Assigning published applications to users may be a very simple task, but if not managed well, it can end up creating more problems. I have seen customers assigning individual user accounts to the published apps in the Citrix admin console and this can get very problematic as there are danger of assignment inconsistency. Usually, we use Active Directory groups to manage the assignments. In Microsoft world, there are 3 types of AD groups – domain local, global and universal group.
With the recent release of XenDesktop 7, we put together a list of recommended optimizations for Windows 8 /8.1 and Server 2012 virtual desktops on XenDesktop 7.x. The purpose of this blog is to provide a list of commonly applied optimizations and provide assistance with their implementation through a script – yes, you read that correctly, a SCRIPT
Although not every setting may apply to every use case, most of these settings should apply to Windows 8/8.
Overview
There are best practices and then there’s reality…I have been saying that for years. Because I believe too many folks think some best practices are set in stone or should be implemented or followed no matter what the situation. To be honest, this could not be farther from the truth. It’s why many Professional Services organizations (CCS included) use the phrase “it depends”. There is also a reason why our Legal team at Citrix cringes when we use the phrase “best practice”…because for a certain situation at a certain customer with a certain set of business requirements, that practice we recommended might not actually turn out to be “best” or truly optimal, and it could result in say downtime, disaster, upset customers, lost revenue, etc.
We have an article from citrix which explains how to configure netscaler gateway to use with storefront and xendesktop. Below are the steps given in article CTX200287.
Network Diagram The NetScaler will use the following network addresses
NetScaler IP Subnet IP Virtual IP
192.168.18.20 192.168.18.21 192.168.18.22
NetScaler Configuration This section assumes that you will be creating a NetScaler VPX virtual appliance and hosting it on XenServer.
The processes for configuring a physical NetScaler appliance, or a NetScaler VPX virtual appliance hosted on another Hypervisor is similar.
Thin provisioning (TP) is a method of optimizing the efficiency with which the available space is utilized in storage area networks (SAN). TP operates by allocating disk storage space in a flexible manner among multiple users, based on the minimum space required by each user at any given time.
In the conventional storage provisioning model, also known as fat provisioning (FP), storage space is allocated beyond current needs, in anticipation of growing need and increased data complexity.
What is VDI? VDI stands for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, using software to virtualize desktops, then deliver that user experience centrally. Instead of users storing their OS, desktop personality and data on individual laptops or desktops, VDI enables desktop data to run centrally on servers maintained by IT admins, and just accessed locally via a traditional PC or a thin client (a network-connected device designed to access VDI images remotely).
Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) is the practice of hosting a desktop operating system within a virtual machine (VM) running on a centralized server.
Issue the following command:
cat /etc/xensource/network.conf
in the xenserver command line console or connect to xenserver with putty and execute the command. If your xenserver is using openvswitch, your output will be “openvswitch”.
Imp points in xendesktop7:
Maximum time allowed for registration sequence of a single VDA to complete is 600 secs. If the registration fails to complete within this time the VDA’s partial registration is discarded by the DDC. Citrix Streaming / Offline Apps has been discontinued in XenDesktop 7 so you cant use streaming with XD7. Difference between Provisioning services streamed vm setup wizard and xendesktop setup wizard: The Provisioning Services Streamed VM Setup Wizard assists in deploying a Provisioning Services streamed vDisk to a number of cloned virtual machines (VMs).
You can configure a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) agent on the NetScaler SDX appliance to generate asynchronous events, which are called traps. The traps are generated whenever there are abnormal conditions on the NetScaler SDX appliance. The traps are then sent to a remote device called a trap listener, which signals the abnormal condition on the NetScaler SDX appliance.
In addition to configuring an SNMP trap destination, downloading MIB files, and configuring one or more SNMP managers, you can configure the NetScaler appliance for SNMPv3 queries.
XAPI or “XenAPI” is the management tool stack used in XenServer.
So for example to talk to XAPI (or the XenServer management interface on a XenServer) – you have to use the XenAPI toolstack. XenCenter does this for example. And each host in a XenServer pool does this too – to talk to the Master in a pool.
XAPI is at the heart of XenServer. It manages everything – all the resources in your XenServer environment,
