Optional Lab - Delivering Applications And Server Desktops

Overview

In this exercise you will deploy and configure a Windows 2012 R2 XenApp gold image. Once the image has been created, you will create both the Machine Catalog and Delivery Group.

Creating the XenApp VM (via CLI)

Using an SSH client, execute the following:

> ssh nutanix@<NUTANIX-CLUSTER-IP>
> acli
<acropolis> vm.create XA-Gold num_vcpus=4 num_cores_per_vcpu=1 memory=8G
<acropolis> vm.disk_create XA-Gold cdrom=true empty=true
<acropolis> vm.disk_create XA-Gold clone_from_image=<Windows 2012 Disk Image Name>
<acropolis> vm.nic_create XA-Gold network=<Network Name>
<acropolis> vm.on XA-Gold

Note

When using acli, you can use the Tab key to autocomplete fields. Pressing Tab twice lists available namespaces and values.

In Prism > VM > Table, select the XA-Gold VM and click Launch Console.

Complete the Microsoft Out of Box Experience (OOBE) wizard:

  • Select Country, App language, and Keyboard layout, click Next.
  • Review the licensing agreement, click I Accept.
  • Enter a password for the local Administrator account (e.g. nutanix/4u), click Next.

Log in to the XA-Gold VM as Administrator.

Enabling Nutanix Guest Tools

In Prism > VM > Table, select the XA-Gold VM and click Manage Guest Tools.

Select Enable Nutanix Guest Tools and Mount Nutanix Guest Tools, click Submit.

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Note

If the Nutanix Guest Tools have already been installed into the base image, the CD-ROM image will be automatically unmounted once the Nutanix Guest Agent service is able to communicate with the Nutanix CVM. A reboot of the VM or restart of the Nutanix Guest Tools Agent may be required. If the Nutanix Guest Tools have not yet been installed into the base image, see Installing Nutanix Guest Tools for complete instructions.

Installing Applications

In the XA-Gold VM console, install a few applications such as OpenOffice, Google Chrome, etc.

Note

If not using a fully patched Windows 2012 R2 image, you will need to install Microsoft patch KB2919355 before proceeding with XenDesktop installation (CTX220340).

Disable Windows Updates for your gold image by opening Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services.

Right-click Windows Update > Properties.

Select Disabled from the Startup type down down menu.

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Click Stop.

Click OK.

Installing Virtual Delivery Agent

In Prism > VM > Table, select the XA-Gold VM and click Update.

Under Disks, eject any images currently attached to the CD-ROM device and select the Pencil icon to change the configuration.

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Fill out the following fields and click Update:

  • Operation - Clone from Image Service
  • Image - Select your XenDesktop installation .iso
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Click Save.

In the XA-Gold VM console, open the XenDesktop Installer and click the Start button to the right of XenDesktop.

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Click Virtual Delivery Agent for Windows Server OS.

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Select Create a Master Image and click Next.

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De-select Citrix Receiver and click Next.

Select all Additional Components and click Next.

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Select Let Machine Creation Services do it automatically from the drop down menu and click Next.

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Select Optimize performance (CTX125874) and click Next.

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Select Automatically to allow the installer to configure the Windows Firewall service to allow traffic for selected XenDesktop components.

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Review selections and click Install.

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Select I do not want to participate in Call Home and click Next.

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Click Finish and wait for the VM to restart.

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In Prism > VM > Table, select the XA-Gold VM and click Update.

Under Disks, eject the XenDesktop installation .iso currently attached to the CD-ROM device.

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Click Save.

Creating Gold Image Snapshot

In Prism > VM > Table, select the XA-Gold VM and click Power Off Actions.

Select Guest shutdown and click submit to gracefully shut down the VM.

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Once XA-Gold is powered off, select the VM and click Take Snapshot

Specify a Name for the snapshot (e.g. “XA-Gold vYYYYMMDD-X - Post-VDA 7.15 Install”) and click Submit.

Available snapshots and associated actions can be found by selecting the VM Snapshots tab under the VM table.

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Creating the Machine Catalog

In the XD VM console, open Citrix Studio.

Right-click Machine Catalogs > Create Machine Catalog.

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Click Next.

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Select Server OS and click Next.

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Select Machines that are power managed and Citrix Machine Creation Services. Click Next

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Select your Nutanix storage container and click Next.

