Delivery Controller 7.9 and Licensing

Last Modified: May 19, 2020 @ 8:07 am

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Upgrade

If you are performing a new install of XenApp/XenDesktop Controller, then skip to the next section.

You can upgrade directly from any Controller version 5.6 or newer.

Before upgrading, if you have a standalone Citrix Licensing Server, upgrade it to 11.13.1.2 build 16002.

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.

  1. If StoreFront is installed on the Controller, and if the Citrix SCOM Agent for StoreFront is installed, stop the Citrix MPSF Agent service.
  2. Run AutoSelect.exe from the XenApp/XenDesktop 7.9 ISO (XenApp Enterprise, XenApp Platinum, XenDesktop Enterprise, or XenDesktop Platinum, depending on your license).
  3. Click Studio and Server Components.
  4. In the Licensing Agreementpage, select I have read, understand, and accept the terms and click Next.
  5. In the Ensure Successful Upgrade page, read the steps, check the box next to I’m ready to continue, and click Next.
  6. In the Firewall page, click Next.
  7. In the Summary page, click Upgrade.
  8. Click Close if prompted to restart.
  9. In the Call Home page, make a selection. If participating, click Connect, login, and then click Next.
  10. In the Finish page, click Finish.
  11. 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.
  12. When you upgrade the remaining Controllers, you might have to Register Controllers.
  13. After all Controllers and VDAs are upgraded, right-click the Catalogs and click Upgrade Catalog.

  14. Then do the same for the Delivery Groups.

Other XenApp/XenDesktop components can also be in-place upgraded:

  • StoreFront
  • Director
  • VDAs
  • AppDNA
  • Provisioning Services
  • SCOM Management Packs
  • Session Recording

New Install Preparation

Citrix Licensing – If you are going to use an existing Citrix Licensing Server, upgrade it to 11.13.1.2 build 16002.

Upgrade

If you are upgrading from and older Delivery Controller, be aware that a database upgrade is required. You’ll need sysadmin permissions on SQL to complete the upgrade.

SQL Databases

  • Citrix CTX209080 Database Sizing Tool for XenDesktop 7  💡
  • Citrix article CTX114501 – Supported Databases for Citrix Products
  • There are typically three databases: one for the Site (aka farm), one for Logging (audit log) and one for Monitoring (Director).
    • The monitoring database name must not have any spaces in it. See CTX200325 Database Naming Limitation when Citrix Director Accesses Monitoring Data Using OData APIs
    • 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 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 databases in advance. However, you must use the non-default Latin1_General_100_CI_AS_KS collation. Then use Citrix Studio to configure the database tables.
  • If SQL 2016 or newer, implement Basic Availability Group.
  • If SQL 2014 or older, Citrix recommends SQL Mirroring because it has the fastest failover.
    • SQL Mirroring requires two SQL Standard Edition servers and one SQL Express for the witness server.
    • You can setup SQL Mirroring either before installing XenDesktop or after installing XenDesktop. If after, then see Citrix CTX140319 to manually change XenDesktop’s database connection strings How to Migrate XenDesktop Database to New SQL Server.
    • To setup SQL Mirroring, see Rob Cartwright: Configure SQL Mirroring For Use With XenDesktop, XenApp, and PVS Databases.
    • If you try to stretch the mirror across datacenters, the SQL witness must be placed in a third datacenter that has connectivity to the other two datacenters. However, stretching a single XenApp/XenDesktop site/farm and corresponding SQL mirror across datacenters is not recommended.
  • AlwaysOn Availability Groups and SQL Clustering are also supported. However, these features require the much more expensive SQL Enterprise Edition.

Windows Features

  • Installing Group Policy Management on the Delivery Controller lets you edit GPOs and have access to the Citrix Policies node in the GPO Editor. Or you can install Studio on a different machine that has GPMC installed.
  • vSphere Web Client – if you will connect to vSphere Web Client from the Controller machine, Flash Player is only available for IE if you install the Desktop Experience feature. Or you can use Google Chrome.

vSphere

  • Create a role in vSphere Client. Assign a service account to the role at the Datacenter or higher level.

