Best practices for implementing, administering, and troubleshooting xen desktop 7.5
- 1. Best Practices for Implementing, Administering, and Troubleshooting XenDesktop 7.5 Download this slide http://ouo.io/NZ4ee SYN405
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- 3. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.3 Architecture and design considerations for a successful deployment Administration habits to help maintain and support a XenDesktop 7.5 site Troubleshooting tips and the top three problem types Resources discussed, Q&A Agenda
- 4. Best Practices for Implementing The XenDesktop 7.5 architecture and considerations for successful deployment
- 5. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.5 XenDesktop 7.5 architecture Virtual Desktop Agent Delivery Controller SQL Database
- 6. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.6 XenDesktop 7.5 architecture The XenDesktop Delivery Controller Facilitates distribution of applications and desktops Coordinates with hypervisor Manages the desktop states Authenticates and manages user access Brokers connections between users and target resources
- 7. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.7 XenDesktop 7.5 architecture The XenDesktop Delivery Controller Delivery Controller ServicesAD Identity Service Machine Creation Service Configuration Service Broker Service Host Service Delegated Admin Service Configuration Logging Service Citrix Environment Test Service Monitoring Service
- 8. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.8 XenDesktop 7.5 architecture The XenDesktop Database Stores Site configuration, Configuration Logging, and Monitoring data Persistent DB availability is required High-Availability and Fault Tolerance options • Mirroring • Clustering • Leveraging hypervisor H/A features • Support for SQL 2012 AlwaysOn Availability Groups
- 9. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.9 XenDesktop 7.5 architecture The XenDesktop Database Security • Each controller has its own SQL login to the database - Machine account – DOMAINMACHINE$ • Controller permissions are restricted • No rights to change the schemas
- 10. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.10 XenDesktop 7.5 architecture The XenDesktop Database Support for assigning your site, configuration logging, and monitoring schemas into separate databases
- 11. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.11 XenDesktop 7.5 architecture The XenDesktop Virtual Desktop Agents Performs controller registration and manages the HDX connection VDA types • Workstation VDA - Single-user • Server VDA - Multi-user - Remote Desktop Services (RDS) coordinates connections
- 12. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.12
- 13. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.13 Design Best Practices Understand the product design and basic how-tos • XenDesktop 7.5 eDocs Understand the factors within your environment that influence the design • Citrix Virtual Desktop Handbook 7.x • Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 Blueprint Whitepaper Leverage Citrix design resources • Project Accelerator
- 14. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.14 Project Accelerator http://project.citrix.com Design Assess
- 15. Administration Best Practices Habits and pointers for maintaining a XenDesktop 7.5 environment
- 16. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.16 Administrative Best Practices Take care of your XenDesktop database! Establish a regular backup schedule Occasionally review the size XenDesktop database transaction logs • DB growth due to VDA communication CTX139508 • May be preferable to use Simple recovery mode Do a dry run of a failover scenario
- 17. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.17 Manually redirecting your XenDesktop site to a failover database location • XenDesktop SDK PowerShell cmdlets: Administrative Best Practices Manual failover 1. Load XenDesktop snap-ins. 2. Get the existing database connection strings. Add-PSSnapin Citrix* Get-LogDataStore Get-MonitorDataStore
- 18. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.18 Manually redirecting your XenDesktop site to a failover database location • XenDesktop SDK PowerShell cmdlets: Administrative Best Practices Manual failover 3. Set a variable for the new connection string. 4. Disable configuration logging. $cs = "Server=sqlsrvr2012b;Initial Catalog=XD75Site;Integrated Security=True“ Set-LogSite -State Disabled
- 19. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.19 Manually redirecting your XenDesktop site to a failover database location • XenDesktop SDK PowerShell cmdlets: Administrative Best Practices Manual failover 5. Remove all the current database connections
- 20. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.20 Set-LogDBConnection -DataStore Logging -DBConnection $null Set-MonitorDBConnection -DataStore Monitor -DBConnection $null Set-MonitorDBConnection -DBConnection $null Set-AcctDBConnection -DBConnection $null Set-ProvDBConnection -DBConnection $null Set-BrokerDBConnection -DBConnection $null Set-EnvTestDBConnection -DBConnection $null Set-SfDBConnection -DBConnection $null Set-HypDBConnection -DBConnection $null Set-ConfigDBConnection -DBConnection $null -force Set-LogDBConnection -DBConnection $null -force Set-AdminDBConnection -DBConnection $null -force Administrative Best Practices Removing current database connections
- 21. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.21 Manually redirecting your XenDesktop site to a failover database location • XenDesktop SDK PowerShell cmdlets: Administrative Best Practices Manual failover 5. Remove all the current database connections 6. Set all the database connections to the new connection string
- 22. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.22 Set-ConfigDBconnection -DBConnection $cs Set-AdminDBconnection -DBConnection $cs Set-LogDBconnection -DBConnection $cs Set-AcctDBconnection -DBConnection $cs Set-BrokerDBconnection -DBConnection $cs Set-EnvTestDBconnection -DBConnection $cs Set-HypDBconnection -DBConnection $cs Set-MonitorDBconnection -DBConnection $cs Set-ProvDBconnection -DBConnection $cs Set-SfDBconnection -DBConnection $cs Set-LogDBConnection -DataStore Logging -DBConnection $cs Set-MonitorDBConnection -DataStore Monitor -DBConnection $cs Administrative Best Practices Setting the database connections
- 23. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.23 Manually redirecting your XenDesktop site to a failover database location • XenDesktop SDK PowerShell cmdlets: Administrative Best Practices Manual failover 7. Re-enable configuration logging 8. For confirmation, test Broker Service connectivity Set-LogSite -State Enabled Test-BrokerDBConnection $(Get- BrokerDBConnection)
- 24. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.24 Administrative Best Practices Director offers real-time assessment of a XenDesktop environment Provides details regarding the health of the various XenDesktop components Offers functionality for troubleshooting machines, sessions, and connections
- 25. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.25 Administrative Best Practices Performance Monitoring Using Director Infrastructure health overview • Hosting alerts • Delivery Controller service, database, & license statuses VDA health • Failed start-ups and boots • Unregistered machines • Current load (Server OS) • Connected systems • Logon times
- 26. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.26 Administrative Best Practices Performance Monitoring Using Director
- 27. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.27 Administrative Best Practices Performance Monitoring Using Director Session and connection health • Activity manager • Session details • Machine details
- 28. Troubleshooting Best Practices Techniques for troubleshooting XenDesktop 7.5 and the top three problem types
- 29. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.29 Troubleshooting Best Practices When bad things happen to good environments This is the first I’ve tried this and it’s not working. Something changed and I didn’t do it. Something changed and I’m the one that caused it.
