Release 5.6 Feature Overview - DABCCImproved vDisk Store Creation Provides a mechanism to place a...

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Citrix Provisioning Services

Release 5.6 Feature Overview


New Features in Release 5.6


What’s New in Provisioning Services 5.6

Imaging Wizard Simplifies and automates end-to-end vDisk creation process.

DB Mirroring Support Ability to leverage a SQL Server database that has been setup in a mirrored configuration.

Silent Configuration Ability to create an answer file to expedite deployment of Provisioning Services Hosts.

Improved vDisk Store CreationProvides a mechanism to place a Provisioning Services host into “maintenance mode,” automatically moving

streaming sessions to other hosts in the farm.

Device Auto-Add Wizard New wizard makes it easier to set-up Device AutoAdd.

Store Management Wizard Integrates management of vDisk LUNs into the Provisioning Services Management Console.

Jumbo Packet Support Improves performance in 10G network

Cross-Forest AD Support Ability to deploy Provisioning Services Farms across multiple AD Forests.

XenServer Host Streaming Ability to stream XenServer hosts in private and standard image modes (Non-supported technology preview).



• Imaging Wizard is run from a device on which the Provisioning Services client software has been installed.

• Start by entering the connection information for the Provisioning Services farm to which this image is to be added.

Imaging Wizard


• If you wish to create a new vDisk, the wizard will prompt for the vDisk name, store location, and type.

• Note that the list of stores will be based on the access level of the user and selected server.

Imaging Wizard


• If you wish to re-image an existing vDisk you will be given a list of disks to chose from, based on the access level of the user and selected server.

Imaging Wizard


• Next you will be able to define the number and size of the logical volumes to be created on the vDisk.

Imaging Wizard


• If you wish to add the target device to the Provisioning Services farm, you can do so from the Imaging Wizard itself.

Imaging Wizard


• As a final step you have the option to run the Optimizer tool prior to creation of the vDisk and device record.

Imaging Wizard


• Ability to connect to a MS SQL Server database that has been set up in a mirrored configuration.

• Provisioning Services now uses native SQL client so DB failover is automatic

DB Mirroring Support


• Run Configuration Wizard run once to create database and answer file.

• Use answer file to automate configuration of subsequent hosts.

Silent Configuration Support

# This is a sample file

UserName=BIGCO\joeuser

UserName2=janesmith

Database=1

# Network

StreamNetworkAdapterIP=10.204.4.53

IpcPortBase=6890

IpcPortCount=20

SoapPort=54321

BootstrapFile=C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application

Data\Citrix\ProvisioningServices\Tftpboot\ARDBP32.BIN

LS1=10.10.10.2,0.0.0.0,0.0.0.0,6910

NoStartServices=1


• New ability to validate vDisk store paths.

• Clicking Validate button on the Store Properties dialog displays new Validate Store Properties dialog.

Improved vDisk Store Creation


• New wizard makes it easier to configure auto-add for a farm, site, or device collection.

• Wizard guides you through the process of selecting the desired target device to act as a template.

Device Auto-Add Wizard


• Once the device has been selected, certain properties can be modified as needed.



• Finally, you can specify the device naming pattern for automatically added devices.



• New wizard allows you to leverage the Read-Only vDisk Store capability without having to go to the command line on each server.

• Stores are marked as “managed” during the creation process.

• Toggle store between Read-only and Maintenance mode and select server for vDisk maintenance (server maintains write access to store volume).

• Store cannot be placed in maintenance mode if there are active vDisk connections.

Store Management Wizard


• AD integration was has been enhanced.

• Provisioning Services now supports deployment in multi-forest environments.

• The following slides show supported configurations and requirements.

Enhanced AD Support


Legend for Diagrams

Enhanced AD Support

vDisk store

PVS target

PVS server

Domain

Administrative Users

Administrative ConsoleForest


Target Devices in Child Domains

Enhanced AD Support

• PVS and vDisk store in parent domain, targets in child domains, single forest

• Status: Supported

• What does this require?• Implied trust in parent-child domain

• User member of global group

• Global group member of local domain group

• Local domain group is PVS admin group

• In child domain, delegate add & delete computer account permissions to global group

• vDisk member of child domain

Citrite.net

Engineering.Citrite.netSales.Citrite.net

vDisk store PVS target PVS server Administrative Users Administrative Console


Target Devices in Sibling Domains

Enhanced AD Support

• PVS and vDisk store in a child domain, targets in different child domains, single forest


