Data in the cloud
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Citrix XenAppXenApp License Server & Datastore AMI
This blueprint documents deploying Citrix XenApp in a private cloud environment to deliver Windows applications from the cloud over a secure VPN. Citrix XenApp is provided as an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) running in Amazon VPC. With these Citrix XenApp AMIs, both hosted application and streaming applications are supported. The first AMI will serve as the first XenApp server in the cloud farm, and contains both a license server and SQL Server 2005 Express. Other XenApp AMIs (expansion AMIs) will connect to the First server for licensing and SQL datastore. Customers and prospects will benefit from using this blueprint to gain experience with hosting applications, streaming applications and for testing applications prior to delivering them in their corporate environment.
Technical Overview
In this scenario, a single XenApp image instance can be started on Amazon VPC infrastructure as the first XenApp server in the cloud. This AMI contains the Citrix XenApp license server and SQL Server 2005 Express, to which all other XenApp servers in the cloud will connect to indirectly.
Users Connecting to VPC:
Currently, VPC is only accessible via site to site tunneling using IPSec between VPC and the customer datacenter. Users may reach the VPC instances through LAN, WAN or a VPN tunnel to the corporate network that can be routed to VPC. At present, soft client VPNs using IPSec or SSL are not supported.
Locating and Starting Citrix AMIs:
The Citrix AMI's can be located in Elasticfox, by navigating to "Images." Enter "Citrix" in the images field. The Citrix C3 images will be listed. You can launch any of them by performing a right-click and selecting "Launch Instance of this AMI."
XenApp Server Cloning:
If you are expanding for a high number of users, you will likely need to start this AMI, and several instances of the expansion AMI. The simplest way is to start with this base XenApp AMI and fully configure server settings and application installation to match the current production builds. Once done, bundle, register as an AMI and store in Amazon S3. Then launch several expansion server AMIs, bundle, register them and store in Amazon S3. When live cutover is necessary, retrieve the AMIs and start your instances.
Domain Authentication:
This AMI is not a domain controller. You should be able to authenticate to your primary domain controller back at premise, across the VPN. You can also build a domain controller in the cloud, and authenticate to that.
Computer Name
The computer name or hostname of this machine is tied to the Citrix XenApp license file, and you should not change the name. If you do, XenApp will produce error messages, and you will need to do some reconfiguration to bring the server back online. You can change the name if you obtain your own license file.
XenApp AMI Specifications:
AMI ID:
ami-d5f010bc
Bucket:
citrix-c3-lab
AMI Filename:
XenApp5.0_LicSvr_SQLExpr_32bit_v1.1.manifest.xml
Platform:
Windows Server 2003 Service Pak 2, 32 bit. This AMI is based on or built on the Amazon base AMI ami-db4daab2, a windows authenticated platform that allows you to use authentication port numbers with the image. The machine is part of a domain, so you will need to join your own domain. The domain controller can be at premise headquarters datacenter or in the cloud.
This server is also running SQL Server 2005 Express, and Citrix Licensing server. This image is considered to be the anchor point or base XenApp server in the cloud expansion farm.
The SQL Server 2005 Express is a datastore that can scale for enterprise applications. XenApp expansion servers, such as this one, will connect to the SQL 2005 Express datastore on an adjacent server, "indirectly". This type of datastore is recommend for XenApp server farms of between 10 ~ 20 servers.
For XenApp server farms greater than 20 servers, a non-Express SQL Server 2005 database should be installed on a separate server, without XenApp installed, and each XenApp server, including the XenApp license server, should access the SQL datastore "directly". To learn more about the differences of SQL Server 2005 Express and SQL Server 2005, refer to the XenApp Administrators guide.
Credentials:
User: Administrator
Pass: Citrix123
Domain: CTXSlic1
Demo server uses:
You can use this demo server to test pre-configured applications, and your own installed applications. To do this point your browser to the public IP Address of the server. You can also test by pointing your XenApp hosted plugin to this address. The XenApp hosted plugin is commonly installed on the client's remote computer. Log in with the Administrator account and create user accounts.
XenApp streaming is not configured, but this along with other XenApp 5.0 components can be installed quickly by navigating to the c:\inetpub\ftproot\XenApp5.0_W2K3 directory and launching autorun.exe from XA5_EN_W2K3. Components are contained in the XA5_EN_COM_W2K3 directory.
You can use this machine to Profile, install, and publish your own applications. Just install your application on the server, and use the Administrator Guide on the Citrix Knowledge Base at support.citrix.com.
The following Citrix components are installed on this Server:
- XenApp 5.0 for Windows Server 2003
- Hotfix Roll Up 4
- Web Interface 5.1.1
- Citrix license Server 11.6.1
- SQL Server 2005 Express
Licenses:
BYOL - Bring Your Own Licenses
- You will need a license for Citrix XenApp, this image contains a developer license.
- You will need a license for Microsoft Terminal Services
XenApp Configurations:
There are two Web Interface sites already created on this server. One Access Platform site and one XenApp Services site. The Access Platform site delivers applications through a web browser on port 80. The XenApp services site delivers applications through the XenApp plugin installed on the client machine.
The following applications are published on the XenApp server:
Installed Applications: Wordpad, Internet Explorer, Desktop.
Streamed applications are not pre-configured on this server.
