Month: March 2018

Today we will step in to the world of “Why am I not using this solution already!?”

I am going to write about FSLOGIX and in particular two features that when it comes to profile management, provide you with a win win. Happy administrators and happy users.

The end result of any implementation should be about the user experience. If this is not acceptable the hard work you made putting in the solution is ignored.

Profile Containers and Office 365 containers to the rescue!

In a nutshell all your folders and files are mounted at user logon in one single VHD/VHDX file. The system only sees a single VHD/VHDX file to attach to the user. There are two container (VHD/VHDX) files.

The Profile Container – No faffing about on what to include or exclude with the profile, no slowness of logon owed to folder redirection.

The Office 365 Container – OST and office data and even One Drive can be cached in a single VHD/VHDX file so you can have lightning experience with office apps including searching and indexing! (Imagine the case with a chatty OST/PST across the network causing issues with your VDI/RDS users or whenever the users search or do something within outlook. Lots of resources being hogged and network and shared users affected).

One thing to note – Space, you will need space. SAN, Storage, file server you name it you will require space to store the profiles. This is not so costly anymore and  in today’s terms this should not be a problem. Remember size appropriately.

From a user perspective and experience this is A+.

I had the fortunate experience of meeting some of the FSLOGIX team and they really know their onions!

So what will I cover?

• Office 365 Installation
• Image Checks
• FSLOGIX Install
• Image Preparation
• GPO Setup
• How FSLOGIX Works
• Troubleshooting
• FSLOGIX Container Management
• Conclusion

Office 365 Installation

Once you have the master image prepared and optimised for the best user experience by a your preferred consultant we can then begin the office 365 install on the image.

The office install is done by using the ODT tool (office deployment tool).

You simply download this from the website –

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49117

Once the executable is downloaded simply run it on a network share.

You should then see the following files.

Next, you need to create a new configuration.XML file.

This is easily done by going to the wonderful GITHUB.

https://officedev.github.io/Office-IT-Pro-Deployment-Scripts/XmlEditor.html

You are able to exclude the products you do not wish to download. (One Drive is usually recommended to not be redirected to the containers historically. However, this can be done).

This is pretty intuitive. What you need to be aware of is the following –

• Disable Updates
• Do not have any other office products on your image
• Display level None
• Accept the EULA
• Shared Computer Licensing should be YES

Once you have your configuration file sorted simply download and replace the one in the profile share.

You should end up with something similar to the below.

Next you need to download the office files.

This can be done remotely from your Win 10 master image or any other machine.

Open up an administrative command prompt and run the setup from the location the files are in and download the files to the share.

\\Server\Share\setup.exe /download \\Server\Share\configuration.xml

Once this is done you will see extra files in your profile share –

Now from your master image you need to install the office files.

So first step is to download to a share and second step is to install from that share.

\\Server\Share\Setup.exe /configure \\Server\Share\configuration.xml

This process actually install office on to your image.

You will have to wait for a bit of time so get some pushups in!

Image Checks

At this stage do not launch your office apps. You do not want to activate office on the Master Image!

We have to go through a few tests to check all is good.

Check 1

Make sure the product is not activated on your image.

Check 2

Add the following registry keys and make sure shared computer activation is set to 1.

The registry keys are required to enable office licensing roaming.

Fslogix Install

We now install the fslogix agent.

This is easy.

Click Yes

Enter your product key.

 

Done!

The agent install does install a service.

You will also have 4 groups created for you.

The ODFC groups are user control for your Outlook containers.

The Profile groups are for your……yeah you  have it!

Remove the default groups

…. and add the users you want to have containers mapped when they log on to your VDI/ RDS solution.

Best practice – create 2 groups.

OFFICE INCLUDE

PROFILE INCLUDE

Put the users in to these groups and add the groups withing the FSLOGIX created groups.

Note – Exclude overides include.

The next thing you need to do is create a few reg keys.

FlipFlopProfileDirectoryName – Basically flip sid, username around to username, sid.

VHDLocations – The location of your share that will contain the Containers.

IncludeOfficeActivation – 1 = Office activation data is redirected to the container. 0 = Office activation data is not redirected to the container.

