What is Change in It Infrastructure and its types :

Change: The ITIL definition of a change is ‘the addition, modification or removal of anything that could have an effect on IT services’.

Change Management is involved in 3 different activities –

1. Approving a Change submitted is one – more of a routine work as there are frequent changes to CI’s

2. Another one is granting approval to a New Service or a Package even before it is built based on the Project Charter Submitted by Service Portfolio Management – Basically Change Management Reviews a Critical output of Service Portfolio Management and gives a Go or No Go based on the inputs provided

3. Last one if approving the Permanent Fixes projected as an input from Problem Management Process

Change Management supports the three types of service changes ITIL describes —

Standard, emergency and normal. The change type determines which state model is invoked and the change process that must be followed.

Standard change
A standard change is a pre-authorized change that is low risk, relatively common and follows a specified procedure or work instruction.

A standard change is one that is frequently implemented, has repeatable implementation steps, and has a proven history of success. As Standard changes are pre-approved, they follow a stream lined process in which group level or peer approval and CAB authorization steps are not required.

Approved standard change requests can be predefined in a catalog of templates to make accessing and requesting a standard change more efficient. This ability also enables the Change Management team to control the changes that are authorized as standard.

Emergency change
A change that must be implemented as soon as possible, for example to resolve a major incident or implement a security patch. It is of such a high priority that it bypasses group and peer review and approval and goes straight to the Authorization state for approval by the CAB approval group.

Emergency changes cover the following types of emergencies:

1. Fix on fail or retroactive situations where the impact to service has already been experienced.
2. Fail or fail situations where the impact to service is imminent if action is not taken.

These changes do not follow the complete life cycle of a normal change due to the speed with which they must be authorized. Therefore, they progress directly to the Authorize state for approval from the CAB Approval group.

Normal change

Any service change that is not a standard change or an emergency change.

Normal change requests follow a prescriptive process which requires two levels of approval before being implemented, reviewed, and closed. These changes require a full range of assessments and authorizations such as peer or technical approval, change management, and Change Advisory Board (CAB) authorization, to ensure completeness, accuracy, and the least possible disruption to service. These changes are most often scheduled outside of defined change blackout windows or during defined maintenance windows. The normal type is used to implement beneficial change for any change to a service that is not a standard or emergency change.

Incident, Problem, Change, Event and Release- IT Infrastructure

Event: An event can be defined as any change of state that has significance for the management of a configuration item (CI) or IT service.

Incident: An ‘incident’ is defined as an unplanned interruption to an IT service or reduction in the quality of an IT service or a failure of a CI that has not yet impacted an IT service.

Problem: A ‘problem’ as the underlying cause of one or more incidents.

Change: The ITIL definition of a change is ‘the addition, modification or removal of anything that could have an effect on IT services’.

Release: A ‘release unit’ describes the portion of a service or IT infrastructure that is normally released as a single entity according to the organization’s release policy. The unit may vary, depending on the type(s) or item(s) of service asset or service component such as software and hardware. The actual components to be released on a specific occasion may include one or more release units, or exceptionally may include only part of a release unit. These components are grouped together into a release package for that specific release.

Now will see in Deep meaning:

Incident Management is almost firefighting, it addresses each degraded service occurrence by a quick fix. The focus is on making the service work like the way it should by all means at the shortest time possible. The Incident Management works best when it has best possible inputs from Release and Deployment Management when the actual service or the package was pushed into operations – More accurate the information is more best can the Incident Management Perform.



Event Management is the First point to look for or is the primary resource which gives first-hand information of what can be a possible degraded service or a service interruption. Events that has been analysed as a possible degraded service or has a negative impact to service gets converted to an incident.



The Service Asset and Configuration Management plays a Critical and Major Role across all the processes, In fact it serves as the base of all these processes the more robust and strong the SACM is the more output can be expected from above mentioned processes.



Change Management is involved in 3 different activities –

1. Approving a Change submitted is one – more of a routine work as there are frequent changes to CI’s

2. Another one is granting approval to a New Service or a Package even before it is built based on the Project Charter Submitted by Service Portfolio Management – Basically Change Management Reviews a Critical output of Service Portfolio Management and gives a Go or No Go based on the inputs provided

3. Last one if approving the Permanent Fixes projected as an input from Problem Management Process

How to Access File in Citrix Receiver

Right click on the Citrix Receiver icon

Click/Select Connection Center & click on Preferences

Select File Access & Select Read & Write option

Click OK

Real time issue which Citrix Engineers are facing

In nearly all cases, using the Native client is recommended over the Java client. See the section Changing the client for instructions.

To check/change the current client, click on the Advanced Options link on the login screen. Under “Remote client type”,the Native client should be currently selected.

Many issues are resolved by confirming that the local computer’s system clock is correct, deleting temporary internet files, and/or uninstalling then reinstalling the Citrix client. The Beyond site should be added to the Trusted Sites list in IE ﴾see below﴿.

Note that connecting to a user’s computer via a Webex support session installs a WebEx Document Loader virtual printer on that computer and sets it as the default printer

Client installation issues:

1) Uninstall existing Citrix plug-in/receiver.

2) Please download the Citrix Receiver clean-up utility from https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX137494

3) After downloading it, run ReceiverCleanupUtility.exe.

4) After it gets completed, reboot your machine once.

5) Download latest version of Citrix receiver using below URL and install it in the system.

     https://www.citrix.com/go/receiver.html

The wrong client software has been installed:

Opening Citrix causes a window to open asking “What is the address of the server hosting your published resources.”
There is a space to fill in the server name. The sample answer is https://servername
Uninstall and reinstall the Citrix client. Only the web plugin component should be installed

Issues While login to Citrix Page: 

Error messages to do with ‘invalid credentials’

This error is typically caused by an incorrectly typed password, PIN, or keyfob number; a domain password out of sync with the Novell password; or a keyfob in next tokencode mode.

