How to upgrade XenDesktop 7 to 7.5 Detailed Step-by-step Procedure
Summary
Purpose of the article.
1. The Official Citrix procedure: XenDesktop 7 upgrade components (CHECK BELOW FOR MY DETAILED STEP-BY-STEP PROCEDURE).
2. The DETAILED STEP-BY-STEP PROCEDURE: How to upgrade XenDesktop 7.x to XenDesktop 7.5 (all components)
2.1. Check the licenses – detailed.
2.2 Upgrade StoreFront – Detailed.
2.2.1 How to upgrade from Citrix StoreFront 2.1 to StoreFront 2.5 (version 2.1.0.17 to 2.5.0.29).
2.3. Upgrade the Virtual Delivery Agent – detailed.
2.4. Upgrade Delivery Controllers.
Purpose of the article



1. The Citrix official procedure: XenDesktop 7 upgrade components (CHECK BELOW FOR DETAILED PROCEDURE)Updated: 2014-04-28 (Copyright Citrix) When you run the installer AutoSelect, the wizard checks whether certain Site components (such as the Delivery Controllers, Director, and VDAs), need to be upgraded. If you opt not to upgrade some components during this process, when you run Studio, it performs a component check and notifies you when components need to be upgraded. You cannot proceed to manage your Site until you upgrade these components. Important: Back up your Databases as described in How to backup and Restore your XenDesktop Database before performing any upgrade procedures. Upgrade Site with components deployed on different machinesThe following figure shows the high-level processes involved when upgrading a XenDesktop 7 to XenDesktop 7.x in which Studio components are deployed on different machines. Perform the upgrade procedures in the following order. Check the licensesMake sure that your Subscription Advantage date for licenses is no earlier than 2013.0522. Upgrade StoreFrontIf StoreFront is deployed on a separate machine, follow the steps described in Upgrade StoreFront. Upgrade DirectorIf Director is deployed on a separate machine, follow the steps described in Upgrade core components. Upgrade Provisioning ServicesIf you are using Provisioning Services, follow the procedures described in Upgrading Provisioning Services. Manual upgrade for VDAs on physical machinesWhen upgrading version 7 or version 7.1 VDA that are installed on a physical machine (including Remote PC Access) to version 7.5 VDAs, you must start the upgrade from the command line using the following parameter: /EXCLUDE “Personal vDisk”,”Machine Identity Service” The following example shows a physical VDA manual upgrade.
4. D:\x64\XenDesktop Setup\XenDesktopVdaSetup.exe /EXCLUDE 5. “Personal vDisk”,”Machine Identity Service” Your VDA upgrade will now launch and complete as described in Upgrade the Virtual Delivery Agent. Upgrade the Virtual Delivery AgentFor Remote PC Access deployments, Citrix recommends that you upgrade a VDA in a remote PC using a command-line method. For detailed information, see Install using the command line.
Upgrade Delivery ControllersCitrix recommends that you upgrade Delivery Controllers as follows:
Upgrade Databases using StudioUse Studio to upgrade the Database. Automatically upgrade Databases
The wizard displays the upgrade progress. After the upgrade completes, the wizard performs tests. This takes several minutes.
To minimize Site down time when performing a manual upgrade, it is important that the XenDesktop Administrator closely coordinates with the Database Administrator. This process requires that you run a script that temporarily disables Xendesktop Services while the manual upgrade scripts are run by the Database Administrator using a preferred tool (for example, SQL Server Management Studio). Ideally, immediately after these scripts complete, the XenDesktop Administrator should enable XenDesktop Services and complete the upgrade using Studio. Manual upgrade requires:
Note: You should only run this script if the Logging database changes. For example, run it after applying a hotfix.
To upgrade manually
Upgrade core componentsThe installer automatically upgrades core components such as Delivery Controllers, Studio, and Director if they were previously installed.
