Migrating the Citrix Site database to a new database server is pretty straight forward but needs to be planned since there is a downtime when making the switch.

First of all, take a backup of the database with SQL Server Management Studio and restore the database on the new server:

Select the file that has just been backed up.

Run a new query with CTRL + N and add the DDC’s (Delivery Controller) computer account:

create login [domain\ctx1$] from windows

Make sure the computer account has proper roles under Security > Logins > domain\ctx1$ > right click > properties (the computer account needs to have all permission ending with _ROLE in all three databases).

Step 1 is to remove the old database connection string:

Add-PSSnapin Citrix*
Set-LogSite -State Disabled
Set-MonitorConfiguration -DataCollectionEnabled $false
Set-LogDBConnection -DataStore Logging -DBConnection $null
Set-MonitorDBConnection -DataStore Monitor -DBConnection $null
Set-MonitorDBConnection -DBConnection $null
Set-AcctDBConnection -DBConnection $null
Set-AnalyticsDBConnection -DBConnection $null
Set-AppLibDBConnection -DBConnection $null
Set-ProvDBConnection -DBConnection $null
Set-BrokerDBConnection -DBConnection $null
Set-EnvTestDBConnection -DBConnection $null
Set-SfDBConnection -DBConnection $null
Set-HypDBConnection -DBConnection $null
Set-OrchDBConnection -DBConnection $null
Set-TrustDBConnection -DBConnection $null
Set-ConfigDBConnection -DBConnection $null -force
Set-LogDBConnection -DBConnection $null -force
Set-AdminDBConnection -DBConnection $null -force

Step 2 is to check whether you are able to connect to the new database server. If that does not work, the SQL Server Ports (UDP 1434 for SQL Server Browser and a high port for the SQL server instance) need to be enabled in Windows Firewall. You might also need to enable TCP/IP in SQL Server configuration manager if you are using SQL Server Express.

$SQLServer = “ctxdb\sqlexpress”
$SiteDBName = “citrixsite”
$DBConnectSite = “Server=$SQLServer;Initial Catalog=$SiteDBName;Integrated Security=True”
Test-AdminDBConnection -DBConnection $DBConnectSite
Test-AcctDBConnection -DBConnection $DBConnectSite
Test-AnalyticsDBConnection -DBConnection $DBConnectSite
Test-AppLibDBConnection -DBConnection $DBConnectSite
Test-BrokerDBConnection -DBConnection $DBConnectSite
Test-ConfigDBConnection -DBConnection $DBConnectSite
Test-EnvTestDBConnection -DBConnection $DBConnectSite
Test-HypDBConnection -DBConnection $DBConnectSite
Test-LogDBConnection -DBConnection $DBConnectSite
Test-MonitorDBConnection -DBConnection $DBConnectSite
Test-OrchDBConnection -DBConnection $DBConnectSite
Test-TrustDBConnection -DBConnection $DBConnectSite
Test-ProvDBConnection -DBConnection $DBConnectSite
Test-SfDBConnection -DBConnection $DBConnectSite

Step 3 is to set the new database connection string

Add-PSSnapin Citrix*
$SQLServer = “ctxdb\sqlexpress”
$SiteDBName = “CitrixSite”
$LogDBName = “CitrixLogging”
$MonDBName = “CitrixMonitoring”
$DBConnectSite = “Server=$SQLServer;Initial Catalog=$SiteDBName;Integrated Security=True”
$DBConnectLog = “Server=$SQLServer;Initial Catalog=$LogDBName;Integrated Security=True”
$DBConnectMon = “Server=$SQLServer;Initial Catalog=$MonDBName;Integrated Security=True”
Set-AdminDBConnection -DBConnection $DBConnectSite
Set-ConfigDBConnection -DBConnection $DBConnectSite
Set-AcctDBConnection -DBConnection $DBConnectSite
Set-AnalyticsDBConnection -DBConnection $DBConnectSite
Set-AppLibDBConnection -DBConnection $DBConnectSite
Set-ProvDBConnection -DBConnection $DBConnectSite
Set-BrokerDBConnection -DBConnection $DBConnectSite
Set-EnvTestDBConnection -DBConnection $DBConnectSite
Set-OrchDBConnection -DBConnection $DBConnectSite
Set-TrustDBConnection -DBConnection $DBConnectSite
Set-SfDBConnection -DBConnection $DBConnectSite
Set-HypDBConnection -DBConnection $DBConnectSite
Set-LogDBConnection -DBConnection $DBConnectSite
Set-LogDBConnection -DataStore Logging -DBConnection $DBConnectLog
Set-MonitorDBConnection -DBConnection $DBConnectSite
Set-MonitorDBConnection -DataStore Monitor -DBConnection $DBConnectMon
Set-MonitorConfiguration -DataCollectionEnabled $true
Set-LogSite -State Enabled