Client software not detected:

Before the user authenticates at the Citrix login page, the following warning is displayed in the Message Center:

We are unable to detect the appropriate client software on your computer to allow you to launch your applications.Click here to obtain the client software

If the IE yellow warning bar is visible, click on it to install the Citrix Helper Control ﴾an Active X control﴿. Otherwise, if the software has been installed, click on the “Click here to obtain the client software” link, then click on either the Allow button or yellow bar to install the Citrix Helper Control, or click on the “Already Installed” link.

Adding the Beyond site to the Trusted Sites list in IE should allow the Active X control to run without prompting ﴾see below﴿.

Issues after successfully authenticating at the Citrix login web page:

IE Trusted Sites

The user is able to authenticate at the Citrix login page and the applications are available, but the user sees the following warning in the Message Center:

Current browser security restrictions may prevent you from launching applications, or may require your explicit permission to proceed. To launch an application successfully, save the launch file if prompted and double‐click the file to start the application.

This message appears only in Internet Explorer. Firefox and Chrome do not produce the warning. If the user is able to connect to the applications, the message can be ignored.

If the user is unable to connect, the resolution is to add the site to the Trusted Sites list in Internet Explorer:

In Internet Explorer, navigate to https://.com
Click Tools ‐> Internet Options ‐> Security tab.
Click the Trusted Sites checkmark icon, then click the Sites button.
Confirm that the URL https://.com appears in the top box, and click the Add button. Click Close and OK to return to the login screen.
Log in.

Client software not detected:

The user is able to authenticate at the Citrix login page. Instead of a page displaying the available applications, the user sees a page displaying with the following warning:

Download Client Software
We are unable to detect the appropriate client software on your computer to allow you to launch your applications.If you wish to download and deploy the client software to allow you to launch your applications, click Download.

If the IE yellow warning bar is visible, click on it to install the Citrix Helper Control ﴾an Active X control﴿. Otherwise, click on the ‘Already Installed’ link under Troubleshooting Options at the right‐hand side of the page.

Temporary internet files

The user is prompted to save the launch.ica file. If the user saves the file and double‐clicks it, Citrix opens but then displays an error:

The Citrix SSL server is not accepting connections.

Try clearing the browser’s temporary internet files. If this doesn’t resolve the issue, follow the instructions for adding the site to IE’s Trusted Sites, above. ﴾Strangely, the resolution in a few tickets is to reboot the router.﴿

Client installation

The user is able to authenticate at the Citrix login page. After clicking on an application, the user receives the error:

Connecting through Citrix secured gateway. Error reading from proxy server.

Uninstall and reinstall the Citrix client. Only the web plugin component should be installed

Session re-connection:

The user is able to authenticate at the Citrix login page. After clicking on an application, the user receives the error:

There are no existing applications available for re-connection.

This is simply an informational message stating there are no pre‐existing apps to reconnect to. It can be ignored if the user is not having an issue launching applications.

MSLicensing registry key

The user is able to authenticate at the Citrix login page. After clicking on an application, the user receives one of the following errors:

There is no route to the specified subnet address.
or
The Citrix MetaFrame server is not available. Please try again later.

To resolve, delete the MSLicensing registry key.

Click on the Start button, select Run and type in “regedit”.
Click OK.
The registry editor window will open.
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSLicensing.
Click once on MSLicensing so it is highlighted and then hit the Delete key.
Close the registry editor and attempt to login to Citrix.

Connecting to the wrong application
The user receives the following error message in Citrix after entering a username and password at the Client window:

The system could not log you into the network.
Make sure your name and connection information are correct, then type your password again.

The user is likely trying to connect to the wrong application. For example, a Chicago user may have clicked on the DC Desktop application.

Issues after successfully authenticating at the Client window

Reconnecting to a session

The user receives the following error message in Citrix after successfully authenticating at the Novell Client window:

Connection error: You have not been granted access to this published application

This issue can be resolved by a Citrix administrator. It may be due to an issue with a prior ‘disconnected’ session not connecting correctly. The administrator can reset the session.

Printer unavailable issues

The user cannot find the local printer in the list of available printers.

Disconnect from Citrix, set the local printer to be the default printer, confirm that the Native Client is the selected Citrix client under Advance Options, and reconnect to Citrix. If the printer is still missing, uninstall and reinstall the Citrix client.

Printer offline issues

While connected to Citrix, the user receives periodic messages having to do with ‘a network printer is offline’.Check the physical printer. It is likely jammed or out of paper. It may also be that the printer is set to accept only certain paper types or sizes.

Confirm that the printer driver in Citrix is correct for that model printer.

Print jobs are not processed

In Citrix, a single print spooler is shared by all connections. A large print job can delay all other jobs, or a stuck job may prevent any other jobs from being processed. After ruling out other causes, contact the Citrix administrator to resolve.

MacPac

The user receives various errors when using MacPac.

If the user’s H: drive user folder is missing a \MacPac\Personal\ folder, copy yours to the user’s folder.

Lag :

Latency is the primary cause of poor performance in Citrix. Latency can be roughly measured by pinging the URL of the login server. Latency greater than 100ms will result in lag and other problems. An example of lag is when the user types in a Word document but the text doesn’t appear on the screen for a few moments, then catches up all at once.

Citrix window not responding

Shortly ﴾and sometimes immediately﴿ after authenticating at the Novell Client window, the Citrix window will stop responding.

The fix is to give the user full rights to the MSLicensing key.

Open Regedit and navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSLicensing

Right‐click on the MSLicensing key and select Permissions.
Under the Security tab, click on Users to highlight it.
Check the box in the Allow column next to Full Control.
Click OK and close Regedit.

Accessing the local machine’s hard drive:

Once in Citrix, right‐click on the Start button in the Citrix environment and select Explore.
Browse the list of drives in the left‐hand pane and locate “C$ on ‘Client’ ﴾C:﴿“. This is the local workstation’s C: drive.Click on the drive to open it.