Upgrade a Site with components deployed on the same machineThe following figure shows the high-level processes involved when upgrading a Site in which all components are deployed on the same machine. Perform the upgrade procedures in the following order:
Post upgrade processesAfter the upgrade and data migration is complete, you can run environment and configuration tests to make sure that the Site is in functional order. To test the upgraded site, select Test Site in the Site Configuration pane of the Studio Common Tasks page. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ |
2. The DETAILED STEP-BY-STEP PROCEDURE: How to upgrade XenDesktop 7.x to XenDesktop 7.5 (all components).
2.1. Check the licenses – detailed
Logically for every new version of Citrix, your licenses should be updated, and be NEWER than the SA date.
Now,
A) Citrix states in the upgrade documentation:
Make sure that your Subscription Advantage date for licenses is no earlier than 2013.0522.
Let’s have a look: Looks OK!
30-05-2013 is LATER than 22-05-2013
B) The upgrade wizard tells you the following: 2014.0226
Hey, that’s another SA date!
C) Once you finished the upgrade Citrix Studio tells you the required SA date is: 2014.0318
Conclusion: For XenDesktop 7.5 you need licenses that have are valid UNTIL or AFTER 18th of March 2014.
2.2 Upgrade StoreFront – Detailed
Official info from Citrix: Updated: 2014-04-14
To upgrade existing StoreFront 2.0 or StoreFront 2.1 deployments to StoreFront 2.5, you run the StoreFront 2.5 installation file. Releases before StoreFront 2.0 cannot be upgraded to StoreFront 2.5 directly. Instead, you must first upgrade StoreFront 1.2 to StoreFront 2.0 before upgrading to StoreFront 2.5. Similarly, you cannot upgrade Receiver Storefront 1.1 to StoreFront 2.5 directly. You must upgrade Receiver Storefront 1.1 to StoreFront 1.2 and then again to StoreFront 2.0 before finally upgrading to StoreFront 2.5. Refer to the StoreFront 2.1 upgrade tasks for more information on upgrading from previous releases of StoreFront prior to the 2.1 release.
Once the upgrade process is started, it cannot be rolled back. If the upgrade is interrupted or cannot be completed, the existing configuration is removed but StoreFront is not installed. Before starting to upgrade, you must disconnect users from the StoreFront deployment and prevent users from accessing the servers while the upgrade is in progress. This ensures that all StoreFront files are accessible by the installer during the upgrade. If any files cannot be accessed by the installer, they cannot be replaced and so the upgrade will fail, resulting in the removal of the existing StoreFront configuration. StoreFront does not support multiple server deployments containing different product versions, so all servers in a group must be updated concurrently. Citrix recommends that you back up your data before upgrading.
Uninstalling StoreFront removes the authentication service, stores, users’ application subscriptions, Receiver for Web sites, Desktop Appliance sites, and XenApp Services URLs. This means that if you decide to uninstall StoreFront, you must manually recreate your services, stores, and sites when you reinstall StoreFront. Upgrading also enables you to preserve your StoreFront configuration and leaves users’ application subscription data intact so that users do not need to resubscribe to all of their applications.
Upgrading the operating system version on a server running StoreFront is not supported. Citrix recommends that you install StoreFront on a new installation of the operating system.
