Citrix and FQDN's

[lotsaram]

In your "not working" screenshot what happens when you use the file>options menu in server explorer and enter the admin host? Do the tm1 servers display then? If so then you have simply forgotten to include the tm1p.ini in the package.

[MattC]

Which tm1p.ini file? When I look on the server I see two.

This location, "C:\ProgramData\Applix\TM1\tm1p.ini". Displays this

[TM1]
#AllowImportCAMClients=T
IntegratedLogin=F
AdvancedRulesEditor=F
#CognosGatewayURI= http://SERVERNAME/cognos8/cgi-bin/cognos.cgi
AdminHost=
Language=ENG
UseExcelCubeViewer=F
InProcessLocalServer=T
ConnectLocalAtStartup=F
LocalServerNetworkProtocol=tcp
UseHttpConnector=
HttpProxyServerPort=
UseHttpProxyServer=
DataBaseDirectory=D:\Program Files (x86)\Cognos\TM1\Custom\TM1Data\PData
HttpConnectorUrl=http://youraddress.com/tm1HttpProxy
HttpProxyServerHost=

This location, "C:\Users\mcollier_a\AppData\Roaming\Applix\TM1\tm1p.ini". Displays this

[TM1]
DataBaseDirectory = \\SERVERNAME.europe.ourcompany.net\tm1$\Custom\TM1Data\PData
AdminHost = SERVERNAME.europe.ourcompany.net
ConnectLocalAtStartup = F
InProcessLocalServer = F
LocalServerNetworkProtocol = tcp
BrowseDisplayReadsRightToLeft = F
DisplayControlCubes = F
DisplayExplorerPropertiesWindow = F
MainWindowLayoutInfo = 61,20,849,515,837,420
SubsetWindowLayoutInfo = 130,78,740,510,740,510
InSpreadsheetBrowser = F
Language = ENG
PreviousDataDirectories = ,D:\Program Files (x86)\Cognos\TM1\Custom\TM1Data\PData,\\SERVERNAME.europe.ourcompany.net\tm1$\Custom\TM1Data\PData
PreviousAdminHosts = ,SERVERNAME.europe.ourcompany.net
SecurityAssignmentWindowLayoutInfo = 85,125,530,430,0,0
SentMsgsToServerCountWarning = F
IntegratedLogin = F
DimensionDownloadMaxSize =
HttpConnectorUrl =
UseHttpConnector =
DisplayApplications = T
DisplayCubes = T
DisplayDimensions = T
DisplayReplications = T
DisplayProcesses = T
DisplayChores = T
ClassicSliceMode = T
HttpProxyServerHost = T
HttpProxyServerPort = T
UseHttpProxyServer = T
SliceNewWorkbook = T
ExpandRowHeaderWidth = T
ShowDynamicSubsetWarning = T
ShowDimensionAccessWarning = T
ShowCubeReplicationWarning = T
ShowHttpConnectorWarning = T
ShowDimDeleteElementWarning = T
ShowPickOperationWarning = T
ShowAliasAttributeWarning = T
ShowChoresSchedulingWarning = T
ShowProcessUNASCIIWarning = T
ShowProcessUNODBCWarning = T
ShowAdminHostChangeWarning = T
AdminSvrSSLCertAuthority = \\SERVERNAME.europe.ourcompany.net\d$\Program Files (x86)\Cognos\TM1\bin\ssl\applixca.pem
AdminSvrSSLCertRevList =
AdminSvrSSLCertID = tm1adminserver
ExportAdminSvrSSLCert = F
AdminSvrSSLExportKeyID =
AdvancedRulesEditor = F
AllowImportCAMClients = F
CognosGatewayURI =
TM1RebuildDefault = T
CognosTransformerLanXML =

Which one do I use and what is the folder path I need to put it to?

Should I include the license file as well?

[David Usherwood]

You should follow lotsa's suggestion - start the session and enter the server address in the Options box ie
SERVERNAME.europe.ourcompany.net
or the ip equivalent.
Does
that
work
?

