How to: Citrix Machine Creation Services and Microsoft Azure Resource Manager

In January of this year I wrote a how-to blog about Machine Creation Services and Microsoft Azure Classic. Citrix has updated their Machine Creation Services to support Microsoft Azure Resource manager. At the time of writing this MCS update is only available for customers who are using “Citrix Cloud | XenDesktop and XenApp Services”. Those who have a traditional on-prem XenDesktop 7.7, 7.8 or 7.9 set-up only have the option for Microsoft Azure Classic at the moment.

This blog is a step-by-step guide about how to provision machines in Microsoft Azure using Machine Creation Services. This blog describes the creation of a hosting connection to Microsoft Azure and making a new Machine Catalog with three new Windows 2012 R2 Session Host machines based on the Golden Master.

Citrix XenDesktop configuration

For this guide I have setup a basic Citrix Cloud setup with IaaS VMs in Microsoft Azure (Resource manager):

• Citrix Cloud | XenDesktop and XenApp Services
• Citrix Cloud Connector Virtual Machine
• Established connection between Citrix Cloud and Citrix Cloud Connection (Resource location and Domain connection)

 

Master Image Configuration

The Master image, used in this guide, is configured as follows:

• Azure Resource Manager Virtual Machine A2
• Azure virtual network name "VN_172.16.0.0-24"and Subnet name "SN_172.16.1.0-24"
• Windows 2012 R2 Session Host
• Citrix XenDesktop 7.9 VDA
• LibreOffice 5.2
• Notepad++
• VLC Media player

Creating Azure Hosting connection in Citrix Cloud | XenDesktop and XenApp Services

 

1. Browse to https://portal.azure.com and click Subscriptions. Write down your Azure Subscription ID


2. Browse to https://citrix.cloud.com and go to XenApp and XenDesktop Services


3. Click Manage and go to Hosting. Click Add Connection and Resources

4. Select connection type Microsoft Azure

5. Enter your Azure subscription ID (step 1) and give the connection a name. Then click Create new..

6. Login with your Microsoft Account which has access to your Microsoft Azure subscription

7. Verify the login. If you have a problem (like me) sending a security code, edit your Microsoft account for mobile app “Microsoft Account” verification (https://account.live.com/proofs/Manage)

8. Accept Citrix XenDesktop permissions

9. Click Next


10. Select the Azure region for this hosting connection and click Next


11. Select your virtual network and subnet, click Next


12. Click Finish


13. The hosting connection to Microsoft Azure Resource Manager is completed


Create new Machine Catalog
Like using Citrix Machine Creation Services with on-premises Hypervisor we need to install a master VM and shut it down. There is no need to create a snapshot (hypervisor) or capture (azure classic). In this example I’ve used master virtual machine AzureCTXGM.
1. Install your Golden Master VM with software and Citrix VDA. When finished shut the machine down and power off (deallocated)


2. Browse to Citrix Cloud | XenApp and XenDesktop Services and go to Machine Catalogs. Click Create Machine Catalog


3. Select type of Operating System (in this example Server OS) and click Next

4. Select Machines that are power managed and select Citrix Machine Creation Services, click Next

5. Select the VHD of the Golden Master VM and click Next

6. Select the destination storage type for your provisioned virtual machines and click Next

7. Select the amount of machines (i.e. 3) to create and select the Microsoft Azure Machine size (i.e. Standard_A2). Click Next

8. Select the network card and associate it with the Azure Subnet name for your Citrix Machines (i.e. SN_172.16.1.0-24), click Next

9. Select Create new Active Directory accounts. Then select the OU for the new machines. And fill in an Account naming scheme for the new machines (use ## for auto increment numbers)

10. Enter your domain account credentials, and click next (this account is used to create the computer accounts)

11. A summary is displayed. Fill in a Machine Catalog name and a Machine Catalog description for administrators and click Finish

12. The Machine Catalog is copying the master image to a base disk

13. The Virtual Machines are created

14. A new storage account is created on Azure
15. While MCS is deploying the virtual machines, a preparation VM with VHD is temporary created on Azure

16. When MCS finishes, the following VHDs are created for 3 VMs (ARM-XDSH-##)

 

You are now able to create a Delivery Group.

