Citrix Synergy 2011 Barcelona – Session recordings

Overview of all the available session recordings on Citrix TV:

• SYN205: Introduction to cloud computing architectures
• SYN206: Citrix networking: blazing performance, deep application visibility and unparalleled security
• SYN207: Five (very cool) things you didn’t know were possible with NetScaler
• SYN209: Pushing the boundaries of your enterprise datacenter with NetScaler Cloud Bridge
• SYN210: Building a single point of control for all SaaS, web and Windows applications
• SYN218: Build your own highly scalable cloud with CloudStack
• SYN220: Everything you need to know about ShareFile, a new Citrix offering
• SYN305: Best practices for optimising XenDesktop and XenApp performance and security
• SYN312: XenClient best practices with Douglas Brown plus using virtualisation layers to simplify Win
• SYN313: What’s new in XenDesktop: the inside scoop
• SYN314: What’s new in XenApp 6.5: the next chapter in the on-demand application story
• SYN315: Best practices for migrating to the latest version of XenApp
• SYN316: Put your best foot forward when migrating to XenDesktop 5
• SYN317: It’s all about me! Desktop personalisation and user profiles
• SYN323: Top tips for a successful desktop virtualisation implementation with Citrix and Microsoft
• SYN329: Meet the new Citrix secure access technologies replacing Web Interface
• SYN330: Create your own enterprise application store with Citrix Receiver Storefront

Not to forget, the Geek Speak:

• SYN501: Geek Speak Tonight! (Part 1)
• SYN501: Geek Speak Tonight! (Part 2)

And of course the keynote sessions:

• Synergy 2011 Barcelona Day 1 Keynote – Mark Templeton
• Synergy Barcelona 2011 Day Two Super Session

 

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Citrix Summit 2011 Barcelona – Session recordings

Overview of all the available session recordings on Citrix TV:

• SUM301: From creation to registration: lifecycle of a virtual machine
• SUM302: Smartcards everywhere
• SUM303: Integrating your branch office successfully with optimised printing solutions
• SUM304: Application streaming uncovered
• SUM305: XenServer performance: reality and myths
• SUM306: XenServer – Troubleshooting techniques and tools for common issues and scenarios
• SUM307: Health monitoring and alerting for XenApp, XenDesktop and NetScaler

Citrix PVS: Measure RAM Cache Usage

When you want to get a quick overview of the RAM write cache usage of your target devices you can use the following PowerShell script.

1. If not done already, allow running unsigned scripts:

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

2. Install the MCLI PowerShell snapin:

$installutil = $env:systemroot + ‘Microsoft.NETFramework64v2.0.50727installutil.exe’
&$installutil McliPSSnapIn.dll

3. Add the MCLI snapin to your PowerShell environment:

 Add-PSSnapin -Name McliPSSnapIn

4. Run the following PowerShell script on your PVS server:

function get-value{
param([string]$strText=””,[string]$strDelimiter=””)
return $strText.SubString($strText.IndexOf($strDelimiter)+2)
}
function get-name{
param([string]$strText=””,[string]$strDelimiter=””)
return $strText.SubString(0,$strText.IndexOf($strDelimiter))
}
Add-PSSnapin McliPS* -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
$all = @()
$obj = New-Object System.Collections.ArrayList
$lines = Mcli-Get DeviceInfo -f ServerName,`
ServerIpConnection,`
DeviceName,`
SiteName,`
CollectionName,`
Active,`
Status,`
diskLocatorName
for($i=0;$i -lt $lines.length;$i++){
if(($lines[$i].length -gt 0) -and ($lines[$i].contains(“:”)) -and -not ($lines[$i] -match “Executing: Get “)){
$name = get-name -strText $lines[$i] -strDelimiter “:”
$value = get-value -strText $lines[$i] -strDelimiter “:”
if ($name -eq “status” -and $value.Length -le 0){
$value = “0”
}
if ($value.Contains(“,”) -and $name -eq “status”){
$obj | Add-Member -membertype noteproperty -name $name -Value $value.Split(“,”)[1]
}else{
$obj | Add-Member -membertype noteproperty -name $name -Value $value
}
}
if($lines[$i].contains(“#”) -or (($i+1) -eq $lines.length)){
$all += $obj
$obj = New-Object psObject
}
}

$all | Where-Object -FilterScript { ([int] $_.status -gt “0”) -and ([int]$_.status -le “100”) } | Sort-Object {[int] $_.status} -descending | Format-Table @{Expression={$_.deviceName};Label=”Device”}, @{Expression={$_.status};Label=”RAM Cache Used (%)”} -autosize

Thanks to ctxfarmer for providing the base of the script.

New! New! New!

XenDesktop 5.5 + Desktop Director 2.0
Release notes: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX130369
Manual / eDocs: http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xendesktop/cds-landing-page-xd5fp1.html

XenApp 6.5 for Windows Server 2008 R2 + Desktop Director 2.0
Release notes: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX130371
Manual / eDocs: http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp/xenapp65-w2k8-wrapper.html

XenClient 2.0
Release notes: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX130402
Manual / eDocs: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX130403

Synchronizer 2.0
Release notes: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX130404
Manual / eDocs: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX130403

Single Sign-on 5.0
Release notes: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX130345
Manual / eDocs: http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/passwordmanager-5-0/pm-landing-page-version-50.html

Profile Management 4.0
Release notes: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX130372
Manual / eDocs: http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/user-profile-manager-sou/upm-wrapper-kib.html

