XENAPP 4 to 6.5

At their core XenApp servers perform the same function as Microsoft Remote Desktop Session Host servers, in other words, they host applications and desktops, which users can connect to. But XenApp is more secure, configurable, faster and expands upon the functionality offered by Microsoft RDS. In this blog post we will briefly look at Architectural components of XenApp 6.5, to get a basic understanding of what function the different components of a Citrix XenApp 6.5 infrastructure serve.

 

Farms

A farm is a group of XenApp servers that can be managed as a single logical entity, can use a single data store database, and can balance the load resulting from requests for published resources in the farm. Published resources are of course applications and desktops, which users can connect to. XenApp 6.5 does not support mixed farms. Which means that a XenApp 6.5 farm must exist of only XenApp 6.5 servers.

Zones

You can think of zones as Active Directory sites, if you are familiar with those. Basically you create a zone for each location or site of your enterprise. If you have a subnet in Chicago and one in New York. You would create a zone for each location. But Citrix generally recommends to only use a single zone. Multiple zones are only recommended in large farms that span WANs

XenApp servers

These are the servers that host applications and desktops, which your users can connect to. XenApp servers deliver online and offline (hosted and streamed) applications on-demand. They can be configured with one of two server roles, worker (session-host mode only) or controller. Worker servers can only host sessions, while controllers can host sessions and act as Data Collectors.

Data Collectors

A Data Collector is a server, which has been configured with the Controller and Session-host mode role. This means that the Data Collector can host sessions, and act as a controller. Data Collectors keep track of dynamic data in a zone, such as for example session and load information. Which means they among other things, are responsible for load balancing of XenApp servers in a farm.

In farms with more than one zone, Data Collectors also act as communication gateways between the zones. Generally, its recommended to not host applications and desktops on XenApp servers that have been configured as Data Collectors. Each zone must have at least one Data Collector. Which means that in a single zone farm, there is also at least one Data Collector.

Datastore Database

The database stores the static information of a XenApp farm. Such as configuration data for the farm, published applications, administrators and printers. The datastore database can be hosted on a SQL Server Express installation running on one of the XenApp servers in a farm. But its recommended to host it on a dedicated SQL Server or Oracle server in medium to large farms.

Worker Groups

You can group servers in Worker Groups, and then manage policies and applications on multiple servers at the same time. You can add servers to Worker Groups manually, or you can base Worker Groups on Active Directory Organizational Units. Which means that all servers in the specified OU, will automatically be members of a specific Worker Group.

License Server

Whenever a user connects to a XenApp server, he needs a license. That license is provided by the License Server. When a user connects to a XenApp server, that server places a request of a license on behalf of the connecting user. Citrix XenApp uses concurrent user licenses, which are licenses that are not tied to specific users. The License is rather tied to a specific user/device combination, and its valid for the duration of the session. If the session ends, the license is returned to the license pool. If a user connects from two different devices, he will consume two licenses.

Web Interface

The Citrix Web Interface provides users access to XenApp applications and content. Users can access their resources through a standard Web browser or through the Citrix Receiver. The XML service on the XML brokers (which must be XenApp servers running the controller role), communicates with the web interface to determine which resources users have access to.

Citrix Receiver

Citrix Receiver (previously known as Citrix Plug-In and ICA Client) is the software client that users use to access published applications and desktops on XenApp farms and servers. Citrix Receiver is available for almost any device and platform, such as for example Android, iOS and Windows.

All XenApp 6.5 farm configuration is stored in a database, known as the IMA Data Store. During the creation of the Data Store, the database where the Data Store will be stored must already exist. In this blog post we will look at how to create the database where you can store data for the IMA Data Store. We will also look at the different components which are, in one way or another, related to the XenApp database, and how they function.

If you want to just read on how to create the XenApp 6.5 database on SQL Server 2008 R2, just skip to the “Creating the Data Store” section.

IMA (Independent Management Architecture)

IMA stands for the Independent Management Architecture, and provides the framework for all server-to-server communication that occurs in a XenApp farm. A service called IMAService runs on all XenApp servers and its the key communication component of a farm. IMA is for example used for communication between AppCenter and the different XenApp servers. Such as when you want to disconnect a user from a particular server, then that will be communicated to the designated server through IMA.

Other examples of IMA usage is when the Data Collector polls for load on different XenApp servers, or when XenApp servers retrieve data from the Data Store, to their Local Host Cache. IMA communicates by default over TCP port 2512. But if you want to perform remote actions on servers from AppCenter, then those actions will be performed over TCP port 2513.

Data Store

The XenApp farm configuration is stored in a database residing on a SQL or Oracle Server. All static information about the farm, such as amount of servers, published applications, defined farm administrators and so on, is stored in this database. When you create the farm, you are prompted to provide credentials of the user who will authenticate to the data store, during creation of it. When farm administrators make a change in the farm configuration, such as adding more administrators, that information is written to the database. Whenever that occurs, credentials of the user designated to authenticate to the data store, will be used to add the information to the database.

You can check who the designated user for database updates is, by opening the mf20.dsn file, which you can by default find at the following location C:\Program Files (x86)\Citrix\Independent Management Architecture

The password of this user will be stored on XenApp servers, in encrypted manner, in the registry.

Local Host Cache

All XenApp servers have an Access database known as the Local Host Cache. Its a file called imalhc.mdb, located at C:\Program Files (x86)\Citrix\Independent Management Architecture. The Local Host Cache contains a subset of the information found in the IMA Data Store. It has two primary functions;

1.  Permit a XenApp server to function even if a connection to the IMA Data Store is not present
2.  Improve performance by caching information locally, which the XenApp server refers to when ICA Clients make application enumeration requests

When a XenApp server joins the farm, its LHC is populated with a subset of information from the data store. The IMA service on the XenApp server, will then periodically check for (or be notified of) updates in the Data Store, and pull any updates to the LHC. If the Data Store is unreachable for the XenApp servers, the LHC contains enough information about the farm to allow normal operations for an indefinite period of time, if necessary. However, no new static information can be published, or added to the farm, until the farm data store is reachable and operational again.

Creating the Data Store

1. Open SQL Server Management Studio console. Click Start > All Programs > Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 > SQL Server Management Studio

2. Provide credentials for a Database Engine Services Administrator, choose the correct server, and click connect.

3. Right-click Databases, and select New Database

4. Enter a database name. You can also set the Initial Size and Autogrowth for both Primary Filegroup and the log file, if you like. I’m just keeping the default settings.

5. Click Ok, and the database will be created.

6. Expand Security, then right-click Logins and choose New Login

7. Click on Search, then choose the user account you want to designate to data store authentication process. Remember to choose a domain account.

8. The designated user only needs to be a member of the Domain Users group. Its the database permissions the user has, that are important. We will set the database permissions in the next step.

9. Next click on User Mapping, and make the selections I have chosen. Make the chosen user account db_owner of the XenAppDB, then change Default Schema to dbo by using the browse button(s).  The user account for installing, upgrading, or applying hotfixes to the data store must have database owner (db_owner) rights to the database.

10. Finally click on OK.

To provide High Availability for a SQL Server 2008 R2 instance, you can install it in a failover cluster. The High Availability will be provided at the instance level. In this blog post, we will look at how to install a SQL Server 2008 R2 Cluster. I’ll be using the SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise edition, but you can actually install Standard Edition in a failover cluster as well. Just keep in mind that, Standard edition can only have 2 nodes in the failover cluster, while Enterprise edition is limited by the maximum nodes for the Operating System. In Windows Server 2008 R2, that would be 16 nodes.

 

1. Prerequisites

1.1 A failover cluster must already be present, before you can start installing SQL Server 2008 R2. If you need to know how to install a failover cluster, just follow this guide.

1.2 You should install the Database files, TempDB files and Log files on separate disks. You can force TempDB onto a local (non shared) disk on each node, but its not a supported solution. You will also need to have a separate shared disk for the MSDTC Service, which will be in its own cluster group. Therefore I have added four shared disks to the failover cluster.

1.3 Install the MSDTC service on the failover Cluster. SQL Server uses the MSDTC service for distributed queries and two-phase commit transactions, as well as for some replication functionality.

1.3.1 Start Failover Cluster Manager. Right-Click Services and applications, and choose Configure a Service or Application. Click Next on the first page of the wizard.
1.3.2 Choose Distributed Transaction Coordinator and then click Next.

1.3.3 Give the Service a name and an IP address, then click Next again.
1.3.4 Select the DTC disk as the storage volume you want to assign it. Then click Next -> Next -> Finish.

1.4 Install the .Net Framework 3.51 feature on all nodes of the Failover Cluster.

 

2. Install SQL Server 2008 R2 on the first node of the Failover Cluster

2.1 Start setup.exe
2.2 Click on Installation, and then choose New SQL Server failover cluster installation

2.3 Setup Support Rules are run, click on OK.

2.4 Enter the product key, then click Next.

2.5 Accept the license terms, click Next.
2.6 Install the Setup Support Files

2.7 Setup Support Rules are ran next, and they might reveal warnings or errors. Review and correct those, if possible.

Microsoft Cluster Service MSCS cluster verification Warning – I skipped some tests, that’s why I’m getting this warning. 

Microsoft .Net Application Security Warning – The machine I am installing SQL Server on, does not have a connection to the internet. Therefore I am getting this warning.

Network binding order – Now this is an interesting warning. Microsoft mentions Ghosted Adapters being the cause in KB955963, but the warning is actually due to the Microsoft Failover Cluster Virtual Adapter, which is always at the top of the binding order, and Microsoft recommends that you should keep it on the top of the binding order, unless you want to experience problems with the Failover Cluster. So basically, you can not get rid of this warning, yet Microsoft does not acknowledge that, and you will receive the same warning in SQL Server 2012.

Windows Firewall Warning – You can see a list of Firewall ports used by the SQL server in this article on Technet.

