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What’s new
This release of Citrix Provisioning includes the following enhancements:
- Support for multiple zones in the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops creation process
- Target device operation and performance statistics
- Continued support for Citrix Hypervisor 8
- Support for Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) 2019
This release also includes several fixes for issues seen in past releases, and new issues that we’ve identified.
Note:
To receive the latest provisioning features, be sure to use the most recent version of the Citrix License Server. If you are upgrading Citrix Provisioning to the newest version, the latest License Server version is required. When you do not upgrade to the latest version of the License Server, the product license enters the 30-day grace period. For more information, see Licensing.
Support for multiple zones in the catalog creation process
Citrix Provisioning 1909 adds support for multiple zones in Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Setup and Export Devices wizards. In previous releases, the wizards created catalogs and placed them in the Primary Zone by default. This behavior occurred for both the Citrix Cloud and On-premises Virtual Apps and Desktop DDC.
To correct the catalog locations and assign them to appropriate secondary zones, manually issue the Citrix Broker PowerShell cmdlet from the Citrix Provisioning console machine:
Set-BrokerCatalog-Name <CatalogName> -ZoneUid <GuidOfSecondaryZone>
The following image illustrates how a Set-BrokerCatalog PowerShell cmdlet was issued with the -ZoneUid parameter:
To correct the catalog locations and assign them to appropriate secondary zones, manually issue the Citrix Broker PowerShell cmdlet from the Citrix Provisioning console machine:
The following image illustrates the catalog preferences you can configure as part of both the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops wizard and the Citrix Provisioning Devices Export wizard. Instead of asking you to select a zone, both wizards automatically create the catalog in the zone of the hosting unit or hosting connection chosen in the earlier setup screen.
Target device operation and performance statistics
This release of Citrix Provisioning introduces updates to target device operations and performance statistics. Updates include:
- a WMI provider for static information about the target device.
- a performance counter provider for dynamic information about the target device.
- an external application running on the target device or the remote machine. This application queries objects using a WMI API to determine if they are running on a provisioned target and to gather information related to the configuration and state of the device.
As part of the standard Citrix Provisioning target device installation, a WMI provider DLL is installed and registered on each provisioned target device. This DLL obtains target device information from the BNIStack driver.
How it works
The provider creates the PVS_Target and PVS_VDisk WMI objects in the root/Citrix/PVS namespace. Each provisioned target device has a single instance of the PVS_Target object. The PVS_Target object provides information about the installed Citrix Provisioning version, and statistics for the latest boot operation.
If no instance of PVS_Target exists when the WMI provider queries the target device, either the device is not a Citrix Provision target device, or it is running an older Citrix Provisioning version of the target device software.
The PVS_Target object
The following table provides information about the PVS_Target object:
| Item name | Type | Unit | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Target_Software_Version | String | - | PVS target version |
| Boot_Time_In_Sec | Int | seconds | The number of seconds elapsed during the boot phases of the operating system |
| Boot_Retry_Count | Int | - | Retry count during boot |
| Boot_Bytes_Read_MB | Int | MB | Number of bytes read during boot |
| Boot_Retry_Written_MB | Int | MB | Number of bytes written during boot |
The PVS_VDisk object
One instance of the PVS_VDisk object exists on the provisioned target device. This object contains information about the virtual disk, the write cache mode and cache disk size.
The table below provides information about the PVS_VDisk object:
| Item name | Type | Unit | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| VDisk_Name | String | - | Virtual disk file name |
| Write_Cache_Type | String | - | Write cache type being used |
| Write_Cache_Volume_Size | Int | MB | Configured write cache volume size |
| Boot_From | String | - | Boot from virtual disk or local hard disk |
| Write_Cache_Volume_Drive_Letter | String | - | Write cache volume drive letter |
Updated performance counters
Citrix Provisioning includes an updated performance counter that is automatically installed and registered on each provisioned target device.
The BNIStack driver provides the following new performance counters:
| Counter name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| UDP retry | perf_counter_counter | PVS UDP retry count |
| Server reconnect | perf_counter_counter | PVS server reconnect count |
Consider the following:
- The provisioned target device installer registers the WMI and performance counter providers. No additional installation options require configuration on the provisioned target device.
- The current
CVhdMpperformance counter provider only supports VHDX for target devices using Cache in device RAM with overflow on hard drive.
Performance counters provided by the CVhdMp driver
- use the Citrix Provisioning Imaging Wizard. In the Microsoft Volume Licensing screen, click the appropriate license management option for the virtual disk. Click the Key Management Service (KMS) radio button, then click the Accelerated Office Activation check box. Select Next to apply the configuration change to the virtual disk and continue configuring it.
| Counter name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| File bytes | perf_counter_large_rawcount | The VHDX file size |
| File reads/sec | perf_counter_counter | The rate of reads from VHDX file in operations per second |
| File writes/sec | perf_counter_counter | The rate of writes to VHDX file in operations per second |
| File read bytes/sec | perf_counter_bulk_count | The rate of reads from VHDX file in bytes per second |
| File write bytes/sec | perf_counter_bulk_count | The rate of writes from VHDX file in bytes per second |
| RAM cache types | perf_counter_large_rawcount | The amount of memory used by RAM cache |
| RAM reads/sec | perf_counter_counter | The rate of reads from RAM cache in operations per second |
| RAM writes/sec | perf_counter_counter | The rate of writes to RAM cache in operations per second |
| RAM read bytes/sec | perf_counter_bulk_count | The rate of reads from RAM cache in bytes per second |
| RAM write bytes/sec | perf_counter_bulk_count | The rate of writes to RAM cache in bytes per second |
| Provionsed server virtual disk reads/sec | perf_counter_counter | The rate of reads from the provisioned server’s virtual disk over the network in operations per second |
| Provionsed server virtual disk bytes/sec | perf_counter_bulk_count | The rate of reads from the provisioned server’s virtual disk over the network in bytes per second |
Continued support for Citrix Hypervisor 8
This release provides continued experimental support for Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI virtual machine (VM) provisioning on Citrix Hypervisor 8.0. Citrix Hypervisor is the complete server virtualization platform from Citrix. You can use Citrix Hypervisor to create and manage a deployment of virtual x86 computers running on Xen. See the Citrix Hypervisor documentation for more information.
Consider the following when using this functionality:
- Windows guest operating system UEFI boot on a provisioned virtual machine is an experimental feature. For more information, see Experimental features.
Known limitations include:
- UEFI VM with NVRAM
- Citrix Provisioning Accelerator with UEFI VM on Citrix Hypervisor 8.0
Support for Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2019
This release includes support for Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) 2019.
How do I?
Use the How Do I? page in the Citrix Knowledge Center for additional information related to configuration, networking, antivirus, or hypervisor related procedures. These pages are purpose-built to help resolve problems arising from the use of Citrix Provisioning.