• For on-premisses Delivery Controller, read this blog http://patrickvandenborn.blogspot.nl/2016/01/citrix-xendesktop-77-machine-creation_76.html
• For Citrix Cloud | XenDesktop and XenApp Services, read this blog http://patrickvandenborn.blogspot.nl/2016/03/how-to-citrix-workspace-cloud-apps-and.html

 

How to: Citrix Workspace Cloud | Secure Browser

Citrix introduced Citrix Workspace Cloud – Secure Browser, this blog describes how to publish a website with it. Secure Browser enables you to open websites with an experience of Google Chrome, Internet Explorer 11 and Internet Explorer 11 x64 in HTML5 supported browsers like FireFox, Safari, Internet Explorer 11, Google Chorme, Opera, etc.
 
Result:

How – to: Publish a Secure Website

Publish a website using Citrix Secure Brower as follows:
1.Goto https://workspace.cloud.com and login with your Citrix Workspace Cloud credentials
2.On the Citrix Workspace Cloud mainpage click Manage button for Secure Browser

3.On the Secure Browser manage page, click Manage

4.Click Publish a Web App:

5.Provide App Name, URL and Browser version for the website you want to publish:

6.Then click Publish

7.The website is Published, click Launch to test the published website

8.The HTML5 receiver is starting:

9.Confirm if the correct website is opened and confirm if the website behavior is the same as Google Chrome:

10.Go back to the Secure Browser management page and click Copy to Clipboard

 

11.Copy the URL and provide them to your end users:
 

Whatsmybrowser.org information

Publishing an IE11 experience to www.whatsmybrowser.org is resulting in the following user experience in Mozilla Firefox:

 

 

Geographical location of Secure Browser

The location of the Secure Browser session I started is originating from servers is in California in the United States.

Download files using Secure Browser

When testing downloading of files from the internet, I’ve got this error message as expected:

 

End user browser experience

Secure Browser is an nice new feature added to the Citrix Workspace Cloud suite. When testing Secure Browser I was thinking of the experience end users get and expect when using a web browser. I think the following things will raise some questions of end users and you need to communicate when implementing Secure Browser:

• Website navigation buttons (like back/forward) are working for the local browser and not for the HTML5 published website. You can only use backspace to go back to the previous page.
• Website cookies are not remembered, so banners will pop-up on session start (keep this in mind when implementing Secure Browser)
   

How to: Citrix Workspace Cloud | Apps and Desktops

This blog is a technical step-by-step guide for configuring and using Citrix Workspace Cloud - Apps and Desktops (CWC-AD). In this blog:

• What is Citrix Workspace Cloud - Apps and Desktop
• Installation of Citrix Workspace Cloud Connector
• Install a VDA and connect it to the Citrix Workspace Cloud Connector
• Create a Machine Catalog on Citrix Workspace Cloud Apps and Desktops
• Create a Delivery Group on Citrix Workspace Cloud Apps and Desktops
• Configure a Citrix Workspace Cloud Workspace with Apps and Desktops
• Citrix Workspace Cloud - StoreFront
• Connect your on-premises StoreFront to Citrix Workspace Cloud
• Citrix Workspace Cloud Apps and Desktops – Monitor (Director)

What is Citrix Workspace Cloud - Apps and Desktop

Citrix has built an online cloud platform called “Citrix Workpace Cloud” (CWC). With CWC it is possible to move your on-premises Citrix core components towards the cloud (workspace.cloud.com). The great advantage of this is that you don’t need to install, configure and maintain these core components, Citrix is doing this for you! I.e. for Apps and Desktops you don’t need the following components on-premises:

• Citrix License Server
• Citrix Desktop Delivery Controllers
• Citrix Datastore
• Microsoft SQL mirror or AllwaysOn database needs
• Citrix Datastore
• Citrix StoreFront

To connect your existing environment to CWC you only need to install the CWC Connector on a server. Citrix recommends to install at least two CWC Connectors for redundancy. The CWC Connectors are acting as a proxy between CWC and your environment. After installation of the CWC Connector you only need to point your Virtual Desktop Agents to the CWC Connector and you’re ready to go. Besides CWC-AD the Citrix Workspace cloud also has the following components: Workspaces, Identity and Access Managent, Resource Locations, Lifecycle management, Secure Documents and Mobility Management. This blog only describes the Apps and Desktop part.

Installation of Citrix Workspace Cloud Connector

The first thing to do is to connect your environment to CWC by installing the CWC Connector on a server.