Just make sure to at least open port 1433, otherwise you will not be able to make remote connections to the SQL Server.

2.8 Next up is the Feature Selection Screen. Choose Database Engine Services, Management Tools- Basic and Management Tools – Complete. You can also install SQL Server Books Online if you like, those are the help files for SQL Server 2008 R2. On a failover cluster, you will have to install SQL Server Replication and Full-Text Search, when you install the Database Engine Services.

When you are done choosing which features you want to install, click Next. Yes, the Shared feature directory will be on a local disk of the node.


2.9 On the Instance Configuration screen, give the SQL Cluster a name. This will be the name of the Clustered SQL server, which the applications will connect to. Keep the default instance name, or name it if you like. Click Next, when done.

2.10 Click Next on the Disk Space Requirements screen.
2.11 Choose the default setting here, and a new cluster resource group named SQL Server (MSSQLSERVER) will be created in the Failover Cluster.

2.12 Choose the three disks that were added to the Failover Cluster as Available Storage at point 1.1

2.13 Assign the clustered SQL Server Instance an appropriate IP Address.

2.14 Just keep the recommended option, and click Next

2.15 You can choose to have different service accounts for the different SQL services, or you can choose to use the same account for all SQL Server services. I’m choosing the latter. In the Collation tab, select the appropriate collation to be used by SQL Server. Finally click Next.

2.16 Specify which authentication mode you would like for the Database Engine, then specify SQL server administrators. As you can see I am choosing Windows authentication mode, and I am choosing to specify a group. Which means that I can just add members to that Active Directory group, whenever I need to give someone administrative access to the Database Engine on this SQL Server installation.

2.17 Click on the Data Directories Tab, and choose where to install the different files. As you can see, I’m installing Database files on G:\, TempDB files on H:\, and all log files on I:\. These three volumes reside on the three disks that were added on point 2.12. Click Next on the Database Engine Configuration screen.

2.18 On the Error Reporting screen, make your choice, then click Next.
2.19 Cluster Installation Rules are ran, click Next.

2.20 Click Install.

2.21 Click Close when the installation completes.

3. Install SQL Server 2008 R2 on the second node of the Failover Cluster

 3.1 Start setup.exe on the second node of the Failover Cluster

3.2 Click on Installation, and then choose Add node to a SQL Server failover cluster

3.3 Setup Support Rules are ran, confirm that each one is passed, and then click OK.
3.4 Enter the Product key, click Next
3.5 Accept the license terms, then click Next again
3.6 Install the Setup Support files
3.7 Setup Support Rules are ran next, and they might reveal warnings or errors. Review and correct those, if possible. Keep in mind that you can not correct the Network Binding Order warning.

3.8 The correct settings should be automatically selected for you on the Cluster Node Configuration screen. Just validate they are correct, and Click Next

3.9 Type in the password for the designated Service Account (which we specified on point 2.15), then click Next

3.10 Make your selection on the Error Reporting screen, Click Next
3.11 Add Node Rules are run, click next.
3.12 Click Install on the Ready to Add Node screen.
3.13 When the installation completes, click Close.

4. Validate the SQL Server 2008 R2 Failover Cluster

 4.1 Start Failover Cluster Manager

4.2 Expand the Services and Applications node, and check the SQL Server (MSSQLSERVER) cluster resource group

4.3 If you right-click SQL Server (MSSQLSERVER), you will have the option to move it to the second node. Feel free to move it back and forth between the two nodes, to verify the failover process.

4.4 On either node, start SQL Server Management Studio, and connect to the clustered SQL Server. Notice the name of the SQL server

5. Installing Patches on the nodes of the Failover Cluster

 5.1 Install the patch or Service Pack to the passive node first, then move the cluster resources to this node so it will become active. Then install patch or Service Pack on the node which has now become passive.

5.2 So go ahead and install SP3, its pretty much a next -> next -> finish session.

The Citrix Web Interface provides users access to XenApp 6.5 applications and content. It is also used by XenDesktop. Users can access their resources through a standard Web browser or through the Citrix Receiver. The XML service on the designated XML brokers (which must be XenApp servers running the controller role), communicates with the web interface to determine which resources users have access to.

In this blog post we will look at how to install the Citrix Web Interface. We will also review the communication process of the Web Interface, and the two types of Web Interface sites that are available.

Web Interface communication process

1. A user submits logon credentials through a Web Interface logon page
2. Web Interface forwards the credentials to the Citrix XML service, running on one or more (designated) XenApp servers with the Controller role.
3. The XenApp server forwards the credentials to a Domain Controller for authentication
4. Once the user has been authenticated, the XML Service retrieves a list of resources, which the user has access to, from the IMA subsystem

5. The Web Interface presents the resources to the user device. The user clicks an application icon
6. Web Interface contacts the XML Service on the Data Collector of the zone, to locate the least busy XenApp server, which is hosting the application the user wants to start. The Data Collector requests a secure ticket for the user from the least busy server.

7. The Data Collector returns the address of the least busy server and the secure ticket for the user to the Web Interface. The Web Interface server dynamically generates an ICA file, called launch.ica, and sends it to the web browser on the user device

8. The User initiates a connection with the server specified in the connection information of the ICA file.

1. Installation of prerequisites

1.1 Download and install Microsoft Visual J# 2.0 Redistributable Package – Second Edition. You can also find it on the XenApp media (in the XenAppMedia:\Support\JSharp20_SE folder)

1.2 Install the Windows Process Activation Service Feature

1.3 Install the .Net 3.5.1 Feature (only .Net FrameWork 3.5.1, you don’t need WCF Activation)
1.4 Install the IIS role, with the following role services

4. Install the Web Interface

4.1 Installing Citrix Web Interface 5.4

This concludes the installation of the first XenApp server in a XenApp 6.5 farm, and the installation of the different infrastructure servers required for a XenApp 6.5 farm installation. In a future blog post, we will look at the initial configuration of a XenApp 6.5 farm.

1.4.1 Web Server

• Common HTTP Features
  Static Content
  Default Document
  HTTP Errors
  HTTP Redirection
• Application Development
  ASP.Net
  .NET Extensibility
  ISAPI Extensions
  ISAPI Filters
• Security
  Windows Authentication
  Client Certificate Mapping Authentication
  Request Filtering

1.4.2 Management Tools

• IIS Management Scripts And ToolsIIS 6 Management Compatibility
  IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility
  IIS 6 WMI Compatibility
  IIS 6 Scripting Tools
  IIS 6 Management Console

 

2. Installation of Citrix Web Interface 5.4

2.1 Start WebInterface.exe
2.2 Select Language
2.3 Click Next

2.4 Accept the license agreement, then click Next
2.5 Specify Installation Location, click Next

2.6 Specify the location from where the files for the Citrix Receiver and Plug-ins can be copied, if you like. Or just click Next. If you want to use the Citrix Receiver and Plug-ins provided with the XenApp media, you can specify the XenAppMedia:\Citrix Receiver and Plug-ins folder

2.7 Click Next

2.8 The Citrix Web Interface will be installed.
2.9 Click Next, to start creating sites

 

3. Types of Web Interface sites

XenApp Web – A XenApp Web site allows users to access applications, desktops and content using a web browser. You type in the address of the web site, to access the log on page.

XenApp Services – This type of site allows users to access applications, desktops and content using a Citrix plug-in. The content will be made available to users on their desktop and start menu for example.

It’s important to remember that, even when accessing the XenApp web site type, you’ll still need to have Citrix Receiver or plug-in installed on your device. Let’s go ahead and create a XenApp web site. When you click Finish on step 3.9, you will be presented with the Citrix Web Interface Management Console.

3.1 Right-click Citrix Web Interface, then choose Create Site

3.2 The default choice is XenApp Web, so just click Next

3.3 On the Create Site page, you can make a few choices. Just keep the default ones, but you can put a check mark next to Set as the default page for the IIS site, if you like. If you do this, you can just provide the name or IP address of the Web Interface server to connect to the XenApp Web site, instead of having to provide the complete path, such as WebInterface01 instead of WebInterface01/Citrix/XenApp. Click next when done.

3.4 Keep the default settings, then click Next.

3.5 Click Next, and the site will be created.

3.6 Click Next, to start configuring the site

3.7 Type the name of the farm. Then provide which servers will be acting as XML brokers. These must be XenApp servers running the controller role. Then provide the port used to communicate with the XML service on these servers, and finally choose Transport type. Click Next. For the farm we will set up, the settings in the screen shot are correct.

3.8 I’ll discuss these in a later blog post, for now, just keep Explicit and click Next.

3.9 Provide the name of your domain, then click Next

3.10 Keep the default setting of Minimal, then click Next

3.11 Once again, keep the default settings, click Next. The different settings are adequately explained on the page itself. 

3.12 On the Confirm Settings page, click Finish.
 3.13 The site will be created

3.14 Start your web browser, write the name of your Web Interface server, and press Enter. You should be presented with the following screen. 
If your server is not connected to the internet, the page will show “loading now” for a while, before you are presented with this screen. This issue is caused by a CRL check sent to Verisign. If the Web Interface server cannot access the internet, the CRL check fails and times out.

This is a step-by-step guide on how to install Citrix XenApp 6.5, in this guide we will go through the installation of the first XenApp server in a XenApp 6.5 farm. We will also install the different infrastructure servers required for a XenApp 6.5 farm installation. Citrix XenApp 6.5 for Windows Server 2008 R2 is an on-demand application delivery solution that enables any application to be virtualized, centralized, and managed in the datacenter and instantly delivered self-service to users anywhere, on pretty much any device.

Basic XenApp terminology and infrastructure were explained in this blog post.

