top 10 troubleshooting tools for your citrix environment

April 25, 2013

Citrix Support Secrets Webinar SeriesTop 10 Troubleshooting Tools for your Citrix Environment

David McGeough, Program Manager, WW Services Marketing

+ Special Guests

© 2012 Citrix | Confidential – Do Not Distribute2

Agenda

• Why troubleshooting tools are crucial in a Citrix Environment

• Overview of each troubleshooting tool

• When should I use a tool?

• Issues and their resolutions

© 2012 Citrix | Confidential – Do Not Distribute

Why use Troubleshooting Tools?

• Help you diagnose root cause faster!ᵒ In some cases fix issue from within tool

• Minimize down time

• Single view of all configuration settings

• Provides Citrix Support configuration output in a standard format

• …So troubleshooting tools are a necessity!


Criteria

• # downloads over last 12 months

• Customer feedback

• Tools which were developed in-house

• Active products

• All tools listed here - http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX126294

http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX126294


MedEvac10 Link to Tool



Overview

• MedEvac verifies your XenApp farm is in a healthy state

• Focuses on 3 key areas:ᵒ XML Service Healthᵒ Data Collector Healthᵒ Least-loaded Server Health

• Additional Checks:ᵒ Terminal Services Healthᵒ RPC Health

• Article: How to Monitor Farm Health using MedEvac




Preview

Citrix Diagnostics

Toolkit9Link to 32-bit ToolLink to 64-bit Tool







About the developers……

Frank Marzullo

Lead Architect and Developer of The Citrix

Diagnostics Toolkit

Thomas Bianchi

Developer of Citrix Web Interface Tracing and Co-

developer of the Citrix Diagnostics Toolkit


Data Collection Challenges

What data do I collect?

How do I collect it ?

Where do I get the tools?

What context info do I need ?


The Citrix Diagnostics Toolkit is not an application.

The Citrix Diagnostics Toolkit is not a tool.

The Citrix Diagnostics Toolkit is not a new product it’s a concept.

Citrix Diagnostics Toolkit


Installer

Provides a structured framework for rapid deployment and data collection.

Must be installed to the System Drive of the machine (typically C:\)

No Reboot Required

No Prerequisites Required

Designed to work on broken boxes


The Packager

Runs automatically when the “Stop Tracing” or “Data Packager” shortcuts are used.

Data collection, context info and clean up.

Opens the “Upload” folder and launches a browser to the Auto Support site.


Key session takeaways:

Citrix Confidential - Do Not Distribute

“Time is Money” – C.D.T. saves you time.

C.D.T. consolidates and organizes all your tools

Never forget the context information again


Resources

• CTX135075 - Citrix Diagnostics Toolkit - 64bit Edition

• CTX134966 - Citrix Diagnostics Toolkit - 32bit Edition

• Blog Post - Citrix Diagnostics Toolkit

• A recording of Frank’s presentation at Synergy 2013 Anaheim will be available for online viewing and download following the show.



http://blogs.citrix.com/2013/04/01/synergy-session-preview-introducing-the-citrix-diagnostics-toolkit/

XenDesktop Site Checker8 Link to Tool



Overview

• XenDesktop Site Checker verifies that all XenDesktop services are running and services instances are registered.

• In addition the tool provides advanced management tasks not available in Desktop Studio

• Goal of this toolᵒ Help identify and rectify common XenDesktop site issues, while giving the user an

“under the hood” look at a XenDesktop 5.x site.ᵒ The tool has the ability to identify and fix unregistered service instances in a

XenDesktop site.


Preview

HDX Monitor7 Link to Tool



Overview

• HDX Monitor provides detailed information about the various HDX technologies, their performance, and diagnostics information.

• The tool is designed for ICA session HDX experience diagnostics

• Requires: XenApp 6.5 or greater or XenDesktop 5.5 or greater.

• Note: HDX Monitor does not modify any HDX related data or configuration.


Preview

Print Detective6 Link to Tool



Overview

• Print Detective is the perfect tool to troubleshoot problems related to print drivers

• A nice view of all printer drivers is displayed, including driver specific info

• Print drivers can be deleted from within the tool

• Command-line interface is also provided

• Note: Administrative permissions are required to delete print drivers


Preview

Citrix Scout5 Link to Tool



Special Guest

Michael Ryan• 4 years with Citrix

ᵒ 2 ½ years @ Citrix Support (TRM)ᵒ 1 ½ years @ TaaS Product Manager

• Tool ownerᵒ Scout for XA/XD


Overview

• Tools as a Service (TaaS) is a Citrix initiative to provide automated support to customers

• Consists of:ᵒ Data Collection Toolᵒ Upload data to TaaS Websiteᵒ Data Analysis & Review

• Online Analysis will give you:ᵒ Farm/Site detailsᵒ Identify known issuesᵒ Give “Best Practice” recommendations


Quick Demo

Citrix XDPing4 Link to Tool



Special Guest

Karen Sciberras• Six years with Citrix Technical Support specializing in

XenDesktop and Provisioning Services.

• Synergy Presentations:• SUM301: From creation to registration: lifecycle of a virtual

machine http://www.citrix.com/tv/#videos/4736

• SUM503: Troubleshooting the XenDesktop VDA http://www.citrix.com/tv/#videos/2935

• SUM302: Troubleshooting XenDesktop deployments http://www.citrix.com/tv/#videos/2291

http://www.citrix.com/tv/







Overview

• XDPing is available within Xendesktop media as well as CTX123278

• A command-line based application which checks for common configuration issues

• Useful for troubleshooting registration issues in XenDesktop environment

• Ability to run it locally on VDA and DDC machines or remotely• Only a subset of the information is available when running against a remote machine

• Any feedback/improvement welcome


Quick Demo

CDFControl3 Link to Tool



Overview

• CDFControl is an event tracing tool capturing CDF trace messages

• Real-time trace viewing and performance data collection

• User must have administrative privileges

• CDFControl guide provides detailed requirements

• Ver. 12.0 of Online Plugin-in for Windows introduced CDF

• This allows client-side CDF tracing


Example – Seamless Issue

Select Trace Category

Select Modules to Trace

Trace modules:CTX124934


Repair Clipboard

Chain2Link to Tool



Overview

• Repairs the common copy and paste problems that occur between local application and ICA session

Before After


Preview

Citrix Quick Launch1

Link to Tool



Special Guest

Frederic “Fred” Serriere• 12 years with Citrix

ᵒ 9 ½ years @ Citrix Supportᵒ 2 ½ years @ Citrix Consulting

• Tool developerᵒ Citrix Quick Launchᵒ Citrix Printing Toolᵒ Citrix UPM Log Parserᵒ Citrix Logoff Sessions Toolᵒ Citrix ICA File Creator


Overview

• CQL does not solve anything however it provides administrators a way to connect over ICA/HDX without relying on Web Interface, PNAgent or StoreFront.

• It works with any version of XenApp/Presentation Server/MetaFrame and XenDesktop 5.x in HA mode

• It requires Citrix ICA Client 9.0 minimum - it is NOT a replacement for the ICA client/Receiver

• Any comment/improvements/wish list are welcome…


Quick Demo


Next Webinar: May

• Title: Common Pitfalls when Setting up a NetScaler for the First Time

• Description: In this session, Ronan will step through the most common issues you can experience at an early stage of your NetScaler deployment, and how to diagnose them using on-box tools.

• When: May 30th

• Registration Now!

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/690839768


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top 10 troubleshooting tools for your citrix environment

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