How to allow Citrix access to the local machine’s hard drive and USB devices (including printers)

The first time you connect to Citrix, you’ll be shown a ICA Client File Security setting window where you can choose what access to your local machine you wish to grant to Citrix. You are also able to choose to “Never ask me again”.If you need to later change these settings, follow the appropriate steps below ﴾try the ‘newer clients’ step first﴿.

Newer clients:

While connected to Citrix, double‐click on the Citrix Connection Center icon in the system tray of the local machine. Click on the Security icon to configure the Session Security options for Files, Microphones/Webcams, PDA Devices, and USB/Other Devices.

Older clients:

Disconnect from Citrix. On the local machine, delete the webica.ini file under C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Application Data\ICAClient. When you next reconnect to Citrix, you’ll be shown the ICA Client File Security setting window again.

Citrix Program Neighborhood

How to minimize the Citrix window to view the local machine’s desktop.

Shift+F2

SSL Errors:

SSL error 61 (the server certificate received is not trusted)

Run Windows Updates and update the root certificates.

SSL error 68 (the SSL certificate is not yet valid)

Set the local system clock to the current date and time.

SSL error 70 (the SSL certificate is no longer valid)

Set the local system clock to the current date and time.

SSL/TLS error: The certificate validation failed.

Confirm that the Native client, not the Java client, is in use by clicking on the Advanced Options link on the login screen.

http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX125056

Difference between Citrix UPM and Appsense:

Much faster logon, profile rollback, per user per application, we can deliver efficient profile also if profile size is big upm is not supporting and chances of profile corrupt. Support point of view it’s not good.

UPM: User login>> credential>> connected to one server>> profile has been downloaded as a roaming profile>> once user has been log off profile uploaded to back to the file share.

Appsense:  Terminal server> Mandatory profile and Temporary profile, nothing has been downloaded, in place of pulling down the roaming profile we actually become more application. 
Word> HTTP/HTTPS--------------- DB
Support point of view rollback is the major thing here


AppSense Pros

• Profile Management
• Policy Management
• Application Performance Management

AppSense Cons

Image Management


AppSense Pros

• Application Manager - automatic elevation of certain software to run with admin rights, transparent to users IF you set it all up properly in advance. Once you have this configured, it can be very beneficial.
• Environment Manager - custom actions based on detected conditions. For example, mapping one set of network drives once a user connects to a certain network, and a different set of network drives when they connect to a different network. And automatically remove the network drives when the user disconnects from the network. Do X, Y, and Z if a certain process starts or stops. If process A starts, automatically start process B.

AppSense Cons

• It's buggy in general. I have seen a lot of weird problems caused by AppSense. Corrupt user profiles, random crashes, etc.
• If/Else/ElseIf statements can be confusing to build, especially when nesting several due to the way they are displayed.
• Support is not great.

Citrix UPM Pros

• UPM does extend the features of Microsoft roaming profiles. It gives you the ability to load ADM files and create group policies to set settings.
• With UPM you are able to include or exclude files and folders in a user's profile.
• There are some tie ins between UPM and Citrix Director to give administrators the ability to quickly see the size of the user's profile.

Citrix UPM Cons

• Since UPM manages Microsoft roaming profiles you still face profile size challenges. You can use the exclude feature but it can be a bit limiting.
• Because of size concerns this may not be the best choice for international deployments if you intend to roam settings across multiple environments.
• Troubleshooting UPM can be a bit difficult at times. There are some built in logging features but those are best reviewed by Citrix.

Technical Interview Questions for Citrix Engineer

Q1 - You have been asked to reduce the time on Citrix support calls, by making sure your Citrix XenApp 6.5 farm is “Citrix Support Ready” and already has the proper tools installed before contacting Citrix, what is the main tool you would install?

 Citrix Scout

Q2- You will be migrating from XenApp 6.5 to XenApp 7.6, what are two differences between IMA and FMA?

Some answers include: FMA uses Sites and no longer utilizes Zones or Zone Data Collectors, FMA uses Virtual Desktop Agents (VDA’s), FMA leverages MCS for Servers and Desktops, IMA uses Local Host Cache (LHC), IMA uses IMA Service.

Q3 - You have been tasked to come up with an Active/Active GSLB scenario for your Citrix XenDesktop environment. What are some underlying factors you should consider during your research and planning phase?

You want to make sure you have a working way for data replication, including profile replication between the two sites. Microsoft does not support two way replication for their profiles. You will also need to make sure you have a way to disconnect sessions from each site. It is best to use Active/Passive with manual failover in this scenario.

Q4- You are creating a XenApp/XenDesktop environment and your manager asked you to optimize your profiles without using a third party solution. How would you accomplish this?

 Citrix has User Profile Manager, which will allow you to streamline your profiles and leverage Microsoft folder redirection.

Q5 - You are migrating your Citrix environment from a 2003 OS to 2008R2 OS, and you want to make sure your current applications will run correctly on the 2008R2 OS. What software or utility does Citrix provider you help you make sure your applications will be compatible on the 2008R2 OS before the migration?

 Citrix AppDNA

Q6 - How does Citrix Netscaler licensing differ from the other Citrix product licensing?

 As an appliance or hardware, Netscaler is separate from most other Citrix products that use a license server. It is licensed independently.

Q7- Can you name two of the services required to be running on the Provisioning Server for it to function?

 SOAP and STREAM services must be running on the PVS Servers

Q8 - What are the two most common ports used on XenApp ICA sessions? What are each used for?

Ports 1494 (ICA/HDX) and 2598(Session Reliability)

Q9- What is the Role of the XenDesktop Controller?

 A controller is the server-side architectural component of XenDesktop that is responsible for distributing desktops, managing user access, and optimizing connections.

Q10- You manager has requested you to come up with a way for your helpdesk to monitor and troubleshoot your XenDesktop/XenApp 7.x environment, without adding on a third party solution. What built in Citrix functionality would you use to do so?

