- Lesson 1 - Getting Started with Citrix XenApp 6 Training
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In this lesson, you'll meet your instructor, Elias Khnaser, and we'll look at what topics the course will cover.
- A Modest vBio of Your vInstructor
- About the Course
- Lesson 2 - Lab Setup
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Hands-on experience is crucial to solidify your knowledge of Citrix XenApp 6. In this lesson, you'll learn what hardware and software components are needed to build your own lab environment in order to follow along with the demonstrations.
- Workstation Lab Configuration
- Software Needed
- Lesson 3 - The Course Scenario
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Scenario-based training is the hallmark of TrainSignal courses. In this lesson, we'll introduce the fictitious company that we'll use for our real-world demonstrations, Encom, and discuss their needs for deploying XenApp.
- The Scenario
- Encom's Current Environment
- Encom XenApp 6 Project Phases
- Lesson 4 - Introduction to Citrix XenApp 6
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In this lesson, we'll look at XenApp from a high level, beginning with a history of the product and how it has evolved over time. We'll talk about what exactly XenApp is, the benefits of desktop virtualization and application virtualization, and the different features and editions of XenApp 6.
- A Bit of Citrix History
- XenApp Evolution
- What is XenApp?
- Desktop Virtualization Types
- XenApp/Terminal Server
- Application Virtualization
- Operational Benefits
- Performance
- XenApp 6 Editions and Features
- Lesson 5 - Understanding Citrix XenApp Architecture
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Having a good understanding of the architecture is crucial to being able to effectively administer XenApp. In this lesson, we'll dive deep into the XenApp architecture and talk about the ICA and IMA protocols and the roles of each of the XenApp components.
- Independent Computing Architecture (ICA)
- Which Layer of the OSI Model?
- The ICA Packet
- Independent Management Architecture (IMA)
- XenApp Architectural Components
- Zones, Ports, Additional Components and Plugins
- Lesson 6 - Installing and Configuring Citrix Licensing
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In this lesson, we will get started with our hands-on work with XenApp. We'll discuss the licensing requirements for XenApp and then install and configure the RDS License Server and the Citrix License Server in our scenario environment.
- XenApp Licensing Requirements
- Acquiring Citrix Licenses
- Installing and Activating RDS License Server
- Installing and Configuring Citrix License Server
- Downloading and Installing the License File
- Lesson 7 - Installing Citrix XenApp 6
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In this lesson, we will discuss the server roles in a XenApp environment as well as the hardware and software requirements before we install and configure XenApp 6 for our scenario environment. We'll walk through installation from the GUI as well as the command line.
- XenApp Server Role Manager
- Hardware and Software Requirements
- Other Requirements
- Sample Farm Configuration
- Database Server Hardware and Data Store Recommendations
- Installing and Configuring XenApp 6 from the GUI
- Installing XenApp 6 from Command Line
- Lesson 8 - Navigating Delivery Services Console
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This lesson is all about getting oriented to the Delivery Services Console in order to use this tool effectively to administer XenApp.
- The Discovery Process
- Farm Management Components and Capabilities of the Delivery Services Console
- Single Sign-On, Configuration Tools, Alerts, Search and My Views
- Lesson 9 - Delegated Administration and Configuration Logging
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In this lesson, we discuss how to configure access for administrators in XenApp, including creating administrator accounts, role-based access control and delegating permissions.
- Role-based Administrative Access
- Configuration Logging
- Adding Administrator Accounts
- Organizing Servers into Folders and Delegating Permissions
- Enabling Configuration Logging
- Lesson 10 - Introduction to Citrix Policies
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In XenApp 6, many of the configuration tools moved from the administrative consoles to policy-based administration. In this lesson, we'll get started with Citrix Policies and look at how they interact with Active Directory policies and how to set policy priority. Finally, we'll create worker groups and computer policies and then test our policy configuration and troubleshoot policy conflicts with the Citrix Group Policy Modeling Wizard.
- Filtering Policies
- Citrix Policies and AD Policies
- Policy Processing and Priority
- Creating Worker Groups
- Creating Computer Policies
- Editing Policies
- Using the Citrix Group Policy Modeling Wizard
- Managing Citrix Policies with the Microsoft Group Policy Management Console
- Testing Our Policy Configuration with the Group Policy Modeling Wizard
- Lesson 11 - Citrix Policies: In-Depth Look
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Citrix Policies are so essential to XenApp 6 that we had to create a second lesson in order to completely cover all of the issues with configuring and administering them. In this lesson, we'll dive deep into the various computer and user policies that you will use in administering XenApp.
- Policy Rules
- Citrix Computer Policies
- Citrix User Policies
- Lesson 12 - Publishing Applications and Content
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Here is where the fun really begins -- virtualizing applications and content with XenApp. In this lesson, we'll look at the types of resources you can publish with XenApp, the different means of installing and hosting applications, and we'll walk through how to publish applications and content in XenApp and manage these resources after publication.
