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

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

If you need to change a synced AD account with an Exchange Online mailbox into a cloud-only user, these are the steps you need to take:

Move the user to an OU that is not synced by AD Connect and run a delta sync on the AD Connect server (or wait for 30 minutes):

Start-ADSyncSyncCycle -PolicyType Delta

The mailbox is now in the "Soft deleted" state, which means that it is deleted but can be restored within 30 days. To view the soft deleted mailbox run this command:

Connect-ExchangeOnline

Get-Mailbox -SoftDeletedMailbox user@ajni.it | fl guid

Now link the deleted mailbox with the cloud-only user. The cloud-only user has already been created in my case. You will need to insert the user's password in order to proceed.

New-Mailbox -InactiveMailbox 7fb16ffd-cf3a-42ef-a9d3-e0293f5ef6c2 -Alias cloudOnlyUser -MicrosoftOnlineServicesID cloudOnlyUser@ajni.onmicrosoft.com

Afterwards you can either assign a license to the user or convert that mailbox into a shared mailbox which does not need a license.

Normally, with an Office 365 mailbox, you can only send mails with the primary email address. Sending from aliases was not allowed. Microsoft recently rolled out this feature which can be enabled through Exchange Online PowerShell:

Connect-ExchangeOnline

To view the current settings:

Get-OrganizationConfig | fl SendFromAlias*

To enable the feature:

Set-OrganizationConfig -SendFromAliasEnabled $true

To view the settings again:

Get-OrganizationConfig | fl SendFromAlias*

References:

https://lazyadmin.nl/office-365/send-from-alias/

If you ever need to copy NTFS permissions of a folder, there is a quick PowerShell one-liner that will save your day:

Get-Acl C:\SourceFolder| Set-Acl D:\DestinationFolder

Have fun!