Citrix Course: CWS-316 Citrix Education, 2021

Lab Manual-
Citrix Provisioning Administration
Version 2.0
Citrix Course: CWS 316 Citrix Eduaction, 2021

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Credits Page
Title Name

Architect Ryan Keller

Product Manager Nestor Hernandez Loria

Technical Solutions Developers Khalaf Haddad

Chris McMillan
Anurag Sharma
Aseem Shaikh
Priyanka Bhakt
Content Development Manager Justin Apsley

Graphic Designer Ryan Flowers

Publication Services Rahul Mohandas

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Contents
Credits Page ........................................................................................................................................... 2
Lab Workbook Overview .......................................................................................................................... 5
Lab Environment Overview ...................................................................................................................... 6
Lab Access.............................................................................................................................................. 7
Module 2: Citrix Provisioning Infrastructure. ............................................................................................. 9
Exercise 2-1: Install Citrix Provisioning ................................................................................................. 9
Exercise 2-2: Configure Citrix Provisioning Farm................................................................................ 18
Exercise 2-3: Verify the Database Permissions .................................................................................. 42
Exercise 2-4: Delegate Administration................................................................................................ 48
Exercise 2-5: Log in with Delegated Administration ............................................................................ 54
Module 3: Citrix Provisioning Streaming Methods .................................................................................. 55
Exercise 3-1: Configure Boot ISO ...................................................................................................... 55
Module 4: Citrix Provisioning vDisks ...................................................................................................... 66
Exercise 4-1: Prepare the Server OS Master...................................................................................... 66
Exercise 4-2: Create vDisk for Server OS .......................................................................................... 77
Exercise 4-3: Verify the Store via File Explorer................................................................................... 98
Exercise 4-4: Verify the Store via PVS Console................................................................................ 101
Module 5: Citrix Provisioning Target Devices ....................................................................................... 103
Exercise 5-1: Copy the Server OS Master and convert to a template................................................ 103
Exercise 5-2: Set the Write Cache location for the Server OS vDisk ................................................. 134
Exercise 5-3: Add a Persistent Drive and Redirect Event Logs ......................................................... 139
Module 6: Integrating Citrix Provisioning with Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops .................................... 161
Exercise 6-1: Use the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Setup Wizard for Server OS ........................ 161
Exercise 6-2: Use the Streamed VM Setup Wizard........................................................................... 172
Exercise 6-3: Manually Add Machines to the Device Collection ........................................................ 180
Exercise 6-4: Create a Delivery Group for Server OS ....................................................................... 187
Exercise 6-5: Launch a Published Application .................................................................................. 192
Module 7: Citrix Provisioning High Availability ...................................................................................... 195
Exercise 7-1: Install Citrix Provisioning using the Command-Line ..................................................... 195
Exercise 7-2: Join Second PVS server to the Farm .......................................................................... 199
Exercise 7-3: Reconfigure the Store for Redundancy ....................................................................... 210
Exercise 7-4: Copy a vDisk from One Store to Another .................................................................... 218
Exercise 7-5: Verify vDisk Replication .............................................................................................. 220
Exercise 7-6: TFTP Load Balancing Configuration ........................................................................... 223
Module 8: Updating and Managing vDisks ........................................................................................... 237
Exercise 8-1: Update the vDisk ........................................................................................................ 237
Exercise 8-2: Promote the vDisk ...................................................................................................... 244
Exercise 8-3: Roll Back the vDisk..................................................................................................... 247
Exercise 8-4: Merge the vDisk ......................................................................................................... 250
Exercise 8-5: Reverse Imaging ........................................................................................................ 254
Module 9: Citrix Provisioning Support Tools ......................................................................................... 260
Exercise 9-1: Enable Citrix Provisioning Auditing ............................................................................. 260
Exercise 9-2: Use the Console to view Auditing................................................................................ 262
Exercise 9-3: Use PowerShell to view Auditing................................................................................. 266

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Exercise 9-4: Use PXEChecker Tool to verify PXE Boot Simulation ................................................. 267

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Lab Workbook Overview

Lab Exercises:
The exercises in this exercise workbook were developed for use with the CWS-316
Citrix Provisioning Deployment and administration course. The virtual machines in this
lab are running on Windows Server 2016.

At the completion of these exercises, you will gain valuable hands-on experience in
installing, configuring, administering and supporting Citrix Provisioning 1912 LTSR CU1.

Lab Scenario:
WW Labs is a technical company whose infrastructure topology is centrally located in
New York City—referenced as NYC in the company naming convention. The CTO has
communicated new requirements to the IT Infrastructure team, including rapid image
provisioning and rollback. The Lead Citrix Architect has tasked the Citrix Administrator
team to implement Citrix Provisioning (PVS), which is available to WW Labs as part of
their Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Platinum licensing. The Citrix Provisioning
infrastructure will initially be tested in a Proof of Concept (POC) Citrix Virtual Apps and
Desktops environment utilizing the current implementation of Active Directory, DHCP,
DNS, and SQL Server. Pending the resultant POC, the Citrix Administrator team will be
further tasked to scale the environment to include redundancy and security
considerations.

The Lead Citrix Architect has concluded that Citrix Provisioning meets the company’s
requirements and has instructed the Citrix Administrator team to validate this Citrix
Provisioning POC for two specific use cases:
 Customer Support User Group: Hosted Shared Desktop and On Demand Apps
 Accounting User Group: Hosted VDI (Random/Non-Persistent)

You are a Citrix Administrator on the WW Labs Citrix Administrator team and you have
been tasked to assist with this implementation.

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Lab Environment Overview

SERVER LIST

Virtual Machine IP Address Operating System Description

Name
NYC-ADS-001 192.168.10.11 Windows Server 2016 Domain Controller, DNS,
DHCP
NYC-SQL-001 192.168.10.21 Windows Server 2016 SQL Server
NYC-FSR-001 192.168.10.17 Windows Server 2016 File Server, Print Server, End
point
NYC-ADC-001 192.168.10.100 Build 12.1.49.83 Citrix ADC
NYC-VDC-001 192.168.10.46 Windows Server 2016 Delivery Controller
NYC-STF-001 192.168.10.31 Windows Server 2016 StoreFront 3.16
NYC-PVS-001 192.168.10.50 Windows Server 2016 Provisioning Server
NYC-PVS-002 192.168.10.51 Windows Server 2016 Provisioning Server
NYC-SRV-MST-A DHCP Windows Server 2016 Windows 2016 Master
NYC-TDS-MST-B DHCP Windows Server 2016 NYC-SRV-MST-A after
imaging
NYC-TDS-001 DHCP Windows Server 2016 Machine created from Citrix
Virtual Desktops Setup Wizard
NYC-SRV-002 192.168.10.56 Windows Server 2016 Reverse Imaging Machine

CREDENTIALS LIST

Username Password Description

WORKSPACELAB\Administ Password1 Domain Administrator

rator (workspacelab.com)

Administrator Password1 Local (non-domain) user

WORKSPACELAB\HR1 Password1 HR user

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Lab Access
Once connected to the NYC-HYP-001 Desktop, start both the lab management
consoles: Remote Desktop Connection Manager and Hyper-V Manager as shown in the
example below.

The icon to start Remote Desktop Connection Manager is named VMs.rdg and the icon
to Start Hyper-V is Hyper-V Manager.

You will primarily use Remote Desktop Connection Manager to log on and interact with
your virtual lab machines. You will primarily use Hyper-V Manager to manage the power
state of the virtual machines and manage the mounting and un-mounting of ISOs used
in installations.

Remote Desktop Connection Manager is pre-configured with the credentials required for
this lab.

To select the alternate credentials for a specific machine, right-click the machine and
select Connect server as, and then select the credentials you want to use from the
drop-down menu as shown in the example below.

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Module 2: Citrix Provisioning Infrastructure.

Overview:
This module presents the steps to implement the initial Citrix Provisioning components
to create a licensed Farm.

A Farm is a term used to represent the management scope of a Citrix Provisioning

deployment. To create this Farm, Instructor will address the following core tasks:
• Install the Provisioning Server role on a machine
• Configure a Citrix Provisioning Farm and create the Farm database
• Create and configure a shared vDisk Store
• Implementing delegated administration

Before you begin:

Estimated time to complete Module 2 lab exercises: 40 minutes

Exercise 2-1: Install Citrix Provisioning

Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs; your Lead Citrix Architect has tasked you to
deploy the Citrix Provisioning software and prerequisites to NYC-PVS-001. One of the
junior team members have already configured Windows and joined the machine to the
domain. Additionally, you have already verified the administrator account has the
necessary permissions to create the SQL database for Citrix Provisioning.
Step Action
1. Verify that the following VMs are powered on before beginning the exercises in this module:

• NYC-ADS-001
• NYC-FSR-001
• NYC-PVS-001
• NYC-SQL-001

To power manage the VMs, switch to Hyper-V Manager, right-click the VM in the Virtual Machine
pane, and select Start or Shut Down.

Note: The VMs are listed in the start-up order.

2. Using CWS-316.rdg named icon on the Student Desktop, start the Remote Desktop Connection
manager.

Note: The Remote Desktop Connection Manager is the primary management console used to
log on and interact with the virtual machines of the lab environment. Throughout the rest of the
course, the exercise workbook will reference the named icon above as Remote Desktop
Connection Manager.
Citrix Course: CWS 316 Citrix Eduaction, 2021

3. Using the Remote Desktop Connection manager, connect to NYC-PVS-001.

To log on to NYC-PVS-001, right-click this machine and choose Connect server.

Note: The following credentials are used to make the connection:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1
4. Double-click Lab Resources folder on the desktop of NYC-PVS-001, then double-click the
Citrix_Provisioning_1912_LTSR_CU1 folder and then double-click autorun.exe.

Note: If the main Citrix Provisioning menu screen does not start after double-clicking the green
Citrix logo, then right-click the green Citrix logo and then click Open. In the CD Drive (D:) Citrix
Provisioning_1903 screen, double-click the autorun.exe file.

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5. Select Server Installation in the wizard window.

Click Install.

Note: The installation wizard may take around 60 seconds to load.

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6. Wait for the Citrix Provisioning wizard to appear, and then click Next.

7. Review the license agreement, and if you agree, select I accept the terms in the license
agreement and then click Next.

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8. On the Firewall page, verify that Automatically option is selected for configuring the firewall
rules. Click Next.

9. Click Next to accept the default Customer Information.

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10. Click Next to accept the default Destination Folder.

11. Click Install to begin the installation.

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12. Click Finish.

13. Click OK on the message concerning the PVS Console.

Note: The PVS Console is not installed yet. You will be installing it while configuring the Citrix
Provisioning Farm, in real deployments, the installation of the console is completed right after
the server component installation, the lab intends to install and configure all components
separately.

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14. Click Cancel on the Citrix Provisioning Configuration Wizard screen.

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15. Click Exit on the Citrix Provisioning Installation screen.

16. Close File Explorer window.

Key Takeaways:
• Once a Citrix Provisioning server is installed, it must be configured first to be
operational.
• Citrix Provisioning server install has only the server component and the services.
The Citrix Provisioning console has to be installed to manage the farm.

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Exercise 2-2: Configure Citrix Provisioning Farm

Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs; your Lead Citrix Architect has tasked you
with starting the Citrix Provisioning Farm configuration using the Citrix Provisioning
Configuration Wizard. Your instructions are to ensure PXE is enabled, a specific service
account (Svc-PVS) is used to run the services, and that the Citrix Provisioning database
is automatically created on NYC-SQL-001 using the wizard. Further to these tasks, you
notice that the Citrix Provisioning console has not yet been installed, so after
highlighting this to the Lead Citrix Architect, he approves that you deploy the PVS
Console to the NYC-PVS-001 server as well.
Step Action
1. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, confirm that you are still connected to NYC-
PVS-001.
Note: In a previous exercise, you had logged into NYC-PVS-001 using the following
credentials to make the connection:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1

Note: If your Remote Desktop Connection session is disconnected, log on to NYC-PVS-001,

right-click this machine and choose Connect server.
• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1
2. Click Start and double-click Citrix Provisioning Configuration Wizard.

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3. Click Next in the Citrix Provisioning Configuration Wizard Welcome screen.

4. For DHCP Services, select The service that runs on another computer, and then click
Next.

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5. For PXE Services, select Citrix Provisioning PXE service on this computer, and then click
Next.

6. Select Create farm, and then click Next.

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7. Type NYC-SQL-001 in the Server name box, and then click Next.

8. Type PVS_db in the Database name box, and then verify that Farm is specified in the Farm
Name box.

Type NYC-Site in the Site name box and verify Collection is specified in the
Collection name box.

Verify that Use Active Directory groups for security and

Workspacelab.com/Builtin/Administrators options are selected and then click Next.

Note: The database named PVS_db would automatically be created provided if you have the
correct permissions as mentioned in Exercise 2-1. In case, you do not have permission to
connect to the database remotely due to security constraints, you can also create the
database manually (refer to https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX134615).

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9. Type Local-Store as the Store name.

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10. Click Browse for default path and select E:\LocalStore, and then click Next.

Note: A Local Store with full permissions to the service account has already been created for
the lab environment. You will be creating a shared store in upcoming exercises.
11. Type NYC-FSR-001 in the License server name box.

Note: If copying the license server name from the lab guide, make sure that there is no extra
space at the end.

Verify that the checkboxes Validate license server version communication and Use
Datacenter licenses for desktops if no Desktop licenses are available are selected, then
click Next.

Note: This process may take a few seconds to validate the License Server.

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12. Select the account to use for the Stream Workspace App and SOAP Server, and enter the
following:

Select Specified user account.

o Type Svc-PVS in the Username box.
o Type workspacelab in the Domain box.
o Type Password1 in the password boxes.

Click Next.

Note: Svc-PVS service account is already created for the Lab Environment. Once configured,
stream and soap services will be running with this service account until changed manually.
These are the two main services for PVS operations and they need permissions to access the
vDisk store and database.

Note: Login permissions for the service account will automatically be added to the database.

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13. Verify that the checkbox Automate computer account password updates is selected, and
then click Next.

14. Verify that 6890 is specified as the First communications port and the 54321 is specified as
the Console port, and then click Next.

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15. Select the checkbox Use the Citrix Provisioning TFTP service, and then click Next.

16. Click Next to accept the default Stream Servers Boot List.

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17. Click Next to accept the default Soap SSL Configuration.

