Citrix SCOM Management Packs – XenApp/XenDesktop (2017_10_27)

Last Modified: Nov 7, 2020 @ 6:34 am

69 Comments

Navigation

Change Log

Requirements

  • XenApp/XenDesktop Platinum Edition with current Subscription Advantage
  • XenApp/XenDesktop version 6.0 or newer
  • Citrix Licensing Server 11.13.1 or newer
  • System Center Operations Manager 2012 or newer

Citrix provided an overview of the SCOM Management Packs during a breakout session at Synergy 2016.

Licensing Pack

See Citrix Docs for Full Documentation of the Licensing Pack.

  1. Download the Citrix SCOM Management Pack Bundle and extract it.
  2. Extract the Citrix_SCOM_Management_Pack_for_LicenseServer.zip file.
  3. In SCOM Console, go to Administration, right-click Management Packs, and click Import Management Packs.
  4. Click Add, and click add from disk.
  5. Browse to the extracted License Server Management Pack, and select all three files. Click Open.
  6. Click Install.
  7. Click Close when done.
  8. Go to Administration > Device Management > Agent Managed.
  9. Double-click your license server.
  10. On the Security tab, check the box next to Allow this agent to act as a proxy, and click OK.
  11. If you go to Monitoring > Citrix License Server > License Server State, you’ll eventually see your license server.

XenApp/XenDesktop Pack

See Citrix Docs for Full Documentation of the XenApp/XenDesktop Pack.

Links:

To upgrade:

  • Install the updated SCOM Pack on the SCOM Server.
  • Run the Install MPXAXD Agent task, and override the UpgradeAgent parameter to true.
  • In-place upgrade the Machine Agent.
  • Import updated SLA Dashboard Management Pack.

Install/Upgrade Citrix XenAppXenDesktop Pack

To install or upgrade:

  1. To upgrade, simply run the installer again as detailed in the next step.
  2. Download the Citrix SCOM Management Pack Bundle.
  3. On the System Center Operations Manager server, run Citrix_SCOM_Management_Pack_for_XenAppXenDesktop.exe.
  4. In the Welcome to the setup wizard for Citrix SCOM Management Pack for XenApp and XenDesktop page, click Next.
  5. In the View Relevant Product Configuration page, click Next.
  6. If upgrading, the installer will detect the older version. Click Next to begin the upgrade. For new installs, skip to the next step.
  7. In the License Agreement page, check the box next to I accept the terms, and click Next.
  8. In the Destination Folder page, click Next.
  9. In the Configure Post-Install Actions page, check the box next to Automatically import the Management Pack. Feel free to uncheck Enable the product to send anonymous usage statistics to Citrix. Click Install.
  10. In the Completed the setup for Citrix SCOM Management Pack for XenApp and XenDesktop page, click Next.
  11. In the All post-install actions were successfully executed page, click Finish.

Citrix XAXD Pack Action Account

  1. Create a new account. This account must be an administrator on all monitored Citrix machines: Controllers, VDAs, etc.
  2. In Citrix Studio, add the action account with Read-only permissions.



  3. In SCOM console, go to Administration workspace, right-click, and click Create Run As Account.
  4. In the Introduction page, click Next.
  5. In the General Properties page, change the account type to Windows.
  6. Give the account a display name and click Next.
  7. In the Credentials page, enter the previously created action account credentials and click Next.
  8. In the Distribution Security page, best practice is to select More secure. But you’ll need to manually specify every agent that should receive these credentials. Click Create.
  9. In the Completion page, click Close.
  10. In the Administration workspace, go to Run As > Profiles.
  11. Double-click Citrix XenApp/XenDesktop Monitoring Account.
  12. In the Introduction page, click Next.
  13. In the General Properties page, click Next.
  14. In the Run As Accounts page, click Add.
  15. Select the previously created action account, and click OK.
  16. Click Save.
  17. In the Completion page, if the Run As account is configured for Secure Distribution, then click the link to specify Agents to receive the credentials.

MP Agent Installation Account

Several of the Management Packs require an additional agent to be installed on top of the SCOM agent. Create an Active Directory account that will be used by the agent installer to connect to the file share on the System Center Operations Manager server. This configuration is used by several of Citrix’s Management Packs.

  1. In Active Directory, create a new regular account for Management Pack Agent installation.
  2. On the System Center Operations Manager server, open Computer Management.
  3. Edit the CitrixMPShareUsers local group.
  4. Add the MP Agent Installation Account. Also add the Citrix Admins group. Click OK.
  5. In SCOM Console, go to the Administration workspace, right-click, and click Create Run As Account.
  6. In the Introduction page, click Next.
  7. In the General Properties page, change the account type to Windows.
  8. Give the account a display name and click Next.
  9. In the Credentials page, enter the previously created Agent Installation account credentials, and click Next.
  10. In the Distribution Security page, best practice is to select More secure. But you’ll need to manually specify every agent that should receive these credentials. Click Create.
  11. In the Completion page, click Close.
  12. In the Administration workspace, go to Run As > Profiles.
  13. Double-click Citrix Management Pack Network Share Account.
  14. In the Introduction page, click Next.
  15. In the General Properties page, click Next.
  16. In the Run As Accounts page, click Add.
  17. Select the previously created Management Pack Agent installation account, and click OK.
  18. Click Save.

SCOM Proxy Agent

All Microsoft SCOM Agents running Citrix Agents must be marked as a Proxy Agent.

  1. In the SCOM Console, go to the Administration workspace, expand Device Management, and click Agent Managed.
  2. Double-click your SCOM Agent.
  3. On the Security tab, check the box next to Allow this agent to act as a proxy, and click OK.

Director URL

  1. On the SCOM server, run XenApp and XenDesktop MP Configuration.
  2. In Management Pack 3.12 and newer, the first time you launch the tool, you’ll be taken to the Configuration encryption tab. Click Set, and enter a permanent password. Note: the password will later be entered in clear text when running a SCOM Task to install or upgrade the agent.

