[THIN] Re: Program Neighborhood Agent

  • From: Greg Reese <gareese@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Wed, 13 Apr 2005 07:50:09 +1200

take a tlook at the KB Gunnar.  It may help:

http://knowledgebase.citrix.com/kb/entry!default.jspa?categoryID=118&entryID=1915&fromSearchPage=true

Greg

 CTX159159 - Troubleshooting and Explaining Session Sharing

This document was published at:
http://knowledgebase.citrix.com/kb/entry.jspa?externalID=CTX159159

Document ID: CTX159159, Created on: May 24, 2002, Updated: Jan 26, 2005

Products: Citrix MetaFrame XP 1.0 for Microsoft Windows 2000, Citrix
MetaFrame XP 1.0 for Microsoft NT 4.0 Server Terminal Server Edition,
Citrix MetaFrame 1.8 for Microsoft NT 4.0 Server Terminal Server
Edition, Citrix MetaFrame 1.8 for Microsoft Windows 2000, Citrix
MetaFrame XP 1.0 for Microsoft Windows 2003, Citrix MetaFrame
Presentation Server 3.0 for Microsoft Windows 2000, Citrix MetaFrame
Presentation Server 3.0 for Microsoft Windows 2003
 

This article explains session sharing and discusses some common scenarios.

Session sharing is the ability of a seamless published application to
be executed over the same connection.

Session sharing occurs if there is an open session and another
application is launched and is published to the same server as the
first session. Consequently, additional published applications work in
the same fashion. Session sharing for managed applications is enabled
by default in MetaFrame 1.8 Service Pack 1 and MetaFrame XP for
Windows Terminal Server 4.0 and MetaFrame 1.8 and MetaFrame XP for
Windows 2000.

Note: The session sharing check is done prior to the connection going
through load balancing.

Ensure all applications are published with the same settings. Varying
results may happen when applications are set for different
requirements, such as encryption.

Citrix currently does not support session sharing on the WinCE or
PocketPC client with or without the PN Agent.

Example of Session Sharing

Suppose you publish, separately, each application (Word, Outlook,
Access, and Excel) in the Office Suite to a load balanced server farm
with five servers. Thus, you have a published application for
WinWord.exe, Outlook.exe, Access.exe, and Excel.exe. You now log on to
WinWord, potentially accessing any server in the farm (we will use
Server 3 for our example) and now need to import an Excel spread
sheet. You launch the published application for Excel. According to
the rules of session sharing, if the first application is launched as
a seamless application and if Excel is also published on Server 3,
Excel runs as another program within the same session, as opposed to a
new session being launched on this server or another server. From
Citrix Server Administration, you can see that there is only one
session and one license in use.

Support for this Feature

Session sharing is a feature of the Program Neighborhood Client. It
occurs when you run an application as a seamless application. It will
not function from a "separate window" or if launched through an ICA
file with Wfica32.exe. Running Wfcrun32.exe can also be used for
session sharing.

Disabling Session Sharing

In some instances, you may want to disable session sharing. One
example might be for security reasons and another common one is for
using Packeteer's Packet Shaping products with ICA.

To disable session sharing, the following registry key must be present
along with the following updates:

WARNING: Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems
that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Citrix cannot
guarantee that problems resulting from the incorrect use of Registry
Editor can be solved. Use Registry Editor at your own risk. If you are
running Windows NT, be sure to update your Emergency Repair Disk
(ERD).

Add the following value to disable this feature (this value does not
exist by default):

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Citrix\Wfshell\TWI\:
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: SeamlessFlags = 1

To re-enable the feature, delete this key.

You can download one of the following hotfixes or service packs to
resolve this issue:

MetaFrame 1.8 Service Pack 3 for TSE - ME183T036 or later
MetaFrame 1.8 Service Pack 3 for Windows 2000 - ME183W041 or later
MetaFrame XP for TSE - MetaFrame XP Service Pack 2 for TSE or later
MetaFrame XP Feature Release 2 - XE102W029 or later

Reconnecting to a Disconnected Session with a New Application

With MetaFrame XP Feature Release 1, the same client name launches the
new application in the original applications disconnected session.

