License Server Question

[khalidaaa]

Hi Guros,

I'm new to the Citrix area and i've been reading in the Citrix manuals. I'm trying to install Citrix presentation server and i read that the first step in building a farm is to install the license server.

I'm doing this on virtual Machines as a test environment. We already have a production farm running. The question is can i use the license files that are on my production server for my test? or how would i implement this then? from where i can get licenses for my test virtual machines?

It would help me much as well if you can think of a good farm structure for a new guy like me to be able to test fully Citrix features.

Any help is appreciated.

Regards,
Khalid

 

[enigma99]

khalidaaa,
You can reallocate some of the production farm licenses to the test farm servers by going to mycitrix.com and pulling back your licenses.

Once you pulled back your licenses, you can create multiple license files (1 for your test and 1 for your production farm) and download them to the appropriate server.

Should be pretty simple.

Hope that helps.

 

[khalidaaa]

But i will be running this test for a small period of time (just for myself to know that i can do it!) so i don't want to change any production licensing (My senior won't allow it!)

Do you think that there are something else i can use? like a license that will expire within a small amount of time for free!

Thanks for your comment enigma99

Regards,
Khalid

 

[blister911]

I could be wrong, but I think there is like around a 30 day grace period where Citrix will run without licenses. Can someone confirm this for me?

 

[khalidaaa]

Thanks blister911 for the comment

while i was reading thru the license manual i spot the number 96 days but i don't remember what was that refering to!

Regards,
Khalid

 

[khalidaaa]

I just read this but i couldn't get what's the relation between the RDP and the Citrix license! Am i confusing myself even more!?!

It is mentioned in the admin guide, but still a lot of people get surprised by it; until Citrix XP you could setup a so called mixed server for smaller environments to save some money. Internal people would use RDP sessions, and external people could use a Citrix session.

http://www.msterminalservices.org/articles/Terminal-Serve-Citrix-Licensing-Models.html

Regards,
Khalid

 

[khalidaaa]

I did install the License Server + Metaframe presentation server 3.0 + web interface on the same machine which will be the first citrix server in the farm.

But here is the message i got:

"There are no licenses installed for the use of this Metaframe Presentation Server"

Any idea how can i run away with this? will this give me a grase period or so? can i continue with this error message by deploying applications (though i don't know how yet!)?

Any thoughts?

Regards,
Khalid

 

[DrGryphon]

You can certainly technically point your test environment to your production citrix license server.

As long as you consider that you'll be reducing your available connection licenses in production while testing you should be fine.

I have nine Citrix PS4 farms using one license server.

----------------------------------
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http://www.consultingone.com.au

 

[khalidaaa]

Thanks DrGryphon for your comment.

I can't do that because under my virtual machines, I created an active directory and a DNS which is pointed to by my Citrix server and they are local to my machine coz i don't want to interfere with our Company Active directory structure!

Regards,
Khalid

 

[zeland]

Ever since the introduction of the license server component from MPS 3.0, any number of farms can point to it. A license server is not bound by any AD structure or restrictions.

@blister911 & khalidaaa
All your servers and clients must have initial contact with a license server. The 96 days grace is for you to reestablish communications with a license server.

@khalidaaa
There is no connection between RDP and Citrix licensing - directly. The cost of a Citrix connection licese was about 4x the cost of a TS CAL. RDP v4 protocol was lousy over a WAN link but was almost on par with the ICA protocol on a LAN. So, people on a budget would use RDP in their LAN to bypass Citrix and save on a Citrix connection license.

--== Anything can go wrong. It's just a matter of how far wrong it will go till people think its right. ==--

 

[khalidaaa]

Thanks zeland for the nice tip

I can see that this is the only way then! As i'm not allowed to do that then i'm stuck over here! I'm not allowed to attach any of my tests to the production coz i'm still trainee and they worry that i screw up the production setup!

But thanks all for your comments. At least now i know better.

Regards,
Khalid