  3. For environments with more than 100 Delivery Groups, 600 Server OS machines, and 1,500 applications, see Configuring SCOM Administrator at Citrix Docs to configure the SCOM Connector by specifying a SCOM Administrator on the SCOM Administrator tab.
  4. On the Director URL tab, click Add.
  5. Enter the XenDesktop Site name (farm name).
  6. Enter the Director URL for the farm, and click OK twice.

Push Citrix XAXD Agent

To push the XAXD Agent:

  1. In the SCOM Console, go to Monitoring workspace, expand Citrix Library, and click XenApp/XenDesktop Delivery Controller Computers.
  2. Select a Delivery Controller.
  3. On the bottom right, in the XAXD Delivery Controller Computer Role Tasks pane, click Check Installation Prerequisites.
  4. Click Run.
  5. Review the report, and then click Close.
  6. Now click the Install Citrix MPXAXD Agent task.
  7. If desired, you can override the Task Parameters. See the documentation for details.
  8. In 3.12 and newer, you must override the Encryption Password parameter, and specify the password you entered in the Configuration Tool.
  9. If upgrading, set UpgradeAgent to true. Then click Run.
  10. When done, review the task output, and then click Close.
  11. If you see an Error about the service logon account…

    1. Then go to the Delivery Controller, open Services, and reconfigure Citrix MPXAXD Agent service to run as a local administrator that has read-only permissions in Citrix Studio.
  12. The agent will eventually report as Healthy.
  13. You can verify configuration by running the Check Requirements and Configuration task. You might have to also run the Update Configuration task.

  14. If you scroll down, you’ll see the agent version.
  15. Citrix CTX224736 Citrix SCOM Management Pack for XenApp and XenDesktop 7.x – Disabling monitoring of VDA Services in large environments: In large environments, with 500+ Server OS machines, disable monitoring of VDA services on Server OS machines.
  16. Citrix CTX225735 Citrix SCOM MP Agents – Support Information Logging: The information in the SCOM MP Agent log files might be insufficient to troubleshoot certain issues. You can set additional product logging by modifying the log level registry key.
    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Comtrade\<SCOM MP Agent>
      • LogLevel (REG_SZ) = ERROR, WARN, INFO, or DEBUG
    • The log files are located at %ProgramData%\Citrix\SCOM MP Agent\logs
    • Logging configuration for some agents is located in the mp_config.ini file.
  17. Citrix CTX230082 Citrix SCOM Management Pack for XenApp and XenDesktop – Monitoring failure on connections live for more than 24 hours. If any Session A in the monitored environment last longer than 24 hours, any new sessions that start after the 24-hour retention period but before Session A ends will not be monitored properly.  💡
    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ComTrade\XenDesktop MP Agent
      • ConnectionEventsMaxAgeInHours (DWORD) = number of hours you expect the longest connections in the monitored environment to last

Install Citrix Machine Proxy Agent

To monitor the performance of the VDAs, install the Citrix Machine Agent on any Windows Server 2012 or newer machine (Windows Server 2008 R2 is not supported). This Agent will use PSRemoting to connect to a Delivery Controller to enumerate the VDAs in the farm. The Agent will then use WinRM to pull performance data and session data from the VDAs.

  1. Enable PSRemoting on the Delivery Controllers.
  2. On the VDAs, run winrm quickconfig.
  3. The Machine Agent uses an account to connect to Delivery Controller and VDAs. You can use the same Action Account created earlier for the Management Pack. This account must be a read-only administrator in XenDesktop and it must have administrator permissions to all Controllers and VDAs.

  4. To verify WinRM, run Command Prompt as the action account.

  5. Run winrm identify -r:http://myvda.corp.local:5985 -auth:Kerberos. It should connect.
  6. Go to any Windows Server 2012 or newer machine that you want to run the VDA Machine Agent on. The Machine Agent uses WinRM to connect to the VDAs. One option is to install it on one of the Delivery Controllers.
  7. Connect to \\scom01\CitrixMPShare.
  8. Copy XenDesktop Machine MP to the local machine.
  9. Run Support.exe /checkprereq to verify prerequisites.

  10. Then run MPXAXDMachineAgent.exe.
  11. In the Welcome to the setup wizard for Citrix SCOM Management Pack Machine Agent for XenApp and XenDesktop page, click Next.
  12. The installer will detect the previously installed version. Click Next.
  13. In the End User License Agreement page, check the box next to I accept the terms, and click Next.
  14. In the Destination Folder page, click Next.
  15. In the Destination Data Folder page, click Next.
  16. In the Agent Service Account page, enter the service account (action account) credentials, and click Next.
  17. In the Delivery Controllers page, enter the hostnames of the Delivery Controllers you want this agent to monitor, and click Install.
  18. In the Completed the setup wizard for Citrix SCOM Management Pack Machine Agent for XenApp and XenDesktop page, click Finish.
  19. In SCOM console, go to Monitoring > Citrix Library > XenApp/XenDesktop Machine Monitoring.
  20. Select a Proxy computer.
  21. On the bottom right, run the Update Configuration task.
  22. Then run the Check Requirements task.

If the Machine Agent Proxy Computer is monitoring a large environment, then see the following. Environments with more than 100 Delivery Groups, 600 Server OS machines, and 1,500 applications are considered large.

New Reports

3.14 adds new Application – Usage report as described in Citrix Blog Post What’s New with the Citrix SCOM Management Packs – Nov 2017.

3.9 adds two new Reports as described in Citrix Blog Post Monitor Site Infrastructure & Delivery Group Availability with Citrix SCOM Management Pack for XenApp and XenDesktop:

  • Site – Infrastructure Availability report – availability of a Site infrastructure over time. Availability is determined by health (availability) of most important Citrix services on the Delivery controller computers, and availability of configured hosting connections.
  • Delivery Group – Availability – availability of desktops provided with the selected Delivery Group

3.8 adds two new Reports as described in Citrix Blog Post Analyzing Application/Desktop Usage with Citrix SCOM Management Pack for XenApp and XenDesktop.

  • Application – User Activity report – see for a selected application which users have been using it and when. For each specific usage you also get usage duration, IP address of the client computer, and machine name on which the application was running.

