Citrix states in their article: CTX426129

CTX426129 - Load Balancing and ICA Gateways on MetaFrame 1.8 Explained

This document was published at: http://support.citrix.com/kb/entry.jspa?externalID=CTX426129

Document ID: CTX426129, Created on: Jun 2, 2000, Updated: Apr 23, 2003

Products: Citrix MetaFrame 1.8 for Microsoft Windows 2000, Citrix MetaFrame 1.8 for Microsoft NT 4.0 Server Terminal Server Edition

Use the Load Balancing Administration utility to adjust six factors that influence the calculation of the overall server load. Each factor can be given a relative importance that controls how much influence that factor has when calculating total load. There is also an overall adjustment that can be used to further raise or lower a servers load calculation.

The Load Balancing Administration Window

The Load Balancing Administration window displays a list of load balancing Citrix servers and their current load balance parameter settings.

The left pane shows the load balancing servers in the currently selected domain.

The right pane shows the load balance settings for all servers when All Load Balancing Servers is selected.

When an individual server is selected, the right pane displays tabs that you can use to adjust the load balancing parameters of the server.

Load Balancing Services Overview

Published Application Manager supports publishing an application on multiple servers if Citrix Load Balancing Services is installed on those servers.

When a published application configured for multiple servers is launched, load balancing support selects which server will run the application based on server load. The ICA Client contacts the master browser, which maintains a list of servers configured to run the published application, to find the address of a server containing the published application. The master browser selects one of the servers based on load and returns the address of that server to the ICA Client.

You can tune how load balancing support calculates server load for each server in a load balancing server farm using the Load Balancing Administration utility.

Welcome to Published Application Manager

Published Application Manager is the Citrix utility used to publish and maintain applications. Application publishing is a method of making specific applications available to ICA Client users as ICA connections. Published application ICA connections contain only the specified application in the ICA session and do not involve the ICA Client user in the mechanics of the Windows NT server environment hosting the session. You can use Published Application Manager to configure applications that can be accessed by specific Windows NT users or anonymous users. If you have installed Citrix Load Balancing Services, you can configure applications that run on the least busy server in a group of servers.

Published Application Manager includes powerful ICA session configuring abilities with its support for server farms and Program Neighborhood. You can create published applications that are automatically available to Program Neighborhood users, freeing them from client-side configuration of their ICA sessions. You can determine which applications a user sees in his or her Program Neighborhood and how those applications appear on the desktop.

To adjust basic load balancing parameters

1. Select a server to adjust in the left pane.

2. In the right pane, click the Basic tab.

3. Adjust the slider to change the relative importance of each load balance factor.

Publishing a Load Balanced Application

1. Use the standard application publishing wizard to publish a load balanced application. (From the Application menu, click New.) When you start the wizard, you are asked to select a default server for the application if you are currently viewing more than one server. Select any server in the farm or domain and proceed.

2. In the Add the Application to Citrix Servers screen of the wizard, you can specify multiple servers to run the session. If Load Balancing Services is not installed, only the current server is displayed in the Configured list and the Add button is unavailable.

3. Use the Edit Configuration button in the Add the Application to Citrix Servers screen to individually specify command lines and working directories on servers that have the application installed in a directory structure that differs from the installation on the default server.

Load Balancing a Citrix Server Desktop

Publishing an application on multiple load balanced servers without specifying a working directory or command line for the application creates a load balanced Citrix server desktop. ICA Client users can connect to this type of published application and run any applications accessible from the desktop of the Citrix server.

To publish a load balancing Citrix server desktop

1. Start the standard application publishing wizard. (From the Application menu, click New.) When you start the wizard, you are asked to select a default server for the application if you are currently viewing more than one server. Select any server in the farm or domain and proceed.

2. In the Define the Application screen, leave the Command Line and Working Directory fields blank. An unspecified command line causes WinFrame servers to run Program Manager and MetaFrame servers to run Explorer.

3. In the Add the Application to Citrix Servers screen of the wizard, you can specify multiple servers to run the session. If Load Balancing Services is not installed, only the current server is displayed in the Configured list and the Add button is unavailable.

NOTE: If you do not have Load Balancing Services, you can still publish a Citrix server desktop by publishing without a specified command line and working directory. The published desktop runs on a single Citrix server.

ICA Gateways

You must configure an ICA Gateway for ICA Clients or servers to contact Citrix servers on a different network. Server browsing is used to obtain a list of available Citrix servers, published applications, and server farms for a given network type. The server browser system consists of a master ICA browser, ICA browsers, and client systems. The master ICA browser maintains the browse list and periodically obtains updates from the other browsers (other Citrix servers) on the same network. ICA Gateways allow the master ICA browser to obtain updates from Citrix servers on other networks.

Local Server

This Citrix server stores the ICA Gateway information and is responsible for contacting the remote network and setting up a link between the master ICA browsers on each network.

Type

The type of network for the ICA Gateway. This must be a routable protocol (IPX or TCP/IP).

Remote Server Address

The TCP/IP or IPX address of a Citrix server on another network.

NOTE: The network must be configured to
route ICA browser packets between the network subnets connected by the ICA Gateway. ICA Gateways on TCP/IP networks use directed UDP datagrams to port 1604. Routers on TCP/IP networks must be configured to route UDP datagrams between network subnets. For ICA Gateways to function on IPX networks, routers must be configured to route raw IPX packets.

To add an ICA Gateway

An ICA Gateway is used to allow ICA Clients or servers to contact Citrix servers on a different network subnet.

1. Click All listed servers in the server pane of Citrix Server Administration, mfadmin.exe..

2. On the ICA Gateways tab, click Add.

3. Click a server to store the gateway information.

4. Click the type of network (TCP/IP or IPX) for this ICA Gateway.

5. Type the network address or name of a Citrix server on a different network.

The ICA Gateway is established between the two networks and the master ICA browsers on each network share information about available Citrix servers.

To manually delete an ICA gateway

In the circumstance that a MetaFrame server cannot be removed as an ICA Gateway through Citrix Server Administrator, the registry key listed below can be edited to remove the server from the gateway list.

WARNING! Using Registry Editor incorrectly can cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

1. Run regedt32, navigate to:

hklm\system\currentcontrolset\services\icabrowser\parameters

There is a value, Gateway TCP, the data inside this value are the IP addresses of the servers configured as ICA gateways.

2. Delete the IP address of the server you wish to remove as an ICA gateway.

3. Restart the icabrowser service.