Servers
In a Citrix Provisioning farm, the database is upgraded at the same time that the first provisioning server is upgraded. After upgrading the database and the first server in the farm, you can upgrade the remaining servers within it. When configuring servers, consider the following:
- While the first provisioning server is being upgraded, some administrative features are not available.
- Citrix recommends closing all Citrix Provisioning consoles until the upgrade is complete to avoid failed operations.
- Upgrade the Citrix Provisioning console and server on every Citrix Provisioning server. After all servers are upgraded, upgrade the console on any other systems it is installed on. The console is not backward compatible.
The complete sequence of steps to upgrade a farm is:
- Back up the Citrix Provisioning database.
- Upgrade the Citrix Provisioning console and server on the first Citrix Provisioning server.
- Run the Configuration Wizard to completion and check everything is working correctly.
- Upgrade the Citrix Provisioning console and server on all other Citrix Provisioning servers in the farm.
- Upgrade the Citrix Provisioning console on any other systems that it is installed on.
Upgrading the first provisioning server
To upgrade:
- To upgrade the server and database, run the new version of the server software on the server, then select the Automatically close and attempt to restart applications option. If this option is not selected and a File in use screen displays, select the Do not close applications option.
- Install the Citrix Provisioning console component on this server or on a server used to manage the farm. For details on installing the console, see the article Installing Citrix Provisioning server software.
- In the Configuration Wizard, select the option to join a farm that is already configured. Running the wizard starts the services. For details, see the instructions on how to join an existing farm in Configuration Wizard Tasks.
If something goes wrong while upgrading the first provisioning server, then do the following:
- Shut down all Citrix Provisioning servers (that is, stop the Citrix Provisioning Services on every Citrix Provisioning server).
- Uninstall the server and console on the first Citrix Provisioning.
- Restore the database backup.
- Install the old Citrix Provisioning console and server on the first Citrix Provisioning server and run the Configuration Wizard.
- Restart all other Citrix Provisioning servers still running the old version.
Upgrading the remaining Citrix Provisioning servers in the farm
Once you finish upgrading the first server in the farm, use the same procedure to upgrade the remaining servers.
Tip:
The database upgrade is ignored because it was addressed when the first server was upgraded.
Rolling server upgrade
To keep Citrix Provisioning components running during an upgrade, use the rolling server upgrade process. This process upgrades one provisioning server at a time.
Tip:
When upgrading a provisioning server, it cannot service any target device. Due to this constraint, ensure that the remaining provisioning servers in the environment support client failover from the upgraded server.
To perform the rolling server upgrade, update the first provisioning server in the farm:
- Open the Services snap-in,
services.msc, in the MMC and halt the Citrix Provisioning Stream Service. This process causes all targets connected to this provisioning server to fail over to other servers in the farm. Once finished, upgrade the provisioning server and console components. - Upgrade the Citrix Provisioning database. This process is done one time. There are two ways to upgrade the database, using
dbScript.exeor using the configuration wizard.
Rolling server upgrade using a script
Use dbScript.exe to generate a SQL script. Select the option to upgrade the database and enter the name associated with it. Then use the script in SQL Management or the SQL command line to upgrade the provisioning database.
Rolling server upgrade using the configuration wizard
Use the configuration wizard to upgrade the provisioning database. Consider the following:
-
The Citrix Provisioning configuration wizard automatically starts when the Finish button is selected once the provisioning server has been successfully upgraded.
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Use the default settings. These settings ensure that the configuration wizard retains the settings from the previous instance. On the Farm Configuration page, use the option Farm is already configured. After collecting and reviewing all configuration information click Finish to begin configuring the provisioning server. If the provisioning database has not been upgraded, a message appears indicating that the database is upgraded. Click OK.
Tip:
Verify that Citrix Provisioning is running using the
services.mscsnap-in and boot a target device to confirm it can connect to the provisioning server.
After upgrading the first provisioning server in the farm, upgrade all other servers:
-
Open the Services snap-in,
services.msc, in the MMC and stop the Citrix Provisioning Stream Service. This process causes most, if not all, of the target devices connected to this provisioning server to fail over to the server that has been upgraded. Run the new server and console executables to upgrade the server and console components. -
The configuration wizard automatically starts after clicking Finish once the provisioning server has been successfully upgraded.
Note:
The first provisioning server updates the provisioning database.
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Use the default settings. These settings ensure that the configuration wizard retains the settings from the previous instance. On the Farm Configuration page, ensure that the option Farm is already configured is selected. After all configuration information is collected, review the information on the Finish page and click Finish to begin configuring the provisioning server.
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Repeat steps 1–3 to upgrade all other provisioning servers in the farm after upgrading the first server.
Capture timezone information
If you are upgrading an existing farm, ensure that the timezone information in the production vDisks is captured properly. To do this, do the following one time for each vDIsk:
Note:
This is a one-time requirement. Timezone information is captured correctly in all future updates to your vDisks.
- If the vDisk versions are not being used, stop all targets that use the vDisk, switch the vDisk to private mode, and immediately back to production mode. This action captures the time zone settings and saves the timezone information in the Citrix Provisioning database
- If the vDisk versions are being used, create a new version and immediately promote to production or test mode. Alternatively, stop all targets running the production version, revert the version to the maintenance mode, and immediately promote back to production.
Considerations
Ensure that the Citrix Provisioning firmware boot program used by your targets is updated to the 2503.1 version:
- If using network (PXE) boot, then this happens automatically the next time a target is booted following the upgrade.
- If using BDM Disk boot, then run the BDM-Update process to update the BDM on all targets provisioned by PVS or through Web Studio/MCS. Use the Citrix Provisioning Console for targets provisioning using the Citrix Virtual Desktops Setup Wizard. Use Web Studio for targets provisioned using Web Studio.
- If using ISO boot, create a new ISO with the same parameters as the current and attach it to your template VM and every target VM using ISO boot.
Verify timezone capture
Use the following PowerShell commands to verify that the time zone information is properly captured in production versions:
-
Before the update, the time zone bias must be
-1(default or not set) in every version. For example:Get-PvsDiskVersion -DiskLocatorName s2019-ipv6 -SiteName site -StoreName store|ft -Property Version,CreateDate,LocalTimeBiasVersion CreateDate LocalTimeBias 1 2023-09-01 10:38 -1 0 2023-08-24 15:49 -1 -
After switching the vDisk to private or maintenance mode, and back to production, the production version must show the offset. For example:
Get-PvsDiskVersion -DiskLocatorName s2019-ipv6 -SiteName site -StoreName store|ft -Property Version,CreateDate,LocalTimeBiasVersion CreateDate LocalTimeBias 1 2023-09-01 10:38 -240 0 2023-08-24 15:49 -1
Disable capturing timezone information
If for some reason this feature causes problems with your setup, you can disable it on each vDisk using the Set-PvsDisk command. Set -EnableSetLocalTime to 0. For example:
Set-PvsDisk -DiskLocatorName s2019 -SiteName site -StoreName store -EnableSetLocalTime 0
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Set -EnableSetLocalTime to 1 to enable it again. For example:
Set-PvsDisk -DiskLocatorName s2019 -SiteName site -StoreName store -EnableSetLocalTime 1
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