The feature works as follows:

1. When a new seamless application is launched and there are
disconnected sessions for this client, the browser checks whether or
not any of those sessions are on a host that also publishes the new
application and directs the client to that host.

2. Wsxica.dll on the host causes a reconnect to a suitable session.

3. The seamless module, Seamls20.dll, launches the application in the
reconnected session.

4. The feature, by default, is ON and can be disabled, on each server,
by adding a value to the following registry key:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Citrix

Type:REG_DWORD
Type: ReconnectWithNewApplication = 0

This value is ON by default in MetaFrame XP with Feature Release 3.

Session Sharing and Novell NDS

The following is an excerpt from the Advanced Concepts Guide for
MetaFrame XP Feature Release 2:

Session sharing works correctly with NDS users only if the application
permissions are assigned at a user or container level. Session sharing
does not work if assigned at the group level.

The session sharing feature is not currently supported for custom ICA
connections that are configured with NDS user credentials (under
Properties > Login Information). To use the session sharing feature
for custom ICA connections, do not specify user credentials for a
connection on the connections Login Information tab.

Custom ICA Connections

When users run the Add New ICA Connection wizard, they must enter a
distinguished name in the User Name field and a password in the
Password field, and place the NDS tree name in the Domain field. Users
running earlier versions of ICA Win32 Clients can also enter
credentials in this manner.

NDS Issue

When using Version 6.3x or the Version 7.0 Program Neighborhood Client
in a pass-through session from a MetaFrame XP Feature Release
2/Service Pack 2 or greater server to connect to NDS published
applications on the same or a different Feature Release 2 or greater
server, the following behavior sometimes occurs:

The first published application that is connected to from the Program
Neighborhood Client through the pass-through session may not be
session shared with the initial connection to the pass-through
session.

Each subsequent connection to an NDS published application is session
shared with the first connection to an NDS published application.

This problem does not occur when connecting to applications that are
published to Windows NT users.

NDS Resolution

Apply Version 8.x Program Neighborhood Client for this issue.

Attempts to Share Sessions may Consume
more than one Connection

      1. Multiple sessions can be opened if multiple configured
seamless Window applications are started in rapid succession and the
MetaFrame server has custom logon scripts that take longer than 20
seconds to complete. To extend this time-out value, enter the
following information in the Appsrv.ini file under the [WFClient]
section:

    SucConnTimeout = xx

where xx is the time in seconds. Alternatively, you can apply Service
Pack 3 for MetaFrame 1.8.

      2. When using the pass-through client Version 985 from a
MetaFrame server in a workgroup, to connect to one or more seamlessly
published applications and connect to the first published application,
two connections are registered on the server. Use the server's
Computer Name instead of the workgroup name in the Domain field of the
Program Neighborhood Application Set Logon box.

      3. The Prompt for Password check box or default Windows NT
authentication is configured on the ICA listener.

      4. Applications are published with different settings; custom
ICA connections have different settings.

      Example: Two seamless defined custom ICA connections from the PN
client with the identical settings share a session share. After
changing the property of one of them to a different color depth, one
connection 16 and the other connection 256, they no longer share a
session.

      5. Ensure the template.ica file contains
SessionsharingKey=[NFuse_SessionSharingKey]

      6. The 6.30.1050 and 6.30.1051 clients may not behave correctly,
with respect to session-sharing, in a pass-through mode. Apply the 8.x
Citrix ICA Win32 Client.

      7. See "Known Issues" Section

Session Sharing as of MetaFrame XP Feature Release 2

There are some misconceptions that have to do with the way the Citrix
Management Console displays shared sessions. For example, a user
running two session-shared applications shows two entries in the
console but the sessions have the same number; that is, ica-tcp#1.

