Citrix and FQDN's

MattC
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OLAP Product: TM1 Perspectives
Version: 9.5.2
Excel Version: 2010
Location: Teesside, United Kingdom

Citrix and FQDN's

Post by MattC »

Hi

I'm new to the forum and just after a little guidance.

We are currently running v9.5.2 and have just migrated it to a Windows 2008 R2 Server (64 bit).

We have a Citrix Xenapp 6.5 environment running on the same O/S.

We want to stream an Excel 2010 application with Perspectives to users via Citrix.

The TM1 server sits in a child domain (domain 1). The Citrix server sits in a parent domain (domain 2).

I have the streamed package working with Excel normally and the TM1 ribbon loads with no problems.

What I am struggling with is getting a configuration into the Server Explorer options that is accepted and will return me the two servers that I know exist and can confirm when logged on locally to the server.

I am assuming I have to use FQDN's (\\servername\sharename) because of the disparate locations of the Citrix server and the TM1 server. I've configured the NTFS security so the TM1 folders needed to be read by the streamed app, can do so.

When using the FQDN's for the servername, the database path and the certificate, it consistently returns no servers to be connected to.

I tried changing the ini file on the server to use an FQDN (even though it was itself I was referencing) and this caused the TM1 process to spike with over 60GB of memory usage and then crash out. I had to put it back to D:\xxxxx to get it to load again.

Has anyone ever managed to get something like this working, or is it even possible? Am I resigned to installing Perspectives on the Xenapp servers, which I really wanted to avoid.

I am a TM1 newbie as my day to day role is infrastructure. I know more about Citrix.

Thanks

Matt
David Usherwood
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Re: Citrix and FQDN's

Post by David Usherwood »

I am assuming I have to use FQDN's (\\servername\sharename)
That's the issue. The admin server reference should be a machine name or IP address. TM1 doesn't use network shares for this.
Paul Segal
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Re: Citrix and FQDN's

Post by Paul Segal »

Yes, what David said. I have TM1 working through Citrix 6.5 published app, and either machine name or ip address works fine.
Paul
MattC
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OLAP Product: TM1 Perspectives
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Location: Teesside, United Kingdom

Re: Citrix and FQDN's

Post by MattC »

Hi

Sorry for any confusion.

The admin server name is set as an FQDN server name, not a share. Admin server is set to servername.domain.com

The FQDN's with share's are used for the database path and the certificate path. If I changed the server path to an IP or a hostname without the domain part, it still doesn't seem to work.

I don't want to install Perspectives to the Xenapp server if I can help it. Its how do I get a working configuration into Excel before I use Citrix Streaming profiler to create the package, when the app server and database server are separated.
Paul Segal
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Re: Citrix and FQDN's

Post by Paul Segal »

Can you ping the TM1 server from the Citrix server?
Paul
MattC
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Re: Citrix and FQDN's

Post by MattC »

Using the FQDN for the server, yes I can.

Thanks

Matt
Paul Segal
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Re: Citrix and FQDN's

Post by Paul Segal »

And with the ip address?
Paul
MattC
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Re: Citrix and FQDN's

Post by MattC »

Hi

Yes its available with both.

Thanks

Matt
Paul Segal
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Re: Citrix and FQDN's

Post by Paul Segal »

OK, so in the streamed Excel app what happens if you put the ip address in the Admin Host box via TM1, Options?
Paul
MattC
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Re: Citrix and FQDN's

Post by MattC »

Hi

Bear in mind, this is being tested before the streamed app is created. Its in the wizard for the profiler where I'm testing this. I want it done beforehand as I don't want the users to make any changes which will be persisted after they end a session.

When I put the IP address in the Admin Host and leave the FQDN's in place for the database directory and certificate. Nothing changes. I click Refresh Servers, and it doesn't return anything in the window, when I should see two entries. Change it to a hostname, same result.

Thanks

Matt
Paul Segal
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Re: Citrix and FQDN's

Post by Paul Segal »

I'm not enough of a Citrix expert to comment on the profile wizard, but I would go ahead and create the app and test that before concluding it wasn't working.
Paul
MattC
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Re: Citrix and FQDN's

Post by MattC »

Hi

I have created it twice previously and tested it. The same behaviour is displayed in the published version as in the pre published testing.

Thanks

Matt
Paul Segal
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Re: Citrix and FQDN's

Post by Paul Segal »

OK, well in that case I'm out of ideas. The only thing I can say is that I have tested a Citrix 6.5 Excel published app, across two (trusted) domains, and it works fine - so it is possible.
Paul
MattC
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Re: Citrix and FQDN's

Post by MattC »

That's good to know. At least I'm not flogging a dead horse.

When TM1 initializes, is there a log file I can look at to see why it errors out when I change the tm1s.cfg file to use an FQDN?
Paul Segal
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Re: Citrix and FQDN's

Post by Paul Segal »

I don't really understand why you need a FQDN in the tm1s.cfg file? It might be helpful if you post it.

From what you've said, I understand this:

Server A has one or more TM1 services (servers) running, has a TM1 admin service running and is on Domain Y
A TM1 client on Domain Y can see and log in to the TM1 servers.
Server B is the Citrix box and is on Domain Z
Domain Y and Z trust each other.
Server B can ping Server A and get a response.