Delivery Controller Install

  1. A typical size for the Controller VMs is 2-4 vCPU and 8 GB of RAM.
  2. Make sure the User Right Log on as a service includes NT SERVICE\ALL SERVICES or add NT SERVICE\CitrixTelemetryService to the User Right.
  3. On two Delivery Controllers, install the Delivery Controller software from the XenApp/XenDesktop 7.9 media. Download it from XenApp Enterprise, XenApp Platinum, XenDesktop Enterprise, or XenDesktop Platinum, depending on your license. Go to the downloaded XenDesktop 7.9 ISO and run AutoSelect.exe.
  4. Click Start next to either XenApp or XenDesktop. The only difference is the product name displayed in the installation wizard.
  5. On the left, click Delivery Controller.
  6. You can install all components on one server or on separate servers. Splitting them out is only necessary in large environments or if you want to share the components (e.g. Licensing, StoreFront, Director) across multiple farms.
  7. In the Features page, uncheck the box next to Install Microsoft SQL Server 2012 SP1 Express and click Next.
  8. In the Summary page, click Install.
  9. In the Call Home page, make a selection, click Connect, enter your MyCitrix credentials, and then click Next.
  10. In the Finish page, click Finish. Studio will automatically launch.
  11. Ensure the two Controller VMs do not run on the same hypervisor host. Create an anti-affinity rule.

Create Site

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 them to a DBA.

Database Mirroring

If you are not using database mirroring then skip to the next section.

You can setup SQL Mirroring either before configuring XenDesktop or after configuring XenDesktop.

  • If before, then the empty databases (Site, Logging, Monitoring) must use the Latin1_General_100_CI_AS_KS collation, which is not the default.
  • If SQL Mirroring is already setup then XenDesktop will detect it and set the database connection strings accordingly. Or you can manually change the database connection strings later as detailed at Citrix CTX140319 How to Migrate XenDesktop Database to New SQL Server.
  • If you use Citrix Studio to create SQL scripts that populate the databases, then there will be separate SQL scripts for the Primary and Partner.

To verify mirroring after the XenDesktop configuration has completed, run the PowerShell cmdlet get-brokerdbconnection and ensure that the Failover Partner has been set in the connection string to the mirror.

Use Studio to Create Database Scripts

  1. Launch Citrix Studio. After it loads, click Deliver applications and desktops to your users.
  2. 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.
  3. Enter a Site Name (aka farm name) and click Next. Only administrators see the farm name.
  4. In the Databases page, change the selection to Generate scripts to manually set up databases on the database server.
  5. Change the database names if desired.
  6. If you are building two Controllers, click Select near the bottom of the same page.
  7. Click Add.
  8. Enter the FQDN of the second Controller and click OK. Note: the Delivery Controller software must already be installed on that machine.
  9. Then click Save.
  10. If you hover your mouse over 2 selected, it will show both Controllers. Click Next.
  11. In the Additional Features page, click Next.
  12. In the Summary page, click Generate scripts.
  13. A folder will open with six scripts. Edit each of the scripts.
  14. 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.

  15. Once all of the scripts are edited you can send them to your DBA.
  16. On the Principal SQL Server, open the file Site_Principal.sql.

  17. Open the Query menu and click SQLCMD Mode.
  18. Then execute the script.
  19. If SQLCMD mode was enabled properly then the output should look something like this:
  20. If you have a mirrored database, run the second script on the mirror SQL instance. Make sure SQLCMD mode is enabled.


  21. Repeat for the Logging_Pricipal.sql script.
  22. You’ll have to enable SQLCMD Mode for each script you open.


  23. Repeat for the Monitoring_Principal.sql script.
  24. Once again enable SQLCMD Mode.


  25. The person running Citrix Studio must be added to the SQL Server as a SQL Login and granted the public server role.

  26. Back in Citrix Studio, click the Continue database configuration and Site setup button.
  27. In the Database page, enter the SQL server name and instance name and click Next.

