Citrix
Licensing Server

Upgrade Citrix Licensing Server 11.13.1.2 to version 11.14.0.1

- by Vikash Jhagroe - Leave a Comment
Reading Time: 2 minutes

With the release of Citrix XenDesktop 7.11 a new version of Citrix Licensing Server is released. This new version is also the minimum required License Server version for Citrix XenDesktop 7.11. I already have version 11.13.1.2 running, so let me show you how to upgrade to version 11.14.0.1.

The steps are easy and the upgrade should be without any hiccup. Just to be sure, make a backup of you existing License Server before starting the upgrade proces.

My environment for the installation:

  • downloaded the Citrix Licensing Server 11.14.0.1 for Windows (www.citrix.com)
  • Windows 2012 R2
  • domain name: VIKASH (vikash.nl)
  • account for setup: Administrator (VIKASH\Administrator)

Upgrading Citrix Licensing Server

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Check the current version of the License Server.

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Unpack the zip file and start the installer.

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Because I am using demo licenses I choose to check Subscription Advantage (SA) manually. You can set it to check SA status automatically or even update it. Click on Next.

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The installation wizard will detect the installed version of Citrix License Server and prompt you with the upgrade option. Click on Upgrade.

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After the upgrade has finished, you can choose to participate in Citrix Customer Experience Improvement Program. I choose not to participate. Click on Finish.

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Login to Citrix License Administration Console and check the version. It should report 11.14.0 build 17005.

So that’s it. Thanks for reading.

This concludes this tutorial. Feel free to contact me of you have any questions or comments. You can also follow me on twitter or add the rss feed from the blog and you will be notified when I add new posts.

 

Upgrade Citrix Licensing Server 11.13.1.2 to version 11.14.0.1 Read More
How to upgrade XenServer
XenServer

How to upgrade XenServer 6.5 to 7.0 using Rolling Pool Upgrade

- by Vikash Jhagroe - 4 Comments.
Reading Time: 5 minutes

A while ago I did an XenServer 6.5 Upgrade to 7.0. Check it out here. I thought now let’s create a Citrix XenServer 6.5 pool, and do the automated upgrade using Rolling Pool Upgrade in Citrix XenCenter.

What’s new in Citrix XenServer 7.0:

  • Intel Iris Pro Graphics GPU support
  • NVIDIA GRID vGPU support for Linux Applications
  • Up to 128 vm’s per host with the NVIDIA vGPU M6/M60 graphics card
  • Windows Update integration for XenTools

These are a few things I like. There are far more new features, take a look at the Citrix XenServer site here.

Requirements for the upgrade:

  • Citrix XenServer 6.5 with SP1 and all the latest hotfixes
  • Citrix XenServer 7.0 ISO (www.citrix.com)
  • FTP Server with extracted Citrix XenServer 7 ISO
  • Citrix XenCenter 7.0

My homelab setup

Since I don’t have additional hardware to run XenServer, I installed it as a virtual machine on Hyper-V 2012 R2. This is fine for testing purposes. Just make sure you create the virtual machine als a Generation 1 vm and add the Legacy Network Adapter.

Caution

During the upgrade process you will have the choice to upgrade the partition scheme of the Local Storage Repository (Local SR). The new partition scheme in Citrix XenServer 7.0 is beter for especially log files. But altering the partitions means that you have to move all the virtual machines to a safe place. The upgrade process will delete everything on the Local SR when re-partitioning during the upgrade process!

So let’s start.

Prepare the Local SR for re-partitioning

Before we start the upgrade using the Rolling Pool Upgrade method in XenCenter, we have tell the upgrade process that it is safe to re-partition the Local SR. This has to be done from the command line. I have tried to upgrade without entering this command, and sometimes re-partitioning failed on one of my XenServer hosts. This behaviour was random.

So just to make sure everything goes smooth, enter the following command in the the console of every XenServer host:

touch /var/preserve/safe2upgrade

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Let’s start.

Upgrade XenServer

Make sure you have patched your XenServer 6.5 hosts completely.

