Bernard Baurin

PREREQUISITES FOR BLADE PC

The preparation has to be done for each Blade PC, before the setup of the Citrix VDA component.

The preparation of the Blade PC is divided in 5 steps:

• Step 1: Configuration of the BIOS
• Step 2: Uninstallation of the Citrix Display driver
• Step 3: Sizing of the Graphic Card Buffer
• Step 4: Setup of the NVidia components
• Step 5: Configuration of one NVidia display

Step 1: Blade PC Prerequisites – Configuration of the BIOS

1. Turn on the blade PC
2. Press <F9> when the blade PC boots to enter in the BIOS configuration
3. Press <enter> on the menu System Options
4. Select the menu Remote Console Mode
5. Press <enter>
6. Select the menu User Mode
7. Press <enter>

 

1. Press <esc>
2. Press <esc>
3. Press <F10>
4. The blade PC reboots
5. Wait for the screen, to display describing the Workstation is now in USER MODE
6. No graphic local session is possible. Any graphic session is remote by now.

 

Step 2: Blade PC Prerequisites – Uninstallation of the Citrix display driver

1. Launch the menu Start > Computer
2. Click Manage
3. Browse in the center pane to Display adapters
4. Select Citrix Systems Inc. Display Driver
5. Click Uninstall

Step 3: Blade PC Prerequisites – Graphic Card buffer sizing

1. Lauch regedit.exe
2. In the left pane, go to the key HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management
3. Click New / DWORD (32-bit) value
4. In the right write the name of the new key, SessionImageSize
5. Double-click on the key (A windows entitled Edit DWORD (32-bit) Value appears)
6. Write 80 in the field Value Data
7. Click OK

 

Step 4: Blade PC Prerequisites – NVidia component setup

Prerequisite information : URL of the download of the NVidia component

1. Double-click on the NVidia msi file downloaded from the HP internet site (here the date is 10 Mar 2011)
2. A windows entitled NVIDIA Install appears : follow the next screens of setup

 

Step 5: Blade PC Prerequisites – Configuration of one NVidia display

1. Launch the NVIDIA Control Panel
2. In the left pane, browse to Display / Setup Multiple displays
3. In the right pane, uncheck HP Panel (2 of 2) if needed
4. Make sure that only one monitor is checked.

SETUP OF CITRIX XenDesktop COMPONENTS FOR BLADE PC

Once the set of previous steps have been followed, the Citrix components have to be installed:

• Step 1: Installation of Citrix VDA
• Step 2: Installation of Citrix HDX 3D
• Step 3: Check of Citrix HDX 3D

Step 1: Citrix XenDesktop Components for Blade PC – Installation of Citrix VDA

This step must be done for each blade PC or virtualized desktop.

Information prerequisite : The name of the XenDesktop farm

 

 

1. Browse to the folder where the VDA client has been uncompressed (for instance here : XDE400VDAWX64005)
2. Launch a DOS windows with the line command msiexec /I XdsAgent.msi INSTALLONWDDM=1

1. Follow the next screens of setup
2. Check that the setup has detected the correct XenDesktop farm

Follow the next screens to end the setup and restart the Blade PC

 

Step 2: Citrix XenDesktop Components for Blade PC – Installation of Citrix HDX 3D

This step must be done for each blade PC or virtualized desktop.

1. Browse to the folder HDX3D_Pro_Graphics_1_1 where the Citrix HDX 3D binaries have been uncompressed.
2. Browse to the child folder : RTM_with_12.0.1_client_health_Check_Tool > Server
3. Launch the binary for x64 platform, here : HDX3D_PROGFX_x64SERVERMSI

Follow the next screens to end the setup and restart the Blade PC

Step 3: Citrix XenDesktop Components for Blade PC – Check of Citrix HDX 3D

This step must be done for each blade PC or virtualized desktop.

1. Browse to the folder HDX3D_Pro_Graphics_1_1 where the Citrix HDX 3D binaries have been uncompressed.
2. Browse to the child folder : RTM_with_12.0.1_client_health_Check_Tool > Health Check Tool
3. Double click HDX 3D Pro Graphics – HealthCheck.exe

Check all the results are colored with green.