Using the Win32 Client 986 or later, connecting from a workstation to
two or more seamlessly published applications on the same server show
as being session-shared. This happens for either custom connections or
an application set. However, if the applications are accessed
non-seamlessly, two separate connections are used and shown.

If you connect to the pass-through 986 or later client that is either
published or run from inside a desktop session, and then connect to
two or more published applications on the same server from which you
launched the pass-through client through an application set, the
sessions are shown as shared.

If the connections to the two published applications are made by
custom connections with the pass-through client, they show as two
separate connections and each subsequent connection to a published
application on the same server will be shared.

Another point to note is that when using the pass-through client and
connecting to a published application that is on the same server from
which the pass-through client was launched, the applications are
actually launched within the Windows NT session in which the
pass-through client is running. The applications do not go through
ICA.

Known Issues

Symptom

Under certain circumstances, PNAgent Versions 1050 and 1051 fail to
session share.

Example:

When launching Microsoft Word from NFuse/Web Interface and then
double-clicking a local Word document to invoke PNAgent, two
connections are listed on the server with the SAME session ID and one
instance of Word is displayed on the client device with both documents
loaded. This indicates that session sharing is working.

When doing the reverse, two instances of Word are displayed on the
client device and the server has two connections with different
session IDs. This indicates that session sharing is not working.

Resolution

Download and install/upgrade to PNAgent Version 8.0 or greater.

Symptom

Session sharing is broken when starting an application from ICA files
and then PN / PNAgent client respectively or the reverse.

Cause

The ICA client uses Browser address lists to ensure the connections
are to the same farm.

Resolution

The connections should be either use the Browser address list or not at all.

Note: PNAgent doesn't use Browser Address lists, so for Session
sharing with PN Agent connections, ICA files that are used by the user
should not have any Browser address lists entry.

For example, one can add a TCP/IP server location in Program
Neighborhood Classic Settings with the IP xx.xx.xx.xx. Then one has to
add TcpBrowserAddress= xx.xx.xx.xx in to custom ICA file under
[WFCLIENT] section of ICA file. Important thing if you use IP (not DNS
name) in Program Neighborhood you have to use this same exact IP (not
DNS name) in the ICA file.

If not using any server list and selecting auto locale (this works for
the same subnet), one would remove TcpBrowserAddress from the custom
ICA file.

The above comments are valid for HttpBrowserAddress or other protocol
Browser address(NetBiosBrowserAddress etc).

CTX826951 – HTTPBrowser Entries are Ignored in ICA Files

On Apr 13, 2005 6:40 AM, Bruce Jarrett-Norton <bjarrett@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> Make sure that all the applications have the same color depth like 16bit
> or 32bit.  If the requirement of the 2nd or later program is increased
> color depth then the user will get another session open.
> 
> Bruce Jarrett-Norton
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
> Behalf Of Joe Shonk
> Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2005 2:25 PM
> To: thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [THIN] Re: Program Neighborhood Agent
> 
> Did you check out hotfix 005?
> 
> Joe
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
> Behalf Of Berger, Gunnar
> Sent: Monday, April 11, 2005 4:55 AM
> To: ThinNet (E-mail)
> Subject: [THIN] Program Neighborhood Agent
> 
> I emailed this last week but I didn't get any replies:
> 
> I'm running Win2k with MF3.0.
> 
> End users are using the Agent and double clicking shortcuts, or files to
> open applications using content redirection.
> 
> Everything works the way it should except if a user has Excel open then
> d-clicks a Word file they log in again.  And again.  And again.  I can
> have one user using 5 licenses.  Worse yet is the time it takes for a
> user to go from one program to the next.  If they use the Web Interface
> instead of the agent it logs them in once and only once.
> 
> Ideas?
> 
> Gunnar
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stability for thin-client servers like Citrix MetaFrame or Microsoft Terminal 
Services running Windows NT, 2000 or 2003.
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