Note: SSL Configuration is only for Linux target devices.

18. Click Next to accept the default Problem Report Configuration.

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19. Verify that the checkbox Automatically Start Services is selected, and then click Finish.

20. Click OK on the Windows Firewall message.

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21. Wait while the configuration completes, and then click Done.

22. Double-click the Lab Resources folder on the desktop of NYC-PVS-001, double-click the
Citrix_Provisioning_1912_LTSR_CU1 folder, and double-click autorun.exe

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23. Click Console Installation

Note: Console installation is usually done right after the server component installation. For the
effects of the exercise, the installation of the console is done separated from the server
installation.

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24. Wait for the Citrix Provisioning Console wizard to appear, and then click Next.

25. Select I accept the terms of the license agreement and then click Next.

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26. Click Next to accept the defaults on the Customer Information screen.

27. Click Next to accept the default Destination folder.

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28. Click Install to begin the installation of the Citrix Provisioning Console.

29. Click Finish.

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30. Click Exit and close File Explorer.

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31. Right-click Start and click Command Prompt (Admin).

32. In the Command Prompt, type ping NYC-FSR-001 -f -l 1500 and press Enter. Notice that
packages are being fragmented.

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33. In the Command Prompt, type ping NYC-FSR-001 -f –l 1472 and press Enter. Notice that
packages are NOT being fragmented.

34. Click Start and click Citrix Provisioning Console.

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35. Right-click Citrix Provisioning Console in the left pane and select Connect to Farm.

Note: If the console fails to open and Connect to the Farm, then go to the Windows Services
and check the status of the Citrix PVS Soap Server. If it is not in a Running state, then Start
the service and re-connect to the Citrix PVS Farm.

Note: Skip this step and move to the next step if directly presented by Connect to Farm
window.
36. Type NYC-PVS-001 in the Name box, and then click Connect.

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37. Browse to Farm > Sites > NYC-Site > Servers.

38. Right-click NYC-PVS-001 and select Properties.

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39. Click Advanced button in the Server Properties window.

40. Click Network tab in the Advanced Server Properties window.

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41. Change Ethernet maximum transmission unit (MTU) (bytes) to match the un-fragmented
ping result of 1472 from the previous step. Click OK two times to close the properties
windows.

42. Click No to the “The stream service must be restarted for the new settings to take
effect….” prompt.

43. Right-click the Start menu, then select Run.

In the Run window, type regedit, and click OK to start Registry Editor.

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44. Inside Registry Editor, navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters

If the left pane, right-click Parameters and click New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.

45. Name the new DWORD key as DisableTaskOffload and press enter.

46. Double-click the DisableTaskOffload key, set the Value data to 1, and click OK.

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47. Right-click the start menu and select Shut down or sign out > Restart to restart the NYC-
PVS-001 VM.

Key Takeaways:
• For a Citrix Provisioning server to be operational, it must first be configured.
• During the configuration, certain services are enabled or disabled depending on
the design you chose.
• The services can be hosted in the context of Network Service or a custom
service account.
• The account configured to run the services must have access to the vDisk store
location and must be DB_owner on the database.
• The configuration wizard will automatically add the user to the database if a
NetBIOS username is specified during configuration.
• If using a custom service account, this user should be added to the local
administrators' group on the PVS server.
• The PVS Console can be deployed on the PVS servers or a remote management
computer.

Exercise 2-3: Verify the Database Permissions

Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs; your Lead Citrix Architect has informed you
to verify the Svc-PVS Service account has been added to the database with db_reader
and db_writer permissions.
Step Action
1. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, connect to NYC-SQL-001.

To log on to NYC-SQL-001, right-click this machine and choose Connect server.

Note: The following credentials are used to make the connection:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1

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2. Click Start and start Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio.

Note: If a warning box appears, click OK.

3. Select NYC-SQL-001 in the Server name box, keeping Authentication as Windows
Authentication, and then click Connect.

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4. Expand NYC-SQL-001 > Security > Logins and verify that the new login for the Svc-PVS
service account has been created.

5. Right-click workspacelab\Svc-PVS and select Properties.

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6. Click Server Roles in the left pane, and then verify public is selected in the right pane to
grant server-wide security privileges to the specified user.

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7. Click User Mapping.

In the top-right pane, verify that PVS_db is selected, then click on the PVS_db row.

In the bottom-right pane, verify that db_datareader and db_datawriter permissions are
selected.

b
8. Click OK.
9. Additionally, browse to the WORKSPACELAB\Administrator under NYC-SQL-001 >
Security > Logins and review the permissions for the Administrator account that was
required to perform the install of the Citrix Provisioning software in Exercise 2-1.

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10. Select WORKSPACELAB\Administrator, right-click and select Properties.

11. Select Server Roles in the left pane.

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12. Verify that public is selected in the right pane to grant server-wide security privileges to the
specified user, and sysadmin is selected to grant the highest level of privilege.

Note: If sysadmin is not a feasible option, you need the dbcreator and securityadmin
privileges for the account that will be used for the installation of PVS and the creation of the
database.
13. Click OK.
14. Close SQL Server Management Studio window.

Key Takeaways:
• If you specify a UPN username during the install, the wizard will not add the
service account to the PVS database.
• You can add the service account manually using SQL Management Studio.
• The service account login is automatically added by the wizard with
db_datareader and db_writer permissions.
• The Citrix Provisioning Server installation only installs the server binaries and
prerequisites needed to run the Citrix Provisioning server.
• The Citrix Provisioning server is not yet operable because the server has not yet
been configured.
• To install the PVS software, you must be a local administrator on the server you
are installing the software

Exercise 2-4: Delegate Administration

Scenario:
The ability to view and manage objects within a Citrix Provisioning implementation is
determined by the administrative role assigned to a group of users. Citrix Provisioning
makes use of groups that already exist within the network (Windows or Active Directory
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Groups). All members within a group will share the same administrative privileges within
a farm. An administrator may have multiple roles if they belong to more than one group.

Step Action
1. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, confirm that you are still connected to NYC-
PVS-001.
Note: In a previous exercise, you had logged into NYC-PVS-001 using the following credentials
to make the connection:
• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1

Note: If your Remote Desktop Connection session is disconnected, log on to NYC-PVS-001,

right-click this machine and choose Connect server.
2. Click Start and start Citrix Provisioning Console.

Type NYC-PVS-001 and click Connect.

Note: If the console is already open from the previous exercises, ignore this step.
3. To assign any Administrative Role to any Group you first need to add that Group to the Farm.

In the Citrix Provisioning Console, right-click Farm, select Properties.

Select Groups tab.

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4. Click Add and then click Search.

Scroll down and select the workspacelab.com/Citrix/New York/Users/Operations/HR/HR

group.

Click OK.
5. Verify that the group is added successfully and click OK on the Farm Properties screen.

Note: The following administrative roles can be assigned to a group:

• Farm Administrator
• Site Administrator
• Device Administrator
• Device Operator
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6. Close Citrix Provisioning Console.
7. Click Start and start the Citrix Provisioning Console. Type NYC-PVS-001.

Select Use the credentials to login and type the following:

• Username: HR1
• Domain: Workspacelab.com
• Password: Password1

Note: HR1 is a user in the HR group added above.

Click Connect.
8. Click OK on the error message saying that user does not have access to the Farm.

Note: A group was added in the farm, but no role was assigned to that group.

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9. Select Use my Windows credentials to login and click Connect.

10. In the Citrix Provisioning Console, right-click Farm (NYC-PVS-001) and select Properties.

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11. Click Security tab and click Add.

12. Select workspacelab.com/Citrix/New York/Users/Operations/HR/HR group.

Click OK, then click OK again.

Now members of the HR Group are added to the Farm Security list and can act as Farm
Administrators.
13. Close Citrix Provisioning Console.

Key Takeaways:
• Administrative Roles can be used in Citrix Provisioning to assign different
administrators with different permissions inside the Citrix Provisioning Console.
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• Delegating administrative privileges is a two-step process; first, add all the

groups that need access to the groups tab on the farm level, then at each object
level in the farm, add the groups to provide the necessary access.

Exercise 2-5: Log in with Delegated Administration

Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs. After adding the HR group in the previous
exercise, your Lead Citrix Architect has tasked you with testing that the HR1 user now
can log on to the PVS Console.
Step Action
1. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, confirm that you are still connected to NYC-
PVS-001.
Note: In a previous exercise, you had logged into NYC-PVS-001 using the following credentials
to make the connection:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1

Note: If your Remote Desktop Connection session is disconnected, log on to NYC-PVS-001,

right-click this machine and choose Connect server.
2. Click Start and start Citrix Provisioning Console.

Type NYC-PVS-001 and select Use the credentials to login.

Type:
• Username: HR1
• Domain: Workspacelab.com
• Password: Password1

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Click Connect and verify that the HR1 account can log in successfully.
3. Close Citrix Provisioning Console.

Key Takeaways:
• After adding the Delegated Admins group to the Farm object, the delegated user
is now able to log in to the Citrix Provisioning console.

Module 3: Citrix Provisioning Streaming

Methods
Overview:
This module presents the steps involved in some of the available vDisk boot options
that will be configured and tested.

Before you begin:

Estimated time to complete Module 3 lab exercises: 10 minutes

Exercise 3-1: Configure Boot ISO

Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs; your Lead Citrix Architect has instructed to
test the Boot Device Manager option. Your task will be to create a bootable ISO file that
can reduce the need for reconfiguring the network to support booting provisioning target
devices.
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Step Action
1. Using the Remote Desktop Connection manager, confirm you are still connected to NYC-PVS-
001.
Note: In a previous exercise, you had logged into NYC-PVS-001 using the following
credentials to make the connection:
• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1

Note: If your Remote Desktop Connection session is disconnected, log on to NYC-PVS-001,

right-click this machine and choose Connect server.
2. Click Start and click Citrix Provisioning Console. Type NYC-PVS-001 and click Connect.

Note: Ignore if console is already open.

3. Right-click Citrix Provisioning Console and select Create a Boot Device.

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4. Type NYC-PVS-001 in Host name box and click Next.

Note: You are specifying the DNS resolvable name of the PVS server that will be used as the
login server for target devices. If you want to add multiple servers, select the other option to
use a static IP address for the server and add a maximum of four login servers.
5. Select Verbose Mode to display diagnostic information during boot and click Next.

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6. Verify Use DHCP to retrieve Device IP is selected and complete other boxes as:

• Primary DNS Server Address: 192.168.10.11

• Domain Name: workspacelab.com

Select Citrix ISO Image Recorder from the Device drop-down menu and click Burn. This will
create an ISO file.

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7. Specify a location to save the BDM ISO file. Type \\NYC-FSR-001\Resources\PVSBDM.iso
and click Save.

8. Click OK once the Successful message appears.

Close the Boot Device Management window.

Note: Now, depending on the environment, you need to store the ISO in a highly available
location that all PVS target VMs can access.
9. From the desktop of NYC-HYP-001, in the Windows taskbar, click Hyper-V Manager.

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10. Right-click NYC-SRV-MST-A in Hyper-V manager and click Settings.

11. Click Firmware tab.

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12. Select DVD Drive, then click Move Up until DVD Drive is at the top of the list.

13. On the left pane expand SCSI Controller and click DVD Drive.

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14. In the right pane click Image file radio button and then click Browse.

15. In the File name filed type \\NYC-FSR-001\Resources\PVSBDM.iso and click Open.

16. Click Apply then click OK.

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17. Right-click NYC-SRV-MST-A in Hyper-V Manager and select Start.

Double-click NYC-SRV-MST-A and monitor the boot process. Once, the boot process has
completed you will see Alt + Ctrl + Del screen.

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18. Click Shut Down from the Hyper-V Manager

Once the machine is turned off click X on NYC-SRV-MST-A to close the console window
19. Right-click NYC-SRV-MST-A in Hyper-V manager and click Settings.

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20. Click Firmware tab and then select Network Adapter, then click Move Up until Network
Adapter is at the top of the list.

21. On the left pane expand SCSI Controller and click DVD Drive and select None on the right
pane.

Click OK to close NYC-SRV-MST-A settings.

Key Takeaways:
• Boot Device Manager is an alternative method to booting PVS Target Devices.
• Instead of using the PXE or DHCP approaches, the bootstrap can be hosted in
an ISO or on a Virtual Disk attached to each Target Device.
• BDM is an easy approach if you are doing a POC or if you cannot enable
network boot within your datacenter.

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Module 4: Citrix Provisioning vDisks

Overview:
This module presents steps involved in creating a vDisk, including preparing the Master
Target Device and imaging the Master image to a vDisk. Directly following the creation
of one Server OS vDisk.

Before you begin:

Estimated time to complete Module 4 lab exercises: 45 minutes

Exercise 4-1: Prepare the Server OS Master

Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs; your Lead Citrix Architect was very pleased
with the effort you put into configuring Citrix Provisioning. Now that the Citrix
Provisioning server is configured, your next task is to prepare the base operating
system of NYC-SRV-MST-A to be used as a Server OS Master.
Step Action
1. Verify that the following VMs are powered on before beginning the exercises in this module:

• NYC-ADS-001
• NYC-FSR-001
• NYC-PVS-001
• NYC-SQL-001
• NYC-SRV-MST-A
• NYC-VDC-001

To power manage the VMs, switch to Hyper-V Manager, right-click the VM in the Virtual
Machine pane, and select Start or Shut Down.

Note: The VMs are listed in the start-up order.

2. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, connect to NYC-SRV-MST-A.

To log on to NYC-SRV-MST-A, right-click this machine and choose Connect server.

Note: The following credentials are used to make the connection:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1

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3. Right-click Start and click System.

Verify that the machine is joined to the workspacelab.com domain and Windows is activated.

Close the window.

Note: This machine will be used as a Master Target Device to create multiple target devices
inside a Device Collection. To ensure that all machines in this Device Collection join the
domain, you have to ensure that this Master Target Device is joined to the domain.

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4. Verify the date and time are correct on NYC-SRV-MST-A.

Right-click on the current time in the system tray.

Click Adjust date/time

If the time or the time zone needs to be changed, you would click on Change date and time
or Time zone. For this lab, you will leave the default settings. Click X to close the Date and
Time dialog box.

Close the window.

Note: The Change box is being grayed out because the change has been restricted using
Group Policy.

