Monitoring Citrix XenApp without installing a monitor agent Details Published: Wednesday, 11 December 2013. In larger infrastructures there is already a monitor product available like HP Open View, Tivoli Monitoring and Microsoft System Operations Manager. Many Citrix administrators have a kind of love-hate relationship with such products. They provide lots of interesting information, but can be overwhelming and last but not least the required agent is not easy to install and/or stable.
Proactive IT Performance Monitoring for Virtual Server, Virtual Desktop, Hybrid. Proactive Analysis and Reporting for Citrix NetScaler. Execution of each group policy and script to determine the execution time of. License Usage Report.
At one of my project the monitoring team was not confident that the agent of that product was suitable to install on the Citrix XenApp Session Host as those were provided by Citrix Provisioning Services (PVS). Logically we would like to have monitoring of these servers in place, so we needed to find a solution which can be used together with the monitor product.
Finally the solution leads to a general way to monitor Citrix XenApp server without installing a monitor agent on the Citrix XenApp Session Host.
Navigation. – Change Database connection strings, read-committed snapshot, Director grooming, Logging Database operations, etc. – vCenter certificate, Hosting Resources.
? = Change Log. 2018 Jan 4 – in section, added note about. 2017 Dec 3:.
Added as alternative to importing. In, added link to Trentent Tye Upgrade If you are performing a new install of XenApp/XenDesktop Controller, then skip to the. You can in-place upgrade directly from any Delivery Controller version 7.0 or newer. Citrix upgrading Delivery Controller 5.6 to before upgrading to 7.16. During the upgrade of Delivery Controller, be aware that a database upgrade is required. Either get a DBA to grant you temporary sysadmin permission, or use Citrix Studio to generate SQL scripts that a DBA must then run in SQL Studio. License Server Upgrade – Before upgrading to Delivery Controller 7.16, if you have a standalone Citrix Licensing Server, it to.
Frequent updates/upgrades– XenApp and XenDesktop 7.16 is a Current Release. With Current Release (CR), you’re expected to upgrade to the future 7.17 (and 7.18, and 7.19, etc.) to receive bug fixes, and new features, which might include new bugs. Current Releases are only supported for six months from the release date. That means you should plan to perform these upgrades at least twice a year. If you don’t want to continuously upgrade to the latest Current Release, then you can stay on LTSR 7.15, which receives Cumulative Updates with bug fixes, but no new features. See.
VDA OS Compatibility – XenDesktop 7.16 Delivery Controller is supported on Windows 2008 R2 and newer. However, Virtual Delivery Agent (VDA) 7.16 is only supported on a limited number of Windows operating system versions, specifically, Windows 10 (1607+), Windows Server 2012 R2, and Windows Server 2016. If you have older VDA machines running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2, you can leave their VDA software at version 7.15. It is supported for VDA 7.15 to communicate with Delivery Controllers 7.16. SCOM Agent – If StoreFront is installed on the Controller, and if the Citrix SCOM Agent for StoreFront is installed, stop the Citrix MPSF Agent service.
Close PowerShell and Consoles. Make sure all Citrix Consoles and PowerShell consoles are closed. StoreFront won’t upgrade if any are running. If StoreFront fails, then the StoreFront configuration is wiped out. Other Users – Use Task Manager Users tab to logoff any other user currently logged into the machine. If StoreFront is installed on the Controller, take a snapshot before attempting the upgrade. Another option is to so you can restore it later if something goes wrong.
Download the. Before upgrading, open PowerShell and run the following. Asnp citrix.
Get-TrustDBConnection. If you don’t see a returned value, then you’ll need to run additional commands to fix the Trust Database Connection as detailed at at Citrix Docs $cs = Get-ConfigDBConnection Set-TrustDBConnection –DBConnection $cs. Run AutoSelect.exe from the 7.16 ISO. On the top left, click Studio and Server Components. In the Licensing Agreement page, select I have read, understand, and accept the terms, and click Next. In the Ensure Successful Upgrade page, read the steps, check the box next to I’m ready to continue, and click Next. If you see a Licensing Errors page, make sure the errors don’t apply to you, check the box next to Let me continue, and click Next.
In the Firewall page, click Next. In the Summary page, click Upgrade. If you see a Running Processes window, close the listed programs, and click Continue. Click OK when asked to start the upgrade. If the upgrade fails:. Look for MetaInstaller log files under%localappdata% Temp Citrix XenDesktop Installer MSI Log Files.
Look for StoreFront log files under C: Program Files Citrix Receiver StoreFront Admin logs. Citrix has a. In the Smart Tools page, make a selection.
If participating, click Connect, login with Citrix Cloud or mycitrix.com credentials, and then click Next. See at Citrix Docs for more information on these options. If the install fails:.
