The Components of MetaFrame Presentation Server 3.0, Enterprise Edition

The Components of MetaFrame Presentation Server 3.0, Enterprise Edition

Figure 1.1 shows the topmost view of the main components of the MPS 3.0 environment, each of which we introduce in this chapter. When discussing each of these components, we provide a reference to the specific chapter where you can find more detailed review information.

Figure 1.1. Topmost component view of the MPS 3.0 environment.

MetaFrame Presentation Server Platform Solutions

Even though exam 223 focuses on the administration of the Enterprise Edition of MPS, you still need to understand and identify the components supported by the different MPS 3.0 platform solutions available from Citrix. As shown in Figure 1.1, three platform solutions are currently available:

• Standard Edition The Standard Edition of MPS 3.0 is targeted specifically at departments, workgroups, and small organizations that want to utilize MPS to deliver remote access to Windows 2000 Server or Windows Server 2003 from any supported client device. The Standard Edition is targeted at those organizations that require only one or two MetaFrame servers and do not require more advanced features such as resource-based load balancing.

• Advanced Edition The Advanced Edition provides all the features found in the Standard Edition as well as additional scalability and administration features such as CPU prioritization, resource-based load balancing, smooth roaming, and application performance controls.

• Enterprise Edition The Enterprise Edition includes all the features found in the Standard and Advanced Editions and includes additional enterprise-scale functionality, including zone preference and failover configuration, system analysis and monitoring, network management, and application packaging and delivery.

As we discuss the details of the various components throughout this book, we note those features available only in certain platform solutions. Citrix provides a summary of the features by platform edition in a comparative matrix that is available on their MetaFrame Presentation Server home page. The direct URL is http://www.citrix.com/site/resources/dynamic/saledocs/CitrixPresentationServer40ComparativeMatrix04AUG2005.pdf

You can also reach the MPS home page by selecting Citrix Presentation Server from the Products/Product QuickFinder menu on the Citrix home page (www.citrix.com).

MetaFrame Access Suite Licensing

One significant change from earlier versions of MetaFrame is the new licensing infrastructure known as MetaFrame Access Suite Licensing (MASL). Citrix created MASL with the intention of using it as the new model for centralized licensing across the entire suite of applications that comprise the new 3.0 version of the MetaFrame Access Suite. MetaFrame Presentation Server 3.0 and MetaFrame Conferencing Manager (MCM) 3.0 are currently the only products supporting this licensing model.

With the introduction of the MASL model, the licensing component of MetaFrame is no longer coupled with the core MetaFrame software, as was the case in previous MetaFrame versions. Management of the licensing is now completely separate from all other aspects of the MPS environment.

Alert

The new MetaFrame Access Suite Licensing system is an essential part of the MetaFrame Presentation Server 3.0 environment and, as such, is also weighted rather heavily on the exam. Approximately 11% of the questions on the exam deal with MASL in one way or another, so understanding the material summarized here and presented in more detail in Chapter 4, "Installing and Managing MetaFrame Access Suite Licensing," is essential to being properly prepared for the exam.

As part of a MetaFrame implementation, a server in the environment is chosen to host the MASL software and, as a consequence, becomes responsible for storing and issuing licenses when requested by a supported access suite application. Figure 1.2 demonstrates a pair of MPS 3.0 server farms, each with multiple MetaFrame servers, connecting to a single, separate server designated as the MetaFrame Access Suite License server. When a MetaFrame server first starts up, it looks to the license server to "check out" a special startup license. If this checkout is successful, the MetaFrame server establishes a continuous connection with the license server. When the connection exists, the MetaFrame server can send license issuance and revocation requests to the license server. License issuance and revocation details are discussed in Chapter 4.

Figure 1.2. An MPS 3.0 environment with a single standalone MetaFrame Access Suite License server.

