Citrix XenApp 5.0 – Build Part 2 – Installing XenApp

It’s official…Citrix actually out-did themselves this time.

They provided some pretty decent information in their Adminstration Guide for command line installations along with the parameters that you need to get all the components installed, choose a license server etc. I don’t think I’m out of place suggesting they have set a precedence for themselves.

For the PS4.0 build, I had to do some serious delving into the MSI installation logs to get all the parameters for an unattended script, it’s almost like I feel cheated by having them all presented to me.

But I jest, it rocks!

Before you can run the unattended installation, you need to make a File DSN to point your installation to the database. As I am using SQL, I will show you the make up of the file. Some lines aren’t required from that which the ODBC creates for you.

[ODBC]

DRIVER=SQL Server
UID=USERNAME
Trusted_Connection=Yes
Network=DBMSSOCN
DATABASE=NAME_OF_DATABASE
APP=Citrix IMA
SERVER=DB_SERVER_NAME
Description=Citrix Xenapp Design Development

This is the meaty bit, installing XenApp, essentially everything should be in place for you to proceed with the installation.

You will see my interpretation of the installation routine, using a variable-based command line builder, which rather nicely lets you view each option separately, in case you need to review them. I have used this method for some time for more complex application installs and it works well here. Stealthpuppy also uses this method on his blog, so you may have seen this before.

The difference with my choices are that I don’t want PN Agent installing on any of the servers, so the last line specifically chooses all the components I need without putting PN Agent down (and IM Packager) on each server.

SET OPTIONS=ALLUSERS=TRUE REBOOT=ReallySuppress /l*v “c:\setup\log\xenapp.log” /QB
SET OPTIONS=%OPTIONS% INSTALLDIR=”D:\Program Files\Citrix”
SET OPTIONS=%OPTIONS% CTX_MF_FARM_SELECTION=Join
SET OPTIONS=%OPTIONS% CTX_MF_JOIN_FARM_DB_CHOICE=Direct
SET OPTIONS=%OPTIONS% CTX_MF_ZONE_NAME=”UK Xenapp Dev Farm”
SET OPTIONS=%OPTIONS% CTX_MF_SILENT_DSNFILE=MF20.DSN
SET OPTIONS=%OPTIONS% CTX_MF_ODBC_USER_NAME=DOMAIN\USER
SET OPTIONS=%OPTIONS% CTX_MF_ODBC_PASSWORD=xxxxxxxx
SET OPTIONS=%OPTIONS% CTX_MF_SHADOWING_CHOICE=Yes
SET OPTIONS=%OPTIONS% CTX_MF_SHADOW_PROHIBIT_REMOTE_ICA=No
SET OPTIONS=%OPTIONS% CTX_MF_SHADOW_PROHIBIT_NO_NOTIFICATION=No
SET OPTIONS=%OPTIONS% CTX_MF_SHADOW_PROHIBIT_NO_LOGGING=No
SET OPTIONS=%OPTIONS% CTX_MF_XML_CHOICE=Separate
SET OPTIONS=%OPTIONS% CTX_MF_LAUNCH_CLIENT_CD_WIZARD=No
SET OPTIONS=%OPTIONS% CTX_MF_SERVER_TYPE=E
SET OPTIONS=%OPTIONS% CTX_MF_REBOOT=No
SET OPTIONS=%OPTIONS% CTX_IGNORE_MCM=No
SET OPTIONS=%OPTIONS% CTX_REMOVE_WI_TURNKEY=No
SET OPTIONS=%OPTIONS% CTX_MF_ENABLE_VIRTUAL_SCRIPTS=Yes
SET OPTIONS=%OPTIONS% CTX_MF_LICENSE_SERVER_NAME=SERVERNAME
SET OPTIONS=%OPTIONS% CTX_MF_LICENSE_SERVER_PORT=27000
SET OPTIONS=%OPTIONS% CTX_MF_LICENSE_SERVER_PORT_DEFAULT=1
SET OPTIONS=%OPTIONS% CTX_MF_LIC_CHOICE_FOR_CREATE=UseFarmSettings
SET OPTIONS=%OPTIONS% CTX_MF_LIC_CHOICE_FOR_JOIN_OR_UPGRADE=UseFarmSettings
SET OPTIONS=%OPTIONS% CTX_RDP_DISABLE_PROMPT_FOR_PASSWORD=Yes
SET OPTIONS=%OPTIONS% CTX_MF_ONLY_LAUNCH_PUBLISHED_APPS=Yes
SET OPTIONS=%OPTIONS% CTX_ADDLOCAL=CTX_MF_MetaFrame_Core,CTX_MF_IM,CTX_MF_IM_Service,CTX_MF_LM,CTX_MF_NM,CTX_MF_RM,PN_ENGINE,PN,
WMI,MetaFrame_XP,CTX_MF_CMC,CTX_MF_ICA_Shell_Editor,CTX_MF_IMA_Core,CTX_MF_IM_Plugin,CTX_MF_RM_Plugin,CTX_SMA,
CTX_MF_CTXCPU,CTX_MF_CTXSFO,CTX_MF_ASCII