  28. 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.
  29. XenApp/XenDesktop 7.9 requires the newest Licensing Server. If your server isn’t compatible, leave it set to localhost and fix it later.
  30. If the Certificate Authentication appears, select Connect me and click Confirm.
  31. Then select your license and click Next.
  32. In the Additional Features page, click Next.
  33. In the Summary page, make your selection for Customer Experience Improvement Program and click Finish.
  34. It will take some time for the site to be created.

Verify Database Mirroring

If your database is mirrored, when you run get-brokerdbconnection, you’ll see the Failover Partner in the database connection string.

Second Controller

When building the first Delivery Controller the scripts might have already included the second Delivery Controller. 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 do use Citrix Studio to generate SQL scripts and send them to a DBA.

To use Citrix Studio to create the SQL Scripts:

  1. On the first Delivery Controller, if StoreFront is installed, delete the default StoreFront store (/Citrix/Store) and recreate it with your desired Store name (e.g. /Citrix/CompanyStore).
  2. On the 2nd Delivery Controller, install XenDesktop as detailed earlier.
  3. After running Studio, click Connect this Delivery Controller to an existing Site.
  4. Enter the name of the first Delivery Controller and click OK.
  5. If you don’t have elevated SQL permissions, click No when asked if you want to update the database automatically.
  6. Click Generate scripts.
  7. 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.
  8. On the SQL Server, open open one of the .sql files.

  9. Open the Query menu and click SQLCMD Mode.
  10. Then execute the XenDesktop script.
  11. If SQLCMD mode was enabled properly then the output should look something like this:
  12. Back in Citrix Studio, click OK.
  13. In the Studio, under Configuration > Controllers, you should see both controllers.
  14. You can also test the site again if desired.

Studio – Slow Launch

From B.J.M. Groenhout at Citrix Discussions: 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):

  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WinTrust\Trust Providers\Software Publishing
    • “State“=dword:00023e00

Database Maintenance

View Logging Database

To view the contents of the Logging Database, in Studio, click the Logging node. On the right is Create Custom Report. See Citrix article CTX138132 Viewing Configuration Logging Data Not Shown for more info.

Enable Read-Committed Snapshot

The XenDesktop Database can become heavily utilized under load in a large environment. Therefore Citrix recommends enabling the Read_Committed_Snapshot 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 How to Enable Read-Committed Snapshot in XenDesktop for configuration instructions.

Change Database Connection Strings

Sometimes the database connection strings need to be modified:

  • When moving the SQL databases to a different SQL server
  • When enabling mirroring after the databases have already been configured in Studio.

CTX140319 How to Migrate XenDesktop Database to New SQL Server has the correctly ordered list of PowerShell commands to change the database connection strings. Make sure PowerShell is running as administrator before running these commands.

XenApp/XenDesktop 7.8 adds set-applibdbconnection so make sure the commands include setting that DB connection too.

Director Grooming

If XenDesktop is not Platinum Edition then all historical Director data is groomed at 7 days.

For XenDesktop/XenApp Platinum Edition, by default, most of the historical Director data is groomed at 90 days. This can be adjusted up to 367 days by running a PowerShell cmdlet.

  1. On a Delivery Controller, run PowerShell and run asnp Citrix.*

  2. Run Get-MonitorConfiguration to see the current grooming settings.
  3. Run Set-MonitorConfiguration to change the grooming settings.

Studio Administrators

Full Administrators

  1. In the Studio, under Configuration, click the Administrators node. The first time you access the node you’ll see a Welcome page. Feel free to check the box and then click Close.
  2. On the Administrators tab, right-click and click Create Administrator.
  3. In the Administrator and Scope page, specify a group (e.g. Citrix Admins or Help Desk) that will have permissions to Studio and Director. Click Next.
  4. On the Role page, select a role and then click Next. For example:
    • Full Administrator for the Citrix Admins group
    • Help Desk Administrator for the Help Desk group
    • Machine Catalog Administrator for the desktop team
  5. In the Summary page, click Finish.

Help Desk

  1. In the Studio, under Configuration, click the Administrators node. On the Administrators tab, right-click and click Create Administrator.
  2. In the Administrator and Scope page, specify a Help Desk group that will have permissions to Studio and Director. Click Next.
  3. On the Role page, select the Help Desk Administrator role and then click Next.
  4. In the Summary page, click Finish.
  5. When administrators in the Help Desk role log into Director, all they see is this.

