Citrix PVS Reverse Imaging on Target Device from a Virtual Disk to a Local Hard Disk

Citrix PVS Reverse Imaging

We do reverse imaging when you want to update vDisk, VMTool, OS or drivers. To update Citrix target devices it is not mandatory to do reverse Image but you can do it’s up to you.

How to do Reverse Image

Login to PVS server

Select the vDisk which vDisk you want to do reverse image

Change vDisk Access mode from Standard to Private

Assign vDisk to master target device

Change boot mode from vDisk to Hard Disk

Now go to XenCenter

Select master device

Add new HDD more than actually vDisk size (In my case current size of vDisk is 24GB we can assign new disk of 25 GB)

Select Storage click Add

Assign new disk size and name

Now go to Master disk image properties

Select Boot Option

Change boot order

Select boot from Network

Now power on the master device, this time it will boot from local disk not from vDisk.

Once OS will load go to Disk management

Newly added disk you shall see like below, don’t format the disk at this moment

Go to C drive \Program file\Citrix\Provisioning Services

Select P2PVS and run it

Select from Citrix Provisioning vDisk

To this machine

Click next

Format the disk

Click Convert

Wait for to complete the vDisk conversion

Now the vDisk conversion has done

Now boot the machine and do the changes that you want to do at OS level, i.e Windows update, VMtool update or driver install.

Once changes done at OS level again you need to

Now login to PVS server or where you have installed Provisioning Service Imaging Wizard and launch it

Enter the PVS site address

Select Create vDisk

Enter Target device Name, it should be different then existing one.

Enter vDisk Name and select vDisk type

Select Image entire boot disk

Click Edit optimize and do the changes that you want

Change the configuration as per your requirement-> Click Ok

Click Create

Now vDisk creation is completed.

Now change the master target device boot mode.

Set it to boot from Network

Boot the server

Now vDisk creation and copy completed

Now shutdown the Master target machine

Go to PVS server

And open Provisioning service console

Click vDisk pool. Now you will see newly created vDisk

Now right click on newly created vDisk -> Go to Properties

Change from Access mode from Private to Standard mode.

Now Power on the target device and this time it will boot from network.

Now go to PVS Provisioning console

Go to vDisk pool -> Right click on newly created or locked vDisk

Select vDisk usage to see which target device is using vDisk

Now all done Thank you!

Citrix Provisioning : How to update a vDisk Using Versioning Method

AD Server: - 192.168.1.16 srv16.ads.com

DHCP & DNS Server: - 192.168.1.16 srv16.ads.com

SQL Server: - 192.168.1.12 srv16.database.ads.com

PVS Server: - 192.168.1.36 CTRXXENDA.ads.com

XenCenter: - 192.168.1.31 CITXENSRV.ads.com

Master Target machine: - WIN2K16

Test Machine: - VDI-05

Updating vDisks

It is often necessary to update an existing vDisk so that the image contains the most current software and patches. Each time the vDisk is to be updated, a new version of that vDisk is created (VHD file) to capture the changes without changing the base vDisk image. Updating a vDisk involves the following: l Create a new version of the vDisk, manually or automatically. l Boot the newly created version from a device (Maintenance device or Update device), make and save any changes to the vDisk, then shut-down the device. l Promote the new version to Production.

The following illustrates the general promotion of a vDisk update:

The availability of the updated version depends on the current promotion of that version (Maintenance, Test, or Production), and the type of device attempting to access it (Maintenance Device, Update Device, Test Device, or Production Device).

Update Scenarios

The following vDisk update scenarios are supported:

1 Manual Update – An administrator may choose to update a vDisk manually by creating a new version of that vDisk, and then using a Maintenance device to capture updates to that version. Manual updates are initiated by selecting the New button on the vDisk Versions dialog. The Access column on the vDisk Versioning dialog displays that the newly created version is currently under maintenance. While under maintenance, this version can only be accessed and updated by a single Maintenance device. Multiple Maintenance devices can be assigned to a vDisk. However, only one device can boot and access that version of the vDisk at any given time. During that time that Maintenance device will have exclusive read/write access. For details, refer to Manually Updating a vDisk Image.