  • Delivery Group – Desktop User Activity report – shows which users have been using desktop and when for each selected Delivery Group. It is almost identical to the “Application – User Activity” report, except that the delivery group is selected instead of application and you get desktop usages in the specific delivery group instead of application usages.

Customize Management Pack

Citrix Blog Post Increasing the Application Discovery Limit in Citrix SCOM Management Pack: That limit is around 1,500 applications. Now, you can discover more than 1,500 applications using the following method. We have tested the discovery of up to 4,500 applications in our lab environment.

The existing management pack has five discoveries for applications. Each discovery can discover approximately 300 applications. We have created a custom management pack that includes an additional 10 discoveries to be able to discover a total of 4,500 applications. See the Blog Post for the download link.

SLA Dashboards

The XAXD Pack has an extra Management Pack that adds SLA Targets and dashboards.

  1. In SCOM Console, go to Administration workspace, right-click Management Packs and click Import Management Packs.
  2. Click Add and then click Add from disk.
  3. Connecting to the online catalog is not required.
  4. Browse to C:\Program Files\Citrix\XenDesktop MP (orC:\Program Files\Comtrade\XenDesktop MP) and select the Citrix.XenApp.And.XenDesktop.SLADashboards Management Pack. Click Open.
  5. Click Install.
  6. Click Close when done.
  7. Go to the Monitoring workspace, expand Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop, expand Dashboards, and click Delivery Group SLA Dashboard.
  8. On the right, click the gear icon, and click Configure.
  9. In the General Properties page, click Next.
  10. In the Scope page, click Add.
  11. Select the Desktop OS  Delivery Group Health and Server OS Delivery group Health SLAs and click Add. Then click OK.
  12. Click Finish.
  13. On the left, click the Site SLA Dashboard.
  14. On the right, look for the lower gear icon and click Configure. You might have to click the Site SLAs pane first.
  15. In the General Properties page, click Next.
  16. In the Scope page, click Add.
  17. Select Site Health and click Add. Then click OK.
  18. Click Finish.
  19. If you go to Authoring > Service Level Tracking, you can create more SLAs. See the documentation for details.
  20. The XAXD pack also adds a bunch of reports.

StoreFront Pack

Full documentation at http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/scom-management-packs/storefront/1-12.html.

Install Citrix StoreFront Pack

  1. Download the Citrix SCOM Management Pack Bundle.
  2. On the System Center Operations Manager server, run Citrix_SCOM_Management_Pack_for_StoreFront.exe.
  3. In the Welcome to the setup wizard for Citrix SCOM Management Pack for StoreFront page, click Next.
  4. In the View Relevant Product Configuration page, click Next.
  5. The installer could detect an older version. Click Next.
  6. In the License Agreement page, check the box next to I accept the terms and click Next.
  7. In the Destination Folder page, click Next.
  8. In the Configure Post-Install Actions page, check the box next to Automatically import the Management Pack, and click Install.
  9. In the Completed the setup for the Citrix SCOM Management Pack for StoreFront page, click Next.
  10. In the All post-install actions were successfully executed page, click Finish.

MP Agent Installation Account

Configure the MP Agent Installation Account as detailed earlier for the XAXD Pack.

SCOM Proxy Agent

All Microsoft SCOM Agents running Citrix Agents must be marked as a Proxy Agent.

  1. In the SCOM Console, go to the Administration workspace, expand Device Management and click Agent Managed.
  2. Double-click your SCOM Agent.
  3. On the Security tab, check the box next to Allow this agent to act as a proxy, and click OK.

Probe Account

The StoreFront Management Pack logs into StoreFront using an account. StoreFront must be configured with Explicit Authentication.

  1. On the SCOM server, run StoreFront MP Configuration.
  2. In Management Pack 1.11 and newer, the first time you launch the tool, you’ll be taken to the Encryption Password tab. Click Set, and enter a permanent password. Note: the password will later be entered in clear text run running a SCOM Task to install or upgrade the agent.

  3. On the StoreFront availability tab, click Add.
  4. Enter credentials that can log into StoreFront. Make sure the userPrincipalName suffix or domain name matches one of the allowed domains configured on StoreFront (Source = CTX222920 Error: “StoreFront Store Service Probe Failed” While Using Citrix SCOM Management Pack for StoreFront). Click OK twice.
  5. Click OK.

Push Citrix StoreFront Agent

  1. If the StoreFront Server is Windows 2008 R2, install Microsoft hotfix 2847346 Svchost.exe running NSI service leaks memory and non-paged pool memory leak Tag NSpc. Also see Citrix CTX225624 Citrix SCOM MP for Storefront causes high memory utilization on Windows Server 2008 R2.
  2. In the SCOM Console, go to Monitoring workspace, expand Citrix Library, and click StoreFront Computers.
  3. Select a StoreFront server.
  4. On the bottom right, in the StoreFron Server Computer Role Tasks pane, click Check Installation Prerequisites.
  5. Click Run.
  6. Review the report, and then click Close.
  7. Now click the Install Citrix MPSF Agent task.
  8. If desired, you can override the Task Parameters. See the documentation for details.
  9. In 1.11 and newer, you must override the Encryption Password parameter, and specify the password you entered in the Configuration Tool.
  10. If upgrading, override UpgradeAgent, and set it to true.
  11. Then click Run.
  12. When done, review the report, and then click Close.
  13. The agent will eventually report as Healthy.
  14. You can verify configuration and version by running the Check Requirements and Configuration task. You might have to also run the Update Configuration task.

Provisioning Services Pack

Full Documentation is at http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/scom-management-packs/provisioning-services/1-19.html.

Install Citrix Provisioning Services Pack

  1. Download the Citrix SCOM Management Pack Bundle.
  2. On the System Center Operations Manager server, run Citrix_SCOM_Management_Pack_for_ProvisioningServices.exe.
  3. In the Welcome to the InstallShield wizard for Citrix SCOM Management Pack for Provisioning Services page, click Next.
  4. In the View Relevant Product Configuration page, click Next.
  5. If an older version is detected, click Next to upgrade it.
  6. In the License Agreement page, check the box next to I accept the terms, and click Next.
  7. In the Destination Folder page, click Next.
  8. In the Configure Post-Install Actions page, check the box next to Automatically import the Management Pack, and click Install.
  9. In the Completed the setup for Citrix SCOM Management Pack for Provisioning Services page, click Next.
  10. In the All post-install actions were successfully executed page, click Finish.