Look for MetaInstaller log files under%localappdata% Temp Citrix XenDesktop Installer MSI Log Files. Look for StoreFront log files under C: Program Files Citrix Receiver StoreFront Admin logs. Citrix has a. In the Finish page, check the box next to Launch Studio, and click Finish. Studio – Upgrade Database, Catalogs, and Delivery Groups. After Citrix Studio launches, if you have sysadmin permissions on SQL, then click Start the automatic Site upgrade. If you don’t have full permission, then get a DBA to help you, click Manually upgrade this site, and follow the instructions.
If you choose to Manually upgrade this site, then note that there might not be an upgrade for the Logging Database schema, depending on what version you are upgrading from. After all Controllers and VDAs are upgraded, right-click the Catalogs, and click Upgrade Catalog. Note: 7.9 is the newest minimum functional level.
You won’t see an option for 7.16. If your Catalogs are already set to VDA version 7.9, then there’s no need to upgrade the Catalogs or Delivery Groups. Then do the same for the Delivery Groups. Note: 7.9 is the newest minimum functional level. You won’t see an option for 7.16.
If your Delivery Groups are already set to VDA version 7.9, then no upgrade is needed. Other XenApp/XenDesktop components can also be in-place upgraded:.
Upgrading Director overrides modifications to LogOn.aspx (e.g. Default domain name), so you’ll have to. New Install Preparation Frequent updates/upgrades XenApp and XenDesktop 7.16 is a Current Release. With Current Release (CR), you’re expected to upgrade to the future 7.17 (and 7.18, and 7.19, etc.) to receive bug fixes, and new features, which might include new bugs. Current Releases are only supported for six months from the release date. That means you should plan to perform these upgrades at least twice a year.
If you don’t want to continuously upgrade to the latest Current Release, then you can stay on LTSR 7.15, which receives Cumulative Updates with bug fixes, but no new features. See. VDA OS Compatibility XenDesktop 7.16 Delivery Controller is supported on Windows 2008 R2 and newer. However, Virtual Delivery Agent (VDA) 7.16 is only supported on a limited number of Windows operating system versions, specifically, Windows 10 (1607+), Windows Server 2012 R2, and Windows Server 2016.
If you have older VDA machines running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2, you can install VDA software version 7.15. It is supported for VDA 7.15 to communicate with Delivery Controllers 7.16.
Installation Automation If you want to automate the install of Delivery Controllers, see Dennis Span. Citrix Licensing If you are going to use an existing Citrix Licensing Server, it to. Multiple License Types – Multiple license types (but not multiple editions) are supported in a single farm.
SQL Databases for XenDesktop. Citrix CTX209080. Citrix article CTX114501 –. Three databases – There are typically three databases: one for the Site (aka farm), one for Logging (audit log) and one for Monitoring (Director). The name of the monitoring database must not have any spaces in it.
See CTX200325. If you want Citrix Studio to create the SQL databases automatically, then the person running Studio must be a sysadmin on the SQL instances. No lesser SQL role will work. Sysadmin permissions can be granted temporarily and revoked after installation. As an alternative, you can use Citrix Studio to create SQL scripts, and then run those scripts on the SQL server.
In that case, the person running the scripts only needs the dbcreator and securityadmin roles. It is possible to create the three databases in advance.
However, you must use the non-default Latin1General100CIASKS collation. SQL High Availability Options:. Basic Availability Groups – Build two SQL 2016 (or newer) Standard Edition servers and create three Basic Availability Groups, one for each database. Each Basic Availability Group has its own Listener. SQL Standard Edition is much cheaper than SQL Enterprise Edition. Database Mirroring – Build two SQL 2014 or older Standard Edition servers and configure Database Mirroring. AlwaysOn Availability Group – Build two SQL Enterprise Edition servers and create one AlwaysOn Availability Group with one Listener.
Failover Clustering – Build two SQL Enterprise Edition servers and configure SQL Database Failover Clustering. Cloud – Azure SQL and AWS RDS are not supported. You’ll need to build your own SQL Servers on IaaS VMs. Windows Feature Installing Group Policy Management on the Delivery Controllers lets you edit Citrix-targeted Group Policy Objects (GPOs) directly from the Controllers.
Controllers already have Studio and Citrix Group Policy Management installed, so if GPMC runs from a Controller, then the GPO Editor will automatically have access to the Citrix Policies node. Or you can install on a different machine that has GPMC installed. VCenter Service Account in vSphere Client. Assign a service account to the role at the Datacenter or higher level. Delivery Controller will use this service account to login to vCenter.