• What does this require?• Inbound domain trust to PVS console

• User member of global group

• Global group member of local domain group


• In sibling domain, delegate add & delete computer account permissions to global group

• vDisk member of child domain

Citrite.net

DC.Citrite.net

xxxxxx.Citrite.net



Target Devices in Separate Forest

Enhanced AD Support

• PVS and vDisk store in on forest, targets in forests


• What does this require?• Inbound forest trust to PVS console

• User member of universal group in user‟s domain

• Universal group member of local domain group in PVS domain


• In each forest domain, delegate add & delete computer account permissions to universal group

• vDisk member of child domainCitrite.net

Monkeybusiness.com



Target Devices and Admins in Separate Forest

Enhanced AD Support


• Status: IN TESTING

• What does this require?• Inbound forest trust to PVS console






Monkeybusiness.com



Target Devices, Admin, and Console in Separate Forest

Enhanced AD Support


• Status: IN TESTING

• What does this require?• Inbound forest trust to PVS server






Monkeybusiness.com



• The load balancing algorithm will now consider the network on which the request was received and select the IP address of the server on that same network.

• If there is not a matching network then it is assumed that networks are routed and round-robin is used to select the IP address.

Subnet Affinity


Power RatingA user defined constant indicating the relative level of the power of a server to service PVS devices. All other constraints being equal, a server with a power rating of 2.0 should service twice as many devices as a server with a power rating of 1.0.

Load FactorA normalized count of devices assigned to a server. The count is normalized by dividing the device count by the server “Power rating”.

Fair LoadThe relative load a server should share for a given vDisk and device set as determined by the relative power ratings of all servers involved.

Load Balancing


Automatic load balancing approximately every 10 minutes

Load Balancing

fairLoad = sumAllDeviceCountsOnApplicableServers / sumAllPowerRatingsOfApplicableServers

currentLoadFactor = deviceCount / powerRating

percentServerLoad = currentLoadFactor / fairLoad

if (precentServerLoad >= 1.0 + triggerPercent(vDisk))

{

InitiateServerLoadShift(vDisk);

}


• Windows 7, 2008 and Vista no longer restrict pagefile to system partition so dump file can reside anywhere.

• http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX123642

Win 7 Kernel Dump

http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX123642


• Now supported on a per server basis.

• Console changed for Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU)

• PVS server maximum MTU: The lowest MTU of all PVS server network adapter Ethernet MTU.

• PVS client maximum MTU: The MTU of currently active network adapter that binds to BNNS. When NIC failover occurs, new NIC MTU is exchanged during reconnect.

• In PVS client preboot, PXE/TFTP/UNDI(int13) do not support jumbo packets.

Other New Features: Jumbo Packet Support


• New inter-process communications channel• New method for PVS components and servers to communicate with each other.

• Wake-on-LAN in distributed environment is „fixed‟

• Additional ports opened

• License Server Validation• Ability to check license server version from Configuration Wizard

• New Disk Properties context menu• View disk file properties.

• Port Blocker has been removed• Deprecated in 5.1 SP 2

Other New Features


• Standard and private image mode streaming of diskless XenServer hosts.

• Non-supported technology preview. Supported implementation planned for Q4 2010.

• Give us your ideas and feedback!

XenServer Host Streaming Technology Preview


• General architecture XS host is retained.

• Two kernel drivers:• Proprietary module which implements the PVS

protocol

• Public module which implements the GPL glue between the proprietary module and the kernel

• Both drivers interact with the SCSI subsystem as a SCSI LLD to register a SCSI disk and redirect access to it over the network to the PVS server

• Initial ram disk image handles boot time

• User space magic is carried out by several scripts

XenServer Host Streaming: Architecture


• Installation is done in text mode and into a hardcoded path.

• eth0 must not be designated as the management interface or support a VLAN.

• During installation, eth0 is removed from under the control of XenServer and allocated to PVS exclusively.

• Original boot loader, extlinux, is retained.

• PVS specific entry is created in the boot loader configuration file and is selected as the default boot option.

XenServer Host Streaming: Installation


• Like the installation, imaging is also done in text mode.

• As a result, partitions “/boot” and “/” are created.

• The native boot loader, extlinux, is not carried over to the virtual disk. Instead, the GRUB boot loader is used.