The following points summarize the key components and features of MASL reviewed in detail in Chapter 4:

• Shared or dedicated license server deployment A shared license server combines the MASL software and MetaFrame Presentation Server (or another MetaFrame Access Suite product) onto one server. Other software, such as the Terminal Services licensing service, may or may not reside on the server. A dedicated license server runs only the MASL software and does not share resources with any other softwarein particular, MPS 3.0.

  Citrix recommends deploying a shared license server configuration only in those environments with 50 or fewer MetaFrame servers. Between 50 and 500 servers, Citrix recommends a single dedicated license server, and for environments with more than 500 servers, a dedicated license server should be implemented for each type of MetaFrame Access Suite product being deployed. So, for example, if you deploy both MPS 3.0 and MCM 3.0 servers, you would have two dedicated license servers, one for each product type.

• Centralized license activation and management Licenses are no longer entered and activated within the Management Console for MPS (as they were in MetaFrame XP). Licenses are now activated and managed completely within the online Citrix Activation System (CAS), found through the My Citrix web portal (http://www.mycitrix.com). When you activate a license, a license file is generated; you must download and store that file directly on the license server. The contents of this file are then read to determine what types of licenses and their quantity are available. Copies of the license file can be retrieved from Citrix at any time without requiring that the licenses be reactivated.

  License files are generated for a specific license server and cannot be directly copied from one license server to another. During the license activation process, you are required to provide the exact name of the license server. This name is case sensitive. The CAS does allow for license files to be "returned" and reissued. This then results in the generation of a new license file that is then deployed to the new license server.

• License server management An MASL server can be managed in two ways: either through a web-based management console, as shown in Figure 1.3, or using a set of command-line tools, which are commonly referred to as License Administration Commands. You can perform basic administration using either method, but advanced report and alert capabilities are available only through the web-based console. The web-based console requires that Internet Information Server (IIS) 5.0 or greater be installed on the server prior to installation of MASL.

  Figure 1.3. One way to manage a MetaFrame license server is through the web-based management console.

  

The specific commands will be discussed in Chapter 4.

• Cross-farm license sharing support As Figure 1.2 illustrates, multiple distinct server farms can now share licenses through a single license server. When directed to the appropriate license server through the Management Console for MetaFrame Presentation Server, MetaFrame servers within a farm retrieve license information without any knowledge of other farms that may also be sharing the same license information.

  One advantage of this configuration is that a client device can connect to multiple farms yet consume only a single license. Cross-farm license pooling is supported only with MPS 3.0 servers. Previous MetaFrame editions cannot leverage this cross-farm pooling. To leverage cross-farm license pooling, you need only to direct each farm or individual servers in the farms to the central license server.

• No license support for previous MetaFrame versions The new MASL infrastructure is not backward compatible with previous MetaFrame versions. For example, if a mixture of MetaFrame XP and MPS 3.0 servers exist in the same environment, an MASL server must be used for MPS 3.0 licensing, while the MetaFrame XP servers continue to use their existing XP licensing.

• Licensing is now time based and not version based MetaFrame licenses are now valid for the length of the current subscription advantage period. When the subscription advantage expires, so does the license file, at which time the subscription must be renewed and a new license file downloaded. Until the current license expires , upgrades to the existing MPS software would not require any changes to the product licensing, unless, of course, you moved to a new product feature set (Advanced to Enterprise, for example).

• It is recommended that MASL be installed and configured prior to installing MPS 3.0 MPS 3.0 requires the presence of a properly configured MASL server to provide basic functionality and must be able to retrieve the necessary license information before nonadministrators can access the environment beyond a brief grace period.

• Limited grace period for nonadministrative users Until a valid MASL server exists with the necessary license files, only two nonadministrative user connections are granted a temporary license. These temporary licenses are valid for only 96 hours (4 days). After this time, these licenses expire and the users can no longer access the MetaFrame server until a valid license file has been added to the MASL server.

  Administrative users are not subject to this grace period and can connect indefinitely even if a valid license file does not exist.

• Extended grace period in the event of MASL server failure Originally, Citrix imposed the same 96-hour grace period limit for user connections in the event of an MASL server failure in a production environment. It was later decided that such a brief period was not acceptable and the time interval was increased to 30 days. This increase applies only to an existing license server that fails. The 96- hour limit for new installations with no license server remains unchanged.