XenApp Expansion Server AMI
This blueprint documents deploying Citrix XenApp in a private cloud environment to deliver Windows applications from the cloud over a secure VPN. Citrix XenApp is provided as Amazon Machine Images (AMI) running in Amazon VPC. With these Citrix XenApp AMIs, both hosted application and streaming applications are supported. The first AMI will serve as the first XenApp server in the cloud farm, and contains both a license server and SQL Server 2005 Express. Other XenApp AMIs (expansion AMIs) will connect to the First server for licensing and SQL datastore. Customers and prospects will benefit from using this blueprint to gain experience with hosting applications, streaming applications and for testing applications prior to delivering them in their corporate environment.
Technical Overview
In this scenario, a single XenApp image instance can be started on Amazon VPC infrastructure as an expansion to the XenApp farm in the cloud. This AMI does not contain the Citrix XenApp license server and SQL Server 2005 Express. It must connect to a XenApp server that is running license server and SQL Server 2005 Express.
Users Connecting to VPC:
Currently, VPC is only accessible via site to site tunneling using IPSec between VPC and the customer datacenter. Users may reach the VPC instances through LAN, WAN or a VPN tunnel to the corporate network that can be routed to VPC. At present, soft client VPNs using IPSec or SSL are not supported.
Locating and Starting Citrix AMIs:
The Citrix AMI's can be located in Elasticfox, by navigating to "Images." Enter "Citrix" in the images field. The Citrix C3 images will be listed. You can launch any of them by performing a right-click and selecting "Launch Instance of this AMI."
XenApp Server Cloning:
If you are expanding for a high number of users, you will likely need to several instances of this AMI. The simplest way is to start with the base XenApp AMI and fully configure server settings and application installation to match the current production builds. Once done, bundle, register as an AMI and store in Amazon S3. Then launch several of these expansion server AMIs, bundle, register them and store in Amazon S3. When live cutover is necessary, retrieve the AMIs and start your instances.
Domain Authentication:
This AMI is not a domain controller. You should be able to authenticate to your primary domain controller back at premise, across the VPN. You can also build a domain controller in the cloud, and authenticate to that.
Computer Name
The computer name or hostname of this machine is not tied to the Citrix XenApp license file. That is only required on the license server. You can and should change the hostname, domain and farm membership of this computer. The process is as follows:
- Navigate to computer -> properties. Place the computer in a workgroup. Restart.
- Navigate to computer -> properties. Change the computer name. Restart.
- Navigate to computer -> properties. Place the computer in your domain. Restart.
- Open a command prompt and run "chfarm". Join an existing farm.
XenApp AMI Specifications:
AMI ID:
ami-3b1cff52
Bucket:
citrix-c3-lab
AMI Filename:
XenApp5.0_ExpansionServer_32bit_v1.3.manifest.xml
Platform:
Windows Server 2003 Service Pak 2, 32 bit. This AMI is based on or built on the Amazon base AMI ami-df4daab6, a windows authenticated platform that allows you to use authentication port numbers with the image. The machine is part of a domain, so you will need to join your own domain. The domain controller can be at the premise datacenter or in the cloud.
This server does not have a datastore or license server installed. It is intended to be used as an add-on, or expansion server to expand an already existing farm in the cloud. It assumes that an adjacent XenApp server exists in the same cloud, which must have installed a SQL 2005 Express datastore and license. There is an AMI built for that, AMI ID ami-d5f010bc.
The SQL Server 2005 Express is a datastore that can scale for enterprise applications. XenApp expansion servers, such as this one, will connect to the SQL 2005 Express datastore on an adjacent server, "indirectly". This type of datastore is recommend for XenApp server farms of between 10 ~ 20 servers.
For XenApp server farms greater than 20 servers, a non-Express SQL Server 2005 database should be installed on a separate server, without XenApp installed, and each XenApp server, including the XenApp license server, should access the SQL datastore "directly". To learn more about the differences of SQL Server 2005 Express and SQL Server 2005, refer to the XenApp Administrators guide.
Credentials:
User: Administrator
Pass: Citrix123
Domain: CTXSlic1
Demo server uses:
You can use this demo server to test the expansion of an existing XenApp 5.0 farm for scalability and performance requirements.
You can demo pre-installed applications (notepad, internet explorer, server desktop), and your own installed applications. To do this point your browser to the public IP Address of the server. You can also test by pointing your XenApp hosted plugin to this address. The XenApp hosted plugin is commonly installed on the client's remote computer. Log in with the Administrator account and create user accounts.
XenApp streaming is not configured, but this along with other XenApp 5.0 components can be installed quickly by navigating to the c:\inetpub\ftproot\XenApp5.0_W2K3 directory and launching autorun.exe from XA5_EN_W2K3. Components are contained in the XA5_EN_COM_W2K3 directory.
You can use this machine to profile, install, and publish your own applications for hosted as well as streaming delivery. Just install your application on the server, and refer to the Administrator Guide on the Citrix Knowledge Base at support.citrix.com.
The following Citrix components are installed on this Server:
- XenApp 5.0 for Windows Server 2003
- Hotfix Roll Up 4
- Web Interface 5.1.1
Licenses:
BYOL - Bring Your Own Licenses
- You will need a license for Citrix XenApp, this image contains a developer license.
- You will need a license for Microsoft Terminal Services
XenApp Configurations:
There are two Web Interface sites already created on this server. One Access Platform site and one XenApp Services site. The Access Platform site delivers applications through a web browser on port 80. The XenApp services site delivers applications through the XenApp plugin installed on the client machine.
The following applications are published on the XenApp server:
Installed Applications: Wordpad, Internet Explorer, Desktop.
Streamed applications are not pre-configured on this server.