[tomok]

When you are configuring the client in TM1 these are the available options: (you get here by choosing Explorer, File, Options)

Admin Host - this box should contain the IP address of the box that is running the Admin Host application (TM1's own DHCP type thing). It can be an IP address or a FWDN that resolves to an IP

Data Directory - this box is entirely OPTIONAL unless the client intends to either 1) run a stand-alone PRIVATE version of the TM1 server on their local server/session or 2) use XDI or XRU worksheets.

Certificate Authority - if you are using SSL then this should contain the full path and name of the key file (usually C:\Program Files (x86)\Cognos\TM1\bin\ssl\applixca.pem).

Nothing else is required. You don't need to provide a path to any of the TM1 files (cubes, dimensions, etc.) because the server uses those, not the client. I don't know how much simpler it can be. If I have helped clients implement on Citrix countless times. It always works. No special settings needed.

[MattC]

Hi

I am going to rebuild the application profile. Can someone please tell me from my previous post which tm1p.ini file I should be including. The short one or the longer one? I'll also include the license file just to be sure. And does it need to go in the Program Files (x86)\Cognos\TM1\bin folder, or anywhere else?

TomoK, thanks for the reply. I understand TM1 a little better now.

Thanks

Matt

[lotsaram]

It shouldn't matter which file you use, any missing parameters would be added automatically with default values on first use by a user. What is important is that the admin host parameter has the correct value that you need and that the file gets put in the correct place in the Citrix setup which will vary depending on how you are setting things up and the OS but normally it would go in the roaming profile of the default user. (From there a script might copt the default profile to user profile on login, especially if user profiles are deleted on logout or at end of the day.)

[MattC]

Hi

OK, I have been testing this all day and am still getting nowhere. I have mirrored my colleagues old TM1 settings and ensured the ini file has the correct admin host, I removed the data directory. Its as basic as it could be. I included it in the C:\ProgramData\Applix\TM1 folder along with the license file for the streaming profile.

I've simply installed TM1 perspectives, accepted the default location and specified a hostname when applicable.

Still not working. I don't know what else I can do here now.

This is my option window

TM1Options.png (15.72 KiB) Viewed 11841 times

I've blanked out the FQDN. If anyone has experience of application streaming with Citrix, would appreciate some assistance, because I think I've exhausted all the ways I can configure the perspectives options. I don't see how it needs to copied to a profile as it runs as a sandboxed application. My colleagues old profile didnt have any profiles included and I don't see any ini files on the Citrix profiles on the old server either. I am not convinced that I need to copy ini files to a server located profile which is never used on a streaming application.

Was really hoping this would be simple.

Thanks

Matt

[Paul Segal]

OK, one more thing to try: on the Citrix server (and not in the streaming app) can you run Excel and login to the server via Perspectives?

[MattC]

Hi

That isn't possible. The Xenapp servers have Excel, but not the TM1 add in. Its a streamed app, so its never actually installed on the servers themselves.

If I go to the TM1 server and launch it, yes it works fine. Thats the only non Citrix test I can do when troubleshooting a streamed application.

Thanks

Matt

[Paul Segal]

And I think that is the problem. There's a few people using Citrix Desktop, others using published apps (like me), but I've not come across anybody using it as a streaming app. Something in there isn't right, and I would suspect the roaming profile isn't correct, or something along those lines.

[tomok]

I'm not a Citrix expert, I don't even work in IT. However, I just Googled Citrix App Streaming and based on what I read I don't believe you want to do this with TM1. This is because the whole reason for using Citrix with TM1, or at least most of the reason is to run the app on a box that is in close proximity, LAN-wise, to the TM1 server because of the latency and bandwidth issues with Perspectives. Streaming an app just delivers the app to the client on demand so that it can run without an installation. If TM1 is running on the cient workstation then it is of very little benefit. You want TM1 running on the Citrix box and then just the screens and cicks passed back and forth between cient and server.

