Deployment Guide: Citrix Workspace Environment Management

Overview

Citrix Workspace Environment Management (WEM) uses intelligent resource management and profile management technologies to deliver the best possible performance, desktop logon, and application response times for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops and Citrix DaaS deployments. It is a software-only, driver-free solution. This guide provides high-level instructions to install and configure WEM, and suggested leading practices for an on-premises deployment.

Workspace Environment Management (WEM) has the following architecture:

• Infrastructure services. The infrastructure services are installed on a multi-session OS. They synchronize various back-end components (SQL Server and Active Directory) with front-end components (administration console and agent).

• Administration console. The Workspace Environment Management administration console is installed on a single-session or multi-session OS. It connects to the Infrastructure Services. You use the administration console to manage your Workspace Environment Management installation. For example, you create and assign resources, manage policies, authorize users, and so on.

• Agent. The Workspace Environment Management agent connects to the Workspace Environment Management Infrastructure Services and enforces settings you configure in the administration console. You can deploy the agent on a Virtual Delivery Agent (VDA). Doing so lets you manage single-session or multi-session environments. You can also deploy the agent on a physical Windows endpoint.

• SQL Server Database. Workspace Environment Management requires an SQL Server database to store its settings. The database can be hosted in an SQL Server Always On availability group if necessary. (For more information, see System requirements.

• Microsoft Active Directory Server. Workspace Environment Management requires access to your Active Directory to push settings to your users.

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NOTE:

• Infrastructure services cannot be installed on a domain controller.
• The agent cannot be installed on the infrastructure server. The agent installer fails in this scenario.
• The Transformer feature is not supported on multi-session OSs.

Prerequisites

Before you install WEM in your environment, verify that you meet all system requirements. For more information, see System requirements.

Installation

Citrix recommends that you install the latest version of WEM. You can download the latest WEM installer from the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops downloads page https://www.citrix.com/downloads/citrix-virtual-apps-and-desktops/. On that page, access the installer under Components of the latest version of Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops.

Deploying WEM consists of installing and configuring three core components: Infrastructure Service, Administration console and Agent. The following procedures detail how to install and configure these components:

Install the Infrastructure Services

1. Download the latest WEM installer. Extract the zip file to a convenient folder.

    

   

    

2. Run Citrix Workspace Environment Management Infrastructure Services.exe on your Infrastructure Services server.

3. On the Welcome to the InstallShield Wizard for Citrix Workspace Environment Management Infrastructure Services page, click Next.

    

   

    

4. On the License Agreement page, select I accept the terms in the license agreement and then click Next.

    

   

    

5. On the Customer Information page, type your User name and Organization and then click Next.

    

   

    

6. On the Setup Type page, select Complete and then click Next.

    

   

    

7. On the Ready to Install the Program page, click Install.

    

   

    

8. Click Finish.

    

   

    

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   NOTE:

   By default, the Start the Database Management Utility option is selected, and the utility starts automatically. You can also start the utility from the Start menu at Citrix > Workspace Environment Management > WEM Database Management Utility.

Create a WEM Database

1. Start the WEM Database Management Utility from the Start menu at Citrix > Workspace Environment Management > WEM Database Management Utility.

2. In the database management utility, click Create Database to create a WEM database for your deployment. The database creation wizard appears.

    

   

    

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   NOTE:

   If you are using Windows authentication for your SQL Server, run the database creation utility under an identity that has system administrator permissions.

3. On the Welcome page, click Next.

    

   

    

4. On the Database Information page, type the required information and then click Next.

    

   

    

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   NOTE:

   • For the server and instance name, type the machine name, fully qualified domain name, or IP address.
   • For the file paths, type the exact paths specified by your database administrator. Make sure that any auto-completed file paths are correct.

5. On the Database Server Credentials page, type the required information and then click Next.

    

   

    

6. On the VUEM Administrators section, click Select.

    

   

    

7. In the Select Group window, type a user group with administration permissions to the administration console, click Check Names, and then click OK.

    

   

    

8. On the Database Security page, select Use Windows authentication for infrastructure service database connection and then click Select.

    

   

    

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   NOTE:

   • If you select neither Use Windows authentication for infrastructure service database connection nor Set vuemUser SQL user account password, the SQL user account is used by default.
   • To use your own vuemUser SQL account password (for example, if your SQL policy requires a more complex password), select Set vuemUser SQL user account password.