1. Goto workspace.cloud.com and login with your CWC account:

2. Goto Identity and Access Management

3. Click Domains and click plus sign for adding a new domain

4. Klik Download to download the CWC Connector:

5. Save the cwcconnector.exe on the server and execute it

6. A login popup appears, login with your CWC credentials

7. Within two minutes, the installation box disappears and the following services are installed and started on the CWC Connector server:

8. Your domain will appear on Identity and Access Management at CWC

Install a VDA and connect it to the Citrix Workspace Cloud Connector

When the CWC Connector is in place and connected to CWC, you need to install a VDA and point it to the CWC Connector. In this example I will use a Microsoft Azure Windows 2012 R2 Session Host and install the VDA manually on it. You can also use On-premises MCS and PVS, Azure MCS or Amazon EC2.

1. Mount the XenDesktop ISO (or download the VDAServerSetup_78.exe / VDAWorkstationSetup_7.8.exe from download.citrix.com) and select Virtual Delivery Agent for Windows Server OS

2. Select Enable connections to a server machine and click Next

3. Click Next

4. At the Controller address field, fill in the server names of the CWC Connector (in this example Domain Controller AZ-DC-01.azureworkspace.pqrlab.local)

5. Select your components and click Next

6. Click Next

7. Click Install

8. Once the installation has finished, click Finish to restart the Session Host

Create a Machine Catalog on Citrix Workspace Cloud Apps and Desktops

1. On CWC go to Apps and Desktops

2. Click Manage, a HTML5 based PubApp with a Microsoft MMC of Citrix Studio will open for you.

3. Goto Machine Catalogs and click Create Machine Catalog

4. Click Next

5. Select Server OS and click Next

6. Select Machines that are not powered on (we’re using manually provisioned Citrix VDA on Azure) and click Next

7. Click Add Computer… and search for your ServerVDA machine (AZ-XA-01.azureworkspace.pqrlab.local)

8. Click Next

9. Give your Machine Catalog a name and a description, click Finish

10. Your Machine Catalog on CWC is created

Create a Delivery Group on Citrix Workspace Cloud Apps and Desktops

1. On CWC go to Apps and Desktops

2. Click Manage, a HTML5 based PubApp with a Microsoft MMC of Citrix Studio will open for you.

3. Go to Delivery Groups and click Create Delivery Group

4. Click Next

5. Add machines from Machine Catalog and click Next

6. Select Leave user management to Citrix Workspace Cloud and click Next

7. Click Add to add applications

8. Select the ServerVDA installed applications you want to publish in CWC Workspaces

9. Click Next

10. Give the Delivery group a name and description, click Finish

11. The delivery group is created

Configure a Citrix Workspace Cloud Workspace with Apps and Desktops

1. On CWC go to Workspaces

2. Click plus Workspaces to create a new CWC workspace

3. Give the Workspace a name and click Applications and Desktops

4. At this page the Delivery groups with CWC user management are displayed. Add Apps and Desktops from delivery group Man – Azure – XenApp

5. Than click Create Workspace

6. Click the Workspace Azure XenApp to manage the new workspace

7. If you want to manage services, you can do it over here.

8. Click Subscribers and add the domain users you want to give access to the workspace. Click Publish to publish the Workspace.

Citrix Workspace Cloud - StoreFront

By default you will get an CWC managed StoreFront address. You can access this by https://%customername%.xendesktop.net. Keep in mind that you can only use this page for internal access of the Apps and Desktops. You need a NetScaler Gateway for remote access over the internet.
 
1. Goto https://%customername%.xendesktop.net and login with you credentials

2. You can see the CWC Workspace Published Apps here, click Notepad

3. The PubApp Notepad is started on the Azure ServerVDA

4. Goto Desktops to see you CWC Workspace Published Desktops, click Azure XenApp to start the PubDesktop

Connect your on-premises StoreFront to Citrix Workspace Cloud

It is also possible to connect an on-premises storefront to CWC. 

1. Open StoreFront Console on your StoreFront server, go to Stores and click Create Store

2. Give you StoreFront store a name and click Next

3. Point your Delivery controllers to the CWC Cloud connector

4. Click create

5. Click Finish

6. Your on-premises StoreFront is connected to CWC

Citrix Workspace Cloud Apps and Desktops – Monitor (Director)

The Citrix Director is also implemented on CWC. Director is working the same as an on-premises installation, except you cannot configure any role based access. I.e. you cannot limit helpdesk employees in the console.

1. On CWC go to Apps and Desktops

2. Then click Monitor, you will see the familiar Citrix Director dashboard

3. Click Trends to view the historical trends of your Citrix environment

4. Click Search to search and manage a user

5. You can manage Applications and Processes opened by the user on the ServerVDA

6. Or see more details about the user session (like server load evaluator index, ICA RTT, user connection latency):