Citrix Director Enables level-1 and level-2 IT Support staff to monitor a XenDesktop deployment and perform day-to-day maintenance tasks. You can also view and interact with a user's session, using Microsoft Remote Assistance, to troubleshoot problems

Q11.- You are architecting a Citrix Provisioning Services (PVS) deployment which will be placed across different datacenters via a WAN link. You only want the PVS disks to be streamed in each local datacenter and not cross over the WAN. What feature in PVS would you use to accomplish this?

Subnet Affinity

Q12- What is the major financial bottleneck of any VDI deployment?

 Storage. Traditionally, storage has been very costly in getting a comparable VDI end user experience as opposed to the local desktop experience. There are several vender solutions on the market now to address this. Hint: You may want to have them mention some of these solutions as well.

Q13) - You are preparing a PVS master target device which is created on VMware vSphere virtual hardware version 10 or higher. What must you do with the CD/DVD Rom setting for PVS to work correctly?

You will need to change the CD/DVD Rom to IDE instead of SATA. SATA is not supported in PVS.

Q14) - Citrix StoreFront displays applications differently than Web Interface. Instead of having all accessible applications appear on the home screen, first time users are invited to choose (subscribe) to the applications they want to regularly use after they logon. What function in Storefront must you use to avoid users having a blank screen and automatically subscribe users to a few core applications when they first logon?

 Keywords

Q15) - What free tool from Citrix will allow you to analyze your log files, profile your Citrix environment, scan for known issues and attach a log file to a Citrix support ticket.

Citrix Insight Services or TaaS

Discussion Based Questions:

Q16- What is the newest version of XenApp you have worked with and tell me a little about your work on it?

Q17) - Explain a difficult challenge you had with XenApp and or XenDesktop and what you did to solve it?

It should be fairly simple for an experienced person to come up with something.

Q18) - What is the latest version of XenDesktop you have worked with and explain a little about your work on it?

Q19) - Explain what you do to keep up your professional development?

You are looking for blogs, training (if they are willing to get training on their own, without relying on an employer), video’s and a biggie is home lab. There is not a good excuse in today’s climate for an engineer or architect not to have either a home or cloud based lab if they take their career seriously.

Q20) - If you were tasked to architect a Citrix XenDesktop 7.6 environment, what would be some of the questions you would ask the business, so you can design a technical solution?

You want to see if they know how to start with a business outcome and work backwards into the technology. Good signs are, asking specific business related questions such as: How do you envision the end goal, what are you trying to accomplish?, What is the importance of this project to the business (If highly important, that leads into DR questioning about RTO and RPO and the such?

Citrix Interview Questions- 3

1. What is Citrix receiver? And which version are you using?

Citrix Receiver is an easy-to-install software client that lets you access your desktops, applications and data easily and securely from any device, including smartphones, tablets, PCs and Macs. Working with a Citrix-enabled IT infrastructure, Receiver gives you the mobility, convenience and freedom you need to get your work done.

2. What is IMA? And what is the importance of it?

IMA - Independent Management Architecture.
               It is use full for communication between server to server and server to management console.
 It provides centralized framework for server to server communication.
 It runs on all XenApp servers by default.
 It uses TCP Port 2512 for communication from server to server through messages.

3. How to find which is Data Collector?

By using “Qfarm/load” command , we can able to find which XenApp server is Data Collector.
For identifying the DC IP address of the XenApp server is Post fix with “D”
              Ex: 192.168.1.4D

4. What are XenApp versions?

• Presentation Server 4.5
• XenApp5.0
• Xenapp6.0
• XenApp6.5

5. What is shadowing & how to use shadowing?

“Shadowing” is a powerful tool for you to assist and monitor users.
Shadowing is useful for view another user’s session on another device.
By using shadowing you can monitor the session activity as if you are watching the screen of the client device that initiated the session.

6. How to find a user connected to which Xenapp server?

              open App Center -> Farm -> Applications  ->  users tab.

7. How to find which is Database server?

C:\Program Files(x86)\Citrix\Independent Management Artechitecture\mf20

8. Which is the Database server/edition using in your company?

SQL server 2008 R2.
   

9. How to migrate datastore database from SQL2000 to SQL2005 OR How to recover datastore database?

  Restore the DB to new server
  Change mf20.dsn on all servers starting with data collectors
  Restart IMA service on all servers

10. How to find out the datastore database server name?

           Examine the DSN file which contains the connection details to the database.
           C:\Program Files\Citrix\Independent Management Architecture\MF20.dsn
           The following is an example of an MF20.dsn file from a server connecting to a remote SQL
instance:
[ODBC]
DRIVER=SQL Server
UID=useraccount
Address=MySqlServer,1433
Network=DBMSSOCN
DATABASE=myfarmdb
WSID=MyMfServer
APP=Citrix IMA
SERVER=MySqlServer

11. How to verify Datastore DB connectivity?

         To determine if a server is communicating regularly with the data store, check the following,
         Registry Key:               
         HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\CITRIX\IMA\DataStoreFailureTime
         If the value is all zeros, the MetaFrame server is communicating with the data store.

12. How often does the member servers check datastore database?

         By default for every 30 minutes.

13. What are the basic components required for XenApp installation?

1. Windows server 2008 R2 (64-bit)
2. .Net Framework 3.5 SP1
3. Windows server Remote Desktop Services (RDS) role.
4. Windows application server role.
5. Microsoft visual C++ 2005 SP1
                                       C++ 2008 SP1 (64-bit)
6. Install IIS Service.
7. SQL 2005/2008/2012
       -Microsoft SQL server 2008 Express SP3
       -Microsoft SQL server 2008 R2 Express
       -Microsoft SQL server 2008 R2
       -Microsoft SQL server 2008 SP2
       -Microsoft SQL server 2008 SP4
       -Oracle 11g R2 Enterprise Edition.
               8. RDS (Remote Desktop Services)/Terminal Services.
               9. Java JRE
              10. Citrix Licenses and RDS Licenses.
              11. Citrix App Center Console.

