Kloman.NET

Oh Brian...

2009-11-20T11:41:00.003-05:00

When I was looking around on brian maddens web site today reading about Microsoft MultiPoint, I saw an ad for "Virtual Desktop Challenge".Virtual Desktop Challenge with Brian Madden The first thing that got my interest was that Brian Madden was wearing a 1950's plaid jacket, yellow shirt and black tie. Which I'm not sure really matches but, all and all freaked me out. When the flash game started after registering, I started to think wow, Brian Madden really seems like the Mac guy from those Mac vs PC ads. I think one of the parodies of those ads simplified the Mac guy pretty well, "I'm a bit pretentious and condescending". I hate to say that about my regular weekly or more read of brain madden, but maybe thats what he was going for here? After laughing about this whole thing, and not interacting with the game Brian had announced, " Just so you know, I'm waiting for you to chose your next desktop…" that just pushed up the condescending points way up! Playing the game we get great awkward quotes like "COOL, It's a double desktop!" and "That's so random!" Thinking more and more of what Brian reminds me of I decided that it's a mix of the movie director John Walters, the king of Amoral movies like, "Pink flamingos" and "A dirty shame" and the Pee Wee Herman the kids show comedian that was arrested for jerking off in a theatre. Other then this weird host, the game is educational and fun. Thanks for the entertainment Brian!

Is citrix trying to appeal to preteens when modifing WebUI

2008-11-05T08:51:00.004-05:00

The Citrix Web Interface 5.0 has really grown up! The WebUI was once just a simple site were if you know just a little bit of HTML you could modify the site to your liking or atleast the best that you could figure out. Now with WebUI 5.0 it's not as simple, they have created the site for an expert to modify. Meaning you might want to hire someone to hack away at the thing to really make it look professional in your enviroment. Something really slick and futuristic, or something with the same site design as the rest of your intranet/extranet sites. OR if your like most of us and just need to get it done. I've found this site that will help with simple or complex modifications of the site for people that might not have a web site design background. But first... DON'T LAUGH!! Okay so if you or your preteen has ever modified there myspace profile they most likey have heard of pimp my profile .com, well it looks like Citrix is going down that path.

Check out http://www.pimpmyxenapp.com/

It's a great guide for those who don't have those web graphic design classes under our belt.

This site also has an artical about Un-Pimping Da WebUI also with a great name "Paint by numbers" that, for some reason, reminds me of Bob Ross. Now lets make a happy Citrix logo over here!

End Point Analysis for Vista !

2008-02-25T16:09:00.002-05:00

Today the Advanaced Access Control verison 4.5.6 is out and has limited support for Vista end point analysis scans. It looks like this is currently out of beta but still has it's limitations. I'll be setting this up in the next couple of weeks and reporting back with more information.

Here are some limitations
· Basic support for checking of files, processes and registry values
· Files and processes can be checked for MD5 checksums
· Files can be checked for a minimum timestamp
· Users who fail the scan are unable to log on
· The EPA assessment runs as an ActiveX control before the logon page is shown
· No support for passing EPA information to Presentation Server (SmartAccess)
· No built-in scans for popular anti-virus programs

Citrix ICA client with Single Sign On

2007-11-07T15:42:00.000-05:00

When Single Sign On is enabled the Program Neighborhood client can pass the authenication from the Client to the Presentation Server or From the Client to the Web Interface and then from the Client to the Presenation Server.

There are a bunch of tweaks that are need on the Citrix ICA client to get Single Sign On working. Including a couple of tweaks to get this working without user interation during deployment.

First you need to configure the PN.ini and APPSVR.ini file for the client. On a test machine install the ica32pkg from Citrix.com Run pn.exe and configure the client as needed for your environment then edit and copy the PN.ini and APPSRV.ini files that are located in "c:\document and settings\%username%\application data\Citrix\ICA Client\"

For the PN.ini file you need to append this line under the [WFClient] line.

EnableSSOnThruICAFile=On

And for the APPSRV.ini file these lines need to be appended under the [WFClient] as well.