If a result is in red, click Suggestions to follow the Citrix instructions to solve the problem.

Inside this post, the following operations have to be conducted:
• Get the XenDesktop License (from the My Citrix web site)
• Installation of the DDC server
• Creation of the dedicated AD OU to the XenDesktop farm
• Assignment to the XenDesktop farm

STEP 1 : GET XENDESKTOP LICENSE

Security Prerequisites

• Local Administrator, db_owner of the database (SQL Express for POC)
• DDC joined to the Microsoft domain
• Login account in My Citrix

Software Prerequisites

• W2003 sp2 or R2
• TS installed in application mode
• IIS installed

Actions

Connect to the web site MyCitrix with the following URL : https://www.citrix.com/English/myCitrix/publicindex.asp
Fill with the number of desktops provided by the infrastructure in the field Quantity to Allocate
(for instance here : 20)
Fill with the hostname of the License server in the field Hostname of your Citrix license server
(for instance here : DDC)
Be aware : the hostname is case sensitive

STEP 2: SETUP OF CITRIX DDC 4.0

Actions prerequisite

• Mount the ISO file DDC_VDA or the burnt CD on the operating system
• Logon a local session or a RSAT session with Local administrative privileges

Informations prerequisite

• Name of the XenDesktop farm

 

 Step 3 : Creation of an AD OU

If you have unchecked the 2 configuration choices, the AD OU may be configured later with the Active Directory Configuration Wizard, tool and the License set with the License Management Console:

 

Either you have kept the two options checked or launched the two previous applications, you get the configuration screens below:

 

 

 

STEP 4 : LICENSE ASSIGNMENT

Actions in the License Management Console

• Launch the menu Start > All Programs > Citrix > Management Consoles > License Management Console
• Click Configure License Server

 

 Actions in the Citrix Delivery  Services Console

• Launch the menu Start > All Programs > Citrix > Management Consoles > Delivery Services Console
• Browse in the let pane to Citrix Resources > Desktop Delivery Controller > [Farm Name]
• Click Properties

The purpose of this post is to present a feedback on a pilot project based on Citrix HDX 3D and XenDesktop 4 I have achieved for a great company. The study is presented in 4 parts:

• Part 1 : Scope of the POC and required architecture
• Part 2 : Installation of Server Components
• Part 3 : Installation of Components for Blade PC
• Part 4 : Results

Scope of the POC

The justification of the POC is to validate the functional and performance aspects of a business application having to manage huge 3D images.

Out of the scope

Virtual Desktop Provisioning: the aim of the POC is to check the performance capabilities of the Nvidia Quadra graphics chipset. Only after this validation done, that the delivery of  desktop built on Windows 7 x64,HDX 3D and the business application will be industrialized with Virtual Desktop Provisioning. In the context of the POC, the blade PCs are manually installed.

Issues encountered

• Citrix : version of HDX 3D component compatible with Windows 7 x64
• NVidia : version of NVidia Quadro Pro driver for Windows 7 x64 and validated by HP on their hardware

Architecture Diagram

All the server components of the Citrix XenDesktop architecture used for the POC have been deployed on a single server.

Source

Domain Administrator Account

• Required for the installation of the DDC and initial security configuration

AD Test User Accounts

• These users have to be placed in a global group, which is referred to as the XD POC Users group.

Dedicated Organizational Unit (OU)

AD Group Policy

• An Organization Unit (OU) for the XenDesktop POC has to be created. All policy inheritance has to been blocked on that OU.

DDC REQUIREMENTS

Software required before setup

Before installing Citrix DDC, all the following components must be installed on the targeted computer, when a all the DDC components has to be deployed on a single server, which is the case of the POC:

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 (Standard or Enterprise Edition, with Service Pack 2 installed)
• Terminal Services running in application mode.
• Microsoft IIS 6.0 with ASP.Net
• IE Enhanced Security disabled

Software added (if not present on the operating system) by the setup of Citrix DDC

• Microsoft .NET Framework, Version 3.5, with Service Pack 1.
• Java Runtime Environment (JRE) Version 1.5.0_15.

