Managing Your Desktop Delivery Controller Deployment
Overview
This section describes how to carry out the following tasks:
• Putting desktops into maintenance mode.
• Managing sessions. You can view, disconnect, and log off sessions. You can also send messages to users.
• Manually controlling VMs.
• Migrating controllers to other farms.
• Migrating desktops to other farms.
• Updating license server settings.
The details of all these tasks are described in the following topics. Other general management tasks, such as configuring connections and securing farms, are described in detail in the Citrix Presentation Server Administrator’s Guide.
Putting Desktops into Maintenance Mode
If you want to temporarily stop connections to a desktop so that maintenance tasks can be carried out, you can put the desktop into maintenance mode. If the desktop is in a group that uses the idle pool settings, note that it will be entirely under manual control until you take it out of maintenance mode again.
To put a desktop into maintenance mode
1. Select the relevant desktop group.
2. Select the Virtual Desktops view so that all the desktops for that group are listed.
3. Select the relevant desktop.
4. From the task pane, select Enable maintenance mode.
No user can now log on to that desktop. If a user is logged on when you select maintenance mode, maintenance mode takes effect as soon as that user logs off. If a user tries to connect to an assigned desktop while it is in maintenance mode, a message appears telling them that the desktop is currently unavailable and to try reconnecting.
When a desktop is in maintenance mode, the Disable maintenance mode task becomes available. To take a desktop out of maintenance mode, select the desktop, then select Disable maintenance mode.
Managing Sessions
To view sessions for a desktop group
1. Select the relevant desktop group in the console tree.
2. Select the Virtual Desktops In Use view.
To view all sessions for a particular user
1. From the Search options in the tasks pane, select Advanced search.
The Advanced Search dialog box appears.
2. From the Find list, select Session by user.
3. Type the user name.
4. Select the relevant node of the console tree (for example, Desktop Groups).
5. Click Search.
To disconnect or log off a session
1. From the Virtual Desktops In Use view, select the session.
2. From the task pane, select Disconnect or Logoff respectively.
If you log off a session, it closes and the desktop becomes available to other users, unless it is assigned to a specific user.
If you disconnect a session, the user’s applications continue to run and the desktop remains assigned to that user. If the user reconnects, the same desktop is assigned. You can configure a time-out to ensure that disconnected sessions are logged off automatically after a certain number of minutes; for further information about this, see “Configuring Connection Timers”
To send a message to users
1. From the task pane, select Send message.
2. In the dialog box that appears, type your message, then click OK to send the message to all selected users.
Manually Controlling Virtual Machines
For VM-based desktop groups, you can manually control VMs through the Access Management Console.
To start virtual machines
1. Select the relevant desktop group in the console tree.
2. From the Virtual Desktops view, select the relevant desktops.
3. To start powered-off or suspended VMs, from the Tasks list, select Start.
The VMs are powered-on or resumed and the list of desktops is refreshed to show the new state.
To shut down and restart virtual machines
1. Select the relevant desktop group in the console tree.
2. From the Virtual Desktops view, select the relevant desktops.
3. From the Tasks list, select Shutdown/suspend. The Shutdown/Suspend Virtual Machine dialog box appears.
4. Select from the following options. Depending on the state of the machine, some of these options may not be available:
• Shutdown. Requests the VM’s operating system to shut down.
• Power off. Forcibly powers off the VM and refreshes the list of
desktops.
• Shutdown and Restart. Requests the VM’s operating system to shut down and then start the VM again. If the operating system is unable to do this, the VM remains in its current state.
• Power off and Restart. Forcibly restarts the VM.
• Suspend. Pauses the VM without shutting it down and refreshes thelist of desktops.
Migrating Controllers to Other Farms
If, for example, you want to move a controller from a test or pilot farm into production, you may need to migrate it to another farm. To do this, you need Active Directory permissions over the OU structure of both the controller’s existing farm and the controller’s new farm.
If you remove all the controllers from a farm, Citrix recommends that you delete the farm OU.
Citrix recommends that you do not move controllers to a farm created using an earlier version of XenDesktop, Desktop Delivery Controller or Desktop Server; if you do this your farm may become unusable.
To migrate a controller to another farm
1. Remove the controller from the old farm OU. To do this, use the ADSetup tool with the REMOVECONTROLLER parameter, as described in “Configuring Active Directory Using ADSetup”
2. Use the chfarm utility to either create a new farm (if this is the first controller in the farm) or move the controller to the new farm (if this is the second or subsequent controller in the farm). For further information on chfarm, see the Citrix Presentation Server Administrator’s Guide.
When using chfarm to move a controller to a new farm, make sure you configure the zone name, zone preference, and license server details correctly, because you cannot easily change these later.
3. Add the controller to the new farm OU. To do this, use the ADSetup tool with the ADDCONTROLLER parameter, as described in “Configuring Active Directory Using ADSetup
4. Restart the controller to make the new farm settings take effect.
Migrating Desktops to Other Farms
1. Remove the desktops from the desktop group in the old farm. For details of how to do this, see “To update a desktop group”
2. Note the farm GUID of the new farm. This is one of the read-only farm properties in the Access Management Console.
3. In the new farm, add the desktops to an existing or new desktop group. There are various ways in which you can do this; for details, see “Creating and Updating Desktop Groups”
4. Apply the new farm’s GUID to the desktops. To do this, use Group Policy. The Desktop Delivery Controller Farm GUID policy enables you to use a generic desktop image with multiple XenDesktop deployments. The administrative template (ADM) file is supplied on the Desktop Delivery Controller installation media:
platform\lang\support\configuration\FarmGUID.adm
For information about how to use ADM files, consult your Active Directory documentation.
5. Check the registry to ensure that the group policy has propagated to the desktop computer, then restart the computer. This registers the desktop with a controller in the new farm. Until you do this, the desktop is not available to users.
Updating License Server Settings
During installation you specify the name of the license server your farm accesses to check out licenses and the port number the license server uses to communicate.
You may want to change these settings in the following instances:
• You rename your license server
• The default port number (27000) is already in use
• You have a firewall between the license server and the computers running your Citrix products, and you must specify an alternative Citrix vendor daemon port number
Use the License Server page of the farm’s properties to change the name of the license server or port number that the license server uses to communicate. You can apply the changes to either an individual server or an entire farm. You must also take the following actions:
• If you decide to change the license server name, first ensure that a license server with the new name already exists on your network. Because license files are tied to the license server’s host name, if you change the license server name, you must download a license file that is generated for the new license server. This may involve returning and reallocating the licenses. To return and reallocate your licenses, go to www.mycitrix.com. For additional information, see Licensing: Migrating, Upgrading, and Renaming, which you can download from http://support.citrix.com/pages/licensing/.
• If you change a port number, you must specify the new number in all license files on the server. For additional information, see Licensing: Firewalls and Security Considerations, which you can download from http://support.citrix.com/pages/licensing/.
To specify a license server for the farm
1. In the left pane of the Access Management Console, select the farm.
2. From the Action menu, select Modify farm properties > Modify all properties.
3. From the Properties list, select License Server.
4. Enter the name or IP address of the license server in the Name box.
5. Enter the license server port number in the Port number (default 27000) box.
6. Click Apply to implement your changes.
To specify a license server for an individual controller
1. In the left pane of the Access Management Console, select the controller.
2. From the Action menu, select Modify controller properties > Modify license server properties.
3. Clear the Use farm settings check box.
4. Enter the name or IP address of the license server in the Name box.
5. Enter the license server port number in the Port number (default 27000) box.
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