2.2.1 How to upgrade from Citrix StoreFront 2.1 to StoreFront 2.5 (version 2.1.0.17 to 2.5.0.29)
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To obtain we need need to download the XenDesktop 7.5. Login to your account, or your client’s account at citrix.com |
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If you are not logging in with an account of a customer who has already acquired XenDesktop licenses, the download will be locked. See in the next steps for alternatives. Should the account have sufficient right to download the ISO, click on the version you want. Basically it should download the same ISO file. The version you need, you select during installation. |
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If you have sufficient rights, download the XenApp_and_XenDesktop7_5.iso From here. Note there are links to the Admin Guide, Upgrade guide and Build a new environment Guide, which should be useful for late night reading. |
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Should you not be able to login to the client’s account, or don’t have any direct contacts to anyone who can provide you with the ISO, and you desperately want to do a POC, you might also find the ISO on some public FTPs. |
In GB and bytes: |
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Of course, any downloading from any other source than citrix.com is most likely illegal in your country. If it is, you shouldn’t do it and check with your colleagues who support Citrix if they have the ISO. |
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Running files from a corrupt ISO file is a drag, and a waste of time. So we will check that the ISO is OK. If you got the ISO from an unknown source, this step is a must. Use your own md5 hash check tool, or download the MD5 hash check tool to verify the validity of the download of the ISO. You can use the standalone and free WinMD5.exe from www.winmd5.com |
Run WinMD5.exe on the The MD5 hash of the XenApp_and_XenDesktop7_5.iso is 047bc9c9cd81035a5c7b88013fd8e69e |
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If you are upgrading a multiple server StoreFront deployment, disable access to the deployment through the load balancing environment. |
Disabling the load-balanced URL prevents users from connecting to the deployment during the upgrade. All servers in a multiple server deployment must be updated concurrently. (note: 1 after the other!) |
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Open de StoreFront console on the first server, and choose the option Propagate changes, to ensure the servers are in sync. |
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Restart all StoreFront servers. Restarting the server ensures that any file locks are cleared and that there are no Windows updates pending. |
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We are ready to upgrade the servers. |
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Log in with the admin account with which you will do the installation. |
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Check connectivity: Ping from all servers the server itself and the other Storefront servers. Verify that all IPs are correct to exclude connectivity issues. |
Ping Storefrontservername1 |
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For multiple server StoreFront deployments, on each server in the deployment, open Event Viewer and, in the left pane, navigate to Applications and Services Logs > Citrix Delivery Services. Search for events logged by the Citrix Subscriptions Store Service with an Event ID of 3 and a Task Category of 2901. Ensure that an entry is logged for each store on every server in the deployment before continuing. |
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Read the article and follow the request changes to improve StoreFront use/installation. Not all are MANDATORY, but some can prevent installation issues. |
http://xendesktopguy.com/2013/05/31/winning-with-storefront/ A) Disable Netbios over TCP B) Set-ExecutionPolicy -scope LocalMachine by-pass |
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Right-click the ISO to mount the contents |
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You can upgrade Storefront via the Citrix Installation manager, or directly via the Storefront executable. First we will show you how to run the process via via the normal setup. If you want to run the upgrade via the storefront setup exe, go to point X |
Run the setup program in the root of the DVD. |
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Run Studio and Server components (this will do the upgrade) |
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Click Next |
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Select I’m ready Click Next |
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Select Let me continue Click Next |
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Verify the installation components. This should be correct, according to the installed components. In this case, just StoreFront. Click next |
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Click Upgrade |
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Select Open the StoreFront Management Console (we will open it briefly and close it again) And click Finish |
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VIA DIRECT INSTALL: Follow these steps if you want to upgrade via the Storefront executable. |
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Run the StoreFront installation file as an administrator: CitrixStoreFront-x64.exe |
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Enable the selection box I accept . Click Next |
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Click Install |
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StoreFront is being upgraded Please wait, this can take upto 10-15 mins |
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More technical details: |
The CitrixStoreFront-x64.exe calls the DeliveryServicesRoleManager to coordinate the installation.
In Task manager you will see some activity from the MSI installer: Then one of the MSIs will call rundll32.exe
Next several changes will be made on IIS level. You can follow this process more or less when looking at process Explorer (procexp.exe) |
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Finished!