9. In the Select User window, type the name of the infrastructure service account, click Check Names, and then click OK.

    

   

    

10. On the Database Security page, select Set vuemUser SQL user account password and in the Password box, specify a complex password.

     

    

     

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    Note:

    If you intend to implement Microsoft SQL AlwaysOn Availability Group, then you must specify this password.

11. Click Next.

12. On the Database Information Summary page, click Create Database.

     

    

     

13. On the *Database Information Summary page, click Finish.

     

    

     

14. Click OK.

     

    

     

15. Close the WEM Database Management Utility.

16. On the Exit Application Dialog, click Yes.

     

    

     

Configure Infrastructure Services

1. Open the WEM Infrastructure Service Configuration Utility from the Start menu.

2. On the Database Settings tab, type the required information.

    

   

    

3. On the Network Settings tab, you can view the ports currently in use. Default ports should be used.

    

   

    

4. On the Advanced Settings tab, select Enable Windows account impersonation and then click Browse.

    

   

    

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   NOTE:

   Depending on the choices you made during WEM database creation in Step 2, select Enable Windows account impersonation or Set vuemUser SQL user account password.

5. Type a user name, click Check Names, and then click OK.

    

   

    

6. Type the infrastructure service account password.

7. Select Enable debug mode and Enable performance tuning.

    

   

    

8. On the Database Maintenance tab, select Enable scheduled database maintenance.

    

   

    

9. On the Licensing tab, select Global license server override, type your license information, and then click Save Configuration.

    

   

    

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   NOTE:

   • For the Citrix License Server name, type the machine name, fully qualified domain name, or IP address of the license server.
   • For the Citrix License Server port, the default port is 27000.

10. Click Yes.

     

    

     

11. Close the WEM Infrastructure Service Configuration utility.

Install the Administration console

1. Run Citrix Workspace Environment Management Console.exe.

2. On the Welcome to the InstallShield Wizard for Citrix Workspace Environment Management Console page, click Next.

    

   

    

3. On the License Agreement page, select “I accept the terms in the license agreement” and then click Next.

    

   

    

4. On the Customer Information page, type the required information and then click Next.

    

   

    

5. On the Setup Type page, select Complete and then click Next.

    

   

    

6. On the Ready to Install the Program page, click Install.

    

   

    

7. Click Finish to exit the wizard.

    

   

    

Configure configuration sets

A configuration set is a logical container used to organize a set of Workspace Environment Management (WEM) configurations. There are two built-in configuration sets:

• Default Site. A built-in WEM configuration set.
• Unbound Agents. A built-in WEM configuration set. Available for use only with agents that are not bound to any configuration set. To apply the settings of this configuration set to those agents, go to Directory Objects > Advanced settings.

1. Open the WEM Administration Console from the Start menu and click Connect.

    

   

    

2. In the New Infrastructure Server Connection window, check the information and then click Connect.

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   NOTE:

   • For the Infrastructure server name, type the machine name, fully qualified domain name, or IP address of the WEM infrastructure server.
   • For the Administration port, the default port is 8284.

    

   

    

3. On the Home tab, on the ribbon, click Create to create your configuration set.

    

   

    

4. In the Create Configuration Set window, type a name and description for your configuration set and then click OK.

    

   

    

5. On the ribbon, under Configuration Set, select the newly created configuration set.

    

   

    

6. On the ribbon, under Backup, click Restore. The Restore wizard appears.

    

   

    

7. On the Select what to restore page, select Settings and then click Next.

    

   

    

8. On the Restore settings page, click Next.

    

   

    

9. On the Source page, click Browse.

    

   

    

10. In the Browse For Folder window, browse to the Default Recommended Settings folder (provided with Workspace Environment Management media) and then click OK.

     

    

     

11. On the Source page, select System Optimization Settings, Agent Configuration Settings, and System Monitoring Settings, and then click Next.

     

    

     

12. On the Restore settings processing page, under Restore settings, click Restore Settings.

     

    

     

13. Click Yes.

     

    

     

14. Click Finish.

     

    

     

Install the Agent

1. Run Citrix Workspace Environment Management Agent.exe on your machine.

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   IMPORTANT:

   Do not install the WEM agent on the infrastructure server.

    

   

    

2. On the Citrix Workspace Environment Management Agent window, select “I agree to the license terms and conditions” and then click Install.