SSOnUserSetting=On

EnableSSOnThruICAFile=on

Using an MSI editor, replace the files inside of the orginal ica32pkg.msi with the newly created files. You will also have to replace PN.SRC and APPSRV.SRC with the matching .INI files just created.

Once you get the package back together with the new files, run

MSIEXEC /A ICA32PKG.MSI

This will start an administrative installation of the new client.

Importaint selections are...

1. Create Client Package, Select "Single Windows Installer file"

2. Personally I have removed the Program Neighborhood Agent client since it's not used in our environment.

3. User Local User Name and Password, Select Yes, and don't check "Use Kerberos"

Everything else in the installation menu is completly up to your liking.

Once the new installation file is created. Install it on a fresh machine or a machine that will need an upgrade from an older verison. Don't install on a machine that already has this client already installed. If so, it will not upgrade the machine with the proper .ini files nor complete the installation without asking to remove or repair.

Once the package is installed you will need to launch the application and then reboot. This is needed because the application needs to read the new configuration information and make some registry settings on the machine so the single sign on service is started at boot up. If you don't run the application before restart single sign on will not work and you will be prompted with a server authenication prompt while launching an application. Most users will get confused if they see this prompt... Another solution to having to launch the application before reboot is applying what program neighborhood does to the machine after installation and before the reboot. Here is the registry settings that are needed for single sign on to work without user interaction (starting program neighborhood closing it and reboot.ing)

For this value you need to append PNSSON to the end. This is a bit tricky but can be done with some scripting. Have a script read this value, place it in a file, append the PNSSON text to the end of the line then have your script load this value back into the registry.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\NetworkProvider\Order]
"ProviderOrder"="RDPNP,LanmanWorkstation,WebClient,PnSson"

For the rest of the entries nothing speical is needed.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\PnSson]
"Type"=dword:00000004
"IsEnabled"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\PnSson\NetworkProvider]
"ProviderPath"="C:\\Program Files\\Citrix\\ICA Client\\pnsson.dll"
"Class"=dword:00000002
"Name"="Citrix Single Sign-on"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\PnSson\Enum]
"0"="Root\\LEGACY_PNSSON\\0000"
"Count"=dword:00000001
"NextInstance"=dword:00000001

Rumors !

2007-08-28T16:20:00.000-04:00

Will Microsoft buy Citrix? I'm not to sure about it... Citrix and Microsoft are still running in parallel when it comes to things like SoftGrid and the application streaming feature in PS 4.5, Terminal Services Gateway and the Citrix Access Gateway solutions. I don't think Citrix is willing to just let it all go after so many years of trying to out preforum Mircosoft.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2171718,00.asp

Guide to Terminal Services

2007-05-16T11:29:00.000-04:00

This book by Brian Madden (( http://www.brianmadden.com/ )) is the best guide to Windows terminal services, one because it's free, but even more so that it covers just about anything you can think of about Windows terminal services. If you want to know more about terminal services this book is a MUST read, or at lest a must have reference book.

http://www.brianmadden.com/book/Terminal-Services-for-Microsoft-Windows-Server-2003-Advanced-Technical-Design-Guide/

Configuring Citrix Advanced Access Control 4.5 with Web Interface 4.2 and Citrix Access Gateway 4.5

2007-05-14T15:36:00.000-04:00

I found these article very helpful when deploying Citrix Advanced Access Control 4.5 with Citrix Web Interface 4.2 intergration.

This article explains some troubleshooting steps that are pretty helpful if your having issues getting AAC installed on a cloned machine or "locked down" machine.
http://support.citrix.com/article/ctx107240

There are some small things that you have to watch out for. If you think of just giving it the good old, "why should I RTFM?", you'll most likey run into some issues. But this article gives you a good overview of the steps that need to be done. Keep note that deploying AAC with an Access Gateway makes the Web Interface configuration much different, but no so much with the AAC. http://support.citrix.com/article/ctx108638

If you want to have control over which zone external users or internal users go to this article explains it all. It's also really good if you want to be able to have an easy way of telling where your clients are comming from. http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX111851