RoamSearch – Used to control the FSLogix Search Roaming feature. Set to ‘1’ or ‘2’ to enable the feature.

Image preparation

 

This will be your own set of best practices.

What I will say is there are 2 great tools to prep your images.

• Vmware have the VSOT tool – https://labs.vmware.com/flings/vmware-os-optimization-tool
• Citrix have the Citrix Optimiser – https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX224676

There are lots of other tweaks you can do – I follow this link for the machine template within VMware.

https://www.ituda.com/vmware-horizon-view-windows-10-golden-image-creation/

This link has a good vdi.bat file you use at the end of your image prep.

Once you finish preparing your image it is now over to your Horizon/Xenapp solution to deploy this out.

I will not go in to detail here for this part but this is using an image for MCS/ PVS /Linked clones etc etc.

GPO Setup

There are some GPO’s you can also use to configure settings.

Your VDI machines will be placed in the GPO that these rules apply to.

FSLOGIX ADMX template

Office ADMX template

Setting to roam the 365 Token.

Set Computer Configuration Preferences.

Here are the keys we mentioned earlier but being set by GPO.

You will just have to put the ADMX/ and ADML files either in your local policy definitions location or the Sysvol Policy definitions location.

How FSLOGIX Works

When FSlogix is working it will create VHD/VHDX files on your Container share under a user, sid folder location (Remember the FlipFlop setting) when a user logs in to the VDI.

 

This can be seen in the VDI Compmgmt console. So, you will get a mounted volume attached that resides on the file share as though it is local to the device.

Troubleshooting

Log files are located at Log Location for Agent = C:\ProgramData\FSLogix\ODFC

The log will indicate the setting being read/applied by GPO, the VHD being found for the user , VHD’s  being mounted to the specific folder of Office365.

If using UPM or other profile management tools in conjunction with FSLOGIX don’t forget to exclude the highlighted items.

UPDATE: More exclusions added – Thanks to Rene Bigler.

Outlook- \Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook
Search- \Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\FSLogix\WSearch (Only required when RoamSearch set to 2)
Skype4B- \Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Lync
Licensing- \Users<username>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Licensing
One Drive- \Users\<Username>\<OneDrive folder name>

The status tray also highlights details and logs.

FSLogix Container Management

Mounting vhdx files so you can look at the contents is done with a tool – Frxcontent.exe, located in the following location – C:\Program Files\Fslogix\Apps

You install the tool using the command frxcontect.exe –Install

From the machine you installed this tool on you then browse to the VHDX files and right click and mount as shown below.

The container below shows the Office VHDX file.

The container below shows the users profile within the VHDX folder.

Two screens will pop up when mounted.

Registry and the Profile folders.

 

The next screen shot simply shows that I can drill in to the users desktop and see the folders that I created.

Conclusion

Simple, easy to implement and quick. Great user experience and solves issues with office 365 cached mode and Exchange online experience for corporate enterprises.

This solution will allow your license to roam in a non-persistent environment without ADFS.

More posts with FSLOGIX will be coming.

Carpe Diem!

Follow me or contact me on twitter @Citxen

I wrote an article in the Citrix User Group Community, where I highlighted deploying a single NetScaler in Azure to provide some resilience for a Citrix Cloud Solution.

https://www.mycugc.org/blog/azurensg

I promised a follow up at the end of the article and here it is.

I have decided to highlight how to deploy a NetScaler Gateway In Azure using Active/Passive mode and a multi NIC Configuration using high availability.

The Azure Market Place has a ready to go template to help you deploy this solution.

It will deploy the following –

• 2 NetScaler’s
• 1 Azure Load Balancer
• 6 Network Security Groups
• 6 NICS
• 3 Public IP’s
• 1 Availability Group
• 1 storage account

Pre-Requisites

Have the Gateway IP PIP (Public IP) already defined. This way you can sort out your external DNS before template deployment and simply add the public IP to the Azure Load Balancer. More on this later.

You can create the resource Group/Subnets beforehand if you wish. You need 3 subnets, or the template will create 3 for you.