The test lab in this guide will comprise of four Windows Server 2008 R2 servers, and they will perform the following roles

DC01: This will be Domain Controller in the contoso.com domain
DB01: This will be the database server, where we will install a SQL Server 2008R2 instance, and store the XenApp database
LS01: On this server, we will install the Remote Desktop License Server role, Citrix License Server and Citrix Web Interface
XA01: This will be the XenApp 6.5 server, where we will install XenApp 6.5

 

1. Install the Citrix License Server

We are going to perform this installation on LS01. Just click the links, and you can view the blog post, which details the installation of the different components.

1.1 Installing Remote Desktop License Server. Install it completely as outlined in the blog post. But if you are just going to build a test lab, you obviously don’t have to Install RD CALs.

1.2 Installing Citrix License Server

 

2. Install the SQL Server instance

This installation will be performed on DB01
2.1 Installing SQL Server 2008 R2
2.2 Creating DB for XenApp 6.5

 

3. Install XenApp 6.5

3.1 Start the installation procedure by running autorun.exe
3.2 Click Install XenApp Server

3.3 You will be prompted to install .Net 3.5 SP1, just click OK. Citrix XenApp Setup will automatically install it for you.

3.4 After a while, you will be presented with this screen. Choose Add server roles

3.5 Select Platinum Edition. This will give you the opportunity to test as many features of XenApp 6.5 as possible. The evaluation licenses are valid for all three editions, so might as well go for the most feature-rich edition

3.6 Accept the license terms and click next.
3.7 Select to install XenApp, then click Next

3.8 Click Next

3.9 You will now be presented with a list of prerequisites that will be automatically installed before the setup will install XenApp. Click Next

3.10 As you can see, installation of the prerequisites will also require a reboot. Just click Next, and then click Install to start installing prerequisites.

3.11 Click Finish.

3.12 Click Reboot, and answer Yes on Restart Confirmation prompt to reboot the server.

3.13 Log on to the server again, and the installation will resume. If it does not, just start the XenApp Server Role Manager from the start menu. Then click Resume Install.

3.14 Click Install

3.15 Click Finish

3.16 Click Specify Licensing

3.17 Specify name of the License Server, and which port you are going to use to communicate with it, then click Test Connection, to test the connection.

3.18 Click Close, and then click Next on the Enter License Server Information page
3.19 On the Select Licensing Model page, choose XenApp, and then click Apply

3.20 Click Configure to start configuring the XenApp server

3.21 Since this is the first XenApp server, we will obviously have to create a new server farm, so choose that option

3.22 Give the farm a name, and then choose the first administrator account for the farm. The user performing the installation, will by default be the first administrator. You can change it here if you like, and you can obviously add more administrators later on. Best practice is naturally to add groups and not single users. In any case, click Next when you are done.

3.23 Select Existing Microsoft SQL Server database, then click Next

3.24 Fill in the name of the Database Server and the Database itself, then click Next

3.25 Enter credentials of the user who will authenticate to the data store, then test the connection. Verify that the test completed successfully, then click Next.

3.26 Keep the default configuration here, and click Next. Remember that if you prohibit shadowing here, the setting will be permanent, so it’s best to allow it during installation, and then override the setting later with policies, if you don’t want to allow shadowing.

3.27 Since this is the first and only server in the farm, it must run in Controller mode. Specify a custom name for the zone if you like. Then click on XML Service

3.28 Since we did not configure IIS and XML Service integration at the start of the installation procedure, its best to use a custom port for the XML service. Citrix recommends that you use port 8080. Specify the port, and then click on Receiver

3.29 Specify the name of the Web Interface Server, then click on Remote Desktop Users

3.30 Make any changes if you like, then click on Next
3.31 Click Apply

3.32 Click Finish

3.33 Finally click Reboot, to restart your XenApp server.

 

Adding printers can be cumbersome for non-tech savvy users. Fortunately, you can use the Printer Location Tracking feature to make this process easier for them. When you enable PLT, only printers in the users’ own location will be listed in the Add Printer Wizard by default, when they try to add a network printer.

Enabling Printer Location Tracking

For Printer Location Tracking to work, you need to enable the Group Policy setting related to PLT. You also need to have a subnet scheme, which corresponds to the physical layout of your organization’s network. In addition, you need to define subnet objects in Active Directory Sites and Services, and you need to set the location field of both subnet objects in AD Sites and Services and the printers on the print servers.

 

1. Enable GPO setting

1.1 The GPO setting you need to enable is called Pre-populate printer search location text, and is found at

Computer Configuration→ Policies → Administrative Templates → Printers

1.2 Once the setting has been enabled, you must link that GPO to the OU where your client machines are located.

 

2. Set location of printers

 

2.1 On your print server, start Print Management, and browse to the Printers of your Print Server

2.2 Open the properties sheet of your printers, and set the Location field accordingly

2.3 Make sure that the shared printers on the Print Server are published in Active Directory

 

3. Set location of Subnet objects

 

3.1 Open Active Directory Sites and Services, then click the Subnets folder
3.2 As you can see, I have three different subnets, located at three different sites. But their Location field has yet not been populated.

3.3 Open the Properties sheet of a subnet object, and then populate the Location field on the Location tab.

3.4 Repeat the procedure for all of your subnet objects.

 

4. User’s point of view

 

4.1 On a Windows 7 client machine, click Add a printer in the Devices and Printers folder

4.2 Then click Add a network, wireless or Bluetooth printer

4.3 All the printers in your location/subnet will be listed

This client machine belongs to the 192.168.0.0/24 subnet, so all printers from that subnet has been listed

4.4 If you want to add printers from another location/subnet, then click on The Printer that I want isn’t listed

4.5 Now choose Find a printer in the directory, based on location or feature, then click Next

4.6 You will notice that at first the printers from your own location will be listed. But now you can add more columns to view the different features and settings of the printers

4.7 Click View → Choose Columns, to add or remove columns

4.8 If you want to add printers from another location, click Browse

4.9 And you will be able to add printers from any location you have defined on your subnet objects

What is Citrix Server?

A server solution that uses Microsoft Terminal Services software to deliver Windows applications to PCs, Apple Macintosh computers, X terminals and UNIX workstations. This enables users of those systems to access and use those programs which are available to those using the Windows operating system. Citrix servers use two technologies; WinFrame and Independent Computing Architecture (ICA).

What is ICA?

Short for Independent Computing Architecture, ICA is a protocol designed specifically for transmitting Windows graphical display data as well as keyboard and mouse input over a network. ICA is one of two technologies used by Citrix servers, the other being WinFrame.

ICA file A text file (with the extension ica) containing information about a published
application. ICA files are written in Windows ini file format and organize
published application information in a standard way that MetaFrame
Presentation Server Clients can interpret. When a client receives an ICA file, it
initializes a session running the application on the server specified in the file.
ICA protocol The protocol that MetaFrame Presentation Server Clients use to format
user input (keystrokes, mouse clicks, and so forth) and address it to servers for
processing. Servers use the ICA protocol to format application output (display,
audio, and so forth) and return it to the client device.

What is WinFrame?

A technology developed by Citrix Systems that turns Windows NT into a multi-user operating system. Together with another Citrix technology called ICA, WinFrame enables a Windows NT server to function like a minicomputer. The result is that network users on non-Windows machines (e.g., Macintoshes, DOS systems, and UNIX machines) can run Windows applications. The actual applications are executed on the WinFrame Application Server; the client machines are just terminals, used only for entering user input and displaying application output.

The ICA protocol is responsible for sending input and output between the client machines and the WinFrame server. Conceptually, the protocol is similar to X-Window, which serves the same purpose for UNIX systems.

What is Farm?

Farm is a collection of citrix servers which provide published applications to all users. It also prevents single of failure of all citrix servers due to load balanced capabilities.

What is the default ICA Port number?

Connections without session reliability 1494
Connections with session reliability 2598

1. What are the different types of Presentation Server
Enterprise Edition : Standard + Advance Edition +Citrix Resource Manager , Citrix Installation Mgr
Advanced Edition : Standard Edition + Citrix Load Manager
Standard Edition : MPS Access suite Licensing, Core MetaFrame PS software, Web Interface for MPS , Citrix secure Gateway, Legacy MPS 1.8
2. Presentation Server Components:
A: MetaFrame Access Suite Licensing
Access Suite Console
MetaFrame Presentation Server
Presentation Server Console
Document Center

3. What are the different Citrix Clients available
A: Program Neighborhood
Program Neighborhood Agent
Web Client
Java Client