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Check that the hosts in your XenServer pool are version 6.5.

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Go to Tools and select Rolling Pool Upgrade.

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Click on Next.

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Select the pool. You can click on the plus (+) sign to see all the hosts in the pool and the version number of XenServer. Click on Next.

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Now I want XenCenter to do all the heavy lifting so I choose Automatic Mode. If you go for the manual mode you will have to mount the Citrix XenServer 7.0 ISO manually and do the upgrade steps by hand in the upgrade console. Click on Run Prechecks.

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When starting the upgrade, I made sure that my XenServer 6.5. hosts were fully patched and updated. But as you can see above I was still missing a critical hotfix according to the upgrade wizard. Click on Apply hotfix for all the hosts listed in your pool.

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After the missing hotfix is applied to all the XenServer hosts in the pool, the precheck will run again. We should be good to go now. Click on Next.

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The wizard will prompt you to enter the path for the installation files for XenServer 7.0. I downloaded the ISO and extracted it beforehand and made it available to XenCenter using FTP. Make sure you click in Test after entering the information for your setup. If everything is ok you should see the green checkmark next to the Test button. Click on Start Upgrade.

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Now it is time to sit back and relax. It can take a while for all the hosts to upgrade and reboot. The wizard will start with the pool master. Just keep an eye on the Overal progress.

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After the pool master is finished, it continues to the next host in the pool.

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When all is done, click on Finish.

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Check in XenCenter that everything is ok and the XenServer version is 7.0. Now that the upgrade is done, let’s do some updating. Always good to have that covered.

Update Citrix XenServer 7.0 using XenCenter

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After the actual upgrade to XenServer 7.0, XenCenter will display one update. Select Download and install from the drop-down menu.

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Select your XenServer pool. Click on Next.

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It will show you when the update is uploaded to all the XenServer hosts. Click on Next.

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Click on Next to start updating.

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Leave here at default. Again, let’s let XenCenter do the heavy lifting. Click on Install update.

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After XenCenter has updated all the hosts, click on Finish.

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Now there will be more updates for Citrix XenServer 7.0. This is normal. Just apply them using the same method I just described.

So that’s it.

This concludes this tutorial. Feel free to contact me of you have any questions or comments. You can also follow me on twitter or add the rss feed from the blog and you will be notified when I add new posts.

How to upgrade XenServer 6.5 to 7.0 using Rolling Pool Upgrade Read More
XenServer

How to upgrade XenServer 6.5 to XenServer 7.0

- by Vikash Jhagroe - 12 Comments.
Reading Time: 5 minutes

In this blogpost I will show you how to upgrade XenServer 6.5 to XenServer 7.0. Recently Citrix released XenServer 7. As you can see on my blog, I am a big fan of Citrix solutions :). So now I was wondering: how can I upgrade my Citrix XenServer 6.5 setup without losing the configuration. First of all, let’s take a look at some new features in Citrix XenServer 7.

What’s new in Citrix XenServer 7:

  • Intel Iris Pro Graphics GPU support
  • NVIDIA GRID vGPU support for Linux Applications
  • Up to 128 vm’s per host with the NVIDIA vGPU M6/M60 graphics card
  • Windows Update integration for XenTools

These are a few things I like. There are far more new features, take a look at the Citrix XenServer site here.

Requirements for the upgrade:

  • Citrix XenServer 6.5 with SP1 and all the latest hotfixes
  • Citrix XenServer 7 ISO (www.citrix.com)

My homelab setup

Since I don’t have additional hardware to run XenServer, I installed it as a virtual machine on Hyper-V 2012 R2. This is fine for testing purposes. Just make sure you create the virtual machine als a Generation 1 vm and add the Legacy Network Adapter. Also make sure that you don’t have anything else running on the disk where XenServer is installed. The partition scheme on that disk will be altered during the upgrade process.

Let’s start.

Upgrade XenServer 6.5

Check the version of XenServer using the console.

