March 20th, 2013

XenApp 6.5 Migration Center

Gerard Carragher – Support Readiness EMEA

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• Overview

• Requirements and Architecture

• Tool Specifics

• Installation and Pre-migration Tasks

• Performing Migrations

• Best Practices and Troubleshooting

• Resources/Q+A

Agenda

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• Step 1 – Upgrade/Migrate to 5.0• Follow this whitepaper for detailed steps• Technical Guide for Upgrading or Migrating to 5.0

• Step 2 – Upgrade/Migrate to 6.5• Then follow the steps in this whitepaper• Technical Guide for Upgrading or Migrating to 6.5

XA 4.5 Migration Steps

Overview

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• No direct upgrade to XenApp 6.5 from previous versions• All servers must be installed in a new farm with

Windows Server 2008 R2 and the XenApp install media

• Mixed farms are not supported

• No way to efficiently migrate settings between farms of the same version

Problem statement

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• Allows admins to migrate settings from one farm to another• An updated version to the original tool for XenApp 6 that now includes a GUI

(It is still based on PowerShell)

• Provides two options for migrating settings• Direct (default/recommended): Exports settings in one step from the source

farm to the XenApp 6.5 farm provided there is an available network connection and the same administrator account is valid in both environments.

• Indirect: Settings are exported to XML files from the source farm and later imported into the XenApp 6.5 farm

• Enables supported settings to be migrated or allows administrators to select which specific settings to migrate

Tool highlights

Requirements and Architecture

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• A source farm containing the desired settings• XenApp 5 on Windows Server 2003 w/HRP05• XenApp 5 on Windows Server 2008• XenApp 6 on Windows Server 2008 R2• XenApp 6.5 on Windows Server 2008 R2

• A XenApp 6.5 destination farm

• A Citrix Administrator Account • Full admin permissions in the destination farm and a minimum of view-

only in the source farm (An account that is full admin in both farms is recommended)

Tool requirements

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• A domain admin account is recommended• Local admins and power users will work though

• DCOM group access is needed in the source farm

• Write access needed to working directory• C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Citrix\Citrix.XenApp.Migration

(The folder on the XenApp 6.5 server where data and logs reside)

Required OS permissions

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• Network COM+ is needed if performing a direct migration

• The following pre-reqs are required if doing an indirect migration (e.g. running the tool on the source server to export the data)• .NET Framework 3.5 SP1• MSI 3.0• PowerShell

Microsoft pre-reqs for source servers

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ArchitectureSource Environment

XenApp 5 2003/2008

XenApp 6.x

Target XenApp 6.5 Environment

MFCOMServer

XACOMServer

MFCOM

XACOM

XenApp Migration Commands

XenApp Migration Application

XenApp PowerShellImporter

XenAppCommands

XenApp MFCOMExporter

XenApp XACOMExporter

= PowerShell

Tool Specifics

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What can we migrate with all XA versions?

• The following items may be migrated with any supported version of XenApp used for the source farm• Applications• Application and server folders• Load evaluators attached to apps (only attached to servers when source farm

is XenApp 6.x)• Policies (IMA/Farm policies only and not GPO policies in Active Directory)• Server settings• Farm settings• Farm administrators• HMR tests (Any custom test executables will need to be copied over)• Session printers (Printer paths will not be validated, see zones)

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Settings and data that will not migrate

• Printer drivers and related settings• Drivers, driver replication settings, and driver mappings

• Configuration Logging• This is a historical log of administrative changes performed in the legacy farm

so there is no reason to migrate this information

• Server registry settings• Seamless flags and other registry settings will not come over

• Zones • This is related to the structure of a farm which is not practical to migrate

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• Attaching load evaluators to servers

• Associating application folders with published applications

• Associating servers or OUs with worker groups

• Assigning server objects to folders

• Assigning zones

• Configuring printer settings

• Setup Configuration Logging within the new farm

• Copying Health Monitoring and Recovery test executables to new farm

Post-migration steps

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• C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Citrix\Citrix.XenApp.Migration

Working directory

• Data – XML files containing the data for each object type

• Logs – XML and text log files of the migration processes

• UILogs – Logs from the Migration Center

• MigrationOptions.xml – Configuration settings(Delete to start fresh)