MP Agent Installation Account

Configure the MP Agent Installation Account as detailed earlier for the XAXD Pack.

SCOM Proxy Agent

All Microsoft SCOM Agents running Citrix Agents must be marked as a Proxy Agent.

  1. In the SCOM Console, go to the Administration workspace, expand Device Management, and click Agent Managed.
  2. Double-click your SCOM Agent.
  3. On the Security tab, check the box next to Allow this agent to act as a proxy and click OK.
  4. If you have many Provisioning Services servers, you can run Provisioning Services MP Configuration from the Start Menu, and enable Proxy using this tool.
  5. In Management Pack 1.17 and newer, the first time you launch the tool, you’ll be taken to the Configuration encryption tab. Click Set, and enter a permanent password. Note: the password will later be entered in clear text run running a SCOM Task to install or upgrade the agent.

  6. Then you can configure the Proxy tab.

Farm Account

The Provisioning Services Management Pack needs to log into the Provisioning Services farm.

  1. Create a service account and make it a full Provisioning Services farm administrator.
  2. On the SCOM server, run Provisioning Services MP Configuration.
  3. In Management Pack 1.17 and newer, the first time you launch the tool, you’ll be taken to the Configuration encryption tab. Click Set, and enter a permanent password. Note: the password will later be entered in clear text run running a SCOM Task to install or upgrade the agent.

  4. On the Provisioning Services tab, click Add.
  5. Enter a farm name. You’ll need this farm name later.
  6. Enter credentials for a full farm administrator, and click OK.
  7. Click OK.

Push Citrix Provisioning Services Agent

  1. In the SCOM Console, go to Monitoring workspace, expand Citrix Library, and click Provisioning Services Computers.
  2. Select a Provisioning Services server.
  3. On the bottom right, in the Tasks pane, click Check Installation Prerequisites.
  4. Click Run.
  5. Review the report, and click Close.
  6. Now click the Install Citrix MPPVS Agent task.
  7. If desired, you can override the Task Parameters. For example, UpgradeAgent can be overridden to true. See the documentation for details.
  8. In 1.18 and newer, you must override the Encryption Password parameter, and specify the password you entered in the Configuration Tool.
  9. Then click Run.
  10. When done, review the report, and click Close.
  11. Run the Set Farm Name on Citrix MPPVS Agent task.
  12. Override the Task Parameter.
  13. Specify the farm name. This should match the farm account created earlier. Then click Override.
  14. Click Run.
  15. Review the task output, and click Close.
  16. The agent will eventually report as Healthy.
  17. You can verify configuration by running the Check Requirements and Configuration task. You might have to also run the Update Configuration task.

  18. From John Haggerty in the comments: If you see: “Connection to PVS Soap Server Failed”, and if C:\ProgramData\Citrix\Provisioning Services MP Agent\mppvs_agt.log says “Security Support Provider Interface (SSPI) authentication failed”, then configure Kerberos Authentication for Citrix MPPVS Agent service. To enable Kerberos authentication, perform the following steps:
    1. Set “Log On” account for “Citrix MPVPS Agent” service to the account you are using for MPPVS.
    2. In command prompt, go to “%Program Files%\Citrix\Provisioning Services MP Agent” and execute PVSMonitorSvc.exe /setconnection runninguser
    3. Restart “Citrix MPVPS Agent” service and after a minute run check requirements tool to check if agent is ok now.
    4. NOTE: Issue will be resolved in next discovery cycle (by default 5 minutes).

Related Pages

69 thoughts on “Citrix SCOM Management Packs – XenApp/XenDesktop (2017_10_27)”

  1. Thanks for an excellent tutorial Carl, much better than going through official documentation.

    I can’t seem to get this to work though.

    I have installed License server MP and XAXD management pack.

    License server along with all related objects are correctly discovered, but nothing is discovered in XAXD MP.

    There is nothing under “Citrix Library” folder in SCOM console ( I was hoping to get this working, then I would somehow get agent installed), and nothing under “Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop” folder (obviously)

    I have checked discoveries, and for example the one that discovers Delivery Controller Computer Role class reads from registry to discover it. Citrix RunAs account (local admin) has access to registry and should be able to fetch this data, but it’s just not happening. I see nothing in Operations Manager logs, nor I can find any more information.

    What am I missing??

    Reply

  2. Hello,

    This management pack works correctly in Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop 7.15. But, we have another CTX farm with CTX 7 release 1808 and SCOM is not able to discover Delivery Controller.
    Does anybody else have issue like this?

    Thanks,
    Michal

    Reply

    1. Hi Michal,

      I opend a case for that at Citrix and they provided me a (for me) working solution:
      There is a registry key called “VersionMajor” under “HKML\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\Citrix Desktop Delivery Controller\” on the delivery controller contaning the current version of your release (in your case it should be 1808). If you change that back to “7” the SCOM should discover them again. This worked for me with Version 1903. Citrix is using a “GreaterEqual” expression for that but that won´t (so they described it to me).

      I hope that helps. Reguards,
      Simon

      Reply

  5. Hi Carl,

    We have tried to install the XA/XD scom pack 3.14.358 in SCOM server.
    But we are getting the below error when the installation is completing.
    “Service “Citrix SCOM MP Analytics Service” failed to start. verify that you have sufficient privilege to start the System services.
    1. Already the SCOM team has full admin access on that server and they are able to install SCOM pack for storefront and license on same server.
    Also there is no
    2. Server details: Windows 2008 R2 Standard SP1

    Please advise us to proceed further.

    Reply

  6. Hi Carl

    With App Layering would the Citrix SCOM MP machine agent for the VDA be deployed at the platform layer or an app layer?