14. What is ITIL?

The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a set of practices for IT service management (ITSM) that focuses on aligning IT services with the needs of business
TIL describes processes, procedures, tasks and checklists that are not organization-specific, used by an organization for establishing integration with the organization's strategy, delivering value and maintaining a minimum level of competency. It allows the organization to establish a baseline from which it can plan, implement, and measure. It is used to demonstrate compliance and to measure improvement.

ITIL 2007 has five volumes, published in May 2007, and updated in July 2011 as ITIL 2011 for consistency:
1. ITIL Service Strategy: understands organizational objectives and customer needs.[5]
2. ITIL Service Design: turns the service strategy into a plan for delivering the business objectives.[6]
3. ITIL Service Transition: develops and improves capabilities for introducing new services into supported environments.[7]
4. ITIL Service Operation: manages services in supported environments.[8]
5. ITIL Continual Service Improvement: achieves services incremental and large-scale improvements.[9]


15. What is Virtual  IP in web interface?

A virtual IP address (VIP or VIPA) is an IP address assigned to multiple applications residing on a single server, multiple domain names, or multiple servers, rather than being assigned to a specific single server or network interface card (NIC). Incoming data packets are sent to the VIP address which are routed to actual network interface.


16. What is Hosted Share Desktop (HSD) and Hosted Virtual Desktop (HVD)? Explain differences between them ?

Hosted Shared Desktops: A published desktop on XenApp. Users get a desktop interface, which can look like Windows 7. However, that desktop is actually being shared by every user on the server. Although we can configure restrictions and redirections to allow users to have a smaller impact on each other, there is still a risk. Many users to one desktop.
Hosted Virtual Desktops:  A Windows 7/XP desktop running as a virtual machine where a single user connects remotely. One user’s desktop is not impacted by another user’s desktop configurations. Think of this as one user to one desktop. There are many flavors for the hosted virtual desktop model (existing, installed, pooled, dedicated and streamed), but they are all located within the data center

17. What are the differences between Receiver and Web plug-in?

Citrix Receiver is an easy to install software client that lets you access your desktops, application and data easily and securely from any device.
Citrix web plug-in allows users of any operating system to connect to virtual desktop applications. For browser web plug-in are needed.

18. What roles available in XenApp?

Common Roles:
• License Server
• Web Interface
• Merchandising Server
     
Other Roles:
• Secure Gateway
• Power and Capacity Management Administration
• EdgeSight Server

            Role Subcomponents:
                     Default Components:
 XenApp Server
 XenApp Management
 Windows Desktop Experience Integration
                     Other Components:
 XML Service IIS Integration
 EdgeSight Agent
 Single Sign-On Plug-in
 Power and Capacity Management Agent

19. How to find which Xenapp server you are running?

XenApp 6.0 or later— Goto Citrix Delivery Services Console > Farm > Expand Services > Click on any server > In the left side click on information or also look at the attachment.
Presentation Server – Goto Citrix Access Management Console > Farm > Click on any server in the farm > then, there is dropdown arrow > It contain alerts, information > click on information > then you can find out details.

20. How do you configure XenApp to EdgeSight?

Install Edgesight server:
 Before install Edgesight server install prerequestisites(.net frame work, IIS, asp.net, message queeing service, sql) > install Edgesight 5.4 > open browser give computer name\Edge Sight > we will get edgesight > give necessary information.
Install Edgesight Agent:
Install Edgesight Agent in XenApp server and give necessary things.

21. What is the use of Citrix profile manger?

Citrix Profile Manager ensures that the user’s personal settings are applied to the user’s virtual desktop and applications, regardless of the location and end point devices.
Profile management is enabled through profile optimization service that provides an easy, reliable way for managing these settings in windows environment to ensure a consistent experience by maintaining a single profile that follows the user.

22. Which type of hardware server you are using in your organization?

We are using M610 blade servers.

23. How will you remove Citrix server from the farm?

         If the server is unresponsive, remove it by right click on server in the console.
         For functional server, remove it from add/remove programs
         use CHFARM command

24. How will you remove citrix server from the datastore DB?

When citrix is uninstalled from the server, it cleans the entry from data store database. Additionally you can run this command to remove the entry from Datastore DB.
DSCHECK /servername


25. How to clean up datastore database?

DSCHEK without parameters will check for consistency and clean up the database. /clean parameter can be used to clean up specific server/application from the datastore but use with caution.

26. How to recover Citrix License Server?

The Citrix servers can function without contacting the license server and it is 30-days fault tolerant, and in Enterprise version an alert can be set with Resource Manager to send an email in case of License Server Connection Failure. If the license server reconnects at any time in the thirty days the problem resolves itself. If the server is not going to come back up, then the license file, digitally signed with the case-sensitive hostname of the old license server, is the critical component. The license file, a *.lic file, can be backed up to a thumb drive separately, and restored to a new server with the same name of the old license server, and the Citrix License server software installed.

27. What is new in XenApp 6.5?

   Session Lingering
  Session Pre-Launch
  App Center
  Load Evaluators assigned to Worker Groups or OUs instead of individual servers
  Datastore and Zone information configured via GPO
  Sesssion Only and Controller roles
  Desktop Director web console can manage XenApp sessions
  MultiStream ICA – ica traffic can be split into four separate TCP streams if required
  Log On control feauture to drain users.

28. What is Printer driver replication and mapping?

Printer driver replication means if you have a network printer and if you want to share it among other Citrix servers, then we can replicate that driver to be used by all the Citrix servers or for few selected Citrix servers, however that driver should be installed in the Citrix server from which we are replicating the driver.
Printer mapping relates to mapping the driver software for specific domain users only, these can be dont by right clicking on the driver or by the printer option on the left plane of Citrix presentation server console.

29. What is Client Lock Down?

Typically ‘client lockdown’ is the process of securing an endpoint so that the user can only access authorised features. An example of this would be turning the device into a ‘Thin Client’ by locking it down so that an end user can only connect to published apps or desktops and can not use other features.