- Understanding Applications in RDS
- Published Resource Types
- User Account Access Types
- Server Installed Applications
- VM Hosted Applications
- Installing Applications on the XenApp Server
- Configuring a Run Script for Mid-Install Reboots
- Publishing Applications with XenApp
- Modifying Published Application Properties
- Configuring Content Redirection and File Types Handled By Published Applications
- Publishing Content with XenApp
- Publishing the Community Desktop with XenApp
- Administering Published Applications and Content with the Delivery Services Console
- Lesson 13 - Streaming Applications
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In this lesson, we'll look at another way to virtualize applications with XenApp - streaming applications. We'll talk about the benefits and features of application streaming and walk through creating and publishing an application package.
- Application Streaming Benefits and Features
- Streaming Applications Components
- Packaging Applications with the Citrix Streaming Profiler
- Publishing an Application Package
- Published Application Types
- Advanced Application Properties - Alternate Profiles and User Privileges
- Lesson 14 - Installing and Configuring Citrix Plug-Ins
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In this lesson, we'll look at the client side of application virtualization. Once your resources are published, clients need Citrix Plug-Ins installed in order to view and use these resources. We'll discuss the online and offline plug-ins, demonstrate how to provide these plug-ins to clients, how they're installed, how to configure user and group access to applications, and how to customize how applications appear on the end user device.
- The Plug-In Matrix
- Customizing the Online Plug-In
- Installing Citrix Plug-Ins from the Command-Line
- Installing the Online Plug-In from the Command-Line
- Configuring a XenApp Services Site
- Giving Users and Groups Access to Applications
- Customizing Published Application Delivery - Pushing Applications to the Client Desktop and Start Menu
- Installing the Offline Plug-In
- Configuring the Citrix Online Plug-In with Group Policy Objects
- Lesson 15 - Configuring Web Interface
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In this lesson, we'll configure the XenApp Web Interface to provide browser-based access to our published resources. We'll walk through creating a XenApp Web Site, we'll set up Web Interface to prompt the user to install the Citrix Plug-Ins when necessary, and finally we'll customize the web interface and brand it with the Encom logo and color scheme.
- Web Interface Communications Process
- Creating a XenApp Web Site
- Accessing the XenApp Web Site and Published Applications
- Installing the XenApp Plug-In from the Web Interface
- Managing Web Interface Client Detection and Deployment
- Advanced XenApp Web Site Configuration
- Customizing Your Web Interface Site
- Lesson 16 - Working with Profile Manager
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Profile management is an essential topic to master if you're going to provide a seamless and exceptional end user experience in your XenApp environment. In this lesson, we'll discuss why profile management is important, the different types of user profiles, and we'll dive deep into the configuration of Citrix Profile management and how it integrates with Active Directory and Group Policy.
- Why Profile Management
- User Profile Types
- Citrix Profile Management and Profile Manager Components
- Configuring Citrix Profile Management with Active Directory and Group Policy
- Installing Profile Management Service Engine
- Lesson 17 - Understanding and Configuring Load Management
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Since the basis of XenApp is providing multiple concurrent users with access to resources within a farm, and that farms encompass multiple and sometimes hundreds of servers, load management is a crucial concept to understand in XenApp farm administration. In this lesson, we'll dive deep into the configuration of XenApp load evaluators and look at how to troubleshoot issues within the environment using load statistics.
- Understanding Load Evaluators
- Configuring the Default Load Evaluator
- Configuring the Advanced Load Evaluator
- Creating a Custom Load Evaluator
- Understanding Load Statistics
- Troubleshooting Load Management Policy Conflicts
- Configuring Load Balancing Policies
- Lesson 18 - Configuring Printing
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Printing within the XenApp environment is another crucial topic to understand as an administrator. The ICA protocol is a thin protocol, but print jobs require a significant amount of data to be transferred across the environment. XenApp 6 has come a long way in making it much simpler to configure printing than in previous versions. In this lesson, we'll look at how Windows printing works and use that as a starting point to understand how XenApp handles print jobs. We'll demonstrate how to install and replicate print drivers with PowerShell. Then we'll look at the policy-based administration of printing in XenApp, including how to configure proximity printing for your mobile users.
- How Windows Printing Works
- Common Printing Technology
- Types of Printers and Print Job Routing
- Installing and Replicating Print Drivers
- Printing Policies
- Mobile Users and Printing
- Installing and Managing Printers and Drivers with the Print Management Console
- Installing and Replicating Print Drivers with PowerShell
- Configuring Printing Policies
- Managing Client Printers with Citrix Policies
- Managing Drivers with Citrix Policies
- Configuring Universal Printing
- Managing Printing Bandwidth
- Configuring Proximity Printing and Smooth Roaming
- Lesson 19 - Securing XenApp
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In this lesson, we'll look at how to provide users secure access to internal resources from outside the network, and how to deploy encryption between end point devices on the LAN and our XenApp servers.
