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UPDATED May 24th, 2013: The new product name for Citrix Project Excalibur has been announced as XenDesktop 7!

I can’t speak for anyone else in the industry, but from my perspective, this is the most anticipated Tech Preview that I’ve been involved with to date! I am very excited about all the new capabilities that Citrix Project Excalibur (a component of Avalon) will bring to the table, and couldn’t wait to get my hands dirty and start playing! Many industry experts have already covered some of the bases with Excalibur, that this is a move toward unifying XenApp and XenDesktop, a move entirely toward FlexCast Management Architecture (FMA), and most importantly the first release that will support Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 throughout the deployment stack!

I’ll let you find all those excellent articles and learn what this really means, but in this article we’re going to dive deep and jump right into Excalibur! I’ll show you how to deploy two Delivery Controllers (Previously XenApp ZDCs and XenDesktop DDCs), prepare a master server for imaging, and most impressively spin up a group of 5 Windows Servers in a Catalog using Machine Creation Services for XenApp! As the title implies, I will be using Windows Server 2012 exclusively throughout the remainder of this article.

For easy reading, I’ve broken this blog post into five parts:
Part 1: Installing the Delivery Controller(s) Components and Creating the Site < YOU ARE HERE!
Part 2: Preparing the Master Server for Imaging
Part 3: Creating the Hosting Infrastructure Connection and Deploying a Catalog from the Master Server
Part 4: Creating the Delivery Group and Publishing an Application
Part 5: Configuring StoreFront 1.3 Services and Launching a Published Application

To get started, .Net Framework will be required on every component in the infrastructure. Install the .Net Framework feature by launching PowerShell using Run
as Administrator and executing the following command: Add-WindowsFeature net-framework-core

With the enhancements in Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012, double clicking an ISO will automatically mounts that CD/DVD image. Launch AutoSelect.exe from the installation media, click the Start button to begin:

Review the installation options and select the Delivery Controller option from the Core Components section:

Click Yes to the User Account Control prompt:

Accept the license agreement and click Next:


For this demonstration we will install all components on both delivery controllers. In a production environment these components would likely be broken out for segregation of control, monitoring and access tiers. Leave all options selected and click Next:

For this demonstration I will uncheck the SQL Express option as I have a readily available standalone SQL Server 2012 environment available. Click Next:

Leave the default option selected to automatically configure the Windows Firewall ports:

Review the summary screen to see the prerequisites and components that will be automatically installed. Click Install:


Leave Launch Studio selected and click Finish.

The above mentioned process is the same for both Delivery Controllers. Again, in a production deployment we would segregate components such as the License Server. On the first controller follow the process below to finalize the configuration. Select Create Empty Site:

Click Next:

Enter a site name, database server location, and database name. For this example, I will be using VMWS12XCL0 for the site and database name. Click Test Connection:

Similar to previous versions of XenDesktop, this requires that the locally logged in account be a SysAdmin on the SQL Server. If the database needs to be created by a SQL DBA, use the Generate Scripts option, following standard XenDesktop 5.x processes. Click OK to have the database created automatically:

Validate all tests passed successfully and click Close.

Click Next:

Leave the 30-day free trial license option selected and click Next:

Review the summary and click Finish:

After a brief delay, the site will have been created. At this point in XenDesktop deployments, I would typically join the additional Controllers to the Site, so let’s step through that process. On the second Delivery Controller, select Join Existing Deployment:

Enter the DNS name of the first controller (VMWS12XCL01 for example). Click OK:

Again, the same rules apply regarding the database SysAdmin account. If the locally logged in account is not a SysAdmin, you will need to click no and use the generate scripts option to send the files to the DBA. Click Yes to have the Studio update the database automatically.

At this point we can review that both Controllers have been added to the site by expanding Configuration -> Controllers:

We’ll come back to the remainder of the Site configuration. For now, let’s install a couple of applications and prep the Master XenApp server for Machine Creation Services.

To continue reading, please choose from the following:
Part 1: Installing the Delivery Controller(s) Components and Creating the Site < YOU ARE HERE!
Part 2: Preparing the Master Server for Imaging
Part 3: Creating the Hosting Infrastructure Connection and Deploying a Catalog from the Master Server
Part 4: Creating the Delivery Group and Publishing an Application
Part 5: Configuring StoreFront 1.3 Services and Launching a Published Application

If you have any questions, comments, or just want to leave feedback, please do so below. Thanks for reading!

–youngtech

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