4. What are the services available in Citrix
A: ADF Installer Service
CPU Utilization Mgmt/Resource Mgmt service
CPU Utilization Mgmt/User-Session Sync Service
Citrix Licensing WMI Service
Citrix Print Manager Service
Citrix SMA Service (Switch Monitoring and Accessories)
Citrix Virtual Memory Optimization Service
Citrix WMI Service
Citrix XTE Service
Diagnostic Facility COM Service
Encryption Service
Independent Management Architecture Service
License Management Console for Citrix Licensing Service
MetaFrame COM Server Service
Resource Manager Mail Service
Secure Gateway Service
5. Default ICA port
A: 1494
NOTE: Default ICA port is a common question to ask in the interview: Apart from this, should be ready with all Port details which are related to the citrix environment.
Port Name Port Number
Default listening port for Citrix XML Service: 80
CMC, SSL : 443
Server to SQL : 1433
ICA : 1494
UDP port used for client broadcast : 1604
IMA : 2512, 2513
Session Reliability : 2598
Licensing : 27000
6. Command to put the server into install mode
A: change user /install
NOTE: Normally whenever we install the device on the OS, we use the "Change user /Install" and after finishing the installation task we need to execute from the mode to use "change user /execute".
7. What is Local Host Cache (LHC) and what is the purpose of
A: The Local Host Cache is the name of the Microsoft Access Database that is created locally on every MPS server and that stores portions of the Data Store to keep the server functioning in the event of an outage. If the Data Store goes off line, the server continuous to function normally using the LHC database for up to 48 hours.
It ensures that pertinent data is accessible locally even of the data store database is unavailable.
8. Which types of persistent data are contained in the Presentation Server Farm Data Store?
A: Printer Drivers and mappings
Published Applications configurations
Presentation Server Administrator Accounts
9. What is the purpose of the Data Store and What is contained in the Data Store database?
A: The Data Store is a database that stores all the configuration information needed by the Citrix Farm. Any time you make configuration changes to MetaFrame Server, the changes are recorded in the Data Store. In this respect, if you are adding a new MetaFrame Server to spread the user load of an application, this new server can get all the information by tapping into the Data Store.
The information stored in the Data Store includes:
Published Application, Server Configuration, User Configuration and Print Environment. This thus means all persistent data for all servers in a particular farm.
10. Purpose of the Data Collector
A: it keeps the information about the published application, user’s session, Zones etc.
11. Purpose of Zones.
A: Zone is subset of Farm and is designed so that we could use Farm as a unit. Zone contains member servers and one of them is ZDC (Zone Data Collectors) in each zone. These ZDCs communicate between zones. Zones are very helpful in controlling traffic.
13. Which component manages the servers running Presentation by integrating with third-party management consoles such as HP Open View?
A: Network Manager
Explanation: Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is known and widely used by various organizations for the purposes of monitoring their systems. Companies can use third-party tools such Microsoft Operations Management (MOM), HP Open View, or various other tools to monitor and manage their servers. In addition, if you are using Enterprise Edition of MetaFrame, you can use Citrix Network Manager as an SNMP agent to gather farm wide performance monitoring and management information.
14. What are two technical considerations for deciding to create more than one farm in a Presentation Server environment?
A: The Geographical Location of the servers and The type of network connection between the servers.
15. An administrator must consider which three factors when deciding which type of database to use in a farm?
A: Number of Users
Number of Applications
Number of servers running Presentation Server
17. How to change the ICA port.
Change value of TCP/IP port for ICA Terminal Sessions.
ICAPORT {/QUERY | /PORT:num | /RESET}
/QUERY Query current setting.
/PORT:num Change the TCP/IP port to 'num'.
/RESET Reset the TCP/IP port to 1494.
18. How to change the xml service port.
A: Use the command line utility ctxxmlss
From the services applet stop the xml service
At a command prompt type:
ctxxmlss /u
ctxxmlss /rxxxx (where xxxx is the new port number)
RESTART the xml service from the services applet.
19. The ports for server-to-server communication and CMC ports.
IMA : 2512, 2513
22. IMA (Independent Management Architecture) service used for what
A: The IMA Services checks about the connection between the Citrix Presentation Sever and Citrix Management Console.
It has separate Management architecture from the Windows Management architecture.
It links with MetaFrame COM Server to provide COM Services, so that individual servers can be removed from the Citrix Management Console.
38. After installing the new Citrix Client my Icons are Upside Down. What Gives?
A: This problem has been traced back to two possible solutions involving the video drivers.
The following seemed to have resolved the problem.
First in Win9.x clients (where this has been a frequent issue)try decreasing the graphics acceleration setting in Control Panel\System\Performance.
If this does not work try to obtain the latest video drivers from the cards manufacturer for the graphics adapter and installing them.

39. How do I disable floppy drive access during a Citrix Session Logon?
A: Run regedt32.exe
Edit the key listed below:
“ HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogin\Parse”
Autoexec REG_SZ=1
Change the value from 1 to 0
Ensure that the Windows Explorer view is set to a view different than "Details"
40. I have a program that will only work if it is install mode any ideas?
A: Try adding the directory the program is in to the default path
by going into the system control panel applet and adding it under the
environment variables.
Or copy out the ini and dll file of the program out to each users windows/system32 folder in their home directory.
Some programs have a temp variable in their ini files. You may need to edit the location of the temp variable to point to the users home temp directory instead of the NT/Temp directory location. This should resolve the problem.
41. How do I Disable Print Drivers from Automatically Updating the DataStore?
A: When a new printer or printer driver was installed on a MetaFrame server, a substantial amount of traffic (in the order of 8 to 10MB per second) occurred between the IMA Service and the data store the IMA Service was using. This occurred because the IMA Service needed to update the Management Console for MetaFrame XP with the information about the new printer or printer driver, which caused the huge amount of network traffic.

To resolve this problem, navigate to the following registry key and change the value of fDisablePrinterWorkerThread to 1:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Citrix\IMAPrinter
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: fDisablePrinterWorkerThread = 1

After you make this change to the registry, restart the IMA Service for the change to take effect.

NOTE: When the registry switch is set to 1, the IMA Service does not automatically update printer or
printer driver information to the Management Console. You need to update this information manually. To do this, click Printer Management in the left panel of the Management Console and then double-click Update Printer and Driver.
This setting is valid with: (or their equivalents)
MetaFrame XP Feature Release 3 for Windows 2000 and hot fix XE103W2K057
MetaFrame XP Service Pack 2 for TSE 4.0 and hot fix XE102T024.

Both MetaFrame XP Feature Release 3 for Windows 2000 & MetaFrame Presentation Server 3.0 for Windows 2000
and 2003 contain the code need for the registry change.
Ensure the latest MfPrintSs.dll is installed on the server.
NOTE:
If you’re interviewing, you want somebody who has a good solid overall understanding of Citrix and how it fits into the organization etc.
So as well as those questions, I'd be asking them how they would bring new sites online. I'd want them to know how web interface and CSG work and to tell me the process when users connect using these products to launch their apps.
I would tell them about your setup and ask them how you could improve it.
Also you will want to know what they know about Terminal Services. I'm amazed at how many questions here get asked about the TS license server. Most seem to not even know it needs to be loaded.

42. How do I remove a dead server from the Citrix Management Console?
A: Run DSVERIFY SERVERS /CLEAN /FORCE to optimize the Data Store.
DSVerify can be run rom any server in the farm.
Dsverify is available here.
Metaframe Feature Release 3 has a new command line tool called DSCHECK works in a similar way:
DSCHECK /CLEAN

43. What is relay Program Neighborhood The user interface for the Program Neighborhood Client that
lets users view the published applications they are authorized to use in the
server farm. Program Neighborhood allows access to application sets and
custom ICA connections.
44. What is relay Program Neighborhood Agent The Program Neighborhood Agent allows you to
deliver published applications directly to users’ desktops so users can access
links to published applications with or without a Web browser. With the
Program Neighborhood Agent, links to published applications appear in the
Start menu, on the Windows desktop, or in the Windows notification area.
Remote applications are integrated into the desktop and appear to the user as
local applications. You must use the Web Interface for MetaFrame
Presentation Server to use the Program Neighborhood Agent.
45. What is relay published application An application installed on a server or server farm that is
configured for multi-user access from MetaFrame Presentation Server Clients.
With Load Manager, you can manage the load for published applications
among servers in the farm. With Program Neighborhood and the Web
Interface, you can push a published application to your users’ client desktops.
46 What is relay listening port? The TCP port on a computer running MetaFrame Presentation
Server that the Citrix SSL Relay monitors for data from a Web server.
What is seamless window One of the settings you can specify for the window size property of
a published application. If a published application runs in a seamless window,
the user can take advantage of all the client platform’s window management
features, such as resizing, minimizing, and so forth.
47 What is Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)/Transport Layer Security (TLS) A standards-based
architecture for encryption, authentication, and message integrity. It is used to
secure the communications between two computers across a public network,
authenticate the two computers to each other based on a separate trusted
authority, and ensure that the communications are not tampered with. SSL/
TLS supports a wide range of cipher suites.
48 What is server A server on which MetaFrame Presentation Server software is running. You
can publish applications, content, and desktops for remote access by clients on
these servers.
What is server farm A group of computers running MetaFrame Presentation Server and
managed as a single entity, with some form of physical connection between
servers and a database used for the farm’s data store.
49. What is session ID A unique identifier for a specific client session on a specific computer
running MetaFrame Presentation Server.
50 What is Independent Management Architecture (IMA) Citrix’s server-to-server infrastructure
that provides robust, secure, and scalable tools for managing any size server
farm. Among other features, IMA enables centralized platform-independent
management, an ODBC-compliant data store, and a suite of management
products that plug in to Presentation Server Console.
51. What is Citrix XML Service A Windows service that provides an HTTP interface to the ICA
browser. It uses TCP packets instead of UDP, which allows connections to
work across most firewalls. The default port for the Citrix XML Service is 80.
52. What is shadowing A feature that enables an authorized user to remotely join or take control
of another user’s client session for diagnosis, training, or technical support.
What is Speed Screen Latency Reduction A combination of technologies implemented in ICA
that decreases bandwidth consumption and total packets transmitted, resulting
in reduced latency and consistent performance regardless of network
connection.
53. What is universal printing
When you use universal printing you do not need to install and
duplicate a potentially large set of native printer drivers in your server farm.
The universal printer drivers can replace multiple native printer drivers that
would otherwise be needed in diverse printing environments. MetaFrame
Presentation Server Clients can work with universal drivers depending on the
client device’s version and platform.
54. What is Windows-Based Terminal (WBT)
A fixed-function thin-client device that can run applications only by connecting to a server. WBTs cannot run applications locally.
55. What is zone
A logical grouping of computers running MetaFrame Presentation Server,
typically related to the underlying network subnets. All servers in a zone
communicate with the server designated as the data collector for the zone.
56. What is zone data collector
A computer that stores dynamic data for one zone in a farm.
Examples of dynamic data include current server load, the number of current
user sessions, and the applications currently running in user sessions on a
specified server.
57. What is local host cache A local subset of the server farm data store information. This file is
present on all computers running MetaFrame Presentation Server. See also
data store.
ICA file A text file (with the extension ica) containing information about a published
application. ICA files are written in Windows ini file format and organize
published application information in a standard way that MetaFrame
Presentation Server Clients can interpret. When a client receives an ICA file, it
initializes a session running the application on the server specified in the file.
ICA protocol The protocol that MetaFrame Presentation Server Clients use to format
user input (keystrokes, mouse clicks, and so forth) and address it to servers for
processing. Servers use the ICA protocol to format application output (display,
audio, and so forth) and return it to the client device.