    To jazz it up a little, add the Help Desk group to the read-only role.
  6. Right-click the Help Desk Administrator and click Edit Administrator.
  7. Click Add.
  8. In the Scope page, select a scope and click Next.
  9. In the Role page, select Read Only Administrator and click Next.
  10. In the Summary page, click Finish.
  11. Then click OK. Now Director will display the dashboard.

Provisioning Services w/Personal vDisk

From Considerations: Provisioning Services at Configure and manage Personal vDisk at docs.citrix.com: The Provisioning Services Soap Service account must be added to the Administrator node of Studio and must have the Machine Administrator or higher role. This ensures that the PvD desktops are put into the Preparing state when the Provisioning Services (PVS) vDisk is promoted to production.

Customer Experience Improvement Program

XenApp/XenDesktop 7.9 enables CEIP by default. If desired, you can disable it in Citrix Studio:

  1. On the left, go to the Configuration node.
  2. On the right, switch to the Product Support tab.
  3. Click End.
  4. Click Yes.

vCenter Connection

XenDesktop uses an Active Directory service account to log into vCenter. This account needs specific permissions in vCenter. To facilitate assigning these permissions, create a new vCenter role and assign it to the XenDesktop service account. The permissions should be applied at the datacenter or higher level. CTX214389 How to Define VMware vSphere User Privileges for XenApp and XenDesktop defines the minimum permissions needed for various activities in XenDesktop: MCS, PvS, Power Management, and AppDisks.

AppDisks requires an additional permission: Virtual Machine > Configuration > Modify Device Settings.

Hosting Resources

A Hosting Resource = vCenter + Cluster (Resource Pool) + Storage + Network. When you create a machine catalog, you select a previously defined Hosting Resource, and the Cluster, Storage, and Network defined in the Hosting Resource object are automatically selected. If you need some desktops on a different Cluster+Storage+Network then you’ll need to define more Hosting Resources in Studio.

  1. In Studio, expand Configuration and click Hosting. Right-click it and click Add Connection and Resources.
  2. In the Connection page, select VMware vSphere as the Connection type.
  3. Enter https://vcenter01.corp.local/sdk as the vCenter URL. The URL must contain the FQDN of the vCenter server. Ensure the entered URL has /sdk on the end.
  4. Enter credentials of a service account that can log into vCenter.
  5. In the Connection name field, give the connection a name. Typically, this matches the name of the vCenter server.
  6. If you are not using Machine Creation Services and instead only need the vCenter connection for machine power management, change the Create virtual machines using selection to Other Tools.
  7. Click Next.
  8. If you see a message about the vCenter certificate, check the box next to Trust certificate and click OK.
  9. In the Storage Management page, click Browse and select a vSphere cluster.
  10. Select Use storage shared by hypervisors.
  11. If you have sufficient disk space on each ESXi host, also select Optimize temporary data on available local storage. From Mark Syms at discussions.citrix.com: “If you use just MCS caching to local storage then the VM is not agile at all and cannot be moved even when powered off as it has a virtual disk permanently associated with a single host.”  💡
  12. From Martin Rowan at discussions.citrix.com: for the temporary cache disk, “Don’t format it, the raw disk is what MCS caching uses.”
  13. Click Next.
  14. In the Storage Selection page, OS and Personal vDisk must be selected on at least one datastore. For maximum flexibility, only select one datastores. To select additional datastores, run this wizard again to create a separate Hosting Resource.
  15. If you selected the local storage option, on the bottom, click Select and choose the datastores you want to use for disk caching. By default, all local datastores are selected. Click Next when done.
  16. In the Network page, enter a name for the hosting resource. Since each hosting resource is a combination of vCenter, Cluster, Network, and Datastores, include those names in this field (e.g. vCenter01-Cluster01-Network01-Datastore01).
  17. Select a network and click Next.
  18. In the Summary page, click Finish.
  19. If you have multiple datastores for your VDAs, run the wizard again.
  20. You can use the existing vCenter connection.
  21. This time, select a different datastore.
  22. Give it a name that indicates the chosen datastore.
  23. When you create a Catalog, select the Hosting Resource for the datastore where you want the VDAs to be placed. Create additional Catalogs for each datastore. You can then combine the Catalogs into a single Delivery Group.
  24. Later in the Catalog wizard, you’re given an option to enable caching and select a cache size. This is similar to Provisioning Services Cache in RAM with overflow to disk.

