Configuring and Administering MetaFrame Presentation Server


With MPS 4.0 has come new settings in the Management Console for Presentation Server and the Access Suite Console for Presentation Server. As you recall from Chapter 6, the Access Suite Console operates as a Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in and provides tools for overall performance, configuration, and maintenance of all of your Citrix Access Suite products. The Presentation Server Management Console is a Java-based application designed specifically to manage your Presentation Server farm.

Changes and Additions to the Presentation Server Management Console

Figure 16.1 shows the default view of the new Management Console for the Enterprise Edition of MPS 4.0. In the next few sections, we provide an overview of the new features and changes in each of the main management modules.

Figure 16.1. The Presentation Server Console for MPS 4.0.

Server Farm Node

The property page for the Server Farm node has the following changes and additions:

  • Connection Access Control This setting allows you to restrict how users can access published content in the farm. By default, connections from any client are accepted. There is also the option to restrict access to only those clients coming through the Web Interface (including PN Agent) or through the Secure Access Manager product. Direct client access to the farm is restricted. The third option restricts access to only those clients coming through the Secure Access Manager.

  • Interoperability This setting has been removed.

  • Isolation Settings The new Isolation Settings feature (see Figure 16.2), which we review in the "Application Integration" section of this chapter, provides an environment within which you can run applications that traditionally would not function well (or at all) in a Terminal Services or MetaFrame environment. This settings page provides a single location where the isolation environment can be enabled or disabled for the entire farm; in addition, it specifies the location where the Application Isolation Environment (AIE) Registry and file system information are maintained . Note that although you can enable or disable support for isolation environments at the farm or individual servers, the default isolation locations shown here are still read by individual servers. You can override these settings within an individual isolation environment. Support for application isolation is enabled by default for all servers in the farm.

    Figure 16.2. Application isolation is a new feature of MPS 4.0.
  • Memory/CPU Utilization Management and Memory Optimization These two options manipulate the CPU and memory optimization settings that we discussed in the "MetaFrame Presentation Server Architecture" section earlier in this chapter.

  • MetaFrame Settings One new option has been added to this property page: the setting labeled Enable Merging of Shadowers in Multiple Shadowing Policies. This setting overrides the default policy behavior that applies only the highest priority policy containing shadower settings. Any lower-priority policies that also contain shadower properties are ignored. When this setting is enabled, all policies that have shadower settings are merged together, and all are considered valid. Refer to Chapter 7 for details on policy behavior and the shadower policies.

  • Virtual IP Address Configuration This setting allows applications to run with their own virtual IP address. Computer telephony applications commonly fall into this category. On this screen, you must first define a range of addresses that will be available for assignment. You then assign either all or a subset of the addresses in that range to one or more Presentation Servers. These addresses are then available to be used by the specified applications (processes) on that server. Virtual IP assignment will not take effect until the server is restarted. After virtual IPs have been assigned to a server, you can assign the associated processes that may require access to one of these addresses. This is done in the Virtual IP Processes, discussed next.

  • Virtual IP Processes In this setting, you associate processes with either the Virtual IP Address or the Virtual Loopback Address settings. You must know the name of the application's main process (Winword.exe, for example) and manually add it to the appropriate section. You cannot browse the system for this information.

  • Virtual Loopback Configuration This setting is similar to the Virtual IP Address configuration, but instead allows servers to provide virtual loopback address support. The loopback address is 127.0.0.1 and is also accessible as the localhost hostname.

Applications

Published applications in the Applications node have a couple of additions:

  • Access Control This setting allows you to configure whether the application is available through the MetaFrame Secure Access Manager (4.0 or later). Either it is enabled for all connections, or it can be restricted to specific Secure Access Manager farms and filters. You can restrict this application to have access only through Secure Access Manager by deselecting the Allow All Other Connections option at the bottom of the dialog box.

  • Application Location When you are publishing an application (this setting does not apply to desktops or content), this property page displays the Isolate Application setting. Isolation environments are discussed next in the "Isolation Environments" section.

Isolation Environments

One of the most-discussed new features of MPS 4.0 is the addition of isolation environments. Created to address the issue of running certain legacy and nonWindows-compliant applications, isolation environments allow you to run an application within a virtual Windows environment, protecting the operating system, other applications, and itself from interacting with each other.

Isolation environments allow you to safely host applications that are otherwise unable to coexist on a single server (for instance, different versions of an application), or software that isn't designed for use by multiple simultaneous users and that exhibits compatibility issues in a multiuser environment. Isolation environments are also good for hosting legacy applications such as MS-DOS or 16-bit Windows applications.

Note

Do not install an application into an isolation environment unless that application would otherwise not run correctly on the Presentation Server.


Applications are either installed directly into an isolation environment or can be placed there after installation. Typically, if it is determined that an application requires isolation, Citrix recommends that it be uninstalled and then reinstalled directly into an isolation environment. Once within this environment, the application is transparently provided access to copies of system and user -specific resources that it can then access and modify without affecting the originals , accessed by all other processes that run outside the isolation environment.