[MattC]

Hi

The entire infrastructure is virtualised, in a single Blade enclosure, fibre connected. Latency is not a big concern for us in this setup.

We don't use roaming profiles. The Citrix farm is utilising a mandatory profile so user changes are not persisted across sessions.

All of the configuration is contained within the streamed application, this I can confirm having compared it to a colleagues previous implementation of a streamed application using roaming profiles. The most obvious diferrence is that under the profile\%appdata% there is no Applix folder. Now, whether this is an issue, I am not sure. Within the streamed profile, the tm1p.ini and lic files are stored under C:\ProgramData\Applix\TM1. It may need them in the mandatory profile on the separate file server, I don't know. We only redirect, Desktop, Favourites and My Documents so the only place the file could exist would be in the mandatory profile. I'm now looking to see if I can import a folder structure in the mandatory profile, or if I need registry changes also.

I also double checked the NTFS security on the share for hosting the streamed application data. Authenticated Users have read/write, there is a security group for all Citrix users which has Modify access. This is more than what existed on my colleagues prior implementation, so I am assuming this is sufficient for the server to read the data it needs.

The Excel application which is published is now launching properly with the xla add in as an additional command parameter rather that being directly called on a command line and opened by Excel as a file association.

The ini file does not exist anywhere else in the streamed application profile and does have the correct AdminHost specified with the other entries blank.

The certificate path is correct and this is also included in the streamed application profile.

The TM1 server is contactable by name and IP address from the Citrix host, the client workstation and the server holding the user profiles.

We use Windows Firewall in a domain profile, so if its turned off, we lose network connectivity. The question I have here is, how does Perspectives contact the server, is it http traffic, a specific port or program name being called?

I am just about out of ideas with this now, so appreciate any assistance.

Thanks

Matt

[Paul Segal]

Matt,

I have no experience with streaming apps. I can say that a published Excel app will work, but the roaming profile will be on the Citrix server and will include the tm1p.ini file in the usual place. As Tom says, it's a little puzzling that you're attempting to stream this - why the decision to stream rather than publish? The problem is with the streaming setup somewhere, but at a guess you're the first person on this forum to try this in anger. At this stage I'd ask IBM (painful as that might be) if they have any experience of this, or know of anyone using this kind of setup, but I don't have any more advice to offer.

[dkleist]

The most obvious diferrence is that under the profile\%appdata% there is no Applix folder. Now, whether this is an issue, I am not sure.

Cannot say for sure, but I'd say, yes, this is one of the issues - programdata version is just the default used to create a user profile version for each user - perspectives would use the profile user version, not default.

the tm1p.ini and lic files are stored under C:\ProgramData\Applix\TM1.

No lic file being used will give you that same blank page. That's probably one of your problems.

We use Windows Firewall in a domain profile, so if its turned off, we lose network connectivity. How does Perspectives contact the server, is it http traffic, a specific port or program name being called?

Another issue - Windows Firewall will block all your traffic. It's ports, and those are defined on the server in two places; one in the IBM config panel (admin host ports, etc), and in tm1s.cfg for each application on the server (you'll probably have two here, one for main app, one for the client message port).

Can't offer better than that - like others, I've not seen streaming apps for this. TM1 thick clients are sensitive to latency and number of hops, especially for larger apps, so the only successes I've seen are when the client code is executing on a machine very close to the TM1 server.

[MattC]

Hi

A little progress. Manually creating the Applix folder under Roaming in the mandatory profile and copying the ini file and the lic file has resulted in a small change in behaviour.

When I launch the streaming app, it loads normally, TM1 addin launches. And the entries that are defined in the above ini file are reflected in the settings on the screen. If I make a change to the ini file and then launch it again, the changes are reflected. So, happy that this seems to confirm that the mandatory profile did need a copy of the ini file. Thanks to all who mentioned this.

Still its not showing the servers though.

The firewall rules required for a streamed application are port 445 for SMB. This is already open, if it wasn't the app wouldn't launch at all.