Citrix Licensing Server

Upgrade

XenApp/XenDesktop 7.9 comes with 11.13.1.2.

If you have a standalone Licensing Server, upgrade it to Citrix Licensing to 11.13.1.2 if it isn’t already.

  1. Go to the downloaded Citrix Licensing 11.13.1.2 build 16002 and run CitrixLicensing.exe.
  2. Click Upgrade.
  3. Click Finish.
  4. If you go to Programs and Features, it should now show version 11.1.0.16002.
  5. If you login to the license server web console, on the Administration tab, it shows it as version 11.13.1 build 16002.
  6. You can also view the version in the registry at HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Citrix\LicenseServer\Install.

Licensing Server HA using GSLB

From Dane Young – Creating a Bulletproof Citrix Licensing Server Infrastructure using NetScaler Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB) and CtxLicChk.ps1 PowerShell Scripts. Here is a summary of the configuration steps. See the blog post for detailed configuration instructions.

  1. Build two License Servers in each datacenter with identical server names. Since server names are identical, they can’t be domain-joined.
  2. Install identical licenses on all License Servers.
  3. Set the DisableStrictNameChecking registry key on all Citrix Licensing servers.
  4. Synchronize the certificate files located at C:\Program Files (x86)\Citrix\Licensing\WebServicesForLicensing\Apache\conf. They must be identical on all Licensing Servers.
  5. Download CtxLicChk.exe from http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX123935 and place on all Licensing Servers.
  6. Schedule the PowerShell script CtxLicChk.ps1 on all Licensing Servers. Get this script from the blog post linked above.
  7. Configure NetScaler:
    1. Configure GSLB ADNS services.
    2. Add wildcard Load Balancing service for each Citrix Licensing Server.
    3. Configure service TCP monitoring for ports 27000, 7279, 8082, and 8083.
    4. Create Load Balancing Virtual Server for each Licensing Server.
    5. Set one Load Balancing Virtual Server as backup for the other.
    6. Repeat in second datacenter.
    7. Configure GSLB Services and GSLB Monitoring.
    8. Configure GSLB Virtual Servers. Set one GSLB Virtual Server as backup for the other.
  8. Delegate the Citrix Licensing DNS name to the ADNS services on the NetScaler appliances.
  9. Configure Citrix Studio to point to the GSLB-enabled DNS name for Citrix Licensing.

Citrix License Server Monitoring

Citrix Licensing 11.13.1 and newer has historical usage reporting:

  1. Run Citrix Licensing Manager from the Start Menu. Or use a browser to connect to https://MyLicenseServer:8083
  2. Use the drop-down menus to select a license type, select dates, and export to a .csv file.
  3. On the top right is a gear icon where you can set the historical retention period.

http://www.jonathanmedd.net/2011/01/monitor-citrix-license-usage-with-powershell.html.

Lal Mohan – Citrix License Usage Monitoring Using Powershell

Jaroslaw Sobel – Monitoring Citrix Licenses usage – Graphs using WMI, Powershell and RRDtool. This script generates a graph similar to the following:

CtxLicUsage-1d_

Remote Desktop Licensing Server

Install Remote Desktop Licensing Server

Do the following on your XenDesktop Controllers:

  1. In Server Manager, open the Manage menu and click Add Roles and Features.
  2. Click Next until you get to the Server Roles page. Check the box next to Remote Desktop Services and click Next.
  3. Click Next until you get to the Role Services page. Check the box next to Remote Desktop Licensing and click Next.
  4. Click Add Features if prompted.
  5. Then finish the wizard to install the role service.

