Monday, May 14, 2012

Session Sharing in Xenapp


Xenapp 6.5 NEW Disconnected Session Sharing:

1.)  With XA 6.5 session sharing has been improved with disconnected session sharing
2.)  When users start seamless application the session is created and tagged with unique ID instead of initial application name
3.)  This makes the user possible to close the initial application and open a second application in a disconnected session. Also note that session will not terminate on closing the initial application because it does not depend on initial launched app since it has a Unique ID..

Requirements for Disconnected Session Sharing:
1.)  Session must belong to the user
2.)  Session must be seamless
3.)  Session must be on the server that hosts the desired application
4.)   It must match the color depth & Other settings

How does it work:
1.)  The IMA first look for disconnected sessions already running the app requested
2.)  If that’s not the case IMA next look for Users’s other disconnected sessions
3.)  If more than one session is presented user must choose a session from the list
4.)  Only if no eligible sessions --à a new session is created.

FAST RECONNECT:
1.)  This is designed for Roaming users no configuration and its inbuilt.
2.)  It requires Latest Plugin and supports only few authentication methods(Single SIGN- ON, Passthrough, Prompt).

How does it work:
1.)  Client queries for ticket
2.)  User Credentials are replaced with random ID and saved in ticket
3.)  Client delivers the ticket with just ID
4.)  Server matches the ID to user credentials and reconnects user to session

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

EDGESIGHT


Edgesight
Is a Application performance monitoring technology used to monitor real time user experience.
With ES we can manage environment by direct line of sight across networks, servers, database & desktops. We can see what’s going on in any part of the infrastructure and more importantly we can see what’s going wrong .
We can see the performance of the published applications, keep an eye on the Health of the devices (Servers, desktops /laptops). We can pull reports of what happened in past by Historical Trend analysis.


Left Pane: Categories of Reports
Right Pane: Reports
Be default all reports shown are for last 7 days but you can modify to get by mentioning the time period.
Edgesight Version History:
Edgesight was first developed by a company called REFLECTANT later acquired by CITRIX.
Edgesight 4.2 – Nashoba – no longer in support by Citrix
Edgesight 4.5 – Wildcat
Edgesight 5.0 – Okema ( comes with complete changes and overall console change)
SP1 – No code name
SP2 – Bromley  launched in early 2009 (ability to monitor Virtual desktops as well)
Edgesight 5.5 – Killington is going to be the next release but version no is not confirmed.

Licensing for Server:

Licensing for Endpoint Devices:




ES Infrastructure
Edgesight Agent:  Collects data, Stores data in a local DB(Firebird DB), Uploads data to server according to schedule, Periodically checks for configuration changes.
Edgesight Server Infrastructure:  Single or Multi-server Infrastructure. Primary components include

i)                    Web Server : ES is basically a Web Server (includes Web Console)
ii)                  SQL Reporting Services: To create reports from the DB
iii)                Database Server : We need SQL 2000/2005/2008
iv)                 License Server.


 

i)     Web Component with the Reporting Services component (RS) installed in it
ii)    SQL Server Database
iii)   SMTP Server: When something goes wrong with the upload we can subscribe to send  mail  automatically & we can also have alerts triggering emails to be sent to specific account
iv)    Endpoint device : Desktops & Laptops and Xenapp Servers both upload data to ES server
v)                   From any machine if you would like to connect to ES console you can connect using port 80/443
vi)                 Also feature called Remoting into Endpoints --- here you can connect to device directly and pull the data from local database. Port used 9035
EDGESIGHT AGENT:  The main component is Agent service(rscorsrv.exe) and is responsible for collecting data, uploading data to server, checking for configuration changes and downloading those.
Firebird Service (fbserver.exe) : Local DB. It communicates with Agent service via IPC (inter-process communication) similar to LHC in Xenapp servers.
Kernel Mode Driver: Initially we uses this to collect to process data when the process runs & when it crashes
WORKERS:
                    Are essentially VB Scripts. They perform DB maintenance, data collections , uploading the data to server and other functions. Some of the workers reside on the agent & some are sent to agent by the server to run and reside in memory. Most of the workers have LOG file.



EDGESIGHT SERVER:  Backbone of ES Architecture. Collects, processes and stores uploaded data, responds to alert conditions, manages configuration, Grooms database.
SERVER-SIDE COMPONENTS:
i)                    Web Server: Web Component is basically is a website  hosted on IIS. You connect to Webpage and you can view reports, Alerts coming in, change any of the configurations.
            SCRIPT HOST (RSSH)  : This is the interface between web page and SQL server. The incharge of this is taking the payloads and putting into the SQL DB. Also incharge of grooming DB for on regular basis

ii)                  Database Server: DB Component is the SQL Server Central Storage contains Configuration data and Agent uploads.
iii)                Report Server:  is used to create Reports. This is basically a Web server. Used to display the reports in Edgesight . Uses MS SQL Reporting Services.            