Client installation

The user is able to authenticate at the Citrix login page. After clicking on an application, the user receives the error: Connecting through Citrix secured gateway. Error reading from proxy server.
Uninstall and reinstall the Citrix client. Only the web plugin component should be installed.

Temporary internet files

The user is prompted to save the launch.ica file. If the user saves the file and double-clicks it, Citrix opens but then displays an error: The Citrix SSL server is not accepting connections.
Try clearing the browser’s temporary internet files. If this doesn’t resolve the issue, follow the instructions for adding the site to IE’s Trusted Sites, above. (Strangely, the resolution in a few tickets is to reboot the router.)

Session reconnection

The user is able to authenticate at the Citrix login page. After clicking on an application, the user receives the error: There are no existing applications available for reconnection.
This is simply an informational message stating there are no pre-existing apps to reconnect to. It can be ignored if the user is not having an issue launching applications.

Resolving common Citrix issues

Generally

In nearly all cases, using the Native client is recommended over the Java client. See the section Changing the client for instructions.
To check/change the current client, click on the Advanced Options link on the login screen. Under “Remote client type”, the Native client should be currently selected.
Many issues are resolved by confirming that the local computer’s system clock is correct, deleting temporary internet files, and/or uninstalling then reinstalling the Citrix client. The Beyond site should be added to the Trusted Sites list in IE (see below).
Note that connecting to a user’s computer via a Webex support session installs a WebEx Document Loader virtual printer on that computer and sets it as the default printer.

Client installation issues.

The wrong client software has been installed

Opening Citrix causes a window to open asking “What is the address of the server hosting your published resources.” There is a space to fill in the server name. The sample answer is https://servername
Uninstall and reinstall the Citrix client. Only the web plugin component should be installed.

Issues at the Citrix login page

Error messages to do with ‘invalid credentials’

This error is typically caused by an incorrectly typed password, PIN, or keyfob number; a domain password out of sync with the Novell password; or a keyfob in next tokencode mode.

Client software not detected

Before the user authenticates at the Citrix login page, the following warning is displayed in the Message Center:
We are unable to detect the appropriate client software on your computer to allow you to launch your applications. Click here to obtain the client software
If the IE yellow warning bar is visible, click on it to install the Citrix Helper Control (an Active X control). Otherwise, if the software has been installed, click on the “Click here to obtain the client software” link, then click on either the Allow button or yellow bar to install the Citrix Helper Control, or click on the “Already Installed” link.
Adding the Beyond site to the Trusted Sites list in IE should allow the Active X control to run without prompting (see below).

Issues after successfully authenticating at the Citrix login web page

 

 

IE Trusted Sites

The user is able to authenticate at the Citrix login page and the applications are available, but the user sees the following warning in the Message Center:
Current browser security restrictions may prevent you from launching applications, or may require your explicit permission to proceed. To launch an application successfully, save the launch file if prompted and double-click the file to start the application.
This message appears only in Internet Explorer. Firefox and Chrome do not produce the warning. If the user is able to connect to the applications, the message can be ignored.
If the user is unable to connect, the resolution is to add the site to the Trusted Sites list in Internet Explorer:
In Internet Explorer, navigate to https://beyond.vedderprice.com
Click Tools -> Internet Options -> Security tab.
Click the Trusted Sites checkmark icon, then click the Sites button.
Confirm that the URL https://beyond.vedderprice.com appears in the top box, and click the Add button. Click Close and OK to return to the login screen.
Log in.

Client software not detected

The user is able to authenticate at the Citrix login page. Instead of a page displaying the available applications, the user sees a page displaying with the following warning:
Download Client Software. We are unable to detect the appropriate client software on your computer to allow you to launch your applications.
If you wish to download and deploy the client software to allow you to launch your applications, click Download.
If the IE yellow warning bar is visible, click on it to install the Citrix Helper Control (an Active X control). Otherwise, click on the ‘Already Installed’ link under Troubleshooting Options at the right-hand side of the page.

Temporary internet files

The user is prompted to save the launch.ica file. If the user saves the file and double-clicks it, Citrix opens but then displays an error: The Citrix SSL server is not accepting connections.
Try clearing the browser’s temporary internet files. If this doesn’t resolve the issue, follow the instructions for adding the site to IE’s Trusted Sites, above. (Strangely, the resolution in a few tickets is to reboot the router.)

Client installation

The user is able to authenticate at the Citrix login page. After clicking on an application, the user receives the error:  Connecting through Citrix secured gateway. Error reading from proxy server.
Uninstall and reinstall the Citrix client. Only the web plugin component should be installed.

 

 

Session reconnection

The user is able to authenticate at the Citrix login page. After clicking on an application, the user receives the error:
There are no existing applications available for reconnection.
This is simply an informational message stating there are no pre-existing apps to reconnect to. It can be ignored if the user is not having an issue launching applications.

MSLicensing registry key

The user is able to authenticate at the Citrix login page. After clicking on an application, the user receives one of the following errors: There is no route to the specified subnet address or The Citrix MetaFrame server is not available. Please try again later.
To resolve, delete the MSLicensing registry key.
Click on the Start button, select Run and type in “regedit”.
Click OK.
The registry editor window will open.
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSLicensing.
Click once on MSLicensing so it is highlighted and then hit the Delete key.
Close the registry editor and attempt to login to Citrix.

Issues at the Novell Client window

Connecting to the wrong application

The user receives the following error message in Citrix after entering a username and password at the Novell Client window:
The system could not log you into the network.
Make sure your name and connection information are correct, then type your password again.
The user is likely trying to connect to the wrong application. For example, a Chicago user may have clicked on the DC Desktop application.

Reconnecting to a session

The user receives the following error message in Citrix after successfully authenticating at the Novell Client window: Connection error: You have not been granted access to this published application
This issue can be resolved by a Citrix administrator. It may be due to an issue with a prior ‘disconnected’ session not connecting correctly. The administrator can reset the session.

Printer unavailable issues

The user cannot find the local printer in the list of available printers.
Disconnect from Citrix, set the local printer to be the default printer, confirm that the Native Client is the selected Citrix client under Advance Options, and reconnect to Citrix. If the printer is still missing, uninstall and reinstall the Citrix client.

Printer offline issues

While connected to Citrix, the user receives periodic messages having to do with ‘a network printer is offline’.
Check the physical printer. It is likely jammed or out of paper. It may also be that the printer is set to accept only certain paper types or sizes.
Confirm that the printer driver in Citrix is correct for that model printer.

Print jobs are not processed

In Citrix, a single print spooler is shared by all connections. A large print job can delay all other jobs, or a stuck job may prevent any other jobs from being processed. After ruling out other causes, contact the Citrix administrator to resolve.

MacPac

The user receives various errors when using MacPac.
If the user’s H: drive user folder is missing a \MacPac\Personal\ folder, copy yours to the user’s folder.

Lag

Latency is the primary cause of poor performance in Citrix. Latency can be roughly measured by pinging the URL of the login server. Latency greater than 100ms will result in lag and other problems. An example of lag is when the user types in a Word document but the text doesn’t appear on the screen for a few moments, then catches up all at once.

Citrix window not responding

Shortly (and sometimes immediately) after authenticating at the Novell Client window, the Citrix window will stop responding.
The fix is to give the user full rights to the MSLicensing key.
Open Regedit and navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSLicensing
Right-click on the MSLicensing key and select Permissions.
Under the Security tab, click on Users to highlight it.
Check the box in the Allow column next to Full Control.
Click OK and close Regedit.

Accessing the local machine’s hard drive

Once in Citrix, right-click on the Start button in the Citrix environment and select Explore.
Browse the list of drives in the left-hand pane and locate “C$ on ‘Client’ (C:)“. This is the local workstation’s C: drive. Click on the drive to open it.

How to allow Citrix access to the local machine’s hard drive and USB devices (including printers)

The first time you connect to Citrix, you’ll be shown a ICA Client File Security setting window where you can choose what access to your local machine you wish to grant to Citrix. You are also able to choose to “Never ask me again”.
If you need to later change these settings, follow the appropriate steps below (try the ‘newer clients’ step first).
Newer clients:
While connected to Citrix, double-click on the Citrix Connection Center icon in the system tray of the local machine. Click on the Security icon to configure the Session Security options for Files, Microphones/Webcams, PDA Devices, and USB/Other Devices.
Older clients:
Disconnect from Citrix. On the local machine, delete the webica.ini file under C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\ICAClient. When you next reconnect to Citrix, you’ll be shown the ICA Client File Security setting window again.

Citrix Program Neighborhood

How to minimize the Citrix window to view the local machine’s desktop.
Shift+F2

SSL Errors

SSL error 61 (the server certificate received is not trusted)
Run Windows Updates and update the root certificates.
SSL error 68 (the SSL certificate is not yet valid)
Set the local system clock to the current date and time.
SSL error 70 (the SSL certificate is no longer valid)
Set the local system clock to the current date and time.
SSL/TLS error: The certificate validation failed.
Confirm that the Native client, not the Java client, is in use by clicking on the Advanced Options link on the login screen.

Changing the client

Changing the client from Java to Native resolves a good number of connection problems. The only time the Java client is preferable is when OS X 10.6.6 is used with a particular release of the Mac Citrix Client and the local default printer is not available in Citrix.
To change the client, at the Citrix web interface login screen, click on the Advanced Options link below the Passcode field. The area below the Advanced Options link will expand.
(Click any of the thumbnails below to see the full-sized image.)