- 30. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.30 Troubleshooting Best Practices Methodology Investigate Analyze Implement
- 31. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.31 Troubleshooting Best Practices Gathering data XenDesktop data collection • Deliver Controller Logging - Event logs - Controller service logging • VDA Logging - Event logs - BrokerAgent logging - PortICA logging • Scout - Environmental data - XDPing - CDF Tracing
- 32. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.32 Troubleshooting – Machine creation Case study: Catalog creation fails with an “unknown error” exception
- 33. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.33 Troubleshooting – Machine creation Case study: Catalog creation fails with an “unknown error” exception
- 34. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.34 Troubleshooting – Machine creation Case study: Catalog creation fails with an “unknown error” exception New-ProvScheme -AdminAddress 'sw-xd75-ddc-01.get.services.citrite.net:80' -HostingUnitName 'Synergy Demo Resources' -IdentityPoolName 'Synergy Demo' -LoggingId 85ed5a85-28a4-48f6-80b9-816a6585ef45 -MasterImageVM 'XDHyp:HostingUnitsSynergy Demo ResourcesSW-VDA-W7x64-01.vmOld Base.snapshotBase.snapshotVDA 7.1 RTM (Build 4033).snapshotCitrix_XD_Synergy Demo.snapshot' -NetworkMapping @{'0'='XDHyp:HostingUnitsSynergy Demo ResourcesHappy Little VDA Network.network'} -ProvisioningSchemeName 'Synergy Demo' -RunAsynchronously - Scope @() -VMCpuCount 2 -VMMemoryMB 2048
- 35. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.35 Troubleshooting – Machine creation Case study: Catalog creation fails with an “unknown error” exception
- 36. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.36 Troubleshooting – Registration Case study: Recently-booted pooled VDAs are intermittently not registering Test VDA -> Controller communication • Ping the FQDN of the Controller • Telnet to the IP address of the Controller on port 80 • Review port usage on the Controller using Netstat Test Controller -> VDA communication • Ping the FQDN of the VDA • Telnet to the IP address of the VDA on port 80 • Review port usage on the VDA using Netstat Confirm the time on both the Controller and the VDA
- 37. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.37 Troubleshooting – Registration Case study: Recently-booted pooled VDAs are intermittently not registering Verify ListOfDDCs value in the registry
- 38. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.38 Troubleshooting – Registration Case study: Recently-booted pooled VDAs are intermittently not registering Verify ListOfDDCs value in the registry Use Scout / XDPing to identify issues between the VDA and Controller Enable VDA logging / Capture CDF traces
- 39. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.39 Troubleshooting – Connection Case study: Workstation VDA connection fails with no error Desktop Viewer is loading • Request is made to the Delivery Controller • ICA file is received • Connection attempt to the VDA is being made Gathered VDA CDF traces to review for potential cause
- 40. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.40 Troubleshooting – Connection Case study: Workstation VDA connection fails with no error
- 41. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.41 Troubleshooting – Connection Case study: Workstation VDA connection fails with no error Dynamic memory settings • Hyper-V Startup memory - 32-bit: ≥1.5 GB - 64-bit: ≥2.5 GB
- 42. Next Steps Best Practices for Implementing, Administering, and Troubleshooting XenDesktop 7.5
- 43. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.43 Resources XenDesktop 7.5 eDocs – http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop/cds-xenapp- xendesktop-75-landing.html Virtual Desktop Handbook 7.x – http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX139331 XenDesktop 7.5 Blueprint Whitepaper – http://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/products-solutions/xendesktop-deployment- blueprint.pdf Project Accelerator – http://project.citrix.com/ XenDesktop 7.x Database Sizing – http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX139508 Citrix Blog: “New” Citrix Best Practices – http://blogs.citrix.com/2014/01/02/new-citrix-best-practices/
- 44. Q&A Best Practices for Implementing, Administering, and Troubleshooting XenDesktop 7.5
- 45. © 2014 Citrix. Confidential.45 WORK BETTER. LIVE BETTER.