    Many thanks

    Reply

  7. these are great documents you should post them on systemcentercentral and other SCOM sites they would be greatly received. I have hit an interesting issue with XAXD MP where the Site Database is never discovered. ERROR [site-db-connection] ComTrade.MP.XenDesktop.Discovery.DiscoverSiteDB – Citrix Site Database connection string currently cannot not be retreived, please verify if Citrix Services are running and if Citrix Database is available and accessible:

    This is occurring on all 6 Servers whilst everything else is discovered. I will post back if I discover why am in full debug mode now!

    Also out of 6 servers only 2 have an issue with the hypervisor connections discovery, has anyone seen this issue before?

    ‘hypervisor-connections-discovery’ Not Operational
    Workflow error PS script Get-Item xdhyp:\Connections\”VDISITEREMOVED” failed

    Reply

    1. Hi beigewell, It has bin a while, but i have the same problem with one of my Delivery Controllers.
      Error Message: PS script Get-Item xdhyp:\Connections\”VMM 2016 CS” failed

      Did you found a solution for this problem?

      Regards, Rob

      Reply

  8. Hi Carl,

    may I ask about your opinion on an error I get while trying to deply the Citrix MPXAXD agent on a dlivery controller.
    I run the Installation Prerequisites Checker and it tells me that:

    Citrix XenApp/XenDesktop Powershell Interface [ Failed ]
    ————————————————————–
    Powershell installed Yes
    Citrix.Broker.Admin SnapIn installed Yes
    User Account provided Yes
    Account DOMAIN\SVC-Account
    PowerShell Interface accessible No
    Reason: Configured username or password is invalid.

    I already made sure the account’s creds are updated in the account in SCOM and are properly distribuited to the delivery controllers.

    Do you have any idea why the PowerShell interface could be inaccessible?

    Many thanks in advance for your time!

    Regards,
    STU

    Reply

  9. Hello Carl,

    I installed latest version of XenDesktop MP on my SCOM 2016 Management server but realized that the Citrix Run-As profiles had not been created successfully. For this reason, I decided to uninstall the Management Pack from the Windows Control Panel, reboot and try again. However the uninstallation of the XenDesktop MP failed and the control panel application entry was removed but the actual files in C:\Program Files\Citrix remained intact.

    Have you run into this type of issue? What would be the best approach to fully cleanup the Citrix SCOM MP installation and re-install?

    Reply

    1. I have not seen that problem. Is the MP still imported to SCOM?

      You might be able to run Microsoft’s MSI cleanup tool

      Reply

  10. We’ve had problems with the Storefront MP. Basically it alerts that its unavailable even though it is. Checking the logs it fails to connect with this error “The underlying connection was closed: An unexpected error occurred on a send”. I also spotted in the log that the agent is probling https:\\localhost\Citrix\StoreWeb – however i think this is failing as we only have bindings for http on our storefront boxes. Is there anyway to change this to probe HTTP? Has anyone else had this problem?

    Reply

  11. Hi Carl,
    Thanks for a great article, you’ve made it really easy to follow.
    We have one issue however and that is that our Citrix servers are in totally different untrusted domains to our SCOM Management Servers.
    Just trying to get my head around what needs to be installed where. If everything was in the same DOMAIN then your guide would have worked a treat.

    We have SCOM Gateways in the untrusted DOMAINS talking back to the SCOM Management Servers and i know that SCOM GWs are effectively SCOM Management Servers but they do not have the Operations Console installed on them (for obvious reasons).

    I’ve run the XAXD Installer on both the Management Servers and the also the SCOM GW (obviously the MPs only got installed when I ran it on the Management Servers) and used a ServiceAccount for the untrusted DOMAIN as the Run-As account, etc…

    I’ve tried installing the Citrix MPXAXD Agent via the Tasks and am getting errors stating it cannot find the share location. The ServiceAccount has been added to the CitrixShareMPUsers group on the GW.

    Any pointers on how to get this working across untrusted DOMAINS please?

    Cheers
    Steve.

    Reply

  12. Has anyone got this error when running the Check Installation Prerequisites for Citrix MPXAXD Agent? I am unable to figure out a fix for this and any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

    OS version: Microsoft Windows NT 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 |
    | OS name: Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard |
    | System type: 64-bit |
    | Report time: 3/13/2017 4:51:17 PM |
    —————————————————————————————————–
    .NET Framework Version 3.5 SP1 or 4.x required [ OK ]
    ————————————————————–

    SCOM Agent [ OK ]
    ————————————————————–

    Citrix XenApp/XenDesktop [ OK ]
    ————————————————————–

    Citrix XenApp/XenDesktop Powershell Interface [ Failed ]
    ————————————————————–
    Powershell installed Yes
    Citrix.Broker.Admin SnapIn installed Yes
    User Account provided Yes
    Account xxxxx\xdxvmsvc
    PowerShell Interface accessible No
    Reason: Could not get data from Citrix PowerShell interface. To troubleshoot this, login to this system as configured user and try to execute ‘Get-BrokerSite’ in PowerShell command prompt with Citrix snapins loaded.
    ERROR DETAILS: Exception: System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception: The system cannot find the file specified
    at System.Diagnostics.Process.StartWithCreateProcess(ProcessStartInfo startInfo)
    at MgmtProductsSupport.MgmtProductsSupportAPI.ExecuteProcess(String fileName, String arguments, String& output, String& outerr, UInt32& exitCode, String userna …

    One or more checks failed. Please correct the issues and re-run the tool again.

    Reply

      1. I ended up restarting the MMA service and re ran the prerequisite utility and that fixed the issue. Thanks for the help.

        Reply

    2. I have followed the guide and have also enabled the Applications Discovery and Delivery Groups and Hypervisor Connections Discovery rules but still there is nothing in the delivery Groups View, no applications, no server OS also under Machines Folder

      Reply

    3. I had the same problem and my cause was the use of § and $ in the password I had generated for the user. As soon as I replaced these with non-special characters the error went away.