• Backup server support MASL does not currently support pooling of licenses between multiple license servers, nor does it allow a farm or individual MetaFrame server to reference more than a single license server. Because of this, a failover solution would require that a second server remain on standby or be available for recovery from a disk image if the current production server should fail. One alternative solution is to utilize Microsoft clustering. Citrix supports the use of Microsoft clustering to provide a redundant MASL server solution.

• Administrative delegation and control MASL provides some basic administrative delegation settings. MASL grants access on a per-user basis, and any combination of four access rights can be granted. Figure 1.4 shows the access options available. Current Usage grants access to view the current license usage, and Historical Usage allows the user to run reports based on archived usage data. The Configuration setting controls access to modifying the license server configuration, and User Administration dictates who can add, delete, or modify the list of users authorized to access the license server. Access is based on the user's Windows domain account.

  Figure 1.4. MASL provides basic administrative delegation settings.

  

Core MetaFrame Presentation Server Software

All platform versions of MetaFrame Presentation Server share the same core software set. This software is broken down into two categories: administrative tools and management consoles. Eight applications make up the administrative tools set and two management consoles. The administrative tools are as follows :

• Citrix Connection Configuration (CCC) Tool The CCC tool is Citrix's main utility for managing the connection settings for the MetaFrame server. As Figure 1.5 shows, you can manage the settings for both Citrix's Independent Computing Architecture (ICA) and Microsoft's Remote Desktop (RDP) protocols. The majority of the settings within the CCC can also be configured using Microsoft's Terminal Services Configuration tool, but a couple of settings are unique to the CCC, which is the reason this tool is still maintained . One important security setting allows you to restrict users to be able to access the MetaFrame server only through a published application. This prevents them from establishing a direct connection to a server using the ICA or RDP clients , depending on how the protocols have been configured. You can find a more detailed description of the CCC tool in Chapter 6, "Configuring and Administering MetaFrame Presentation Servers."

  Figure 1.5. Citrix provides its own tool for managing server connections: the Citrix Connection Configuration utility.

  

• SSL Relay Configuration Tool When access to a MetaFrame environment has been provided through the Web Interface for MPS, communications between the web server and the MetaFrame servers can be secured using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Before this communication can be initiated, the SSL Relay must be properly configured using this tool. Through this tool, you define the appropriate certificate that will be presented when requested by the web server to initiate the SSL connection. You can find details on the configuration of this tool and certificates in Chapter 14, "Web Connectivity to the MetaFrame Server Farm."

• ICA Client Distribution Wizard This tool serves two purposes. First, it updates the various ICA client image files and the update database for the ICA Client Update utility on the MetaFrame server. These files are used to automate the upgrading of the ICA client on the various client devices that support this feature. Second, this tool upgrades the ICA Pass-Through client installed on the MetaFrame server. The Pass-Through client is responsible for allowing published applications hosted on one MetaFrame server to be run from the desktop of another MetaFrame server. The seamless integration of applications from various servers and farms is one of the flexible benefits of running MetaFrame. All aspects of the client configuration, including the Distribution Wizard, are described in Chapter 13, "Citrix ICA Sessions and Client Configuration."

• ICA Client Printer Configuration The primary purpose of this utility is to allow clients who connect to the MetaFrame server using either the ICA Clients for DOS or Windows CE to be able to establish connections with local printers. This tool is designed to be run by the user, allowing him or her to select and connect to any of the available listed printers. This tool can be used by anyone running a supported ICA client, but it was created specifically for DOS and Windows CE-based clients. You can find details on the ICA Client Printer Configuration, along with other printer-specific MetaFrame information, in Chapter 12, "MetaFrame Presentation Server Printing Support."