Alert

Understand the circumstances within which you would benefit from adding an application to an isolation environment.


Within the isolation environment, specific rules are defined that dictate exactly how this application will behave within the environment. After creating a new isolation environment by right-clicking on the Isolation Environments node and selecting New Isolation Environment, you can then modify the environment's properties shown in Figure 16.3.

Figure 16.3. Each isolation environment maintains its own properties.

With an isolation environment, you can define the following options:

  • Applications You add or remove existing published applications from within this setting. Applications can belong to only one isolation environment at a time. If you add an application to another environment, it is automatically removed from the one it currently belongs to.

  • Roots From here, you define the root Registry and folder locations. You can use the existing farm defaults or define settings for individual servers.

  • Rules This advanced setting allows you to manage the behavior of the isolation environment as it pertains to system and Registry settings. In this advanced configuration, only administrators with thorough knowledge of the Windows system architecture should make changes. Modifying the existing settings without proper knowledge can produce unexpected results.

  • Security This setting determines whether to allow the execution of programs within the user's profile root. Windows security settings always take precedence over this setting.

In the "Application Integration" section of this chapter, we review the steps to installing an application directly into an application isolation environment.

Policies

The creation, priority, and assignment of MetaFrame policies remain unchanged from the information described in Chapter 7. Citrix has added a number of new policy settings. We briefly review these policy settings in the "MetaFrame Presentation Server Policies" section of this chapter.

Printer Management

A number of new printer enhancements have been introduced with MPS 4.0. Specific details on these changes are discussed in the "Printing" section of this chapter. Within the Printer Management node, you need to be aware of two main changes:

  • New Universal Printer Driver When clicking on the Drivers node, you see another UPD in the right pane labeled simply Citrix Universal Printer. It represents the new Citrix UPD that enables Presentation Servers to use Microsoft's Windows Enhanced MetaFile Format (EMF) to transfer print jobs from the server to the client. This is the same format Windows uses to transfer print jobs to a printer spooler for printing. This new UPD is available only to Windows-based clients. Linux-based clients still use the PS UPD. You will find a noticeable improvement in printer performance with this new printer driver. You will also have access to additional advanced printing features such as alternate printer trays.

  • Network Printer Auto-Creation In MPS 3.0, Citrix provided access to a network printer auto-creation feature from the Printer Management node. This feature allowed an administrator to assign users and/or groups to one or more printers. When users logged on to a MetaFrame server, the printer was automatically mapped for them. There was no need to manage printer mappings through logon or other scripts.

    MPS 4.0 has removed this feature from the Printer Management node. Right-clicking on a printer within the Printers node no longer shows the Auto-Creation option. Instead, this mapping feature has been moved to a MetaFrame Policy. See the "MetaFrame Presentation Server Policies" section for more information.

All other functionality in the Printer Management node remains unchanged from MPS 3.0.

Servers

When a server within the Servers node is selected, the same tabs visible in MPS 3.0 are displayed in MPS 4.0. Within the properties for a server, the following additions have been made:

  • Isolation Settings This setting accompanies the corresponding server farm setting and dictates whether the server inherits the farm settings for the isolation environments or whether it is explicitly enabled or disabled on its own. No per-server root information is maintained here. You can define per-server settings directly within the properties of an existing isolation environment. See "Isolation Environments" earlier in this chapter.

  • Memory/CPU Utilization Management This setting defines whether memory and CPU utilization settings are inherited from the farm or explicitly set for the application. The processes that are excluded from memory optimization are defined only at the farm level and cannot be managed on a per-server basis.

  • Virtual IP Configuration Unless you have defined an IP address range and assigned the server within the properties of the server farm node, the Enable Virtual IP for This Server setting is grayed out and not editable. After it has been configured at the farm level, you can disable or enable the option. It is enabled by default if set in the farm node. The Enable Virtual Loopback for This Server setting is disabled by default but can be enabled per server without any farm settings required.

Alert

You are expected to identify what new features of Presentation Server are managed at the farm level and what associated settings can be managed on a per-server level.


Changes and Additions to the MetaFrame Access Suite Console

This MMC snap-in has been updated to include support for managing the Web Interface. Through the Access Suite Console, you now create and manage all of your Web Interface for Presentation Server and Program Neighborhood sites. We look at this topic in more detail in the "Web Connectivity to the MetaFrame Server Farm" section of this chapter.

Note

Because the Access Suite Console is now used to manage the Web Interface, it must be installed on each web server that will host a Presentation Server Web Interface. The Web Interface will not install without it being present.


Aside from the addition of the web components and some minor changes to the look of the interface, the remaining options available in this console are the same as those found in the MPS 3.0 Access Suite Console.



Citrix CCA MetaFrame Presentation Server 3. 0 and 4. 0 Exam CramT (Exams 223 and 256)
Citrix CCA MetaFrame Presentation Server 3. 0 and 4. 0 Exam CramT (Exams 223 and 256)
ISBN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2003
Pages: 199

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