MF20.dsn file is incorrect... 1

[bran2235]

Hello everyone,
I noticed that part of the info in my MF20.dsn file is not correct: The WSID info is incorrect- Does this matter (WSID info)?

[ODBC]
DRIVER=SQL Server
UID=CitrixAdmin
WSID=APXW2KMF12
APP=Citrix IMA
SERVER=APXACCTGSVR01
Description=Citrix Data Store

MANY THANKS!!
Brandon

 

[ascotta]

I think that that is the server you are loging into, that is not necesari;y the data store server. I think it is OK.

[blue]Arguably the best cat skinner around ! [/blue]

Cheers
Scott

 

[bran2235]

Yes, it is servername (Citrix)... My question is that after I cloned some of these machines, I never knew to change this "WSID" info... I am preparing to migrate my datastore and noticed that the WSID value is not correct.

Do you think it matters??

 

[edlcsre]

in a word, YES!

Hi Brandon.

In theory, your IMA service on the server shouldn't actually start up, as the WSID needs to be unique for each server in the farm. When it tries to connect to the Farm, it should find there is already a server of that name there, and fail. However, if the server of that name is not up and running, then it can connect as that server. This is a recipe for absolute disaster (worst case scenario complete farm rebuild due to datastore corruption!) and great care should be taken to ensure that each of the mf20.dsn files has the correct server name in.

I am currently in the middle of trying to resolve rogue datastore entries, where servers have had load evaluators added to them, then the servers have been renamed and the load evaluator still references the old server name...which doesn't exist so can't be removed! Not something I did, but something I've got to fix.

You really REALLY don't want to be trying to sort out datastore corruption, so I'd make sure this is changed as a matter of urgency!

Its worth making sure that whoever built the farm didn't use a base image with a specific server name entered in this file, as you could find that you image a server and, despite the fact you change its name and SID, its still claiming to be the Citrix server named in the mf20.dsn.

If you've not done so, check all of the servers within the farm and make sure they're correct.



Best of luck,

Chris

 

[bran2235]

Chris- THANK YOU!

If I change the WSID to the correct servername, Do I need to reboot, restart the IMA service, or anything??

THANK YOU!
Brandon

 

[edlcsre]

Its important that you've cloned the server in the correct manner, there are quite a few other things which have to be done apart from changing the server name and running newSID!

Modifying the MF20.dsn file is one of those changes, but there are some other registry entries you'll need to check and change before you can get this working.

Thats not to say you can't use ghost, for example, to take an image of the server, but you need to be really careful about getting these changes right, otherwise you're going to end up corrupting your datastore (trust me, i know, I've done this wrong myself and had to re-build a 10 server farm from scratch!!)

Basically, to clone a Citrix server, you need to do the following:

BEFORE you take the image!!!

Stop the IMA service on the server you're going to ghost
Change the IP address to something other than the same address as your original server!

1)edit your mf20.dsn and remove the WSID= entry, so that it can't be brought on line with the same name

2)Stop the IMA service if you've not done so already, and set it to Manual (stops it trying to start when you reboot the new image for the first time)

3)go to HKLM\software\Citrix\IMA and change the entry ServerHost to XXXXXX

4)HKLM\software\Citrix\IMA\runtime, and change the entry HostName to XXXXXXX

These hold the server name. Check the server you posted the mf20.dsn file for, and you'll almost certainly find that these keys refer to your original server.

Think there's something else to change around here, but can't remember what it is at the point in time, sorry!

Once all this is done, you're able to take a ghost image of the server which has the Citrix information about the server being ghosted removed, which will prevent, hopefully, the new server coming on line trying to be the old server!

Once you've re-imaged, you need to rename the server and run newsid and reboot, then change the IP address. You then need to change the mf20.dsn file, and the registry entries to reflect the new server name. Try and start the IMA service. If it works, change it to automatic and reboot the machine. if it doesn't, run dsmaint /recreatelhc from the command prompt and try again.

Hopefully, after the reboot, the service will start, connect to the Farm OK and you'll then be able to see it in the CMC. Oh, and if you need to, add the local admin account for the new server into the list of administrators.

Note that this is all off the top of my head so I might have missed something important, but this *should* be enough to get you up and running, unless anyone can think of anything major i've missed out. Please make sure you verify this information before trying it and have a suitable backup of anything important!!

Note also that this works if the new server is in the same Farm as the old one, you can't do this for a new Farm (you get some seriously strange behaviour if you try! , and the server will be in the same zone....there are other things which may need to be changed, but this covers, i think, the key bits.

As always edit the registry at your own risk, i take no responsibility for knackering any machines other than the ones I personally screw up, the value of your investment can go down as well as up.... you get the idea.

Hope this helps. Am sure there are some proper documents for how to clone a Citrix server but, unfortunately, its not as simple as just changing the mf20.dsn, there are a lot of other things to consider.

I'd be *seriously* anxious about having two machines thinking they're the same Citrix server, and would make sure i'd disconnected the new machine from the network until I was sure i'd checked everything. Especially if this is a production environment!

hope this points you in the right direction though.

let us know how you get on,

Chris