Citrix Provisioning

Managing Provisioning Servers

A Provisioning Server is any server that has Stream Services installed. Provisioning Servers are used to stream software from vDisks, as needed, to target devices. In some implementations, vDisks reside directly on the Provisioning Server. In larger implementations, Provisioning Servers get the vDisk from a shared-storage device on the network.

Provisioning Servers also retrieve and provide configuration information to and from the Provisioning Services database. Provisioning Server configuration options are available to ensure high availability and load-balancing of target device connections

To configure a Provisioning Server and software components for the first time, run the Configuration Wizard (the Configuration Wizard can be re-run on a Provisioning Server at a later date in order to change network configuration settings). Refer to the Installation and Configuration Guide for Configuration Wizard details.

After the Provisioning Server software components are successfully installed, and the wizard configurations have been made, servers are managed through the Provisioning Services Console.

Tip

When configuring PVS servers, ensure proper firewall isolation is observed so that the deployment provides a robust security boundary around all servers, including the SQL server and disk storage, so that network access outside the security boundary is restricted to prevent viewing of weakly authenticated or unencrypted data flows.

At a minimum, isolate only those PVS server instances that communicate with one another on their unauthenticated intra PVS server communication channels. To achieve this, configure hardware firewalls to ensure that packets cannot be routed from outside this boundary to servers within the boundary. Extend this firewall protection paradigm to the SQL server and disk storage components where configurations do not have appropriate SQL server and disk storage links. This should prevent unauthorized users from targeting these additional components.

Managing Provisioning Servers