- Different Methods of Securing XenApp
- Using SSL Relay, Secure Gateway and Double-Hop DMZ
- Enabling Secure ICA for Published Applications and Desktops
- Configuring SSL Relay
- Configuring Secure Gateway
- Configuring Web Interface to Communicate with Secure Gateway
- Lesson 20 - Configuring NetScaler Access Gateway Enterprise Edition
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This lesson also appears in the Citrix XenDesktop 5 Training course. In this lesson, we will enable remote access in the our scenario environment by integrating a NetScaler Access Gateway. In addition, we will talk about the various deployment scenarios, the firewall configuration, licensing and how to create a self-signed SSL certificate.
- NetScaler Deployment Scenarios
- Firewall Considerations
- Terminology
- Licensing
- Self-Signed SSL Certificates
- Installation and Configuration Tasks
- Installing NetScaler VPX
- Configuring Networking
- Configuring Virtual Server Access Gateway
- Configuring NetScaler Licensing
- Configuring SSL Certificates for NetScaler
- Configuring Access Gateway Enterprise Edition (AGEE)
- Configuring Session Policies
- Configuring NetScaler for Mobile Devices
- Redirecting HTTP Traffic to HTTPS
- Configuring Web Interface to Work with AGEE
- Lesson 21 - Advanced Farm Administration - Part 1
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At this point, we've covered much of what you'll need to know to be an effective XenApp administrator - but this lesson will make you better. In Part 1, we look at how to balance and prioritize resources within the XenApp environment, including managing the server CPU and allotting resources based on application and session importance. We'll also look at the health monitoring and recovery policies and how to configure reboot schedules and behavior.
- Advanced Zones Topics
- CPU Management
- Resource Allotment Calculation
- Moving Servers Between Zones and Setting Election Preference
- Configuring Load Balancing Policies
- Configuring CPU Management Policies
- Allotting Server Resources with Application and Session Importance
- Optimizing Memory Resources
- Configuring Health Monitoring and Recovery Policies
- Setting Reboot Schedules and Behavior
- Configuring Hotfix Management
- Power and Capacity Management Administration
- Lesson 22 - Advanced Farm Administration - Part 2
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Part 2 of Advanced Farm Administration begins with a discussion of managing user sessions, including common tasks such as communicating with users, disconnecting users and using the Shadow Taskbar for troubleshooting. We'll also demonstrate how to configure the ICA listener ports, which can be valuable for troubleshooting connectivity issues with your server listening ports. We'll wrap up with a discussion of using SpeedScreen Latency Reduction Manager to boost performance in extreme high latency connections.
- Managing User Sessions
- ICA Listener Configuration
- Shadow Taskbar
- SpeedScreen Latency Reduction Manager
- Lesson 23 - XenApp Command Line Tools
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There are quite a few command line tools you can use with XenApp. These are especially important to know if you plan to take the 1Y0-A18 CCA exam. This lesson will walk through these tools and we'll look closely at the Query command.
- XenApp Command Line Tools
- Query Command
- Using the XenApp Command Line Tools
- Using the Query Command
- Lesson 24 - Troubleshooting XenApp 6
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This lesson will be invaluable for your work administering XenApp. In this lesson, we'll look at the seven categories of troubleshooting that Citrix outlines in the CCA exam guide. We'll dive deep into each category and equip you with the knowledge to troubleshoot XenApp in your environment.
- Troubleshooting IMA Given a Scenario
- Troubleshooting Load Manager
- Troubleshooting Licensing Issues
- How Session States Can Negatively Affect a XA Server
- Using QFARM/LOAD to Troubleshoot Issues
- Troubleshooting Web Interface Issues
- Configuring Client Auto Detection on the Web Interface
- Troubleshooting XML Service on Web Interface
- Troubleshooting Citrix Services
- Troubleshooting Common Printing Issues
- Lesson 25 - XenApp 4.5/5 Walkthrough
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There are many environments that still use legacy versions, and since XenApp 6 has consolidated many administrative tools into policies, we'll look at where some of those tools are in XenApp 4.5 and 5.
- The ICA Administration Toolbar and XenApp Administration Tools
- Working with the Delivery Services Console
- Managing XenApp with the Advanced Configuration Console
- Lesson 26 - Preparing for the Citrix XenApp 6 CCA (A18) Exam
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In this lesson, we'll look at the Basic Administration for Citrix XenApp 6 exam profile, topics, the candidate profile and also what certifications this exam counts toward. We'll also provide some study tips and additional resources to consult if you plan to take the exam.
- Exam Profile
- Exam Topics and Weights
- Candidate Profile
- Personal Study Recommendations
- Credit Toward Certification
- Lesson 27 - Next Steps
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In this lesson, we'll look back at what we covered and built over the course of these lessons, and provide some direction on how to continue learning about XenApp 6.
- Looking Back
- The Road Ahead
- My Favorite Supporting Resources