Latest Receiver deployment on Web Interface 5.4
http://www.jasonsamuel.com/2011/08/29/how-to-deploy-citrix-receiver-or-online-web-plugin-for-xenapp-6-5-on-web-interface-5-4/
Citrix XenDesktop implementation with Adobe inDesign CS5.5 (Part II)
It’s been a while, but I’ve finally found the time to update PART II of Adobe CS 5.5 on XenDesktop. The project has already been implemented to production environment for weeks, so far I haven’t heard any complaints from the users. The fundamental design of this project was all based on MCS. We were thinking to leverage Provisioning Server’s streaming technology but it turns out MCS is doing fine on a 25 users site. Since it is a very small user base with a very tight budget we tried to reduce the number of servers as much as we can. It ends up that just one server can actually do a decent job.
Architecture and Role Design
When we were designing the XenDesktop site, we tried to follow the Citrix’s official architecture guideline as much as possible. Due to the budget constraint and the limited user base, we did not put High Availability into consideration. Plus, this is a small pilot project, if the idea of virtual desktop really does take off on the customer’s site, we can always add another module to scale up the infrastructure.
Desktop Design
Before we decide how many vCPU and RAM we should specify on the guest OS, we did a very close analysis on Windows’ behavior while users were running their daily Adobe related tasks. It turned out that the size of memory is far more important than the number of vCPU. We seldom see the CPU usage spike but the memory usage was pretty high.
Hardware Design
Problems
Since MCS doesn’t not support Microsoft’s KMS Windows 7 activation, there was a little bit of hassle for administrators to update their machine catalog, here (CTX128580) is the workaround provided by Citrix. Also, you have to be aware of the activation issue if you have deployed Office 2010 in XenDesktop environment, this problem can be solved by using Microsoft KMS server.
Please feel free to leave any comments if you have any thoughts on this project.
How to Configure Disconnected Session Timer Settings in XenApp 6
If you want disconnected sessions to end immediately, perform the following steps in the registry:
Caution! This procedure requires you to edit the registry. Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that might require you to reinstall your operating system. Citrix cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of the Registry Editor can be solved. Use the Registry Editor at your own risk. Back up the registry before you edit it.
Open RegEdit.
Edit the following registry entry:
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\ICA-TCP
Name: MaxDisconnectionTime
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 0x0000003c
This action sets the disconnected timeout to one second.
DISCLAIMER: CAUTION! Be advised that changing the disconnect time to 1 millisecond is known to cause server instability and it is not recommended as a general practice. It is recommended that you do not go below 1 second. If you are seeing issues after setting this registry key, contact Citrix Technical Support.
http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX126775
Speeding Up Web Interface
1. The first change comes from the Citrix Forums – disable NetBIOS over TCP/IP for each of the network cards. To disable NetBIOS over TCP/IP, open the Advanced Properties dialog for TCP/IP on each network interface as shown in the screenshot.
2. http://support.citrix.com/article/ctx117273
source:http://virtualizationjedi.com/2011/08/16/speeding-up-web-interface/
How to script Citrix and MS hot fixes
Update 8/18/2011 – New Citrix Patches_replacement/ New Dropbox link
I have been seeing a lot of tweets about the issue of installing the hotfixes for XA6, http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX129229, one by one. Here is a procedure to script them and a dropbox location
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/36379525/XenApp6_Patches_8_18_11.zip
1.Place Both CTXHotfixesXA6 and MSHotfixesXA6 to the root of C:
2. Install XA6
3. Browse to ctxhotfixesXA6, open, right click, run as adminstrator, installctx.cmd
4. wait for reboot
5. Browse to MSHotfixesXA6, open, right click, run as adminstrator, installctxms.cmd
6. Server is now patched with Citrix recommended CTX & MS Hotfixes. CTX129229
****Note, if SP1 is installed, MS Install is real fast*******
Citrix
Start /wait msiexec /p C:\CTXHotfixesXA6\XA600W2K8R2X64060.msp /qn /norestart
Start /wait msiexec /p C:\CTXHotfixesXA6\XA600W2K8R2X64079.msp /qn /norestart
Start /wait msiexec /p C:\CTXHotfixesXA6\XA600W2K8R2X64017.msp /qn /norestart
Start /wait msiexec /p C:\CTXHotfixesXA6\XA600W2K8R2X64046.msp /qn /norestart
Start /wait msiexec /p C:\CTXHotfixesXA6\XA600W2K8R2X64021.msp /qn /norestart
Start /wait msiexec /p C:\CTXHotfixesXA6\XA600W2K8R2X64026.msp /qn /norestart
Start /wait msiexec /p C:\CTXHotfixesXA6\XA600W2K8R2X64029.msp /qn /norestart
Start /wait msiexec /p C:\CTXHotfixesXA6\XA600W2K8R2X64068.msp /qn /norestart
Start /wait msiexec /p C:\CTXHotfixesXA6\XA600W2K8R2X64001.msp /qn /norestart
Start /wait msiexec /p C:\CTXHotfixesXA6\XA600W2K8R2X64012.msp /qn /norestart
Start /wait msiexec /p C:\CTXHotfixesXA6\XA600W2K8R2X64062.msp /qn /norestart
Start /wait msiexec /p C:\CTXHotfixesXA6\XA600W2K8R2X64063.msp /qn /norestart
shutdown /r
MS
wusa.exe C:\MSHotfixesXA6\Windows6.1-KB975777-x64.msu /quiet /norestart
wusa.exe C:\MSHotfixesXA6\Windows6.1-KB979530-x64.msu /quiet /norestart
wusa.exe C:\MSHotfixesXA6\Windows6.1-KB980663-x64.msu /quiet /norestart
wusa.exe C:\MSHotfixesXA6\Windows6.1-KB983460-x64.msu /quiet /norestart
wusa.exe C:\MSHotfixesXA6\Windows6.1-KB2265716-x64.msu /quiet /norestart
wusa.exe C:\MSHotfixesXA6\Windows6.1-KB2383928-x64.msu /quiet /norestart
wusa.exe C:\MSHotfixesXA6\Windows6.1-KB2388142-x64.msu /quiet /norestart
wusa.exe C:\MSHotfixesXA6\Windows6.1-KB2465772-x64.msu /quiet /norestart
shutdown /r
source:http://pigram86virt.blogspot.com/2011/08/how-to-script-citrix-and-ms-hot-fixes.html?spref=tw
How to Redeploy XenDesktop Without Re-Installing
To clean the environment and remove the database, perform the following steps:
Load a PowerShell window as a full administrator (this is the administrator that was used to previous deploy XenDesktop)
Run the following command to initialise the PowerShell environment.