This line must have no spaces in it (or line breaks). Each component is comma separated, but again no spaces, otherwise it doesn’t work. As previously mentioned, I didn’t want the PN Agent or the IM Packager deploying and this does everything but those!

Next I put down the AMC components…

I decided to install all the components I required on each server. This will make it easier to publish for remote support and to load balance where necessary.

ECHO Framework..

START /WAIT %systemroot%\system32\MSIEXEC /I “ASC_Framework.msi” INSTALLDIR=”D:\Program Files\Citrix” ALLUSERS=TRUE REBOOT=SUPRESS /QB-
ECHO Diagnostics..
START /WAIT %systemroot%\system32\MSIEXEC /I “ASC_Diagnostics.msi” INSTALLDIR=”D:\Program Files\Citrix” ALLUSERS=TRUE REBOOT=SUPRESS /QB-
ECHO Hotfix Management..
START /WAIT %systemroot%\system32\MSIEXEC /I “ASC_HotfixManagement.msi” INSTALLDIR=”D:\Program Files\Citrix” ALLUSERS=TRUE REBOOT=SUPRESS /QB-
ECHO Knowledgebase..
START /WAIT %systemroot%\system32\MSIEXEC /I “ASC_KnowledgeBase.msi” INSTALLDIR=”D:\Program Files\Citrix” ALLUSERS=TRUE REBOOT=SUPRESS /QB-
ECHO Legacy..
START /WAIT %systemroot%\system32\MSIEXEC /I “ASC_Legacy.msi” INSTALLDIR=”D:\Program Files\Citrix” ALLUSERS=TRUE REBOOT=SUPRESS /QB-
ECHO Licensing..
START /WAIT %systemroot%\system32\MSIEXEC /I “ASC_Licensing.msi” INSTALLDIR=”D:\Program Files\Citrix” ALLUSERS=TRUE REBOOT=SUPRESS /QB-
ECHO Presentation Server..
START /WAIT %systemroot%\system32\MSIEXEC /I “ASC_PresentationServer.msi” INSTALLDIR=”D:\Program Files\Citrix” ALLUSERS=TRUE REBOOT=SUPRESS /QB-
ECHO PS Reports..
START /WAIT %systemroot%\system32\MSIEXEC /I “ASC_PSReports.msi” INSTALLDIR=”D:\Program Files\Citrix” ALLUSERS=TRUE REBOOT=SUPRESS /QB-
ECHO (and finally..) Report Centre..
START /WAIT %systemroot%\system32\MSIEXEC /I “ASC_ReportCenter.msi” INSTALLDIR=”D:\Program Files\Citrix” ALLUSERS=TRUE REBOOT=SUPRESS /QB-

NOTE: the AMC does not respond to INSTALLDIR= and automatically installs your files in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Citrix

To someone like me who always uses the D: partition for infrastructure software installations, it’s a kick in the nuts! I’m almost OCD about that and as yet I haven’t found a way to change it. Incidentally I haven’t found the reason why it *needs* to be on C: – I will persevere…oh, perhaps it’s time to stop being lazy and delve into the logs like in the good old days!

So, by now you should have a perfectly installed XenApp Server.  Of course this will need some tweaking for your environment, I will show you the tweaks I make in the next entry.

Hope you get something from this…PL