Installing XenApp Server

Before starting the installation, disable the IE Enhanced Security Configuration.  Start the Server Manager.

Select “Configure IE ESC” on the right side.

Select Off for both Administrators and Users, then click OK.

Insert the XenApp 6 install DVD.  It is recommended to run directly from the  DVD or extract the files to a local drive on the server.

Select Install XenApp Server.

If you have not yet installed .Net 3.5 SP1 it will prompt that it will be installed, click OK.

Now at the Role Manager screen click “Add server roles” on the right.

Select your XenApp edition.

Read the license agreement, select the check box to accept the license agreement, and click Next. (No need to scroll upto the end ;))

Select the role(s) you would like to install.  Here we choose the License Server, XenApp, and Web Interface.  In a production environment you may want to install the License Server on a separate non-XenApp server.  The same goes for your Web Interface servers.  Click Next.

Click Next.

The installation will include a bunch of prerequisites that need to be installed.  The first is the activation of the Remote Desktop Session Host role/Terminal Services application mode which will require the server to reboot mid-install.  One of the nice things about XenApp 6 is that the installation of prerequisites has been simplified.Click Next.

Click Install.

Click Finish.

Back at the Role Manager window it tells us the XenApp configuration has a reboot pending because of the Remote Desktop Server role installed earlier.  Select Reboot or manually proceed to reboot the server.

Once we’ve logged back on after the reboot the Role Manager screen should pop back up.  Click Resume Install under the XenApp configuration task. Before that check whether the selected roles ahs beed still active, or click Add roles again.

Click Install.

If the install was successful you can see the above screen.  Click Finish.

Configuring XenApp Server

Now we will configure the different components of our XenApp installation.  If the Role Manager window does not appear click Start > All Programs > Citrix > XenApp Server Role Manager > XenApp Server Role Manager.

Click Configure under XenApp.

Select “Create a new server farm”.

Type a name for the new XenApp Server farm, then click Next.

We can specify the license server info later through a XenApp policy, click Next.

We now have the option to install a new database locally on the XenApp server or on an existing SQL Server in our environment.  For simplicity here we choose the New Database option.  The installation will automatically install a copy of SQL Server Express 2008 on the XenApp server and configure the data store database for our new Citrix farm.

For larger environments it is recommended to use an existing SQL Server.  We even can use an existing SQL Server 2005 SP3 database server instance.  If you choose to use a separate SQL Server you’ll want to create a new database for the Citrix farm on that server, assign a new SQL login and user for that database, and add the db owner role on the new database for that SQL user.  Perform these steps first if using an existing SQL server, then come back to the XenApp installation.

Enter a user and password for a database administrator for the new database. We may use a more restricted standard user account for better security. Click OK.

Click Next.

Unless you want to configure restrictions on session shadowing, accept the default and click Next.

Zones are typically geographically based groupings of XenApp servers that share a common data collector, which contains certain information on the status and availability of the XenApp servers in that zone.  We kept the default zone name.  Don’t click Next yet.

On the left select “XML Service”.  We generally choose to “Use a custom XML Service TCP/IP Port” and change this to 8080, but you can keep the default if you want.  Make a note of which port you use because you’ll need it when configuring components like the Web Interface.

Select “Remote Desktop Users” on the left and select “Add the Authenticated Users” to limit logons to authenticated users.  Click Next.

Click Apply to configure with the settings selected.

XenApp configuration successful, click Finish.

Under XenApp task is displays a reboot pending, click Reboot and proceed to reboot the server

Configuring Web Interface

After we’ve rebooted log back on and go back into the Role Manager if it doesn’t start automatically.

Click “Configure” under “Web Interface”.

Now the Web Interface Management console should start.  Select XenApp Services Sites on the left pane, then click Create Site on the right.  We need to create a site that will allow the Citrix Online Plugin on our clients to gather connection information about our Citrix farm.

Click Next.  The IIS role and the Default Web Site should have been installed when we installed the Web Interface.

Click Next.

Click Next and the site configuration will start.

Type the name of your Citrix farm and click Add.

Type the fully qualified domain name of your XenApp server or its IP address and click OK.

If you changed the port the XML Service runs on update it like I have above.  Add any additional servers you may have in your environment, then click Next.

For now we’ll use only Online applications, click Next.