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Check the version of XenServer using Citrix XenCenter. Note that I am still using XenCenter 6.5. When I’m done updating the XenServer host to version 7, I will install XenCenter 7. Keep reading for that.

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So everything is looking great. Let’s mount the Citrix XenServer 7 ISO using the properties of the virtual machine.

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We can now reboot the host. Make sure it boots from the XenServer 7 ISO, so set it to boot from CD.

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Click on Yes to reboot the server.

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The host will now boot from the Citrix XenServer 7 ISO. Press Enter to start the upgrade proces.

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Choose your keyboard layout. Then choose OK.

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You will be prompted to load additional drivers. I don’t have any so I choose OK.

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Accept the EULA.

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If you run XenServer as a virtual machine, you will get a warning that Hardware Virtualization Assist is not available. This is correct since it is a virtual machine and cannot provide virtualization support for vm’s on it. Choose OK.

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The installer will now detect your Citrix XenServer 6.5 installation, and will provide you with the upgrade option. How great is that! Choose Upgrade XenServer and then OK.

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The installer will need to create a backup. Choose OK to continue.

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Select the installation source. Because I am using a ISO I choose Local media. Choose OK to continue.

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I will not be installing any supplemental packs. Choose NO to continue.

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I choose not to verify the media, because I am sure it is ok since I just downloaded it successfully from the Citrix website. Choose OK to continue.

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The installer has collected all the required information now to perform the upgrade. Choose Install XenServer to continue.

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The installation will now start.

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It will run trough a couple of screens, and then present you with the screen where it says Installation complete. At this point you can unmount the ISO from the virtual cd, and choose Enter to reboot.

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After reboot you will be presented with the GRUB bootloader. Select the first option and press Enter. If you do not press a key during the GRUB bootloader, it will automatically choose the first option and start XenServer.

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Wait for XenServer to load.

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After it has booted completely you will be presented with the xsconsole. As we can see the upgrade went great and XenServer is running happily in my vm.

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Setup XenCenter 7

To manage your new XenServer host you have to install XenCenter 7. Download the installer from Citrix (www.citrix.com) and start the setup. Click on Next.

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The defaults work fine for me. Check that you set them according to your needs. Click Next to continue.

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Click on Install to start the installation.

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After the installation has finished, click on Finish.

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Now it is time to start XenCenter.

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As you can see it has detected my connection to my XenServer 6.5 host. Right-click that and click Connect.

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You can then choose to enrol Health Check. I did not, so I just clicked on Close.

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And we can see the XenServer host version information using XenCenter now.

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So that’s it, the upgrade went great.

This concludes this tutorial. Feel free to contact me of you have any questions or comments. You can also follow me on twitter or add the rss feed from the blog and you will be notified when I add new posts.

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Provisioning Services

Creating a Windows 2012 R2 Target Device with Citrix Provisioning Services 7.8

- by Vikash Jhagroe - Leave a Comment
Reading Time: 6 minutes

Citrix Provisioning Services (PVS) is a great way for running your virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). In my recent blog here I showed you how to setup Citrix Provisioning Services 7.8.

Using Windows 2012 R2 as a VDI platform, you can easily give like 90% of your workers a full-functional desktop or Workspace. And because the concept is Server Based Computing (SBC or Shared Desktop), you can provision multiple full-functional desktops using just one Windows 2012 R2 server. Off course having just one Windows 2012 R2 Server is not ideal, but you get what I’m aiming at. In the end it is all about managing resources and being high-available.

In this blog I will show you how to create a Windows 2012 R2 target device running from Citrix Provisioning Services. I will then use this target device disk (vDisk) as a template (golden image) to create multiple target devices running from the same vDisk in another post using Citrix XenDesktop 7.8. For now let’s focus on creating the Windows 2012 R2 Target Device vDisk.