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5. Modify the power plan for NYC-SRV-MST-A.

Right-click Start and click Power Options. Under Choose or customize a power plan, select
High performance.

Close Power Options window.

Note: When selecting High performance mode as a power plan, the computer does not lower
the CPU’s speed when it is not being used causing the CPU to run at higher speeds. It also
increases screen brightness. Other components, such as your Wi-Fi or disk drive, may also
not go into power-saving modes. High performance favors performance but may use more
energy.

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6. Right-click Start, then select Programs and Features.

7. In the list of programs, verify that Citrix Virtual Delivery Agent 7 1912 LTSR CU1 and
Microsoft Office 2016 are installed.

Note: The Citrix Virtual Delivery Agent (VDA) is required so that the target devices can be
used in the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops environment. Microsoft Office 2016 has been
identified as a requirement for the POC environment.

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8. Right-click Start and select Network Connections.

9. Right-click Ethernet and select Properties.

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10. Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and click Properties.

11. Verify Obtain an IP address automatically is selected and click OK.

Note: This is to obtain an IP from a DHCP Server, which is already configured in the lab
environment.

12. Click Close to close the window.

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13. Again right-click Ethernet and select Properties.

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14. Click on Configure

Note: If you receive a pop-up dialog box stating You have made changes to the properties of
this connection. If you proceed your changes will be lost. Do you wish to proceed?, click Yes.

Now select Advanced tab.

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15. Disable the following offload features by selecting one at a time and changing the Value to
Disabled from the drop-down menu:

• IPv4 Checksum Offload

• Large Send Offload V2 (IPv4)
• Large Send Offload V2 (IPv6)
• TCP Checksum Offload (IPv4)
• TCP Checksum Offload (IPv6)
• UDP Checksum Offload (IPv4)
• UDP Checksum Offload (IPv6)

Note: The specific offload features visible varies, depending on the environment and the
network adapter’s properties. Offload parameters are not compatible with the Citrix
Provisioning network stack. Citrix recommends disabling features such as TCP Offload on the
network adapter for the target device to reduce any network intervention and retries.
16. Click OK and close the Network Connections screen.

Note: After clicking OK a brief reconnection to the server will happen.

17. Verify TFTP communication between the Master Target Device(NYC-SRV-MST-A) and PVS
server is fine:

• Right-click Start and select Command Prompt

• Type tftp 192.168.10.50 get ardbp32.bin and hit the Enter key.
• Verify transfer is successful.
• Close the Command Prompt.

Note: The TFTP client feature is already configured in the lab.

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18. To restart the machine, right-click Start > Shut down or sign out > Restart.

19. You may want to switch to Hyper-V to monitor the progress of the reboot. To do this, right-click
NYC-SRV-MST-A in the middle pane, and then select Connect.

Note: There are more optimizations to consider in terms of network leading practices. Another
Citrix Administrator in the environment has implemented the following considerations:

• The Windows Firewall should be disabled for the Profiles. If not, all PVS Communication
Ports should be opened in Firewall.
• The Windows Firewall service should be in a started state with Automatic startup type.
• IPv6 should be disabled.
• Antivirus exclusions should be implemented for the Citrix Provisioning application folders.
• Synchronize all MTUs across the network, if possible.
• Increase ARP Cache from command-line.
• Registry key to disable task offload:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\TCPIP\Parameters\
Key: "DisableTaskOffload" (dword)
Value: "1"

Key Takeaways:
• When preparing an operating system for use with PVS it is important to remove
any hidden network adapters, while they may not cause problems for the
machine before PVS is introduced, they can interfere with the boot process if
they are present in the PVS image.
• The Citrix PVS network stack does not support offload, Citrix recommends
disabling all offload mechanisms on the network adapter.
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\TCPIP\Parameter
s\DisableTaskOffload = 1 disables all of the task offloads from the TCP/IP
transport.
• Antivirus scanning of the PVS traffic and the PVS drivers can reduce
performance; consult with Citrix product documentation and your antivirus vendor
for recommendations.

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Exercise 4-2: Create vDisk for Server OS
Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs. Your Lead Citrix Architect has tasked you to
install the Citrix Provisioning Target Device software and proceed with capturing the
master image on to a Citrix Provisioning vDisk.
Step Action
1. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, right-click NYC-SRV-MST-A, and select
Connect server.
Note: The connection to NYC-SRV-MST-A is made using the following credentials:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1

Note: If your Remote Desktop Connection session is disconnected, log on to NYC-SRV-MST-

A, right-click this machine and choose Connect server.
2. In NYC-SRV-MST-A, double-click the Lab Resources folder on the desktop, double-click the
Citrix_Provisioning_1912_LTSR_CU1 folder, and then double-click autorun.exe.

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3. Click Target Device Installation.

4. Click Target Device Installation again.

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5. Click Next on the welcome screen of the installation wizard.

6. Review the License Agreement and if you agree, select the checkbox I accept the terms in
the license agreement and then click Next.

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7. Click Next to accept the default selections on the Customer Information window.

8. Click Next to accept the default Destination folder.

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9. Click Install and wait while the installation completes.

10. Before clicking Finish in the installation wizard, verify that there are no third-party drivers like
antivirus or malicious filter drivers.

Right-click Start and select Command Prompt (Admin).

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11. Enter fltmc and check that there are no 3rd Party Drivers on highest altitude. The driver
CFsDep2’ is displayed by default.

Note: Filter drivers sitting on the highest altitude will load before PVS drivers and can affect
the imaging process. The Fltmc.exe control program is a command-line utility for common
mini filter driver management operations.

Note: In the above screenshot, you may notice that the numerous filter drivers like wcnfs,
TSFairShare, and storqosflt, which are loaded by Microsoft Windows and should not cause
any issues. If any driver looks suspicious, it is advisable to study it and remove if it is not from
a trusted source.
12. Close Command Prompt window.

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13. Go back to Citrix Provisioning Target Device x64 screen.

Verify that the check box Launch Imaging Wizard is selected, and then click Finish.

14. Click Next on the welcome screen of the Imaging Wizard.

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15. Type 192.168.10.50 in the Server name or IP box, and then click Next.

Note: If an error message appears stating that the server could not be contacted, verify that
the IP address was entered correctly. Otherwise, try restarting NYC-PVS-001.
16. Select Create a vDisk, and then click Next.

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17. Type NYC-TDS-MST in the Target device name box and keeping everything else as default
and click Next.

Note: The MAC address in the screenshot may not match with the lab environment.

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18. Type Win2016vDisk in vDisk name.

Select LocalStore from the Store name drop-down.

Select Dynamic as vDisk type.

Select VHDX format.

Note: The Fixed vDisk type allocates 100% of the space allocated for the vDisk immediately.
The Dynamic vDisk type allocates space, as it is needed. A Dynamic vDisk starts small and
then grows up to the maximum amount of space allocated, as it is needed. VHDX is the new
virtual hard disk format and has some important advantages over VHD in terms of capacity
and performance.

Click Next.
19. Select None in the Microsoft Volume Licensing screen, and then click Next.

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20. Select Image entire boot disk, and then click Next.

Note: In this scenario the image used has a single boot partition. The second option can be
used when the Master Target Device has multiple operative systems to choose from or when
the volume size needs to be increased.

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21. Select Optimize the hard disk again for Citrix Provisioning before imaging and click Edit
Optimization Settings.

Note: It is recommended to go through all the default optimizations to verify if anything

conflicts with company policies.

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22. After reviewing the optimizations, click OK.

Back on the Optimize Hard Disk for Citrix Provisioning screen, observe the note about
defragmenting disk partitions before imaging.

Note: The main advantage of using Dynamic disks is that it reduces the amount of storage
required for virtual disks. This leads to lower storage costs and allows for easier virtual disk
management. However, over time, dynamic disks will grow as data is added to the virtual disk.
When data is removed from the disk, the size of the virtual disk does not decrease. The virtual
disk size remains at the largest amount of data size that was ever stored in the VHD(X).

To maintain the advantages of using dynamic disks, it is important to perform disk

defragmentation, because files are constantly being written and deleted from a dynamic disk.
This will move all of the data to the front of the disk, which will increase performance.
Nothing has been added to vDisk at this time, so it does not require defragmentation.
23. Click Next.

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24. Verify the Summary and click Create.

25. Verify Status message is Successful and click Continue.

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26. When asked to reboot, click No to shut down the machine. This gives you time to reconfigure
the machine to boot from the network or ISO.

27. Click Yes to shut down the machine.

28. From the desktop of NYC-HYP-001, in the Windows taskbar, click Hyper-V Manager.

29. Right-click NYC-SRV-MST-A in Hyper-V Manager and click Settings.

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30. Click Firmware tab.

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31. Select Network Adapter, then click Move Up until Network Adapter is at the top of the list.

32. On the left pane, click Security, on the right pane clear (deselect) the Enable Secure Boot
checkbox, and then click OK.

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33. Using the Remote Desktop Connection manager, connect to NYC-PVS-001.

To log on to NYC-PVS-001, right-click this machine and choose Connect server.

Note: The following credentials are used to make the connection:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1
34. Right-click Start menu, then click Run.

In the Run window, type services.msc, then click OK.

35. In the Services console, right-click Citrix PVS PXE Service and select Restart. Verify the
service restarts successfully.

36. From the Hyper-V Manager tool, right-click NYC-SRV-MST-A, and click Start.

Note: You may want to switch to Hyper-V Manager to monitor the progress. To do this, right-
click NYC-SRV-MST-A in the center pane, and then select Connect.
37. Once the machine finishes booting, using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, connect
to NYC-SRV-MST-A.

To log on to NYC-SRV-MST-A right-click this machine and choose Connect server.

Note: The following credentials are used to make the connection:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1

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38. After you log on, you will see the Imaging Wizard progress window for the vDisk capture
process. Do not restart the VM until the vDisk imaging process completes.

Note: If prompted for Format of the disk, click Cancel for both drive E: and drive F.

39. Click Done when Status shows successful then proceed to Shut Down the virtual machine.

Note: The imaging process will take approximately 10-15 minutes.

40. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, connect to NYC-PVS-001.

To login to NYC-PVS-001, right-click this machine and choose Connect server.

Note: The following credentials are used to make the connection:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1
41. Click Start and click Citrix Provisioning Console.

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42. Type NYC-PVS-001 and click Connect.

43. Browse Farm > Sites > NYC-Site > vDisk Pool and verify Win2016vDisk is created.

Note: If vDisk is not seen, refresh the console.

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44. Browse Farm > Sites > NYC-Site > Device Collections > Collection and verify NYC-TDS-
MST is created.

Note: If the target device is not seen, refresh the console.

45. Right-click NYC-TDS-MST and select Properties. Change Boot from drop-down menu to
vDisk.

Click OK.

Key Takeaways:
• The Provisioning Target Device Software is the component that allows a machine
to attach a vDisk hosted on a Citrix Provisioning server and boot from the
operating system hosted within the vDisk.
• The Imaging Wizard is installed by default with the Target Device Software.
• The Imaging Wizard can be used to capture the hard disk contents of a Master
machine into a vDisk on the Citrix Provisioning server.
• Additionally, the Image Wizard can create a record for the Master machine in the
PVS database, allowing the Master machine to boot via the network and attach
the newly created vDisk.
• The Target Device software uses filter driver technology, so other similar third-
party filter driver solutions should be carefully evaluated.

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Exercise 4-3: Verify the Store via File Explorer

Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs; your Lead Citrix Architect has tasked you to
verify that the appropriate vDisk files and permissions are visible in the Store.
Step Action
1. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, connect to NYC-PVS-001.

To log in to NYC-PVS-001 right-click this machine and choose Connect server.

Note: The following credentials are used to make the connection:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1
2. Start File Explorer and browse to E:\LocalStore.

3. Verify that the vDisk Win2016vDisk.vhdx is created.

Note: You will notice that three files are created for the vDisk.

• The .vhdx file, which is the actual vDisk image.

• The .lok file, which controls the read and writes permissions for the vDisk and prevents
disk corruption.
• The .pvp file, which holds the vDisk properties information. Most of the settings
configured for the vDisk are stored in this file such as:
o Class and type, which is used during an Auto Update.
o Build number, which is used in an auto-update.
o Active Directory Switch, which is important to note that only the on/off switch is
located here, no AD information such as the Machine Account Password hash
key is located in this file.

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4. Select Win2016vDisk.vhdx, right-click and select Properties.

Note: Size of the .vhdx file is 21.0GB, while the size of the disk attached to the NYC-SRV-MST-
A is 126GB. This is because you have selected Dynamic disk while creating the vDisk.
5. Click Security tab and verify the accounts that have permission to this .vhdx file.

6. Click OK to close the Properties window.

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7. Close File Explorer window.

Key Takeaways:
• Each vDisk within the Citrix Provisioning Store comprises of 3 files; a VHDX
containing all the image, a PVP file containing vDisk properties, and a LOK file
determining if the vDisk is currently in use.
• vDisks can be created as Fixed or Dynamic: Fixed disks correspond to thick
provisioning while Dynamic disks are thin provisioned.
• The vDisks automatically inherits the NTFS permissions from the folder where
they were created.
• When copying vDisks between folders or different PVS systems, ensure that the
NTFS permissions are set correctly.

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Exercise 4-4: Verify the Store via PVS Console
Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs; your Lead Citrix Architect has tasked you to
verify that the vDisks are also present within the Citrix Provisioning Console.
Step Action
1. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, confirm that you are still connected to NYC-
PVS-001.
Note: In a previous exercise, you had logged into NYC-PVS-001 using the following
credentials to make the connection:
• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1

Note: If your Remote Desktop Connection session is disconnected, log on to NYC-PVS-001,

right-click this machine and choose Connect server.
2. Click Start and click Citrix Provisioning Console.

Note: Ignore if console is already open and jump to step 4.

3. Type NYC-PVS-001 and click Connect.
4. Browse Farm > Stores > Local-Store in the left pane.

Note: Refresh the console, if the vDisk is not seen in the right pane.

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5. Select Win2016Vdisk in the right pane. Right-click and select Properties.

Note: vDisk size is 130,048 MB with a block size as 32,768 KB. 130,048 MB points to the
actual disk size unlike the .vhdx file seen in the store which shows the actually occupied
space in the disk.
6. Click OK and close the window.

