How to configure site in Citrix XenDesktop 7.8
How to configure Site in Citrix XenDesktop 7.8 on Windows Server 2012 R2
In this post, we’ll learn the steps to configure Site in Citrix XenDesktop 7.8 on Windows Server 2012 R2. In the previous post, we have learned to steps to install Citrix XenApp\XenDesktop 7.8 on Windows Server 2012 R2. Through Citrix XenApp\XenDesktop 7.8 we can deliver applications and virtual desktops to the users from a single console.
Steps to configure site in Citrix XenDesktop/ XenApp 7.8
1. Once the installation of Citrix XenApp/ XenDesktop is successfully completed. Click on the start and then click on Citrix Studio.
2. On the console of Citrix Studio, click on “Deliver applications and desktops to your users” to configure site in Citrix XenDesktop 7.8.
3. On Introduction console, we have two options for configuring a site. The first option is “A fully configured, production-ready site”. It is a simplest and easiest way of configuring a site. The second option is “An empty, unconfigured Site”. It is an advanced option to create an empty site and then configure it later. Enter the site name and then click on Next. We have entered India-IT as a site name and select the option “A fully configured, production-ready site“.
4. On Databases console, we can see two options for setting up the database. The first option is “Create and set up databases from Studio“. This option can be used if we want to create the database locally. And the second option is “Generate scripts to manually set up databases on the database server“. This option is used when we have to create a database on any database server other than the localhost. We have selected the first option and keep all the default path and locations. Click on Next to continue.
5. On Licensing console, we can define the license server address and which type of license we want to use. In this practical, we don’t have a different license server therefore we are using the localhost as a license server and 27000 is the default port of license server.
Click on Connect to establish a connection with the license server. It is good practice to check the connectivity before clicking on next. Moreover, we are using the free 30 days trial licenses. If you have Citrix XenDesktop licenses then you can specify here by selecting the option of “Use an existing license”. Click on Next to continue.
6. On Connection console, set the connection type. You have an option to use VMWare vSphere, Microsoft SCVMM, Citrix XenServer, Amazon, etc. For this practical we’ll select “VMware vSphere“. Enter the connection address i.e “https://vcs.itingredients.com/sdk” (VCS is the name of our vCenter Server). Enter the username, password and connection name. This user must have delegated permissions to access vCenter Server. Select the option of Studio tools under the Create virtual machine using option, as we would use Machine Creation Services. Click on Next to proceed.
7. To configure site in Citrix XenDesktop/ XenApp 7.8, on the name for these resources console, enter the name of resources. We have set the name to “IT-Resources“. Click on browse and select the name of cluster for the new virtual machines and specify the network which the virtual machines would use. However, in this example, we only have one VMWare ESXi Server therefore we selected the same. Click on Next to continue.
8. On Storage console, you’ll see list of all the storage devices connected. Here, we are using “datastore1” which is the local storage of ESXi Server to store all the new virtual machines. Select the same and click on Next to continue.
9. On Additional Features console, we can enable AppDNA and APP-V Publishing features for customizing the site. We can also enable\disable these features later. We’ll talk about these options in future articles therefore we have not enabled these feature. Click on Next to proceed.
10. To configure site in Citrix XenDesktop/ XenApp 7.8, on Summary console, verify all the options selected on previous consoles. Select “Yes, Send anonymous statistics and usage information” for joining the Citrix Customer Experience Improvement Program. Or select No, if you don’t want to send the statistics and usage information to Citrix. Click on Finish to complete the configuration process.
Hope you must have understood all the steps that we have learned in this article. Please feel free to leave your comments if you have any additional questions related to this article.