• Personalization is attained through a startup script a symbolic link to which is added in runlevel 3.

• A custom initrd, which contains needed drivers and startup scripts, is created on the virtual disk.

XenServer Host Streaming: Imaging


• Needed because each XenServer instance is tied to the hardware on which it is installed.

• Performed before XAPI is running.

• Data is injected directly into the XenServer database and several other configuration files.

• Methods used to personalize a XenServer instance entail:• Patching of the last six bytes of some UUIDs with the MAC of the PVS interface

• Removal of any references to local storage

• Updates of network configuration files with MACs of corresponding interfaces

XenServer Host Streaming: Personalization


• Files affected are:• /etc/xensource-inventory

• /var/xapi/state.db

• /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth<N>

• Values affected are:• installation UUID

• dom0 UUID

• host name, host UUID and host reference UUID

• pool UUID and pool reference UUID

• MAC addresses of all PIFs found in the Xen Server database

• all references the local physical block device (PBD)

XenServer Host Streaming: Personalization (cont.)





Standard Image NIC Teaming Enables teaming of NICs on provisioned systems using Intel or Broadcom based NIC teaming drivers.

Offline vDisk MaintenanceProvides ability to boot Provisioning Services VHD images directly within XenServer or Hyper-V for “offline”

maintenance w/o requiring access to a streamed device.

User Assigned vDisks Selects vDisk to stream to a provisioned system based on the user logon.

Offline Database SupportAllows for continued operation of Provisioning Services hosts and provisioned systems in the event of a

database failure or outage.

Server Maintenance ModeProvides a mechanism to place a Provisioning Services host into “maintenance mode,” automatically moving

streaming sessions to other hosts in the farm.

Multiple Partition vDisks Enables imaging of systems that have multiple physical /logical drives into a single vDisk.

Read-Only vDisk Storage Improves system performance by allowing VHDs to be deployed on read-only volumes, reducing disk I/O.

Auditing and Enhanced

LoggingProvides enhanced ability to monitor system and administrator activity.

XP Embedded Streaming Provides ability to build and stream XP Embedded images used by thin client machines.



• Hardware NIC Teaming Supported in:• Standard Image Mode

• Difference Disk Mode

• Vendors Supported: • Intel

• Broadcom

• Modes Supported:• Fault Tolerance

• Load Balancing

Standard Image Mode NIC Teaming



• Mount PVS Virtual Hard Drive (VHD) files directly within Microsoft

Hyper-V

• Easier vDisk Updating…

• Install Microsoft Patches, Service Packs and Updates

• Install Software Updates

• Update Drivers

• Easier PVS Upgrades…

• Upgrade from PVS 5.0 to PVS 5.1 leveraging this feature

• Create Common Image between physical device and Hyper-V

Offline vDisk Maintenance



User Assigned vDisksSelects vDisk to stream to a provisioned system based on the user logon.

Click

Click



Offline Database Support

Right ClickClick

Click

Select

Allows for continued operation of Provisioning Services hosts and provisioned systems in the event of a database failure or outage.



Server Maintenance Mode

Right Click

Click

Click to enter Maintenance Mode

Provides a mechanism to place a Provisioning Services host into “maintenance mode,” automatically moving streaming sessions to other hosts in the farm.



• Enables imaging of systems that have multiple physical /logical drives into a single vDisk.

• PVS now leverages XenConvert to create a vDisk with up to 4 partitions.

Multiple Partition vDisks



• Improves system performance by allowing VHDs to be deployed on read-only volumes, reducing disk I/O.

• Simplifies deployment of Standard Image Mode on SAN and NAS devices.

• Enables vDisk to reside on a shared LUN allowing concurrent access by multiple servers.

Read-Only vDisk Storage



Auditing

Right ClickClick

Click

Select

Provides enhanced ability to monitor system and administrator activity.



Enhanced Logging - Server

Right Click

Click

Click

New logging improvements will greatly simplify and expedite problem remediation.



Enhanced Logging - Devices

Right ClickClick

Click

New logging improvements will greatly simplify and expedite problem remediation.



• Provides ability to build and stream XP Embedded images used by thin client machines.

• Extends PVS capabilities to thin clients.

• Enables single image management with Windows XP Embedded

XP Embedded Streaming






Management Improvements

Farm PartitioningFacilitates management of large server farms by allowing the customer to group Provisioning Services hosts,

provisioned servers, and virtual disks into separately managed sites.