Key Takeaways:
• The vDisk properties shown in the console are read from the PVP file.
• When inspecting the size and block size you can tell if the disk was created as
dynamic or fixed.

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Module 5: Citrix Provisioning Target Devices

Overview:
This module reinforces the concept of the way that production target devices handle
disk data. To apply these concepts to the Citrix Provisioning deployment, different write
cache locations will be configured for each of the vDisks. Additionally, you will redirect
the event logs to an alternate storage location as an example of how certain data can
be redirected to persist between target device reboots.
Before you begin:
Estimated time to complete Module 5 lab exercises: 60 minutes

Exercise 5-1: Copy the Server OS Master and convert

to a template
Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs, your Lead Citrix Architect has informed you
that to use the built-in wizards in Citrix Provisioning to deploy virtual machines, you
must have a VM template, this template should match the VM configuration used to
create the vDisk. Your task is to copy the Server Master VM, delete its hard disk
associations, and convert it to a template.
Step Action
1. Verify that the following VMs are powered on before beginning the exercises in this module:

• NYC-ADS-001
• NYC-FSR-001
• NYC-PVS-001
• NYC-SQL-001

To power manage the VMs, switch to Hyper-V Manager, right-click the VM in the Virtual
Machine pane, and select Start or Shut Down.

Note: The VMs are listed in the start-up order.

2. From the desktop of NYC-HYP-001, locate the Icon for Virtual Machine Manager Console in
the Desktop, and double-click to start the console.

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3. In the middle pane, select NYC-SRV-MST-A, right-click, and select Properties.

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4. Notice in the General tab that NYC-SRV-MST-A is a Generation 2 Virtual machine, Similarly,
check for NYC-SRV-MST-B, notice it is a Generation 1 virtual machine.

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5. In Properties box for NYC-SRV-MST-A, switch to Hardware Configuration tab, locate the
Hard Drive under Bus Configuration, select NYC-SRV-MST-A, and click Remove.

When asked if you want to remove NYC-SRV-MST-A, Click Yes.

6. Virtual Machine Manager will ask if you want to remove the vDisk from the host, Click No and
Click OK to close the Properties box.

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7. Locate NYC-SRV-MST-A in the list of the virtual machines. Right-click NYC-SRV-MST-A, then
select Create > Clone.

8. On the Specify Virtual Machine Identity page, type TMP-SRV-001, and then click Next.

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9. On the Configure Hardware page, click Next.

10. On the Select Destination page, click Next.

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11. On the Select Host page click Next.

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12. On the Select Path page click Next.

13. On the Select Networks page, verify that LabNetwork is selected and click Next.

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14. On the Add Properties page click Next.

15. On the Summary page, click Create.

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16. Verify the job status in Jobs windows, ignore the “Completed w/ Info” comment and close the
Jobs windows when the VM clone action is complete.

17. Locate TMP-SRV-001 in the list of the virtual machines. Right-click TMP-SRV-001, then select
Create > Create VM Template.

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18. A Pop-Up warning regarding creating a template will destroy the virtual machine and some
other operations, click Yes to continue.

19. In the Identity page, type TMP-SRV-001 in the VM Template name and click Next.

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20. On the Configure Hardware page, click Next.

21. On the Configure Operating System page, select None – customizations not required from
the drop-down, and click Next.

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22. On the Select Library Server page, click Next.

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23. On the Select Path page, click Browse.

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24. On the Select Destination Folder, expand MSSCVMMLibrary and select Resources directory
and click OK.

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25. On the Select Path page, click Next.

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26. On the Summary page, click Create.

27. Monitor the creation of the template in the Jobs window.

Once the template is done, close the Jobs window by clicking X on the top right.

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28. In the middle pane, Right click over NYC-SRV-MST-B and select Properties.

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29. In the Properties box, locate Hard Drive inside Hardware Configuration under Bus
Configuration, select NYC-SRV-MST-B, and click Remove.

When asked if you want to remove NYC-SRV-MST-B, Click Yes.

30. Virtual Machine Manager will ask if you want to remove the VHDX file from the host, click No,
then Click OK to close the settings box.

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31. Locate NYC-SRV-MST-B in the list of the virtual machines. Right-click NYC-SRV-MST-B, then
select Create > Clone.

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32. On the Specify Virtual Machine Identity page, type TMP-SRV-002, and then click Next.

33. On the Configure Hardware page, click Next.

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34. On the Select Destination page, click Next.

35. On the Select Host page, click Next.

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36. On the Select Path page, click Next.

37. On the Select Networks page, verify that LabNetwork is selected and click Next.

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38. On the Add Properties page click Next.

39. On the Summary page, click Create.

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40. Verify the job status in Jobs windows, ignore the “Completed w/ Info” comment and close the
Jobs windows when the VM clone action is complete.

41. Locate TMP-SRV-002 in the list of the virtual machines. Right-click TMP-SRV-002, then select
Create > Create VM Template.

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42. A Pop-Up warning regarding creating a template will destroy the virtual machine and some
other operations, click Yes to continue.

43. In the Identity page, type TMP-SRV-002 in the VM Template name and click Next.

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44. On the Configure Hardware page, click Next.

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45. On the Configure Operating System page, select None – customizations not required from
the drop-down, and click Next.

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46. On the Select Library Server page, click Next.

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47. On the Select Path page, click Browse.

48. On the Select Destination Folder, expand MSSCVMMLibrary and select Resources directory
and click OK.

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49. On the Select Path page, click Next.

50. On the Summary page, click Create.

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51. Monitor the creation of the template in the Jobs window.

Once the template is done, close the Jobs window by clicking X on the top right.

Key Takeaways:
• To use the built-in wizards in Citrix Provisioning to deploy virtual machines, a VM
template is required.
• We created a template using Hyper-V Generation 1 machine for Stream VM set-
up wizard, as PVS does not support Generation 2 VM’s for Stream VM set-up
Wizard.
• We created a template using Hyper-V Generation 2 machine for Citrix Virtual
Apps and Desktop Setup Wizard.
• The VM template will define the virtual hardware in each VM created by the
wizards.
• It is very important that the virtual hardware in the template match the virtual
hardware used to build the corresponding image.
• The easiest way to ensure alignment between the master and the template is to
copy the master, make the necessary adjustments, and convert the copy to a
template.
• The template does not need a local disk since the hard disk content is being
streamed from PVS.

Exercise 5-2: Set the Write Cache location for the

Server OS vDisk
Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs; your Lead Citrix Architect has instructed you
to seal the Server OS vDisk and to ensure that all target devices streaming this vDisk
will use RAM with overflow to disk for the write cache type.
Step Action

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1. Using the Remote Desktop Connection manager, connect to NYC-PVS-001.

To log on to NYC-PVS-001, right-click this machine and choose Connect server.

Note: The following credentials are used to make the connection:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1
2. Click Start and click Citrix Provisioning Console.

Type NYC-PVS-001 and click Connect.

3. Browse Farm > Sites > NYC-Site > vDisk Pool in the left pane. Check if the vDisk has a lock
pad icon.

Note the lock pad icon next to the vDisk Win2016vDisk, the lock means there is or was a
target using the VM. The lab has all targets powered off, making it safe to remove the locks,
check first the targets devices before releasing any locks.

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4. To unlock, right-click Win2016vDisk > Manage Locks.

Check on the device and click Remove Locks then click Close.

5. Select Win2016vDisk. Right-click and select Properties.

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6. Using the Access mode drop-down menu, select Standard Image (multi-device, read-only
access).

Note: If you see options in vDisks Properties as grayed out then it might be due to vDisk
lock.
7. Using the Cache type drop-down menu, verify that the Cache in device RAM with overflow
on hard disk is selected.

• Change value of Maximum RAM size to 256. (Default value is 64MB)

Note: Maximum RAM size specifies the max limit for RAM that the PVS target device driver
can allocate from the non-paged pool for caching before moving the older disk writes to the
hard disk cache overflow.

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8. Click OK and verify on Citrix Provisioning Console that the mode is shown correctly.

9. Close Citrix Provisioning Console.

Key Takeaways:
• A vDisk has two access modes: Standard Image and Private Image.
• Private Image means the image is open for changes and only one Target Device
can use the image.
• Standard Image means the image is write-protected and can be used by multiple
Target Devices at one time.
• When Target Devices stream a write-protected vDisk, the changes during
runtime are stored in a temporary location called a Write Cache. The Write
Cache can be hosted in the following places: Provisioning Server hard disk,
Target Device RAM, Target Device hard disk, or Target Device RAM with
overflow on the hard disk. Generally, the last option is preferred for most
deployments and is selected by default.
• The RAM will act as a write buffer to ensure that random reads and writes are
processed quickly. When the RAM buffer is full, the least-used blocks of data are
written to the local write cache disk to accommodate newer data in the RAM
cache. The process is very similar to the paging process in Windows.

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Exercise 5-3: Add a Persistent Drive and Redirect Event
Logs
Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs; your Lead Citrix Architect has informed you
about a new IT policy mandating that all non-persistent machines must save historical
event log data. Your task is to redirect the event logs on the master target device to a
persistent location, to comply with the new IT policy.
Step Action
1. From the desktop of NYC-HYP-001, in the Windows taskbar, click Hyper-V Manager.

2. Right-click NYC-SRV-MST-A in Hyper-V Manager and click Settings.

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3. Select SCSI Controller > Hard Drive in the left pane and click Add.

4. In the Virtual hard disk section, click New.

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5. On the Before You Begin page, click Next.

6. In the choose Disk Page, click Next.

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7. In the Specify Name and Location page, type EventLogs.vhdx and click Next.

8. In the Configure Disk page, type 20 as the size of the Disk, and then click Next.

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9. On the summary page, click Finish.

10. Click OK to accept the changes.

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11. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, confirm that you are still connected to NYC-
PVS-001.
Note: In a previous exercise, you had logged into NYC-PVS-001 using the following
credentials to make the connection:
• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1

Note: If your Remote Desktop Connection session is disconnected, log on to NYC-PVS-001,

right-click this machine and choose Connect server.
12. Click Start and click Citrix Provisioning Console.

Type NYC-PVS-001 and click Connect.

Note: Ignore if the console is already open.

13. Browse Farm > Sites > NYC-Site > vDisk Pool in the left pane.

14. Select Win2016vDisk in the right pane, right-click, and select Properties.

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15. Using the Access mode drop-down menu, select Private Image (single device, read/write
access).

Click OK.
16. Expand Device Collection in the left pane and click on Collection.
In the right pane right-click NYC-TDS-MST > Active Directory > select Create Machine
Account

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17. Select Domain: Workspacelab

Orgnization unit: Citrix/New York/VDA/Servers

Click NYC-TDS-MST and select Create Account

18. Confirm Status shows as Success

19. Connect to Hyper-V Manager, right-click NYC-SRV-MST-A, and click Start.

Double-click NYC-SRV-MST-A and monitor the progress until the machine has completed the
boot process.
20. Click Action > Ctrl+Alt+Del button at the top and log onto NYC-SRV-MST-A from Hyper-V
Manager using below credentials:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1

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21. Click the Maximize button on the top right to view a full screen of NYC-SRV-MST-A.

Right-click the vDisk status tray icon in the right corner of the taskbar and select Virtual Disk
Status.

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22. Verify that the Mode shows as Read/Write.

Click X to close the window.

23. Right-click Start and select Disk Management.

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24. Select MBR (Master Boot Record), then click OK on the Initialize Disk window.

25. Select the recently added 20GB Disk 0. Right-click and select New Simple Volume.

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26. Click Next on the Welcome to the New Simple Volume Wizard screen.

27. Click Next on the Specify Volume Size screen.

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28. Verify H is selected from the Assign the following drive letter drop-down menu.

Click Next.

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29. Verify that Format this volume with the following settings radio button is selected. Verify
Perform a quick format is selected.

Click Next.

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30. Click Finish.

31. Review the newly formatted (H:) drive.

32. Right-click New Volume (H:), select Properties

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33. Go to Security tab and then click on Edit

In the Permission for New Volume (H:) Window, click Add

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34. Click on Locations, select NYC-TDS-MST and click OK.

In Select Users or Groups window, enter NT Service\Eventlog and click on Check Names

It would find EventLog

Click OK.

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35. Confirm EventLog has Read & Execute, List folder contents, Read and Write permissions
set to Allow

36. Click on Apply and then OK followed by OK to close New Volume (H:) Properties Window.

Close Disk Management console.

37. Right-click Start, select Shut down or sign out and click Shut Down.

Click X to close out of the NYC-SRV-MST-A console.

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38. Using the Remote Desktop Connection manager, connect to NYC-ADS-001.

To log on to NYC-ADS-001, right-click this machine and choose Connect server.

Note: The following credentials are used to make the connection:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1
39. Click Start > Windows Administrative Tools > Group Policy Management.

40. Browse Forest:workspacelab.com > Domains > workspacelab.com > Citrix > New York >
VDA > Servers.

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41. Right-click Servers and select Create a GPO in this domain and Link it here.

42. Type Redirect Event Logs and click OK.

43. Expand Servers and select Redirect Event Logs GPO that was just created.

Select OK on the Pop-Up message, if it appears.

44. Right-click Redirect Event Logs and select Edit.

45. Browse to Computer Configuration > Policies > Administrative Templates > Windows
Components > Event Log Service.

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46. Expand Event Log Service and double-click Application in the left pane.

Note: For this lab exercise you will be redirecting only the Application event logs. All other
event logs can be redirected in the same manner.

47. Double-click Control the location of the log file in the right pane.

48. Select Enabled and under Log File Path type H:\Application.evtx

49. Click Apply and OK.

50. Close the Group Policy Management Console.
51. Connect to Hyper-V Manager, right-click NYC-SRV-MST-A, and click Start.

Double-click NYC-SRV-MST-A and monitor the progress until the machine has completed the
boot process.

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52. Click Action > Ctrl+Alt+Del button at the top and log onto NYC-SRV-MST-A from Hyper-V
Manager using below credentials:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1
53. Open File Explorer and browse to This PC > H:\.
54. Open H:\ directory and notice that the Application event logs have been redirected.

Close File Explorer.

Note: If event logs are not redirected, run a gpupdate /force from the Command prompt, and
then reboot the machine to apply the Computer Policy.

