Create a VMware user account and one or more VMware roles with a set or all of the privileges listed below. Base the roles' creation on the specific level of granularly required over the user’s permissions to request the various XenApp or XenDesktop operations at any time. To grant the user specific permissions at any point, associate them with the respective role, at the DataCenter level at a minimum.

The following tables show  the mappings between XenApp and XenDesktop operations and the minimum required VMware privileges.

Add connection and resources

Provision machines (Machine Creation Services)

If you want the VMs you create to be tagged, add the following permissions for the user account:

To ensure that you use a clean base image for creating new VMs, tag VMs created with Machine Creation Services to exclude them from the list of VMs available to use as base images.

Provision machines (Provisioning Services)

All privileges from "Provision machines (Machine Creation Services)" and:

Power management

Image update and rollback

Delete provisioned machines

Create AppDisks (valid for VMware vSphere minimum version 5.5 and XenApp and XenDesktop minimum version 7.8)

Delete AppDisks (valid for VMware vSphere minimum version 5.5 and XenApp and XenDesktop minimum version 7.8 )

To protect vSphere communications, Citrix recommends that you use HTTPS rather than HTTP. HTTPS requires digital certificates. Citrix recommends you use a digital certificate issued from a certificate authority in accordance with your organization's security policy.

If you are unable to use a digital certificate issued from a certificate authority, and your organization's security policy permits it, you can use the VMware-installed self-signed certificate. Add the VMware vCenter certificate to each Controller. Follow this procedure:

1. Add the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the computer running vCenter Server to the hosts file on that server, located at %SystemRoot%/WINDOWS/system32/Drivers/etc/. This step is required only if the FQDN of the computer running vCenter Server is not already present in the domain name system.
2. Obtain the vCenter certificate using any of the following methods:
   • From the vCenter server:
     1. Copy the file rui.crt from the vCenter server to a location accessible on your Delivery Controllers.
     2. On the Controller, navigate to the location of the exported certificate and open the rui.crt file.
   • Download the certificate using a web browser. If you are using Internet Explorer, depending on your user account, you may need to right-click on Internet Explorer and choose Run as Administrator to download or install the certificate.
     1. Open your web browser and make a secure web connection to the vCenter server; for example https://server1.domain1.com
     2. Accept the security warnings.
     3. Click on the address bar where it shows the certificate error.
     4. View the certificate and click on the Details tab.
     5. Select Copy to file and export in .CER format, providing a name when prompted to do so.
     6. Save the exported certificate.
     7. Navigate to the location of the exported certificate and open the .CER file.
   • Import directly from Internet Explorer running as an administrator:
     1. Open your web browser and make a secure web connection to the vCenter server; for example https://server1.domain1.com.
     2. Accept the security warnings.
     3. Click on the address bar where it shows the certificate error.
     4. View the certificate.
   • Import the certificate into the certificate store on each of your Controllers:
     1. Click Install certificate, select Local Machine, and then click Next.
     2. Select Place all certificates in the following store, and then click Browse.
     3. If you are using Windows Server 2008 R2:
        1. Select the Show physical stores check box.
        2. Expand Trusted People.
        3. Select Local Computer.
        4. Click Next, then click Finish.

        If you are using Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2012 R2:

        1. Select Trusted People, then click OK.
        2. Click Next, then click Finish.

   Important: If you change the name of the vSphere server after installation, you must generate a new self-signed certificate on that server before importing the new certificate.

The VMware SSL thumbprint feature addresses a frequently-reported error when creating a host connection to a VMware vSphere hypervisor. Previously, administrators had to manually create a trust relationship between the Delivery Controllers in the Site and the hypervisor's certificate before creating a connection. The VMware SSL thumbprint feature removes that manual requirement: the untrusted certificate's thumbprint is stored on the Site database so that the hypervisor can be continuously identified as trusted by XenApp or XenDesktop, even if not by the Controllers.

When creating a vSphere host connection in Studio, a dialog box allows you to view the certificate of the machine you are connecting to. You can then choose whether to trust it.