    

   

    

3. On the Welcome to the Citrix Workspace Environment Management Agent Setup Wizard page, click Next.

    

   

    

4. On the Destination Folder page, click Next.

    

   

    

5. On the Deployment Type page, select the applicable type of deployment and then click Next. In this case, select On-premises Deployment.

    

   

    

6. On the Infrastructure Service Configuration page, select Configure the Infrastructure Service, type the FQDN or IP address of the infrastructure service, and then click Next.

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   NOTE:

   For the agent service port, the default port is 8286. For the cached data synchronization port, the default port is 8288. For more information, see Port information.

    

   

    

7. On the Advanced Settings page, click Next.

    

   

    

8. On the Ready to install Citrix Workspace Environment Management Agent page, click Install.

    

   

    

9. On the Completed the Citrix Workspace Environment Management Agent Setup Wizard, click Finish to exit the installation wizard.

    

   

    

10. On the Installation Successfully Completed window, click Close.

Policies and Profiles

1. On the left pane, navigate to Policies and Profiles.

2. On the left pane, select Citrix Profile Management Settings.

3. On the Main Citrix Profile Management Settings tab, select Enable Profile Management Configuration.

    

   

    

4. In the Profile Management section, configure the following settings:

   • Select Enable Profile Management
   • Select Set processed groups
   • Click Add

    

   

    

5. In the Select Groups window, type Domain Users in the box. Click Check Names. Click OK.

    

   

    

6. Continue to configure Profile Management:

   • Select Process logons of local administrators
   • Select Set path to user store. Delete the existing text “Windows”.
   • Enter the Absolute Path or path relative to the home directory: \servername\CitrixProfiles$#SAMAccountName#!CTX_OSNAME!!CTX_OSBITNESS!

    

   

    

7. Verify that all settings have been correctly configured and then click Apply.

System Optimization

Workspace Environment Management system optimization consists of the following:

• CPU Management
• Memory Management
• I/O Management
• Fast Logoff
• Citrix Optimizer
• Multi-session Optimization

These settings are designed to lower resource usage on the agent host. They help to ensure that freed-up resources are available for other applications. Doing so increases user density by supporting more users on the same server.

CPU Management

1. On the left pane, click System Optimization.

2. Verify that CPU Management is selected in the upper-left pane.

3. On the CPU Management Settings page, select Enable CPU Spikes Protection, Auto Prevent CPU Spikes, Enable Intelligent CPU Optimization, and Enable Intelligent I/O Optimization.

4. Click Apply.

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   Note:

   For machine-based WEM settings, such as System Optimization, you must click the Apply button after making configuration changes. Otherwise, the changes will not be committed and saved to the WEM database.

    

   

    

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   NOTE:

   By default, the settings of Auto Prevent CPU Spikes, Enable Intelligent CPU Optimization, and Enable Intelligent I/O Optimization are automatically selected, after enabling CPU Spikes Protection. Default settings are effective in most situations. NOTE:

   The article WEM protection and Skype for Business + Real-Time Optimization Pack details processes that should be excluded from WEM CPU Spikes protection.

Memory Management

1. On the left pane, click System Optimization.

2. Verify that Memory Management is selected in the upper-left pane.

3. On the Memory Usage Optimization page, select Optimize Memory Usage for Idle Processes.

4. Click Apply.

    

   

    

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   NOTE:

   By default, the settings of Idle Sample Time (min), Idle State Limit (percent) and Do Not Optimize When Total Available Memory Exceeds (MB) are automatically selected, after enabling Optimize Memory Usage for Idle Processes. Default settings are effective in most situations.

Fast Logoff

1. On the left pane, click System Optimization.

2. Verify that Fast Logoff is selected in the upper-left pane.

3. On the Settings page, select Enable Fast Logoff.

4. Click Apply.

    

   

    

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   NOTE:

   Fast Logoff supports Citrix Virtual Apps and RDS resources only.

Citrix Optimizer

1. On the left pane, click System Optimization.

2. Verify that Citrix Optimizer is selected in the upper-left pane.

3. On the Settings page, select Enable Citrix Optimizer.

4. Select Automatically Select Templates to Use.

5. Click Apply.

    

   

    

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   NOTE:

   For a non-persistent VDI environment, WEM follows the same behaviour – all changes to the environment are lost when the machine restarts. In the case of Citrix Optimizer, WEM runs optimizations each time the machine restarts.

