Citrix XenApp 5 Hotfix Rollup Pack 4

Citrix has released a new hotfix rollup pack for XenApp 5/Presentation Server 4.5 for Windows 2003.

Before you install this latest rollup pack make sure you read through this article http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX119069

One of the most important prerequisites is to update your Citrix Licensing server to 11.6 https://www.citrix.com/English/ss/downloads/details.asp?downloadId=1688507&productId=186%20target=

If you have not yet installed hotfix rollup pack 3 then you first need to install the Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable Package from here http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=200B2FD9-AE1A-4A14-984D-389C36F85647

Citrix Application Streaming Troubleshooting

Here are some useful resources for troubleshooting Citrix Application Streaming.

Troubleshooting Application Streaming Issues – http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX113304

Application Streaming FAQs for Administrators – http://support.citrix.com/article/ctx118181

RadeRunSwitches – Application Streaming – http://community.citrix.com/blogs/citrite/josephno/2008/03/28/RadeRunSwitches+-+Application+Streaming

Citrix Application Streaming Guide for XenApp 5.0 – http://support.citrix.com/servlet/KbServlet/download/17820-102-18856/Application-Streaming-Guide.pdf

How to Find the .Rad File that is Used to Launch a Streamed Application – http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX114673

XenApp Plug-in for Streamed Apps – Version 1.3 – http://www.citrix.com/English/ss/downloads/details.asp?downloadId=1686680&productId=186&c1=sot2755

Application Streaming Utilities – http://support.citrix.com/article/ctx115137

How to Enable the Streaming Client Debug Console – http://support.citrix.com/article/ctx112472

Application Streaming Licensing Explained – http://support.citrix.com/article/ctx112636

User Profiles Best Practices White Paper

Check out my updated User Profiles Best Practices White Paper.

http://www.varrow.com/index.php?id=98

Mandatory User Profiles in Windows 2008 Terminal Server and XenApp 5

Some of you may have already known about the mandatory profile change in Windows 2008 but I had no idea. I recently did my first Citrix XenApp 5 – Windows 2008 project and had a hard time getting the mandatory profile working.

After some searching I found that the mandatory profile folder name has to have a “.v2” appended to the end of the folder name. The reason Microsoft made this change is because the user profile sturcture in Vista and Windows 2008 is a lot different than in previous versions of Windows. By forcing you to append .v2 to the end of the folder prevents Windows 2008 from trying to load a profile from a previous version of Windows.

It was a little tricky configuring Group Policy to point to the mandatory profile with a .v2 on the folder name. When I first configured the “Set path for TS Roaming User Profile” setting I set it to %logonserver%\netlogon\xenapp-prof.v2. This didn’t work, I had to set the profile path to %logonserver%\netlogon\xenapp-prof and then Windows 2008 automatically appends .v2 to the end when looking for the path.

So to recap,

1. I created a mandatory profile with the folder name “xenapp-prof.v2”.
2. I configured my profile path to point to “%logonserver%\netlogon\xenapp-prof”. If you configure the profile path with a .v2 it will not work.

Hotfix Recommendations for Windows 2008 XenApp Servers Streamed with Provisioning Server 5.1

I did a migration last week at a clients site from Windows 2003 Presentation Server 4.5, Provisioning Server 4.5 and Web Interface 4.6 to Windows 2008 XenApp 5, Provisioning Server 5.1a and Web Interface 5.

During the image build for Windows 2008 XenApp I had a few issue that were resolved by installing these 5 Windows 2008 hot fixes from Microsoft.

• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/951149/en-us – “Stop error on a Windows Server 2008-based terminal server when the server is running under a heavy load: 0x0000000A”
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949914 – “Citrix ICA clients may crash when they are connecting to a Windows Server 2008-based terminal server that has Citrix Presentation Server installed”
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/955625 – “Mandatory user profiles do not work as expected on Windows Vista-based and Windows Server 2008-based client computers when the %LogonServer% environment variable is set in the profile path”
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953531 – “A  0x0000007E Stop error occurs in Windows Server 2008 after you unmount and delete a persistent VSS snapshot”
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/958652 – “Some Citrix commands do not work correctly in Citrix XenApp 5.0 for Windows Server 2008”

New Names for Citrix Presentation Server Components

• Citrix XenApp is the new name for Citrix Presentation Server. The following clients and components have been updated to reflect that product name.
• Citrix XenApp Advanced Configuration is the new name for the Presentation Server Console
• Citrix XenApp Plugin for Hosted Apps is the new name for the plugin for server-side virtualization (formerly named Citrix Presentation Server Client), which contains the following plugins:
  • Citrix XenApp, formerly named Program Neighborhood Agent
  • Citrix XenApp Web Plugin, formerly named the Web Client
  • Program Neighborhood
• Citrix XenApp Plugin for Streamed Apps is the new name for the plugin for client-side virtualization, formerly named the Citrix Streaming Client
• Citrix XenApp Provider is the new name for the WMI Provider
• Citrix XenApp Management Pack is the new name for the System Center Operations Manager and MOM Management Packs

Cool XenApp Tools

For those of you that manage XenApp farms here are some tools that will help you eliminate some of the repetitive day-to-day tasks and help optimize your environment for best performance.

http://www.citrixtools.net/en/Downloads.aspx

Free XenApp Configuration Reporting Tool

XTS Introspect Trial – Includes FREE Configuration Reporting

With Introspect, you can quickly generate comprehensive historical usage and configuration reports for better planning and management of your Citrix farm – no agents or custom code required. XTS Introspect uses business intelligence technology to analyze Citrix data and translate it into metrics that CIOs, non-techie management, and engineers can all understand.

Key Uses:

Benefits:

* Capacity planning
* License usage analysis
* Application management
* Compliance and security audits
* Chargebacks and billing
* Configuration analysis

* Manage server consolidation & growth
* Ensure proper licensing compliance
* Optimize your application delivery
* Enhance your audit capabilities
* Monetize your XenApp investment
* Troubleshoot and document your farm

Free Fully Functional Virtual Machine Download

BONUS – FREE Configuration Report Generator included with trial download. Even after your 30 day trial expires, you’ll be able to generate for FREE any Citrix configuration reports in your XenApp v4 or v4.5 environment. .

Specific benefits of the free configuration reports include.

* Document Citrix environmental configurations to create baselines for future troubleshooting, disaster recovery or audit requirements.
* Verify baselines for migrations to XenApp 4.5.
* Track Citrix hotfixes to ensure consistency across servers
* Attain more in-depth security insight with user/application assignment reports, leveraging integration with Active Directory.
* Gain immediate visibility into risks that might exist in their Citrix environment due to misconfigurations

To learn more, download a white paper from industry guru, Doug Brown
OR simply download a trial demo virtual appliance of Introspect today, which includes your FREE Configuration Report Generator.

http://www.xtsinc.com/dnn/FreeConfigToolLanding/tabid/422/Default.aspx