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Category: XenApp/XenDesktop 7.x

Setting up a Citrix XA/XD 7.13 Proof-of-Concept on AWS – Part 2 – Configuring AD Infrastructure

Background: I will be setting up a small proof-of-concept Citrix Environment on Amazon Web Services for testing purposes. This particular POC will be completely on AWS and utilize a combination of free tier and paid on-demand instances. Eventually, I hope to integrate additional features such as autoscaling, a XenMobile component, and integrating it with an on-premises infrastructure for a hybrid environment. I will be breaking up this article into different parts. This article covers configuration of the AD infrastructure in our POC: Domain Controller setup, RDS licensing setup, Certificate Services setup. read more

XenApp/XenDesktop 7.5 Services

XenApp/XenDesktop 7.5 Services

Delivery Controller:

  • Citrix AD Identity Service – This service is responsible for managing all Active Directory accounts required for virtual machines if using XD published desktops. This service is used heavily if Machine Creation Services is used. If the service is stopped, you will no longer be able to create or remove desktops through MCS.
  • Citrix Broker Service – This service manages connections from endpoint devices (users) to published desktops and applications. If this service is stopped, users won’t be able to launch their applications.
  • Citrix Configuration Logging Service – This service logs admin activity and configuration changes done to the environment. If the service is stopped, you will no longer see updates in the “Logging” pane in Citrix Studio. You will, however, still see updates up to the point that the service was stopped.
  • CItrix Configuration Service – This service stores configuration information on the other Citrix Services. If the service is stopped, Citrix Studio becomes unresponsive and no longer displays information (spinning wheel is displayed when browsing Studio tabs).
  • Citrix Delegated Administration Service – Manages admin permissions within Citrix Studio. If the service is stopped, users can still launch applications and desktops but administrators will lose administrative access to the site.
  • Citrix Diagnostic Facility COM Server – This service manages Citrix diagnostic trace sessions. If working with Citrix Technical Support, this service needs to be started in order to collect and upload traces using CDFControl.
  • Citrix Environment Test Service – Manages test for evaluating the state of a XenDesktop site. If this service is stopped, you will won’t be able to run functions such as “Test Site” or “Test Delivery Group” in Citrix Studio.
  • CItrix Host Service – This service communicates with the hypervisor when using XD Desktops. If stopped, you won’t be able to perform functions such as creating, removing, shutdown, restart, etc… of your XD Desktops in Citrix Studio.
  • Citrix Machine Creation Service – This service allows your to create new VM’s through MCS. If stopped, you will be unable to create a Master Image and produce VM’s with it.
  • Citrix Monitor Service – Provides historical information about sessions and connections which can be queried (through PowerShell or Citrix Director for example). If the service is stopped, Citrix Director will no longer display monitoring information.
  • Citrix StoreFront Service – This service manages deployment of StoreFront. If this service is stopped, you will no longer be able to manage your StoreFront deployment through the “StoreFront” tab in Citrix Studio.
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    Setting up a Citrix XA/XD 7.9 Proof-of-Concept on AWS – Part 1

    Background: I will be setting up a small proof-of-concept Citrix Environment on Amazon Web Services for testing purposes. This particular POC will be completely on AWS and utilize a combination of free tier and paid on-demand instances. Eventually, I hope to integrate additional features such as autoscaling, a XenMobile component, and integrating it with an on-premises infrastructure for a hybrid environment. I will be breaking up this article into different parts: read more