Citrix XenDesktop 7.15- LTSR - Part 1

Explore how the delivery controller brokers user access to apps and virtual machines within a unified Citrix XenDesktop infrastructure, supported by storefront, machine creation services, provisioning services, and gateway components.

Explore the five-part XenDesktop course series that breaks down the major desktop infrastructure components, from delivery controller, hypervisor, and machine creation services to provisioning, store storefront, policies, profiles, and monitoring.

Explore the Citrix certifications track from CCP dashboard to CCE recertification and three exams that maximize your credentials in desktop virtualization for engineers and system administrators.

Outline prerequisites for XenDesktop deployment, covering type 1 and 2 virtualization, hypervisors, Windows Server and desktop basics, Active Directory, Group Policy, DNS, DHCP, Remote Desktop Services, and roaming profiles.

Compare XenDesktop and XenApp by contrasting Zen desktop as a superset delivering server and desktop catalogs via VDI, with Zenab focused on service delivery.

Build a Citrix XenDesktop 7.15 lab by provisioning a multi-VM infrastructure, including domain controller, file server, delivery controllers, storefronts, provisioning services, and a hypervisor.

Navigate virtual network infrastructure for nested virtualization, using a combined management and virtual machine network and a remote access network for gateway access, with ip planning for vms.

Explore the five layers of Citrix XenDesktop architecture and the log-on and desktop launch flow, with network, firewall, and hypervisor communications guiding high-availability delivery and user experience.

Identify the five layers of Citrix XenDesktop infrastructure—user, access, control, and resource layers—and how components like gateway, storefronts, delivery controller, license, director, and hypervisor fit.

Explain the end-to-end logon and desktop launch flow in Citrix XenDesktop, detailing how storefront, delivery controller, domain controller, and secure ticket authority authenticate users and present available resources.

Explore how delivery controllers attach to hosts through the management platform for different hypervisors, including ESX via v center and other hypervisors via witchel machine manager, in this lab.

Design high availability for Citrix XenDesktop 7.15 components, including delivery controllers, storefront, provisioning services, and SQL Server with always-on options. Assess licensing and NAT device considerations to support simultaneous users.

Explore the main delivery methods for virtual desktops, including all desktops, personal desktops, VM hosted apps, and hosted shared desktops/apps, with server OS and density considerations.

Explore installation prerequisites for Citrix XenDesktop 7.15-LTSR Part 1, covering delivery controller prerequisites, supported Windows server editions, required databases, and SQL Server deployment options.

Explain the local host cache (LHC) in Citrix XenDesktop, its role caching site content locally to maintain brokering when the site database is unavailable, and how to enable it.

Explore the three XenDesktop databases used by delivery control: the side database for configuration, the logging database for auditing changes, and the monitoring database for performance data.

Explore SQL permissions for XenDesktop site creation by generating six scripts for three databases, enabling database admin collaboration, and securely provisioning schemas and databases.

Maintain Citrix XenDesktop 7.15 LTSR compliance by upgrading all components to the exact LDS version and using the LDS assistant to verify versions and generate a compliance report.

Identify privileges required to integrate hypervisors with Citrix XenDesktop 7.15 LTSR, including administrator or delegated administrator rights, local security group membership, and VM and storage permissions.

Discuss ssl certificate requirements for Citrix XenDesktop components, replacing provisioning services with an active directory certificate services infrastructure and securing edge, storefront, delivery controller, and virtual machines.

Compare the user-device license model and the concurrent model for Citrix XenDesktop 7.15-LTSR, and learn planning and monitoring to avoid underuse and shortages.

Explore licensing options for Citrix XenDesktop 7.15–LTSR, including concurrent and user device models, Platinum Enterprise and VDI additions, provisioning services licenses, and remote desktop services client access licenses.

Install and configure the Citrix license server by mounting the license disk, applying the key, and completing the wizard, with firewall port rules and group policy considerations.

Explore how to manage Citrix licenses using the licensing manager and license administration console, configure license servers, import licenses, and monitor usage with alerts.

Learn to obtain and allocate Citrix licenses from mycitrix.com, generate a license file, import it into the licensable, and restart the licensing service to apply changes.

Install the active directory certificate services on the domain controller, configure the certificate authority, and enroll for certificates to obtain trusted credentials and a cleaner management interface.

Replace self-signed certificates by enrolling a trusted certificate via Active Directory, export the private key with OpenSSL, and deploy CRT and KEY to the Citrix licensing server.

Enroll a computer certificate on the delivery controller via the AD enrollment policy, set the private key exportable, and prepare for future interconnections with storefront.

Install delivery controller for xen desktop 7.15 ltsr, selecting components, configuring site database with sql, firewall exclusion settings, and completing the single-server installation with prerequisites included.

Create a XenDesktop site by launching Studio, connecting to the delivery controller, and using the site setup wizard to configure databases, licensing, and a production ready or empty test site.

Configure a second delivery controller by running the installer on the new machine, then use Citrix Studio to reconnect to the existing site and storefront, and update the database.

Add two XenServer hosts to XenCenter, configure their management network with DNS records, and review storage and network interfaces to enable centralized administration.

Configure a resource pool by creating it, adding servers, and consolidating memory and storage to enable sharing of running virtual machines, with later steps to move VMs if issues arise.

Configure an iSCSI shared storage target on the Windows file server, carve a LUN, add initiators, create a storage repository, and format the disk.

Configure nfc shared storage on file server one, create the nfc share on d drive, enable authentication and uid unmapped access, and map it to zen center repository at 192.168.1.60.

Create a shared ISO storage by configuring a Windows file server SMB/DFS share, assign domain user permissions, and attach storage repository in Zen Center to host ISO files for VMs.

Enable XenServer high availability by configuring the heartbeat storage repository and cluster setup, letting nodes heartbeat and manage vm restart priority, delete interval, and server failure limit.

Explore how to create virtual machines in Citrix XenDesktop, using machine creation services and provisioning services to build Windows 10 templates and diskless virtual machines streamed over the network.

Connect to the hypervisor via hosting resources, configure storage repositories with machine creation services, choose between shared and local storage, and set the VM network and IntelliCache.

Configure delegated administration using a rule-based access control model in desktop studio and Xen desktop, creating scopes and roles, mapping rules to machine catalogs and delivery groups, and generating reports.

Explore the configuration logging interface to track administrator actions, understand site changes, and generate custom reports such as Actimel or ICSE files for auditing.

Explore the licensing view in Citrix XenDesktop 7.15, review license utilization and expiration (including evaluation licenses), and manage licensing administrators from within the studio.

Map studio actions to their partial commands for automation with Windows PowerShell, via the partial view. Retrieve the licensable certificate, the effective license, and state permissions to guide automation.