• ICA Client Update Configuration Figure 1.6 shows the main window for this utility, which shows the details for the available ICA clients. The latest client deployment files corresponding to the various ICA clients that can be automatically updated are shown here. By manipulating the properties in this tool, you can determine which clients are updated and under what circumstances. The client images are updated using the ICA Client Distribution Wizard discussed earlier in this list. The ICA Client Update Configuration utility is reviewed in Chapter 13.

  Figure 1.6. Using the ICA Client Update Configuration utility, you can control what supported ICA clients are automatically updated.

  

• ICA Toolbar This simple management toolbar appears by default down the right side of the desktop for any administrator who logs on to a MetaFrame server; it provides a means of quickly launching the other seven administrative tools and two management consoles discussed here. Additional applications can be added to the toolbar to expand its functionality. It can also be completely disabled for those administrators who prefer not to use it.

• Shadow Taskbar The Shadow Taskbar enables an administrator to centrally manage multiple simultaneous user shadow sessions. Traditionally, shadowing another user's session either from a command prompt or through the Management Console suspends your current session, preventing you from moving between your desktop and the shadowed session without having to terminate and re-establish the shadow session. The Shadow Taskbar allows you to manage multiple concurrent shadow sessions by establishing a new MetaFrame session specifically for shadowing. One drawback to this technique is the time required to load the session to shadow and the extra server resources consumed. The use of the Shadow Taskbar is discussed in Chapter 6.

• SpeedScreen Latency Reduction Manager The final tool in this list, the SpeedScreen Latency Reduction Manager, allows you to specifically define the thresholds at which MetaFrame's SpeedScreen Latency Reduction features are automatically enabled or disabled. In addition to these thresholds, you can also set the default behavior for text echoing and mouse-click feedback on a per-server basis. Text echoing functionality can also be configured on a per-application basis if desired. SpeedScreen Latency Reduction settings are also discussed in Chapter 6.

In addition to the eight administrative tools, the following two management consoles are available:

• Management Console for MetaFrame Presentation Server The single-most important configuration tool in the MPS 3.0 environment, the Management Console for MPS, is the centralized source for defining the majority of settings for both the server farm and the servers within that farm. Figure 1.7 shows the main window of the Management Console that appears when the application first loads. You can see the various management nodes in the left pane, each of which is used to configure or manage a certain portion of the MetaFrame environment. The specific nodes available within the Management Console depend on the MetaFrame edition being used.

  Figure 1.7. The Management Console is the main configuration and management tool for MetaFrame Presentation Server 3.0.

  

Note

The Management Console is also referred to as the Presentation Server Console.

Using the properties of the parent server farm node, labeled as NRSC Farm in Figure 1.7, you can manage the farm-wide settings that affect all servers and users in the farm. For example, the license server for the farm is defined here as well as the current server farm zones and MetaFrame 1.8 interoperability settings. Many farm-wide properties can be overridden on a server-by-server basis. Farm and server settings are discussed in Chapter 6.

In the Applications node, published applications and content are created and monitored. This is also the place where you can configure applications to be monitored by the Resource Manager to limit total concurrent instances. Application publishing is covered in Chapter 10, "Application Integration," while resource management is discussed in Chapter 15, "Managing and Monitoring Using Resource Manager."

The delegation of administrative access to the MetaFrame farm via the Management Console is performed under the MetaFrame Administrators node. Access is broken down into different privilege levels for each of the nodes present. For example, you can define what access rights an individual administrator has on the Policies node. Access delegation is briefly reviewed in Chapter 6.

From within the Installation Manager node, you manage the deployment of software packages to your MetaFrame servers. These packages can include full applications, service packs , hotfixes, or even individual files. The details of using Installation Manager are discussed in Chapter 11. Installation Manager is available only with the Enterprise Edition of MPS.

The Load Evaluators node is the place where you create and modify the different load evaluators that can be utilized by the Load Manager. From this node, you can also access a usage report that tells you what servers or applications are associated with what load evaluator . The two standard evaluators, Advanced and Default, are read-only and cannot be modified or deleted. You can use copies of these evaluators when creating your own. Load evaluators for individual servers or applications can be modified from this screen. The Load Manager component is available with the Advanced and Enterprise Editions of MPS.