Microsoft Management

Console (MMC) Snap-In UI

New UI seamlessly integrates Provisioning Services management with customers‟ existing Microsoft

management infrastructure and tools.

Role-based AdministrationProvides ability to grant admin access rights to users based on their Active Directory group membership,

allowing customers to assign different administrators to different parts of the farm.

Microsoft Integration Improvements

Windows Server 2008

Streaming

Enables provisioning of physical and virtual W2k8 servers including the ability to stream Microsoft Hyper-V to

bare metal servers, making it possible to dynamically configure servers to run either a single, dedicated

workload, or be virtualized to run multiple workloads.

Microsoft Virtual Hard Disk

(VHD) Support

Allows customers to leverage other third-party tools (such as virus scanners, patch management, backup, etc.)

that support VHD.

Microsoft SQL Server

Integration

Leverages customers‟ database scaling, resiliency, reporting, and backup and recovery infrastructure by allowing

the integration of Provisioning Services data into existing SQL Server installations.


Provisioning Services 5.0 New Terms



• Top level of the Provisioning Services hierarchy

• Grouping of sites, stores, and views managed as a single unit

• Each farm has a single database (SQL Server) and single license server

• All Provisioning Services hosts need to be able to reach the database and license server

• Contains one or more sites, with each site containing local Provisioning Services hosts, vDisks, and Target Devices

• A Container that logically groups:• Provisioning Services hosts

• vDisk Pool

• Device Collections

• Views

• A site could represent a physical location, a group or an application silo



• Logical name given to a physical storage location of vDisks

• The store is used by all Provisioning Services hosts within a farm to refer to a vDisk storage location

• Stores can be made available at global, site, or server level

• Allows target devices to be grouped in different ways to perform simultaneous tasks

• Replaces the „Groups‟ functionality from PVS 4.x

• Target Devices can belong to more than one view

• Farm Views can group target devices from multiple sites

• Site Views can group target devices from only that site



• Collection of all vDisks available to a site

• There is one vDisk Pool per site

• A vDisk Pool can reference many Stores

• Logical grouping of target devices within a site• Target device can belong to only one device collection

• Only one level, no sub-collections

• Simplifies target device management since tasks can be performed at the collection level instead of device-by-device level


Feature Version 4.5 Version 5.0

Console Interface Proprietary UI, runs on host MMC Snap-in based

Database Jet DBMS SQL Server (SQL Server Express

ships with product)

Admin User Access ControlControlled by host system login access

only

Role-based Administration with Active

Directory integration

Deployment Partitioning Limited. Device groups only.

Hierarchical (Farms, Sites, Device

Collections). Tied to role-based Admin

rights

API Limited functionality (SOAP & CLI) Full functionality (SOAP & CLI)

Virtual Disk Format Proprietary Microsoft VHD

Operating System Support (PVS Hosts) Win 2k3 (32-bit) Win 2k3 (32 & 64-bit)

Provisioning Services Version Comparison


Farm Partitioning


Provisioning Services 4.x Deployment Model

Farm

Jet

DB

License

Manager

Server1 ServerN

vDisk1 vDiskN

Devices

Local vDisk

Storage

PXE

Server

Shared

vDisk Storage


Farm

SQL

Server

License

ManagerPXE

Server

Shared

vDisk Store

Server1 ServerN

Site1

Local VDisk

Store

Server1 ServerN

SiteN

Local VDisk

Store

Provisioning Services 5.0 Deployment Model

vDisk

Pool

vDisk1

vDiskN

Device

Collection1

Device

CollectionN

Device

Collection1

Device

CollectionNvDisk

Pool

vDisk1

vDiskN


MMC Snap-In UI


4.X Provisioning Services Console


5.0 Provisioning Services Console


Provisioning Services 5.0 Console Features


Provisioning Services 5.0 Console Features

Farms can be divided into

separately managed sites

Each Site has its own group

of Provisioning Services and a

vDisk Pool

Devices (desktop, server or

virtual machines) are

organized into Collections

that can be managed

independently

User-defined Views allow

grouping of devices for

common management tasks

Named vDisk Stores allow

virtualization of the physical

storage layer


Role Based Administration


Role-Based Administration

• Super user that can do anything within entire farm

• Can perform all actions within a site (create vDisks, create device collections, set server properties within a site, manage stores for the site, etc.)

