XenDesktop ESXi Permissions

Background:

Jarian Gibson has a great post here on all the VMware ESX permissions needed for XenDesktop Desktop Delivery Controller (DDC) to communciate with the VMware ESXi VirtualCenter.  I ran into one issue below, using the Citrix Provisioning Services XenDesktop Wizard and had to add "Virtual Machine > Configuration > Change CPU count which is the attribute "VirtualMachine.Config.CPUCount".


Environment:
Citrix XenDesktop 5 SP1
Citrix Provisioning Services 5.6 SP1
VMware ESXi 4.1 Update 1


Problem:
Error There was an error reported by the wizard
[VDI-NonProd-XXXX] Failed to connect with the requested server. (Permission to perform this operation was denied. (NoPermissionFault)(group-v51VirtualMachine.Config.CPUCount) )

Solution:
I was getting the error above but after adding the Change CPU count option it was fixed.  Detailed permissions are outlined below.

ESXi 4.x Perms
At the Datastore node -   Allocate space -  Browse Data Store - Low level file operations
On the Global Node -  Manage custom attributes - Set custom attributes
On the Network node - Assign network
On the Resource node - Assign virtual machine to resource pool
On the Task node - Create Task
On the Virtual Machine > Configuration node - Add existing disk - Add new disk - Change resource - Remove disk
On the Virtual Machine > Interaction node - Power On - Power Off - Power Suspend - Power Reset
On the Virtual machine > Inventory node - Create from existing - Create new - Register - Remove
On the Virtual machine > Provisioning node - Allow disk access - Allow virtual machine download - Allow virtual machine files upload - Clone template -  Clone virtual machine - Deploy template
On the Virtual machine > State node - Revert to snapshot

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XenDesktop 5 and Database Mirroring

Background:
We setup our two XenDekstop 5 Desktop Delivery Controllers (DDC) and then configured our new DDC SQL database to be mirrored.  As result, you must update the DDC's database connection.

A side note, you don't need to do this for Provisioning Services (PVS) since you can specific the failover mirror in the install wizard.  As result, just follow the PVS db setup best practices and the mirror ahead of time and your are all set. 

Additional Info:

Change XD5 Database Connection

http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX127538

DB Mirroring Best Practices

http://support.citrix.com/servlet/KbServlet/download/25938-102-649422/XD_Database_Mirroring_Best_Practices.pdf
 

PowerShell SDK Download

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=50633a1f-a665-425d-923c-1a269f8ac084
 
Our solution:

1. Run Windows Powershell Module
2. Run set executionpolicy unrestricted
3. Run get-BrokerDBConnection (to see current connection)
4. Run the following powershell cmdlet (Just replace the server names and database name in bold).

$MirroredConnectionString =
'Server=SQLServerA.test.com;Initial Catalog = CTX_XDDDC_5x; Integrated Security = True;
Failover Partner=SQLServerB.com'

$brokers = Get-BrokerController
foreach ($broker in $brokers)
{
$brokerDNSName = $broker.DNSName
Set-ConfigDBConnection –DBConnection $null –adminaddress $brokerDNSName
Set-ConfigDBConnection –DBConnection $MirroredConnectionString –adminaddress $brokerDNSName
Set-AcctDBConnection –DBConnection $null –adminaddress $brokerDNSName
Set-AcctDBConnection –DBConnection $MirroredConnectionString –adminaddress $brokerDNSName
Set-BrokerDBConnection –DBConnection $null –adminaddress $brokerDNSName
Set-BrokerDBConnection –DBConnection $MirroredConnectionString –adminaddress $brokerDNSName
Set-HypDBConnection –DBConnection $null –adminaddress $brokerDNSName
Set-HypDBConnection –DBConnection $MirroredConnectionString –adminaddress $brokerDNSName
Set-PvsVmDBConnection –DBConnection $null –adminaddress $brokerDNSName
Set-PvsVmDBConnection –DBConnection $MirroredConnectionString –adminaddress $brokerDNSName
Set-ProvDBConnection –DBConnection $null –adminaddress $brokerDNSName
Set-ProvDBConnection –DBConnection $MirroredConnectionString –adminaddress $brokerDNSName
}

You only need to run this on one DDC.  To confirm that that the change took place.  Run get-BrokerDBConnection to see the update connection.

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Slow Citrix XenDesktop 5 and XenDesktop 5 SP1 MMC

Slow Citrix XenDesktop 5 and XenDesktop 5 SP1 MMC when launching Desktop Studio

Problem: XenDesktop 5 Desktop Studio launches slowly and snap-in fails to load and/or get the following error(s):

"Adding snap-in to console"

"This snap-in not responding"

 

Note: Also, I have seen this in Provisioning Services (PVS) as well

Resolution:  Go to IE > Tools > Internet Options > Advanced and uncheck "Check for publisher’s certificate revocation" in security section.

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