Activate Remote Desktop Licensing

  1. After RD Licensing is installed, in Server Manager, open the Tool menu, expand Terminal Services and click Remote Desktop Licensing Manager.
  2. The tool should find the local server. If it does not, right-click All servers, click Connect and type in the name of the local server. Once the local server can be seen in the list, right-click the server and click Activate Server.
  3. In the Welcome to the Activate Server Wizard page, click Next.
  4. In the Connection Method page, click Next.
  5. In the Company Information page, enter the required information and click Next.
  6. All of the fields on the Company Information page are optional so you do not have to enter anything. Click Next.
  7. In the Completing the Activate Server Wizard page, uncheck the box next to Start Install Licenses Wizard now and click Finish. Since the session hosts will be configured to pull Per User licenses, there is no need to install licenses on the RD Licensing Server.
  8. In RD Licensing Manager, right-click the server and click Review Configuration.
  9. Ensure you have green check marks. If the person installing Remote Desktop Licensing does not have permissions to add the server to the Terminal Server License Servers group in Active Directory, ask a domain admin to do it manually. If you have the proper permissions, click Add to Group.
  10. Click Continue when prompted that you must have Domain Admins privileges.
  11. Click OK when prompted that the computer account has been added.
  12. Click OK to close the window.

Health Check

Sacha Tomet Finally 1.0 – but never finalized!: XenApp & XenDesktop 7.x Health Check script has now Version 1.0.

Andrew Morgan – New Free Tool: Citrix Director Notification Service: The Citrix Director Notification service sits on an edge server as a service (or local to the delivery controller) and periodically checks the health of:

  • Citrix Licensing.
  • Database Connections.
  • Broker Service.
  • Core Services.
  • Hypervisor Connections.

And if any of these items fall out of bounds, an SMTP alert is sent to the mailbox of your choice for action. The tool will also send “All Clear” emails when these items are resolved, ensuring you are aware when the service has resumed a healthy state.

Related Pages

38 thoughts on “Delivery Controller 7.9 and Licensing”

  1. Hi Carl,

    I have a few questions regards to adding second controller. I’m going to add the dc to the Production site, so just make sure I don’t break the databases.

    1. If the AD account running studio has public and securityadmin server role and db_owner User Mapping then just let studio to modify automatically? Any additional roles and/or permission needed?

    2. If the AD account doesn’t have the above rights and after the dba ran the scripts. what server role and permission in User Mapping needed for the AD account that running studio?

    Thanks!

    Reply

    1. I believe Studio will check for sysadmin permissions.

      Your AD account will need public access to the SQL server so it can enumerate the databases.

      Reply

      2. Hi Carl,

        Assume that the AD account that running Studio has sysadmin role. Are there any potential issues where adding additional Delivery Controllers would break the Citrix database?

        Just wanted to make sure that I’ve covered everything prior to add the delivery controllers to the prod site. Thanks for your input.

        Reply

        1. I’ve never seen any problems when adding a Controller. It adds the SID to a table in the database. Then it adds permission to SQL so the new Controller can access the databases.

          Reply

  2. HI Carl, great site but small error i think regardng the SQL Mirroring verification and the get-configdbconnection

    The powershell screenshot shows a different command get-brokerconnection

    Reply

  3. Hi
    I want to upgrade xenpp from 7.6 to 7.9, could you help me sequence of steps for the upgrade, what things i need to upgrade first and later.. is there any documentation for the same.

    Thanks,
    Sri

    Reply

  4. Hi, Carl! Great site. I have added a 2nd Delivery Controller (DEL02) as outlined above. I was able to successfully add it to the existing site; utilized powershell. Once added I clicked the Test Site and results were all 208 tests passed.

    To validate I removed connectivity from DEL01 (primary Delivery controller) and attempted to launch a session. I logged into SotreFront as the user and none of the applications are presented. If I plug the vNIC back into DEL01 and try again the applications are presented.

    I thought with the 2nd Delivery Controller (DEL02), DEL01 could go offline and I would still be okay.

    Any insight?

    Reply

    1. In StoreFront, go to Store > Manage Delivery Controller. Edit the existing entry and make sure the second Controller is in the list. Same for STAs.