Key Takeaways:
• Target Devices reading their hard disk contents from a vDisk in standard image
mode will write changes including any event log data to the write cache.
• It is a leading practice to redirect event logs and other data that you want to
persist over reboots to a persistent location.
• Typically, every target device will have a local disk attached for hosting the write
cache, this location is ideal for redirecting data that should persist over reboots,
but event logs can also be redirected to a file server on the network.

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Module 6: Integrating Citrix Provisioning

with Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops
Overview:
This module presents the process used to integrate the Citrix Provisioning environment
with a pre-existing Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops site. This is accomplished by
creating a machine template, then using the Citrix Virtual Desktops Setup Wizard or the
Streamed VM Wizard to create multiple target devices from that template. Following the
target device creation, you will create Catalogs (as needed) and Delivery Groups to
complete the resource delivery to the users.

Before you begin:

Estimated time to complete Module 6 lab exercises: 46 minutes

Exercise 6-1: Use the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops

Setup Wizard for Server OS
Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs; your Lead Citrix Architect has tasked you to
test the Citrix Virtual Desktops Setup Wizard in Citrix Provisioning. Your task is to create
one Server OS machine using the vDisk created in exercise 3-3 and the template
created in exercise 5-1.
Step Action
1. Verify that the following VMs are powered on before beginning the exercises in this module:

• NYC-ADS-001
• NYC-FSR-001
• NYC-PVS-001
• NYC-SQL-001
• NYC-STF-001
• NYC-VDC-001

To power manage the VMs, switch to Hyper-V Manager, right-click the VM in the Virtual
Machine pane, and select Start or Shut Down.
Note: The VMs are listed in the start-up order.
2. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, confirm that you are still connected to NYC-
PVS-001.
Note: In a previous exercise, you had logged into NYC-PVS-001 using the following
credentials to make the connection:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1

Note: If your Remote Desktop Connection session is disconnected, log on to NYC-PVS-001,

right-click this machine and choose Connect server.
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3. Click Start and click the Citrix Provisioning Console.

Type NYC-PVS-001 and click Connect.

Note: Ignore this step if the console is already open and connected to the Citrix Provisioning
Farm.
4. For Win2016vDisk, using the Cache type drop-down menu, verify that the Cache in device RAM with
overflow on hard disk is selected.

Change value of Maximum RAM size to 256. (Default value is 64MB)

5. Browse Farm > Sites > NYC-Site.

Right-click NYC-Site and select Citrix Virtual Desktops Setup Wizard.

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6. Click Next on the Welcome screen.

.
7. In the Citrix Virtual Desktops Controller address box, type: NYC-VDC-001.

Click Next.

Note: The Delivery Controller is already configured for the lab environment.

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8. Verify that LabNetwork is selected in the Citrix Virtual Desktops Host Resources and click
Next.

9. Verify WORKSPACELAB\scvmmadmin is pre-populated in the Username box. Type

Password1 in the Password box and click OK.

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10. Select TMP-SRV-001 and click Next.

11. Select LocalStore\Win2016vDisk and click Next.

Note: Only the vDisks in Standard mode will be populated here.

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12. Select Create a new catalog and type in the following:

• Catalog name: NYC-CAT-PVS-ServerOS

• Description: Windows 2016 Hosted Apps and Desktops-Citrix Provisioning

Click Next.

13. Select Server OS as the Operating System and click Next.

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14. Using the Local write cache disk box increase the size to 20 GB. Keep all other settings as
default.

Click Next.

Note: CPU and Memory values in the screenshot may differ concerning the lab environment.

Note: You are using DHCP options 66 and 67 to provide the boot file. One alternative to using
DHCP is to create a Boot Device Partition to include the bootstrap file in a small virtual disk
attached to each PVS target device VM. After using the Citrix Virtual Desktops Setup Wizard,
each target device has an 8MB VHD file containing the bootstrap within its newly configured
disk partition.

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15. On the Active Directory page, select Create new accounts and click Next.

16. Browse Workspacelab.com > Citrix > New York > VDA > Servers, and select the Servers.

In the Account naming scheme box, type NYC-TDS-###.

Click Next.

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17. Verify the details on the Summary page and click Finish.

18. Verify the progress completes successfully. Verify the text at the bottom of the screen reads:

• Setup Complete.
• 1 device created, 0 device failed.

Click Done.

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19. Refresh the Citrix Provisioning console and verify that a new Device Collection (NYC-CAT-
PVS-ServerOS) gets created in the left pane and that a new target device (NYC-TDS-001)
gets created in the right pane.

20. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, connect to NYC-VDC-001.

To login to NYC-VDC-001, right-click this machine and choose Connect server.

Note: The following credentials are used to make the connection:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1

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21. Click Start and click Citrix Studio.

Note: Ignore this step if Studio is already open.

22. Click Machine Catalogs in the left pane. Verify that the expected machine catalog (NYC-CAT-
PVS-ServerOS) has been created in Studio using the Citrix Virtual Desktops Setup Wizard
from the Citrix Provisioning console.

Note: If you get a snap-in error, click Cancel.

23. Double-click the machine catalog NYC-CAT-PVS-ServerOS and verify that NYC-TDS-
001.workspacelab.com machine is listed within the machine catalog.

24. Close Citrix Studio.

25. Connect to Hyper-V Manager, select NYC-TDS-001, right-click and click Start. Double-click
NYC-TDS-001 to monitor the boot progress.
26. Using the Hyper-V console window, connect to NYC-TDS-001.

To login to NYC-TDS-001 click Action > Ctrl + Alt + Delete.

Enter the following credentials to make the connection:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\ Administrator
• Password: Password1

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27. From the taskbar, open File Explorer.

Browse to This PC > WCDisk (D:). Double-click the WCDisk directory

Verify that the vdiskdif.vhdx file was created for caching.

Note: The vDiskdif.vhdx cache file’s size will not increase until 256 MB of memory from Non-
Paged Pool gets used which has been mentioned in Exercise 4-1.
28. Close File Explorer.
29. Shut Down target NYC-TDS-001.

Key Takeaways:
• The Citrix Virtual Desktops Setup Wizard is a built-in wizard that can automate the
process of creating Virtual Machines, Write Cache disks, Active Directory
accounts, Machine Catalogs, and Device Collections based on a vDisk and a VM
template.

Exercise 6-2: Use the Streamed VM Setup Wizard

Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs; your Lead Citrix Architect has reported that
there may be delays getting all necessary prerequisites in the production environment
ready for use with the Citrix Virtual Desktops Setup Wizard. Therefore, he has
instructed you to test the Streamed VM Wizard and familiarize yourself with the
differences in the two wizards.
Step Action
1. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, confirm that you are still connected to NYC-
PVS-001.
Note: In a previous exercise, you had logged into NYC-PVS-001 using the following
credentials to make the connection:
• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1

Note: If your Remote Desktop Connection session is disconnected, log on to NYC-PVS-001,

right-click this machine and choose Connect server.
2. Click Start and click Citrix Provisioning Console.

Type NYC-PVS-001 and click Connect.

Note: Ignore this step if the console is already connected from a previous exercise.

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3. Browse Farm > Sites > NYC-Site.

Right-click NYC-Site and select Streamed VM Setup Wizard.

4. Click Next on the Welcome page.

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5. On the Hypervisor connection page, verify the Microsoft SCVMM/Hyper-V radio button is
selected. Enter the following information and click Next:

• Hypervisor: NYC-HYP-101.workspacelab.com
• Username: scvmmadmin
• Password: Password1

Click Next.
6. On the Hypervisor cluster page, click Next.

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7. On the Hypervisor storage page, click Next.

8. Select TMP-SRV-002 template and click Next.

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9. Select LocalStore\Win2016vDisk and click Next.

10. In the Collection drop-down menu, select NYC-CAT-PVS-ServerOS. Click Next.

11. Verify the details as per the below screenshot.

Click Next.

Note: A hard disk for write cache should be manually attached to the template from the
hypervisor and initialized before using it with Streamed Setup Wizard, unlike the Citrix Virtual
Desktops Setup Wizard which automatically creates the disk for you.

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12. Select Create new accounts.

Click Next.
13. Browse workspacelab.com > Citrix > NewYork > VDA > Servers.

Type NYC-TDS-### in the Account naming scheme and click Next.

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14. Verify the Summary information is accurate and click Finish.

15. Click Done when the setup completes.

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16. Browse Device Collections > NYC-CAT-PVS-ServerOS and verify NYC-TDS-002 is created.

Note: Refresh the console if the device is not seen.

Target device NYC-TDS-002 will not boot because the template TMP-SRV-002 used in the
Wizard is created from Gen1 VM and the vDisk attached to it is created from Gen2 Master
Target device.

Key Takeaways:
• The Streamed VM Setup Wizard allows for the addition of new machines to an
existing Collection.
• Each new machine requires an assigned vDisk created originally from the master
image of the same configuration.

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Exercise 6-3: Manually Add Machines to the Device

Collection
Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs. Another team member has previously
created a Windows 10 machine for POC testing. Your Lead Citrix Architect has tasked
you to add this machine to the Windows 10 Device Collection, so it can be used to test
and verify vDisk updates.
Step Action
1. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, confirm that you are still connected to NYC-
PVS-001.
Note: In a previous exercise, you had logged into NYC-PVS-001 using the following
credentials to make the connection:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1

Note: If your Remote Desktop Connection session is disconnected, log on to NYC-PVS-001,

right-click this machine and choose Connect server.
2. Click Start and click Citrix Provisioning console.

Type NYC-PVS-001 and click Connect.

Note: Ignore this step if already connected to the console from a previous exercise.
3. Browse Farm > Sites > NYC-Site > Device Collections > NYC-CAT-PVS-ServerOS.

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4. Right-click NYC-CAT-PVS-ServerOS and select Create Device.

5. In the Name box, type NYC-SRV-002.

Note: You already have a Windows Server 2016 machine pre-created on the Citrix Hypervisor
host for this lab environment. This machine will be added to an existing device collection this
exercise.

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6. Connect to Hyper-V Manager and select NYC-SRV-002.

In the bottom-center pane, select the Networking tab.

7. Under the Adapter heading, note down the MAC address of the machine.

Note: MAC address in your lab may not match the screenshot here.
8. Return to the PVS Console and fill in the MAC address of the device.

Note: The MAC address in the screenshot will differ with respect to the lab environment.

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9. Select the vDisks tab and click Add.

10. Select LocalStore\Win2016vDisk and click OK on the Assigning vDisks window.

11. Click OK.

12. Select the NYC-CAT-PVS-ServerOS in the left pane and verify that the NYC-SRV-002
machine appears in the right pane.

13. Right-click NYC-SRV-002 and select Active Directory > Delete Machine Account.

Note: Make sure that the NYC-SRV-002 machine is powered off before implementing this
step, otherwise the feature will not function properly.

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14. Select NYC-SRV-002 and click Delete Account.

15. Click Close once the Status column shows Success.

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16. Right-click NYC-SRV-002 again and select Active Directory > Create Machine Account.

17. Select Citrix > New York > VDA > Servers as the Organizational Unit.

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18. Select NYC-SRV-002 and click Create Account.

Note: Creating a machine account from Citrix Provisioning will create a machine account for
the target device in Active Directory that will be managed by Citrix Provisioning instead of the
Domain Controller.
19. Verify that the Status shows Success and click Close.

Key Takeaways:
• Target Devices can be added to the PVS Farm manually.
• Each Target Device must have a unique name, MAC address, and a vDisk
assignment.
• Use the Provisioning Console to add the computer account to Active Directory.

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Exercise 6-4: Create a Delivery Group for Server OS
Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs. Your Lead Citrix Architect has instructed
you to create a new Delivery Group in Citrix Studio for testing purposes. Your task is to
ensure that domain users have access to start Microsoft Office applications from the
Server OS machines.
Step Action
1. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, confirm that you are still connected to NYC-
VDC-001.

Note: In a previous exercise, you had logged into NYC-VDC-001 using the following
credentials to make the connection:
• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1.

Note: If your Remote Desktop Connection session is disconnected, log on to NYC-VDC-001,

right-click this machine and choose Connect server.
2. Connect to Hyper-V Manager, select NYC-TDS-001, right-click and click Start.
3. Using Studio, expand Citrix Studio (NYC) and click Delivery Groups.

On the right pane, click Create Delivery Group.

Note: Studio was started in a previous exercise. If Studio was closed, then click Start > Citrix
> Citrix Studio.

Note: Click Cancel on End Snap-in window if prompted.

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4. On the Introduction page, click Next to continue the Delivery Group creation wizard.

Note: Delivery Groups are collections of desktops and applications that are created from
machine catalogs. Create Delivery Groups for specific teams, departments, or types of users,
and base them on either a desktop or a server operating system. Make sure you have enough
machines available in a suitable catalog to create the Delivery Groups you need.

5. On the Machines page, verify that the previously created machine catalogs are listed.
Select the NYC-CAT-PVS-ServerOS Catalog.
In the number of machines for this Delivery Group box, verify the value is set to 1.

Click Next to continue the Delivery Group creation wizard.

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6. On the Users page, select the Restrict use of this Delivery Group to the following users:

Click Add button under the Add users and groups box.

In the Select Users or Groups dialog box that appears, enter Domain Users.

Click Check Names button and click OK.

Click Next.

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7. On the Applications page, click Add and select From start menu.

The wizard will begin the process of discovering applications found on NYC-TDS-001.

Select the checkbox next to each of the following applications to select them:
• Access 2016
• Excel 2016
• OneNote 2016
• Outlook 2016
• PowerPoint 2016
• Publisher 2016
• Word 2016

Click OK.

Click Next to continue the Delivery Group creation wizard.

Note: The applications can take a while to populate, because the NYC-TDS-001 machine may
have been powered off in previous exercises to save on resource consumption. In order to
return a list of the applications installed, the Delivery Controller has to call to the hypervisor
hosting NYC-TDS-001 and have it powered on. Once powered on, the VDA will register with
the Controller and send a list of installed applications to publish.
Note: If this application list does not appear after five minutes, use Hyper-V Manager to verify
that NYC-TDS-001 is powered on and registered with the Site. If it is unregistered, use the
Citrix Health Assistant, located in the NYC-FSR-001/Resources folder, to verify all settings.
Note: You can also add (create) applications manually, by providing the path to the
executable, working directory, any optional command-line arguments and specifying a display
name visible to users in Workspace App and administrators in Studio.

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8. Click Next on the Desktops page.