If we had a lic file on the old server and I copied it to the new one, would this work? Or are the license files tied to the install? Do I need the lic file from a specific location on the new server? Is there a registry entry that points to where TM1P should look for the license file?

Thanks

Matt

[lotsaram]

For end users you shouldn't need the tm1p.lic file. All this does is distinguish between "TM1 Client" (without the file) and "TM1 Perspectives" (with the file) which allows for full administrative access to dimension maintenance and security which most users wouldn't need.

If after having the Excel addin pick up the adminhost parameter from the ini file you don't see a list of available servers this indicates only one of 3 things
1/ the servers aren't running
2/ the admin host DSN address entered can't be resolved to an IP
3/ the port used for admin host communications is blocked. The default port is 5495

My bet would be number 3. You need to ensure that the admin host port, server communication port and client message ports are all open. The server comms and client comms ports are defined in the tm1s.cfg file on the TM1 application server.

I have no experience with Citrix streaming apps only with published applications but from the Citrix marketing material it is a way of "virtualizing applications on client devices" which sounds like the application is running ON THE CLIENT not in the Citrix farm. If that is the case then I seriously question why anyone would want to do this as opposed to pushing out a silent install via script. The TM1 Excel client prior to 10.2 CAFE client has a lousy client-server protocol that is very chatty and subject to vicious performance degradation if there is even a little bit of latency on the WAN. Therefore the whole reason typically for using Citrix to package the client is to run the client session in as close as possible a proximity to the application server. It would be a shame for you to go through all this hassle and get the thing working only to find there is no benefit and therefore no reason for doing it!

[MattC]

Hi

RESOLVED !!!!!!!!!
What I found and did.

Firewall logging enabled on the one Xenapp server from which this streamed application can be launched and the TM1 server.

This is what I see when opening the log file from the TM1 server

2014-02-17 05:41:06 DROP TCP xx.xx.xx.71 xx.xx.xx.43 52299 5498 52 S 1976066019 0 8192 - - - RECEIVE
2014-02-17 05:41:09 DROP TCP xx.xx.xx.71 xx.xx.xx.43 52299 5498 52 S 1976066019 0 8192 - - - RECEIVE
2014-02-17 05:41:15 DROP TCP xx.xx.xx.71 xx.xx.xx.43 52299 5498 48 S 1976066019 0 8192 - - - RECEIVE

I set an Inbound rule on the TM1 server for TCP and UDP to port 5498. Launch the streamed app and I can see the two entries. Double clicking them however did nothing. Back to the firewall log.

2014-02-17 06:08:36 DROP TCP xx.xx.xx.71 xx.xx.xx.43 52528 12346 48 S 894317800 0 8192 - - - RECEIVE
2014-02-17 06:08:52 DROP TCP xx.xx.xx.71 xx.xx.xx.43 52529 12346 52 S 3127154059 0 8192 - - - RECEIVE
2014-02-17 06:08:55 DROP TCP xx.xx.xx.71 xx.xx.xx.43 52529 12346 52 S 3127154059 0 8192 - - - RECEIVE
2014-02-17 06:09:01 DROP TCP xx.xx.xx.71 xx.xx.xx.43 52529 12346 48 S 3127154059 0 8192 - - - RECEIVE
2014-02-17 06:09:19 DROP TCP xx.xx.xx.71 xx.xx.xx.43 52530 12346 52 S 1984447344 0 8192 - - - RECEIVE
2014-02-17 06:09:22 DROP TCP xx.xx.xx.71 xx.xx.xx.43 52530 12346 52 S 1984447344 0 8192 - - - RECEIVE

The next port it is dropping is the one specified in the tm1s.cfg file. Added additional TCP and UDP rules for this port. Launch the application, loads quicker and can login and use the software.

Glad its now working. Thank you to everyone who helped with this, I appreciate its been a pain. Hopefully if someone else has to do this, they can use this post and not have the same grief I did.

Thanks

Matt