The Build

Search for the NetScaler template on the Azure Marketplace.

The template outlines the following –

Citrix NetScaler 12.0 High Availability (HA) Azure Resource Manager (ARM) template is designed to ensure easy and consistent way of deploying NetScaler pair in Active-Passive mode. This template increases reliability and system availability with built in redundancy. This ARM template supports Bring Your Own License (BYOL) or Hourly based selection. Choice of selection is offered during template deployment.

Citrix NetScaler is an all-in-one web Application Delivery Controller (ADC) that makes applications run faster, reduces web application ownership costs, optimizes the user experience, and makes sure that applications are always available.

Citrix NetScaler offers many tools for application deployment. Some of the primary tools are:

• Application Acceleration and Application Security
• HTTP Compression and HTTP Caching
• Web Application Firewall (WAF)
• L4-7 Load Balancer
• Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB)
• SSL Acceleration
• Server Offloading
• Server Consolidation
• Content Switching and Content Caching
• High Availability
• Remote Access and Remote Monitoring
• Policy Engine with Multi-Tenancy
• Data Loss Prevention
• Session Persistence

This template will guide through deployment of Citrix NetScaler HA Active-Passive mode. Preconfigured to include components and setting to deliver seamless HA experience. Details of topology can be found at http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/netscaler/12/deploying-vpx/deploy-vpx-on-azure/configure-vpx-pair-ha-inc.html. On successful deployment, Pair of NetScaler will be pre-configured in HA-INC mode. NetScaler 12.0 VPX HA template support different SKU’s of NetScaler such as BYOL and hourly license such as VPX 10, VPX 200, VPX 1000 and VPX 3000.

Next you have the option to choose or create a Resource Group.

Put in your preferred username/password combination and it is here you can choose the licencing method. I have opted for BYO (Bring your own) which I will upload to the device and configure with the Mac ID of the VPX system once known.

You can also choose the virtual machine sizes. The recommended size is 2 x Standard DS3 v2 machines.

Next screen gives you the option of choosing or creating the vnet (virtual network) and your subnets. It is here you can choose the vnet/subnets you already created or let the template configure a new vnet and 3 subnets.

In the screen shot below I had 3 subnets already created.

One for management, one for Infrastructure and one where I placed my VDA (Xenapp/Xendesktop machines.

Once you have defined each subnet the template wizard prompts you to review your subnet configuration.

Click Ok.

I came across the below error. This was because my subscription only allows a certain number of cores. I removed some machines and I was able to run it again successfully.

Second attempt I was able to proceed and create the HA environment.

Azure lets you know the deployment is happening once you click create.

Again, in my deployment there was a failure but the template did deploy.

Then this message pops up informing me the template is deploying.

The error details I received are here.

Once deployed you should see the following virtual  VPX machines in the Resource Group Location.

The Azure objects I highlighted already will also be created in your chosen Resource Group.

Now you should connect to the internal management IP’s of your NetScaler appliance on your chosen management subnet.

The IP’s again can be identified by drilling in to the virtual machines and going to the Networking setting –

You will see your IP’s and the NSG rules set on the Interfaces. If you want to connect to your Public IP (PIP) for management, it is here you will need to relax the NSG rules to allow the access.

There is a public IP and an internal IP that is shown at the top of the screen shot.

Once you obtain your management IP’s from both devices you will be able to connect to the internal management IP’s (NSIP).

Here the fun stuff of configuring your two VPX devices will begin!

One thing to note is that when you log in you will see that your HA is set up and all nicely configured and can successfully failover.

• Obtain your licensing and upload.
• Import your certificates. Don’t forget the complete chain!
• Upload the CA certs to your NetScaler and then install them.

 

Choose the Intermediate certificate.

Now import your Server Certificate. Mine is in PFX format.

Upload to the NetScaler device.

Click Install.

Choose the PFX certificate.

Put in your certificate password and click Install.

Your Server certificate should appear as below.

 

One more time – Do not forget to link the chain!

Bind the Server certificate to the Intermediate.

Click OK.

