT_TO_LOCAL_TIME = False
Set dtmStartDate = CreateObject("WbemScripting.SWbemDateTime")
Set dtmEndDate = CreateObject("WbemScripting.SWbemDateTime")
DateToCheck = CDate(Date)
'Number of day back to check here 7
dtmStartDate.SetVarDate DateToCheck - 7, CONVERT_TO_LOCAL_TIME
dtmEndDate.SetVarDate DateToCheck, CONVERT_TO_LOCAL_TIME
 
Set objExcel = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
objExcel.Visible = True
Set objWorkbook = objExcel.Workbooks.Add
Set objRange = objExcel.Range("A1","Z1")
objRange.Font.Size = 12
objRange.Font.Bold = True  
 
objExcel.Cells(1, 1).Value = "Server"
objExcel.Cells(1, 2).Value = "Event Source"
objExcel.Cells(1, 3).Value = "Event Type"
objExcel.Cells(1, 4).Value = "Event ID"
objExcel.Cells(1, 5).Value = "Event Message"
objExcel.Cells(1, 6).Value = "Event Date"
 
lign = 2
 
For i = 0 To UBound(CtxFarms)
	Set theFarm = CreateObject("MetaFrameCOM.MetaFrameFarm", "\\" & CtxFarms(i))
	theFarm.Initialize 1
 
	For Each aServer In theFarm.Servers
		If aServer.ParentFolderDN = TargetPool Then
			objExcel.Cells(lign, 1).Value = aServer.ServerName
			TargetSource = "Application"
			Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & aServer.ServerName & "\root\cimv2")
 
'This line is to query the Security event log
'			Set colLoggedEvents = objWMIService.ExecQuery("Select * from Win32_NTLogEvent Where Logfile = 'Security' and SourceName = '" & TargetSource & "' and Type = 'Error' and TimeGenerated >= '" & dtmStartDate & "' and TimeGenerated < '" & dtmEndDate & "'")	

'This line is to query the System event log
'			Set colLoggedEvents = objWMIService.ExecQuery("Select * from Win32_NTLogEvent Where Logfile = 'System' and SourceName = '" & TargetSource & "' and Type = 'Error' and TimeGenerated >= '" & dtmStartDate & "' and TimeGenerated < '" & dtmEndDate & "'")	

'This line is to query the Application event log
			Set colLoggedEvents = objWMIService.ExecQuery("Select * from Win32_NTLogEvent Where Logfile = 'Application' and SourceName = '" & TargetSource & "' and Type = 'Error' and TimeGenerated >= '" & dtmStartDate & "' and TimeGenerated < '" & dtmEndDate & "'")
						For Each objEvent in colLoggedEvents
'                                   Change here to find event using a keyword in the main message
				MyPos = Instr(1, ucase(objEvent.Message), UCase("KeyWord"))
				If MyPos > 0 Then
					objExcel.Cells(lign, 1).Value = aServer.ServerName
					objExcel.Cells(lign, 2).Value = objEvent.SourceName
					objExcel.Cells(lign, 3).Value = objEvent.Type
					objExcel.Cells(lign, 4).Value = objEvent.EventCode
					objExcel.Cells(lign, 5).Value = objEvent.Message
					objExcel.Cells(lign, 6).Value = WMIDateStringToDate(objEvent.TimeGenerated)
					lign = lign + 1
				End If
			Next
		End If
	Next
Next
 
objExcel.ActiveWorkbook.SaveAs FileExport
objExcel.Quit
 
EnvoiMail()
 
Wscript.Quit
 
Function WMIDateStringToDate(dtmInstallDate)
    WMIDateStringToDate = CDate(Mid(dtmInstallDate, 5, 2) & "/" & Mid(dtmInstallDate, 7, 2) & "/" & Left(dtmInstallDate, 4) _
            & " " & Mid (dtmInstallDate, 9, 2) & ":" & Mid(dtmInstallDate, 11, 2) & ":" & Mid(dtmInstallDate, 13, 2))
End Function
 
Function EnvoiMail()
	Const SendUsingPort = 2
 
	' Set the variables used to send the message
	SMTPServer = "smtp.server.com"
	FromName = "administrator@admin.com"
	ToName = "me@admin.com" 
 
	' Setup the configuration for the message to use
	Set Conf = CreateObject("CDO.Configuration")
	With Conf.Fields
	    .Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/sendusing") = SendUsingPort
	    .Item("http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/smtpserver") = SMTPServer
	    .Update
	End With
 
	'Setup the message
	Set Message = CreateObject("CDO.Message")
	With Message
	Set .Configuration = Conf
 
    'Set email adress, subject And body
    	.To = ToName
    	.Subject = "Email Subject"
    	.TextBody = "Hello World !"
    	.From = FromName
    	.AddAttachment FileExport
    	.Send
	End With
 
End Function

At the end I added a function to send this Excel file by email so I can schedule this check and genrerate this report.

