DR for Citrix Cloud (DaaS) service running on Azure (Non-Persistent MCS VDI)

[Ashish Katiyar1709163536]

Has anyone configured full flash DR for Citrix Cloud (DaaS) service running on Azure  (Non-Persistent MCS VDIs).

If yes, please help to answer below questions.

 

1) Do we need to enable ASR (Azure site recovery) to replicate Citrix related VMs on Azure disaster recovery location? Or Need to configure seperate VMs (Example - Citrix Cloud Connectors, NetScaler & StoreFront) on new DR location. 

 

2) For Non-persistent MCS VDIs running on Azure...In case of disaster I think MCS VDIs has to be re-created using same master images(sync on DR location)...Is my understanding correct?

[James Kindon]

There are a few " It depends" items here, regardless, here are some common guidelines

• Do not replicate or restore Cloud Connectors. They should be built and managed separately in an appropriate resource location
• For StoreFront and other associated components, you can replicate them via ASR etc as long as you consider the restore order and process
• NetScaler in Azure you may want to think about standby appliances - I am not sure you can ASR a NetScaler (never tried)
• For MCS workloads, (non-persistent) you can deploy new machines based on the existing snapshot, or a replica of the snapshot (depending on region/DR logic
• For Profiles, this will change depending on what your technology of choice is for Storage (Azure Files, Windows File Servers, Azure NetApp Files etc)
• You will want to align Active Directory and policies accordingly 

You will ultimately need to architect around your Azure strategy, are you looking at multi-region redundancy, zone redundancy, etc. Quite a few factors at play here

 

[Ashish Katiyar1709163536]

@james kindon - Thank you so much for answering the questions. It will help to take decision.

                                 Below is my high level plan/multipe options, what is your thought on this?

 

Current Setup (Citrix cloud/DaaS running on Azure) - Citrix core components (Citrix cloud connectors, Citrix NetScaler, and Storefront servers) hosted on Azure are kept in azure availability sets. Windows file server to keep fslogix profile and user data. we have Non-persistent MCS VDIs.

 

Hence, I am giving below options to my client....now client has to decide before we take any consultancy services from Citrix or Azure side.

 

Option 1, (High availability in Primary region only)
--Keep Citrix Cloud Connector, NetScaler, StoreFront servers in Availability zone instead of availability set.
--Enable ZRS to redundant VDI master images and File server. 

 

Option 2, Redundancy in a Secondary region (Storage only)
--Enable Geo-redundant storage (GRS) or Geo-zone-redundant storage (GZRS) for Windows file server and VDI master images so that incase of disaster atleast user data and master images are saved. I know entire Citrix infra hosted on Azure has to be re-built.

 

Option 3, (Full Flash DR)
--Setup Seperate Cloud Connector and Netscalers.
--Enable ASR for StoreFront, file servers and master images
  

Network - As its a Citrix cloud running on Azure. Keep seperate ADC on DR location/ or use GSLB

 

Citrix article to setup DR - https://docs.citrix.com/en-us/tech-zone/design/design-decisions/cvad-disaster-recovery.html#disaster-recovery-planning-for-citrix-cloud