Now you have the appropriate licencing on both your HA appliances and Certificates are uploaded you can proceed with the install of your Netscaler Gateway VIP’s (VIRTUAL IP).

The Xenapp/ Xendesktop Gateway wizard process is well documented so I will not outline this process here. Please check out my CUGC blog at the top for links to other CTP members posts on this process.

Additional Configuration after Template Deployment

This additional configuration after the template deployment needs to be carried out.

First of all you need to create 2 NetScaler Gateway’s.

You can create this using the Xenapp and Xendesktop wizard on the Netscaler.

You can easily deploy a second NetScaler after the first one by clicking on the highlighted icon below.

Once again, I will not run through the NetScaler Gateway configuration as this is well documented.

On the virtual machine Interfaces in the Azure portal, the Gateway IP’s must be assigned.

VPX0 NIC INTERFACE 

VPX1 NIC INTERFACE

Make sure your NSG (Network Security Group) on both interfaces is allowing port 443 inbound. The NSG acts like a firewall.

This needs to be done for both machines (VPX0 and VPX1) and the NICS the Gateway is assigned to.

The reason you need to create 2 Gateways in an Active/Passive deployment is that you can only assign one IP to one interface in Azure.

For example, if I was to assign 10.0.0.111 to VPX0/NIC1, I would be unable to assign that IP to VPX1/NIC1.

As the gateway IP is a floating IP shared between two VPX devices, we need two Gateways with the same configuration so we can assign different IP’s to the NICS so the Azure Load Balancer can point to the Gateway.

Azure Load Balancer Configuration

You need to assign your public IP (PIP) for your NetScaler Gateway to a Frontend load balancer.

In an on-premises environment if the primary NetScaler goes down, the secondary node will flood the subnet with ARP to take over the IP address of the VIP and SNIP to restore the connection. In Azure GARP doesn’t work therefore we use the ALB in front and have a single public IP which health probes against the backend NetScaler’s and if one of the NetScaler’s goes down, the HA function in NetScaler will (when configured with INC) will set the virtual server as up on a separate IP address and the ALB will start to failover traffic to the second VIP on the second NetScaler.

More on Azure Load Balancer can be found here –

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/load-balancer/load-balancer-standard-overview

Access the ALB (Azure Load Balancer) via your Resource Group that contains the deployed resources.

You then need to create your Frontend configuration and assign the PIP (Public IP) to it.

Remember you can create your PIP before deployment so you are able to sort out your SSL certificate and external DNS before implementation day.

You simply click ADD and you get the option to configure a Frontend LB.

 

The next thing you need to do is create your backend Pools. This will be the machines and target IP’s the Frontend Load Balancer will connect to within your environment.

Simply click ADD and configure as necessary. If you don’t see your target IP you may not have assigned this on your machines NICS in Azure. Remember the IP’s defined within your NetScaler ADC configuration must exist on the NICS of the virtual machines in Azure.

The Backend IP’s can be seen below and they are pointing to the individual Gateway IP’s assigned to each NIC. (Remember 2 Gateway’s).

Lastly we need to configure the load balancing rules. This is the glue if you like, that will make your Frontend Load Balancer pass on 443 connections to the Backend you just configured.

Click ADD.

One thing that caught me out when I was configuring this set up was the Health Probe. I used the probe that was assigned by default. I could never hit the Gateway logon page and I was scratching my head for a while. When I created an additional Health Probe on 443 I was able to hit the Gateway externally. Before I did this I could not get a TELNET response from the Gateway externally.

SNIP IP’S

In Azure SNIP IP’s are not floating. This means your SNIP IP can be different across appliances.

VPX 0

VPX 1

Make sure you have a SNIP for each subnet you communicate to. This then needs to be assigned to the Azure VM interface. Remember you cannot assign the same IP to more than one NIC.

STOREFRONT

Remember to add both your Gateways to Storefront. You can simply download the configuration file here and import it in to your Storefront.

That is basically it. You should now have a NetScaler HA active/passive solution in Azure.

This is front ended by an Azure Load Balancer.

Simply connect to your Public URL and log in and you are good to go.

The next article will highlight the Active/Active approach in Azure.

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Carpe Diem!