I wrote this HTTP to HTTPS redirection script for a customer so that they were able to leave TCP port 80 open through their firewall to make the transition over to using the Citrix Secure Gateway (CSG) solution a little less confusing for their users. There were a couple fo goals I wanted to achieve with this script:
- I needed to write a single script that could run from “C:\Inetpub\wwwroot” and “C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\Citrix\XenApp”.
- I didn’t want to hardcode any customer specific information into the script to make it more universal.
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Something I found after installing Citrix Secure Gateway (CSG) 3.1 on a server running Web Interface (WI) 5.0.1. It removed permissions from the “%ProgramFiles%\Citrix\Web Interface\5.0.1\Clients” folder and instructed it to inherrit from its parent.
Therefore, only the Administrators local group had full control.
This was causing problems for client updates and downloads via the CSG server. More…
If you can’t tell by now, I love scripting and coding 
There is nothing you can’t achieve, and no problem that cannot be resolved. But there is an art to doing it right. I start by drawing up an N-S (Nassi-Shneiderman) diagram or flow chart, and then writing it up in pseudocode, which allows me to focus on the logic of the program without being distracted by details of language syntax. I choose to write VBScript because then it can then be maintained by colleagues and customers. Although now I’m starting to get into PowerShell, which is fast becoming the defacto standard. When I write a script I try and abide by several golden rules. Rob Haupt has explained them perfectly in his blog titled My five VBScript ‘best practices’. I believe that there is no point doing things half hearted. So do it properly or don’t do it at all!
Updated 8th December 2008…
Today I was finalising the application deployment for a new XenApp farm. One of the final scripts to create was to place 9 shortcuts on the Desktop of the All Users profile. That’s quite a simple task, and for the most part some would probably just end up copying a bunch of previously created ones into place. But that would be too easy. I wanted to create them on the fly!
So whilst I was writing the script I was faced with three challenges: More…
How can I detect if a Windows 2003/2008 server is configured for Remote Administration or running the Terminal Server role/service? More…
This is what I call the “bees knees” of scripts for deploying VMware Tools. It will detect if it’s being installed on a Terminal/Citrix Server, and remove the appropriate components that may impede performance, etc. More…
The methodology I use for deploying and managing Citrix XenApp solutions has proven very successful over the years.
To maintain a homogeneous environment conducive to stability, utilisation of a well-defined and automated server build process is a best practice. Automated server builds can save countless hours when deploying new servers, rebuilding a problematic one, or addressing test requirements. A server build process is based on building servers from initial hardware configuration through to application installation and configuration. In most of my cases this is heavily used for Citrix XenApp rollouts. More…
Alan Cuthbertson over at SysPro Software used his ADM Template Editor to convert the Microsoft Office 2003 ADM’s to the new ADMX format.
Alan posted some interesting notes… More…
The guys over at Virtual Software have just released a neat little tool called ThinApp Editor. “ThinApp Editor is an easy to use editing tool for VMware’s ThinApp capture files.”
Very nice!
Following on from my previous article titled “How to pick a good Consultant/Integrator to Partner with?“, I believe that this project cartoon describes the challenges of communicating and executing customer requirements, and is very relevant to what I see a lot of in the IT & T industry. More…