9. On Summary page, verify the previously configured information and enter the following:

• Delivery Group name: NYC-DG-PVS-ServerOSApps

• Delivery Group description, used as label in Workspace App (optional): Windows
2016-Apps-Citrix Provisioning provisioned

Click Finish.
10. Verify that the NYC-DG-PVS-ServerOSApps Delivery Group is created in the console.

Key Takeaways:
• The Server OS based Delivery Group publishes applications to domain users.
• The published applications and desktops hosted via Citrix Provisioning can be
started through StoreFront.

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• Sessions cannot be started when a VDA is in maintenance mode.

Exercise 6-5: Launch a Published Application

Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs. Your Lead Citrix Architect has invited the
CTO in for a demo of the POC environment. Your task is to prove that you can now start
an HDX session running on a machine provisioned by Citrix Provisioning.
Step Action
1 Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, connect to NYC-VDC-001.

To log on to NYC-VDC-001, right-click this machine and choose Connect server.

Note: The following credentials are used to make the connection:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1
2 Click Start and click Citrix Studio.

Note: Click Cancel on End Snap-in window if prompted.

3 Connect to Hyper-V Manager and verify that NYC-TDS-001 is powered on. If not, start the
machine and monitor them from Hyper-V Manager until it is up.
4 Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, connect to NYC-FSR-001.

To login to NYC-FSR-001, right-click this machine and choose Connect server.

Note: The following credentials are used to make the connection:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1

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5 Start Internet Explorer from the Windows taskbar and browse to:
https://storefront.workspacelab.com/Citrix/StoreWeb/

Note: Select the Switch to username and password option if the log on window does not come
directly.
6 Log on using the following credentials:
• Username: workspacelab\Administrator
• Password: Password1

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7 From the Internet Explorer window, click APPS tab and start Excel 2016.

Confirm Excel 2016 launches.

Note: If the Microsoft Office Activation Wizard appears, select Close.

Close the session.

8 Log off from Workspace App for Web.

Click WORKSPACELAB\Administrator on the top right corner and choose Log Off.

Close Internet Explorer.

9 Connect to Hyper-V Manager and shut down NYC-TDS-001.

Key Takeaways:
• Users can start published applications hosted on a Server OS VDA.

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Module 7: Citrix Provisioning High

Availability
Overview:
This module presents the methods used to add redundancy to some of the core
components in the Citrix Provisioning environment. To reinforce this, a second
Provisioning Server will be installed and added to the existing Citrix Provisioning Farm.
Additionally, the vDisk Store and TFTP service will be configured for redundancy.

Before you begin:

Estimated time to complete Module 7 lab exercises: 70 minutes

Exercise 7-1: Install Citrix Provisioning using the

Command-Line
Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs. Both your Lead Citrix Architect and your
CTO were pleased with the demo and the progress the team has made in the POC.
However, in order to prove that the solution is ready for the production environment,
your Lead Citrix Architect has tasked you to implement redundancy for the critical
infrastructure components. Additionally, the Lead Citrix Architect would also like you to
perform a silent installation using the command-line, in order to determine whether this
will help to streamline the production implementation.
Step Action
1. Verify that the following VMs are powered on before beginning the exercises in this module:

• NYC-ADC-001
• NYC-ADS-001
• NYC-FSR-001
• NYC-PVS-001
• NYC-PVS-002
• NYC-SQL-001

To power manage the VMs, switch to Hyper-V Manager, right-click the VM in the Virtual
Machine pane, and select Start or Shut Down.

Note: The VMs are listed in the start-up order.

2. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, connect to NYC-PVS-002.
To log on to NYC-PVS-002 right-click this machine and choose Connect server.

Note: The following credentials are used to make the connection:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1

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3. Right-click Start and select Command Prompt (Admin).

4. Change the directory to P: by typing P: and then press the Enter key.

5. To silently install the Citrix Provisioning server role with the default configuration options,
please use the following steps:

a) Type cd P:\Citrix_Provisioning_1912_LTSR_CU1\Server and press Enter (To

move to the Server directory under P:\).

b) Next, type the following command to install the Citrix Provisioning server role silently:
PVS_Server_x64.exe /s /v”/qn”

Press Enter.

Note: The /v option is used to pass command-line options and values of public properties
through to Msiexec.exe. So /v/qn will pass /qn onto the embedded MSI installer. The /qn is
an msiexec switch indicating to run with no UI.
6. Once the command is executed, right-click the taskbar and open Task Manager.

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7. Click More details and then click Details tab.

8. Notice that the Citrix Provisioning installer (PVS_Server_x64.exe) is running.

9. Repeat steps 2 to 8 if the machine reboots.

Monitor the PVS_Server_x64.exe process until it finishes the execution and is not seen
further in Task Manager.

Close Task Manager and Command Prompt.

Note: The process may take up to five minutes to complete.

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10. Right-click Start and select Programs and Features. Verify that Citrix 1912 LTSR CU1 -
Provisioning Server x64 is installed.

11. Close Programs and Features.

Key Takeaways:
• The Citrix Provisioning software can be installed silently by using the following
command: PVS_Server_x64.exe /s /v”/qn”
• The /v option is used to pass command-line options and values of public
properties through to Msiexec.exe.

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Exercise 7-2: Join Second PVS server to the Farm
Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs. Your Lead Citrix Architect has tasked you
with joining an un-configured Citrix Provisioning server to an existing farm.
Step Action
1. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, connect to NYC-PVS-002.

To log on to NYC-PVS-002, right-click this machine and choose Connect server.

Note: The following credentials are used to make the connection:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1
2. Click Start and select Citrix Provisioning Configuration Wizard.

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3. Click Next in the Citrix Provisioning Configuration Wizard welcome screen.

4. On the DHCP Services screen, select The service that runs on another computer, and
then click Next.

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5. On the PXE Services window, select Citrix Provisioning PXE service on this computer,
and then click Next.

6. Select Join existing farm, and then click Next.

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7. Type NYC-SQL-001 in the Server name box, and then click Next.

8. Verify that PVS_db:Farm is listed as the Farm name on the Existing Farm page and click
Next.

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9. Verify Existing site is selected and that the Site name is NYC-Site. Click Next.

10. Verify Existing store is selected and the Store name is Local-Store. Click Next.

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11. Click Next on the License Server screen, keeping everything as default.

12. To select the account to use for the Stream Services and SOAP Server, enter the following:

• Select Specified user account.

• Type Svc-PVS in the Username box.
• Type workspacelab in the Domain box.
• Type Password1 in the password boxes.

Click Next.

Note: Svc-PVS Service account is already created for the Lab Environment. Once configured,
stream and soap services will be running with this service account until changed manually.
These are the two main services for PVS operations and they need permissions to access the
vDisk store and database.

Note: The service account will automatically be added in the database permissions.

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13. Verify that the checkbox Automate computer account password updates is selected, and
then click Next.

14. Verify that 6890 is specified as the First communications port, 54321 is specified as the
Console port, and then click Next.

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15. Select the check box Use the Citrix Provisioning TFTP service, and then click Next.

16. Click Next to accept the default Stream Servers Boot List.

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17. Click Next to accept the default Soap SSL Configuration.

Note: SSL Configuration is only for Linux target devices.

18. Click Next to accept the default Problem Report Configuration.

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19. Verify that the checkbox Automatically Start Services is selected, and then click Finish.

20. Click OK in the Windows Firewall pop-up window.

21. Wait while the configuration completes, and then click Done.

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22. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager and connect to NYC-PVS-001.

To log on to NYC-PVS-001, right-click this machine and choose Connect server.

Note: The following credentials are used to make the connection:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1
23. Click Start and start the Citrix Provisioning Console.

Type NYC-PVS-001 and click Connect.

Note: If the console is already open from the previous exercises ignore this step.
24. Expand Farm > Sites > NYC-Site > Servers in the left pane and verify that in the right pane,
both Provisioning Servers are visible with a green check next to them.

Note: Refresh the console if both of the Provisioning Servers are not seen. It may take
approximately 5 minutes for NYC-PVS-002 to appear and display as green.

Key Takeaways:
• Each Citrix Provisioning server must be joined to the farm to stream vDisks.
• When joining a new Citrix Provisioning server to a farm, you have the option to
join an existing site or create a new site. You also have the option to join the
existing Store or create a new Store.

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Exercise 7-3: Reconfigure the Store for Redundancy

Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs. Your Lead Citrix Architect has tasked you to
ensure that both Citrix Provisioning servers now have the ability to stream vDisks from
the vDisk Store hosted on the file server.
Step Action
1. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, confirm that you are still connected to NYC-
PVS-001.
Note: In a previous exercise, you had logged into NYC-PVS-001 using the following
credentials to make the connection:
• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1

Note: If your Remote Desktop Connection session is disconnected, log on to NYC-PVS-001,

right-click this machine and choose Connect server.
2. Click Start and start the Citrix Provisioning Console.

Type NYC-PVS-001 and click Connect.

Note: If the console is already open from the previous exercise ignore this step.
3. Browse Farm > Sites > NYC-Site > Servers

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4. Right Click NYC-PVS-002 and click Properties.

5. Click Stores tab and click Local-Store. Click Edit to change the store path for NYC-PVS-002

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6. In the Store Properties window click … button.

7. Double-click C:\, then select LocalStore.

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8. Double-click LocalStore folder and click OK.

9. In the Store Properties, click OK.

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10. In the Server Properties window, click OK.

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11. Expand the Stores node, then right-click Local-Store, and select Properties.

Note: A warning message may come if any of the target devices are booted from the PVS
environment. Click Yes on the Warning message.

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12. Select Servers tab and verify that both PVS servers are selected.

13. Select Paths tab and click Validate.

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14. Wait for the status to read Valid for both servers, and then click Close.

15. Click OK to close Store Properties.

Key Takeaways:
• After adding a new Citrix Provisioning host to a farm, it is recommended to
enable this server on all available stores and ensure that the server has a valid
connection to the store.
• If a store is only served by a single Citrix Provisioning server, the vDisks hosted
in this store are subject to a single point of failure.

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Exercise 7-4: Copy a vDisk from One Store to Another

Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs. Your Lead Citrix Architect has instructed
you to ensure that the vDisks stored in the LocalStore folder on NYC-PVS-001 are
replicated to NYC-PVS-002. Your task is to use the Robocopy command to accomplish
this task.
Step Action
1. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, connect to NYC-PVS-001.

To login to NYC-PVS-001, right-click this machine and choose Connect server.

Note: The following credentials are used to make the connection:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1
2. Open File Explorer and navigate to E:\LocalStore.
Verify that the .vhdx and .pvp files are present for Win2016 vDisk.

Note: You may also see .lok file if there is an active connection to the vdisk.
3. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, connect to NYC-PVS-002.

To log on to NYC-PVS-002, right-click this machine and choose Connect server.

Note: The following credentials are used to make the connection:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1
4. Open File Explorer and browse to C:\LocalStore.

Verify that this directory is empty.

5. Next, copy the files from NYC-PVS-001 local store to NYC-PVS-002 local store using
Robocopy.

Switch back to NYC-PVS-001 using Remote Desktop Connection Manager. Right-click Start
and select Command Prompt (Admin). Type the below command and press Enter:

Robocopy /MIR e:\LocalStore \\nyc-pvs-002\c$\LocalStore /XF *.lok

Note: Within the above line the /MIR c:\LocalStore \\nyc-pvs-002\c$\LocalStore portion tells
Robocopy to mirror the local vDisk store (c:\LocalStore) to the remote PVS server, while the
last bit of the script /XF *.lok excludes any files with the .lok extension.

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6. Verify that the copy starts and finishes without any errors.

Note: The copy process may take 10-15 minutes to complete.

7. Switch back to NYC-PVS-002 using Remote Desktop Connection manager.

Open File Explorer and browse to C:\Localstore. Verify that the files have been copied
successfully.

Key Takeaways:
• Instead of hosting the vDisks on a centralized file server, customers can choose
to have their vDisks hosted locally on each Citrix Provisioning server.
• This design removes the single point of failure in the file server and reduces the
network traffic on the Citrix Provisioning server since the vDisk content is fetched
locally rather than via the network.
• When choosing a distributed local store, it is important to have a process in place
to ensure that all the vDisk content is replicated between the Citrix Provisioning
servers – robocopy can be used to schedule a mirror action between multiple
servers.

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Exercise 7-5: Verify vDisk Replication

Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs. Your Lead Citrix Architect has informed you
that there is a vDisk replication monitor built into the PVS Console. Your task is to use
this vDisk replication monitor to verify if the Win10vDisk is currently being offered by
both PVS servers.
Step Action
1. Using the Remote Desktop Connection manager, confirm you are still connected to NYC-PVS-
001.
Note: In a previous exercise, you had logged into NYC-PVS-001 using the following
credentials to make the connection:
• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1

Note: If your Remote Desktop Connection session is disconnected, log on to NYC-PVS-001,

right-click this machine and choose Connect server.
2. Click Start and start the Citrix Provisioning console.

Type NYC-PVS-001 and click Connect.

Note: If the console is already open from the previous exercises ignore this step.
3. Browse Farm > Stores > Local-Store.

4. In the right pane, right-click the Win2016vDisk and select Replication Status.

You can only see NYC-PVS-001 and not NYC-PVS-002.

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5. Click Done.

6. Right-click the Win2016vDisk and select Load Balancing.

7. Select Use the load balancing algorithm and click OK.

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8. In the right pane, right-click Win2016vDisk, select Replication Status, and verify that both
the servers display blue dots next to them, which shows that replication is functioning.

Click Done.

Note: If a Server not reachable message is encountered, click Done, then repeat step 8.
Sometimes it takes a few moments for the replication communications to complete
successfully.

Note: The vDisk store is a shared store for both NYC-PVS-001 and NYC-PVS-002, so you do
not require any manual copy of vDisk and associated files. In the case of local stores on
Provisioning servers, you would need to copy files from one store to another; this process will
be covered in the next exercise.

Key Takeaways:
• On each vDisk you can configure whether the vDisk should be load balanced or
served from only a specific Citrix Provisioning server.
• Under normal circumstances, the vDisk should always be load balanced to
ensure high availability.
• When using distributed local stores and changing a vDisk to Private mode, you
should ensure the vDisk is hosted from a single Citrix Provisioning server,
otherwise, you may not know which PVS server has the latest vDisk changes.
• Distributed local stores are presented in the next exercise.