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Citrix XenApp – Hiding system drives part 2/2

Stephane THIRION — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 21:58:31 +0000

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 :

Code block

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"

Then if I explain you this policy displays only specified drives on the client computer. The registry key that this policy affects uses a decimal number that corresponds to a 26-bit binary string, with each bit representing a drive letter:

Code block

11111111111111111111111111
ZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA

I choose an example where I want to hide A,B,C,D and E drives :

Code block

00000000000000000000011111
ZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA

Then convert to decimal. This binary string converts to 31 in decimal. Add this line to the [strings] section in the new HideDrives.adm file:

Code block

ABCDEOnly="Restrict A,B,C,D and E drives only"

After add this entry in the ITEMLIST section above and save the HideDrives.adm file.

Code block

NAME !!ABCDE_Only         VALUE NUMERIC 31

So the whole ADM file must look like this :

Code block

CLASS USER
 
CATEGORY  !!HideDrives
 
KEYNAME Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
    POLICY !!HideDrives
 
    PART !!HideDrivesDropdown    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 !!HideABCDE        VALUE NUMERIC    31
        NAME !!ALLDrives        VALUE NUMERIC    67108863 DEFAULT
        NAME !!RestNoDrives     VALUE NUMERIC    0
    END ITEMLIST
    END PART
    END POLICY
 
END CATEGORY;HideDrives
 
[strings]
Blank=" "
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"
HideABCDE="Restrict A,C,E,D and E drives only"
HideDrives="Hide Drives"
HideDrivesDropdown="Hide Drives Selection"
MoveProfile="Move Profiles"
MoveProfileDropdown="Move User Profile Location"
MOVEPROFILETOD="Move Profile to D Drive"
RestNoDrives="Restore Drives"

I think you’re good with this one, just import this ADM file and activate it following the part 1.

Links : Microsoft KB (thx to CTXBlog.fr)

CLASS USER

CATEGORY !!HideDrives

KEYNAME Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer
POLICY !!HideDrives

PART !!HideDrivesDropdown    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 !!HideABCDE        VALUE NUMERIC    31
NAME !!ALLDrives        VALUE NUMERIC    67108863 DEFAULT
NAME !!RestNoDrives     VALUE NUMERIC    0
END ITEMLIST
END PART
END POLICY

END CATEGORY;HideDrives

[strings]
Blank=” ”
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”
HideABCDE=”Restrict A,C,E,D and E drives only”
HideDrives=”Hide Drives”
HideDrivesDropdown=”Hide Drives Selection”
MoveProfile=”Move Profiles”
MoveProfileDropdown=”Move User Profile Location”
MOVEPROFILETOD=”Move Profile to D Drive”
RestNoDrives=”Restore Drives”

Citrix XenApp – Hiding system drives part 1/2

Stephane THIRION — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 15:59:17 +0000

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 :

Most of the administrators I spoke with told me they’ve done that already, but it still doesn’t work, they rebooted XenApp servers, Domain controller, everything they could reboot… But they forgot the essential…

These GPO above are USER GPO and this GPO is place on the XenApp OU in the Active Directory where there is no user at all. The solution is very simple you need to activate the GPO loopback :

This setting directs the system to apply the set of Group Policy objects for the computer to any user who logs on to a computer affected by this setting. It is intended for special-use computers, such as those in public places, laboratories, and classrooms, where you must modify the user setting based on the computer that is being used.

Then with a gpupdate /enforce this hiding drives GPO is working ! Finally !

In the second part of this blog I will explain how you can go further and hide drives with other letters than A,B,C or D.

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Citrix Edgesight 5.2 SP1 : Could not create the Java Virtual Machine.