Active application monitoring:
Here we configure an ultimate user that will periodically check your Xenapp environment & see how well its performing. So we create scripts and tell ultimate user to do something with published apps For Eg: logon to Pubs WORD and type something and save it to a N/W share. Then Ultimated user will run transactions based upon schedule & perform the actions mentioned in scripts.
If any action mentioned in script does not work it triggers an alert and this show up in the console. For this AAM components needs to installed separately. Here installed LAUNCHERS(AAM Component) run transactions on Xenapp Servers.


ICA CHANNEL MONITORING:
Keep an eye on the all of the below virtual channels within the ICA protocol. Metrics are captured via Perfmon counters.
Printer, Drive & Video; Session Compression; Session Line speed; I/O Audio; I/O speedscreen Data Channel; I/O Drive Bandwidth.
END USER EXPERIENCE MONITORING:
It gives us very detailed information on ICA sessions.
i)                    Logon sequence & session performance
ii)                  Client side & Server side ICA details.
ICA Client launches and metrics are recorded & it is sent to Presentation server through “UserMonitoring ” virtual channel which will send it to EUEM service & stored in memory. The EUEM service will provide these details to ES Agent & stored in Firebird database along with other metrics.

Monday, April 30, 2012

Citrix Health Monitoring Tests


Health monitoring tests

Citrix IMA Service test
This test queries the service to ensure that it is running by enumerating the applications available on the server.


Logon monitor test
This test monitors session logon/logoff cycles to determine whether or not there is a problem with session initialization or possibly an application failure. If there are numerous logon/logoff cycles within a short time period, the threshold for the session is exceeded and a failure occurs. The session time, interval, and threshold can be configured by modifying the parameters in the Test file field. These parameters are listed and described in the following table.
Logon monitor test parameter
Description
SessionTime
Defines the maximum session time for a short logon/logoff cycle. Default is five seconds.
SessionInterval
The time period designated to monitor logon/logoff cycles. Default is 600 seconds.
SessionThreshold
The number of logon/logoff cycles that must occur within the session interval for the test to fail. Default is 50 cycles.
Remote Desktop Services test
This test enumerates the list of sessions running on the server and the session user information, such as user name.
XML Service test
This test requests a ticket from the XML service running on the server and prints the ticket.
Check DNS test
This test performs a forward DNS lookup using the local host name to query the local DNS server in the computer’s environment for the computer’s IP address. A failure occurs if the returned IP address does not match the IP address that is registered locally. To perform reverse DNS lookups in addition to forward DNS lookups, use the flag /rl when running this test.
Check Local Host Cache test
Citrix does not recommend running this test unless you have problems with corrupted local host caches. This test ensures the data stored in the XenApp server’s local host cache is not corrupted and that there are no duplicate entries. Because this test can be CPU-intensive, use a 24-hour test interval (86,400 seconds) and keep the default test threshold and time-out values.
Before running this test, ensure the permissions of the files and registry keys that the test accesses are set properly. To do this, run the LHCTestACLsUtil.exe file located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Citrix\System32 of the XenApp server. To run this utility, you must have local administrator privileges.
Check XML Threads test
This test inspects the threshold of the current number of worker threads running in the Citrix XML Service. When running this test, use a single integer parameter to set the maximum allowable threshold value. The test compares the current value on the XenApp server with the input value. A failure occurs if the current value is greater than the input value.
Citrix Print Manager Service test
This test enumerates session printers to determine the health of the Citrix Print Manager service. A failure occurs if the test cannot enumerate session printers.
Microsoft Print Spooler Service test
This test enumerates printer drivers, printer processors, and printers to determine whether or not the Print Spooler Service in Windows Server 2008 is healthy and ready for use
ICA Listener test
This test determines whether or not the XenApp server is able to accept ICA connections. The test detects the default ICA port of the server, connects to the port, and sends test data in anticipation of a response. The test is successful when the server responds to the test with the correct data.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

NETSCALER Communication Flow

Environment: NETSCALER is in the DMZ & Web Interface, Xenapp farm is behind the Firewall i.e (secure  N/W).