Under the Policies node, you can manage the MPS 3.0 policies that you define for your farm. Much like the group policies for a Windows Active Directory domain, the MPS policies allow you to manage many of the client session and connection-specific settings of your farm. Instead of being forced to define the same settings for all users on a MetaFrame server, through policies you can control the behavior of certain settings based on any combination of

• Client IP address (individual addresses or a range)

• ICA client name

• MetaFrame server name

• User ID or group membership

One powerful option managed through MPS policies is the Zone Preference and Failover setting. When a farm contains more than one zone, you can use this option to define which zone should be the preferred zone and which ones should be failover zones for specific groups of MPS clients. MPS policies are discussed in detail in Chapter 7, "MetaFrame Presentation Server Policy Management."

The Printer Management node is the place where all the printer driver and autocreated network queue management is performed. If your task is somehow printer related , you are likely to find what you need within this node. The Import Network Print Server dialog box, shown in Figure 1.8, allows you to import the shared printers from a particular print server and then configure them to automatically map for users when they log on to a MetaFrame server in the farm. Chapter 12 discusses the relevant printing features that you need to understand for this exam.

Figure 1.8. One feature of Printer Management allows you to import print queues from a print server and automatically have users connect to those printers based on their group membership.

Note

Printing is one area that often is not implemented properly. To ensure that this is not the case, Citrix has dedicated 13% of the 223 exam to material on printing.

Under the Resource Manager node, you can find the suite of tools for configuring, logging, and reporting on the resources of one or more MetaFrame servers in your farm. The information collected is referred to as a metric , and a wide variety of system and network metrics are tracked, allowing an administrator to monitor and analyze all aspects of the environment. These tracked metrics not only can be valuable when resolving issues in the environment, but can also provide insight into areas of the infrastructure that should be targeted for future growth. The Resource Manager, which is available only with the Enterprise Edition of MPS, is discussed in Chapter 15.

The final node in the Management Console is the Servers node, which as expected is the container for all server objects in the farm. Within this node, you can view a wide assortment of server-related information, as well as define numerous settings, many of which are inherited from the same settings defined at the farm level. Figure 1.9 shows the tabs present when selecting a MetaFrame server farm. Whereas some tabs such as Installed Packages, Load Manager Monitor, Printers, and Printer Drivers provide access to read-only information, other tabs such as Users or Resource Manager allow you to define settings and interact with the information displayed. The Users tab in the Servers node is often used to initiate a shadow session with a user when attempting to assist the user with an application or session-related problem. Most of the information pertaining to the Servers node is discussed in Chapter 6, although certain pieces, such as the Installed Packages and Resource Manager tabs, are covered in Chapters 11 and 15, respectively.

Figure 1.9. Using the Servers node, you can view and configure information related to the MetaFrame servers in your farm.

• Access Suite Console The MetaFrame Access Suite Console is intended to become the central location where you manage your MetaFrame Access Suite deployment. All the applications that make up the suite (MetaFrame Presentation Server, Secure Access Manager, Conferencing Manager, Password Manager) are accessible from this console. At present, only Presentation Server and Conferencing Manager are part of the new Access Suite, and only Presentation Server is currently supported within this Access Suite Console. The Access Suite Console is discussed briefly in Chapter 6.

The Web Interface for MetaFrame Presentation Server

The Web Interface for MPS is composed of a number of components that work together to provide users with access to their list of published applications either through a web browser, as shown in Figure 1.10, or in conjunction with the Program Neighborhood Agent (PNAgent). The PNAgent is a special MPS client discussed in Chapter 13.

Figure 1.10. When explicit logons are required (not anonymous logons ), the main Web Interface page prompts the user to provide authentication information before published applications are displayed.