In Step 4 Citrix services need to be stopped and started (Do NOT use Restart-Service!)

Get-Service Citrix* | Stop-Service -Force
Get-Service Citrix* | Start-Service

Step 5: Check if are connections are OK

Get-AcctServiceStatus
Get-AdminServiceStatus
Get-AnalyticsServiceStatus
Get-AppLibServiceStatus
Get-BrokerServiceStatus
Get-ConfigServiceStatus
Get-EnvTestServiceStatus
Get-HypServiceStatus
Get-LogServiceStatus
Get-MonitorServiceStatus
Get-OrchServiceStatus
Get-TrustServiceStatus
Get-ProvServiceStatus
Get-SfServiceStatus

Optionally, you can check if the new connection string is configured for every service that needs the database.

Get-MonitorDBConnection
Get-AcctDBConnection
Get-AnalyticsDBConnection
Get-AppLibDBConnection
Get-ProvDBConnection
Get-BrokerDBConnection
Get-EnvTestDBConnection
Get-SfDBConnection
Get-HypDBConnection
Get-OrchDBConnection
Get-TrustDBConnection
Get-ConfigDBConnection
Get-LogDBConnection
Get-AdminDBConnection

References:

https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX280675

Having issues with printers or printer drivers messing up your server or client? Here are some tips that can make your day better.

First of all, stop the print spooler service. After that, you can delete the following key depending on the printer or driver you are trying to delete.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Printers

Inside these registry keys, you can delete drivers that are not deletable using printmanagement.msc or control panel

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows x64\Drivers\Version-3

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows x64\Drivers\Version-4

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Print\Environments\Windows NT x86\Drivers\Version-3

References:

https://www.winhelponline.com/blog/remove-old-printers-add-printer-list-windows-10/

If you are having problems with Windows Server 2012 Domain Controllers reboot looping, Microsoft just released a new security update (Jan 11th 2022) that causes those problems.

Here are the steps to uninstall the update:

1. Start your VM in safe mode
2. Uninstall Update Rollup KB5009624
3. Reboot your server
4. (optional) Check if critical services are up and running
5. For the moment disable automatic installation of updates until Microsoft releases a fix

References:

https://www.kiratas.com/security-updates-from-january-2022-with-massive-collateral-damage-in-windows/

If you ever wondered if there is a cooler or faster way to update a computer’s group membership without having to reboot: well there is. If you delete or “purge” the kerberos tickets on the machine and then perform a gpupdate, the client is going to retrieve a new kerberos ticket with the new group membership.

Here are the two (well, if have never heard of gpupdate /force):

klist -lh 0 -li 0x3e7 purge

gpupdate /force

References:

https://www.shellandco.net/update-computer-membership-without-reboot/

On the first day of a new year (for me it was the second day) Microsoft gave us a present to work on that affects Exchange servers. Affected systems could not send or receive mails, messages would get stuck in message queue with the error “Message deferred by categorizer agent”. Here are the two relevant event viewer entries:

The issue here is that the malware filter could not scan the message because of this error (it has to do with date time not fitting into 32 bit integers anymore) and the message would not get sent to the recipient. To temporarily resolve the issue, you can disable antimalware.

Open PowerShell as admin.

& “$env:ExchangeInstallPath\Scripts\Disable-AntimalwareScanning.ps1”

Restart MS Exchange Transport Service

Restart-Service MSExchangeTransport

References:

https://www.itwriting.com/blog/11910-exchange-emails-stuck-in-queue-because-message-deferred-by-categorizer-agent-happy-new-year-admins.html