      Reply

    4. Hello,

      For informations, same message as below, i have resolved it after 2 days by turn to automatic the service “Secondary Logon”:

      OS version: Microsoft Windows NT 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 |
      | OS name: Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard |
      | System type: 64-bit |
      | Report time: 3/13/2017 4:51:17 PM |
      —————————————————————————————————–
      .NET Framework Version 3.5 SP1 or 4.x required [ OK ]
      ————————————————————–

      SCOM Agent [ OK ]
      ————————————————————–

      Citrix XenApp/XenDesktop [ OK ]
      ————————————————————–

      Citrix XenApp/XenDesktop Powershell Interface [ Failed ]
      ————————————————————–
      Powershell installed Yes
      Citrix.Broker.Admin SnapIn installed Yes
      User Account provided Yes
      Account xxxxx\xdxvmsvc
      PowerShell Interface accessible No
      Reason: Could not get data from Citrix PowerShell interface. To troubleshoot this, login to this system as configured user and try to execute ‘Get-BrokerSite’ in PowerShell command prompt with Citrix snapins loaded.
      ERROR DETAILS: Exception: System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception: The system cannot find the file specified
      at System.Diagnostics.Process.StartWithCreateProcess(ProcessStartInfo startInfo)
      at MgmtProductsSupport.MgmtProductsSupportAPI.ExecuteProcess(String fileName, String arguments, String& output, String& outerr, UInt32& exitCode, String userna …

      One or more checks failed. Please correct the issues and re-run the tool again.

      Reply

  13. Hello Carl,

    For the Storefront MP I receive the following EventID: 17521 “CTSFServerDiscovery.js : JSON data missing, discovery aborted. ‘Citrix MPSF Agent’ service might be stopped or old version is installed.”

    Any idea why ?

    Regards.

    Reply

  14. Hi

    We have multiple SCOM Infrastructure servers that are in use in our monitoring layer

    If we have SCOM Gateway Servers that connect to our parent SCOM Servers do we need to install the Citrix Management Packs for SCOM on these servers?

    We have tried installing it on our parent server but it cant seem to discover the farm.

    Reply

  15. Hi Carl,

    The License Server Computer is coming as not monitored. Also, I cannot see anything in the License Server State. Can you please help on this. Thanks in Advance.

    Aakash

    Reply

  16. Carl. This is really good article. really help newbie like me very much,…appreciate your efforts to

    Reply

  17. If we have 3 Delivery Controllers and only want to install the MP Agent on 1 of the Delivery Controllers as a precautionary approach, what impact will there be on the single Delivery Controller?

    We would have 3 MP Proxies configured which would monitor 7000+ VDA’s / 30 XenApp Servers / 50+ Published Apps.

    Reply

  18. Hello Carl..I was trying to configure Citrix MPs in SCOM and looking for suggestions on below queries. Appreciate your help.

    1. For License server configuration, server state is showing as ‘not-monitored’ in library view (Citrix Library->License server computers), but the state is showing as healthy in MP view (Citrix License Server-> License Server state). Is there anything I should check from Citrix end ?

    2. Similar issue with Provisioning server MP as well, MP agents are installed successfully and all components are discovered and most are showing as healthy in state view. Here as well, objects from site state and device collection state are showing as Not Monitored (Citrix Provisioning Services->Provisioning Services Health state). How can I get a healthy state ?

    Version of components being used:
    SCOM 2012R2;
    Citrix Management Pack for License Server 1.1.20944.0;
    Citrix Management Pack for Provisioning Services 1.13.20638.0;
    License Server version: 11.13.1.2 build 16002;
    Provisioning Services Version: 7.7.0.6020.

    Reply

    1. I had the Same issue, and it got resolved after re-installing both the SCOM agent and the citrix Mp’s

      Reply

  19. Last question. Can we install the Proxy Agent on Delivery Controller(s). We have two DC’s in our environment and we would like to have Proxy Agent redundant. So is it possible to install the proxy Agent on two DC’s which are in the same site and managing the same VDA’s?
    THX

    Reply

    1. It can definitely be installed on a Delivery Controller.

      According to the documentation, you can install the proxy multiple times. Each proxy can point to different Delivery Controllers. Make sure all Delivery Controllers are monitored by at least one proxy.

      Reply

      1. Hello Carl,

        I’ve installed the Citrix MPXAXD Agent on my two Delivery Controllers. After that I’ve clicked the “Update Configuration on Citrix MPXAXD Agent” and the “Check Requirements and Configuration for Citrix MPXAXD Agent” in SCOM Console. The test ends successfull on both. But one thing looks strange to me. On both DC’s in the result of the test, I see that the “Citrix XenApp/XenDesktop OData Interface ” points to the same DC. So DC1 and DC2 have the same url confgured in the test result and also in the registry: http://dc2.
        domain.com/Citrix/Monitor/OData/v3/Data/. On DC1 this Interface is also running and available.

        Can you check please? The Citrix documentation has no input for this.

        THX

        Reply

  20. Hello Carl,

    thank you for the guide!

    I thing I misunderstand the Citrix Machine Proxy Agent. Where I need to install it? On the VDA’s which are running Windows Server 2012R2?
    In the Citrix document they are talking from a Proxy node. is this the Delivery Controler or the VDA it selfs or a extra machine which I need to create? http://docs.citrix.com/content/dam/docs/en-us/scom-management-pack/xenapp-and-xendesktop-management-pack/3-6/downloads/Citrix_MPXAXD_UserGuide.pdf (start at page 30)

    It is a little bit confusing.

    Thank you very much for clearing.

    Reply

      1. To confirm, can this proxy can monitor the health & performance of the VDA on desktop OS’s too? Specifically RTT? There’s some confusing verbiage in the user guide (page 49) that talks about “Server OS Machine – Performance”, along with RTT.

        Reply

      2. Carl,

        which component will be installed on the VDA’s it selfs? The MPXAXDMachineAgent or the MPXAXDAgent? Or non of them.? Is the monitoring of the VDA’s done by Proxy Agent?

        THX

        Reply

  21. Hi Carl, thanks for the great write up!

    Have you run into any issues with the User Logon Performance phase breakdown coming up with 0’s for everything? This was functioning perfectly until a few days ago and now only Total Duration and Brokering Time show up. Everything else is a bunch of zeros, despite the fact that this all worked perfectly. Our Citrix Admin states there were no changes, but I’m not really sure where to dig.