The Advanced Options area

Click on the link Click here to change the selected client. You’ll be taken to the Client Selection page. If the Native Client shows a status of Not detected, click on Deploy to the right of Native Client.

The Client Selection page

If the Native client cannot be detected by the browser, but you’re certain it has been installed, click on the Already Installed link at the right of the Client Detection and Download page. If there’s any doubt that the latest client is installed, click on Download and install the Citrix Online Web plugin.

The Client Detection and Download page

You may be returned to the Client Selection page. Once the Native Client has been deployed, choose it from the Default Client menu and click OK.
Return to the web interface login page and confirm that the Native Client is listed as the currently selected client under Advanced Options, then log in normally.

*************************************END***************************************

The UPD Fails to Install

A few possible reasons are as follows:

1. The spooler was stopped/hung during the install.

2. The spooler service is set other than “local system” or account that is installing MetaFrame XP.

3. Console Error, Digital Signature Not Found. This is unusual because the HP LaserJet Series II driver is signed. A policy that disallows the addition of print drivers may be configured

4. There is a possible sequence in the upgrade path in MetaFrame XP.

CTX105821 - Error: Printer rundll command failed.

CTX105860 - How to Re-install the MetaFrame PCL5c Universal Driver

Print Jobs Appear to have an Increased Size when using the UPD with MetaFrame XP and MetaFrame Presentation Server 3.0

Autocreated/universal print driver (UPD) printers have a smaller print job size on a MetaFrame server, which is in PCL4/5c format. The PCL4/5c format is suitable for network transmission because of its small payload. However, when the print job reaches the client, the print job is rasterized, thus creating a larger print job. In the case of Hewlett-Packard and other native printer drivers, the print job created on the MetaFrame server is usually in EMF format but is converted to a native printer format on the client. Depending upon the efficiency and architecture of the native printer driver, the size of the EMF print job may be larger than the native format

and vice versa.

When using UPD, the following steps occur:

1. The job is created in PCL format on the server by the universal print driver.

2. Data is sent to the client within an ICA virtual channel.

3. PCL data is converted into a bitmap on the client.

4. The bitmap is spooled on the local printer.

The result is that the bitmap image of PCL data in the client printer spooler is larger then the PCL data sent across the network to the client. This permits optimizing the bandwidth that is available between the client and server, but printing the job with the UPD could be slower when the print job reaches the client. The UPD is best suited for print driver management, bandwidth utilization, and autocreating client printers but does not support special printing features such as double-sided printing.

Printer Will not Autocreate Using the Universal Print Driver

1. Does removing any third-party printer drivers resolve the issue?

2. If a known server is “working” and one is “broken,” attempt to replicate/import the UPD from the working server to the non-working server.

3. Is the server licensed and the appropriate feature release level set correctly?

4. Ensure the UPD is installed and no policies are preventing the installation of printer drivers.

5. Ensure the Version 7.0 client or latter is being used for the MetaFrame Feature Release 3 UPD and that the Pcl4rast.dll is present on the client machine.

6. Ensure the Version 9.0 client or greater is being used for the MetaFrame Feature Release 3 UPD and that the EMFRENDR.dll is present on the client machine.

7. CTX111308 – Session Printers Assigned Through a Policy Are Not Using the Citrix Universal Print Driver

Setting the UPD for All, Except a Few Printers (MetaFrame XP Feature Release 3)

This is addressed in CTX105385 - Error: Client autocreation printer failure - Print driver not allow based on compatibility list and Event ID 1104

Alternate Method:

1. Select Use Universal Driver only if Native Driver is Unavailable in the Management Console.

2. Clear the following box:

3. For printer drivers that are never to be used, add the names of any of these drivers to this list:

4. Restrict users from adding drivers:

Q262202

Q239536

Q180545

Q259574

Q234270

Troubleshooting UPD Printing Within Applications

1. Connect a printer locally to the MetaFrame server and select the HP LaserJet Series II or current UPD alias

driver in the Add Printer wizard.

2. If you cannot connect this printer to the server, browse and connect to a shared network printer and modify

the driver on the Advanced tab of the Explorer’s printer properties dialog box.

3. Create an alias UPD printer and set the port as FILE, run the application, and print to the alias UPD printer.

4. Verify how the application behaves when executed on the console with the same driver that is used by the

UPD.

5. Do any other similar print outputs in other applications experience the same behavior as the UPD?

6. Do print jobs from the applications experience any issues when mapped to the same driver as the client

device?

7. When printing certain forms using the universal print driver, the page does not print as displayed?

8. When printing using Version 2.0 of the universal printer driver with custom in-house fonts, the print job

renders an incomplete print, especially when using large font sizes. This fix offers a workaround by allowing

you to disable print optimization in the printer settings. To do this, you must set the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Citrix\UniversalPrintDrivers\PCL5c

Name: DisablePrintOptimizations

Type:REG_DWORD

Data=1

Cause

The application is directly inserting PCL of its own origin into the print stream using the form overlay capability of the PCL language. The PCL form overlay feature can be accessed through an escape function provided by most PCL5 printer drivers, the 4500 driver included. It basically allows an application to insert arbitrary PCL directly into the print data stream.

Resolution

Configure the application to use strictly GDI rendering instead of PC EscapePassThrough or the standard device driver’s instead of the universal print driver.

Can the UPD Margin Settings Be Changed?

The margins presented by the new universal driver, HP Color LaserJet 4500, are different. However, the bitmap-to-page registration algorithm is unchanged. Because MetaFrame XP Feature Release 2 uses the HP LaserJet Series II driver, the nonprintable region of a Series II printer is ¼-inch on each side of the page.

Citrix uses the UPD as a proxy driver on the server and the non-printable region of the client printer is most likely going to be different. Therefore, the real nonprintable area of the printer may be larger than that of the universal driver. A print job where the application places data on the page near the printable limit of the UPD may drop out on the printed page because it falls outside the printable limit of the underlying client printer.

Q. Explain Citrix Universal Printer

The Citrix Universal Printer is an auto-created printer object that uses the Citrix Universal Print Driver and is not tied to any specific printer defined on the client. Once implemented, it is available in all sessions that use the 32-bit Windows client. It is also independent of any printing policies defined in the management console or elsewhere, and therefore, it is possible to implement the Citrix Universal Printer with other auto-created printers, session printers, and/or non-Citrix defined printers (as well as by itself). It auto-creates in a standard fashion with the name “Citrix UNIVERSAL Printer” as shown below:

Note: The Citrix Universal Printer does not auto-create when using the policy to “Create old-style client printers” as explained in the following document:

CTX108334 – Citrix Universal Printer Does Not Appear in Session

When users print to this printer within their sessions, the standard action is to automatically send the job to the default printer specified on the Windows client machine. This behavior can be modified to allow printing to any client-defined print device by going to the Preferences of the auto-created Citrix Universal Printer either within the print dialog of the application or from within the Printers folder and choosing Preview on client as seen in the following screen shot:

When this option is adjusted on the Preferences of the Citrix Universal Printer from within the Printers folder on the server, the setting is retained in the user’s profile and set in future sessions as per the Printer Properties Retention Policy.

Printing to the Citrix Universal Printer with this option selected brings up the Enhanced Metafile (EMF) Viewer (CPViewer.exe) on the Windows client with a preview of the print job. The user can then select the client printer they wish to use just as if they were printing from any other local application.

Note: It is possible to modify the default behavior and force the Preview on client option to be selected for either all auto-created Citrix Universal Printers or all auto-created printers using the Universal Print Driver (including the Citrix Universal Printer). For more information, refer to the following document:

CTX114287 – How to Enable Preview on a Client as the Default for Citrix Universal Autocreated Client Printers

For environments that do not have additional printer requirements, creating only the Citrix Universal Printer within each session instead of one printer for each underlying client printer can provide substantial performance savings on the XenApp server. To realize these savings, the administrator should choose to disable client printer auto-creation through a policy from within the management console.

Procedure

The steps described below explain how to auto-create the generic Citrix Universal Printer in user sessions. This is separate from any other available printers that may or may not be defined by policies in the management

console.

Caution! This fix requires you to edit the registry. Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Citrix cannot guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk. Be sure to back up the registry before you edit it.

1. Add the following registry key to each server if not already present:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Citrix\Print

2. Create a DWORD called DefaultPrnFlags with a hex value of 0x00000020. If the DWORD already exists

with a specified value, add this hex value to the current hex value.

The Citrix Universal Printer should now auto-create in all ICA sessions established to the XenApp server from this point forward.

Note: An incorrectly set DefaultPrnFlags value can prevent printer auto-creation entirely.

Q. What is Client Lock Down

Typically 'client lockdown' is the process of securing an endpoint so that the user can only access authorised features. An example of this would be turning the device into a 'Thin Client' by locking it down so that an end user can only connect to published apps or desktops and can not use other features.

PN Client and go to Tools->ICA Settings->Hotkeys Tab. CTRL+ALT+DEL hotkey is

Ctrl+F1. So if you add that hotkey combo into the default.ica file in WebInt, it will give users

the ability to lock their Citrix sessions by hitting Ctrl+F1 and walk away from the thin client.

How to Enable or Disable Hotkeys within an ICA file (including Template.ica)

Summary

This article describes how to enable and disable Web Interface hotkeys.

Procedure

How to Enable Web Interface Hotkeys

The procedure below allows for the default ICA Client hotkeys to be mapped within Web

Interface. If any keys affect your application, alter them to reflect a key that does not conflict

with your application. This process alleviates the need to alter each appsrv.ini file on the

individual client workstation.

The Citrix Web Client, 6.x versions (985, 986, and 1050), do not have the code to read from

the client installed Appsrv.ini or an .ICA file.