• Can perform all actions for a device collection (create target devices, set device properties, assign virtual disks)

• Boot, reboot and shutdown devices, send messages to devices


Farm

SQL

Server

License

ManagerPXE

Server

Shared

vDisk Store

Server1 ServerN

Site1

Local VDisk

Store

Server1 ServerN

SiteN

Local VDisk

Store


vDisk

Pool

vDisk1

vDiskN

Device

Collection1

Device

CollectionN

Device

Collection1

Device

CollectionN

vDisk

Pool

vDisk1

vDiskN

Farm

Admin

Site

Admin

Device

Admin

Device

Operator


Console Authentication Flow

Integrated Authentication

Auto-login Option

Type the PVS Server you

wish to connect to.



1. Click Connect

3. The management API checks Active

Directory group membership

2. Windows Credentials security context is

grabbed in .NET API and passed to

Management Module via the Soap API

4. AD group membership is compared to

available roles and access is granted.

Provisioning Services

Active Directory

MS SQL Server 2005



5. If unable to authenticate

access denied is sent back and

user is prompted for alternate

credentials.




Ted: Device Operator

• Help Desk Associate Boot, reboot, shutdown and send a message

to a device

View the properties of a device

View the disk properties assigned to the device

• Console only shows assigned roles


Kate: Device Administrator

• Local Technical Services Representative Everything a Device Operator can do

Assign and unassigned VDisks to a client

Modify properties of a device and device collection

Modify device templates for a device collection

Move a device from one device collection to another device collection within a site.

Remove a device from a device collection and place it into a “named” collection.

Delete a device from a collection

• Role type can span multiple sites


Jeff: Site Administrator

• Administrator of London Site Everything a Device Administrator can do

Create and modify device collections

Create and modify VDisk pools

Create and modify VDisks

Add and remove PVS servers to a site(s)

Add and remove VDisk pools to a site(s)

Configure site properties

Configure and determine Device Administrators and Device Operators memberships

• Console more secure


Philip: Multi-role User

• Senior System Administrator Device Administrator of Atlanta

Site Administrator or Bedford

Device Operator of Chicago

Site Administrator of London

• Console only shows assigned roles

• Supports multiple role membership


Microsoft Integration Improvements


Release 5.0: Microsoft Integration Features

• Includes streaming of Hyper-V

• Enables alternative provisioning of dedicated or virtualized servers

• Replaces current proprietary vDisk format

• VHD must be created from reference machine using PVS Image Builder or XenConvert

• Enables usage of 3rd party tools (e.g. VHD Mount and VHDResizer) that support VHD

• Replaces Jet DB

• Ship with SQL Server Express Engine (free)

• Allows customers to leverage their existing enterprise SQL Server infrastructure


Virtual Hard Disk Format

• Provisioning Services 5.0 vDisks use the VHD format

• VHD = Microsoft‟s Virtual Hard Disk format

• Industry standard format that allows vendors to provide value-added tools (such as VHD Mount and VHDResizer)

• Fixed and Dynamic vDisks options• Fixed – initial and maximum file size is the same (all disk

space is allocated up front)

• Dynamic – initial file size is small and can increase up to the maximum size (saves disk space)


vDisk Stores


• Logical name given to a physical storage location of vDisks• The store is used by all Provisioning Services host within a

farm to refer to a vDisk storage location• Stores can be made available at global, site, or server level• Types of Stores:

• Distributed Store

• Farm Store

• Private Store

• Site Store

vDisk Stores


• Store that is accessible by all Provisioning Services host in a Farm

• Farm Administrators manage a Farm Store

• Not Assigned to a Site

Farm Stores


• Default store path:•Accessible by all Provisioning

Services host in the Farm

•Default Path can represent:

• DFS/Windows File Share

• CIFS Share

• NAS Device

• SAN Device

Farm Stores


• Store that is accessible by all Provisioning Services host in a Site

• Site Administrators manage a Site Store

• Assigned to a Site

Site Stores


• Default store path:•Accessible by all Provisioning

Services host in the Site

•Default Path can represent:

• DFS/Windows File Share

• CIFS Share

• NAS Device

• SAN Device

Site Stores


• vDisks hosted on the local drive of multiple

Provisioning Services host within a Site

•vDisks appear as a single unit to target

devices

• Does not require shared storage

• Enables HA without shared storage

Distributed Stores


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