Given I've got it right, there's no logical reason for the Citrix client not to be able to hook up to the TM1 servers on Server A. I don't think you need the FQDN in the tm1s.cfg file, and if it's crashing the server I would revert to either machine name or ip address.
Paul
MattC
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OLAP Product: TM1 Perspectives
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Re: Citrix and FQDN's

Post by MattC »

Hi

TM1 Admin server is TM1Server.europe.ourcompany.net.

The Citrix server which will run the published applications is CitrixXenapp.ourcompany.net.

The streaming profile is being created on CitrixProfiler.ourcompany.net.

Now. As I understand it, when you create a profile using Citrix streaming, you have to include all the files it needs to run. So, when Perspectives runs, it needs to already have the admin host configuration in there so when the user loads it, it just works. I can't put D:\xx as this would look on the local Xenapp server for the files, which would never exist because they are on a remote server, hence needing to use an FQDN.

The domains are inherently trusted because they are in the same forest, one is a child of the other in essence.

The current config in the tm1s.cfg file is shown below.

[TM1S]
ServerLogging=T
SecurityPackageName=Kerberos
IntegratedSecurityMode=1
UseSSL=F
ServerName=REMOVED
DataBaseDirectory=D:\TM1\db\ourcompany
LoggingDirectory=D:\TM1\LOGS\ourcompany
AdminHost=REMOVED but uses a NETBIOS name such as SERVER1
PortNumber=12346
Language=ENG
SaveTime=
DownTime=
ReceiveProgressResponseTimeoutSecs=240
AllowSeparateNandCRules=T
LockPagesInMemory=F


The reason I tested an FQDN in here was because I understand that this file's config is loaded with TM1 at start time. So its looking in D:\ for everything. Would perspectives expect the same data paths for it to work, would it just ignore the FQDN that I had specified or, as it did, just return no data?
Paul Segal
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Re: Citrix and FQDN's

Post by Paul Segal »

The Admin Host in Perspectives should be the same as the AdminHost in the tm1s.cfg. Perspectives uses the admin host to connect to servers and not the servers themselves.

Perspectives doesn't need to look at the data directories directly to work, unless someone wants to modify .xdi or .xru files. You could leave the Data Directory blank in Perspectives and it will still work. No need to fully qualify anything, I don't think.
Paul
MattC
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Re: Citrix and FQDN's

Post by MattC »

Hi

I've been doing some testing.

1. Office 2010 and TM1 add in is packaged successfully and launches through Citrix with no issue.

2. When opening Server Explorer, it doesn't have the correct configuration applied. The Admin Host is blank and the database path is wrong.

3. As per previous comment, I set the Admin Host to a NETBIOS name, SERVER1 for example and blanked the database path. I left the certificate path as default as I have this included in the package itself and the path it shows is correct. NO CONNECTION

4. Admin host set to a NETBIOS name. Database path set to FQDN\sharename on the TM1 server. NO CONNECTION

Attached are what I should see (and do when I RDP to the server directly) and what I don't when doing this via Citrix.

Not working
Not working
Not working
Not working.png (13.69 KiB) Viewed 12415 times
Working
Working
Working
Working.png (7.46 KiB) Viewed 12415 times
Is there any log file that can give me an idea why the connection is not being established?

Also, do I need to include the lic file in the Citrix sandboxed application? If so, where should it reside?

Thanks

Matt
David Usherwood
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Re: Citrix and FQDN's

Post by David Usherwood »

I continue to believe that you are probably making this too complicated.
a Can you ping
TM1Server.europe.ourcompany.net
from the citrix session?
b Is that where the admin host service, and the TM1 server, are running?
If you can, and you have got no firewall issues, you should enter
TM1Server.europe.ourcompany.net
in the admin host, leave the rest untouched and then connect to the TM1 server.
MattC
Posts: 17
Joined: Thu Feb 06, 2014 7:53 pm
OLAP Product: TM1 Perspectives
Version: 9.5.2
Excel Version: 2010
Location: Teesside, United Kingdom

Re: Citrix and FQDN's

Post by MattC »

Hi

I don't know how I can make it simpler. TM1 Admin server is on Tm1Server.europe.ourcompany.net.

Yes it can be pinged by name and IP address from all the Citrix Xenapp servers, the data collectors and the storefront servers. The only part of your question I cannot complete is pinging from within the Citrix session because its publishing Excel only, not a full desktop to give me access to a command prompt.

A published application launches Excel and the tm1p.xla add in is included in the publication and this loads successfully.

It will not return any data no matter what setup I use in the Server Explorer. As above, I've tried a few variations and none give a different result.

Citrix Server is in ourcompany.net

TM1 Server is in Europe.ourcompany.net

NTFS security to shares and folders on the TM1 server is correct as I understand it to be.

Network connectivity is there.

Stupidly the Server Explorer is using FQDN's for database and certificate on the server itself and this seems to work. Only via Citrix is it giving me grief. As I asked before, do I need to include the license file in the packaged application? Would it not being able to find a license file within the session stop it returning any connection?

This older document seems to indicate each user needs to see a license file.

http://public.dhe.ibm.com/software/dw/d ... citrix.pdf

Thanks

Matt
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