Citrix XenDesktop 5.6

Sr. Consultant
Application & Desktop Delivery jla@pqr.nl
@JRLangedijk
JitsLangedijk

• Citrix XenDesktop 5.6
• What is a Personal vDisk (PvD)?
• What are the PvD requirements?
• What does Personal vDisk do?
• How to install or upgrade PvD?
• What is a PvD Inventory?

• March, 9 released
• Main Focus is integration of Personal vDisk (RingCube).
• Features
• PvD integration into core components.
• Support for Microsoft SCVMM 2012 and
SCCM 2012.
• Updated Citrix License Server v11.10.
• Desktop Director 2.1 adds support for PvD.
• Fixed Issues.

Complete personalization
Personalized PC experience
Departmental & user installed apps
Personalized apps, data & prefs
Efficiency and management
Single OS image management
Reduce storage by 65%
Enables pooled VDI for all

• RingCube 5.5 user personalization technology.
• VDI with PvD offers a virtual desktop & workspace.
• Each user gets a workspace stored on a SAN.
• Workspace contains entitlement based applications, data and settings.
• Workspace contains only user changes.
• Reduces storage requirements.

VDI Desktop Models – Dedicated Desktops
User Profile &
Settings
-------------
Departmental
Applications
-------------
User Installed
Applications
-------------
Local Peripherals
User Profile &
Settings
-------------
Departmental
Applications
-------------
User Installed
Applications
-------------
Local Peripherals
User Profile &
Settings
-------------
Departmental
Applications
-------------
User Installed
Applications
-------------
Local Peripherals
Base Image
Operating System
Base Image
Operating System
Base Image
Operating System
VM1 VM2 VM3
Increased storage
High per user cost
Increased management overhead
Complex and unique base images
Highly personalized for users
Increased user acceptance
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VDI Desktop Models – Pooled Desktops
Common Base Image
Operating System
BASE / PARENT VM
No personalization
Poor user acceptance
Limited scope/user base
Reduced storage requirements
Centralized management
Uptime & predictability
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Citrix Personal vDisk – Best of both worlds
User Profile &
Settings
-------------
Departmental
Applications
-------------
User Installed
Applications
-------------
Local Peripherals
User Profile &
Settings
-------------
Departmental
Applications
-------------
User Installed
Applications
-------------
Local Peripherals
User Profile &
Settings
-------------
Departmental
Applications
-------------
User Installed
Applications
-------------
Local Peripherals
PvD 1 PvD 2
Common Base Image
Operating System
BASE PARENT VM
PvD 3
Enterprise scope
Highly personalized for users
Increased user acceptance
Reduced infrastructure requirements
Centralized management
Uptime & predictability
10

• XenServer 5.6 SP2 or above
• VMware vSphere 5.0
• VMware vSphere 4.1, Update 1
• Hyper-V
• Citrix License Server v11.10
• XenDesktop 5.6 will not work with older license servers

Controller
Win2008, Standard or
Enterprise Edition, SP2 (32and 64-bit)
VDA with PvD VDA without PvD
Windows XP 32-bit SP 3 or later Windows XP 32-bit SP3 or later
Windows XP 64-bit SP2 or later
Win2008 R2, Standard or
Enterprise Edition (64-bit only)
Windows Vista 32-bit or 64-bit with SP2 or later
Win2008 R2 SP1, Standard or
Enterprise Edition
Windows 7 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 7 32-bit or 64-bit

• PvD intercepts application I/O requests (files, registry keys, registry values) and redirects these requests.
• Requests are satisfied from the base Virtual Machine or Personal vDisk.
• PvD decides which layer to satisfy the request from by consulting a set of rules called the resource catalog .
• PvD provides a blended view of both base Virtual Machine and the users Personal vDisk.

Assigned Desktops Pooled Desktops with
Personal vDisk

MCS – ID Disk, Difference Disk, Base VM relationships
Windows 7
Master
VHD Chain
This is what the user sees as Drive C:\
Diff Disk
This is hidden from the users view
ID Disk
Virtual Desktop 1
VHD Chain
Diff Disk ID Disk Virtual Desktop 2
VHD Chain
Diff Disk ID Disk
Storage Subsystem
Virtual Desktop x

MCS with PVD – ID Disk, Difference Disk, PVDisk
Windows 7
Master
VHD Chain
This is what the user sees as Drive C:\
Diff Disk
This is hidden from the users view
ID Disk
Virtual Desktop 1
VHD Chain
Diff Disk ID Disk Virtual Desktop 2
VHD Chain
Diff Disk ID Disk
Storage Subsystem
Virtual Desktop x

