bruce_77
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Citrix roaming profiles questions
Hello
I would like to enable roaming profiles for my users. We have about 10 Citrix 4.5 Servers in our farm.
I have a couple of questions I was hoping someone could help me with;
a) Am I correct in thinking that roaming profiles (RP's) are enabled by entering the profile storage location within their AD properties for profile path?
b) Will this mean that they won't have a local profile on the server they log onto? There's no need to delete any local profiles they also create?
c) Can I lock down how big their roaming profile can be?
d) Can I restrict what sort of files they can save in their roaming profile?
e) Will they pick up this profile wherever they log on from (as long as they are using AD, even in a multi-domain forest)?
Thanks!
I would like to enable roaming profiles for my users. We have about 10 Citrix 4.5 Servers in our farm.
I have a couple of questions I was hoping someone could help me with;
a) Am I correct in thinking that roaming profiles (RP's) are enabled by entering the profile storage location within their AD properties for profile path?
b) Will this mean that they won't have a local profile on the server they log onto? There's no need to delete any local profiles they also create?
c) Can I lock down how big their roaming profile can be?
d) Can I restrict what sort of files they can save in their roaming profile?
e) Will they pick up this profile wherever they log on from (as long as they are using AD, even in a multi-domain forest)?
Thanks!
A - yes
B - No more local profiles for Citrix logins. Just make sure you set the Terminal Services Profile Path, not the regular Profile Path. Proile Path is used for roaming profiles with workstations (XP/2k)
C - possibly with disk quotas, but I wouldn't recommend this.. Just keep an eye on them and use GPO's to redirect my documents (and anythign else you want moved) to their home directory
D - not that I'm aware of, but that doesn't mean there's not some third party app that can do this
E - see answer B
HTH,
exx
B - No more local profiles for Citrix logins. Just make sure you set the Terminal Services Profile Path, not the regular Profile Path. Proile Path is used for roaming profiles with workstations (XP/2k)
C - possibly with disk quotas, but I wouldn't recommend this.. Just keep an eye on them and use GPO's to redirect my documents (and anythign else you want moved) to their home directory
D - not that I'm aware of, but that doesn't mean there's not some third party app that can do this
E - see answer B
HTH,
exx
B - actually there will always be a local profile. there is no way to avoid this. When a user logs into a server the roaming profile is copied down to the local citrix server and will appear under C:\Documents and Settings\username.
so yes, you would want to set the policy to delete this local profile when the user logs out unless you think disk space on the citrix server won't be an issue (depens on how many different users log into citrix).
so yes, you would want to set the policy to delete this local profile when the user logs out unless you think disk space on the citrix server won't be an issue (depens on how many different users log into citrix).
a) GPO is easier. See the previous link.
b) The GPO can/should also specify that local profiles are deleted when the user logs off. So it is copied down when they log in, then deleted when they log off.
c) If you put a quota on the size you may cause problems, but instead you can redirect portions of the profile to other spots. One thing I do is have a script run at logon which moves anything they put on their desktop over to their home directory in a folder called "from citrix desktop". This helps keep their roaming profile small which helps minimize logon time.
d) I would go with moving certain file types instead (via script at logon or log off).
e) I think all the accounts loging into this should be in the same domain, but perhaps trusted domains would work if you've used universal groups.
b) The GPO can/should also specify that local profiles are deleted when the user logs off. So it is copied down when they log in, then deleted when they log off.
c) If you put a quota on the size you may cause problems, but instead you can redirect portions of the profile to other spots. One thing I do is have a script run at logon which moves anything they put on their desktop over to their home directory in a folder called "from citrix desktop". This helps keep their roaming profile small which helps minimize logon time.
d) I would go with moving certain file types instead (via script at logon or log off).
e) I think all the accounts loging into this should be in the same domain, but perhaps trusted domains would work if you've used universal groups.
mgcIT - I think we've muddied the waters here..
OP - the expanded answer for B is that the "local" profiles that they used to have (ie, each different for each server that they logged onto) will cease to exist, HOWEVER, there will be LOCALLY STORED COPIES of the roaming profile. The effect of this is to standardize the user experience across multiple physical servers, not to reduce disk space utilization.
Also, make sure you install UPHClean on your Citrix servers, you'll need it. And I'd also schedule DelProf, too..
And for E, the users that you've configured with a roaming profile will continue to use that roaming profile, no matter what domain the machine is a member of, as long as they can authenticate to their domain, and they have connectivity and can resolve the name of the fileserver/share that hosts their profile.
OP - the expanded answer for B is that the "local" profiles that they used to have (ie, each different for each server that they logged onto) will cease to exist, HOWEVER, there will be LOCALLY STORED COPIES of the roaming profile. The effect of this is to standardize the user experience across multiple physical servers, not to reduce disk space utilization.
Also, make sure you install UPHClean on your Citrix servers, you'll need it. And I'd also schedule DelProf, too..
And for E, the users that you've configured with a roaming profile will continue to use that roaming profile, no matter what domain the machine is a member of, as long as they can authenticate to their domain, and they have connectivity and can resolve the name of the fileserver/share that hosts their profile.
ASKER
Thanks guys!
To be honest, I'm still a little confused by B.
Ok, let's say I enable roaming profiles via GPO/the AD setting...I then build a new Citrix server. No users have previously logged onto this, so there aren't any existing profiles.
If a user launches an ICA session to this server, will their profile be created on
a) The path specified in the GPO/ AD setting for term svs profile
b) The path above *and* the new Citrix server?
To be honest, I'm still a little confused by B.
Ok, let's say I enable roaming profiles via GPO/the AD setting...I then build a new Citrix server. No users have previously logged onto this, so there aren't any existing profiles.
If a user launches an ICA session to this server, will their profile be created on
a) The path specified in the GPO/ AD setting for term svs profile
b) The path above *and* the new Citrix server?
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And you can specify in the GPO to add the admin group to the local profile when it is created. A couple other tips:
1) Be sure you disable "Offline Files" on the share where you store these roaming profiles (helps prevent profile corruption).
2) Heres a good read on configuring folder re-direction:
http://www.msterminalservices.org/articles/Configure-Folder-Redirection.html?printversion
1) Be sure you disable "Offline Files" on the share where you store these roaming profiles (helps prevent profile corruption).
2) Heres a good read on configuring folder re-direction:
http://www.msterminalservices.org/articles/Configure-Folder-Redirection.html?printversion
ASKER
Thanks, just one final question..
Just one final question...what is the easiest way to implement this? Our Citrix servers are in an OU already, is it best to just create a GPO that specifies roaming profiles? I assume that the copy that is held on the server can be deleted by setting a GPO object too?
Just one final question...what is the easiest way to implement this? Our Citrix servers are in an OU already, is it best to just create a GPO that specifies roaming profiles? I assume that the copy that is held on the server can be deleted by setting a GPO object too?
Yes -- you'd want 2 GPO's probably (1 for user settings and 1 for computer settings). You'd apply both GPO's to the OU that contains the Citrix Servers. Will send you a link to a detailed article on this.
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https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/23882659/Correct-Terminal-Services-roaming-profiles-configuration.html?cid=234