What do we need for a Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (XenApp and XenDesktop) deployment?
I will be consolidating Citrix Delivery Controller, Storefront, and License Server into one VM since this is a lab environment. In a production environment, you would use 2 VMs for Citrix Delivery Controller (for High Availability – HA), two for Citrix Storefront, and one for the License Server. The VDA count depends on user size.
Using the same two VMs for Delivery Controller and Storefront is also viable.
In my lab, all the servers are housing Windows Server 2019 Datacenter.
First, download the ISO on citrix.com. You will need an account and if you don’t have any partnership with Citrix, it is very difficult to get those files. There is a form you can fill and all you can do afterward is hope that they give you the files. Otherwise, there is no way of getting them publicly.
After mounting the ISO Autoselect.exe can be run.
Select Virtual Apps and Desktops. Virtuals Apps would just publish single programs as apps.
Just in case you are wondering: Some obvious steps will not be shown.
We are installing all the features on the same server. Like I said, Delivery Controller and Director should be on one server, License Server on another, and Storefront on another. Storefront and Delivery Controller should have 2 VMs each for High Availability.
I am also using SQL Express on the same server. Normally you would use a dedicated instance on a separate database server.
The server will be restarted. You will need to mount the ISO again and select the target folder:
And after some time…
Our main tool is going to be Citrix Studio.
Make sure you a logged in with a domain user. Local users are not supported.
These parameters will be automatically populated if SQL Express is being used. If using a separate database server a script can be generated to create the databases and tables.
My license server is hosted on the same server.
A connection to VMware or Hyper-V can be made. I am using Azure.
I will select “Other Tools” this time, I’ll make a post about Citrix MCS another time.
Enter your Azure Subscription ID and any name and then select “Create New”.
You will log in to Azure AD. This process creates a new Service Principal in Azure AD that allows Citrix to start, stop, create, and delete VMs in Azure.
In your Subscription under Access control (IAM) you will see a new App Principal as a Contributor.
App-V and AppDNA is not our focus right now.
Here is the summary of my settings.
To deliver a desktop we need at least one server to connect to.
Run autoselect.exe inside the ISO again.
We are not creating a Master Image for MCS. The Delivery Group will have a catalog of one machine.
Citrix Workspace App is not needed. You can de-select it.
I did not select any additional components.
Add the Delivery Controller.
Enable both features
Leave Firewall Rules to automatic.
Prerequisites will be installed.
Server will restart twice.
This is a server with multiple users connecting to it.
Select the VM and the computer account.
Give it a name.
Select the Machine Catalog we just created
You should probably create a custom group to limit the users.
Add a new desktop and give it a name. I use “TreatAsApp” to show both Desktops and Apps in one tab.
Under Search, we can see if the server has successfully registered with the Delivery Controller.
Now the Desktop can be started through http://ctx01.company.lab/Citrix/StoreWeb/
Open Internet Information Services (IIS)
Create a self-signed certificate (I do not have Active Directory Certificate Services on my lab environment). I might do a post about that in the future.
Run through the wizard (easy).
Make sure you select the personal certificate store.
Add a new Binding on port 443.
Select the certificate you just signed.
Now both 80 and 443 are active:
Now HTTPS is being shown:
The storefront URL should be added to the Trusted Sites for pass-through authentication to function properly. Make sure to change “User Authentication” to “Automatic logon with current username and password”. The default setting is “Automatic logon only in Intranet Zone”
Also, configure pass-through authentication for Receiver for Web Sites.
Set this Site as default in IIS:
Storefront does not accept self-signed certificates, so an internal Certificate Authority is needed for SSL communication between Storefront and Delivery Controller.
That’s it! It was a long but very interesting post.
What is DNS over HTTPS ? Well it’s basically an encrypted way of querying DNS. Normally DNS uses port 53 to communicate with the server and query the name we want. But all of that traffic is in plain-text and thus it is very easy to poison that communication. DNS over HTTPS is secure because it uses certificates to encrypt traffic (just like HTTPS websites).
