Bernard Baurin

Archive for the ‘Microsoft’ Category

In a POC for testing business applications performance on a XenApp 6.5 farm, we encountered issues with the business applications during the scan requests : an error indicated the twain_32.dll could not be loaded.

At first, we believed that the applications were not compatible with RDS and we tried several known solutions as copy the dll in the ‘windows’ folder of the operating system, or in the ‘windows’ folder of the user’s profile used for the tests. The issue remained the same.

We have searched for the changes of configuration causing the issue : one the recommendations of the software editor was initially to uninstall the User Experience feature on the XenApp 6.5 / Windows 2008 R2 server.

After a new installation of the User Experience feature, the issue with the twain_32 dll disappeared.

Since 1995, I hold teaching certification MCT (Microsoft Certified Trainer), which allows me to provide training official Microsoft (during the famous OMC) in these approved centers.

This certification is renewed annually based on technical certifications and training carried out on the year just ended.

If the tools Citrix Essentials and Microsoft SCVMM are complementary, Citrix Essentials enriches functionally  the tools of  Microsoft on provisioning and management life cycle in the virtualized environments, the major contribution being probably  in the storage management with StorageLink.

Recurrent problems of storage management

• Multiplication of stages in the configuration of storage for VMs
• Significant loss of storage space
• Dependence of the storage policy
• Propagation and heterogeneous storage services such as thin provisioning, replication, or backup

StorageLink earnings

The creation of VM is performed indifferently on the target XenServer or Hyper-V, including bare-metal servers. By universalizing access technologies for storage,  StorageLink serves as a proxy for access to storage means by managing cloning, snapshots, and the most important thing for cost reduction storage, deduplication:

• Transparency of storage for VMs
• Disappearance of the loss of storage space
• Standardization and simplification of storage management

Issue

Replacing the hostname of a server Remote Desktop Session Host (RDSH) by its fqdn is essential in the RemoteApp Manager to cancel the display of a notification window indicating that the certificate does not match the hostname.

The GUI of the RemoteApp manager does not allow changing of the hostname.

Solution

RemoteApp deployment settings have to be changed:

• Delete the reference to the RemoteApp certificate in the RemoteApp manager
• Remove the RemoteApp Signature certificate in the store of the computer’s account
• Replace the hostname of the RDSH server by its FQDN in the RemoteApp manager
• Import again the RemoteApp certificate into the store of the computer account’s
• Declare again the RemoteApp certificate in the RemoteApp manager

Issue

The Microsoft SSO with 2008 R2 RDS has a random malfunction. This results in a duplication of the authentication dialog box after launching an application on the portal Web Access.

Workaround

Just disable and reactivate the signature with a digital certificate to solve the problem.

In the Actions pane of  TS RemoteApp Manager, click Digital Signature Settings.

• Unselect the Sign with a digital certificate check box.
• Select again the Sign with a digital certificate check box.
• Wait about 20 seconds to verify that SSO is working again on the portal Web Access

The deployment of applications via Microsoft SCCM 2007 R2 is now unified since the desktop to the XenApp server 6.

Citrix has made ​​an evolution and a major simplification in the management of deployments hosted applications with its connector for Microsoft SCCM 2007 R2: the deployment process can be automated via SCCM to 100% without manual intervention of an administrator.

Before this connector, the deployment process was interrupted by a manual or scripted  intervention, the installation of applications requiring the maintenance mode and SCCM not knowing the problem of managing user sessions in progress.

This new connector feeds the Citrix XenApp farms with collections, records and working groups for the deployment target. SCCM Task sequence is then synchronized with Citrix Power and Capacity Management that performs all the tasks previously performed by an administrator:

1. Position the server priority level lower then the switch in maintenance mode and prohibit any new user connection
2. Send messages to users informing them of the time scale and ask them to disconnect / reconnect
3. The new connections are then diverted to favorite servers in the farm
4. Applications are installed when the server is no longer any user session
5. XenApp server reboot after installing the application
6. The priority level is set at the preferred servers for user connections