MCS with PVD – ID Disk, Difference Disk, PVDisk
Windows 7
Master
VHD Chain
• This part is seen by the user as Drive P:\
• Used for USERDATA e.g. My Documents
• By default user is allowed 50% of the
PVDisk
Diff Disk ID Disk
Personal vDisk
• PVDisk is created by copying
UserData.VDESK.TEMPLATE
from Base VM during catalog creation
• 10GB by default with 50/50
Storage Subsystem
Virtual Desktop 1
• This part is Drive V:\
• It’s hidden from the user
• Merged with the Diff Disk
• Seen by user as Drive C:\
• E.g. Installed apps

• Common Base Setup
• Install OS, common apps and VDA in base VM
• Create VM pool and entitle
• User Access
• Login through XenDesktop Client
• PvD assigned on first login
• Locally administered/User installed/streamed apps
User’s Workspace
Common Base Image
• Image Update
Operating System
• Update base VM without affecting any user personalization

• Upgrade options exist for
• XenDesktop 5, XenDesktop 5.5 and the VDA
• A ‘mixed’ site is permitted
• Controllers running XenDesktop 4, 5 and 5.5 can control desktops running
XenDesktop 5.6 VDA’s.
• Controllers running XenDesktop 5.6 can control desktops running the only the
XenDesktop 5.6 VDA.
• Desktop Studio from XenDesktop 5 SP1 can manage sites created with
XenDesktop 5.6 unless they include desktops with PvD.
• Desktop Studio from XenDesktop 5.6 can manage sites created with
XenDesktop 5, 5 SP1.
Citrix Confidential - Do Not Distribute

• After installation/upgrade you need to configure a Site
• This includes, Licensing, Database set up and Host connection
• Desktop Deployment Wizard is used to configure a site
• Quick Deploy Wizard cannot be used with PvD

Add Personal vDisks to existing hosts
• In Desktop Studio
• Select host
• Select Enable Personal vDisk
• Add Personal vDisk storage

Add Personal vDisks to a new site
• In Desktop Studio
• Create a catalog
•
Pooled with Personal vDisk (MCS)
•
Streamed with Personal vDisk (PVS)
• Number of VMs
• Size (min of 3GB)
• Drive letter

• VDA can be installed in two modes:
• Virtual Desktop Agent – includes the new features of XD 5.6
• Virtual Desktop Agent for HDX 3D Pro
• Enable Personal vDisk for VDA
• PvD is always installed. You either enable or disable the drivers.

• May be attached to any storage targets defined in the hypervisor
• Thin provisioning is supported for those hypervisors that support it
• Can be located on same VM, or different (IOPS split among locations)
• Default size and location selected in Desktop Studio catalog creation
• (or PVS XenDesktop Setup Wizard, if PVS in use)
• PvD disks can be resized

• The PvD inventory consists of a few things …
• The resource catalog
• A set of 0-byte files which track files sourced from the base VM
• Essentially information about what is installed in the base VM
• The inventory is created by the administrator
• Start -> Citrix -> Personal vDisk -> Update Inventory
• At each base VM shutdown via the shutdown tracker
• These options are only available in the base VM
25

• The inventory is computed and placed in the template VHD
• i.e. the resource catalog and sentry files corresponding to the base VM
• The template VHD is saved for use during first time boot in
Pooled VM mode
• After inventory creation a snapshot is taken and the
XenDesktop catalog is created
• An empty, unformatted volume is attached to each virtual machine
• This volume becomes the Personal vDisk for the user of that VM
• Initial size and SR location are obtained from DS/PVS setup wizard
26

• MCS / PVS starts each VM in the pool
• The Personal vDisk driver detects the unformatted volume and formats it
• The template VHD from the base VM is copied into the new volume.
• This is a VHD inside a volume
27

• On each subsequent VM boots the drivers perform the following tasks …
• Detects the volume with the VHD inside
• Mounts the VHD
• Load the resource catalog from the VHD into the system registry
• Begin interception / virtualization
• PvD also will detect if the volume has been increased in size and resize the VHD if needed
28

• Over time users will make changes to their environment
• Add/delete/change files
• Add/delete/change registry keys/values
• Install/uninstall software (if rights permit)
• Receive provisioned applications (eg, via SCCM)
• It’s important to note that PvD captures all changes being made
• These changes are redirected to the PvD VHD file
• No changes to the VM image are permitted
29

• Base VM images can and will change over time
• A new inventory will be computed and stored in the base VM
• On next pooled VM boot the VM will notice that it is out-ofdate with respect to the new base VM
• PvD drivers will mount the VHD and merge the changes from the previous inventory with the new inventory, respecting any changes made by the user.
• After this 3-way merge the VM will restart.
• Note – the broker will stop user logins during image update
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• PvD is not a User Environment Management solution
• Be aware of the 50/50% profile and apps split
• PvD turns pooled VDI into pooled-static
• Admin always wins 
31

• Citrix XenDesktop 5.6
• What is a Personal vDisk (PvD)?
• What are the PvD requirements?
• What does Personal vDisk do?
• How to install or upgrade PvD?
• What is a PvD Inventory?