Install VDAs using Ansible

Last published : Oct 15, 2026
Related information
Third-party VDA deployment methods

Overview

This article describes how to deploy VDAs using Ansible. For more information, see the Ansible documentation.
Note:
This article describes only recommendations based on how Citrix® has tested the environment. You can customize these steps according to your needs. Citrix is not responsible for any updates or tweaks needed to this to fit customer needs.

Key steps to deploy VDA using Ansible

  1. Configure the virtual machine environment.
  2. Install Ansible
  3. Kerberos Configuration
    1. Install Kerberos
    2. Configure Kerberos
  4. Configure Ansible

Step 1: Configure the virtual machine environment

Run the following commands on the Windows server.
  1. Set PS RemoteSigned. Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned
  2. Set WinRM to use unencrypted: winrm set winrm/config/service '@{AllowUnencrypted="true"}'
    Note:
    If an error occurs in this step, use the following command: Enable-PSRemoting -Force
  3. Open the firewall port 5985. New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Allow WinRm port 5985" -Direction Inbound -Profile Any -Action Allow -LocalPort 5985 -Protocol tcp

Step 2: Install Ansible

To install Ansible with Ubuntu 20.4 or later, run the following commands:
  • sudo apt update
  • sudo apt install software-properties-common
  • sudo add-apt-repository --yes --update ppa:ansible/ansible
  • sudo apt install ansible
  • sudo apt install python3-pip

Step 2i: Install Kerberos

To install Kerberos, run the following command.
sudo apt install python3-dev libkrb5-dev krb5-user

Step 2ii: Configure Kerberos

To configure Kerberos, run the following command:
Edit /etc/krb5.conf
Configuring Kerberos
Note:
Use upper case letters for the Kerberos realm name.
Configure Kerberos2

Step 3: Configure Ansible

To configure the Ansible host, complete the following steps:
  1. Run the following command:
    Edit /etc/ansible/hosts
  2. Configure a Delivery Controller Install.yaml file
    /QUIET /NOREBOOT /NORESUME /OPTIMIZE /VERBOSELOG /COMPONENTS VDA /CONTROLLERS 'MyDDC.xd.local' /ENABLE_HDX_PORTS /ENABLE_REAL_TIME_TRANSPORT
    Delivery ControllerDelivery ControllerDelivery ControllerDelivery Controller
  3. Run the yaml file with the following command: sudo ansible-playbook install.yml -vvv (Verbose mode)
  4. You can configure multiple hosts in the config file with other additional configurations.
    Edit /etc/ansible/hosts Ansible hosts