In this post I will show you how to:

  • Create a Windows 2012 R2 Target Device vDisk
  • Configure a Target Device to use said vDisk and boot from PVS

My lab setup:

  • Windows 2012 R2 server with Citrix Provisioning Services 7.8 installed (pvs01.vikash.nl)
  • Local domain (vikash.nl)
  • Domain controller (dc01.vikash.nl)
  • Hypervisor Hyper-V 2012 R2
  • Windows 2012 R2 Server with latest updates
  • All servers and desktops are running as virtual machines
  • DHCP running on my router
  • Citrix Provisioning Services Boot Disk (blog here)

Make sure that the virtual machine configured in Hyper-V for Windows 2012 R2 PVS target is setup as Gen 1 (generation 1) virtual machine, and that the network card is a Legacy network adapter. Otherwise the virtual machine will not be able to boot using PVS. Sources tell me that the next version of Citix Provisioning Services will be able to work with Gen 2 (generation 2) virtual machines in Hyper-V.

Target Device Installation

So let’s start by installing the Citrix Provisioning Services components in my Windows 2012 R2 virtual machine. Mount the Citrix Provisioning Services ISO using Hyper-V management console.

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Start the autorun.

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Choose Target Device Installation.

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Click again on Target Device Installation.

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Click on Install to install the required components.

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Click on Next to start the installation.

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Accept the License Agreement and click on Next.

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Enter your customer information and click on Next.

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Select the Destination Folder for installation and click on Next.

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Click on Install to complete the installation.

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Imaging Wizard

After the installation has completed, make sure to check the Launch Imaging Wizard box (if it is not checked automatically). Click on Finish.

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You are now presented with a welcome window. Click on Next.

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Enter the name of the PVS server. Make sure you have the right port and use the correct credentials for the PVS server. This can be a domain admin account, provided that they have admin rights on the PVS server. Because I am on my homelab I used my Administrator account. In my case I am using the IP-adress from my PVS server. If you are using a hostname, make sure it always resolves to the PVS server.

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Select Create a vDisk and click on Next.

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The Provisioning Services Imaging Wizard will create a new Target Device on the PVS server. Choose the correct Device Collection name. I my case I made a separate device collection for Windows 2012 R2 Target Devices. Click on Next.

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Specify the vDisk name and click on Next.

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Select the appropriate Windows Activation method for you. Click on Next

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Choose to image the entire boot disk, and click on Next.

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Select the option to Optimize the hard disk and then click on Next. You can adjust the options according to your needs, I choose the defaults because I my experience that is fine.

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You will be presented with a summary screen. Check that everything is entered correctly and then click Create.

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The wizard will create the vDisk and the target device on the PVS server, after optimising the virtual machine. It needs to restart the virtual machine to start the imaging process. Click on Continue.

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Now you will be asked to reboot the device. If you choose Yes the Imaging Wizard will restart the virtual machine. At this point you have to make sure that the virtual machine will boot from network or the PVS boot iso. If you choose No the virtual machine will be shut down. I choose No, so I could mount the PVS boot iso to the virtual machine. The Wizard will then shutdown the machine.

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Click on Yes to shutdown the virtual machine.

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Change Boot Settings Target Machine

Go to the Settings of the virtual machine. In my case that is the Hyper-V management console.

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Make sure the virtual machine boots from CD.

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The make sure you mount the PVS boot iso to the virtual CD of the virtual machine. Click on OK.

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No start the virtual machine and logon to let the Imaging Wizard continue.

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The Imaging Wizard will automatically continue.

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Click on Done when the Wizard finishes.

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Now go to your PVS console, select the Target Device properties.

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We can now boot the Target Device using our newly created vDisk. But before we do so we have to set it to boot from vDisk. Click then on OK.

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Restart the Windows 2012 R2 Target Device and you will see that it boots now using the PVS server and the vDisk.

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Now let’s check the status of the vDisk after logging in.

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We can see that we are now using the vDisk.

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Note that the vDisk is in Read/Write mode. This is because the Access Mode of the vDisk is Private. This is default after creating a vDisk. Adjust this before starting to provision multiple target devices using the same vDisk.

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This concludes this tutorial. Feel free to contact me of you have any questions or comments.

