Download Citrix Presentation Server and MS SQL 2005 Configuration

Citrix Presentation Server and MS SQL 2005 Configuration
The following steps below detail the best practices for creating the Citrix Presentation
Server data store on SQL 2005.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Start SQL Server Management Studio.
Right-click Database Folders\New Database.
Enter the name of the database.
Enter the size of the initial database files to be created. To avoid database
fragmentation, it is recommended to use the following formula:
Database Size = Number of Total planned Citrix servers X 1 MB
Two hundred servers should result in the initial size of 200 MB. The Transaction log
should be at least 10 percent of this initial value. For maximum performance, it is
recommended these files not be located on the system drive, nor should they be
located together on the same drive.
5. The primary database options that should be set are as follows.
Note: This is usually the default.
a.
b.
c.
d.
Auto Close = False
Auto Create Statistic = True
Auto Shrink = False
Auto Statistics = True
6. The Recovery Option depends on your backup strategy. The default is Full, which
basically means you are responsible for backing up and purging the database’s
transaction logs.
Note: If database maintenance is not performed, the transaction log will grow until it
is out of disk space. Once this occurs, no changes can be committed to the database
until the transaction log is cleared. Full recovery mode allows for point in time
recovery and provides the highest level of safe guarding the database. To reduce
administrative over head the recovery model can be set to Simple, but this means that
you are now dependent on the last backup of the database. For more information,
refer to [url http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189275.aspx]Overview of
the Recovery Models[/url].
7. Create a user for Citrix Presentation Server. When creating a user for the IMA data
store, this user must have database owner (DBO) rights to the database. The reason
for this is that all objects are created with this ownership automatically.
Note: Failure to due so results in the database objects not being created.
8. Under the Security\Logins folder in the SQL Server Management Studio, right-click
and select New Login. SQL Server Authentication or Windows Authentication can be
used. If Windows Authentication is used, it is recommend that the account has the
PASSWORD NEVER EXPIRES setting or you will need to change the password
on every Citrix server connecting to the database when it expires. SQL Server 2005
now supports password policies on SQL Authentication accounts. It is also
recommend for the same reason to avoid setting Enforce password expiration.
SQL Performance Tuning for Citrix Presentation Server
On large Citrix server farms (100+ servers), it is recommended that the tempdb size be
increased over the default size to at least the maximum size this database has reached in
the environment. It is not uncommon to have tempdb set to 2 gigabytes to prevent
fragmentation.
Another option is to restart SQL Server more frequently to control the size. The tempdb
is rebuilt every time SQL restarts as it serves as a scratch pad area for SQL. Citrix server
doesn’t use this directly, but over time can grow. You can monitor the size by selecting
tempdb > Summary tab > Report > Disk Usage. (This requires report services to be
installed.)
For more information, see [url
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sql/2005/workingwithtempdb.mspx]Work
ing with tempdb in SQL Server 2005[/url]
Monitoring Connection to SQL 2005 Server from the Citrix Server
You can verify Presentation Server IMA Connections to the database from SQL Server
Management Studio by going to Management > Activity Monitor. Click the Filter icon
and enter Citrix IMA for Application.
Verifying SQL 2005 Connections from Citrix Presentation Server Side
To verify the Citrix server has an active connection to the data store , run qfarm from the
command line with no parameters. If connected to the database, the output should list all
the servers in the farm.
If the database is down, nothing is displayed.
You can also use Performance Monitor to track database connectivity in Resource
Manager or Performance Monitor.
Object - Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server
Counter - Data Store Connection Failure
Database Maintenance Plan Step-by-Step Setup
A database maintenance plan allows you to automate database administrative tasks. In
SQL 2005, unlike SQL 2000, a maintenance plan can only have one schedule associated
with it.
1. Before creating a Database maintenance plan, verify SQL Agent is running.
2. In SQL Server Management Studio\Management\Maintenance Plans, right-click and
select Maintenance Plan Wizard.
3. Enter the connection information.
The following tasks are an example of what can be automated.
4. A schedule needs to be defined in order to automatically run the tasks.
5. Once completed, the different tasks can be viewed graphically under the Maintenance
Plans folder.
Backup / Restoring the Data Store
Backup
To do a full backup of the database,complete the following actions in SQL Server
Management Studio.
1. Select the database and right click.
2. Select Tasks\Backup.
3. Click OK to use the default setting. Backups can be performed while the database is
online.
Restoring over the original database
You cannot restore the database when there are open connections. You must kill all open
connections before restoring the database.
1. Connect with SQL Server Management Studio, open a new query.
2. Pause SQL Server to prevent new connections.
3. Use the following script to kill all IMA connections: CTX106684 –
[entryID]CTX106684[/entryID]
4. Unpause SQL Server.
Restoring database to a different database or SQL server
1. Select Overwrite the existing database on the Options page to prevent the following
error message:
Restore failed for Server xx.x.x.xxx (Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo)
Additional information:
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlError: The backup set holds a backup of a database other
than the existing database. (Microsoft.SqlServer.Smo)
2. Verify the Restore path is pointing to a valid location on the target server.
Schema Ownership
Schema ownership is a new feature in SQL 2005 that can help in the administration of
searching for database objects.
SQL 2000 objects are searched by user.object then dbo.object, while SQL 2005 searches
by userschema.object then dbo.object. The difference is SQL objects need to be explicitly
created with dbo or a member of the sysdmin group. For SQL 2005, the default schema is
dbo if left undefined.
A good example is Resource Manager. The connection account could be different on the
Data Connection Server versus the account that runs the report center. Under SQL 2000
this could pose a problem if the objects were not owned by dbo. This is no longer an
issue in SQL 2005.
Known Issues
CTX110534 - [entryID]CTX110534[/entryID]
[url http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926613/en-us]Transactional Replication Issue
(Resolved in SQL 2005 SP2)[/url]
Additional Resources
CTX107708 – [entryID]CTX107708[/entryID]
CTX106684 – [entryID]CTX106684[/entryID]
[url
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/technetmag/issues/2005/05/DataSecurity/default.aspx]
Improved Data Security in SQL 2005[/url]