Click Finish |
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Open the StoreFront console |
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The StoreFront console will open |
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By design, The StoreFront console notices your other StoreFront servers are in a lower version. Click OK and close the console. |
Screenshot when having 2 StoreFront servers: Screenshot when having 3 StoreFront servers: |
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Restart the StoreFront server and check that all the StoreFront services are running. |
Restarting the server ensures that all caches are cleared and the StoreFrontservices are restarted. |
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Verify is the services are started. The disabled service is OK. |
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After reboot, check for any problems in the eventviewer: Eventviewer > Application and Services log > Citrix Delivery Services. |
The following events are to be considered normal/OK. |
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Repeat installation for server 2 If you are upgrading a multiple server StoreFront deployment, repeat Steps x to x for each of the remaining servers in your deployment until you have upgraded them all. |
Important: Ensure you finish upgrading the current server before starting to upgrade the next. In multiple server StoreFront deployments, servers must be upgraded sequentially. Upgrading multiple servers in parallel is not supported and can cause configuration mismatches that lead to stores, sites, and services becoming unusable. |
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Our second StoreFront server has been successfully upgraded. Click Finish to open the StoreFront console |
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If all went well, and you only have 2 servers, the last storefront server will have already synced with all other servers. When the upgrade process is complete on the final server in your deployment, StoreFront automatically updates the configuration of the other servers in the deployment to match that of the final server. |
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Close the console and reboot |
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After reboot, check for any problems in the eventviewer: Eventviewer > Application and Services log > Citrix Delivery Services. |
The following events are to be considered normal/OK. |
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Verify is all services are running. The disabled service is normal. |
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Upgrade the 3rd and in this case last StoreFront server, follow steps x to x |
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After install has finished open the console again |
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The adding snap-in will take more time, this is where StoreFront is synchronising. Please wait. |
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Also the third StoreFront server was synchronized. |
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Restart the server |
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Reopen Storefront console on the LAST StoreFront server you upgraded. |
Note: If you want to perform a Propagate Chages from another Storefront server you will receive this message: |
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The same message appeared when opening the console on the Last server as well. Let’s ignore this for now. Click OK, the propagation will start automatically If you don’t get this, go to the next step |
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If you don’t get this message, click on Propagate Changes |
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Propagate Changes in progress |
Screenshot when syncing a 2 StoreFront Server Group : Screenshot when syncing a 3 StoreFront Server Group : |
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Propagation completed. The configuration states Last propagation from <Last StoreFront servername> And the success state and time of sync. |
Screenshot when syncing a 2 StoreFront Server Group : Screenshot when syncing a 2 StoreFront Server Group : Screenshot when syncing a 2 StoreFront Server Group : Screenshot when syncing a 3 StoreFront Server Group : |
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StoreFront has been upgraded to 2.5.0.29. |
Add/Remove programs |
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If you are upgrading a multiple server StoreFront deployment, restore access to your deployment through the load-balanced URL. |
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Perform the compatibility tests, especially if you have Pass-trough(SSON) enabled. |
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Perhaps keep the VMware snapshots for a while, in case of a rollback. |
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2.3. Upgrade the Virtual Delivery Agent – detailed
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Check the current version in Add/Remove programs via appwiz.cpl |
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Reboot both Delivery Controllers |
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Make a VMware snapshot of both Delivery Controllers |
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Make a full backup of the Site database, and other databases if they are separate |
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Put the vdisk in maintenance mode, and the Master VM as well if this is not yet the case. Boot the vdisk into WRITE mode (private mode) |
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Log in to the console via your hypervisor. |
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Check the Virtual Disk status to see if you are in Write mode |
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Right-click the ISO to mount the contents |
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Run the AutoSelect.exe with admin rights |
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Loading |
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Select Virtual Delivery Agent for Windows Server OS |
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Click Next |
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Being installed |
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The installation will run files from the folders: |
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The XenDesktopVdaSetup.exe runs several MSis. Note I may not have not captured all files, this is just to give you na idea. |
“<CDROMDRIVELETTER>:\x64\XenDesktop Setup\XenDesktopVdaSetup.exe” /NOSPLASHSCREEN /XENDESKTOP “msiexec” /i “G:\x64\Virtual Desktop Components\MachineIdentityServiceAgent_x64.msi” /lv “C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Temp\2\Citrix\XenDesktop Installer\MSI Log Files\MachineIdentityServiceAgent_x64199030719.txt” /quiet INSTALLLOCATION=”C:\Program Files\Citrix” ARPSYSTEMCOMPONENT=”1″ MSIFASTINSTALL=”1″ REBOOT=ReallySuppress “msiexec” /i “G:\x64\Virtual Desktop Components\VdaMonitorPlugin_x64.Msi” /lv “C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Temp\2\Citrix\XenDesktop Installer\MSI Log Files\VdaMonitorPlugin_x64956661311.txt” /quiet INSTALLLOCATION=”C:\Program Files\Citrix” ARPSYSTEMCOMPONENT=”1″ Install all hotfixes MSIFASTINSTALL=”1″ REBOOT=ReallySuppress |