Mozilla Firefox makes it very easy to enable this feature. Just open the settings and search for “DNS over HTTPS”:
In the connection settings enable DNS over HTTPS. You could also add a custom provider. Here is a good list: https://github.com/curl/curl/wiki/DNS-over-HTTPS#publicly-available-servers
Microsoft Edge does not have a user-friendly way of activating the feature (yet).
In the edge://flags/ search for “DNS” and you will find the corresponding setting:
Unfortunately Microsoft Edge does not allow custom providers. Hopefully they will one day.
I was trying to enable Bitlocker on my C: drive, but unfortunately my PC does not have a physical TPM chip built-in. Turns out there is a way to enable Bitlocker Drive Encryption without the TPM chip with help of Group Policies.
Open Local Group Policies (gpedit.msc) > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Bitlocker Drive Encryption > Operating System Drives > Require additional authentication at starutp
Enable this Policy and leave the default settings.
Now in Windows Explorer, Bitlocker can be turned on:
Because there is no TPM chip available, we either have the option to enter a password every time the OS boots or unlock the drive with a USB flash drive.
There are a few options for saving the recovery key. If you save it to your Microsoft Account, it can be accessed on this Microsoft site: https://account.microsoft.com/devices/recoverykey
Select the first option if you just re-installed Windows.
New should be better right?
Your PC will be restarted.
At boot, this is the prompt you’ll get:
Don’t forget to secure your Bitlocker Recovery Key just in case something breaks. You’ll need that long string.
Links:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4530477/windows-10-finding-your-bitlocker-recovery-key
https://www.howtogeek.com/192894/how-to-set-up-bitlocker-encryption-on-windows/
I got tasked with installing a brand new Windows Server 2019 with the Remote Desktop Services (RDS) role. It was a pretty straightforward installation, but minor things might work differently compared to previous versions of Windows Server (I was migrating off Windows Server 2012 R2).
Start by adding the RDS role through Server Manager.
Select the RDS installation:
I went for the Quick Start because my deployment is fairly basic.
Session-based deployment enables multi-session support on the server.
The server should be automatically selected.
The three roles (RD Connection Broker, RD Web Access and RD Session Host) will be installed.
After the installation a license warning will be shown in the Notification Center.
Two things are needed in order for licensing to work properly: The license server and licensing mode.
In a production environment, usually there is a separate server hosting the RDS Licensing service.
Server Manager > Remote Desktop Services > Overview > Tasks > Edit Deployment properties
I had problems with the licensing mode not being applied properly. This registry key worked wonderfully though:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\RCM\Licensing Core
DWORD LicensingMode
4 = Per user
2 = Per Device
The license server can be also set through the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\TermService\Parameters\LicenseServers
REG_MULTI_SZ SpecifiedLicenseServers = license.ajni.lab
With RD Licensing Diagnoser you can check for potential errors (can be opened through Server Manager > Tools > Remote Desktop Services).
Now on to the last step: Create a custom device collection.
Server Manager > Remote Desktop Services > Collections > Tasks > Create Session Collection
This is also pretty straight forward stuff.
Make sure you select the server by moving it to the right with the arrow.
In a production environment a custom group should be used to control the number of permitted users.
User profile disks were not needed in my environment.
After the creation, there are some things that should be changed in the Collection properties (Server Manager > Remote Desktop Services > Collections > Collection Name):
These are my specific settings, you should change the parameters based on your experience or leave them at their default values.
Older clients might have problems with these security settings (like Network Level Authentication – NLA)
Do not forget to apply the changes.
Bonus:
If you have specific AD user attributes, like the home folder or program auto-start, they will not work because of changes made to RDS 2016/2019. You can read this article from Microsoft’s website: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3200967/changes-to-remote-connection-manager-in-windows-server
Following registry entries will tell the Remote Desktop Session Host (RDSH) to query AD DS for RDP profile settings:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Terminal Services
Name: fQueryUserConfigFromDC
Type: Reg_DWORD
Value: 1
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-tcp
Name: fQueryUserConfigFromDC
Type: Reg_DWORD