1. Using a text editor such as Notepad, locate the Template.ica file, or if using Web Interface

4.x or later, the default.ica file being used for the Web Interface site.

2. Copy the ICA parameters below into the Template.ica or default.ica file. Place this code

after the [WFCLIENT] tag:

Hotkey1Char=F1

Hotkey1Shift=Shift

Hotkey2Char=F3

Hotkey2Shift=Shift

Hotkey3Char=F2

Hotkey3Shift=Shift

Hotkey4Char=F1

Hotkey4Shift=Ctrl

Hotkey5Char=F2

Hotkey5Shift=Ctrl

Hotkey6Char=F2

Hotkey6Shift=Alt

Hotkey7Char=plus

Hotkey7Shift=Alt

Hotkey8Char=minus

Hotkey8Shift=Alt

Hotkey9Char=F3

HotKey9Shift=Ctrl

Hotkey10Char=F5

HotKey10Shift=Ctrl

Hotkey11Char=plus

Hotkey11Shift=Ctrl

Hotkey12Char=plus

Hotkey12Shift=Ctrl

Hotkey13Char=plus

Hotkey13Shift=Ctrl

Note: Be sure to place all of the hotkey listings into the file.

Q. What is Printer terminology in Citrix

Citrix Printing can be configured 3 ways (types)

1.Local Printing.

2.Network Printing

3.Client Printing

Client Printer: The printer connected to the Worksation & the drivers are installed on the citrix

server for printing.

Network Printer: The Printer connected to the print server & the drivers should be available on

the citrix server.

Local Printer: The printer connected to locally to the citrix server & the driers are installed for the print operation.

Q. What are different load evaluators are available in Citrix

1. Default Load Evaluators

2. Advance Load evaluators

3. Custom load evaluators

Q. How to implement Policies in Citrix

The Citrix policy can be applied through Console Managment in 3 levels

1. Farm Level

2. Citrix Server Level

3. Policy.

11. What you will check when any user is not able to launch citrix application.

1) First try to launch same application from Citrix server(on which you installed and published)

2) Try to add same application to your ID and try to launch

3) Check user permissions for that Applications

4) Verify that latest Citrix client software installed at desktop

5) Verify that user is having correct proxy settings to connect to your Citrix network (for

Q. What is ICA and what are the advantage of ICA

ICA - Independent Computing Architecture. It provides better compression. Transmits High-

level windows display information. ICA also has several features that RDP just doesn't

support yet. ICA enables application publishing -- where the application is on one server but

is available across the cluster -- session shadowing anonymous users audio support and

drive printer and port mapping ICA is also built into Internet Explorer and is available as a

free plug-in for Netscape. RDP doesn't permit applications to run in a browser.

Q. What are the query command in citrix

1)qfarm

2)querydc

3)queryds

4)queryhr

Q. How to recover when Datastore failing

data store can be recreated by the *.mdb file which is located at program

files/Citrix/Indipendent Architectute Management

this file can be moved to another server and a data base connectivity and be created using

ODBC and creating a *.dsn file.

Q. How to determine what datastore is used ?

Look for Datasourcename reg key via Hkey-localMachine--software--Citirx--IMA...this

should tell you where/what DSN file you're using, navigate to the file and edit it with a

notepad to see the servername and datastore description your farm is using...

Q. How to recover when IMA failing

There can be a number of reasons why the IMA Service appears not to have started including the

following:

IMA Service load time

IMA Service subsystem

Missing Temp directory

Print spooler service

ODBC configuration

Roaming Profile

Examine the following Windows Registry setting:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWARECitrixIMARuntimeCurrentlyLoadingPlugin

If there is no value specified in the CurrentlyLoadingPlugin portion of the above Windows Registry

entry then either the IMA Service could not connect to the data store or the local host cache is missing

or corrupt.

If a CurrentlyLoadingPlugin value is specified the IMA Service made a connection to the data store

and the value displayed is the name of the IMA Service subsystem that failed to load.

Missing Temp Directory

If administrators see an “IMA Service Failed†error message with an error code of 2147483649

when starting the MetaFrame XP Presentation Server the local system account might be missing a

Temp directory which is required for the IMA Service to run.

To gain further insight into the situation change the IMA Service startup account to the local

administrator and restart the server. If the IMA Service is successful in starting under the local

administrator’s account then it is likely that a missing Temp directory for the local system account

is causing the situation.

If the Temp directory is not present then manually create one as >Temp. For example:

C:WinntTemp

Also verify that the TMP and TEMP system environment variables point to the temporary directory.

Restart the server to restart the IMA Service

Q. What is the requirement of Installation Manager and wht kind of extension its support ?

Installation Manager is a powerfull feature in Metaframe XPe that facilitates the rapid installation

of applications and other software components.

Installation manager let you install applications other software components to any or all available

servers in your farm-attended or unattended-using any metaframe XP server on the network

regardless of physical location network connection type or hardware set up.

It supports extensions like ADF MSI and MSP.

What is the refresh time for Local host cache. And what is the reset time for LHC?

LHC is refreshed every 30 minutes

you can refresh/recreate manually when IMA is stopped:

"dsmaint recreatelhc" or "dsmaint refreshlhc" -> restart IMA

When the citrix license server is down, how long will the existing citrix session work, with

the information from the LHC ?

Licensing information is not in LHC - Grace Period fpr License Server is 30 days

It is stores in c:\program files\citrix\MPS-WSXICA_MPS-WSXICA.ini

Is it possible to view the LHC information. Where do i find it?

File is located in c:\program files\citrix\independent management architecture\imalhc.mdb

Every citrix server has a copy of the LHC, and works as a backup, if the datastore goes down.

LHC is a subset of the IMA Datastore?

yes

If the datastore goes down. Is it possible to launch the CMC, from the information in the

LHC ?

You can launch PSC und AMC but changes are not possible

Issues pertaining to LHC:

1) Refreshing the Local Host Cache

If the IMA service is currently running, but published applications do not appear correctly in

ICA Client application browsing, force a manual refresh of the local host cache by

executing dsmaint refreshlhc from a command prompt on the affected server. This action forces

the local host cache to read all changes immediately from the data store.

A discrepancy in the local host cache occurs only if the IMA service on a server misses a change

event and is not synchronized correctly with the data store.

2) Recreating the Local Host Cache

If the IMA service does not start, the cause may be a corrupt LHC.

If you have made extensive changes to the farm data store, such as publishing various

applications, adding or removing servers from the farm, or creating new policies.

If you must clean the farm data store, using the DSCHECK utility, you should then rebuild the

LHC on each of the servers in your farm, once the data store has been cleaned.

Steps to recreate the Local Host Cache

IMPORTANT: The data store server must be available for dsmaint recreatelhc to work. If the

data store is not available, the IMA service cannot start.

1. Stop the IMA service on the XenApp server, if it is started. This can be done using the

command: net stop imaservice, or from services.

2. Run dsmaint recreatelhc, which renames the existing LHC database, creates a new database,

and modifies the following registry key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Citrix\IMA\Runtime\PSRequired key to 1. Setting

the value PSRequired to 1 forces the server to establish communication with the data store in

order to populate the Local Host Cache database. When the IMA service is restarted, the LHC is

recreated with the current data from the data store.

3. Restart the IMA service. This can be done via the command line, net start imaservice, or from

services.

Q. What are different load evaluators are available in Citrix

These load evaluators are included in XenApp:

 Default. XenApp attaches the Default load evaluator to each server after you add your

license to the server farm. It contains two rules: Server User, which reports a full load

when 100 users log on to the attached server; and Load Throttling, which specifies the

impact that logging on has on load and limits the number of concurrent connection

attempts the server is expected to handle.

Advanced. This load evaluator contains the CPU Utilization Load, Memory Usage, Page

Swaps, and Load Throttling rules.

Important: You cannot delete the Citrix-provided Advanced or Default load evaluators.

You can create new load evaluators based on the rules available.

Important: Each server or published application can have only one load evaluator attached to it.

You can attach one load evaluator to a server and one load evaluator to each published

application on the same server. For example, you can keep the Default load evaluator attached to

your server and attach another load evaluator to each of your published applications on that

server.

Q. How to implement Policies in Citrix

Using Citrix policies with Active Directory

Active Directory and Windows policies do not take precedence over XenApp policies. In a

XenApp environment and with XenApp features, Citrix policies always take precedence over

Windows policies and settings. Citrix designed XenApp policies so that they do not conflict with

Active Directory policies.

In a Citrix environment, XenApp policy rules override the same settings configured in an Active

Directory policy or using the Terminal Services Configuration tool. They also override Microsoft

policies, including those that are related to typical Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) client

connection settings such as the policies for Desktop wallpaper, Menu animations, and Windows

contents while dragging.

However, XenApp policy rules do not always override policies for encryption and shadowing.

These policies behave according to the most restrictive settings configured by the Terminal

Services Configuration tool, Active Directory group policies, application configuration, and

Citrix policies.

Prioritizing Policies and Creating Exceptions

Prioritizing policies allows you to define the precedence of policies when they contain

conflicting rules. The process XenApp uses to evaluate policies is as follows:

1. When a user logs on, all policies that match the filters for the connection are identified.

2. XenApp sorts the identified policies into priority order and compares multiple instances

of any rule, applying the rule according to the priority ranking of the policy.

You prioritize policies by giving them different priority numbers. By default, new policies are

given the lowest priority. If policy settings conflict, a policy with a higher priority (a priority

number of 1 is the highest) overrides a policy with a lower priority. Rules are merged according

to priority and the rule’s condition; for example, whether the rule is disabled, enabled, or not

configured. Any disabled rule overrides a lower-ranked rule that is enabled. Policy rules that are

not configured are ignored and do not override the settings of lower-ranked rules.

When you create policies for groups of users, client devices, or servers, you may find that some

members of the group require exceptions to some policy rules. To more effectively manage

exceptions, you can create new policies for only those group members needing the exceptions,

and then rank that policy higher than the policy for the entire group.