Add-PSSnapin Citrix.*
Inform the services to not use a database:
Set-ConfigDBConnection -DBConnection $null
Set-AcctDBConnection -DBConnection $null
Set-HypDBConnection -DBConnection $null
Set-ProvDBConnection -DBConnection $null
Set-PvsVmDBConnection -DBConnection $null
Set-BrokerDBConnection -DBConnection $null
Make sure these commands are run on every Desktop Delivery Controller that was previously set up to use the same database or deployment.
You should now have no connections on the database. Go to the database server and drop the database.
Now that the database has been dropped. Go to the first (or only) XenDesktop Deployment Controller and restart Desktop Studio. Desktop Studio will load with the initial setup options, following these options as if you have just installed XenDesktop.
source: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX127421
Note: Different versions of SQLExpress store the sqlcmd command in different directories. It’s easiest to use Windows Explorer to search C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server for the correct location.
- Change to the binary directory where sqlcmd resides:
cd \Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Tools\Binn<enter> - Connect to the local SQLExpress database instance:
sqlcmd -S localhost\SQLEXPRESS<enter> - List the databases to determine the name of the database to drop:
sp_databases<enter>
go<enter> - Drop the database
drop database CitrixXenDesktopDB<enter>
go<enter> - List the databases again to validate it is no longer there:
sp_databases<enter>
go<enter> - Exit sqlcmd:
exit<enter>
How-to: Implementing Idle and Disconnect Timeout Settings in XenDesktop
http://www.randyprice.org/2011/01/17/how-to-implementing-idle-and-disconnect-timeout-settings-in-xendesktop/
Idle Sessions:
To enable the Idle Session timer you will need to create a REG_DWORD value called Enabled under the registry key HKLM\Software\Citrix\PortICA\Session\IdleTimer. Setting this value to 1 will cause XenDesktop sessions to be automatically disconnected after a defined period of idleness. Setting the value to zero will disable the timer.
To define the number of minutes that a continuous idle state transitions to a disconnected state create a REG_DWORD value called MaxIdleTime under the registry key HKLM\Software\Citrix\PortICA\Session\IdleTimer. This value is reflected in minutes. For example if you wanted an Idle session to change to a disconnected state when it has been idle for 30 minutes you would simply set this value to 30.
Disconnected Sessions:
To enable the Disconnected Session timer you will need to create a REG_DWORD value called Enabled under the registry key HKLM\Software\Citrix\PortICA\Session\DisconnectTimer. Setting this value to 1 will cause XenDesktop sessions to be automatically log off the user after a defined period of being in a disconnected state. Setting the value to zero will disable the timer.
To define the maximum number of minutes to wait before logging off a disconnected state create a REG_DWORD value called MaxDisconnectTime under the registry key HKLM\Software\Citrix\PortICA\Session\DisconnectTimer. This value is reflected in minutes. For example if you wanted a Disconnected session to automatically log off the user when it has been disconnected for 30 minutes you would simply set this value to 30. That’s it!
To make this even easier I have created an ADM template for use with Group Policy to apply these settings to your XenDesktop machines.
http://www.randyprice.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/XenDesktop-Session-Settings1.zip
Giving more than one core per vCPU to XenServer VM
http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX125574
Citrix XenDesktop implementation with Adobe inDesign CS5 (PART I)
When I heard “Adobe CS5″ with XenDesktop, the first thing that came to my mind is – ‘what? seriously?’ I mean, is it even possible? In terms of usability, stability and performance, virtualizing inDesign is going to be a really tough job. I really don’t think it’s a good idea to put this monster in a virtualized environment. But since we have a client who kind of wants to implement it this way, then I guess we will have to test it out.
Before we start to put our head into this ‘mission impossible’ task, we really should be very careful on how to plan this test in order to produce the best result. First, we went over to Adobe’s official site to check out its system requirements.
CPU: Intel P4 or AMD Athlon 64 processor
OS: Windows XP/Vista/7
RAM: 1GB (2GB recommended)
HDD: 1.6GB of available HDD space for installation.
Display: 1024×768 with 16-bit vido card
From the given specifications above, it looks like the graphic card isn’t really playing a big part, which is a good start. There are also more details that we will have to pay attention to:
Adobe InDesign graphics’ display performance
InDesign CS5 performance issue and solution
Hypervisor: XenServer 5.6 FP1
XD5 Controller: Windows 2008 R2 Standard
Guest OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x86
vCPU: 4
RAM: 4 GB
to be continued.