Citrix binaries required for setup

• DDC_VDA.iso : size of 1 219, the software is delivered as an ISO file by Citrix, so it required to mount the ISO file with a tool as DAEMON Tools or to burn a CD

Computer requirement

• Memory (RAM) : 768 Mb minimum, 2 Gb recommended
• Disk space : 20 Gb for OS and installation
• Network interface : 100 Mb minimum, 1 Gb recommended
• IP address : static IP address
• Active directory : must be the member of the domain

LICENSE SERVER REQUIREMENTS

In the context of the POC, an evaluation license is used. The license service is installed on the same server as the one hosting the DDC.

Software required

• Citrix License Server version 11.6.1 to manage the evaluation license

BLADE PC REQUIREMENTS

For performance reasons, physical Blade PC with Windows 7 x64 hosting the desktop to deliver to the test users. The VDA is installed on these machines to manage communications and broker connections.

Computer requirement

• Physical Blade PC

Software requirement

• Windows 7 US x64
• Citrix VDA

ENDPOINT REQUIREMENTS

Endpoint devices retained in this POC are test workstation with Windows VISTA for the XenDesktop Receiver and as a management station for administration. The Desktop Receiver is installed on this workstation along with all the management consoles. The Workstation should have the .Net Framework 3.5 sp1 installed.

NETWORK REQUIREMENTS

IP addresses

• 1x build workstation IP address
• 1x DDC server IP address
• Xx workstation IP addresses; each virtual desktop will need an IP address

Preferred

• A separate VLAN for the XenDesktop servers and workstations
• Switches : disable Spanning Tree or enable Port Fast (STP Fast Link)

INTEREST

ZeroShell is a Linux distribution (the product is free) offerinf a comprehensive set of network services. The product is available in particular in the form of an appliance.

SERVICES: Here is a list of services

• Router with static and dynamic routes (RIPv2)
• Firewall with packet filtering and SPI
• TCP / UDP with PAT for creating virtual servers
• Multizone DNS server
• Multi DHCP server subnet
• RADIUS server

EARNINGS

• Deployment time of an appliance: a few minutes
• RAM used: 256 MB at most
• Ease of setup: via a web GUI integrated
• Configuration: a file stored outside the appliance

The storage of the configuration at outside the appliance allows you to find out the same services after a reboot or recover very quickly a new appliance with same functionalities.

DEPLOYMENT

A full document available on the site describes all the steps to deploy Zeroshell on a hard drive.

The statement in the inventory of VMware is performed by declaring the administration console vSphere:

• An existing file pointing to 1GB file Zeroshell.vmdk 30 MB
• A memory of 128 MB

The main stages of deployment include:

• Download Image Compact Flash
• Image storage on a USB stick
• Creation of the partition in linux command line
• Mounting USB memory on the VM
• Decompression of the image on the Linux partition created.

To perform the steps, boot from the live cd. Zeroshell is started in seconds. Start themenu prompt with ’S':

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

The missing link in the supply of Citrix Cloud Center (C3) will soon be filled with the arrival of Distributed Virtual Switch (DVS) in the next weeks.

It will exceed the limitation of the current vSwitch component, restricted to a single physical hypervisor. Move a VM from a hypervisor to another should no more be accompanied by the loss of  LAN or VLAN information.

The new DVS Citrix must allow, as already proposed by the DVS of VMware, to centralize the configuration across all the hypervisors of a data center.

A private beta release of DVS is already available.

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

 

 

During the last show in Synergy 2010 held in San Francisco, Citrix has announced the first type 1 hypervisor for client.

This is a major improvement for the teams in charge of infrastructure and security systems.

Improvement of system infrastructures

In simplifying the deployment of operating system on client computers. It symmetrizes approach where VDI virtual desktops are hosted on bar- metal hypervisors running onhuge data centers.

Data Synchronization including environment accelerates application delivery means, even in case of loss of the client machine, virtualized environment that can be delivered to another device.

Improvement of safety

In the treatment of confidential data exceed the control by DRM, preventing the recoveryof corporate data outside the virtual environment allowed.

Characterization

Citrix has worked closely with Intel to build on the strengths of VT-and VT-x of its processors, then with manufacturers like Dell and HP to contain the restricted catalog configurations eligible for hosting XenClient.

The catalog currently supported hardware is described in the user guide at CTX125133

The hypervisor is available in Express edition.

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