30. How do you manage remote hardware through HP iLo, DRack, etc?

If remote server is down by using HP ILO, DELL DRACK, IBM RSN we can able to connect to that server.
If we need to reestablish the server Break/prohibit the problematic server and login into the server by using HP ILO, DELL DRACK, IBM RSN.

31. What are change / problem / RCA / SLA?

         Root cause analysis (RCA) is a method of problem solving that tries to identify the root         causes of faults or problems that cause operating events.
RCA practice tries to solve problems by attempting to identify and correct the root causes of events, as opposed to simply addressing their symptoms. By focusing correction on root causes, problem recurrence can be prevented. RCFA (Root Cause Failure Analysis) recognizes that complete prevention of recurrence by one corrective action is not always possible.
A service-level agreement (SLA) is a part of a service contract where a service is formally defined. In practice, the term SLA is sometimes used to refer to the contracted delivery time (of the service or performance)
Problem Management is the process responsible for managing the lifecycle of all problems. The primary objectives of Problem Management are to prevent problems and resulting incidents from happening, to eliminate recurring incidents, and to minimize the impact of incidents that cannot be prevented.

32. Explain some scripting languages you used?

VB Script
Java Script

33. If a user get an error invalid username & password even though if he has given correct information? What will you do as troubleshoot?

If user get an error invalid username & password even though he has given correct information may be there is a problem with XML Broker or Active Directory.
Troubleshoot:
1. If it is a problem with XML Broker verify XML Broker is listening or not properly by using following,
• If you do a “Netstat –a” command from the CLI, you may see that it’s not listening on the XML port.
• “CTXXMLSS  /u” first to unregister the service
“CTXXMLSS /r80” command to re-register the service on port 80
               2.  If the problem with Active Directory troubleshoot domain controller.
               3.  Otherwise check Event Viewer you will get some information about the error.

34. When users attempt to log on or launch applications through Web Interface is a  hung? How to troubleshoot?

Web Interface 5.1.1 contains a fix to address an issue where connections to unresponsive XML brokers were not timed out correctly. With Web Interface 5.1.1 and above the Web Interface server will failover to the next XML Broker in the list when the current XML Broker does not respond within the socket timeout.
Cause
A common cause of errors when users attempt to log on or launch applications through Web Interface is a hung or partially unresponsive XML broker.
Web Interface is typically configured with multiple XenApp servers as XML brokers in either failover or load balancing mode. Prior to version 5.1.1, when multiple XML brokers are configured, if any XML broker is able to respond over the network but unable to process requests from Web Interface, the Web Interface server simply waits for a response until it times out rather than failing over to the next XML broker configured on the site. The most common reason for the XML service to become unresponsive is because it is busy waiting for a response from the IMA service. Therefore if IMA on the XML broker is hung or unresponsive it impacts the XML service and so forth.
The end result is that new users logging on to Web Interface do not receive a list of applications for any farm. Web Interface times out (after approximately two minutes) with the error shown above. Additionally, end users who are already logged on are unable to launch applications.
Resolution
Upgrade to Web Interface 5.1.1 or later and configure the failed server bypass time and XML Service Communication settings for each farm.
A fix is included in Web Interface 5.1.1 that improves resiliency when XML brokers get into an unhealthy state. Web Interface now has the ability to not only detect when the IMA service is stopped or crashed but also when the IMA service is running but in a hung or unresponsive state.
Note: Although these settings are available in Web Interface version 5.0.1, that version does not provide for the scenario in which the IMA service is running but in a hung state.
1. Edit the farm configuration settings in the Web Interface console to bypass any failed (XML broker) server, allowing sufficient time for the unresponsive server to be detected and recovered or isolated.
Note: Be sure to leverage health monitoring tools such as (HMR) Health Monitoring and Recovery on the XML brokers.

2. In the Manage Server Farms window, highlight the farm and Select Advanced to configure socket pooling and XML Service communication for all farms.
3. Under XML Service Communication, configure a timeout value for the XML socket (the connection between Web Interface and the XML service). This setting determines the amount of time that Web Interface waits for a response from a request sent over XML.
4. Configure the number of attempts that Web Interface makes to the XML service.

Command used in Xenapp 6.5

1 Start and Restart IMA Service

First run Net Stop Imaservice  and then Net Start Imaservice

If you want to create LHC and Reade below are the command

Dsmaint recreatelhc

Dsmaint Recreaterade

2) Unregistering the XML Service

Complete the following steps to unregister the XML Service:

First stop the XML Service

Net stop ctxhttp.

Then unregister and reregister XML service

1. Open a command prompt window.

2. Run ctxxmlss /u (This command unregisters the Citrix XML Service and marks it for deletion).

Registering the XML Service on a Port Other Than Sharing with IIS

1. Unregister the service using the preceding instructions.

2. Open a command prompt window.

3. Run ctxxmlss /r [Port Number]. Note that there is no space between the switch “/r” and the port number.

4. Then Start XML service

Net start Ctxhttp

Note (Open the service control manager and manually start the Citrix XML Service.)

3) A XenApp Server shows a load of 10000 or full load, regardless of Load Evaluator settings and Load Evaluator

Check the functionality of WMI on the XenApp server.

1. Go to start run.

2. Type wmimgmt.msc

3. On the wmimgmt console, in the left pane right click on WMI Control.

4. Click on Properties.

5. If the connection is successful that means there is no issue with the WMI.

Check the consistency of the WMI

1. Open Elevated command prompt.

2. Go to cd c:\Windows\System32\Wbem

3. Run the below command 

          winmgmt /verifyrepository

If you see any errors, follow the below steps.

Complete the following procedure to resolve this issue:

1. Stop the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) Service.

2. Run the following command:

winmgmt /salvagerepository

3.Run the following command:

winmgmt /resetrepository

4.Verify that the load is accurate.

                                                To stop and start WMI service

To Stop and Start Citrix WMI service.

Net stop CitrixWMIService

Net Start CitrixWMIService

To evaluate the load on Citrix XenApp Server we can run the command “qfarm /load”, it will display different values. This post will enhance your understanding of the hidden meaning of all those values.

