create a testing environment 1

[jamor1999]

Hi everyone,

I'm in a tough spot. I have several users complaining about a known issue w/ Metaframe FR3. They say printing is slow and I have found that all spool settings on auto client created printers are set to "print after last doc is spooled." After changing this setting manually, printing is a breeze.

From researching the citrix knowledge base, it appears that FR3 will resolve this issue. Since I do not have a testing environment, I need some help in making the call: Should I install FR3 on my production server(s).

My only idea:
Install FR3 on my only development server (that server will be formatted and I will build it in the image of my production servers). Then, simply poke around and try to figure out whether things are working properly.

Obviously, this is a very limited testing environment (if you could even call it that).

Any one have any creative approaches or recommendations?

 

[Ogi]

I asked this question a while ago, but can't find my post!!

However, if you want to do this, I suggest checking all the Citrix hotfixes and ensure that either you download them all and check what they fix or hopefully, someone here will recommend the ones they have added post FR3.

I would recommend updating your Data Store server first and then all your application servers, maybe even make an image of all your servers before starting!

Let us know what you decide and what happens, I need to do the same where I am!!

Cheers,
Carl.

 

[DDILL]

This information is a month or so old but I had this sitting around:

Hotfix XE103W2K006:
1-When trying to map a printer driver in the Citrix Management Console where the driver name contained double-byte characters caused the operation to fail and the driver was not mapped correctly.
2.When a new printer or printer driver was installed on a MetaFrame server, a substantial amount of traffic (in the order of 8 to 10MB per second) occurred between the IMA Service and the data store the IMA Service was using
Hotfix XE103W2K007:
The server occasionally experienced a fatal system error with one of the following bugcheck codes:
0xD1 in Termdd.sys
0xD1 in Tcpip.sys
0x1E in ntos kernel
Hotfix XE103W2K016:
1. On a MetaFrame server, Windows Explorer could not access a computer on the network whose name began with client.
2. When using an application to write to the floppy drive from within a session, the server experienced a fatal system error.
3. Servers were trapping with error code 50 in Cdm.sys. Bugcheck was 50
Hotfix XE103W2K025:
The IMA Service failed to start because of license group corruption in the data store.

 

[jamor1999]

it seems to me that upgrading to fr3 may not be worth the risk simply for speeding up printing that only a small number of people complained about. What do you guys think??

 

[Ogi]

Why don't you start looking in the registry to see what alterations are made to set the printing up, then write those keys to .reg files and import them for those users!

Is that any help?
Cheers,
Carl.

 

[jamor1999]

sounds involved, but sounds like an idea. Also I was thinking about Wscript or vbscript.

How important do you guys think it is to stay current on the feature releases? How do you decide whether it's worth upgrading? I'm still at FR1. Am I far behind? When would you suggest I start really considering upgrading??

I think I'm gonna start a new post with this last question. I'd really like to know how other Citrix admins handle this dilema.

and thanks for the great ideas!

 

[Ogi]

Hi,

I'm running Citrix SP1 without FR being installed.

I am looking at updating to SP3/FR3 but have to get it approved first! I have tested it on a test server but not to any extent!

I struggle for a test area, and time!

I would normally wait 3-6 months after a SP or SP/FR becomes available unless I build a brand new farm and then would be tempted to go for the latest, unless I knew of anything really bad, then would hang back!

Cheers,
Carl.