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Select your XA-Gold snapshot and click Next.

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Fill out the following fields and click Next:

  • How many virtual machines do you want to create - 2
  • Total memory (MB) on each machine - 8192
  • Virtual CPUs - 4
  • Cores per vCPU - 1
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Select Create new Active Directory accounts. Under the NTNX.local domain, select the XenAppServers OU. Specify WS12XA-### as the Account naming scheme.

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Specify a friendly Machine Catalog name and a description of the image (e.g. what types of applications or teams it will be used for). Click Finish.

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MCS will now create a clone from the snapshot of XA-Gold.

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Upon completion, view the details of the Machine Catalog in Citrix Studio.

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Creating the Delivery Group

Right-click Delivery Groups > Create Delivery Group.

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Click Next.

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Select your Persistent Machine Catalog and specify the maximum number of VMs available for the Delivery Group.

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Select Restrict and click Add.

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Specify XenAppUsers in the Object names field and click OK.

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Click Next.

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Select From start menu… from the Add drop down menu. This will boot on of the provisioned WS12XA-### VMs and register with the Delivery Controller in order to provide an introspective look at the available applications within that image’s Start Menu. You can also enter applications manually provided you know the path to the desired executable.

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Select the desired applications and click OK.

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Select an application and click Properties.

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Note the pre-populated information such as executable path on the Location tab. Explore the additional configuration options, such as the ability to add shortcuts to a user’s desktop, limit visibility or simultaneous instances (which may be necessary for licensing compliance).

Click OK.

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Click Next.

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Click Add and fill out the following fields:

  • Display name - Shared Windows Server Desktop
  • Description - Windows Server 2012 R2 RDS Desktop
  • Select Allow everyone with access to this Delivery Group
  • Select Enable desktop assignment rule
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Click OK > Next

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Specify a friendly name for the Delivery Group and click Finish.

Following creation of the pool, observe in Prism that all of the WS12XA-### VMs been have powered on.

In Citrix Studio, right-click your Delivery Group and click Edit Delivery Group.

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Select the different tabs in the Edit Delivery Group wizard and note the additional configuration options you have available, such as the ability to prelaunch application sessions to speed up application launch time and scheduled XA VM reboots to restore the VM to a freshly provisioned state.

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In Citrix Studio > Citrix StoreFront > Stores, right-click the Store Service and click Configure Unified Experience.

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Select Set the unified Receiver experience as the default for this store and click OK.

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Connecting to the Applications/Desktop

Open http://<XD-VM-IP>/Citrix/StoreWeb in a browser on the same L3 LAN as your XD VM.

Log in to Citrix StoreFront as NTNX\USER2

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Select the Apps tab and click an application to launch the session.

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Note that the application launches and appears as though it were running as part of your local operating system.

Return to the Desktops tab and launch your Personal Windows 10 Desktop.

We’ll now configure the Citrix Receiver client to run applications published by our XenApp server farm from inside of our virtual desktop.

Note

Newer versions of Citrix Receiver do not allow connections to non-secured (HTTP) StoreFront servers by default. Follow the instructions below (CTX134341) on your Personal Windows 10 Desktop to enable HTTP stores in Citrix Receiver:

  • Open regedit
  • Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Citrix\Dazzle\
  • Set AllowAddStore to A to allow users to add non-secure Stores
  • Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Citrix\AuthManager\
  • Right-click AuthManager > New > String Value
  • Specify ConnectionSecurityMode as the Name and leave Value blank
  • Exit Citrix Receiver (within your Personal Windows 10 Desktop)

From within the virtual desktop, open Citrix Receiver.

Specify http://XD.NTNX.local/Citrix/Store as the address for StoreFront and click Add.

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Specify your credentials and click Log On.

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Launch an application from the Apps tab of Receiver.

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Close your Personal Windows 10 Desktop and launch your Shared Windows Server Desktop.

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Without disconnecting any current sessions, log into StoreFront as USER1 or USER3 and launch applications or a Shared Windows Server Desktop.

In Citrix Studio > Delivery Groups > XenApp DG > View Machines, observe multiple sessions from multiple users leveraging the same shared compute assets.

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Takeaways

  • MCS offers a unified workflow for deploying desktops, desktop applications, server desktops and server applications.