• 0 to 9998: This is the normal range for Load Manager i.e. load on the server is normal and it can handle more load.

• 99999: No load evaluator is configured.

• 10000: Load is at 100 percent (full load) and it is not in a position to handle additional load.

• 20000: The XenApp Server contains an incorrect server edition or a license mismatch. To fix the issue match the version of XenApp installed with the licenses deployed.

XenApp 6/6.5 server is unable to contact the license server after a reboot. The output of the Qfarm /load command indicates a server load of 20000

• 99990: Results when a custom administrator with restricted rights runs the following QFARM commands:QFARM SERVER /APP

QFARM /APP

QFARM /APP <appname>

QFARM /ZONEAPP

Note: The QFARM command may not return any results when a custom administrator runs the following queries:

QFARM /DISC

QFARM /LOAD

QFARM /ZONELOAD

4) To set the TCP/IP port number to 5000

icaport /port:5000

To reset the port number to 1494

icaport /reset

Security Restrictions

Only Citrix administrators with Windows administrator privileges can run icapor

5) query

query view information about server farms, processes, servers, ICA sessions and users

query farm shows the servername, protocol and ip address

query farm /app shows the published applications

query farm /disc shows the disconnected session data for the server farm

query farm /load displays server load information

farm

Displays information about servers within an IMA-based server farm. You can use qfarm as a shortened form of query farm.

server /addr

Displays address data for the specified server.

/app

Displays application names and server load information for all servers within the farm or for a specific server.

/app appname

Displays information for the specified application and server load information for all servers within the farm or for a specific server.

/continue

Do not pause after each page of output.

/disc

Displays disconnected session data for the farm.

/load

Displays server load information for all servers within the farm or for a specific server.

/ltload

Displays server load throttling information for all servers within the farm or for a specific server.

/lboff

Displays the names of the servers removed from load balancing by Health Monitoring & Recovery.

/process

Displays active processes for the farm.

/tcp

Displays TCP/IP data for the farm.

/online

Displays servers online within the farm and all zones. The data collectors are represented by the notation “D.”

/online zonename

Displays servers online within a specified zone. The data collectors are represented by the notation “D.”

/offline

Displays servers offline within the farm and all zones. The data collectors are represented by the notation “D.”

/offline zonename

Displays servers offline within a specified zone. The data collectors are represented by the notation “D.”

/zone

Displays all data collectors in all zones.

/zone zonename

Displays the data collector within a specified zone.

/?

Displays the syntax for the utility and information about the utility’s options

Citrix Interview Questions- 2

1.      How many Xenapp farms and servers in your company?

In my Company total 75 Xenapp servers in two farms. First farm contain 45 Xenapp6.5 servers and second farm contain 30 Xenapp5.0 servers.

2.      How many no. of users are using Xenapp server?

              40 to 45 people are using one Xenapp server.

3.      What are the published applications you publish in company?

MS Office

Open Office

Oracle based TC4

Time Tracker

Getters

Data Tree

Smart Suite

Adobe Acrobat6.0

Win Rare

JDE

Verix

CRM Based Apps

HRM based People soft.

4.      Explain port numbers: ICA, IMA, XML, HTTP, HTTPS, DNS, RDP, LDAP, SQL, LICENSING, SNMP.

ICA	1494
RDS	3389
ICA with session Reliability	2598
SQL	1433
DNS	53
IMA server-server communication	2512
IMA server-management console	2513
XML service	80
XML service with IIS	8080
SSL communication	443
License Management Console	8082
License Port	27000
Vendor Doeomn Port in License	7279
TCP Browsing	1604

5.      Your Xenapp is Physical or Virtual?

In my company Xenapp is virtual.

6.      What provisional are you using?

Citrix Provisioning services 5.1 SP2 and 5.6

7.       What is farm?

Farm is a group of Xenapp servers.

8.      What is zone?

Zone is a group of XenApp server’s in particular zoographical location, which shares same data collector.

It helps in separating IMA traffic between two locations.

9.      What is Data Collector?

Data Collector contains the dynamic information of XenApp farm such as no. of users connected, disconnected, no. of Applications launched, present load.

Any one of the XenApp server in farm acts as a Data Collector.

One Data Collector will available for zone it is called Zone Data Collector (ZDC).

10.  What is Data Store?

It contain static information such as no. of XenApp servers in the farm, no. of applications published, no. of user’s access to the farm and Load Evaluator Policies.

11.  What is LHC?

LHC is nothing but local host cache. It contain the partial information of data store.

If data base server goes down user can able to access XenApp server by using LHC.

In XenApp4.5 and 5 LHC store the data upto 48 hours, In XenApp6 60 hours.

12.  What is Worker Group?

            Grouping of Similar kind of XenApp servers (similar applications) is called Worker Group

13.  What is Load Evaluator?

           It is used to find which the least loaded server in the farm is.

14.  What is Session Reliability?

It is use full to reconnect the disconnected session of the user due to network issues.

Session Reliability default time limit is 180 seconds

15.  What is the use of Speed Screen latency reduction?

It echo’s character of a text locally, so that the user will not see the delay in typing in Citrix ICA. It ignores multiple clicks of an application.

16.  If a Data-Store server goes down, what will be the problem?

If Data Store server goes down, the user can login with LHC, users can’t direct impact with the Data Store server.

17.  If the Data Collector goes down what will be the impact?

If Data Collector goes down elections will goes and one of the XenApp server will elect as a Data Collector.

18.  If LHC corrupt what will be the impact, how to find & how to resolve?

If LHC corrupt user can’t able to login.

By using “dsmaint verifylhc” command, we can able to find LHC is corrupt or not.

By using “dsmaint  recreatelhc” command, we can able to recreate LHC.

19.  What is Load Evaluator and types of Load Evaluator?

             It is used to find which the least loaded server in the farm is.