Figure 1.10 shows the main logon page for the Web Interface. After a user has been properly authenticated, he or she is presented with a new web page that contains links to the published applications to which he or she has been granted access (see Figure 1.11). Regardless of whether a user is going to be accessing a published application through the Web Interface or through any other MPS client, the applications are configured exactly the same way. That is, no special setup must be done on the MetaFrame server to make a published application accessible via the Web Interface. Chapter 14 discusses the configuration and use of the Web Interface, including the security concerns that need to be addressed before putting the Web Interface into production.

Figure 1.11. After an application has been published in the farm, it is accessible to authorized users regardless of whether they're using a traditional client or the Web Interface.

Citrix Secure Gateway

Although the Web Interface provides a convenient and robust method for users to access their published applications, making such a configuration available via the Internet brings with it some serious security concerns. Figure 1.12 illustrates one possible Web Interface configuration accessible from the Internet. The server hosting the Web Interface is located in a demilitarized zone (DMZ), while the MetaFrame servers that will be accessed are located inside the internal network of the company. HTTPS has been implemented for connectivity to the Web Interface to ensure that user credentials are passed safely. SSL/TLS encryption is also used to secure communications between the Web Interface and the internal MetaFrame servers. This is configured using the SSL Relay Configuration tool discussed earlier in this chapter.

Figure 1.12. The Web Interface on its own would require opening firewall ports directly through to the internal network.

Note

The term DMZ (for demilitarized zone ) is used to describe a network typically located between a secure internal network and an unsecure external network (typically the Internet). Devices in a DMZ are configured with very restricted access into the internal network, limiting the internal network's vulnerability should the DMZ-based device's security become compromised.

Next to the two firewalls shown in Figure 1.12 are listed the port numbers that must be open for external users to be able to access their desired published applications. One point of concern is the fact that ports must be open, allowing direct access from the Internet through to the internal MetaFrame servers. This Web Interface configuration would allow an Internet user who knew an external IP address and the open port to pull up the Windows logon screen for one of these servers, bypassing completely the Web Interface.

Citrix developed the Secure Gateway product to provide two main services:

• Act as a single point of access into a MetaFrame server farm, facilitating authentication in conjunction with the Web Interface.

• Encapsulate the communications between the MPS client and the internal MetaFrame servers via the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) or Transport Layer Security (TLS) security protocol.

Figure 1.13 shows the same Web Interface environment, this time with a Secure Gateway implementation. The only external port open is SSL/TLS port 443, and external clients no longer have direct access through to a specific MetaFrame server. Because the Secure Gateway brokers connectivity between the client and the MetaFrame server, direct communication from the client to the server is not possible without first going through the Secure Gateway. In Figure 1.13, the Web Interface and the Secure Gateway are configured on the same server. This is a fully supported and common deployment although these services can be deployed on separate servers if desired. Implementation of the Web Interface and Secure Gateway is discussed in Chapter 14.

Figure 1.13. The Citrix Secure Gateway encapsulates all communications using the SSL or TLS security protocols and ensures that only clients properly authenticated can even access the MetaFrame servers on the secured network.

Citrix Load Manager

Included as part of the Advanced and Enterprise Editions of MPS, Citrix Load Manager comes preconfigured with basic settings that allow it to be used without the need for any special configuration by an administrator. The relative load of a MetaFrame server is calculated based on the settings of a load evaluator. As we mentioned briefly when discussing the settings in the Management Console, a load evaluator is simply an object with a particular set of defined criteria that dictate how MetaFrame should calculate the load of the server. Two evaluators are included with the Load Manager.

The Default evaluator determines the load based solely on the number of users accessing a specific published application on the server. The server is determined to be fully loaded when the number of concurrent users reaches a predetermined number. The default number for reaching full load is 100. If you want to modify this value, you need to create a custom evaluator. You cannot modify either of the evaluators included with MPS. The Default evaluator is automatically assigned to a server when MPS 3.0 Advanced or Enterprise Edition is installed.