Delivery Controller Install. A typical size for the Controller VMs is 2-4 vCPU and 8+ GB of RAM. If all components (Delivery Controller, StoreFront, Licensing, Director, SQL Express) are installed on one server, then you might want to bump up memory to 10 GB or 12 GB. From at Citrix Docs:. For LHC LocalDB, assign the Controller VMs a single socket with multiple cores. Add two cores for LHC.
Add at least three more Gigs of RAM and watch the memory consumption. Since there’s no control over LHC election, ensure all Controllers have the same specs. Make sure the User Right Log on as a service includes NT SERVICE ALL SERVICES, or add to the User Right. Download the. On two Delivery Controllers, to install the Delivery Controller software, run AutoSelect.exe from the 7.16 ISO. Click Start next to either XenApp or XenDesktop.
The only difference is the product name displayed in the installation wizard. On the top left, click Delivery Controller. In the Licensing Agreement page, select I have read, understand, and accept the terms, and click Next. In the Core Components page, you can install all components on one server, or on separate servers.
Splitting them out is only necessary in large environments, or if you have multiple farms, and want to share the Licensing, StoreFront, and Director components across those farms. In the Features page, uncheck the box next to Install Microsoft SQL Server 2014 SP2 Express, and click Next. In the Firewall page, click Next. In the Summary page, click Install. In the Smart Tools page, make a selection. If you choose Smart Tools and Call Home, then click Connect, and enter your Citrix Cloud or MyCitrix.com credentials.
In the Finish page, click Finish. Studio will automatically launch. Ensure the two Controller VMs do not run on the same hypervisor host. Create an anti-affinity rule at vSphere Cluster Manage Settings DRS Rules Add.
Set the Type to Separate Virtual Machines. Create Site – Create Database There are several methods of creating the databases for XenApp/XenDesktop:.
If you have sysadmin permissions to SQL, let Citrix Studio create the databases automatically. If you don’t have sysadmin permissions to SQL, then use Citrix Studio to generate SQL scripts, and send the scripts to a DBA. Use Studio to Create Database Automatically. Launch Citrix Studio. After it loads, click Deliver applications and desktops to your users. In the Introduction page, select An empty, unconfigured site.
This reduces the number of pages in this Setup wizard. The other pages will be configured later. Enter a Site Name (aka farm name), and click Next. Only administrators see the farm name. In the Databases page, if you are building two Controllers, click Select near the bottom of the same page.
Enter the FQDN of the second Controller, and click OK. Note: the Delivery Controller software must already be installed on that second machine. Then click Save.
If the person running Citrix Studio has sysadmin permissions to the SQL Server, then enter the SQL server name/instance in the three Location fields, and click Next. If you don’t have sysadmin permission, the jump to the below. On the Licensing page, enter the name of the Citrix License Server, and click Connect. If you installed Licensing with your Delivery Controller, then simply enter localhost. If the Certificate Authentication appears, select Connect me, and click Confirm.T. Select your license type, and click Next.
If you see both User/Device and Concurrent, then you usually must select User/Device licenses. Also see CTX223926. In the Summary page, if your databases are mirrored or in an Availability Group, each database will show high availability servers, and the name of the Mirror server. Click Finish. It will take some time for the site to be created. Once done, skip to the section. Use Studio to create SQL scripts.
If you don’t have SQL sysadmin permissions, then change the selection to Generate scripts to manually set up databases on the database server. Change the database names if desired, and click Next. In the Summary page, click Generate scripts. A folder will open with six scripts. Edit each of the scripts. Near the top of each script are two lines to create the database. Uncomment both lines (including the go line). Then save and close the file.
Once all of the scripts are edited, you can send them to your DBA. On the Principal SQL Server, open the file SitePrincipal.sql. Open the Query menu, and click SQLCMD Mode to enable it. Then execute the script. If SQLCMD mode was enabled properly, then the output should look something like this:. If you have a mirrored database, run the second script on the mirror SQL instance.
Make sure SQLCMD mode is enabled. Repeat for the LoggingPrincipal. You’ll have to enable SQLCMD Mode for each script you open. Repeat for the MonitoringPrincipal. Once again enable SQLCMD Mode.
The person running Citrix Studio must be added to the SQL Server as a SQL Login, and granted the public server role, so that account can enumerate the databases. Back in Citrix Studio, click the Continue database configuration and Site setup button. In the Databases page, enter the SQL server name, and instance name, and click Next. On the Licensing page, enter the name of the Citrix License Server, and click Connect. If you installed Licensing with your Delivery Controller, then simply enter localhost. If the Certificate Authentication appears, select Connect me, and click Confirm. Then select your license, and click Next. In the Summary page, if your databases are mirrored, each database will show high availability servers, and the name of the Mirror server.