You can also follow me on twitter or add the rss feed from the blog and you will be notified when I add new posts.

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Provisioning Services

Creating a Windows 10 Target Device with Citrix Provisioning Services 7.8

- by Vikash Jhagroe - Leave a Comment
Reading Time: 7 minutes

Citrix Provisioning Services (PVS) is a great way for running your virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). In my recent blog here I showed you how to setup Citrix Provisioning Services 7.8.

In this blog I will show you how to create a Windows 10 target device running from Citrix Provisioning Services. I will then use this target device disk (vDisk) as a template (golden image) to create multiple target devices running from the same vDisk. I will cover this in another post using Citrix XenDesktop 7.8. For now let’s focus on creating the Windows 10 Target Device vDisk.

In this post I will show you how to:

  • Create a Windows 10 Target Device vDisk
  • Configure a Target Device to use said vDisk and boot from PVS

My lab setup:

  • Windows 2012 R2 server with Citrix Provisioning Services 7.8 installed (pvs01.vikash.nl)
  • Local domain (vikash.nl)
  • Domain controller (dc01.vikash.nl)
  • Hypervisor Hyper-V 2012 R2
  • Windows 10 desktop with latest updates
  • All servers and desktops are running as virtual machines
  • DHCP running on my router
  • Citrix Provisioning Services Boot Disk (blog here)

Make sure that the virtual machine configured in Hyper-V for Windows 10 PVS target is setup as Gen 1 (generation 1) virtual machine, and that the network card is a Legacy network adapter. Otherwise the virtual machine will not be able to boot using PVS. Sources tell me that the next version of Citix Provisioning Services will be able to work with Gen 2 (generation 2) virtual machines in Hyper-V.

Target Device Installation

Now we have to install the Citrix Provisioning Services components in the Windows 10 desktop from which we will create the vDisk.

Mount the PVS ISO on the Windows 10 virtual machine.

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Start the autorun and choose Target Device Installation.

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Click on Target Device Installation.

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Click Install to install the requirements.

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Click on Next to start the installation.

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Accept the license agreement and click on Next.

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Enter your customer information and click on Next.

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Select the Destination Folder for installation and click on Next.

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We are now ready to install. Click on Install.

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After installation has finished, make sure to select Launch Imaging Wizard option and click on Finish.

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Now the Imaging Wizard will start. Click on Next.

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Enter the name of the PVS server. Make sure you have the right port and use the correct credentials for the PVS server. This can be a domain admin account, provided that they have admin rights on the PVS server. Because I am on my homelab I used my Administrator account.

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Select Create a vDisk. Click Next.

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The wizard will create a new target device on the PVS server. Choose a device collection to put the newly created target device in. Click on Next.

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Enter a name for the vDisk. Select the the correct store and choose the vDisk type. Click on Next.

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Choose the activation type for Windows 10. This depends on the license model you have from Microsoft. Click on Next.

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Choose to image the entire boot disk. Click Next.

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Select the option to Optimize the hard disk and then click on Next. You can adjust the options according to your needs, I choose the defaults because I my experience that is fine.

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You will be presented with a summary screen. Check that everything is entered according to your needs and then click Create.

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The wizard will create the vDisk and the target device on the PVS server, after optimising the virtual machine. It needs to restart the virtual machine to start the imaging process. Click on Continue.

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Now you will be asked to reboot the device. If you choose Yes the Imaging Wizard will restart the virtual machine. At this point you have to make sure that the virtual machine will boot from network or the PVS boot iso. If you choose No the virtual machine will be shut down.

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In my case I have to choose No because I can’t change the boot order of a Gen 1 Hyper-V virtual machine while it is powered on. Check if your hypervisor is able to adjust while the virtual machine is powered on.

So I have to adjust the settings of my virtual machine.

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First I have to mount the PVS boot iso. Go to the DVD Drive and select the iso.

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Now we have to adjust the boot order. Go to BIOS, select the CD and move it to the top of the list. Then click OK.