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Exercise 7-6: TFTP Load Balancing Configuration
Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs; your Lead Citrix Architect has just reviewed
the DHCP options you configured in a previous exercise. While reviewing the
configuration, he noticed that you only configured one PVS server in option 17
(equivalent to option 66 when not using Gen 2 VMs on Hyper-V). In the interest of
reducing the single points of failure, your Lead Citrix Architect instructs you to
investigate using the POC Citrix Gateway to load balance the TFTP service hosted on
each PVS server. This scenario is relevant when using TFTP within your infrastructure
and not PXE.
Step Action
1. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, switch back to NYC-FSR-001.

Note: In a previous exercise, you had logged into NYC-FSR-001 using the following credentials
to make the connection:
• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1

Note: If your Remote Desktop Connection session is disconnected, log on to NYC-FSR-001,

right-click this machine and choose Connect server.
2. Open Internet Explorer

Browse to: http://192.168.10.100/

Log on to the Citrix Gateway console with the following credentials:

• Username: nsroot
• Password: nsroot

Note: In the dialog box that states, Would you like to store your password for 192.168.10.100?,
click Not for this site.

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3. On the Citrix Gateway console, browse to Configuration > Traffic Management > Load
Balancing > Servers.

On Servers page, click Add.

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4. Enter NYC-PVS-001 in the Name box.

Make sure that the IP Address radio button is selected, and then enter 192.168.10.50 in the IP
Address box.

Click Create.
5. In the Servers page, ensure NYC-PVS-001 is unchecked and then click Add again to add the
second PVS Server.

Enter NYC-PVS-002 in the Name box.

Make sure that the IP Address radio button is selected, and then enter 192.168.10.51 in the IP
Address box.

Click Create.

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6. Verify that both servers are added and in Enabled state.

7. Browse to Traffic Management > Load Balancing > Services.

Click Add in the right pane.

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8. In the Service Name box, type NYC-PVS-001-TFTP.
Select Existing Server.

Point to an existing Provisioning Server by using the Server drop-down menu and choose NYC-
PVS-001 (192.168.10.50).

Specify the protocol using the Protocol drop-down menu and choose TFTP.
In the Port box, type 69.

Click OK, then scroll down and click Done.

9. Next, we will repeat the process of creating a service, this time for the second PVS Server, by
specifying a name, linking to the appropriate PVS server, and specifying the protocol port.

Navigate to Traffic Management > Load Balancing > Services.

Ensure NYC-PVS-001-TFTP is unchecked

Click Add in the right pane.

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10. In the Service Name field, type NYC-PVS-002-TFTP. Select Existing Server.
Point to an existing Provisioning Server by using the Server drop-down menu and choose NYC-
PVS-002 (192.168.10.51).
Specify the protocol using the Protocol drop-down menu and choose TFTP.
In the Port field, type 69.

Click OK, then scroll down and select click Done.

11. Once both services are created, they appear in the Services view in UP state.

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12. Select the NYC-PVS-001-TFTP service and then click Edit.

Scroll down and select the option 1 Service to Load Balancing Monitor Binding.

Verify that the monitor ping-default is listed and the Last Response shows Success – ICMP
echo reply received.

Click Close, then click Done.

Note: For the purposes of this lab, we are using the default monitor. However, in a real
production situation custom monitors should be used.

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13. Browse to Traffic Management > Load Balancing > Virtual Servers > Add.

14. In the Name box, type TFTP-LB-PVS-vServer.

Set the protocol using the Protocol drop-down menu and select TFTP.

Verify that the IP AddressType drop-down menu is set to IP Address. In the IP Address box,
type 192.168.10.53.

In the Port box, type 69.

Click OK.

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15. Scroll down and click No Load Balancing Virtual Server Service Binding.

16. In the Select Service box, click Click to Select.

17. Select NYC-PVS-001-TFTP service and click Select.

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18. Click Bind.

19. Click 1 Load Balancing Virtual Server Service Binding.

20. On the Load Balancing Virtual Server Service Binding page, click Add Binding.

21. On the Service Binding option, click Click to select.

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22. Check NYC-PVS-002-TFTP and click Select.

23. Click Bind.

24. On the Load Balancing Virtual Server Service Binding option, click Close.

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25. Click Continue.

26. Click Method box under Advanced Settings in the right pane to expand it out to the middle
viewing pane.

27. Under Method, set Load Balancing Method using the drop-down menu and select
ROUNDROBIN.

Click OK.

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28. Scroll down and click Done.

29. Verify that the vServer appears in the UP state.

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30. Save your running configuration by clicking the disk symbol at the top right corner. Click Yes to
save the settings.

Log out from the Citrix Gateway console by navigating to the upper-right corner, then selecting
nsroot > Logout.

Note: To complete the TFTP Load Balancing configuration, the newly created vServer must be
specified in the DHCP option 66 (or Option 11 or 17 if using Hyper-V Gen 2 VMs, which use
UEFI boot instead of BIOS). However, do not do this as you will be powering off the Citrix
Gateway in the upcoming lab module.

Key Takeaways:
• When using DHCP to supply the address of the TFTP server, only one host can
be added to the DHCP options.
• Citrix Gateway can be used to host a virtual server that load balances incoming
TFTP requests and monitors the state of the TFTP services before forwarding
the requests to one of the available TFTP servers.
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Module 8: Updating and Managing vDisks

Overview:
The module presents methods to update and manage vDisks in a Citrix Provisioning
environment, and the steps include:
• Updating, promoting, rolling back, and merging vDisks using versioning
• Using an alternative vDisk update method
Before you begin:
Estimated time to complete Module 8 lab exercises: 45 minutes

Exercise 8-1: Update the vDisk

Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs. Your Lead Citrix Architect has instructed
you to install Citrix HDX Monitor on the Windows Server 2016 vDisk. You decide to use
the versioning method to implement this change so that the test users can complete
user acceptance testing without delaying the project schedule.
Step Action
1. Verify that the following VMs are powered on before beginning the exercises in this module:

• NYC-ADS-001
• NYC-FSR-001
• NYC-PVS-001
• NYC-SQL-001
• NYC-TDS-001
To power manage the VMs, switch to Hyper-V Manager, right-click the VM in the Virtual
Machine pane and select Start or Shut Down.

Note: The VMs are listed in the start-up order.

2. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, confirm that you are still connected to NYC-
PVS-001.
Note: In a previous exercise, you had logged into NYC-PVS-001 using the following credentials
to make the connection:
• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1

Note: If your Remote Desktop Connection session is disconnected, log on to NYC-PVS-001,

right-click this machine and choose Connect server.
3. Click Start and click Citrix Provisioning Console.

Type NYC-PVS-001 and click Connect.

Note: If the console is already open from the previous exercises ignore this step. If the console
opens with an error, close the console, start Citrix PVS Soap service, connect console with
Windows credentials.

4. In the left pane, navigate to Farm > Stores > LocalStore.

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c
5. In the right pane, select Win2016vDisk. Right-click and select Versions.

6. On the vDisk Versions screen, click New.

7. Verify that the new version is created in Maintenance Mode (Read/Write Mode).

8. Click Done.
9. In the left pane, expand Sites > NYC-Site > Device Collections > NYC-CAT-PVS-ServerOS.

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In the right pane, select NYC-TDS-001.

10. Right-click NYC-TDS-001 and select Properties.

11. In the Type drop-down menu, select Maintenance.

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Click OK.
12. Open File Explorer from the taskbar and navigate to E:\LocalStore.

Verify that a Win2016vDisk.1.avhdx file was created.

Note: This file is the differential disk that gets created when creating a maintenance version
using the Citrix Provisioning console; it will store the new changes that will be performed.
13. Minimize Remote Desktop Connection Manager and double-click the Hyper-V Manager icon
from the Desktop of NYC-HYP-001.

In the middle pane right-click NYC-TDS-001 and click Start.

14. Double-click the virtual machine NYC-TDS-001 and observe the machine boot progress. With
the newly created maintenance version, the machine presented a Boot Menu to select which
vDisk version to boot from.

Type 1 and press Enter to boot from the Maintenance version.

Monitor the machine until it finishes the boot process.

15. Click Action > Ctrl+Alt+Del button at the top and log onto NYC-TDS-001 from Hyper-V
Manager using below credentials:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1
16. Right-click the vDisk status tray icon in the far-right corner of the taskbar and select Virtual
Disk Status.

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17. Verify that the Mode displays as Read/Write and that the Virtual disk lists
Win2016vDisk.1.avhdx.

Close the window by clicking X at the top right corner.

18. Right-click Start and select Run.

19. Type:
\\NYC-FSR-001\Resources\Citrix Supportability Pack v1.7.1\Tools\HDX Monitor

Click OK.

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20. Double-click the hdx-monitor.msi installer file.

21. Click Run.

Click Install.

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22. Double-click the shortcut icon on the desktop to launch the tool

Click Close at the bottom right corner.

23. Close File Explorer.

24. Right-click Start and select Programs and Features. Verify that Citrix HDX Monitor 3.5.2 is
installed.

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Close Programs and Features window.

25. Right-click Start > Shut down or sign out > Shut down.

Key Takeaways:
• Even when a vDisk is set to Standard mode, you have a way to retain settings
and changes; this method is called versioning.
• Versions can be used to create delta vDisks linked to a base vDisk. The
functionality works almost like snapshots in a hypervisor environment.
• A version or a delta vDisk uses the .avhdx file extension, which can be viewed
when browsing the store with a file explorer.
• A version can have 3 states:
o Maintenance, which will allow changes
o Test, which will not retain changes, but can be deployed to a limited set of
Target Devices
o Production, which is typically used when the changes have been made
• Target Devices can also be linked to these 3 types of vDisks, meaning a Target
Device can be configured to boot from a certain type of vDisk version.
• Only one vDisk version can be in maintenance mode at one time.

Exercise 8-2: Promote the vDisk

Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs. After adding HDX Monitor to a new vDisk
version, your Lead Citrix Architect has informed you that the user acceptance testing
has completed, and you can promote the updated vDisk version to the production target
devices.
Step Action
1. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, confirm that you are still connected to NYC-
PVS-001.
Note: In a previous exercise, you had logged into NYC-PVS-001 using the following credentials
to make the connection:

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• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1

Note: If your Remote Desktop Connection session is disconnected, log on to NYC-PVS-001,

right-click this machine and choose Connect server.
2. Click Start and start the Citrix Provisioning Console.

Type NYC-PVS-001 and click Connect.

Note: If the console is already open from the previous exercises, ignore this step.
3. Navigate to Farm > Sites > NYC-Site > Device Collections.

4. In the left pane, expand Device Collections > NYC-CAT-PVS-ServerOS. In the right pane,
select NYC-TDS-001.

5. Right-click NYC-TDS-001 and select Properties.

6. Select the drop-down menu next to Type and change it from Maintenance to Production.

Click OK.

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7. In the left pane, select vDisk Pool, then in the right pane, select Win2016vDisk.

8. Right-click Win2016vDisk and select Versions.

9. Select the version in Maintenance mode and then click Promote.

10. Select Production and Immediate options. Click OK.

Note: It may take some time to change the version from Maintenance to Production.
The scheduled option can be selected to schedule when a maintenance vDisk version should be
moved into production, as needed to comply with change control windows.

Note: If a Snap-In Error appears, click Cancel. If the Citrix Provisioning Console closes, re-open
again to verify that the new version has been promoted.
11. Verify that the new version was promoted successfully and that a Green check is seen.

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Note: All the target devices booting from this version will have the HDX Monitor software
installed, proving that the vDisk was successfully updated.
12. Click Done.

Key Takeaways:
• It is a leading practice to promote a vDisk to Test first so that changes can be
validated with non-production target devices, and then to promote it again to
Production.
• Selecting Immediate while promoting a vDisk will not take effect until the
Target Devices are rebooted.
• For Scheduled Promotion, the Target Devices must be rebooted after the
scheduled date and time.

Exercise 8-3: Roll Back the vDisk

Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs. Your Lead Citrix Architect has instructed
you to test and verify the steps involved in rolling back a vDisk update. Your task is to
ensure that the vDisk version containing HDX Monitor is no longer in production.
Step Action
1. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, confirm that you are still connected to NYC-
PVS-001.
Note: In a previous exercise, you had logged into NYC-PVS-001 using the following credentials
to make the connection:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1

Note: If your Remote Desktop Connection session is disconnected, log on to NYC-PVS-001,

right-click this machine and choose Connect server.
2. Click Start and start Citrix Provisioning Console.

Type NYC-PVS-001 and click Connect.

Note: If the console is already open from the previous exercises, ignore this step.

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3. In the left pane, browse to Farm > Sites > NYC-Site > vDisk Pool.

I
n the right pane, select Win2016vDisk.

Note: Make sure that the vDisk does not show a lock. The lock indicates there is a target device
booted from the vDisk; shut down the target device and the lock will disappear. If there is no
target device booting from the vDisk, right-click vDisk and select Manage Locks and Remove
Locks.
4. Right-click Win2016vDisk and select Versions.

5. Select Version 1 that was recently created and select Revert.

6. Verify that Maintenance is selected, then click OK to revert the version to Maintenance mode to
modify the changes previously made.

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7. Verify that Maintenance is again seen on the vDisk Versions screen, which indicates the revert
action is successful.

Note: The Production version is now reverted to Maintenance and if required, more changes
can be done before promoting again.

8. Click Done.

Key Takeaways:
• An important benefit from using vDisks with Citrix Provisioning is the ability to
quickly roll back a change.
• A vDisk can be rolled back to either Maintenance or Test mode.
• Changing the vDisk version back to Maintenance mode can only be done when
the vDisk version is not in use by target devices.

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Exercise 8-4: Merge the vDisk

Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs. Your Lead Citrix Architect has instructed
you to merge the new vDisk version that was created to the base vDisk. That way, the
newly merged vDisk can be copied to a production file server in preparation for the
production rollout.
Step Action
1. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, confirm that you are still connected to NYC-
PVS-001.
Note: In a previous exercise, you had logged into NYC-PVS-001 using the following credentials
to make the connection:
• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1

Note: If your Remote Desktop Connection session is disconnected, log on to NYC-PVS-001,

right-click this machine and choose Connect server.
2. Click Start and start Citrix Provisioning console.

Type NYC-PVS-001 and Click Connect.