Click Finish. It will take some time for the site to be created. Second Controller When building the first Delivery Controller, the SQL scripts might have already included the second Delivery Controller, and thus no special SQL permissions are needed.
If the second Delivery Controller has not already been added to the SQL databases, then there are several methods of adding a second Controller to the databases for XenApp/XenDesktop:. If you have sysadmin permissions to SQL, let Citrix Studio modify the databases automatically. If you don’t have sysadmin permissions to SQL then use Citrix Studio to generate SQL scripts and send them to a DBA. To use Citrix Studio to create the SQL Scripts:. On the first Delivery Controller, if StoreFront is installed on the Controller, then delete the default StoreFront store (/Citrix/Store), and recreate it with your desired Store name (e.g. On the second Delivery Controller machine, as detailed earlier.
After installation, launch Studio on the second controller, and click Connect this Delivery Controller to an existing Site. Enter the name of the first Delivery Controller, and click OK.
If you don’t have full SQL permissions ( sysadmin), click No when asked if you want to update the database automatically. Click Generate scripts. A folder will open with six scripts. If not mirroring, then the top three scripts need to be sent to a DBA. If mirroring, send all six. On the SQL Server, open one of the.sql files.
Open the Query menu, and click SQLCMD Mode. Then execute the XenDesktop script. If SQLCMD mode was enabled properly, then the output should look something like this:. Repeat for the remaining script files. Back in Citrix Studio, click OK.
In Citrix Studio, under Configuration Controllers, you should see both controllers. Studio – Slow Launch From B.J.M. Groenhout at: The following adjustments can be made if Desktop Studio (and other Citrix management Consoles) will start slowly:. Within Internet Explorer, go to Tools – Internet Options – Tab Advanced – Section Security, and uncheck the option Check for publisher’s certificate revocation After adjustment Desktop Studio (MMC) will be started immediately.
Without adjustment it may take some time before Desktop Studio (MMC) is started. Registry setting (can be deployed using Group Policy Preferences):. HKEYCURRENTUSER Software Microsoft Windows CurrentVersion WinTrust Trust Providers Software Publishing. “ State“=dword:00023e00 Concurrent Logon Hard Limit From Samuel Legrand – Citrix Policies has a setting called Concurrent Logon Tolerance.
However, it is not a hard limit, meaning once the limits are reached, it continues to let users connect. You can configure the Controllers to make it a hard limit by setting the following registry value:. HKLM Software Policies Citrix DesktopServer. LogonToleranceIsHardLimit (DWORD) = 1 Local Host Cache If you have 10,000 or fewer VDAs per (up to 40,000 VDAs per multi-zone site/farm), you can enable (LHC) instead of Connection Leasing.
LHC allows new sessions to be started even if SQL database is unavailable. VDA limits for LHC are higher in 7.16 than previous versions of XenApp/XenDesktop. From at Citrix Docs:.
For LHC LocalDB, assign the Controller VMs a single socket with multiple cores. Add two cores for LHC. Add at least three more Gigs of RAM and watch the memory consumption.
Since there’s no control over LHC election, ensure all Controllers have the same specs. The Docs article has scripts for monitoring LHC performance. From at Citrix Discussions:. If the rebooted DDC is the elected one, a different DDC will take over (causing registration storm) and when the DDC gets back, it will take over brokering causing second registration storm.
Site will sort itself out and all will work. If the rebooted DDC is not the elected one, it will not impact any functionality. If you turn the DDC down when site is working, and start it during outage, LHC will not trigger on that machine.
This DDC will not impact the LHC unless it would become the elected one. In that scenario it will take control, however not start LHC and resources would not be available. Trentent Tye at has a video showing LHC in action. ? For Windows Server 2008 R2 Delivery Controllers, or, is required. See at Citrix Discussions. As mentioned by, make sure PowerShell Execution Policy is set to RemoteSigned, Unrestricted, or Bypass. If you did a fresh install of 7.16, then Local Host Cache should be enabled by default.
You can run Get-BrokerSite to confirm. (run asnp citrix.
first). If not enabled, you can run some PowerShell commands to enable Local Host Cache: asnp citrix. Set-BrokerSite -ConnectionLeasingEnabled $false Set-BrokerSite -LocalHostCacheEnabled $true George Spiers shows the Event Log entries when LHC is enabled. Database Maintenance Enable Read-Committed Snapshot The XenDesktop Database can become heavily utilized under load in a large environment. Therefore Citrix recommends enabling the ReadCommittedSnapshot option on the XenDesktop databases to remove contention on the database from read queries. This can improve the interactivity of Studio and Director.
It should be noted that this option may increase the load on the tempdb files. See Citrix article CTX137161 for configuration instructions.