How to configure Citrix Cloud with Microsoft Azure part 3

In part two I showed you how to install the Citrix VDA on a virtual machine running in Microsoft Azure. I also explained that I believe that any updates for software and new software should result in building a new master image from scratch. This is something I recommend based on my experience in editing in very old images, old images often makes you feel nervous of doing any changes. If you have the confidence to build your image from scratch every time you also prove that you have a valid mechanism for migrating to a new cloud provider or on-premises hypervisor. This build mechanism is also valid as a disaster recovery scenario where you can rebuild your Citrix workers instead of trying to restore from a backup.

In part 3 I am going to show you how to create the Citrix Machine Creation Services catalog that will be used to create the Citrix workers in Microsoft Azure.

Creating the machine catalog for Microsoft Azure VDA’s

To create the actual machine catalog on Citrix Cloud, go to the hamburger menu I the top left of the screen and select “My Services” and then “Virtual Apps and Desktops”

Then click on “Manage Service”

Wait a bit while the session is loading

Click on “Connect to the ressources that will host the machines”

Select “Microsoft Azure” as “Connection type” and “Azure Global” as “Azure environment”. Also select the zone you want the machines placed in.

Click on “Create new”

Type in your Azure username

In my case the account has two options, and my account is a personal one

Type in your password

You can choose to save your password, I do not save mine.

Wait while the connection is being made

The subscription ID should now be filled out for you and you can provide the connection with a name

Choose your region

Name your network and select the networks you want to use.

The summery page should look something like this

When you finish the Azure connection setup you will return to the Machine catalog guide and you can continue creating the machine catalog. Select the OS type, in my case it is a “Server OS”

Select “Machines that are power managed (for example virtual machines or blade PCs) and choose “Citrix Machine Creation Services (MCS)”.

Browse down on your storage account and find the VHD that matches your virtual machine

You will get a warning saying that the virtual machine needs to be stopped, so please ensure that is the case and hit “Close”

Select storage type and license that matches your environment, I have selected “Standard” storage and that I do not have any hybrid license setup” I have also selected “use unmanaged disks instead of Azure Managed Disks for VMs in this catalog”, this is only because this is a demo setup, in production I will recommend managed disks instead.

Select the virtual machine size in Azure. The size may varie depending on your needs, generally it can often be a good idea to go small and then have more. If you have smaller machines they are easier to drain and thereby shutdown when outside peak hours, that way you can save some money.

Select cache size, in the case of Azure these are usually turned off since having extra disks and RAM cost more money.

You can choose if you want to use an existing resource group or create a new one, in my case I create a new one.

Click “Ok” on the warning

Select the network you want to use

Select the OU you want to place your new machines in

Enter your domain credentials to create the new computer accounts, the account needs to have permissions to create the computer accounts in the specified OU.

Name your machine catalog and click “Finish”

The machine catalog will now be created. You can hide the process if wanted by clicking the button.

After the machine catalog is created it should look like this

Summery

In part 3 I have showed you how to create the Citrix Machine Creation Services catalog for Citrix workers. The process is very simple and carried out using only the Citrix Cloud portal. If this part is done you are ready to create a Citrix Delivery Group, and that is what I am going to show your in the next part. The delivery group is where you publish your desktop or applications that will be showed to the users when they sign into the Citrix Cloud portal as regular users.
As always please provide any feedback your might have on this blog post, you can post a comment here on the page or reach out to me on twitter @mracket

4 thoughts on “How to configure Citrix Cloud with Microsoft Azure part 3”

  1. Hi .. I have followed your instructions to this point; however I don’t have the VDA registered and as such its not in the list of Services available in my Citrix Cloud. I ran the Citrix Health Assistant and all passed … except for ‘VDA registration status . not registered’ … all firewalls ports open and all other troubleshooting ideas attempted. any ideas please

    1. Hi Bernie,

      Have a look in the event log on the VDA server/desktop. Check if you have an event 1010. That event should show you which cloud connectors you have specified. if that list is OK you should look for events 1002, 1017 and 1022 and check that they are telling you. Hope this helps.

      br
      Martin

    1. Well spotted.

      It actually works with the code I posted, but it should be changed so that the service account has its own secret in Azure Automation, like the domain admin account.

      I have updated the code in the post to use $SACred instead of $Cred.

      As I wrote, the code actually works, but it uses the domaincred for the service account, and that is not really what you would want to have.

      Thanks for asking.

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