Note: If the console is already open from the previous exercises, ignore this step.
3. In the left pane, select the vDisk Pool, and in the right pane, select Win2016vDisk.

4. Right-click Win2016vDisk and select Versions.

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5. Select the version in Maintenance Mode and then click Promote.

6. Select Production and Immediate options. Click OK.

Note: If a Snap-In Error appears, click End Now, click OK on the Citrix Provisioning console,
unhandled Exception messages and close the Citrix Provisioning console.
Re-open the Citrix Provisioning console and connect to farm using NYC-PVS-001.
7. Verify the new Version is promoted successfully and that the Green check is seen.

8. Click Merge.

Note: If you receive any snap-in error, please click on Cancel.

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9. Select Merged Base – Last base + all updates from that base and Production options.

Click OK.

Note: Using the Merged Base option, it will merge all the versions with the base vDisk into one
base vDisk (.vhdx). If the Merged Updates option was chosen, it would merge all the versions
into one consolidated version (.avhdx), keeping the base vDisk intact.
10. Click OK on the Citrix Provisioning Console message and observe the Merging % under the
Access column.

Continue to click Refresh button every few seconds to observe the merging percentage
changing.

Note: The merge process will take approximately 10-15 minutes to complete.

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11. Once the merge is complete, the new base vDisk is created, and the old versions and the old
vDisk are marked with a red X.

Click Done.

12. The Merged Base process created a new. vhdx file.

Navigate to E:\LocalStore and verify that the new base disk Win2016vDisk.2.vhdx is present.

13. Close File Explorer.

Key Takeaways:
• Using vDisk versions is useful when deploying changes to an environment;
however, as the chain of versions grows, performance might start degrading.
Citrix recommends keeping the number of versions below 5.
• The Merge functionality is used to reduce the number of active versions of a
vDisk.
• A chain of vDisk versions can be merged to either a single version associated
with the base vDisk or all vDisk versions plus the base vDisk can be merged into
a new base vDisk.
• Merging to a complete base vDisk is useful when moving images between Citrix
Provisioning environments.

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Exercise 8-5: Reverse Imaging

Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs. Your Lead Citrix Architect has informed you
that another Production environment with Citrix Hypervisor has recently been updated
to a newer version. This means that the version of Citrix Hypervisor tools currently
installed on the vDisks will be out of date when the vDisks are implemented within the
production Citrix Hypervisor hosts. To install upgraded tools reverse imaging has to be
performed. Your task is to perform a reverse image of the Windows Server 2016 vDisk
in this environment in order to understand the process.
Step Action
1. Connect to Hyper-V Manager, right-click the VM NYC-FSR-001 virtual machine and right-
click Start.

Note: Ignore this step if this machine is already up.

2. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, connect to NYC-FSR-001.

To login to NYC-FSR-001 right-click this machine and choose Connect server.

Note: The following credentials are used to make the connection:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1
3. Right-click Start > Run and navigate to \\NYC-PVS-001\LocalStore.

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4. Right-click Win2016vDisk.vhdx, then click Copy.

Navigate to C:\ on the local machine This PC on (NYC-FSR-001), then right-click within
the Windows Explorer windows and select Paste.

Note: This copy process will take approximately 5-10 minutes.

5. Click Start and type Command Prompt (Admin). Right-click Command Prompt and
select Run as administrator.

Run the following command to export the current BCD configuration:

bcdedit /export c:\bcdbackup

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6. Run the following command to copy the default BCD entry to a new entry. This outputs a
GUID that you will need later:

bcdedit /copy {default} /d "vhd boot (locate)"

7. Run the following commands to set the new BCD entry to boot from the. vhdx file. Replace
{guid} with the GUID output from the previous command. Include the braces:

bcdedit /set {guid} device vhd=[locate]\Win2016vDisk.vhdx

bcdedit /set {guid} osdevice vhd=[locate]\Win2016vDisk.vhdx

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8. Connect to Hyper-V Manager.

Right-click NYC-FSR-001 and select Reset.

In the confirmation dialog box, click Reset.

Double-click the NYC-FSR-001 VM to open a console window and monitor the boot
process.

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9. When the boot menu appears, select the vhd boot (locate) option.

10. Click Action > Ctrl+Alt+Del button at the top and log onto NYC-FSR-001 from Hyper-V
Manager using the below credentials:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1
11. Perform the required changes.

Note: You are not making any changes as of now.

Note: Reverse Imaging is an alternative boot method used to make changes that cannot
be completed successfully while the vDisk is streaming. For example, one use for this
alternative boot method is to update the hypervisor tools of a virtual machine.
12. Connect to Hyper-V Manager and restart the machine back into the regular operating
system.

Select Windows Server 2016.

13. Click Action > Send Ctrl+Alt+Delete at the top and log onto NYC-FSR-001 using the
following credentials:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1

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14. Using Windows Explorer, navigate to C:\Win2016VDisk.vhdx.

15. Copy Win2016vDisk.vhdx file to \\NYC-PVS-001\E$\LocalStore.

Click Replace the files if you get the window

Note: It is not required to copy the file back as no changes have been made. The above
steps were included for informational purposes. Additionally, If copying the disk back,
vDisk replication should be completed between the two Provisioning Services servers.
16. Click X to close the File Explorer.

Key Takeaways:
• Citrix Provisioning normally allows a machine to mount a vDisk stored on the
network and boot from this vDisk via the network.
• Any update to the vDisk that changes the network stack will interrupt a machine’s
ability to communicate with the vDisk.
• When performing updates that interfere with the network stack, such as
hypervisor tools or software-based firewalls, you must transition your image back
to being able to boot from a disk controller rather than from the network.
• There are multiple ways to accomplish this task, including reverse imaging and
VHD booting.

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Module 9: Citrix Provisioning Support Tools

Overview:
The module presents steps to enable and use the Citrix Provisioning auditing tool and
the PXEChecker tool within a Citrix Provisioning environment. These tools will assist
you in recognizing issues in the Citrix Provisioning environment after the initial
installation and configuration have been completed.
Before you begin:
Estimated time to complete Module 9 lab exercises: 15 minutes

Exercise 9-1: Enable Citrix Provisioning Auditing

Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs. The WW Labs CTO has announced new
security guidelines for all IT systems: administrative changes must be logged and be
available for review after any high severity incident. Your Lead Citrix Architect has
tasked you to enable Auditing within the POC environment to show that Citrix
Provisioning can meet this requirement.
Step Action
1. Verify that the following VMs are powered on before beginning the exercises in this module:

• NYC-ADS-001
• NYC-FSR-001
• NYC-PVS-001
• NYC-PVS-002
• NYC-SQL-001
To power manage the VMs, switch to Hyper-V Manager, right-click the VM in the Virtual
Machine pane, and select Start or Shut Down.

Note: The VMs are listed in the start-up order.

2. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, confirm that you are still connected to NYC-
PVS-001.
Note: In a previous exercise, you had logged into NYC-PVS-001 using the following credentials
to make the connection:
• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1

Note: If your Remote Desktop Connection session is disconnected, log on to NYC-PVS-001,

right-click this machine and choose Connect server.

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3. Click Start and start Citrix Provisioning Console.

Type NYC-PVS-001, select Use my Windows credentials to login, and click Connect.

Note: If the console is already open, close the console and connect with Windows Credentials
instead of HR1. If the console opens with an error, close the console, start Citrix PVS Soap
service, connect the console with Windows credentials.
4. In the Console tree, right-click on Farm, then select the Properties menu option.

Navigate to Options tab. In the Auditing section, select Enable auditing.

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Click OK.

Note: If the Citrix Provisioning database is unavailable, no actions are recorded.

The following managed objects within a Citrix Provisioning implementation are audited:
• Farm
• Site
• Provisioning Servers
• Collection
• Device
• Store
• vDisks

Only tasks performed from one of the following Citrix Provisioning utilities are recorded:
• Console
• MCLI
• SOAP Server
• PowerShell

Key Takeaways:
• In Citrix Provisioning, administrative auditing is not enabled by default.
• Auditing is enabled within the Farm properties.
• Audit events are saved in the Citrix Provisioning database.
• Audit events will not be tracked if the Citrix Provisioning database is offline.
• Auditing will track any change made through the Console, MCLI, PowerShell or
using the SOAP Server.

Exercise 9-2: Use the Console to view Auditing

Scenario:
You are a Citrix Administrator at WW Labs. Your Lead Citrix Architect has instructed
you to prove that the auditing feature works. Your task is to view the audit trail for the
Desktop OS Device Collection.

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Step Action
1. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, confirm that you are still connected to NYC-
PVS-001.
Note: In a previous exercise, you had logged into NYC-PVS-001 using the following credentials
to make the connection:
• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1

Note: If your Remote Desktop Connection session is disconnected, log on to NYC-PVS-001,

right-click this machine and choose Connect server.
2. Click Start and start Citrix Provisioning Console.

Type NYC-PVS-001 and click Connect.

Note: If the console is already open from the previous exercises, ignore this step.
3. Navigate to Farm > Sites > NYC-Site > Device Collections > NYC-CAT-PVS-ServerOS.

4. Right-click the NYC-CAT-PVS-ServerOS and select Properties.

Select Security tab.

Click Add in the left pane.

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5. Select workspacelab.com/Builtin/Administrators and click OK on the Add Security Groups

window.

Note: Since auditing was only enabled from the previous exercise, a few administrative actions
must be performed to generate entries in the audit trail.
6. Click OK.

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7. Right-click NYC-CAT-PVS-ServerOS and select Audit trail.

8. Notice that the administrative action that was recently performed, adding the Administrator group
in NYC-CAT-PVS-ServerOS Security, can be seen in the audit trail.

Note: Columns can be sorted in ascending or descending order by clicking on the column
heading.
• The # column specifies the order the actions took place.
• The Date/Time column lists all audit actions that occurred within the Start date and End
date filter criteria.
• The Action column identifies the name of the Citrix Provisioning action taken.
• The Type column identifies the type of action taken, which is based on the type of
managed object for which the action was taken.
• The Name column identifies the name of the object within that object’s type, for which
the action was taken.
• The User column identifies the user’s name that performed the action.
• The Domain column identifies the domain in which this user is a member.
• The Path column identifies the parent(s) of the managed object. For example, a Device
will have a Site and a Collection as parents.

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9. Click Secondary button and look at the changes that have just been made.

Click Close twice.

Key Takeaways:
• The audit log can be viewed by right-clicking an object and selecting Audit Trail.
• The Audit Trail window will allow you to filter the result in many ways, making it
easier to find relevant information.
• Search functionality is available to quickly find relevant events.

Exercise 9-3: Use PowerShell to view Auditing

Scenario:
The Citrix Architect is interested in potentially integrating Citrix Provisioning auditing
with a 3rd party product that aggregates auditing data from different systems. The
Architect asks your team to become familiar with the PowerShell programmer utility to
retrieve auditing data in preparation for working with a developer involved with this
effort.
Step Action
1. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, confirm that you are still connected to NYC-
PVS-001.
Note: In a previous exercise, you had logged into NYC-PVS-001 using the following credentials
to make the connection:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1

Note: If your Remote Desktop Connection session is disconnected, log on to NYC-PVS-001,

right-click this machine and choose Connect server.
2. Start PowerShell from the taskbar.

3. Type the command below, then press Enter to import PVS PowerShell Snap-in:

import-module ‘C:\Program Files\Citrix\Provisioning Services

Console\Citrix.PVS.Snapin.dll’

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4. Type Get-Module, then press Enter to verify that the PVS Snap-in has been loaded.

5. To look at the audit trail of the device collection in which you have made changes type the
following command:

Get-PvsAuditTrail -SiteName NYC-Site -CollectionName "NYC-CAT-PVS-ServerOS"

The listed UserName is an Administrator who has performed Action 2005 on ObjectName
Server OS Collection.

Note: The name of the action taken is a number that is converted to a string for display. Action
2005 means (RunAssignAuthGroup). To know about which action value corresponds to which
String Value refer to the following URL: https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/provisioning/current-
release/downloads/pvssnapincommands.pdf
6. Close PowerShell window.

Key Takeaways:
• The Audit Trail window will allow you to filter the result in many ways, making it
easier to find relevant information.
• Search functionality is available to quickly find relevant events.

Exercise 9-4: Use PXEChecker Tool to verify PXE Boot

Simulation
Scenario:
The Citrix Architect has instructed your team to verify the configuration of target device
boot is done correctly by simulating the PXE boot process using PXEChecker.
Step Action
1. Connect to Hyper-V Manager, right-click the VM NYC-FSR-001 virtual machine and right-
click Start.

Note: Ignore this step if this machine is already up.

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2. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, connect to NYC-FSR-001.

To login to NYC-FSR-001 right-click this machine and choose Connect server.

Note: The following credentials are used to make the connection:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1
3. In NYC-FSR-001, double-click the Lab Resources folder on the desktop, double-click the
Citrix Supportability Pack v1.7.1 > Tools > PXE Checker folder, and then double-click
PXEChecker.exe.

4. Verify Legacy BIOS Test is selected and then click Run Test on Left Side Window Pane

Note: Run Test will show progress in the right side pane and provide alerts once finished.

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5. Verify from the events in Alerts section, exception is created of NYC-PVS-001
(192.168.10.50) not downloading the bootstrap file.

6. Using the Remote Desktop Connection Manager, connect to NYC-PVS-001.

To log in to NYC-PVS-001 right-click this machine and choose Connect server.

Note: The following credentials are used to make the connection:

• Username: WORKSPACELAB\Administrator
• Password: Password1
7. Right-click Start, click Run, and type Services.msc

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8. Verify Citrix PVS TFTP Service state, which is set to disabled.

To start the service, Right-Click Citrix PVS TFTP Service, open Properties, and set the
service Start Up Type to Automatic.

Click OK

9. Start Citrix PVS TFTP service.

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10. Connect to NYC-FSR-001, and run the Legacy BIOS Test again. Verify there are no
critical errors and bootstrap is successfully downloaded from NYC-PVS-001.

11. Click X to close the PXEChecker Utility.

Key Takeaways:
• The PXEChecker utility will allow you to create a simulation of the PXE boot
process to test any configuration or environment-related issues.
• This tool provides information on the DHCP Offer received and the successful
download of the bootstrap file.
• The alerts generated define the severity of the issue and its effect on the boot
process of the target device.

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