Click Finish to wrap up the XenApp Services Site configuration.  Then close the Citrix Web Interface Management console.

Configuring License Server and Installing Licenses

Back at the Role Manager window click Configure under License Server.

Enter a password for the “admin” user on the license server web console.  Click OK.  When I installed the License Server on the same server as the XenApp server, it gave me an error about the Management Console Web Port already being in use.

If this happens to you, change the Management Console Web Port to something like 8081 to get past the License Server Configuration screen.

Go to Start > All Programs > Citrix > Management Consoles > License Administration Console.

Select Administration on the upper right side of the page.

Logon with the “admin” user and password specified earlier.  Optionally check Remember Me so you don’t have to log on in the future.  Click Submit.

Scroll down and select “Vendor Daemon Configuration” on the left side of the screen.  Then click “Import License” at the top.

Click the Browse button to find your license file.  The import of the license file is kind of tricky, it may give you an error that the license does not have a consistent server host ID.  Rest assured, it is.  Go to Start > Administrative Tools > Services.

On the right side scroll down to the Citrix Licensing service, right click and select restart.  Close the Services MMC.  Now if you go back to the License Server Console, click Dashboard on the top right and the license should be registered.  Now close Internet Explorer.

You are now returned to the Role Manager screen.  Click Close.

Go to Start > All Programs > Citrix > Management Consoles > Citrix Delivery Services Console.

It will ask about disabled authenticode signature check, we selected Disable.

It will run a discovery process to find your new Citrix farm.  Click Next.

When presented with product selections leave the XenApp option checked and uncheck Single Sign On.  Click Next.

Click the Add Local Computer button to allow the console to browse it for available services.  Click Next.

Click Next.

Once discovery has completed click Finish, or at least I think that is finish!  Click the middle button.  You should now be presented with the Delivery Services Console.

In the left tree go to Citrix Resources > XenApp > Policies.  Then on the right pane select the Computer tab.  Select the Unfiltered policy under Citrix Computer Policies, then click Edit.

Click Next.

On the Left side select Licensing.  Then on the right select Add next to “License server host name”.

Type the name of your license server, then click OK.

Click Add next to “License server port”.

Make sure the value says 27000, then click OK.

Click Save.  Now we’ll be returned to the Delivery Services Console window.

Publishing a Citrix XenApp Application

Now it’s time to publish our first application to our clients.  Go into the Citrix Delivery Services Console if it is not already running.

On the left side of the window drill down to Citrix Resources > XenApp > Applications.  In the right actions pane click Publish Applications.

Click Next.

We’ll publish the Calculator, so enter a Display Name and click Next.

This is a simple application published from the XenApp server.  Click Next.

Browse for the Calc.exe of enter the information as above and click Next.

Click Add to select the server that this application is published from.

Double click Servers in the top box.  Then double click the XenApp server to add and it will appear in the bottom.  Then click OK.

Make sure a server appears, then click Next.

Click Add to select users for this application.

Double click this server, then double click the user group you’d like to publish this application to.  We’ll choose the local standard “Users” group.  If the XenApp server is in a windows domain it will also publish to members of the Domain Users group.  Click OK.

Click Next.

Click Next.

Click Finish.

The published application should now appear in the Delivery Console.

Installing the Citrix Online Plugin

Now let’s configure a client computer for XenApp 6.  One important thing  to note is that you should be running the latest version of the Citrix  XenApp Online Plugin client version 12. Also since Program Neighborhood is no longer included with the  current Plugin client that functionality appears to no longer be  supported.  Instead we’ll use the XenApp Services Site we set up earlier (formerly Program  Neighborhood Agent) to provide the settings for our client to connect with.

Now we need to install the Online Plugin client on a workstation.   There are two clients bundled in the Plugin client download, we will  install the Full Plugin client, CitrixOnlinePluginFull.exe.  It will  proceed with the installation.  Once completed it should prompt you for  the server.

Enter your server name and click Update.  It should now ask for your  logon credentials.  If it doesn’t, right click the Citrix icon in the  system tray and select Log On.

Enter your user, password, and domain if this is an Active   Directory environment.  To specify a local user account to the XenApp server type the computer name in the domain field.  Click OK.

Now left click the Citrix icon and select your application that you published earlier.  You should now be running your first XenApp 6 published application!