Step-by-Step Procedure: Installing and Configuring XenApp 6 on Windows Server 2008 R2

A Step-by-Step Procedure for Installing and Configuring XenApp 6 on Windows Server 2008 R2

Best Practices:

1. Do Not install XenApp 6 on
   1. Domain Controller (it’s not supported)
   2. SQL Server (installs but is not recommended)
   3. Do Not join XenApp 6 into a older version XenApp Farm
2. Recommendations
   1. use server hardware with high performance disks for faster responses
   2. use a separate hard disk for hosting Operating System so that you can easily recover from disk/OS failures
   3. use raid configured disk arrays for XenApp drives to tolerate/quickly recover disk failures
   4. install XenApp only on a Freshly build server (in case of reinstall, ensure you rebuild the server and only then install the XenApp)
   5. use fully activated, patched/updated Windows Server 2008 R2 server
   6. always use the same user credentials if you are resuming the installation, otherwise installer may fail as detailed in the article XenApp 6 Server Role Manager Displays Blank Installation List
3. Refer to Configuring XenApp Using the Wizard-based Server Configuration Tool for textual description steps by Citrix.

Installation ScreenCast:

Installing XenApp

1. Installer Starts with below Main Options
   1. View XenApp Documentation
   2. Install XenApp Server
   3. Manually install components
   4. Applications on Virtual Machines
2. Clicking on “View XenApp Documentation” takes to the this link as shown below.
3. Clicking on “Install XenApp Server” launches the options to install XenApp Server Roles on Windows Server 2008 R2 server as shown below.  Using below command line
   1. “D:XenApp Server Setup..XenApp Server Role ManagerStartupStartupIndicator.exe” .XenAppServerRoleManager.exe which then runs below process
   2. D:XenApp Server Role ManagerXenAppServerRoleManager.exe
4. Clicking on “Add Server Roles” launches the “XenAppServerSetup.exe” wizard
5. Choose the XenApp Edition among the available options listed below for which you’ve got the license and that meets your environment requirements. I am choosing Platinum Edition so that we’ll get across all the available features in XenApp
   1. Platinum Edition
   2. Enterprise Edition
   3. Advanced Edition
6. Now the XenApp actual installation starts. Accept the “License Terms and Conditions” and click next
7. Choose XenApp roles from the available roles listed below
   1. Common Roles
      1. License Server
      2. XenApp
      3. Web Interface
      4. Merchnadising Server (This is a virtual appliance and requires a virtual machine)
   2. Other Roles
      1. Single Sign-on Service
      2. Secure Gateway
      3. Power and Capacity Management Administration
      4. EdgeSight Server
      5. Provisioning Services
      6. SmartAuditor Server
8. I am choosing the first three Common Roles as shown below
   1. Clicking on “What roles should I include in my farm?” link opens a chm help file as shown below
   2. The cursor over contextual help provides brief details
   3. 
   4. 
   5. 
9. Select additional/Optional subcomponents if any for each of the roles you chose rder=”0″ alt=”image” src=”http://gunnalag.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/image_thumb70.png” width=”600″ height=”511″ />
10. Review the pre-requisites that will be installed 
11. Review the categories of components and pre-requisite software that’s going to be installed
12. Click Install and wait for the completion of all components installation

Configuring XenApp 6

1. Once all the components install is completed, you’ll be presented with XenApp Components configuration wizard. You can run the configuration wizard anytime
2. Upon clicking XenApp Configure option, you’ll be presented with “Citrix XenApp Server Configuration” wizard with below listed options
   1. Create a new serer farm
   2. Join an existing server farm
3. Choose “Create a new serer farm” if you are setting up a fresh/new XenApp environment & provide the required details as shown below
4. Provide the Licensing Server details in the next screen. If you haven’t already have a license server setup choose the option to specify it later as given below
5. Choose the DB type for the Data Store setup
6. Specify (or select from the drop down list) the local/Remote SQL DB along with instance name if any. You need to have a SQL DB created manually on the SQL server for wizard to verify the connectivity in next screen
7. Enter the SQL DB Credentials and verify the connectivity to DB
8. Choose enable or disable choice for Shadowing option. It’s recommended to have this enabled but not configured since this options can’t be enabled later
9. Provide the “XenApp Advanced Server Confgiruation” for below listed options
   1. Zone
   2. XML Service
   3. Online plug-in
   4. Remote Desktop Users
10. Review the Farm setup configuration and press Apply if all settings are correct
11. Let the XenApp 6 to complete with it’s configuration and click Finish once it completes successfully