2 Automated Update – Creating automated updates saves administration time and physical resources. Updates are initiated on-demand or from a schedule and are configured using vDisk Update Management. If updating automatically, the Access column on the vDisk Versioning dialog displays that the newly created version is currently under maintenance. While under maintenance, this version can only be accessed and updated by the one Update device to which it is assigned.

Note: vDisk Update Management is intended for use with Standard Image Mode vDisks only. Private Image Mode vDisks can be updated using normal software distribution tool procedures. Attempting to register a Private Image Mode vDisk for vDisk Update Management, or switching a vdisk that is already registered, will cause errors to occur.

1 Merge – Merging VHD differencing disk files can save disk space and increase performance, depending on the merge option selected. A merge update is initiated manually by selecting the Merge button on the vDisk Versions dialog, or automatically when the maximum vDisk versions count is reached.

Click vDisk Pool -> Select vDisk and Right click and select Versions

Click New

Once you will create new version access will change to Maintenance -> Click done

Click to Device Collections -> Select collection Name

Select master server -> Right click -> Properties

Click vDisks to check whether vDisk is attached or not, Incase not attached just attached clicking on Add button.

If already vDisk attached -> Click General

Drop down from type and select Maintenance -> Ok

Now Login to XenCenter -> Click on master target server and power it ON.

Select 1 to boot using maintenance vDisk

System is still booting.

Once OS will load I shall install WinSCP and update to the existing machine using promote version method.

WinSCP has been installed on the master server.

Shutdown the master server and go to PVS server and click on vDisk Pool -> Right click on vDisk and click version

Select vDisk version that is newly created and click Promote

Select Test -> OK

Now it has successfully promoted to Test

Go to device collection from vDisk and click collection -> select VM where you want to test new vDISK.

Right click VM go to properties -> from General tab drop down and select Test and click OK

Go to XenCenter and power on the machine where you want to test vDisk VDI-05 and power on

Click 1 to boot machine with test vDisk

VM is booting WIN16.2.avhd

Now next we need to promote versioning from test to production

Go to PVS -> click on Disk pool -> Select vDisk and right click -> Select versions

Select version that you want to promote from Test to production

Now vDisk access has changed to Production

Now login to PVS server -> Select Device Collection -> Select Collection

Right click to test VDI-05 -> Properties -> Select General Drop down from Type and select Production

Okay -> Now power on the test machine VDI-05

Thank you now all done for vDISK update using versioning!

Custom Management Pack Create in SCOM 2019

How to create Custom Management Pack

Open SCOM Operation console

Click Authoring

Select Monitors

Search for Target or select from list

Here I am selecting Service Running State -> Double click on the service

Click on General Button to check the status, Currently Monitor is enabled

Click Overrides -> select for all objects of class: Activated APM Agent

Check marked on Enabled Parameter and change Override value from True to False

Don’t select any existing Management pack from the list

Click New

Type Management pack Name

Click Next -> Create

Click Apply and Okay

That’s All!

Script to create bulk users in windows Machine

Script for create bulk user in local machine

Login to the machine where you want to create bulk user.

Open Windows PowerShell ISE

Copy below script and past it in PowerShell ISE like below

function create-account ([string]$accountName) {

$hostname = hostname

$comp = [adsi]"WinNT://$hostname"

$user = $comp.Create("User", $accountName)

$user.SetPassword("P@ssw0rd")

#$user.SetInfo()

$User.UserFlags[0] = $User.UserFlags[0] -bor 0x10000 #ADS_UF_DONT_EXPIRE_PASSWD flag is 0x10000

$user.SetInfo()}

# Create 30 administrator users named user1 ... user 30

for($i=23; $i -le 25; $i++){

create-account("TRAIN-$i")

}

Get-LocalUser -Name TRAIN* | select FullName, Enabled, UserMayChangePassword, PasswordChangeableDate, PasswordExpires | Export-Csv c:\temp\user.csv -NoTypeInformation