Installation and Considerations

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• The Migration Center is installed with the product

Installation on XenApp 6.5

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• For indirect migrations (exporting settings to be later imported into the new farm)

• The tool needs to be installed from the media• \Administration\Delivery Services Console\setup\Citrix.XenApp.Migration.Install_x64.msi• \Administration\Delivery Services Console\setup\Citrix.XenApp.Migration.Install_x86.msi

• Note that the Migration Center GUI application can only be used from the target XenApp 6.5 server• The PowerShell cmdlets must be used on the source server when

performing an indirect migration

Installation with earlier XenApp versions

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• Direct modifications to the data store• The tool should ideally be run during a maintenance window with no users connected to

the XenApp 6.5 farm. As always, data store backups are essential!

• Published application paths• Application paths will be transferred over exactly as specified in the source farm. If the

path specified in the source farm does not exist for the installed applications in the XenApp 6.5 farm, the applications will not launch. This is especially true for 32-bit XenApp 5 servers and their applications being migrated to 64-bit XenApp 6.5.

• The -X86ApplicationList PowerShell switch may be used to force a x86 path

• Tool may be run multiple times as needed• Changes to previously migrated settings will be reflected

Things to keep in mind

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• Update any configured FTAs• If the source farm uses file type associations for published applications, ensure

they are updated by running the “Update file types from registry” option in the Delivery Services Console (AppCenter for XenApp 6.5)

• Run DSCheck on the source farm with appropriate switches to ensure consistency • DSCheck /full apps• DSCheck /full groups• DSCheck /full servers• DSCheck /full folders• DSCheck /full printers

Before starting the migration

Performing Migrations

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• Choose a source farm by entering a hostname or IP of a member server in the source farm

Using the Migration Center (1 of 6)

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• The main screen of the Migration Center will launch

• Begin by configuring worker group mappings

Using the Migration Center (2 of 6)

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• Add one or more worker group mappings

• These mappings translate the server settings into worker group policies

Using the Migration Center (3 of 6)

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• Click Analyze Farms from the main screen to begin the analysis process of the farm objects

Using the Migration Center (4 of 6)

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• The results of the analysis are presented

• Click “Migrate to Target Farm” to begin the migration process

Using the Migration Center (5 of 6)

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• The migration process has completed successfully

• Option to viewthe log file is available

Using the Migration Center (6 of 6)

Best Practices and Troubleshooting

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• Migrate after hours and/or in phases• Reading and writing large amounts of farm data (and

generating potentially excessive network traffic) is best done with no users connected to either farm

• Migrate in a 1:1 fashion• A one-to-one mapping with the farms is the only supported

use of the tool. That is, while you can technically do it, it is not supported or recommended to migrate settings from multiple source farms into a single destination XenApp 6.5 farm

Best practices

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• Once the migration process is started, it will typically only fail on one or more objects/sections (it’s not a boolean process where it either all works or all fails)

• Running DSCheck after the migration (especially when troubleshooting) is a good idea

Troubleshooting the migration

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• XenApp is not installed or the installation is corrupt, MFCOM is not running, a DCOM permissions issue is present, a firewall misconfiguration, etc.

Common issues

Resources and Q+A

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• Migration Center Feature Spec• http://

support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp65-w2k8/ps-migrate-xa6-wrapper.html

• Migration Center Demo Video on Citrix TV• http://www.citrix.com/tv/#videos/4475

• Tech Guide for Migrating/Upgrading to XenApp 6.5• http://

support.citrix.com/servlet/KbServlet/download/28732-102-671615/TechGuide%20Upgrading%20Migrating%20to%20XA6.5%201.0_1266.pdf

Resources

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• On a test system with 10 published MS Office applications and basic settings 9 – 10 minutes

• On a more complex, more mature XenApp Server timelines will vary depending on size and complexity, number of published apps etc..

How long will a migration take?

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• Whitepapers• Technical Guide for Upgrading/Migrating to

XenApp 6.5• Technical Guide for Upgrading/Migrating to

XenApp 6• Other Whitepapers

• Tools• XenApp 6 Migration Tool• Citrix Auto Support• List of tools for XenApp 6.5

Documentation

KC ArticlesNearly 300 technical articles on XenApp 6.5

eDocsProduct Documentation