The other evaluator included with MPS is the Advanced evaluator. It determines the load for an application based on the CPU utilization, memory usage, and page swaps. Each rule is evaluated to determine what the current load reported by the server should be. The cumulative results reported by all the listed evaluators are used to determine the load of the server. For example, the server reports full load only when all evaluators report full load. Figure 1.14 shows the properties for the Advanced evaluator. The rules that can be used are listed down the left side of the dialog box; each of these rules is discussed further in Chapter 8, "Citrix Load Management."

Figure 1.14. A load evaluator for Citrix Load Manager includes a number of rules that you can use to best configure load balancing for the published applications in your environment.

When a client device attempts to connect to a published application, the server with the lowest reported load is automatically provided to the client device as the target server from which to access the published application. If all available servers publishing a particular application report 100% load, the client is unable to connect to the application.

Alert

The new Citrix Load Manager in MPS 3.0 is not compatible with MetaFrame 1.8 servers when operating in a mixed mode environment. In a mixed mode environment, the only load balancing support available is through the Load Balancing Services included with MetaFrame 1.8.

Citrix Resource Manager

Citrix's Resource Manager component, available with the Enterprise Edition of MPS, allows an administrator to log and report on the resources of one or more MetaFrame servers in a server farm. The functionality of the Resource Manager can be broken down into three broad categories:

• Real-time monitoring The Resource Manager allows you to view what is happening with one or more systems in real-time.

• Current and historical report generation With the Resource Manager, you can generate reports both on real-time and historical data, which can then be used to resolve environmental issues or plan for future infrastructure growth.

• Bill report generation The Resource Manager allows you to track usage of various system resources on a per-user basis and then generate billing reports that can be used to charge by system resource use. The appropriate costs associated with the system resources are defined by an administrator.

Information, whether it is being tracked in real-time or logged for historical or billing report generation, is known as a server metric. Metrics are fully customizable, allowing an administrator to tailor the Resource Manager configuration to suite his or her needs. When the Resource Manager is installed, it automatically defines a set of metrics used to track information. For each metric, a default limit is also configured; this limit is used to raise alarms to alert you when a potential problem is occurring. For each alarm that can be raised, customizable alerts can be created, allowing an administrator to be informed of an alarm regardless of where he or she may be.

One way to view the list of metrics defined for a server is through the Management Console. This is achieved by highlighting a server and selecting the Resource Manager tab, as shown in Figure 1.15. The current status is listed beside each metric, and from here, you can view real-time graph information on a particular metric or view the configuration for the metric by right-clicking and selecting Properties. Each of these three main areas is discussed in Chapter 15.

Figure 1.15. Metrics are tracked by the Resource Manager, and alarms can be generated based on threshold criteria defined for each metric.

Installation Manager

Citrix's Installation Manager centralizes the task of software deployment in a MetaFrame server farm, allowing you to rapidly and reliably push out a wide variety of software components (applications, software patches, service packs, and so on) without having to repeat the installation steps on each server in your farm.

Software, regardless of the particular type, is bundled into what is known as a software package. This software package is then delivered to the target MetaFrame server, where it is extracted and installed. Citrix allows great flexibility in exactly how these packages are delivered and how a server processes a particular package it receives.

The Installation Manager is composed of four components:

• Package Management Server This component is nothing more than an MPS 3.0 Enterprise Edition server running the Management Console for MPS. Earlier in the chapter, we described the Management Console and the Installation Manager node. Through the Management Console, you can schedule and view package deployment jobs. There are no restrictions on what server must be used to manage the Installation Manager. It can be any server in the farm, including a server that is being updated with a particular package (Target Server).

• Network Share Point Server The application packages themselves are hosted through a standard file share on one or more Windows servers. Multiple different share points can be used if desired to localize the source of the application package for MetaFrame servers located in different physical locations.

  There is no limitation on what type of server should act as the network share point server, and for small environments, even the Package Management Server itself can host the application packages.

• Package Server (optional) When you're creating your own custom packages using the Packager tool provided with the Installation Manager, a MetaFrame server in the farm is chosen to be the Package Server. The Packager, a tool used to create ADF packages, is a special tool that "records" the changes made to the server during the installation of an application and saves them in the ADF file to allow the duplication of these changes on a target server.