    Reply

    1. Have you fixed this?
      I run into the same problem

      On the Server with the MP installed this error show up and after this the “Logonperformance” didnt count any more
      Reinstall didnt help
      Also delete the machine agent on the SCOM Server and add it again didnt help

      Code in the XML File is “oAPI.ReturnItems();” Ln 619 Col 7

      The process started at 06:28:55 failed to create System.PropertyBagData. Errors found in output:

      C:\Program Files\Microsoft Monitoring Agent\Agent\Health Service State\Monitoring Host Temporary Files 28\2743\CTXAXDMPAgentStatusProvider.js(619, 7) msxml6.dll: An invalid character was found in text content.

      Command executed: “C:\Windows\system32\cscript.exe” /nologo “CTXAXDMPAgentStatusProvider.js” false
      Working Directory: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Monitoring Agent\Agent\Health Service State\Monitoring Host Temporary Files 28\2743\

      One or more workflows were affected by this.

      Workflow name: ComTrade.Citrix.XenDesktop.MPAgent.Status.Monitor
      Instance name: Citrix MPXAXD Agent (#####)
      Instance ID: {#####}
      Management group: #####

      Reply

  22. Thank you for your response, Carl

    I finally got it to work myself. I really don’t know why it didn’t work initially, but let me say that I installed the XS MP Proxy software on Citrix Delivery Controllers where the XenApp/XenDesktop MP Proxy software already was installed. Somehow this didn’t work.

    Tried installing the XenServer Proxy Agent software on a completely different server, and then everything worked so much better.

    Conclusion ? You should not install the XA/XD and XS MP Proxies on the same computer ? Pure speculation, but for me this seemed to be the case.

    Sincerely
    Oyvind A

    Reply

  23. Hi Carl

    Do you plan to make a similar guide to the Citrix SCOM XenServer MP ? I have installed the XS MP following the included documentation, but I can’t get any info out of the MP. It is imported – OK. I have setup the Agent Proxies – OK. Entered all XenServers by FQDN, but my XenServers won’t show in the SCOM Console. I don’t know what to do next..

    Reply

    1. None of my customers have XenServer. I could try to setup XenServer as a nested hypervisor and see if I can get the MP to work.

      Reply

    2. I just tried it and it works. It took a bit of time for the XenServer MP Proxy Agent to show up. I installed the XenServer MP on SCOM server. Then I installed the XS Proxy Agent on the same SCOM server (not sure if it matters). The SCOM server has proxy agent enabled. I used the XS MP config tool to add the pool master and the XenServer hosts eventually show up in the SCOM console. I’m using XenServer 6.5 SP1. No need for SCOM agent on the XenServer host.

      Reply

  24. Hi Carl,
    Great walk through! I got all of the management packs configured fully except the PVS MP.

    For the PVS Management Pack I am receiving errors when I run the check requirements and config SCOM task (I have changed the account and domain names in the examples below).

    Citrix Management Pack Agent for Provisioning Services Config[ Failed ]
    Configuration files
    mppvs_config.dat Found
    PVS farm name Citrix_Farm_Name
    Connection to PVS Soap Server Failed
    Account used DOMAIN\CitrixSCOMAccount
    Please verify that configured account is farm admin, has correct credentials and is a valid domain account.
    Also check if the Citrix PVS Soap Server Service is running and that the server is accessible.

    Citrix Management Pack Agent for Provisioning Services Health[ Failed ]
    Discovery file Not found
    Discovery data files
    Looking for: C:\ProgramData\ComTrade\Provisioning Services MP Agent\pvs-data.xml

    The configuration for the account is correct but I did notice that the pvs-data.xml file is missing.

    When I look at the mppvs_agt.log file I see these error messages in this order:

    ERROR Connection user: ‘CitrixSCOMAccount’, domain:DOMAIN

    [ERROR Cannot connect to Provisioning Services. Execute “Check Requirements and Configuration for Citrix MPPVS Agent” task to check MPPVS configuration.

    ERROR Failed to connect to PVS: SOAP security negotiation with ‘http://localhost:54321/pvs/mapi/commandset’ for target ‘http://localhost:54321/pvs/mapi/commandset’ failed. See inner exception for more details.

    ERROR InnerException:System.ComponentModel.Win32Exception (0x80004005): Security Support Provider Interface (SSPI) authentication failed. The server may not be running in an account with identity ‘host/localhost’. If the server is running in a service account (Network Service for example), specify the account’s ServicePrincipalName as the identity in the EndpointAddress for the server. If the server is running in a user account, specify the account’s UserPrincipalName as the identity in the EndpointAddress for the server.

    Any guidance would be helpful.

    Reply

    1. I just want to update this in case others run into the same problem.

      Issue:
      Citrix Provisioning Services MP Check Requirements get failed due to Citrix PVS Kerberos authentication

      Symptoms or Error:
      When executing “Check Requirements and Configuration for Citrix MPPVS” task, returned is following output for section “Citrix Management pack Agent for Provisioning Services Config”:
      Citrix Management pack Agent for Provisioning Services Config [ Failed ]
      ————————————————————–
      Configuration files mppvs_config.dat Found
      PVS farm name FarmName
      Connection to PVS Soap Server Failed
      Account used domain\FarmAccount
      Please verify that configured account is farm admin, has correct credentials and is a valid domain account. Also check if the Citrix PVS Soap Server Service is running and that the server is accessible

      Symptoms 2
      In Citrix Provisioning Service MP .log (mppvs_agt.log) on following location (C:\ProgramData\Citrix\Provisioning Services MP Agent) can be find following error:
      Security Support Provider Interface (SSPI) authentication failed. The server may not be running in an account with identity ‘host/localhost’. If the server is running in a service account (Network Service for example), specify the account’s ServicePrincipalName as the identity in the EndpointAddress for the server. If the server is running in a user account, specify the account’s UserPrincipalName as the identity in the EndpointAddress for the server.