Stephane THIRION — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 09:26:13 +0000

This issue appear on my Presentation Server 4 HR5, 32bit only, x64 servers (Windows 2003 & 2008) were fine after deploying Citrix Edgesight Agent for XenApp 5.2 SP1. (build 5.2.3012.0)

Impacted applications :

All java applications using more than 706mb of reserved memory, command line example :

c:\Progra~1\Java\jre1.5.0_07\bin\javaw -Xms8m -Xmx1024m -Dcai.starter.jvm.options=”-Xms8m -Xmx1024m” -classpath d:\xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Visual Studio 2008 Pro SP1 x64 crashes when Citrix Edgesight 5.2SP1 is installed, process CL.exe.

Reminder :

-Xmsn
Specify the initial size, in bytes, of the memory allocation pool. This value must be a multiple of 1024 greater than 1MB. Append the letter k or K to indicate kilobytes, or m or M to indicate megabytes. The default value is 2MB.

-Xmxn
Specify the maximum size, in bytes, of the memory allocation pool. This value must a multiple of 1024 greater than 2MB. Append the letter k or K to indicate kilobytes, or m or M to indicate megabytes. The default value is 64MB.

Affected system : Microsoft Windows 2003 R2 Sp2 x32 with Citrix Presentation Server 4 HR5

Error message :

Code block

C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_07\bin>java.exe -Xmx1024M -version
Error occurred during initialization of VM
Could not reserve enough space for object heap
Could not create the Java virtual machine.

Even if the Presentation Server all have 4Gb of ram, and freshly rebooted (567mb memory occupation) the java application doesn’t want to start. I first uninstall Citrix Edgesight, and checked everything was fine, it was fine with prior Edgesight for XenApp’s version.

Someone had the same issue, only one person posted this issue with a java application on Citrix’s forums : http://forums.citrix.com/thread.jspa?threadID=261266&tstart=0

About the Visual Studio 2008 SP1 x64 the process CL.exe seems the one to exclude to make it work.

Workaround :

To avoid EdgeSight for XenApp agent “blocking” a process, you need to hade the executable program to the following registry key :

Code block

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\rskcore 
 
Key : UviProcessExcludes
 
Value : "rotatelogs.exe;java.exe;javaw.exe;cl.exe" (for my case)

You need to keep in mind, adding file to this registry key excluding them from statistics (information to confirm)

Update 30 march 2010 : There is no fix yet for this issue, Edgesight for XenApp 5.3 next version should include the fix, but not before Q2 2010…

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Citrix XenApp tuning tips

Stephane THIRION — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 13:21:06 +0000

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 ?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

If you choose other please add a comment bellow !

XenApp 4.5 / 5 unattended installation

Stephane THIRION — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 09:32:39 +0000

Unattended installation is very usefull in large XenApp farm, of course if you’re deploying one server per two month you might not be interessed by this process automation but this is always interresting to know this kind of tips. Scripts bellow are example I use every day in production to install servers, of course its needs to be change and adapt to your own settings and of course if you have some ideas to share, I take it !

This unattended example assume you have only one network card enable, a local XenApp source installation file and IP address type 192.168.3 / 192.168.10 / 192.168.200 / 10.113 / 10.112. This file allow to join an existing farm named CTX_TEST with a datastore hosted on a SQL server. Finally, you need to create one folder per farm inside your XenApp source folder if you are automating multi farm setup.

This is the UnattendedTemplate.txt you can find on your XenApp installation media, this file is very simple to fill and everything is comment and explain. This file example is for the XenApp zone named ZoneA

I wanted to comment every option bellow but I think existing comments are very clear and you will understand everything. If you have any question, just ask on the forum.

Code block

***************************************************************
* This is a sample answer file for unattended installations of
* Citrix XenApp 5.0.
*
* To run an unattended installation of XenApp,
* make a copy of this file and customize it for
* your needs.
*
* If you do not use an answer file or if you use an answer
* file but do not specify answers to some questions, default
* answers are used for those questions. The default answers
* in the installation are identical to the default answers
* listed in this sample answer file.
*
* This file installs only components contained in mps.msi.
* You must install prerequisites, including a Citrix XenApp
* Plugin for Hosted Apps from the XenAppHosted.msi, before
* installing XenApp. See the "Stage 4: Configure Pass-Through
* Client Authentication" section in the Citrix XenApp
* Installation Guide.
*
* Important: For security reasons, account passwords are not
* stored in this file and must be provided in the command-line
* when you run the answer file. For information about the
* msiexec commands used for providing credential information,
* see the “Setup Property Names and Values” section in the
* “XenApp Windows Installer Properties Reference” chapter of
* the Citrix XenApp Installation Guide.
*
* For information about installing XenApp, see the
* Citrix XenApp Installation Guide and the XenApp Installation
* Checklist. For information about Setup properties for
* other components, see their respective administrator's
* and installation guides.
*
***************************************************************
 
***************************************************************
* Citrix License Agreement
*
* This section specifies your acceptance of the Citrix End-User
* License Agreement. Set this value to "Yes" to
* indicate your acceptance of the Citrix End-User License
* Agreement.
*
* The unattended installation fails if you use any value other
* than"Yes".
***************************************************************
 
[Citrix License Agreement]
AcceptLicense=Yes
 
***************************************************************
* Data Store Configuration
*
* This section specifies whether you are creating or joining a
* farm and how to connect to the data store.
*
* Multiple options are available as follows:
*
* -> To create a farm using an Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, or
*    IBM DB2 database:
*    - Set CreateFarm to Yes
*    - Set DirectConnect to Yes
*    - Complete the Direct Connect Settings section
*    - Complete the Farm Settings section
*
* -> To create a farm using an Access database:
*    > Set CreateFarm to Yes
*    - Set LocalDBType to Access
*    - Set DirectConnect to No
*    - Complete the Farm Settings section
*
* -> To create a farm using a SQL Server Express database:
*    - Set CreateFarm to Yes
*    - Set LocalDBType to SQL
*    - Set DirectConnect to No
*    - Complete the Farm Settings section
*
*
* -> To join a farm using an Oracle, SQL Server, or DB2
*    database:
*    - Set CreateFarm to No
*    - Set DirectConnect to Yes
*    - Complete the Direct Connect Settings section
*
* -> To join a farm by connecting to an Access or SQL Server Express
*    database stored on another server (Indirect Connection):
*    - Set CreateFarm to No
*    - Set DirectConnect to No
*    - Complete the Indirect Connect Settings section
*
*
* Specify the name of the zone where this server will reside.
* If no zone name is specified, a default zone name is applied
* to the first server in a farm. If no zone name is specified
* for servers joining a farm, the servers are added to the zone
* of the first server in the farm.
*
* If you are using an Oracle, SQL Server, or DB2 database,
* manually create a .DSN file within the ODBC Data Source
* Administrator "File DSN" option before running the unattended
* installation process.
*
* IMPORTANT: Read the Citrix XenApp Installation
* Guide and the Citrix XenApp Administrator's
* Guide for information about data store configuration, supported
* databases, setting up a DSN file, moving servers within
* farms, and renaming zones.
***************************************************************
 
[Data Store Configuration]
CreateFarm=No
LocalDBType=
DirectConnect=Yes
; Leave this blank to use the default zone name
ZoneName=ZoneA
 
***************************************************************
* Direct Connect Settings
*
* This section specifies settings for an Oracle, SQL Server, or
* DB2 database.
*
* This section is used only if the value for DirectConnect is
* Yes in the Data Store Configuration section.
*
* In this section, specify the path to the DSN
* file for this database:
*    - If you are creating a farm, see the Citrix XenApp
*      Installation Guide for details on how to
*      create a DSN file to use here.
*    - If you are joining a farm, specify the path
*      to the DSN file created on the server where you
*      created the farm or a copy of it. For details, see the
*      Citrix XenApp Installation Guide.
*
* Note: Specifying passwords in the unattended answer file is
* not supported for security reasons. When you run the command
* to install XenApp using this answer file, add the
* CTX_MF_ODBC_PASSWORD Setup property to the command line.
*
* If Windows NT authentication is being used, include
* the domain in the user name in the form domain\username.
* This command is described in the Citrix XenApp
* Installation Guide.
* Note: Fully Qualified Domain Names are not supported.
***************************************************************
 
[Direct Connect Settings]
DSNFilePath=c:\Citrix\XenApp5\CTX_TEST\MF20.dsn
UserName=CTXTEST_RW
Password=password123654
* To specify the password, use the CTX_MF_ODBC_PASSWORD Setup
* property.
*
*
***************************************************************
* SQL Server Express Settings
*
* This section specifies which SQL Server Express settings to use when
* connecting to the database.
*
* Use this section if you set CreateFarm to Yes and
* LocalDBType to SQL
*
* In this section, specify the name of the SQL Server Express
* instance to use when connecting to the data store. The
* default is CITRIX_METAFRAME.
*
*
***************************************************************
 
[SQL Server Express Settings]
InstanceName=CTX_TEST
 
***************************************************************
* Indirect Connect Settings
*
* This section specifies settings for connecting indirectly to
* an Access or SQL Server Express database on another server.
*
* This section is used only if CreateFarm is No AND
* DirectConnect is No.
*
* In this section, specify:
*
* 1. The name of the server you want to indirectly connect to
*    and the port number to use.
*
* 2. The username and domain of the farm administrator account
*    that can access the first server in the farm.
*
* Note: Specifying passwords in the unattended answer file is
* not supported for security reasons. When you run the command to
* install XenApp using this answer file, add the
* CTX_MF_INDIRECT_JOIN_PASSWORD Setup property to the command line.
* This property is described in the Citrix XenApp
* Installation Guide.
*
* Note: When using the indirect connect settings, you must specify
* the domain name and the user name since both fields are required.
* Fully Qualified Domain Names are not supported.
***************************************************************
 
[Indirect Connect Settings]
IndirectServerName=
IndirectServerPort=2512
UserName=
DomainName=
 
*To specify the password, use the CTX_MF_INDIRECT_JOIN_PASSWORD Setup
*property in the command line.
 
***************************************************************
* Farm Settings
*
* This section specifies the settings for creating a farm.
*
* This section is used only if CreateFarm is Yes in the Data
* Store Configuration section.
*
* In this section, specify:
*
* 1. The name of the farm you are creating.
*
* 2. A Windows NT user (user name and domain) who will be the
*    administrator of this farm. This user can later designate
*    other users as administrators of the farm using the
*    XenApp Advanced Configuration tool.
***************************************************************
 
[Farm Settings]
FarmName=CTX_TEST
FarmAdministratorUsername=
FarmAdministratorDomain=
 
***************************************************************
* Shadowing Restrictions
*
* This section specifies whether or not shadowing is enabled. If
* shadowing is enabled, this section specifies shadowing
* restrictions.
***************************************************************
 
[Shadowing Restrictions]
AllowShadowing=Yes
ProhibitRemoteControl=No
ProhibitNotificationOff=No
ProhibitLoggingOff=No
 
***************************************************************
* Citrix XML Service
*
* This section lets you specify if you want the XML Service to use
* a dedicated port or share a port with IIS.
*
* The default port is 80 for the XML service. If IIS is installed,
* you can share port 80 between IIS and the XML service,
* or you can dedicate a different port to the XML Service.
*
*
* If ExtendIIS is set to No, the specified port is used for the
* Citrix XML Service, and EnableVirtualScripts is ignored.
* If ExtendIIS is set to No and IIS is installed (or any
* service is already using port 80), Citrix XML Service takes the
* secondary default port as 8080.
*
* If ExtendIIS is set to Yes, DedicatedPortNumber is ignored
* and EnableVirtualScripts is used to decide if the virtual scripts
* directory will be created. It will be created ONLY if
* Virtual Scripts Directory does not yet exist on the system. If it exists,
* EnableVirtualScripts has no effect on the installation.
*
* If you do set ExtendIIS to Yes and IIS is not available, the
* dedicated port number is used.
*
* If you do set ExtendIIS to Yes and IIS exists and
* VirtualScriptsDirectory does not yet exist on the system but
* EnableVirtualScripts is set to No, installation fails.
*
* If you do not use the default port 80, all XenApp plugins
* using TCP/IP with HTTP server location must be configured to
* make requests to the specified port number.
*
* If ExtendIIS is set to Yes and you are installing on Windows
* Server 2008 x64 Edition, the ExtendIIS setting
* will be disregarded and ExtendIIS set to No.
***************************************************************
 
[Citrix XML Service]
ExtendIIS=No
; This setting applies only if ExtendIIS is No
DedicatedPortNumber=80
; This setting applies only if ExtendIIS is Yes
EnableVirtualScripts=Yes
 
***************************************************************
* Options
*
* This section contains additional options for unattended
* installation.
*
* - RebootOnFinish -
*
* RebootOnFinish specifies whether Setup shuts down and restarts
* the server after the installation completes.
*
* If you set RebootOnFinish to No, manually restart the server
* before using XenApp.
*
* - LogLevel -
*
* LogLevel specifies the granularity of Windows Installer logging in
* the log file.
*
* To disable Windows Installer logging, set LogLevel to No.
*
* To configure Windows Installer logging, set LogLevel to one of the
* following values:
*
* 	*	everything (the same as using all options listed
*               below for voicewarmup)
* 	v	verbose
* 	o	out of disk space
* 	i	informational messages
* 	c	command line parameters
* 	e	error messages
* 	w	warning messages
* 	a	action execution messages
* 	r	informational messages for the currently
*               running action
* 	m	out of memory errors
* 	u	user request messages
* 	p	property values
* 	+	append to an existing log file
* 	!	flush each line to the log
*
*
* Logfile specifies the path to the log file for the
* installation.
*
* - UILevel -
*
* UILevel specifies how much appears on the screen during
* the silent installation. Default is BASIC_UI_NO_MODAL.
* You can set UILevel according to one of the following:
*
* NO_UI
* BASIC_UI
* BASIC_UI_NO_MODAL
* BASIC_UI_MODAL
* REDUCED_UI
*
* NO_UI is equivalent to the msiexec q option. Setup
* displays no UI.
*
* BASIC_UI is equivalent to the msiexec qb option. Setup
* displays basic UI, but hides Cancel buttons.
*
* BASIC_UI_NO_MODAL is equivalent to the msiexec qb-
* option. Setup displays no modal dialog boxes.
*
* BASIC_UI_MODAL is equivalent to the msiexec qb+ option.
* Setup displays no UI except for a modal dialog box
* at the end of the installation.
*
* REDUCED_UI is equivalent to the msiexec qr option.
* Setup displays a reduced UI without a modal dialog box
* at the end of the installation.
*
*
***************************************************************
 
[Options]
RebootOnFinish=No
LogLevel=*v
LogFile=c:\XENAPPCTX_PROD.log
 
IgnoreMCM=No
RemoveWITurnkey=No
 
***************************************************************
 
* XenApp
*
* ServerType specifies the edition of XenApp that you
* are installing.
*
* Supported values:
*      Platinum (Platinum Edition)
*      Enterprise  (Enterprise Edition)
*      Advanced  (Advanced Edition)
*
***************************************************************
 
[PresentationServer]
ServerType=Enterprise
 
***************************************************************
* Citrix License Server
*
* This section describes the Citrix License Server settings.
*
* If CreateFarm is set to Yes, supported values for
* LicenseServerChoice are:
*
* - "Point"
* - "DontKnow"
*
* If CreateFarm is set to No, supported values for LicenseServerChoice
* are:
*
* - "Point"
* - "UseFarmSettings"
* - "DontKnow"
*
* If you set LicenseServerChoice to "Point," set
* LicenseServerName to either the name of the license server
* or its IP address.
*
* If you want to set a different license server port from the
* default value, you must set both LicenseServerPortDefault=No and
* LicenseServerPort. For example:
*
* LicenseServerPortDefault=No
* LicenseServerPort=27009
*
***************************************************************
 
[LicenseServer]
LicenseServerChoice=UseFarmSettings
 
LicenseServerPortDefault=Yes
LicenseServerPort=27000
 
***************************************************************
*
* MFRDP (Remote Desktop Protocol)
*
* Set DisableRDPPrompForPassword to "Yes" if you enable
* Terminal Services to accept credentials directly from the
* Remote Desktop Windows Client.
*
* If you set DisableRDPPrompForPassword to "No" users are
* prompted for credentials each time they connect using
* Remote Desktop Protocol.
*
***************************************************************
 
[MFRDP]
DisableRDPPromptForPassword=Yes
 
***************************************************************
*
* IMA Encryption
*
* Setting EncryptionEnable to 1 instructs Setup to enable IMA
* Encryption for the farm during a Create Farm server installation.
*
* This option is only relevant for a Create Farm installation. If you
* need to enable encryption on a join, use the console. The default
* is 0.
*
* Set KeyType to "generate," "file," or "existing" to indicate how
* Setup will receive the IMA Encryption settings. The default is "file."
*
* Set NewKeyPath to the complete path where you want the generated key to
* be saved. This option is only available when using KeyType=generate.
*
* Set KeyPath to the location where an already-generated key will be loaded.
* This option is only available when using KeyType=file.
*
* The KeyPath, NewKeyPath, and KeyType attributes are useful only when they
* are used in conjunction. Setting one of the options and not the other will
* result in the encryption key not being loaded.
*
***************************************************************
 
[IMAEncryption]
EncryptionEnable=0
KeyType=file
NewKeyPath=
KeyPath=

And if you want to go further, you can create one file per zone and use a script to deploy your XenApp server to the right zone while checking the machine IP address. This script needs XenApp installation files locally on your server (c:\Citrix\XenApp5).

Code block

On Error Resume Next
 
Dim objShell
Dim WshNetwork
Dim INSTMF
Dim objFSO
 
Set WshNetwork = CreateObject("WScript.Network")
Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
 
' ---------------------------------------------------------------------
' ---------------------------------------------------------------------
' ------------------------ Zoning XenApp ------------------------------

Dim objWMIService, IPConfigSet, IPConfig, IPAddr, TabloIP, SrvSite
 
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _
    & "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\.\root\cimv2")
 
Set IPConfigSet = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
    ("Select * from Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration Where IPEnabled=TRUE")
 
' This part check if more than one network card is enable
If IPConfigSet.count <> 1 Then
	Err.Raise "666","Network card check","Two network card are enable, XenApp zoning will now stop"
	wscript.echo "Error : " & err.number & " \ " & err.description
	WScript.Quit(Err.Number)
Else
	IPAddr = ""
	For Each IPConfig in IPConfigSet
	    If Not IsNull(IPConfig.IPAddress) Then
        	For i=LBound(IPConfig.IPAddress) to UBound(IPConfig.IPAddress)
	            IPAddr = IPConfig.IPAddress(i)
        	Next
    	End If
	Next
	TabloIP=split(IPAddr,".")
	If TabloIP(0) & "." & TabloIP(1) = "10.113" Or TabloIP(0) & "." & TabloIP(1) = "10.112" Then
		SrvSite = "ZoneD"
	Else
		Select Case TabloIP(0) & "." & TabloIP(1) & "." & TabloIP(2)
			Case "192.168.3"
				SrvSite = "ZoneA"
			Case "192.168.10"
				SrvSite = "ZoneB"
			Case "192.168.200"
				SrvSite = "ZoneC"
			Case Else
				SrvSite = "UNKNOW"
				Err.Raise "666","UNKNOW IP","This zone isn't setup in the installation process"
				wscript.echo "Erreur : " & err.number & " " & err.description
				WScript.Quit(Err.Number)
		End Select
	End If
End If
' ---------------------------------------------------------------------

objShell.CurrentDirectory = "C:\Citrix\XenApp5"
' This is the command line installation
INSTMF = objShell.Run("""CTX_TEST\UnattendedInstall.exe"" ""XenApp Server\w2k8x64\mps.msi"" " & Chr(34) & "CTX_TEST\CTX_TEST-" & SrvSite & ".txt"" " & Chr(34) & "CTX_MF_ODBC_PASSWORD=passwors123654 /qb-",9,true)
 
If Err.Number <> 0 Then WScript.Quit(Err.Number)

This unatended installation generate a verbose log file on c:\XENAPPCTX_PROD.log , don’t under estimate this part, it can be very usefull to troubleshoot your silent installation.

One last thing before you go, don’t forget to use a valid MF20.dsn :

Code block

[ODBC]
DRIVER=SQL Server
UID=CTXTEST_RW
Network=DBMSSOCN
DATABASE=CTX_TEST
APP=Citrix IMA
SERVER=DBINSTANCE_NAME

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Citrix XenServer 5.5 Update 2

Stephane THIRION — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:32:08 +0000

Update 2 is already here and is double size vompare to the first one, here is some more informations :

This update resolves the network connectivity issues that affected customers with both IPv4 and IPv6 network interfaces enabled who installed Update 1. This issue is described in XenServer 5.5 Update 1 Upgrade Causes Virtual Machines to Lose Network Connectivity.

Additional Changes in Update 2
Addressed an issue where the system was falsely reporting lost access to the HA metadata disk.
Fixed issues upgrading from XenServer 5.0 to the roll-up ISO for XenServer 5.5.
In addition, the XenServer 5.5 documentation was rereleased to coincide with Update 2. While the changes in the documentation are not significant, there are some differences between XenServer 5.5 and XenServer 5.5, Update 2.

