Citrix XenApp 6.5 Advanced Administration (CXA-301)

Overview
Outline

About this Course

This five day instructor-led course provides learners with the skills necessary to monitor, maintain, optimize and troubleshoot Citrix XenApp 6.5 environments running on Windows Server 2008 R2 software. Learners are introduced to the tools used to monitor the XenApp farm, record farm activity and generate reports. In addition, learners take away the skills needed to maintain data and server integrity and to scale, optimize and troubleshoot the XenApp farm. This course encourages learning by doing and includes many hands-on exercises that reinforce and expand on the course content.

Audience Profile

This course is intended for IT professionals, such as server, network, and system administrators familiar with Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2008 R2 environments. System engineers, analysts, consultants, architects and Citrix partners are appropriate candidates for this course. Existing XenApp administrators, especially those with basic XenApp 6.5 experience and those who are interested in achieving CCAA or CCEE certifications, are ideal candidates

At Course Completion

Upon completing this course, students will be able to:

Troubleshooting the XenApp environment
Scaling the XenApp environment
Creating farm redundancy
Maintaining the XenApp environment
Optimizing the XenApp environment
Optimizing the user environment
Optimizing printing
Securing XenApp
Monitoring XenApp with standard utilities
Monitoring XenApp with EdgeSight

Prerequisites

The following are preparatory recommendations for this course:

Experience operating a XenApp farm, including administering users, publishing applications, and setting policies
Basic understanding of the components of a XenApp environment and server roles
Basic knowledge of the purpose and goals of virtualization technology
Basic experience installing and administering Windows Server 2008 R2 with Remote Desktop Services
An understanding of computing architecture, including network and storage devices, device drivers and operating systems
Basic understanding of network security principles

Course Outline

Module 1: Troubleshooting the XenApp Environment

Troubleshooting Methodology
Logon Issues
User Sessions
Server Resources

Labs:

Exercise 1-1: Troubleshooting an AppCenter Issue
Exercise 1-2: Troubleshooting Web Interface and XML Issues
Exercise 1-3: Troubleshooting Launching a Hosted Application
Exercise 1-4: Troubleshooting Streaming Applications

Module 2: Scaling the XenApp Environment

Farm Configuration Recommendations
Farm Scalability
Scripted Installation
Server Build Scripting
XenApp Server Templates
Data Store Database Migration
Dedicated Data Collector
Web Interface Planning
Delivery Services
XenApp and XenDesktop Integration
XenApp and Provisioning Services Integration
XenApp and Merchandising Server Integration

Labs 2:

Exercise 2-1: Preparing to Clone a XenApp Server
Exercise 2-2: Cloning a XenApp Server
Exercise 2-3: Preparing a XenApp Server for Scripted Configuration
Exercise 2-4: Performing a Scripted Configuration

Module 3: Creating Farm Redundancy

Eliminating Single Points of Failure
Disaster Recovery
Load Balancing
XenApp and NetScaler Integration

Labs 3:

Exercise 3-1: Load Balancing Web Interface and XML Services Using Citrix NetScaler
Exercise 3-2: Testing Load Balancing through Citrix NetScaler
Exercise: 3-3: Installing and Configuring Web Interface on Citrix NetScaler

Module 4: Maintaining the XenApp Environment

Farm Setting Migration
Data Store Database Maintenance
Data Store Database Recovery
Local Host Cache
XML Service Overview
Routine Operations
Power and Capacity Management

Labs 4:

Exercise 4-1: Updating the Mozilla Firefox Streaming Profile
Exercise 4-2: Performing Data Store Maintenance Commands
Exercise 4-3: Configuring Power and Capacity Management
Exercise 4-4: Creating a Restart Schedule for the XenApp Servers

Module 5: Optimizing the XenApp Environment

Performance Tuning
Windows Server Tuning for XenApp
XenApp Tuning
Virtual Memory Optimization
CPU Optimization
Virtual Machine Sizing
Multi-Streaming
Accelerating ICA Traffic with Branch Repeater
QoS through Branch Repeater

Labs 5:

Exercise 5-1: Enabling Multi-Stream ICA Policies for Specific ICA Traffic
Exercise 5-2: Enabling CPU and Memory Optimization

Module 6: Optimizing the User Environment

Access methods
Application Compatibility
Application Streaming
General Guidelines For Improving Application Performance
User Profiles
Session Pre-Launch
User Connection Configuration

Labs 6:

Exercise 6-1: Configuring Profile Management
Exercise 6-2: Profiling an Application Requiring A Service
Exercise 6-3: Configuring Session Pre-Launch

Module 7: Optimizing Printing

Printing Architecture Review
Managing Printers
Citrix Universal Printer
Printing Performance Policies
Non-Native Printer Drivers
Printer Driver Isolation
Printing Tools
Troubleshooting Printing

Labs 7:

Exercise 7-1: Verifying Printer Driver Compatibility with XenApp
Exercise 7-2: Replicating Print Drivers Using PowerShell
Exercise 7-3: Troubleshooting a Printer Issue with the Citrix Group Policy Modeling Wizard

Module 8: Securing XenApp

Setting Rights and Permissions
XenVault
SSL Certificates
XenApp Security with Access Gateway

Labs 8:

Exercise 8-1: Creating and Distributing a Root CA Certificate
Exercise 8-2: Encrypting External ICA Traffic Using ICA Proxy
Exercise 8-3: Restricting External Application Access
Exercise 8-4: Encrypting XML Traffic With SSL Relay

Module 9: Monitoring XenApp with Standard Utilities

XenApp Monitoring
XenApp Utilities
Citrix Utilities
Third-party tools

Labs 9:

Execise 9-1: Using Desktop Director to View Session Data
Exercise 9-2: Monitoring XenApp using Performance Monitor
Exercise 9-3: Monitoring XenApp Using Command Line Utilities

Module 10: Monitoring XenApp with EdgeSight

EdgeSight Components
Real-Time Information
Reports
Alerts
Active Application Monitoring

Labs 10:

Exercise 10-1: Viewing EdgeSight Historical Data
Exercise 10-2: Viewing EdgeSight Real-Time Data