              There are 3 types of Load Evaluators,

1.      Default Load Evaluator: It is based on user session count and Load Throttling.

2.      Advance Load Evaluator: It is based on memory usage, cpu utilization, page swaps and Load Throttling.

3.      Custom Load Evaluator: It can be managed by our self.

20.  What is Load Throttling?

Load Throttling determines the load based on how user logon operations affect server performance.

If logon is an expensive operation, set this to High (default)

                                          To maximize load set Extreme

Extreme	Allows 1 user
High (Default)	Allows 2 users
Medium	Allows 3 users
Medium low	Allows 4 users

     

21.  How to find load of each Xenapp server?

                  By using “qfarm/load” command we can able to find load of each XenApp server.

22.  Explain some commands used for Datastore (DS maint/DS Check etc…)

“dscheck” command is used for finding database is corrupt or not.

“dscheck/clean” command is used for cleaning the database.

“dsmaint /BACKUP” command is used for backup database.

23.  Explain some of the critical services in Xenapp Server?

Citrix Independent Management Architecture

Citrix Licensing

Citrix MFCOM Service

Citrix Print Manager Service

Citrix XTE Service

Citrix Health Monitoring and Recovery

24.  What is Edge Sight & use of it?

Edge Sight is a reporting tool.

It is used to monitor, report and troubleshoot the XenApp server.

In my company Edge Sight5.4 version is using.

25.  What is the use of secured gateway?

Citrix Secure Gateway is a Citrix Access Suite infrastructure component you can use to secure access to Citrix Presentation Server farms.

The Secure Gateway component transparently encrypts and authenticates all users connection to protect against data tampering and theft,ease firewall traversal, and provide a secure internet gateway between citrix access suit components and client devices.

26.  What is the use of Branch repeater?

Branch Repeater accelerates desktop and application delivery, decreases WAN bandwidth consumption, and enables server consolidation.

27. How to configure Web-Interface server?

               The Web Interface server is the server used by the client to access applications. We can find two types of XenApp Sites on the web interface servers:

• XenApp Web Sites: These sites are used when users access applications, desktop, and content published on the XenApp farm (and also virtual desktop (VDI) running XenDesktop) using a web browser. Once authenticated, users can access online and offline applications using a Citrix client.

• XenApp Services Sites: These sites are used to integrate resources with users' desktops. Citrix Online Plug-In provides access to applications, virtual desktops, and online content by clicking icons on the Start menu or shortcuts in their desktop. XenApp Services Sites was formerly known as Program Neighborhood Agent site.

28.  What are the authentication modes in Web Interface?

Explicit

Pass-through

Pass-through with smart card

Smart card

Anonymous

29.      Citrix Policies types?

Two types of citrix policies

1.      User Policies

2.      Computer Policies

30.      Where we can apply these policies?

We can apply these policies by using

1.      App Center

2.      Active Directory Group Policy Management console

31.      How many Zones / Web Interface servers / licensing Servers you have in your company?

    

             In my company we have three Zones in India

                  Zone1:  Bangalore – Chennai – Hyderabad

                  Zone2: Mumbai – Pune

                  Zone3: New Delhi

             We have two dedicated web interface servers and one licensing server.

32.      What are the types of printers are using in your company? Explain some models?

We are using Laser and Ink Jet Printers

Ex:

HP Laser Jet 1010/1012

HP Color Laser Jet 1015/1017 MFP

HP CM 8050/8060 MFP

33.      What is Citrix Universal Print Drivers?

The Citrix Universal Printer drivers provide basic printer driver functionality to almost all printers, regardless of make or model. Deploying one of these drivers relieves the burden of administering multiple printer drivers and avoids problems with driver maintenance, replication, and other client printing issues.

In XenApp, Citrix provides several different types of Universal printer drivers:

Citrix Universal XPS Printer driver

Citrix Universal Printer driver

Stock or Standard Windows printer drivers

34.      What are XenApp licensing editions available? And which licensing edition you are using in your company?

·         Platinum Edition

·         Enterprise Edition

·         Advanced Edition

                        In my company Enterprise Edition is using.

35.      What are the licensing modes available, explain each mode?

·         Per user       -It is based on number of users

·         Per Device   -It is based on number of Devices 

·         Concurrent -It is based on number of usages and no of active sessions.

36.      How to get Citrix licenses and how to upload it in the licensing server?

Open Browser > go to My Citrix (www.citrix.com/mycitrix) > login by using user account credentials >  go to Downloads >  XenApp > Acquire permanent or eval licences > enter serial number >  enter host name of Citrix license server > download .LIC file

Open License Administrative console > upload .LIC file.

37.      What is the Ticketing tool is used in your company?

Remidi

38.  What are Thin Clients/Dummy Clients Explain?

A Thin client is a stateless, fanless desktop appliance that ha no hard drive. All features typically found on Desktop PC, including applications, sensitive data, memory etc, are stored back in the Data center when using thin client.

Client always connect to the citrix by using Thin client.

Ex: HP T610

Computers that are connected to the network and do not have Cafezee client program installed on them are termed as a Dummy Clients.

It will work with out power also.

Ex: Samsung S 18750.

39.  How many Tickets do you get per day?

Every day I resolve 15 to 20 tickets.

40.   How many people are in your Team?

In my team we have total 10 people.

41.  What is Citrix and what are the products available in Citrix?

Citrix is an American corporation and provide cloud computing solutions.

Products of Citrix

XenApp

XenDesktop

XenServer

Netscaler

EdgeSight

Access Gateway

XenApp Plug-ins

Web interface

Provisioning Server

Citrix Licensing

42. What is XenApp? And what is the use of it?

      Citrix XenApp is an application virtualization product that allows users to connect to their corporate applications from any device. XenApp can host applications on central servers and allow users to interact with them remotely or stream and deliver them to user devices for local execution.

43.      What is XenServer? And what is the use of it?

XenServer is a server virtualization platform that offers near bare-metal virtualization performance for virtualized server and client operating systems. XenServer uses the Xen hypervisor to virtualize each server on which it is installed, enabling each to host multiple Virtual Machines simultaneously with guaranteed performance.