By default, Citrix Profile management is installed silently on master images when you install the Virtual Delivery Agent, but you do not have to use Profile management as a profile solution.
For example, if you configure the same policy in both Group Policy and the Policy node, the system reads the policy setting in Group Policy and ignores the XenApp and XenDesktop policy setting.
Whichever profile solution you choose, Director administrators can access diagnostic information and troubleshoot user profiles. For more information, see the Director documentation.
If you use the Personal vDisk feature, Citrix user profiles are stored on virtual desktops' Personal vDisks by default. Do not delete the copy of a profile in the user store while a copy remains on the Personal vDisk. Doing so creates a Profile management error, and causes a temporary profile to be used for logons to the virtual desktop.
The desktop type is automatically detected, based on the Virtual Delivery Agent installation and, in addition to the configuration choices you make in Studio, sets Profile management defaults accordingly.
The policies that Profile management adjusts are shown in the table below. Any non-default policy settings are preserved and are not overwritten by this feature. Consult the Profile management documentation for information about each policy. The types of machines that create profiles affect the policies that are adjusted. The primary factors are whether machines are persistent or provisioned, and whether they are shared by multiple users or dedicated to just one user.
Persistent systems have some type of local storage, the contents of which can be expected to persist when the system turns off. Persistent systems may employ storage technology such as storage area networks (SANs) to provide local disk mimicking. In contrast, provisioned systems are created "on the fly" from a base disk and some type of identity disk. Local storage is usually mimicked by a RAM disk or network disk, the latter often provided by a SAN with a high speed link. The provisioning technology is generally Provisioning Services or Machine Creation Services (or a third-party equivalent). Sometimes provisioned systems have persistent local storage, which may be provided by Personal vDisks; these are classed as persistent.
Together, these two factors define the following machine types:
The following Profile management policy settings are suggested guidelines for the different machine types. They work well in most cases, but you may want to deviate from these as your deployment requires.
Persistent machines
Policy |
Both persistent and dedicated |
Both persistent and shared |
---|---|---|
Delete locally cached profiles on logoff |
Disabled |
Enabled |
Profile streaming |
Disabled |
Enabled |
Always cache |
Enabled (note 1) |
Disabled (note 2) |
Active write back |
Disabled |
Disabled (note 3) |
Process logons of local administrators |
Enabled |
Disabled (note 4) |
Provisioned machines
Policy |
Both provisioned and dedicated |
Both provisioned and shared |
---|---|---|
Delete locally cached profiles on logoff |
Disabled (note 5) |
Enabled |
Profile streaming |
Enabled |
Enabled |
Always cache |
Disabled (note 6) |
Disabled |
Active write back |
Enabled |
Enabled |
Process logons of local administrators |
Enabled |
Enabled (note 7) |
Folder redirection lets you store user data on network shares other than the location where the profiles are stored. This reduces profile size and load time but it might impact network bandwidth. Folder redirection does not require that Citrix user profiles are employed. You can choose to manage user profiles on your own, and still redirect folders.
In deployments with multiple operating systems (OSs), you might want some of a user's profile to be shared by each OS. The rest of the profile is not shared and is used only by one OS. To ensure a consistent user experience across the OSs, you need a different configuration for each OS. This is advanced folder redirection. For example, different versions of an application running on two OSs might need to read or edit a shared file, so you decide to redirect it to a single network location where both versions can access it. Alternatively, because the Start Menu folder contents are structured differently in two OSs, you decide to redirect only one folder, not both. This separates the Start Menu folder and its contents on each OS, ensuring a consistent experience for users.
If your deployment requires advanced folder redirection, you must understand the structure of your users' profile data and determine which parts of it can be shared between OSs. This is important because unpredictable behavior can result unless folder redirection is used correctly.
Folder | Redirected in Windows 8? | Redirected in Windows Server 2008? |
---|---|---|
My Documents | Yes | Yes |
Application Data | No | No |
Contacts | Yes | Yes |
Desktop | Yes | No |
Downloads | No | No |
Favorites | Yes | Yes |
Links | Yes | No |
My Music | Yes | Yes |
My Pictures | Yes | Yes |
My Videos | Yes | Yes |
Searches | Yes | No |
Saved Games | No | No |
Start Menu | Yes | No |
For more information on folder redirection, see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc766489%28v=ws.10%29.aspx.
In Citrix Profile management (but not in Studio), a performance enhancement allows you to prevent folders from being processed using exclusions. If you use this feature, do not exclude any redirected folders. The folder redirection and exclusion features work together, so ensuring no redirected folders are excluded allows Profile management to move them back into the profile folder structure again, while preserving data integrity, if you later decide not to redirect them. For more information on exclusions, see To include and exclude items.