Citrix Profile Management and VDIDoing it Right.docx
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Citrix Profile Management and VDIDoing it Right.docx
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CitrixProfileManagementandVDIDoingitRight
CitrixProfileManagementandVDI–DoingitRight!
ForanyonethathaseverworkedwithXenApporXenDesktopyouknowthatuserprofilescanbeoneofthemostdifficultthingstogetright.ThiswasoneofthedrivingforcesbehindCitrixincludingaprofilemanagementsolutionasastandardcomponentofalleditionsofXenDesktop.
Iamnotgoingtogointothedetailsofthevarioustypesofprofilestrategiesnorthereasonsamorerobuststrategythanstandardroamingprofilesisrequired.Theneedforasolutionmorerobustthatstandardroamingprofilesisalreadywellunderstoodanddocumented.WhatIamgoingtocoverinthisarticlearesomeofthebestpracticesforproperlyconfiguringtheCitrixProfileManagementsolution.ThefocusofthisarticlewillbeconfiguringCitrixProfileManagementfornon-persistentWindows7VDIworkloads.
AlltoooftenIhavebeenonprojectswithcustomers,partnersandco-workerswhereourCitrixProfileManagementsolutionhasbeeninstalledandsimplyenabled.ItseemslikemanypeoplethinkthatmerelyinstallingandenablingCitrixProfileManagementwillfixorimprovetheiruserprofiles.However,thiscouldnotbefartherfromthetruth.Infact,ifyousimplyinstallandturnonProfileManagementwiththedefaultsettings,allyouhavebasicallydoneisgiveyourselfaroamingprofile.Infact,manytimes,youwillhaveactuallymadethingsworsethanastandardroamingprofile!
FolderRedirection
Attheheartofanygoodprofilestrategyisfolderredirection.ThisisastandardMicrosoftfeaturethathasbeenfullysupportedviaGroupPolicysincetheWindows2000daysandisevensomethingthathasbeendonethroughcustomregistrychangessincetheNT4.0TerminalServerdays.Folderredirectionisreallythekeytoanysuccessfulprofilesolution.Whetheryouareusingstandardroamingprofiles,CitrixProfileManagementorathirdpartysolutionsuchasFlexProfilesorAppSense,youmuststillenablefolderredirection.
WithWindows7Microsofthassignificantlyimprovedthefolderredirectionenginetoincludemorefolders.Bydefaultyoucanknowredirectthefollowingfoldersusingthebuilt-inGroupPolicyengineinWindows:
AppData(Roaming)
Contacts
Desktop
Documents
Downloads
Favorites
Links
Music
Pictures
SavedGames
Searches
StartMenu
Videos
Aspartofanywelldesignedprofilesolution,youshouldberedirectingallofthefolderslistedabove.Theonlyexceptionsthatshouldbemadeareforfoldersthatyouhavenointentionofpersistingfortheuser.Forexample,somecompanieshavenodesiretoallowuserstokeepSavedGames,sointhatcaseyouwouldnotredirecttheSavedGamesfolderandyouwouldaddapolicytoexcludetheSavedGamesfolderfromsynchronizationorroaming.Bydoingthis,theSavedGamesfolderwouldonlyexistonthelocalVMandiftheVMisnon-persistent,itwouldbeblownawayatlogoff/reboot.
Onethingthatyouwanttomakesurethatyouenableinyourfolderredirectionpolicyisthesettingtomovethecontentstothenewlocation.ThesamplescreenshotbelowillustratesthesettingsthatIrecommendcustomersselectwithfolderredirection.
FolderExclusion
Addingapolicytoexcludetheredirectedorunwantedfoldersfromroamingorsynchronizationisacommonthingthatisoftenoverlooked.WhenusingCitrixProfileManagement,thereisaGPOthatcanbespecificallyconfiguredtoblockfoldersfromprofilesynchronization.Youshouldbeaddingalloftheredirectedfolderstothefolderexclusionlistandyoushouldalsoataminimumaddthefollowingadditionalfolderstotheexclusionlist:
“AppData\Local”,“AppData\LocalLow”,and“LocalSettings”.
Whyshouldafolderbeexcludedifitisredirected?
Itneedstobeexcludedbecauseyoucanstillendupwithorphanedfoldersthatstayintheprofileafterredirection.Additionally,quiteoftenpoorlycodedapplicationswillstillwritetothenon-redirectedpath,whichcausestheprofiletobloat.Thisisseenquiteoftenwhenaprogrammerhardcodesapathusing%userprofile%insteadofreadingtheshellfoldervalue.
IcannotcounthowmanytimesIhaveseenaprogrammerhardcodetheirapplicationdatapathasthefollowing:
%userprofile%\ApplicationData\CrappyApp
Ifadeveloperhardcodesusingthe%userprofile%variable,thenitdoesnotmatterifAppDatahasbeenredirected,theapplicationwillstillwritetothelocalprofilefolder.
Whattheyshoulddoiscodetheirapplicationtousethe%AppData%variableasfollows:
%AppData%\GoodApp
Byaddinganexclusionrulefor“ApplicationData”andfor“AppData\Roaming”,youwillpreventthesepoorlycodedapplicationsfrombloatingtheprofile.