Receiver for Mac 11.4
Release notes: http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/rec-mac-11-4/rec-mac-about.html
Manual / eDocs: http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/rec-mac-11-4/rec-mac-11-4.html

Receiver for Windows 3.0 (Citrix Online Plug-in 13.0)
Release notes: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX130373
Manual / eDocs: http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/receiver-30-windows/ica-receiver-30-windows-wrapper.html

License Server 11.9 build 1101
Release notes: http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/licensing-119/lic-about-11-9.html
Manual / eDocs: http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/licensing-119/lic-licensing-119.html

XenDesktop 5: Logoff Behaviour

In a pooled XenDesktop 4 environment you normally want to shutdown a virtual desktop after the user logged off so every user gets a clean desktop. This Logoff Behaviour was configurable in the Desktop Group properties via the Access Management Console. In XenDesktop 5 this is not configurable via the GUI anymore so we have to use PowerShell instead:

Set-BrokerDesktopGroup -Name “Desktop Group Name” -ShutdownDesktopsAfterUse $True or $False 

The default is set to False so the virtual desktop stays powered on after use.

Now Citrix CCEE & CCIA

I recently passed the Citrix 1Y0-A16 (Architecting a Citrix Virtualization Solution) and 1Y0-A15 (Engineering a Citrix Virtualization Solution) exams. With this I now have the following titles:

Citrix Certified Enterprise Engineer (CCEE) for Virtualization

The Citrix Certified Enterprise Engineer for Virtualization certification is designed to certify breadth of knowledge across Citrix virtualization solutions. The CCEE offers experienced IT professionals the opportunity to develop and validate their ability to combine the coordination of operational planning efforts with tactical design expertise and integration know-how.

 

Citrix Certified Integration Architect (CCIA) for Virtualization

The Citrix Certified Integration Architect for Virtualization certification focuses on best practices for analysis and design of Citrix virtualization technologies. By testing a range of skills used to design strategic approaches to virtualization, the CCIA certifies the knowledge required for successful deployments, while providing recognition and credibility to IT professionals. In addition to the required exams, a minimum level of real-world experience is recommended for candidates who choose to pursue this certification. As the most advanced Citrix designation, CCIA expertise helps organizations lower implementation costs, increase implementation success rates and reduce implementation time.

The card supplied requires drivers that are not present on this system. Please try another card.

If you get this error with smart card authentication on your RDP / ICA session make sure:

• Smart card middleware is installed on both client and server;
• The same smart card reader drivers are installed on both client and server;
• The key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftCryptographyCalaisSmartCards contains your smart card and the key is not empty, containing an “Crypto Provider” REG_SZ filled with the CSP;
• Make sure the CSP mentioned above is defined under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftCryptographyDefaultsProvider and uses an existing DLL file;
• The above mentioned registry keys should be the same on client and server so a match kan be made.

Thanks to TekWorkshop

The troubleshooting guide that every Citrix engineer needs to know!

The Citrix Brief Troubleshooting Guide is intended as the first resource for Citrix administrators and Citrix engineers to troubleshoot technical issues for all Citrix technologies.

The Brief Troubleshooting Guide provides you with a single point of access to narrow down your technical issues and help you resolve as many issues as possible in an autonomous manner.

Citrix Technical Support expects you to perform these basic troubleshooting steps before you contact them and will request information from you based on that troubleshooting. If you have the information on hand, it proactively helps them to decrease resolution time for your issue.

Each product section includes a brief product description, supported languages, links to Citrix Knowledge Base articles, third-party articles, troubleshooting tools, and questions and information to gather to help you pinpoint your technical issues.

The Brief Troubleshooting Guide should be used when tackling any issue, especially when you are unfamiliar with a product, or a product type. The Knowledge Center continues to be a very useful resource and is constantly being updated by Citrix Technical Support engineers worldwide – and you can find articles there created after this guide has been published.

Got curious? You can download it over here.

Citrix Provisioning Services + VMware Tools upgrade: BSOD

When VMTools are upgraded/installed it sets the registry key:
HKLMSYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesvmxnet”START” to DWORD:00000003. By resetting this to its previous value of dword:00000000 (i.e. its value before the upgrade) it stopped the BSOD. You have to upgrade VMTools and make this change before restarting the machine.

Setting the START key to 3 will cause the system to not load the vmxnet driver until someone manually starts it, ie “net start vmxnet”. The value of 0 means that the driver will be loaded at system boot along with all the other boot mode drivers and is considered critical to the system booting successfully.

To set this registry key you can boot into “last known good configuration” with F8 during the startup of Windows.

Thanks to Charles Batchelor and Keith Pasquill in this thread.

XenDesktop+VMware Hosting Infrastructure+Windows 7: Black screen after logging in

Solution: install the SVGAII driver:

1. Open Device Manager from Control Panel
2. Expand Display Adapters entry
3. Right click on VMWare SVGA 3D (WDDM) and click properties
4. Click on Uninstall Button
5. Check the “Delete the driver software for this device” option
6. Click OK
7. Your screen may flicker as the driver is removed.
8. Close Device Manager and reboot Windows 7.
9. Windows will default to the Standard VGA device
10. Open Device Manager, expand Display Adapters
11. Right Click Standard VGA and select Properties
12. Click on Update Driver
13. Click on Browse my Computer
14. Browse to directory C:Program FilesCommon FilesVMwareDriversvideo
15. Click Next
16. Confirm driver installation
17. Close window and reboot

Thanks to Ryan Gallier!