NTCrashes Blog

Updates to come…

ntcrash — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 04:20:58 +0000

It has been awhile since my last post. And sadly it is going to be a bit longer. I have been slammed and my lab has been down, but here are just a few things to look forward to.

PowerShell samples and examples…

PowerShell XenApp Commands for XenApp 4.5/5 farms!

EdgeSight

Provisioning tips

XenDesktop 5.5 tweaks

Branch Repeater VPX

NetScaler integrated Web Interface

Thanks for reading and hopefully I will be able get some of this out sooner then later.

Provisioning Service’s 6 Target Agent Install

ntcrash — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 18:00:32 +0000

Select Target Device Installation

And Select Target Device Installation again…

Click No, you will be restarting later

Again Select No you will be restarting shortly

Type in the Server name or IP Address

We are going to create a new vDisk

Give it a name and for this example we are going to use Dynamic VHD type.

Just click Yes if you receive a warning

Give the New Target a Name Note: this cannot be the same name you assigned to this Server…

Now go ahead and click Yes to reboot. Make sure you either have the BDM ISO or The VM set to boot to Network with DHCP Options enabled.

Once you log back into the VM you should see this window.

Provisioning Server 6 Install Guide

ntcrash — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:11:45 +0000

First we are going to install the Console Snap-in’s

You will get this if you didn’t have .Net 3.5 Installed first. Follow the below few screens to install it via Server Manger.

Ok now that we have .Net Installed we can continue the Snap-in install

So now that we have the Console Snap-in’s installed, time to install the Server Components.

We are assuming DHCP Services are running on a different server.

We are going to use either BDM (Boot ISO) or DHCP Options

Enter a new Database Name, Enter a Farm Name, Enter a Site Name, and Give a Collection Name. I usually use builtin Administrators

I recommend using a Domain Service Account that is Local Administrator to the Provisioning Server(s) And I always Check the Configure the Database for the account, I have had issues in the past if I didn’t check this box.

Leave Defaults

Check the Box and Leave Defaults

I highly recommend Disabling the Windows Firewall on the Provisioning Servers

Got to love UAC

EdgeSight 5.4 Install

ntcrash — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 17:23:08 +0000

Load the EdgeSight Media

Select Your Language

Click Next

This is a full Frontend and Backend install

Note: You will have to manually install the prerequisites

Go ahead and Launch Server Manager and Add the above roles and features, as well as the below

Note: unless you are needing SSL you can ignore this Warning

Once you read and accept the terms click next

Select the right Database Server

Either use the Default Database name or give it one of your own… Note you HAVE to create the database via the installer.

Type in the Correct Username this has to be an SA level account only during the install

If you get this error you need more Space under the SQL Install location

Free up space and re-run the installer.

This is the screen you should see.

EdgeSight Server is now ready for receiving data from EndPoint Agents. You will have to configure Reporting services

UCS Faster Boots

ntcrash — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 20:21:42 +0000

To speed up UCS Blade boot time Disable Legacy USB from within the BIOS from KVM, this for some reason is NOT an option within the BIOS Policy and has to be manually done on Each Blade…

Thanks

Just moved my Blog to WordPress

ntcrash — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 22:20:43 +0000

I just recently moved my blog from GoDaddy to WordPress, please let me know what you think about the performance. Or if you are having any issues. I ended up changing the theme yet again but hopefully I won’t have to keep tweaking things anymore.

Thanks

Lawrence

Windows 8 Install and First Look

ntcrash — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 05:08:15 +0000

Windows 8 Install

So far looks pretty standard, however this install seemed to go way faster than the Windows 7 installer

New Windows Loader… A reboot in Parallels takes a whooping 15-25 seconds

Setting up your network

Now for the new Tiles GUI, When you press the start button or press the Windows Key you get your new interface.

Notice Ribbon’s are everywhere now!

Internet Explorer Launched from the Tile Screen… You can still launch IE 10 in “Desktop” Mode

More to come as I have time to play with all the features.

XenApp 6 Install Guide

ntcrash — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 21:00:01 +0000

You will be presented with a list of Prerequisites. This will take a while to install all Prerequisites, however this will fail if your server is pending a reboot. You can check this by opening up Server Manger, and look down at the bottom left. If it states that it can’t refresh until the server is rebooted this section WILL FAIL.

If you are installing the first XenApp 6 Server you will click on Create a new server farm. You will then be prompted with a Screen asking you for a SQL Server. It is almost the same as the screen shots below, and the rest of the install is the same.

Click on Existing Microsoft SQL Server Database

Enter the Server Name and Existing Database Name, Most of the time this will be Integrated Windows authentication

Enter in your SQL Credentials then click Test Connection.

These are the Defaults I always put into place.

This step really isn’t to important as we will have to add Version and Server to the base Citrix Policy.

I have always chosen port 8080 this however can be any port number just remember what it is.

You will need to apply the below hotfix for things to work correctly.

You should be good to go…

And as always before installing anything on a Citrix Server first run the command below.

Once the installation is complete run the below command.

Thanks for reading

Lawrence

NetScaler Access Gateway Session Timeout

ntcrash — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 06:35:46 +0000

First log into your NetScaler, Navigate to your Session Profile you want to change the default Session Timeout. The below screen shot we are extended the Default 20 minute Timeout to 4 Hours (240 Minutes)

Once we change the value on the NetScaler we need to change the Timeout value on the Web Interface Server(s). Screen shot below shows the configuration Screen.

Also note if you are using a Load Balanced VIP for your Web Interface Servers (Highly Recommended if your not). You will want to change the Persistent cookie timeout value to match.

Thanks for reading hope this helps

Provisioning Service’s 6.0 Image update (Versioning Document)

ntcrash — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 22:30:24 +0000

First login to your Provisioning Service’s Console, drill down to the vDisk Store you are wanting to manage. In this example we only have one store. Right Click on the vDisk you are wanting to update, and select Versions…

Notice this vDisk already has one Version Plus the Base image. Also note that the one version is in “Test” Mode (we will get to this later). Click New

Now we have a new Version in “Maintenance” Mode. Click Done

Now within the Provisioning Service’s console, Under Device Collections… Select the Base/Golden image, Right Click and Select Properties, under Type Select Maintenance

Under your Hyper Visor Console… XenServer is being used in this example, Select the Base/Golden Machine

Notice we now get a few option’s when we boot up our base machine now

We are going to select Option 1, which is the new Version in Maintenance Mode.

Once the Machine boots up all the way and we login, we can verify the state of our image/Version by double clicking on the Provisioning Virtual Disk status agent.

Notice the Mode is in Read/Write now.

So here is the break down of the differences between Versions

Maintenance = Read/Write

Test = Read Only, Without affecting any other device using the base image

Production = Read Only, Pushes all changes to any device using the base image on next reboot

So to change the version, simply go back to your vDisk store, select the correct vDisk, Right Click on the vDisk and Select Versions. Click on Promote, and select Test, I highly recommend Setting to test and log back into the Base Machine, and test all applications.

Once you are satisfied with new Version following the same steps as above, Click on Promote and now we have two options, either Push this image immediate (Next reboot) or you can schedule to release the version for next reboot on a scheduled day.

So how does this look and how do I keep my vDisks in sync between local Provisioning Servers Drives.

So if you notice we have a new file type “.avhd” instead of the standard “.vhd” basically all this is doing is creating “Snapshots” and “Delta Files. So now instead of having to copy the full Flat VHD, all we have to do now is copy the Delta files too the other Provisioning Servers. So take for example the latest Version Win7_V1.3 we now only have a 320Mb file to copy across the wire instead of another 9Gb file.