Installing XenDesktop 4.0

Posted: 19th May 2011 by neil in Citrix XenDesktop

In this post I am going to install a Citrix XenDesktop Delivery Controller 4.0 as part of my studies for CCA in XenDesktop. Before going through the steps i have done the following:

  1. Installed a Server 2003 R2 SP2 x64 into a virtual machine with all security updates
  2. SQL Server 2005 SP4
  3. Terminal Services in Application mode
  4. Java JRE 1.5.0_15

After inserting the DVD the first step is to decide which components we need to install. I already have a licence server installed in my test environment so i have deselected the licence server and opted to install just the delivery controller and management console

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The next option asks us if we want to create a new farm or join an existing one. You would select the join option if you were installing an additional controller into an existing farm. In this instance because we don’t have a farm we are going to select create a new one.

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Now we need to select which type of DDC we are installing. This would depend on the type of licences that you have purchased from Citrix.

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Now we need to install the connection to the SQL Database. I have preinstalled SQL2005 SP4 onto the DCC Server so we will configure it to connect locally. In a production environment you would install the DDC onto a separate SQL Server

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Now that ODBC settings have been configured we are ready to proceed with the installation finally!

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After the installation finishes it will launch a wizard to create an OU in Active Directory. This OU will hold all the XenDesktop AD Objects. You can create a new one or select an existing OU

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When the wizard completes it will tell you what has been configured. Here is what was done for my environment:
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Initializing Farm OU
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Create OU=XenDesktopFarm
LDAP://OU=XenDesktopFarm,DC=testlab,DC=local
[Success]

Create CN=Farm SCP
LDAP://192.168.1.200/CN=Farm SCP,OU=XenDesktopFarm,DC=testlab,DC=local
[Success]

Create CN=Controllers
LDAP://192.168.1.200/CN=Controllers,OU=XenDesktopFarm,DC=testlab,DC=local
[Success]

Create CN=RegistrationServices
LDAP://192.168.1.200/CN=RegistrationServices,OU=XenDesktopFarm,DC=testlab,DC=local
[Success]

Register Farm OU
[Success]

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Add Farm Controllers
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This controller
[Success]

————————————————————————-
Configuration Summary
————————————————————————-

The Active Directory OU was configured successfully
[Success]

And finally we are done! Next steps are to run the discovery wizard and then start configuring.

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Virtualization Webcasts

Posted: 12th May 2011 by neil in Virtualization

Here is a link to a great set of webcasts from Microsoft. 15 hours of content in there = plenty of learning! Enjoy Smile

http://blogs.technet.com/b/nicholasp/archive/2011/05/11/online-jump-start-microsoft-virtualisation-management-and-vdi.aspx

  1. Virtualization Jump Start (01): Virtualization Overview
  2. Virtualization Jump Start (02): Differentiating Microsoft & VMware
  3. Virtualization Jump Start (03a): Hyper-V Deployment Options & Architecture | Part 1
  4. Virtualization Jump Start (03b): Hyper-V Deployment Options & Architecture | Part 2
  5. Virtualization Jump Start (04): High-Availability & Clustering
  6. Virtualization Jump Start (05): System Center Suite Overview with focus on DPM
  7. Virtualization Jump Start (06): Automation with Opalis, Service Manager & PowerShell
  8. Virtualization Jump Start (07): System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012
  9. Virtualization Jump Start (08): Private Cloud Solutions, Architecture & VMM Self-Service Portal 2.0
  10. Virtualization Jump Start (09): Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Architecture | Part 1
  11. Virtualization Jump Start (10): Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Architecture | Part 2
  12. Virtualization Jump Start (11): v-Alliance Solution Overview
  13. Virtualization Jump Start (12): Application Delivery for VDI

VCP-410 Passed!

Posted: 11th May 2011 by neil in ESXi 4.0, Virtualization, vSphere (ESX 4.0)

On Wednesday May 4th 2011 i took and passed my VMware VCP-410 exam. This is one certification that i have been after for a while so i am over the moon that I passed it. I have been studying hard for the exam for roughly 3 months as I started in February. Beginning of April 2011 I attended the mandatory 5-Day VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manager training course at QA Technologies based in Manchester.

One thing I will say about the exam is that if you attend the course and want to take the exam straight away, don’t bother. A lot of the material on the exam is not covered in the course. I used the following to pass the exam:

Good luck to all those who are taking the exam in the future!