One key thing to know about Citrix CloudStack (now known as CloudPlatform) is that the Management Server does not display error details in the UI (User Interface). The reason for this is to prevent exposure of the infrastructure setup and information to end users (non-root admin accounts). Recently working with CloudStack I experienced this first hand and was shown one of the key resources to use for troubleshooting issues, errors, and failures. CloudStack Management Server logs all activities to /var/log/cloud/management/management-server.log allowing for review of the error messages by Root Admins assisting in remediation. Using the hypervisor’s API the management-server.log will also present the hypervisor’s error response. The Management Server logs should be your FIRST destination in your troubleshooting steps. You want to locate the first occurrence of the error and trace back to see if the cause is displayed.
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I was onsite recently with a client working on some issues they were having trying to run homegrown applications in their new XenApp 6.5 farm. After spending some time digging in we found they were Microsoft ClickOnce applications, Oy Vey! Per Citrix Knowledge Center document CTX125453 ClickOnce technology installation is not a supported technology on XenApp but the KB also covers some possible workarounds. Having gone through the workarounds we were unable to get either of the applications working successfully in the XenApp farm. The other thing that didn’t help out was that the client’s original in-house developer was no longer around and the new developer had no background with Citrix XenApp. After spending time with the developer reviewing the application and the installation we were able to confirm the installation location of the .deploy files in a randomly generated directory under the user’s AppData folder.
Last week there were a few rumors going around about this possibility and now it’s confirmed Citrix announced the acquisition of RingCube. RingCube is the maker of vDesk a workspace virtualization solution providing virtual desktop users true isolation from the operating system. vDesk enables VDI deployments running shared desktops the ability for users to personalize and preserve their custom settings. vDesk captures these user requests for resources, files, and registry settings through management/isolation of the operating system. vDesk will handle the users’ session changes, the admin’s changes to the base VM, and will also addresses user changes that may conflict with the admin’s based on configured rules. vDesk is not profile management, vDesk enables the corporate user to maintain already learned computing experience once transitioned to virtual desktops and will ultimately assist in a successful VDI implementation.
There are more questions left to be answered over the next couple weeks during this time of merging solutions. With VMware just now adding profile management to View 5, dare I ask what becomes of “vDesk VDI Edition” support for VMware View? We can only begin to image where and how this will fit into the Citrix FlexCast model, so many unknowns around XenDesktop, XenClient, Kaviza, XenApp, and Citrix Cloud scenarios. For now Citrix already has their user Profile Management and now with RingCube have they taken a step forward towards “user installed applications”?