      Reply

  5. Hi Carl,

    Thanks for your valuable postings. I always refer your websites to upgrade the knowledge.

    We have XenDesktop 7.5 ( 2 DDC, 1 SF, a common license server) with MCS ( 50 windows 7 desktops).

    I am planning to upgrade from 7.5 yo 7.9 ( in place upgrade). Seems all clear except one thing.

    My existing license SA date showing as 2015.0821 , license server version 11.11.1 build 13012.

    Do I need to upgrade my license server as part of XenDesktop upgrade ? or Can i keep the same license server version ?

    Thanks in advance.

    Regards
    Aditya

    Reply

    1. License Server version needs to be 11.13.1. It’s a simple in-place upgrade. Or you can build a new License Server.

      Your licenses need a SA date of June of 2016 or later. You can download newer license files from the licensing tool at mycitrix.com.

      Reply

  6. Ok, have 2 DDC, have NS11.2, create lb virtual DDC, at VDA(2012r2) try check connection and it’s “green”, but at Studio – still no luck, VDA with virtual DDC is always in “Unregistred”
    – Carl do you have any idea?

    Reply

    1. Are you trying to load balance the connection between VDAs and Controllers? I don’t think that works due to Kerberos.

      Reply

  7. Hi Carl, Have you tried with XD 7.9 + SCVMM 2012 R2 with Rollup pack 10. Hosting config is not working with Time Out error however the SCVMM console from the same delivery ctrl is working fine.

    Reply

  8. Hi Carl, your website is such a great resource !

    would you know which URLs i would need to whitelist for the Call Home service , we are not too keen on having “Any” destination rules in our firewall and i can’t find the info anywhere ?

    Reply

    1. I assume it’s a 443 connection to cis.citrix.com. I haven’t traced the connection to confirm.

      Reply

  9. Hi Carl, your website is absolute gold! I’m deploying a new XA 7.9 farm, planning to use PVS, do I still need to configure MCS (Hosting Resources step 20)?

    Reply

    1. If you want to use the PvS XenDesktop Setup Wizard, then yes you need Hosting Resources. PvS reads them.

      Reply

  10. Hi Carl,

    stupid question – how do you add NT Service\All SERVICES or NT SERVICE\CITRIXTELEMETRYSERVICE in the group policy management console? I’ve only been able to add in the local policy management console on the server. Can you tell me how to do in the group policy management console so it will apply to servers that are in a certain OU.

    Reply

      1. for some reason it doesn’t always work. and the telemetry service doesn’t work until you install the XD controller software.

        Reply

  11. I am not having the Option “Install Windows Remote Assistance”. Is there something missing on my System or there is Windows Features Need to be installed Prior to XenDesktop. My assumption is that XenDesktop will automatically install the required requirements, that has been my experience in the past.

    What am I missing?

    Thanks.

    Reply

    1. If installing Director, and if Remote Assistance is not currently installed, then Director installation will do it for you, assuming you do the installation from AutoSelect.exe.

      Reply

  12. Very detailed, Thanks Carl
    in our case we are upgrading from 7.6 to 7.9.
    The Citrix documentaion has gaps, any info and links to detailed UPGRADE steps (especially the SQL database upgrade) appreciated.

    Reply

    1. You upgrade one Controller and run Studio.

      There’s a button to upgrade the database. If you have sysadmin permissions on SQL then it will upgrade the database automatically. If you don’t have permission then there’s a button to create scripts. One of the .ps1 scripts shuts down the services on all Controllers so you can run the .sql scripts to upgrade the database. Then run another .ps1 script to restart the Controller services.

      Reply

  13. Hi Carl,

    Do you know how many VDA to register with 1 Controller?
    I’m thinking to plan for promote Delivery Controller more than 1.

    Reply

  14. Hey Carl, do you have a guide on how to separate out to multiple DB’s (site, logging, monitoring) during an upgrade?

    Reply

    1. Either before the upgrade or after the upgrade, go to the Configuration node, select the Logging database or the Monitoring database, and enter a new database name.

      Reply

  15. Hello,
    when im using MCS with RAM Caching and Cache Disk, will be the Cache Disk formatted automatically?

    Reply

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