You can download it here : http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX124027

You can download the updated ISO files here : http://downloadns.citrix.com.edgesuite.net/4701/XenServer-5.5.0-Update2-install-cd.iso

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How to debug Java website publish application

Stephane THIRION — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 09:49:34 +0000

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, you can do it easily by make a new publish application and using the executable file called javacpl.exe in the java/bin directory of your Java JRE installation directory. Look the next screenshot for details about published application :

Once you Java Control Panel is published you need to grant access to this publish application to the target account and launch it. Then you need to go to the advanced tab and use the same configuration as above :

Next, you need to go to Java tab and view to add this command line after the javaw.exe path

-Djavaplugin.trace=true
-Djavaplugin.trace.option=basic|net|security|ext|liveconnect
-Djavax.net.debug=all

The click on Apply the OK to close everything.

The setup to trap all the information in the java console is done, now you can open you publish browser and go the the website and get all the debug information you will need to send the the dev of the problematic website.

You can test you console/debug mode with this url : http://java.com/en/download/help/testvm.xml it should give you something like that :

The word should appear in the console.

If you have any request or detail to ask, just go on the forum and ask.

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Citrix XenApp 6 TP : Many news 1/2

Stephane THIRION — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:27:05 +0000

The Citrix XenApp 6 Technical Preview is now available and works fine, even if there are some “bugs” I haven’t notice yet a BIG problem. Anyways, XenApp 6 is the most important component of this new release because it goes along with Microsoft Windows 2008 R2, but there are many other new stuff like WebInterface 5.3, Single Sign On 4.8, User Profile Manager 3, unified administration console (Yes !), Merchandising Server 1.2 and many other things Sridhar Mullapudi list in his post here : http://community.citrix.com/display/ocb/2009/12/15/XENAPP+SNEAK+PEEK+-+XenApp+for+Windows+Server+2008+R2

I will bring some lights about what you can find in the 2,5Gb iso file and compare what’s new and different with what we are use to administrating every day.

More users, faster logons- Get up to 20% more users per server with XenApp on the R2 platform and faster logons with new Profile management streaming technology that improves user profile load times by up to 80%.

Seamless management integration- Role-based installation wizards, a new unified application management console, management through Active Directory group policies and support for PowerShell 2.0 help you deploy, configure and automate XenApp faster and easier than ever before.

More apps in HDX- HDX RealTime now delivers high quality audio using up to 90% less bandwidth and enables video conferencing using Microsoft Office Communicator or teleconferencing using VoIP softphones. New HDX Plug-n-Play support for Windows portable USB devices lets users connect more of the devices they need to the applications they use including point-of-sale, webcams, scanners, digital cameras and more.

Self-service application delivery- Citrix Dazzle, the first self-service “storefront” for the enterprise, gives corporate employees 24×7 access to the applications they need to work. Citrix Streaming technology with Windows service isolation and Microsoft App-V integration provide new options for delivering more applications to your users.

Complete mobility – New plug-ins as well as updated Receivers for Mac, iPhone, Android, and Windows Mobile, keep business moving by enabling complete mobility and freedom to access enterprise applications from anywhere.

More users and faster logons are mostly due by Windows 2008 R2 performance enhancement, I think Citrix did, of course, some work to bring more performance as well but mostly the Operating System is the base of everything. I haven’t done any load test yet but I am very satisfy with basic use (Desktop + Office 2010).

Role-based installation wizards will repair what should have been done a long time ago by Citrix, we will have XenApp Datacollector dedicated with only one role and a lot less server network “noise” for a basic operation (ex : enable / disable logon)

The very very long waited unified application management console is here :

As you can see, we can now manage in a single console, XenApp Administrators, Publish and Streamed applications, Load Balancing policies, Load Evaluators, Policies, a new feature to groupe your server the way you want despite the classic Servers node and the Zones node. The node to manage the Web Interface doesn’t exist anymore, now this is a full dedicated interface, check it out :

There is also a new License Server web interface design, it’s a bit fancy compare to the good old one where we were use to see only some color changing I like it !

Coming next, part 2 with UPM3, Merchandising Server 1.2, Single Sign On 4.8, WebInterface 5.3

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