Multi-session Optimization

1. On the left pane, click System Optimization.

2. Verify that Multi-session Optimization is selected in the upper-left pane.

3. On the Settings page, select Enable Multi-session Optimization.

4. Click Apply.

    

   

    

Workspace Environment Management Web Console for on-premises deployment

Workspace Environment Management Web Console is the next generation of the WEM management platform. It is a web-based management console offering full feature parity with the WEM legacy console. WEM Web Console modernizes your management experience by providing a native web experience.

Prerequisites

• Workspace Environment Management 2305 or later
• Domain joined Windows server
• Supporting Operating System
  • Windows Server 2022 Standard and Datacenter Editions
  • Windows Server 2019 Standard and Datacenter Editions
  • Windows Server 2016 Standard and Datacenter Editions
  • Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard and Datacenter Editions

Deploying WEM Web Console consists of configuring the API Service and Accessing the WEM Web Console. The following procedures detail how to configure these components:

Configure WEM API

1. Download the latest WebConsole package. Extract the zip file to a convenient folder.

2. Launch the API Configuration Utility.exe in the WebConsole folder.

    

   

    

3. On the Citrix Workspace Environment Management web console setup page, click Next.

    

   

    

4. On the Citrix Workspace Environment Management web console setup page, configure the following settings:

   • Web Console port. Specify a port for the web browser to connect to the WEM Web Console. The default port is 443.
   • Infrastructure service server name. Specify the machine name, the fully qualified domain name (FQDN), or the IP address of the WEM Infrastructure server.
   • Infrastructure service administration port. The default port is 8284.
   • Service impersonation account username and password. API service impersonates the specific account to improve security. You can create a new user account or select an existing user account.
     1. Create a new user account and add it to the WEM global full-access administrator group.
     2. Select an existing user account, which is a member of the WEM global access administrator group
   • Data folder path. Specify a folder for storing data (databases, certificates, configuration files). The default path for the data folder is C:\ProgramData\Citrix\WEM\API

    

   

    

5. Click Start service to start service.

    

   

    

6. Click Configure certificate to secure the WEM Web Console connection.

    

   

    

7. There are two methods for configuring certificates, Use a certificate file or Select from the certificate store. Select Use a certificate file and select the option to create a self-signed certificate to create a self-signed certificate.

    

   

    

8. On the Create self-signed certificate page, configure the following settings:

   • Domain to issue certificate to. Specify the domain that will be issued for the certificate.
   • Certificate friendly name (optional). The default is WEM API SSL Certificate
   • Certificate password. Specify certificate password.
   • Validty period. Specify the certificate validity period. The default is one year.
   • Save certificate file to. Specify the path for saving the certificate file. The default filename is MySelfSignedCertificate.pfx.

    

   

    

9. Select Create

10. On the Create self-signed certificate page, Select Set up certificate

     

    

     

11. When the certificate is configured successfully, Select Finish

     

    

     

Access the WEM Web Console

You can access the WEM Web Console via the URL https://api-ip-address:api-port. The web browser will not trust the certificate and report an unsecured connection. To secure the connection, complete the following steps:

1. Update DNS

2. Use URL https://fqdn-ofapi-server for accessing the WEM Web Console.

3. Export the certificate throught the web browser and save it as a .crt file.

   • Click Certificate is not valid

    

   

    

   • Select Export and specify name of certifcate (*.crt)file.

    

   

    

4. Install the *.crt certificate and ensure it is imported to the Trusted Root Certification Authorities on the local machine.

   • Double-click the certificate file.
   • Select Install Certificate file

    

   

    

   • On the Welcome to the Certificate Import Wizard, Select Local Machine and Click Next.

    

   

    

   • On the Certificate Store page, Select Place all certificates in the following store, Select Trusted Root Certification Authorities for Certificate Store.
   • Click Next.

    

   

    

   • On the Completing the Certificate Import Wizard page, Click Finish.

    

   

    

5. Restart the web browser and enter WEM Web Console URL. The connection is now secured.

    

   

    

6. Log into the WEM Web Console.

    

   

    

Summary

This guide walked you through the installation and configuration of Citrix WEM for an on-premises deployment. This consisted of installing and configuring the three core components: Infrastructure Service, Administration console and Agent. We created a Configuration Set, restored the Default Recommended Settings and enabled Citrix Profile Management. Finally we configured system optimization settings that are designed to lower resource usage on the agent host.

References

Tech Insight: Workspace Environment Management