1.) MIP: Mapped IP address is the interface which communicated with STA: 80 /443 so these ports need to be opened from the NS in the DMZ all the way to STA server. Also Ports ICA:1494 & CGP:2598 need to be opened from NS in the DMZ to the Xenapp /Xendesktop farm
2.) From secure N/w to connect to Netscaler ports 80,22,3010 need to be opened.
3.) NSIP : Netscaler IP address From Netscaler to secure N/W you need to open following ports if you are configuring LDAP, LDAPS, RADIUS, RSA etc..
                   LDAP: TCP 389
                   LDAPS: TCP 636
                   RADIUS : UDP 1812


4.) The Access Gateway IP address is the NAT ed IP address.
5.) The users hit the Access Gateway with External  IP address (Eg: 209.12...). This IP address does a
      NAT ing to Virtual server Access Gateway Enterprise N/W. 
6.)  From External N/W to AG : Port 80 & 443 needs to be opened
      From Netscaler to Xenapp Farm : It happens through the MIP Port 80 & 443, 1494, 2598 needs to
      be opened.         
      If you need Authentication to be happens at Netscaler : Port TCP 389, 636 & UDP 1812 needs 
      to be opened.     
7.)  Vserver - Virtual Server actually refer to Netscaler AG Enterprise edition.
      Access Gateway is nothing more than a Vserver that lives on  Netscaler
      Netscaler is a Load Balancing device. So instead of being a Load Balancer, Application Firewall, Citrix 
      have added a Vserver(AG)  that you can load on a netscaler and makes it a NS AGEE ( NetScaler 
      Access Gateway Enterprise Edition )

Monday, March 26, 2012

Session Reliability

A MetaFrame Presentation Server Client, configured to use “Session Reliability,” establishes an ICA session on TCP port 2598 (instead of port 1494) when connecting to Presentation Server.
Port number (default 2598): Assign the port on which you want the servers in the farm to listen for attempts to reestablish dropped connections.
When session reliability is enabled, the ICA Client tunnels its ICA traffic inside the Common Gateway Protocol and sends the traffic to port 2598. The XTE service acts as a relay, unwrapping the Common Gateway Protocol layer and then forwarding traffic to the ICA listener on port 1494.

Likewise, the Presentation Server sends ICA data to the client by way of the XTE service. If the Common Gateway Protocol connection between the client and the XTE service is broken, the ICA listener can continue to send ICA traffic to the XTE service, where it will be buffered until the client reconnects. The user’s session does not go into a disconnected state as long as the XTE service is buffering data for the user.
On the client, the user’s application will appear frozen while the client attempts to rebuild the Common Gateway Protocol connection. Once the connection is restored, the XTE service flushes the buffered ICA data to the client and the session continues.



Thursday, March 22, 2012

Xendesktop Flexcast Technology


Flexcast Technology:  makes Xendesktop 5 more flexible
     1.) With Flexcast Technology , IT can deliver any type of Virtual desktop to any user on any device.
     2.) It gives you the ability to supply a Desktop virtualization solution for different types of users.
     3.) Flexcast for APPS:
                    a.       Hosted Shared: Terminal services by Xenapp
                    b.      Streamed:  Which is kind of application virtualization
                    c.       Hosted VM: If there is application that only works on Win XP but you want to publish to different users you can publish that application from hosted VM Win7, etc…

      4.) Hosted Shared for Desktops: With Terminal server / Xenapp server we can do hosted shared desktop. Memory mechanism: In TS if we have 4GB of RAM and if 20 users are logging in they are sharing that 4GB of RAM actually they are sharing less than 2GB of RAM because in 32bit that 4GB of RAM has been divided into 2GB for KERNEL and 2GB for Applications. From user prespective they r sharing only 2GB allocated for KERNEL

     5.)  Hosted VDI:  same as terminal server but giving Each user a dedicated VM . Here can allocate each user a dedicated ram for accessing apps.

     6.) Streamed VHD: Provisioning a single Master image to multiple desktops.

     7.) Local VM : Can accomplished with Xenclient , a type of Client 1 Hypervisor and so many other ways.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

XenDesktop 5.6 Personal vDisk Feature Overview

Citrix Xendesktop 5.6 introduces Personal Vdisk Feature
1.)    Persistent personalization of user profile and applications.
2.)    Eventhough Base image is changed the user personalization will remain the same.
3.)    Citrix PVD:  Here inbetween Base image & VMs there will be persistent layer (PVD)  that contains all users changes like ( wallpapers, start menu settings, application installations, etc..)
4.)    Citrix PVD attached to VMs  have the capability to persist their changes across base image changes. For Eg: IF administrator changes Service pack or patches to base image Personal Vdisk  SW will make the users changes are integrated to new base image.

1.)    Here while creating a VM pool we should mention whether PVD enabled or not
2.)    Initially when the user login PVD will be empty and go on user made some changes these changes will be integrated on PVD.
3.)    If admin decide to upgrade Firefox 10 he will do the changes in base image but there may be chance of conflict if user already installs Firefox 9. By default admin changes will take effect
4.)    If user install the same SW as admin the PVD detects it as a duplicate copy and removes it from user personalization. So admin installed SW will exists. Also note that these rules are customizable  and changeable.
5.)    PVD are created as part of VM setup process. We can mention PVD storage in MCS wizard or PVS wizard.