Toreiterate,youshouldberedirectingALLfoldersavailableinthedefaultMicrosoftGPOandyoushouldbeexcludingALLthosefoldersfromprofilesynchronization.Doingthiswillkeepyourprofilesquitesmall,thusimprovingperformanceandsignificantlyreducingIOPS.
ApplicationData
Iknowwhatsomeofyouarealreadythinking,redirectingAppDatacancauseissueswithsomeapplications.Also,puttinganexclusionruletokilldatawrittento%userprofile%mightcauseuserspersonalsettingstobelost.Let’sfaceit,whetheranapplicationiscodedcorrectlyornot,userswanttheirpersonalapplicationdatatopersistbetweensessions.Thereareeasywaystogetaroundalloftheseissues;Folder/FileInclusionlistsandApplicationStreaming.Let’sfirstseehowinclusionlistscanaddresssomeoftheAppDataissues.
FolderandFileInclusionLists
Let’spretendwehaveanapplicationcalledCrappyApp.Theapplicationdevelopermadetherookiemistakeofhardcoding“%userprofile%\ApplicationData\CrappyApp”asthefolderwhereuserapplicationdataisstored.ByredirectingtheAppDatafolderandaddingtheexclusionrulestoprevent“%userprofile%\ApplicationData”fromroamingorsynchronizingtotheprofile,anydatathattheapplicationwritestothe“%userprofile%\ApplicationData”directorywillbelostwhentheuserlogsoff.IfyouaredoingyourjobasanITprofessional,youwillidentifythisissueduringtestingbeforeyourolloutintoproduction.Ifyoudonotcatchit,itwillnottakelongforuserstocallandcomplainthattheirCrappyAppsettingsarenotbeingsavedbetweenlogons.Thisisactuallyagoodthing,becausenowyouknowthatyouhaveapoorlycodedapplication.Thatmeansyoucanopenaticketwiththeapplicationvendororwiththeprogrammingteamifitisanin-housedevelopedapplicationsothatyoucangetthemtofixit.Ihaverunintothisissuemanytimeswith3rdpartyapplicationsandwithapplicationsdevelopedin-housebymycustomers.Afterexplainingthesituationtotheprogrammers,theyoftenacknowledgetheirmistakeandfixit.Iftheywillnotfixitorthefixwilltaketoolong,thenyousimplyconductananalysistodeterminewhatfilesarebeingwrittento“%userprofile%\ApplicationData\CrappyApp”andwhichofthosefilesshouldpersist.Ifthedirectoryissmallanddoesnotcontainmuchdata,thenyoucancreateafolderinclusionpolicytoaddtheCrappyAppfolderbacktotheprofileforsynchronization.
Ifthefolderislargeandhaslotsoffilesinit,thenyoushouldtakeacloselookandfigureoutwhatexactlytheapplicationiswritingandwhetherornotitreallyneedstopersist.Sincewealreadyknowthatitisapoorlycodedapplication,itisoftennotsurprisingtoseetemporaryfilesorotherjunkbeingwrittentothefolderthatreallydoesnotneedtopersist.OftenyouwillfindthatthereisasmallDATfileorafewINIfilesthatcontainalltheuserpersonalizationsettingsthatareimportant.Inthiscaseyouwouldcreatefilesynchronizationrulesthatonlycopytheneededfilesbackintotheprofile.Thiscanbeaccomplishedusingwildcardrulestosynchronize“ApplicationData\CrappyApp\*.dat,*.ini”.Byaddingonlytherequiredfilesbacktotheprofileviasynchronization,weallowthepoorlycodedapplicationsettingstopersist,butwestillkeeptheprofilesmall.
AnapplicationthatrequiresthistypeofsynchronizationisGoogleEarth.GoogleEarthwritesitsdatatothe“AppData\LocalLow\Google\GoogleEarth”folder.Bydefault,theAppData\LocalandAppData\LocalLowfoldersareautomaticallyexcludingfromMicrosoftroamingprofilesandweshouldalsobeaddingtheseasexcludedfoldersintheCitrixProfileManagementpolicy.Microsoftcallsthem“local”foldersforareason;theyshouldnotbeonthenetworkbydefault!
ForGoogleEarthitwillstorethecachefileandothertemporarydatahere.Thecachefileisquitelargeandcontainstemporarydatathatdoesnotandshouldnotpersist.However,GoogleEarthalsostorestheuser’sMyPlacesandtheirKMLfilesinthisdirectory.ThesearesmallXMLfileswithuserpersonalizationsettingsthatshouldpersist.SoifGoogleEarthisused,weaddafileinclusionrulefor“AppData\LocalLow\Google\GoogleEarth\*.kml”,sothatthesefilespersistwithouthavingtosynchronizeorroamtheentiredirectory.Thiskeepstheuserhappyandkeepstheprofilesmall.
InadditiontoGoogleEarth,theresomekeyMicrosoftfeaturesthatneedthissynchronizationaswell.TheseincludePKIcertificatesandOfficetoolbars.FormoreinformationontherequiredfileandfolderinclusionrulesforthesefeaturesrefertothefollowingCTXarticles:
ApplicationStreaming
Nowthatwehavedealtwiththeapplicationsthatdon’tputtheirdatainaredirectedfolderbydefault,whataboutapplicationsthatjustdon’tlikehavingtheirAppDatafolderredirectedtoanetworkshare?
Sometimesapplicationswillcrashorjustnotfunctioncorrec
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