To display the priorities of all policies

1. Depending on the version of XenApp you have installed:

From the Start menu, open All Programs > Citrix > Administration Tools and

choose XenApp Advanced Configuration.

From the ICA toolbar, open the Presentation Server Console.

2. In the left pane, select Policies.

3. From the View menu, select Details.

To give a policy a higher priority

1. Depending on the version of XenApp you have installed:

From the Start menu, open All Programs > Citrix > Administration Tools and

choose XenApp Advanced Configuration.

From the ICA toolbar, open the Presentation Server Console.

2. Select the policy.

3. From the Actions menu, select Policy > Priority.

4. Select Increase Priority until the policy has the preferred rank.

Q. What you will check when any user is not able to launch citrix application ?

a) First try to launch same application from Citrix server(on which you installed and

published)

b) Try to add same application to your ID and try to launch

c) Check user permissions for that Applications

4) Verify that latest Citrix client software installed at desktop

5) Verify that user is having correct proxy settings to connect to your Citrix network (for remote

users)

IMA Service issue.

Error message: The requested resource is not available,

After finding what App the user is accessing.

Found the server, on which the application is Published Greece.

Logged into the server, performed

C:\pskill imasrv.exe

Restarted service.

C:\netstart imaservice

If the citrix DB (LHC) size is large - perform compact and repair database.

In our case the LHC size was 46mb, performed compact and repair in MS Access, and reduced

size to 15 MB.

Try to kill and restart the IMA service.

Still if there are issues, in restarting the IMA service.

Recreate the LHC. First stop the IMA service and then recreate the LHC.

C:\dsmaint recreate lhc

This will recreate the LHC, then start the IMA service.

What is Resource Manager, actually?

Resource Manager collects, displays and stores data about system performance, applications or

process use.

Citrix RM definitely has some overlap with Performance Monitor, but adds some extra

functionality to it.

These additional functionalities are the benefits of Resource Manager.

Real Time Watcher, on the monitored counters (called Metrics within Resource Manager) you

can assign two thresholds (warning and error). If these thresholds are exceeded Resource

Manager can warn you via several methods like SMS, E-mail or SNMP.

Resource Manager can store the collected data for a longer time. This makes it possible to

generate reports based on current and past activity.

Resource Manager has an option to create billing reports based on self defined costs.

Resource Manager collects, besides the system counters, also Citrix specific data like Application

 usage, User activity and Farm information.

If your infrastructure already contains an advanced monitoring system like Tivoli NetView, HP

OpenView, or CA Unicentre, these solutions provide the Network Manage component. This

component ports the data from Resource Manager to the monitoring system, so the data is also

available in those systems. Citrix also support this functionality for Microsoft Operations

Manager (MOM).

Policies

Policy is basically collection of settings or rules. In Citrix policies contains two categories (that is called nodes) computer configuration and user configuration policies. Both computer and user configuration contains different categories of settings ICA, Licensing, Server settings, Shadowing options and permissions, Mapping of local driver, printer and ports. Each category of policy contains set of settings or rules. Most of the time we use computer policies in Citrix environment.

In Citrix, we can implement the policies in the three ways.
1: Domain Group Policy : It will be configured from AD Group Policy
2: Citrix IMA Policy : It will be configured from Citrix Delivery Service Control
3: Local Group Policy : It will configured locally on server 
Note : If I have configure all policy through all three ways then the group policys order will be : Domain Group Policy --> Citrix IMA Policy --> Local Group Policy

Receiver Versions

By Marcel Calef · Published May 28, 2014 · 13 Comments

Windows Receiver	Date	Released with	Other platforms	Public Hotfix Versions
4.2 14.2.0.10	2014/11/27	XenDesktop 7.6 (Arthur)	Mac:11.9.0.293855 linux: 13.1.0.285639
	2014/03/24	XenApp & XenDesktop 7.5 (Merlin Cloud)	Mac:11.8.2.255309 linux: 13.0.0.256735
4.1 14.1.0.0	2013/10/01	XenDesktop 7.1 (Bruin)	Mac:11.8.0.241823 linux: 12.1.0.203066	14.1.100.12(Jun2014)
4.0 14.0.0.91	2013/06/14	XenDesktop 7.0 (Excalibur)	Mac:11.8.0.241823 linux: 12.1.0.203066
3.4-13.4.0.25	2012/12/14			13.4.400.9 (Dec2014)13.4.300.10
3.3-13.3.0.55	2012/07/27		Mac:11.7.2.231655
3.2 – 13.2.0
3.1 – 13.1.0				13.1.200
3.0 13.0.0.6685	2011/10/25	XenApp 6.5/XD5.5 (Ironcove/Alsace)	Mac:11.2.0.169077 linux: 11.100.158406
12.3.0.8	2012/03/28			12.3.100.2
12.1.0.30	2010/10/12	XenDesktop 5.0 (Rhone)	Mac:11.2.0.169077	12.1.44.1
12.0.3.6	2010/05/12
12.0.0.6410	2010/03/11	XenApp 6.0	Mac:11.1.0.159569
11.2.0.31560	2009/09/12	XenDesktop 4.0 /XA5.0FP2 (Bordeaux)	Mac:11.0.0.701
11.1.0.23596	2009/04/30	XenDesktop 3.1 (Rioja)
11.1.0.19460	2009/02/02	XenDesktop 3.0 (Sonoma)	Mac:10.0
11.0.0.5357	2008/08/16	XenApp 5.0 (Delaware)	Mac:7.0.0.325
10.200.2650	2008/02/07			10.251.0.11634

Products:  Citrix Receiver · Non-Specific · XenApp · XenDesktop

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I will attempt in this blog to list the Citrix Receiver versions and highlights. As a result of feedback I plan on continuously update this blog and track changes in the comments section. 

Please note that this blog article does not replace the official documentation provided by Citrix but is intended as only as a guide. 

To simplify the table, the date will correspond to the XenApp or XenDesktop media on which the receiver version mentioned first appeared.

For information on older Windows versions (and the legacy naming) see http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX112613 

Other versioning information

 Windows Receiver installer name 

Current & since 13.0 – Web & Receiver	CitrixReceiver.exe
Latest & since 13.0 – including PNAgent	CitrixReceiverEnterprise.exe
11.2 & 12.x including PNAgent	CitrixOnlinePluginFull.exe
11.2 & 12.x Web only	CitrixOnlinePluginWeb.exe
10.251 & 11.1 including PNAgent *	DesktopReceiverFull.msi
10.251 & 11.1 Web only *	DesktopReceiver.msi
11.0 including PNAgent	XenAppHosted.msi
11.0 web only	XenAppWeb.msi
Up to 10.200 including PNAgent	Ica32Pkg.msi
Up to 10.200	Ica32Web.msi & icaweb.cab

* XenDesktop Versions 

Receiver for Mac11.2 supports Tiger, Leopard and Snow Leopard. Both Intel and PowerPC.
http://www.citrix.com/downloads/citrix-receiver/legacy-client-software/online-plug-in-for-mac-11-2.html 

How to find the Mac Receiver version from the package?

In a Mac:

$ hdiutil udifderez -xml CitrixReceiver.dmg | grep %ClientVersion%
%ClientVersion% 11.9.0.140508

In a PC:

Use 7zip or similar to read string under <key>CFBundleShortVersionString</key> in info.plist 

…\Citrix Receiver and Plug-ins\Mac\Online Plug-in\Citrix online plug-in.dmg\2.hfs\Citrix Online Plug-in\Install Citrix Online Plug-in.pkg\Contents\ 

Or PackageInfo from: 

…\Citrix Receiver and Plug-ins\Mac\CitrixReceiver.dmg\4.hfs\Citrix Receiver\Install Citrix Receiver.pkg\com.citrix.ICAClient.pkg\ 

Differences between a windows application and a web based application?

I was asked in an interview a simple question which I actually failed to answer. The question is "What are 5 differences between web based application and a windows based application?"

Windows :

1)only single user can access at a time
2)can be invoked by .exe
3)performance,load,stress testing is done less
4)single tier architecture or 1 tier architecture is used

web:

1)multiple users can access at a time
2)can be invoked by URL
3)performance,load,stress testing is done more 
4)2 tier(client-server) ,3 tier(web architecture) , n tier(distributed environment)

Slow Logins

A Citrix XenApp administrator complains about multiple users experiencing slow logins across multiple XenApp servers. What question would you ask if you are allowed to ask only one question? Why?

I would ask if it sticks at a particular point, i.e applying computer settings, running login scripts etc. The logging on  process for citrix is complex and it may point you in the right direction.

if your profile is managed by Roaming, then it can be the size of the roaming profile to copy to the MPS. also if the user LogonServer is away from the DC of the citrix, physically, it might take time to load the login scripts, copy dlls etc which can take time. Best practice is to have your logonservers and citrix srv in the same DC. and the auth happens in sites and services in AD so that the citrix sever should only contact the logonservers in the same DC.

If login script, Group policy , roaming profile, server status is fine then there could be below mentioned reasons : - 
1) Check with network team if there are any recent changes has been carried which are affecting application performance. OR if there is any faulty port or switch which is causing login delay.
2) Incase if the servers are VM servers, please check the Disk utilization on Datastore where the servers are located. (This could also be the reason for slow performance.)

What is the difference between Xenapp 6.0 and Xenapp 6.5?

DSC in 6.0 and APP center in 6.5
WI in 6.0 and Storefront in 6.5
controller role and session host role in 6.5 while in 6.0 there is Data controller
new features like pre launch, session lingering ,Built in printing optimization,HDX MediaStream for Flash v2 in 6.5

What is citrix xml

Citrix XML Service (CtxHttp) is installed as a service.

For application discovery and configuration information, XML service should be up and running