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Update completed. |
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Install hotfixes you can find on |
Currently no important Public Hotfixes for Server OS. For Desktop OS there are generally more hotfixes being released. Note Post-VDA7.5 hotfixes for Windows Server OS 64-bit start with ICAWS750WX64 or BrokerAgent750WX64 |
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We will install 1 patch: Run BrokerAgent750WX64001 |
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Click Update |
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Hotfix install in progress |
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Click Finish |
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Click ok to restart the server. We need to reboot the image so there are no pending changes at boot time. |
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Check if the services all start, check eventviewer as well for errors. |
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Shut down the image |
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Promote vdisk to test. Tests the image, then change to production. |
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2.4. Upgrade Delivery Controllers
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Check the current version in Add/Remove programs via appwiz.cpl |
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Reboot both Delivery Controllers |
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Shutdown all DCS. Make an offline VMware snapshot of all Delivery Controllers. |
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Check your mirrored database. Are the 3 databases (or 1) Principal and Synchronized, indicating that changes are replicated to the mirror, on the principal server? |
Otherwise you will receive the following error Launch the Database Montiroing Monitoring Verify the status and see if there are unsent logs. This should be 0 when the mirroring is up-to-date |
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Verify Firewall status on all Delivery Controllers. |
Verify the status of the firewall. Make sure they are off, even if they are usually on. Firewall rules will be created even if they are off. |
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Shutdown all database servers. First the mirror, then the Principal, then the witness. Make an offline VMware snapshot of all database servers (mirroring) |
This is of course more for a dedicated SQL server in a DEV enviroment than on a shared production SQL server. Decide how far you want to ensure to go back to the previous version in case of database errors. |
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Open the Citrix Studio Console |
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On the first page click test site |
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Make sure you have solved all important issues. In my case for example, I had to reconfigure the Configuration Logging database, to ensure a successful upgrade. It showed as OK, but the configuration was not 100% ok. |
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I suggest only to upgrade to 7.5 when you have 100% succesaful tests, or understand clearly why you have warnings or errors. |
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Make a full backup of de Site database, and other databases if they are separate. |
Note that restoring a mirrored database is not as easy as a normal database. Consult your SQL database administrator before going ahead. |
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Right-click the ISO to mount the contents |
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Run the AutoSelect.exe with admin rights |
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Select I’m ready to continue Select Next |
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Select Let me continue Select Next |
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Upgrade in progress |
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Run the necessary hotfixes for Citrix Studio start with DStudio750WX64 |
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Select I accept . Select Install |
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Select Finish |
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Reboot the server, although this is not strictly necessary. |
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If your SQL database is running on a mirror, make sure the database is running on the principal server |
Principal and Synchronized, indicating that changes are replicated to the mirror. Otherwise you will receive the following error |
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Open the Citrix Studio Console |
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Studio informs you that you need to continue with the upgrade. |
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Select I am ready Click Upgrade |
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This will upgrade the database to XenDesktop 7.5. |
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If you are lucky J the upgrade will complete with no errors. Click on Show Report And the Click Finish |
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The report opens in your browser. |
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Next the information on your Xendesktop configuration is being displayed. This may take several minutes. |
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Click ok Close the Citrix Studio |
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Log on to the next Delivery Controller. Run the upgrade, and follow the wizard as described in the earlier steps. |
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The Delivery Controller software and Citrix Studio are being upgraded to version 7.5 |
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Leave the box Launch Studio empty, and click finish |
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Install the hotfixes |
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Reboot the server, although this is not strictly necessary. |
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Open the Citrix Studio console on the first server. Run the Site test again, and if all went well there should be no errors. |
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IF you hadn’t upgraded your licences you will see this message: |
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Open the Tool XenDesktop Site Diagnostics XDSiteDiag.exe. Verify the version of both Delivery Controllers. |
Note: to run this tool, you must have dotnet framework 3.5 installed. You can do this via a cmd prompt DISM /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:NetFx3 /All /LimitAccess /Source:F:\sources\sxs where F:\ is the mounted Windows DVD ISSO. Noreboot needed. |
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Run the tool XDPing.exe as well to check for errors if you want. |
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You have successfully upgraded to 7.5 |
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