      Solution
      Configure Kerberos Authentication type for Citrix MPPVS Agent service. By default Citrix MPPVS agent uses basic authentication to access Citrix PVS. In case if Citrix PVS uses Kerberos authentication, MPPVS agent has to be reconfigured to use Kerberos authentication too.
      To enable Kerberos authentication for all MPPVS agents perform following steps:
      – Set “Log On” account for “Citrix MPVPS Agent” service to the account you are using for MPPVS
      – In command prompt go to “%Program Files%\Citrix\Provisioning Services MP Agent” and execute “PVSMonitorSvc.exe /setconnection runninguser”
      – restart “Citrix MPVPS Agent” service and after a minute run check requirements tool to check if agent is ok now

      NOTE:
      When Kerberos Authentication will be set for Provisioning Services MP issue will be resolved in next discovery cycle (by default 5 minutes).
      Verification also can be performed with “Check requirements and Configuration” task.
      Problem Cause
      By default Citrix SCOM Management Pack for Provisioning Services agent is using basic authentication. In case if Citrix PVS uses Kerberos authentication, the above issue will occur.

      Reply

        1. This did solve the problem for me. I had to open a support case with Citrix and this came from an internal document only available to them. The process to enable Kerberos authentication is not present in the user guide.

          Reply

      2. Nicely done! This was a headbanger for me for several hours. I figured it was a Kerberos authentication issue but I just couldn’t iron out where exactly the credentials needed to go. I changed the auth name to upn format everywhere except the service account. Thanks for posting and turning on the light bulb, this should have been in the docs.

        Reply

  25. Hi Carl,
    Thanks for another helpful tech blog! Would you know, if the agents have to be installed via SCOM task only? We rather like to install first all agents manually resp. via SCCM on our XA 6 farm servers before importing the mgt-pack into SCOM in order to avoid possible alerting from the mgt-pack.
    I’ve tried to install them manually after configuring farm name & account (not only XA6 also PVS…), but then noticed, that the …config.dat files are not beeing copied into %programdata%\comtrade on the XA/PVS servers.
    Also after installing agent on PVS servers through SCOM console (and setting farm name and updating configuration) I still get the following error when running task “check req. and config….”:

    Citrix Management Pack Agent for Provisioning Services Config[ Failed ]
    ———————————————————————–
    Configuration files
    mppvs_config.dat Found
    PVS farm name XYZ
    Connection to PVS Soap Server Failed
    Account used xyz\xyz
    Please verify that configured account is farm admin, has correct credentials and is a valid domain account.
    Also check if the Citrix PVS Soap Server Service is running and that the server is accessible.

    Configured farm account is member of full admin group in PVS…

    Thanks for your help!

    Reply

      1. Yes, I can logon with the same account and have full admin rights. You wrote about re-release of the Management Packs, but as I see the version for PVS Mgt-Pack is the same as in the first release. Would you still recommend to install and Import the re-released version of the Mgt-Packs?

        Reply

    2. Running SF mgt pack 1.5.20814.0 in environment with SF 2.6. I removed a XenApp 5 farm/ brokers from the stores, but I still see them reporting in SCOM that there is a problem with the brokers. But they are decommissioned and powered off and removed from StoreFront! Why isn’t SCOM able to get that update?

      Reply

      1. I had a similar issue with the StoreFront pack. Deleted a store via the console and then SCOM freaked out saying it was unavailable from then on (thanks for the info SCOM!). Anyway, uninstalling and reinstalling the SF agent fixed it for the individual server. Then I got curious and for a subsequent server cracked open the C:\ProgramData\Citrix\StoreFront MP Agent\db\server.json file and just deleted the section that was defining the old store. Restarted the agent and boom, fixed it. I assume there would be a similar json file defining the site configuration for XA/XD. After a while the server.json file updated as I would have expected normally, but needed to restart the service. Could also just be something you need to wait ages for in some cases.

        Reply

  26. Thanks, after installing the re-released mgmt pack from 3/25, I just needed to run the uninstall & install tasks from the SCOM console (rather than the update configuration task). My MP Agents now show ver 3.6.21064 and objects are being discovered.

    Reply

  27. Hey Carl,
    Good write-up and awesome timing.. i am just about to deploy this for one of my customer… One question though.. Is SCOM 2012 required to support the ComTrade packs as you say under the requirements? wouldn’t this work with any lower SCOM versions?

    Lal

    Reply

  29. Hello, and thank You for all Your Incredibly detailed and well written articles 🙂
    I have one question regarding the SCOM Management packs Citrix recently aquired from ComTrade and that are available to Platinum licensed customers: are You planning any “recipe” for those any time soon?
    Thanks!

    Reply

    1. Other than this post? What do you have in mind? This post details installation of the Comtrade packs.

      Reply

      1. OK, sorry 🙂 I do not work with SCOM myself, so I didn’t realize that this post covered it!
        But then I will pass this info on! Thank You!

        Reply

  30. Hello,

    Thank you for your amazing walkthrough ! 🙂

    I have one issue, on Push Citrix XAXD Agent step #10 Check Requirements and Configuration task I receive the following error message:

    Citrix XenApp/XenDesktop OData Interface [ Failed ]
    ————————————————————–
    URL is not configured in registry neither automatically detected.

    Director URL is configured like this: http://xd01/Director/

    Any ideas why is not working ? Greetings.

    Reply

    1. In the MP Config tool, does the farm name match the actual site name?

      Also, did you try running the “Update Configuration” task?

      Reply

        1. I imported the re-released update to the XenAppXenDesktop management pack, and ran an update configuration against the DDC’s…but, no change.

          I am getting these events in the Operations Manager eventlogs on the DDC’s. The URL doesn’t seem to exist, but the servers are listening on port 35335:

          CTXAXDSiteProxyDiscovery.js : Could not get JSON configuration data, discovery aborted. Could not get data from URL ‘http://localhost:35335/xdmp/site-topo?depth=3’. [object Error]

          CTXAXDDeliveryControllerDiscovery.js : Could not get JSON data, discovery aborted. Could not get data from URL ‘http://localhost:35335/xdmp/site-topo?depth=2’. [object Error]

          Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *