Wednesday, October 29, 2008

VMWARE: VMware Released VMware Server 2.0

VMware Released today the VMware Server 2.0 (Build 122956)

What's New

VMware Server 2.0 is a free virtualization product for Microsoft Windows and Linux servers that enables you to provision new server capacity by partitioning a physical server into multiple virtual machines.

New Key Features

VI Web Access: VI Web Access enables you to perform host and virtual machine configuration on VMware Server 2.0. This intuitive web-based interface provides a simple and flexible tool for virtual machine management.

VMware Remote Console: VMware Remote Console enables you to interact with the guest operating system on the host or a remote system. After you install it as a Web browser add-on, it can run independently from VI Web Access. VMware Remote Console also allows you to connect and disconnect client CD/DVD and floppy devices.

USB 2.0 Device Support: VMware Server now supports faster data transfer with USB devices plugged into the host system. If the guest operating system has appropriate USB 2.0 device drivers, you can use peripherals that require high-speed performance, such as speakers, webcams, next-generation printers and scanners, and fast storage devices.

Increased RAM support: The maximum amount of memory that can be allocated per virtual machine has been raised from 3.6GB to 8GB. The amount of memory used by all virtual machines combined is limited only by the amount of the host computer's RAM.

Improved 64-bit guest support: 64-bit guest operating systems that run on Intel EM64T VT-capable or AMD64 revision D or later processors are fully supported.

Native 64-bit host support on Linux: VMware Server now runs natively on 64-bit Linux host operating systems.

Quiesced backups of virtual machines: On Windows hosts, you can enable the VMware VSS Writer, which uses snapshots to maintain the data integrity of applications running inside the virtual machine when you take backups.

VMCI Sockets interface: This feature provides a sockets interface for the Virtual Machine Communication Interface, which provides a faster means of communication among applications running on the host and in virtual machines. For more information, see the VMCI Sockets Programming Guide.

Hot add and remove for SCSI hard disks: You can now add and remove SCSI virtual hard disks while the virtual machine is running in hardware version 7 virtual machines.

CTXADMTOOLS: Publish Multiple Appls v1.0

Publish Multiple Appls v1.0

Compatible with Citrix Presentation Server 4.0 and Citrix XenApp 4.5 and 5.0.

This FREE tool Publish or Remove Multiple Applications to or from Multiple Citrix Servers

Download at http://ctxadmtools.musumeci.com.ar

MS: Task Manager Disabled

I fixed the issue of Task Manager disabled in Windows 2003 running Citrix with following steps:

Start > Run, Type "gpedit.msc", then go User Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Ctrl + Alt + Del Options.

Set Remove Task Manager to Disabled.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

CTXADMTOOLS: Terminal Server Corrupted Profile Audit v1.0 Released!

Terminal Server Corrupted Profile Audit v1.0
This FREE tool List Terminal Server Corrupted Profiles on the Citrix servers/farm or Windows Terminal Servers and Generate a Excel Report.
You can Filter results by Date and/or Time.

http://ctxadmtools.musumeci.com.ar/

CTX: Citrix released Public Citrix Symbol Server

Public Citrix Symbol Server

Accessible to debuggers anywhere!

The Citrix Escalation team is pleased to announce the new Citrix Symbol Server. The Citrix Symbol Server provides on-demand access to public Citrix symbol files from any machine connected to the Internet. Prior to the symbol server, public symbol packages had to be downloaded over the Internet and copied to the local computer before debugging could be performed. Additionally, customers routinely had to upload large dump files to Citrix's FTP site before analysis could begin. We are excited to leverage this new resource to decrease problem resolution time and drive seamless cross-vendor collaboration.

Usage

To access debug symbols for the Citrix XenApp products - simply add the Citrix Symbol Server to the symbol path in your debugging tool of choice:

example: SRV**http://ctxsym.citrix.com/symbols

Reference article
CTX118622 - How to Use the Citrix Symbol Server to Obtain Debug Symbols

FAQ

I try to browse the URL http://ctxsym.citrix.com/symbols and I receive an "Access Denied" error

You must use a debugging tool to connect to the Citrix Symbol Server; connections directly from a web browser will return a 403 error (Access Denied).

When are new symbols added to the symbol server share?

An automated script scheduled for 2am Eastern US time each day, checks for newly released hotfixes and adds public symbols for that hotfix to the symbol server. If you have an urgent need to have symbol files placed on the symbol server before 2am Eastern US time, please email a request to symsrv@citrix.com.

Which Citrix products are symbols available for?

Currently, the Symbol server hosts symbols for the following versions of Citrix XenApp Server:
Citrix Presentation Server 3.0 and hotfixes for all languages (English, French, Spanish, German, and Japanese)
Citrix Presentation Server 4.0 and hotfixes for all languages (English, French, Spanish, German, and Japanese)
Citrix Presentation Server 4.5 and hotfixes for all languages (English, French, Spanish, German, and Japanese)
Citrix XenApp 5.0 and hotfixes for all languages (English, French, Spanish, German, and Japanese)

Future Enhancements
The initial release of the Citrix Symbol Server contains only XenApp Server products since these symbol files were already available on the Citrix FTP site - we've simply changed the delivery mechanism to make them more accessible. The Escalation team plans to investigate the addition of symbol files for other Citrix products over the next quarter.

CTX: Citrix released Hotfix Rollup Pack 3 for XenApp 5.0 and 4.5 for 64-bit (x64)

Citrix has just released a new Hotfix Rollup Pack 3 for XenApp 5.0 and 4.5 for 64-bit. Please take special note of the install requirements for this release. For complete readme click here.

For best practices for installing and maintaining a large farm with Hotfix Rollup Pack 3 please, review CTX118659.

I also wanted to point out one area of distinction for 64-bit and the C++ redistributable. The readme below states that the (x86) version of the distributable should be used. This is not a typo. The links below which are used for the 32-bit version of this distributable are used in both 32-bit and 64-bit environments. Please let me know if you have any additional questions about this.

See Knowledge Center article CTX118771 for known install behaviors and their workarounds.
Your Citrix License Server must be at version 11.5 to install this hotfix rollup pack. Using your MyCitrix credentials, download this update from the
Citrix Web site.

The Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86) must be installed on all servers before installing this hotfix rollup pack. This can be obtained from the Microsoft Web site or visit the Microsoft Web site and search for Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86).

Installing this hotfix rollup pack partially invalidates the following hotfixes. This happens because not all fixes in these hotfixes are included in the hotfix rollup pack. Obtain or request the corresponding replacement hotfixes for any invalidated fixes you require as follows:

Invalidated Hotfix - Replacement Hotfix
PSE450R02W2K3X64027 - TBD
PSE450R02W2K3X64028 - TBD
PSE450R02W2K3X64029 - TBD
PSE450R02W2K3X64030 - TBD

The Suite Monitoring and Alerting (SMA) service used by the Access Management Console might not start after installing Hotfix Rollup Pack 3 and restarting the system. In order to fix this problem, you must upgrade the .NET version on the system to .NET 2.0 SP1. [#198103]

For information about Commandline Parameter Validation for XenApp, see Knowledge Center articles CTX117316 and CTX115245.

Unattended installation of this hotfix rollup pack from a batch file using the /qb switch fails to complete. Instead, the installer stalls at a dialog box prompting to close CMD.exe. As a workaround, use the /qb- or the /qn switch. [#186447]

This hotfix rollup pack provides a range of improvements to the resiliency of the Independent Management Architecture (IMA) Service. To get the benefits of these improvements, you must install this hotfix rollup pack on each zone data collector. See Knowledge Center article CTX118658 for information on the IMA performance and resiliency enhancements introduced in this Hotfix Rollup Pack. See Knowledge Center article CTX118659 for general best practices for installing and maintaining a large farm with Hotfix Rollup Pack 3.

Before installing this hotfix rollup pack on servers licensed for Standard Edition, you must migrate those servers to Advanced Edition. Standard Edition was discontinued on Citrix Presentation Server 4.5; installing this hotfix rollup pack on servers licensed for Standard Edition might cause the following error message to appear:

Citrix Presentation Server is unable to retrieve the product edition. Check to see if the Citrix Independent Management Architecture service is running without errors. Citrix Presentation Server cannot request licenses until it can obtain the product edition รข€“ no client devices can connect. If necessary, set the product edition in the Access Management Console. The product must be set to the same edition as your licenses.

To migrate your servers to Advanced Edition, you must obtain an Advanced Edition license and then change the server edition in the Access Management Console from Standard to Advanced. For information about obtaining an Advanced Edition license, visit your My Citrix account or contact your reseller.

After you install this hotfix rollup pack, Presentation Server 4.5 licensing will be enforced for the Application Streaming feature available in the Enterprise and Platinum editions. As a result, this feature will start to consume Presentation Server licenses and any individual Streaming (CSS) licenses received and activated in the past will no longer be utilized.

Uninstalling Version 1.2 of the Streaming Client from a system where Hotfix Rollup Pack 3 is installed might lead to system instabilities. The issue occurs because uninstalling the client removes the AIEcom.exe common component file. As a workaround, after uninstalling the client, run Repair on the Presentation Server Version 4.5 base installation. Running Repair restores the AIEcom.exe file. [#193688]

After installing this hotfix rollup pack, applications for which parameter passing is enabled might fail to launch. This is a result of the implementation of Fix #182305, which enforces tighter command line validation by default. Among potentially affected applications is the Citrix Conferencing Manager, any application that attempts to open a file over a UNC path [#186923], and Microsoft Office applications on WISP (Web Interface for SharePoint). As a workaround, you may choose to disable the fix:

For Citrix Conferencing Manager:
Go to the server properties of Citrix Conference Room.
Select the published application and click Edit.
In the Custom Application Location dialog box, select "Specify custom command line and working directory."
Append %** to the command line (for example, "C:\Program Files\Citrix\CMCM\CRoom.exe" %**).
Specify a working directory.
Apply the changes.

For individual applications:
Go to the Location property of the published application, for example, Microsoft Word.
Append %** to the command line (for example, "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\winword.exe" %**).
Specify a working directory.
Apply the changes.

Alternatively, it is possible to disable the fix at the server level by setting the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Citrix\wfshell\TWIName: PublishedAppCommandLineFlagType: DWORDData: 0

When adding the ValidSites registry key to redirect specific URLs from server to client, specify the URLs without http://. For example, add www.citrix.com, not http://www.citrix.com. [#161177]
Make sure your 64-bit server is running Windows 2003 SP2 before installing Hotfix Rollup Pack PSE450W2K3X64R03. If SP2 is not installed, Citrix MFCOM Service might not respond as expected. [#162425]

To enable Microsoft Vista and Office 2007 compatibility, you must install Hotfix Rollup Pack 3 before installing any Access Management Console extensions. [#162886]

After using the Shadow Taskbar with Version 11.0 of the XenApp Plugin for Hosted Apps to launch session shadowing, the shadowed session might appear in the Windows Taskbar instead of the Shadow Taskbar. [#196063]

Certain users cannot access the Event Log. This may cause some expected event messages to be missing. For more information, see Knowledge Center article CTX118466. [#197462]

If you remove the Hotfix Rollup Pack after publishing an application with Hotfix Rollup Pack 3 and the Hotfix Rollup Pack 3-level Access Management Console, the console might throw an exception when you attempt to edit the properties of that published application. This problem does not occur when you edit the properties of a published application that was created before Hotfix Rollup Pack 2 was installed. [#166266]

CTX: Citrix released Hotfix Rollup Pack 3 for XenApp 5.0 and 4.5 for 32-bit (x86)

Citrix has just released a new Hotfix Rollup Pack 3 for XenApp 5.0 and 4.5 for 32-bit. Please take special note of the install requirements for this release. For a complete readme click here. For best practices for installing and maintaining a large farm with Hotfix Rollup Pack 3 please, review CTX118659.

See Knowledge Center article
CTX118771 for known install behaviors and their workarounds.
Your Citrix License Server must be at version 11.5 to install this hotfix rollup pack. Using your MyCitrix credentials, download this update from the
Citrix Web site.

The Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86) must be installed on all servers before installing this hotfix rollup pack. This can be obtained from the
Microsoft Web site or visit the Microsoft Web site and search for Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 Redistributable Package (x86).

Installing this hotfix rollup pack partially invalidates the following hotfixes. This happens because not all fixes in these hotfixes are included in the hotfix rollup pack. Obtain or request the corresponding replacement hotfixes for any invalidated fixes you require as follows:
Invalidated Hotfix - Replacement Hotfix
PSE450R02W2K3019 - TBD
PSE450R02W2K3041 - TBD
PSE450R02W2K3043 - TBD
PSE450R02W2K3048 - TBD

The Suite Monitoring and Alerting (SMA) service used by the Access Management Console might not start after installing Hotfix Rollup Pack 3 and restarting the system. In order to fix this problem, you must upgrade the .NET version on the system to .NET 2.0 SP1. [#198103]

For information about Commandline Parameter Validation for XenApp, see Knowledge Center articles CTX117316 and CTX115245.

Unattended installation of this hotfix rollup pack from a batch file using the /qb switch fails to complete. Instead, the installer stalls at a dialog box prompting to close CMD.exe. As a workaround, use the /qb- or the /qn switch. [#186447]

This hotfix rollup pack provides a range of improvements to the resiliency of the Independent Management Architecture (IMA) Service. To get the benefits of these improvements, you must install this hotfix rollup pack on each zone data collector. See Knowledge Center article CTX118658 for information on the IMA performance and resiliency enhancements introduced in this Hotfix Rollup Pack. See Knowledge Center article CTX118659 for general best practices for installing and maintaining a large farm with Hotfix Rollup Pack 3.

Before installing this hotfix rollup pack on servers licensed for Standard Edition, you must migrate those servers to Advanced Edition. Standard Edition was discontinued on Citrix Presentation Server 4.5; installing this hotfix rollup pack on servers licensed for Standard Edition might cause the following error message to appear:
Citrix Presentation Server is unable to retrieve the product edition. Check to see if the Citrix Independent Management Architecture service is running without errors. Citrix Presentation Server cannot request licenses until it can obtain the product edition รข€“ no client devices can connect. If necessary, set the product edition in the Access Management Console. The product must be set to the same edition as your licenses.

To migrate your servers to Advanced Edition, you must obtain an Advanced Edition license and then change the server edition in the Access Management Console from Standard to Advanced. For information about obtaining an Advanced Edition license, visit your My Citrix account or contact your reseller.

After you install this hotfix rollup pack, Presentation Server 4.5 licensing will be enforced for the Application Streaming feature available in the Enterprise and Platinum editions. As a result, this feature will start to consume Presentation Server licenses and any individual Streaming (CSS) licenses received and activated in the past will no longer be utilized.

Uninstalling Version 1.2 of the Streaming Client from a system where Hotfix Rollup Pack 3 is installed might lead to system instabilities. The issue occurs because uninstalling the client removes the AIEcom.exe common component file. As a workaround, after uninstalling the client, run Repair on the Presentation Server Version 4.5 base installation. Running Repair restores the AIEcom.exe file. [#193688]

After installing this hotfix rollup pack, applications for which parameter passing is enabled might fail to launch. This is a result of the implementation of Fix #182305, which enforces tighter command line validation by default. Among potentially affected applications is the Citrix Conferencing Manager, any application that attempts to open a file over a UNC path [#186923], and Microsoft Office applications on WISP (Web Interface for SharePoint). As a workaround, you may choose to disable the fix:

For Citrix Conferencing Manager:
Go to the server properties of Citrix Conference Room.
Select the published application and click Edit.
In the Custom Application Location dialog box, select "Specify custom command line and working directory."
Append %** to the command line (for example, "C:\Program Files\Citrix\CMCM\CRoom.exe" %**).
Specify a working directory.
Apply the changes.

For individual applications:
Go to the Location property of the published application, for example, Microsoft Word.
Append %** to the command line (for example, "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\winword.exe" %**).
Specify a working directory.
Apply the changes.

Alternatively, it is possible to disable the fix at the server level by setting the following registry key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Citrix\wfshell\TWIName: PublishedAppCommandLineFlagType: DWORDData: 0

When adding the ValidSites registry key to redirect specific URLs from server to client, specify the URLs without http://. For example, add www.citrix.com, not http://www.citrix.com. [#161177]
To enable Microsoft Vista and Office 2007 compatibility, you must install Hotfix Rollup Pack 3 before installing any Access Management Console extensions. [#162886]

After using the Shadow Taskbar with Version 11.0 of the XenApp Plugin for Hosted Apps to launch session shadowing, the shadowed session might appear in the Windows Taskbar instead of the Shadow Taskbar. [#196063]

Certain users cannot access the Event Log. This may cause some expected event messages to be missing. For more information, see Knowledge Center article CTX118466. [#197462]

If you remove the Hotfix Rollup Pack after publishing an application with Hotfix Rollup Pack 3 and the Hotfix Rollup Pack 3-level Access Management Console, the console might throw an exception when you attempt to edit the properties of that published application. This problem does not occur when you edit the properties of a published application that was created before Hotfix Rollup Pack 2 was installed. [#166266]

Friday, October 17, 2008

MS: Gpupdate Error Access Denied

To fix this issue follow these steps:

Regsvr32 /n /I %systemroot%\system32\userenv.dll
cd %systemroot%\system32\wbem
Mofcomp scersop.mof
Gpupdate /force

CTX: The Citrix SMA Service service depends on the Citrix Independent Management Architecture service which failed to start

Error:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7001
Date: 10/16/2008
Time: 1:33:39 PM
User: N/A
Computer:CTXSRV
Description:The Citrix SMA Service service depends on the Citrix Independent Management Architecture service which failed to start because of the following error:
After starting, the service hung in a start-pending state.

Solution:

Setting the service "WMI Performance Adapter" to Automatic

Monday, October 13, 2008

CtxAdmTools: Ctx Policies Manager Released!

CTX Policies Manager v1.1

This FREE tool Backup and Restore Policies or Import, Transfer, Migrate Policies between farms

Backup and Restore policies in the same Citrix Farm.

Transfer or Migrate policies between Citrix Presentation Server 4.0, Citrix XenApp 4.5 and Citrix XenApp 5.0 farms.
Ctx Policies Manager migrate policies from Citrix Presentation Server 4.0 and Citrix XenApp 4.5 to Citrix Presentation Server 4.0, Citrix XenApp 4.5 and Citrix XenApp 5.0 farms.
Migration between Citrix XenApp 5.0 farms is not fully supported in this version.


I returned from two weeks vacations in Argentina and I discovered that I need to migrate 464 Citrix policies from our old Citrix Presentation Server 4.0 farm to our new Citrix XenApp 4.5 farm.

I search the web from applications and I found a couple of scripts created by Mark Elliot on one of my favorites sites:
http://www.brianmadden.com/

I tried to run the backup script on my 4.0 farm and fails, I review the code and made a couple of changes and still fails... so I check my code and found some code to export policies I wrote in June 2008, I took some pieces of code from Mark scripts (I loved the XML file option...my old code used a TXT file) and review MFCOM guide and got more code from there.

One day later, I run Ctx Policies Manager and backup the 4.0 farm. I run the Backup script created by Mark.. and fails... so I spent an extra day coding the restore option.

Then I tested the code and fixed some bugs for two days and then all policies are in the new farm.

I tested for two extra days; fixed more bugs, add some functionality, and test the application in one my Citrix XenApp 5.0 farms.

Ctx Policies Manager backup/restore/migrate Citrix Presentation Server 4.0 and Citrix XenApp 4.5 farms. I backup policies in both Citrix Presentation Server 4.0 and Citrix XenApp 4.5 farms and restore successfully in the Citrix XenApp 5.0 farm. Backup/Restore/Migration between Citrix XenApp 5.0 farms is not fully supported in this version.

http://ctxadmtools.musumeci.com.ar/