XenApp 4.0 to 4.5 Upgrade

I believe you should do:

1. Upgrade License server to 11.5
2. Upgrade Web Interface server to 4.6
3. Upgrade ZDC and backup ZDC to XenApp 4.5
4. Upgrade Primary Farm Metric Server to XenApp 4.5
5. Upgrade Backup Farm Metric Server to XenApp 4.5
6. Upgrade the remainder of the member servers to XenApp 4.5

Are you using Citrix Secure Gateway 3.0?  If so, that needs to be upgraded to 3.1.

Follow CTX118567 to allow Web Interface 4.6 to use the version 11 web client.

Will you also be doing the HRP03 update and Mgmt Console updates on each server as you go?

OK, I was incorrect.  The order should be:

1.  Update your Windows clients to 10.1 or 11.0

2.  Upgrade license server to 11.5

3.  Install new licenses

4.  Upgrade data store if using MSDE

5.  Install XenApp 5 (AKA 4.5FR1), reboot, install HRP03 on Primary Farm Metric Server

6.  Install XenApp 5 (AKA 4.5FR1), reboot, install HRP03 on Backup Farm Metric Server

7.  Install XenApp 5 (AKA 4.5FR1), reboot, install HRP03 on Zone Data Collectors

8.  Install XenApp 5 (AKA 4.5FR1), reboot, install HRP03 on remaining member server

9.  Install mgmt console updates

10.  Install Web Interface 4.6

Ty for the comments so far.

we are using sql 2005 for our data store.

I will run the upgrade, then do HRP03 + updates.

Can you guys suggestion any backout plans in case something goes wrong?

I have upgraded many farms from 4.0 to 4.5FR1/5 and haven't had a bad experience yet.

Unles you image your servers, I can't think of a backout plan.  Once you upgrade to License version 11.0, you would have to uninstall, delete all files, folders and registry keys to reinstall License 4.5.  Then what do you do with the servers and users who have grabbed the new version of licenses?  Are you going to disable all logins to the farm until the entire upgrade process is complete?

For the XenApp servers, you would need to have a backup of you data store to restore.

For the Web Interface export each site to get its webinterface.conf file.

I would also use http://www.thomaskoetzing.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=135&Itemid=207 to get a backup of all your published apps.

A backout plan for in-place upgrades is hard to come up with.  That is why Citrix recommends migrations instead: put in new servers and remove old servers.

What do you do if the last server upgraded has issues?  Do you backout every server and revert to pre-upgrade status?

I know, more questions than answers but a backout plan for in-place upgrades is not easy to come up with for a large farm.

The upgrade be will for roughly 200 servers.

Windows 2003 SP2, PS 4, HRP05 to XenApp 4.5 FP1 HRP03

Based on time constraints, I had to select an in place upgrade.

How much more time would a simple migration take?

Close to double.

You would need to add a new 4.5FR1 server, install your apps, add it to the published apps, verify it works, remove a 4.0 server.

Rinse, lather, repeat 199 more times.  You would only need 1 additional server or VM.  Then when you remove the 4.0 server it can be wiped and reloaded with 4.5FR1 as new server #2.  Rinse, lather, repeat.

To remove a 4.0 server you simply uninstall all the 4.0 software and it gets cleanly removed from the data store, data collectors, etc.  Then reboot and install with 4.5FR1.

This is the slowest but safest way to go.  There is nothing to go wrong because you aren't touching the original 4.0 software with an upgrade to 4.5FR1.

Then you have a simple backout plan: undo the last action.  No restore of the data store, no messed up data collectors, no messed up published apps, etc.

Web Interface 4.6 works just fine with 4.0 as long as you install the update to the mgmt consoles.

To quote from the License upgrading guide:

"The license server is backwards compatibleyou can use products from earlier versions with the newest license server.  "

You can upgrade to License 11.5 and use your 4.0 licenses.

Do you know if this is also true for Web Interface 4.6?  This way I can upgrade these two components, then slowly process the upgrade of the remainder.

Would you create a new farm and migrate the applications?  Or risk 4.0 + 4.5  in a mixed mode?

Thanks for all your help and comments.

One quick comment.

We are using 9.239 for PNAgent and have requirements to keep this version for now.  Can we keep this version if we are not using Application Streaming?