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We can now power on the virtual machine. Connect to the console and check that it is booting from the PVS boot iso and connecting to the PVS server.

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Now logon to the virtual machine so the Image Wizard can continue.

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The Image Wizard will continue automatically and start with taking a snapshot.

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Then the Image Wizard will start the copy process to the PVS server.

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After the Image Wizard completed the copy process successfully click on Done.

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Time for testing

Now shutdown the virtual machine and disconnect the local “physical” disk, because now we want to start from the newly created vDisk from the PVS server. This has to be done using the hypervisor manager, in my case Hyper-V mmc. Go to settings to remove the locally attached “physical” disk.

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Go to IDE Controller 0 and Remove the disk. This will only disconnect it and make it invisible to the virtual machine, the virtual disk file will not be deleted.

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When the target device is created on the PVS server, it is set to boot from hard disk. This is done to complete the image proces but can also be used to make changes to the virtual disk. Now we have to tell the target device that is has to boot from the vDisk.

Go to your PVS console and select the Properties from you target device.

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In the General tab choose vDisk in the Boot from dropdown menu. Then click on OK.

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Also we want to set the Access mode for the vDisk to Standard Image. This is necessary if we want to start multiple virtual machines using the same vDisk (in the future). Go to the vDisk Pool in your PVS console and select the Properties for the vDisk we just made.

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In the General tab set the Access mode to Standard Image. Then click OK.

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Now it is time to boot the virtual machine and see some PVS magic! Connect to the console of the virtual machine using your hypervisor tools, in my case Hyper-V mmc, so you can see what is happening during boot.

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As you can see the virtual machine is booted from my PVS boot iso and logged in to PVS. PVS is accepting the connection and providing the virtual machine with a vDisk.

Logon to the virtual machine to check if the Virtual Disk Status.

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In the General tab you can see that the vDisk is now Read Only. This is exactly what we wanted.

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In the Statistics tab you can see some diagnostic information.

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This concludes this tutorial. Feel free to contact me of you have any questions or comments.

You can also follow me on twitter or add the rss feed from the blog and you will be notified when I add new posts.

Creating a Windows 10 Target Device with Citrix Provisioning Services 7.8 Read More
Create Bootable ISO for target devices
Provisioning Services

Citrix Provisioning Services create bootable ISO for target devices

- by Vikash Jhagroe - 1 Comment
Reading Time: 3 minutes

The target devices booting from Citrix Provisioning Services (PVS) server can boot using PXE or using a bootable ISO. I choose to boot my devices using a bootable ISO. This method is very reliable, as it doesn’t rely on PXE services or network connections.

My lab setup:

  • Windows 2012 R2 server running Citrix Provisioning Services 7.8.

In this post I will show you how to:

  • Create a bootable ISO for PVS target devices

Create a bootable ISO for your PVS target devices

Go to the Start Menu and select Provisioning Services Boot Device Manager.

Create Bootable ISO for target devices

 

In my experience many boot related problems can be solved when you enter the IP address of the PVS server here instead of the hostname or fqdn. So I selected Use static ip for the server. Then click on Add.

Create Bootable ISO for target devices

 

Enter the network settings and fill in the IP address of your PVS server. Click on OK.

Create Bootable ISO for target devices

 

Click on Next.

Create Bootable ISO for target devices

 

In the Set Options window enable Verbose Mode. This is very useful in case you have to troubleshoot, and the added boot delay can be neglected. Then click on Next.

Create Bootable ISO for target devices

 

Select Citrix ISO Image Recorder in the dropdown menu and click on Burn.

pvs78_boot_iso_06

 

Choose a location to save the ISO file and click on Save.

pvs78_boot_iso_07

 

When the ISO has been created successfully, click on OK.

pvs78_boot_iso_08

You can now close the Boot Device Management window.

pvs78_boot_iso_09

 

Check that you have the ISO file.

pvs78_boot_iso_10

This concludes this tutorial. Feel free to contact me of you have any questions or comments.

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