Cloning a XenApp server with EdgeSight
November 12, 2008 5 Comments
I’ve received some feedback on using XenAppPrep with EdgeSight and I thought it would be beneficial to share some information on this topic.
The current version of XenAppPrep was designed to address the cloning process for XenApp core. This does not include any of the XenApp Platinum components, however we are planning to enhance the tool to cover all of them. In the meantime, you can use the following steps to clone a XenApp server with EdgeSight:
- Install XenApp.
- Install EdgeSight by running msiexec /i EdgeSightEPAgent.msi SERVICE_START_MANUAL=”1″. This will install the EdgeSight service in Manual start-up mode. Do not start this service before an image is taken.
- Install and run XenAppPrep.
- Set the Citrix System Monitoring Agent (RSCorSvc) service to Automatic start-up.
- Take an image of the server or if you’re using Provisioning Server switch the workload to standard image mode.
It’s important to ensure the Citrix System Monitoring Agent (RSCorSvc) service has never been started before an image is taken. If it has, the following steps must be taken before imaging the server:
- Stop the Citrix System Monitoring Agent (RSCorSvc) service.
- Uninstall the EdgeSight Agent.
- Ensure HKLM\SOFTWARE\Citrix\System Monitoring key has been removed.
- Verify the EdgeSight Agent database has been removed. It’s default location is C:\Documents and Settings\All User\Application Data\Citrix\System Monitoring\Data\rsdatr.fdb.
- Reinstall the EdgeSight Agent with the instructions above.
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Shannon,
I replied to a previous post on XenAppPrep. Hopefully your blogging software will notify you of this reply to an older post.
Either the Provisioning Server or EdgeSight Administrator Guides address how to install EdgeSight on a PVS target in shared disk mode and its instructions differ slightly from what you’ve documented here.
As I recall, those documents talk about personalization existing in the registry for EdgeSight and make it a point to say that the EdgeSight agent should not start prior to building the shared image because of this personalization.
From what I can tell based on this post, you’re implying that the only aspect of EdgeSight that we need to be concerned with when working with XenAppPrep and EdgeSight is the EdgeSight DB and that the EdgeSight agent running prior to capturing the image is not a concern as long as the database is removed while the agent is stopped.
Is that assertion correct? Are the discrepancies between your list of steps and those in the admin guides due to the guides being published without consideration for XenAppPrep?
Thanks again for your efforts.
Ben
Ben, just noticed your comment. Sorry about the late reply, however you’re right and I’ve updated the blog post.
The style of writing is quite familiar . Have you written guest posts for other bloggers?
I’ve been able to follow your instructions no problem, but I wonder what one is to do when the image needs to be updated for some reason. Is it required to uninstall and reinstall the EdgeSight Agent every time the golden image has to be modified?