Citrix XenDesktop 7 VDA master image puppet module

This module installs an optimized Citrix XenDesktop 7 master image ready for Machine Creation Service deployment.

Requirements

The minimum Windows Management Framework (PowerShell) version required is 5.0 or higher, which ships with Windows 10 or Windows Server 2016, but can also be installed on Windows 7 SP1, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2.

This module requires a custom version of the puppetlabs-dsc module compiled with XenDesktop Powershell DSC Resource as a dependency. Ready to use module provided on Github.

Change log

A full list of changes in each version can be found in the change log.

Integration informations

Windows 10 and Windows Server 2012R2 are the only OS supported in this first release :

• Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 2008R2 support has been deprecated by Citrix last summer at the release of XenDesktop 7.15 LTSR
• Windows 10 virtual machine has to be configured with Secure Boot disabled to allow Citrix Desktop OS VDA installation.
• Windows Server 2016 will be supported in a future release of this module

Optimizations :

• Unneeded registry keys removal
• Registry keys tweaking
• Disabling unneeded or resource consuming services
• Scheduled tasks removal
• Final optimization script deployed in C:\ to be run before each master image deployment (group policy and WEM policy update)

Features not (yet) supported :

• Provisioning Service (PvS). The Citrix Provisioning service target device agent is not deployed in this release.
• Server VDI on server OS image (Windows 2012R2)

VERY IMPORTANT : RUN C:\run-before-publishing-master.bat AT EACH TIME BEFORE CREATING A SNAPSHOT OF YOUR MASTER IMAGE. SHUTDOWN THE VITUAL MACHINE JUST AFTER. THIS SCRIPT CONTAINS FINAL OPTIMIZATIONS FOR YOUR CITRIX VDA.

Usage

• [String] vdasourcepath (Required): Path of a folder containing the Citrix Xendesktop 7.x installer (unarchive the ISO image in this folder). Can be a local or an UNC path
• [String] wemagentsourcepath (Required): Path of the WEM agent installer EXE file. Can be a local or an UNC path.
• [String] wemproductid (Required): WEM agent MSI installer ProductID. The following line of code will list all products installed, including their name and IdentifyingNumber, which is the same as the ProductID Get-WmiObject Win32_Product | Format-Table IdentifyingNumber, Name, Version. Values provided below for latest WEM versions
  • WEM 4.4 : 922301C1-F669-4327-AA4A-E0965E9E6BA9
  • WEM 4.5 : F653DF76-CC33-4F18-BB04-1F90986BE7A0
• [String] vdarole (Required [DesktopVDA|SessionVDA]): Master image type ; DesktopVDA for Windows 10, SessionVDA for Server OS (Windows Server 2012R2 or Windows Server 2016). Default value : SessionVDA
• [String] deliverycontroller1 (Required): FQDN of the first Citrix Delivery Controller of the Xendesktop site
• [String] deliverycontroller2 (Optional): FQDN of a second Citrix Delivery Controller
• [String] rdslicenseserver (Required for SessionVDA): FQDN of the Microsoft RDS License server. Required for application publishing through a Session VDA.
• [Boolean] vdaremoteassistancefeature (Optional, default if false): Enable remote assistance ? Default is false
• [Integer] pagefilesize (Optional, default is 2048): Fixed size of Windows pagefile. Default value : 2048

Installing a Citrix Xendesktop 7 master image

  node 'master-w2k12r2' {
    class{'xd7vda':
      vdasourcepath              => '\\\\fileserver\\xendesktop715',
      wemagentsourcepath         =>'\\\\fileserver\\wem405\\wemagent405.exe',
      wemproductid               => 'F653DF76-CC33-4F18-BB04-1F90986BE7A0',
      vdarole                    => 'SessionVDA',
      deliverycontroller1        => 'dc-01.ctxlab.aws',
      deliverycontroller2        => 'dc-02.ctxlab.aws',
      rdslicenseserver           => 'srv-lic01',
      vdaremoteassistancefeature => false,
      pagefilesize               => 2048
    }
  }

  node 'master-w10' {
    class{'xd7vda':
      vdasourcepath              => '\\\\fileserver\\xendesktop715',
      wemagentsourcepath         => '\\\fileserver\\wem405\\wemagent405.exe',
      wemproductid               => 'F653DF76-CC33-4F18-BB04-1F90986BE7A0',
      vdarole                    => 'DesktopVDA',
      deliverycontroller1        => 'dc-01.ctxlab.aws',
      deliverycontroller2        => 'dc-02.ctxlab.aws',
      vdaremoteassistancefeature => false,
      pagefilesize               => 2048
    }
  }