  Citrix recommends that the MetaFrame server chosen to be the Package server be dedicated to the creation of packages only, and not used to service standard user sessions. The reason for this is to ensure that the server remains in "pristine" condition, minimizing the amount of extraneous information that may find its way into the package during the package's creation.

• Target Server(s) Any MPS 3.0 Enterprise Edition server that has the Installation Management Installer Service running can be chosen as a target server. When a target server receives the request to install a particular package, it looks to the appropriate Network Share Point Server to install that package.

The configuration and use of each of these components of the Installation Manager are discussed in Chapter 11.

Legacy MetaFrame 1.8 Server Farm Support

An important consideration for many MetaFrame administrators is the ability to slowly transition an existing MetaFrame 1.8 environment over to a new MPS 3.0 environment. To facilitate this migration process, Citrix allows an MPS 3.0 server farm to operate in one of two modes:

• Native mode This is the default mode for a new MPS installation and allows only MetaFrame XP 1.0 or higher servers to be members of the server farm. When operating in this mode, the MPS 3.0 server farm operates completely independent of any MetaFrame (MF) 1.8 server farms that may exist.

• Mixed mode Mixed mode operation provides backward compatibility with MetaFrame 1.8, allowing for the transparent introduction of MPS 3.0 servers into an existing 1.8 server farm. Mixed mode is also referred to as interoperability mode. You enable interoperability mode by selecting the Interoperability option under Server Farm properties, as shown in Figure 1.16. Once enabled, MPS 3.0 servers appear as MF 1.8 servers to the other servers in the 1.8 farm. When interoperability is enabled, all existing 1.8 servers are forced to restart their ICA Browser and Program Neighborhood (PN) Services. During this time, new user connections are not serviced. Because of this, it is highly recommended that interoperability be enabled during off-peak hours to minimize the impact to the users.

  Figure 1.16. Interoperability mode is enabled or disabled at any time from within the properties of the server farm.

  

  When an MPS 3.0 server is running in mixed mode, you will see that the ICA Browser service is available and started. If it is subsequently switched to native mode, this service is stopped and removed from the service list.

Note

Citrix recommends that you upgrade all your MetaFrame 1.8 servers to the latest available service pack (Service Pack 4) prior to enabling interoperability mode.

Alert

Implementing interoperability mode is not the only solution for migrating from a MetaFrame 1.8 environment to MPS 3.0. Citrix's recommended solution is to implement a new MPS 3.0 farm and then migrate servers from the 1.8 environment to this new farm. Details on both options are covered in Chapter 6.

Certain limitations do exist when MPS 3.0 servers are functioning in interoperability mode. These limitations are as follows:

• Licensing must be maintained for both environments. A user connecting to a 1.8 server consumes a 1.8 license, whereas a connection to an MPS 3.0 server consumes a 3.0 license. MF 1.8 servers cannot use the new MetaFrame Access Suite Licensing server.

• Although published application maintenance does work, Citrix strongly recommends that changes not be made to the configuration of existing published applications until all servers have been migrated to MPS 3.0 and interoperability is turned off.

• Any packages deployed using previous versions of the Installation Manager cannot be uninstalled using the new version supplied with MPS 3.0.

• Maintaining mixed mode support allows existing clients to possibly continue connecting to the environment using UDP broadcasts. This method of server location is not supported by default in an MPS 3.0 environment. Unless this option is explicitly enabled or clients are updated with new server location settings, such as TCP/IP+HTTP, after interoperability is deactivated, these users can no longer connect to the environment.

• While operating in mixed mode, users should not use the user-principal naming (UPN) method for logging on. The UPN format looks similar to an email address (<user name>@<domain name>). If a UPN name is used, authentication with an MF 1.8 server fails because these servers do not support logons with UPNs.

Interoperability is a powerful tool that can assist in the migration of an existing MetaFrame 1.8 environment. It is intended to be used only as a migration mechanism and not as a permanent implementation method.