Citrix Interview Questions:

1. What are the different types of Presentation Server

Enterprise Edition : Standard + Advance Edition +Citrix Resource Manager , Citrix Installation Mgr
Advanced Edition : Standatd Edition + Citrix Load Manager
Standard Edition : MPS Access suite Licensing, Core metaframe PS software, Web Interface for MPS , Citrix secure Gateway, Legacy MPS 1.8


2. Presentation Server Components :
A: MetaFrame Access Suite Licensing
Access Suite Console
MetaFrame Presentation Server
Presentation Server Console
Document Center

3. What are the different Citrix Clients available
A: Program Neighborhood
Program Neighborhood Agent
Web Client
Java Client

4. What are the services available in Citrix
A: ADF Installer Service
CPU Utilization Mgmt/Resource Mgmt service
CPU Utilization Mgmt/User-Session Sync Service
Citrix Licensing WMI Service
Citrix Print Manager Service
Citrix SMA Service (Switch Monitoring and Accessories)
Citrix Virtual Memory Optimization Service
Citrix WMI Service
Citrix XTE Service
Diagnostic Facility COM Service
Encryption Service
Independent Management Architecture Service
License Management Console for Citrix Licensing Service
MetaFrame COM Server Service
Resource Manager Mail Service
Secure Gateway Service


5. Default ICA port
A: 1494
NOTE: Default ICA port is a common question to ask in the interview: Apart from this, should be ready with all Port details which are related to the citrix environment.
Port Name Port Number
Default listening port for Citrix XML Service : 80
CMC, SSL : 443
Server to SQL : 1433
ICA : 1494
UDP port used for client broadcast : 1604
IMA : 2512, 2513
Session Reliability : 2598
Licensing : 27000


6. Command to put the server into install mode
A: change user /install
NOTE: Normally whenever we install the device on the OS, we use the "Change user /Install" and after finishing the installation task we need to execute from the mode to use "change user /execute".

7. What is Local Host Cache (LHC) and what is the purpose of
A: The Local Host Cache is the name of the Microsoft Access Database that is created locally on every MPS server and that stores portions of the Data Store to keep the server functioning in the event of an outage. If the Data Store goes off line, the server continuous to function normally using the LHC database for up to 48 hours.
It ensures that pertinent data is accessible locally even of the data store database is unavailable.

8. Which types of persistent data are contained in the Presentation Server Farm Data Store?
A: Printer Drivers and mappings
Published Applications configurations
Presentation Server Administrator Accounts

9. What is the purpose of the Data Store and What is contained in the Data Store database?
A: The Data Store is a database that stores all the configuration information needed by the Citrix Farm. Any time you make configuration changes to MetaFrame Server, the changes are recorded in the Data Store. In this respect, if you are adding a new MetaFrame Server to spread the user load of an application, this new server can get all the information by tapping into the Data Store.
The information stored in the Data Store includes :
Published Application, Server Configuration, User Configuration and Print Environment. This thus means all persistent data for all servers in a particular farm.

10. Purpose of the Data Collector
A: Data Collector is nothing but it keeps the information about the published application, user’s session, Zones etc.
11. Purpose of Zones.
A: Zone is subset of Farm and is designed so that we could use Farm as a unit. Zone has server members and one of them is ZDC (Zone Data Collectors) in each zone. These ZDCs communicate between zones. Zones are very helpful in controlling traffic.

12. Moving servers to other zone

13. Which component manages the servers running Presentation by integrating with third-party management consoles such as HP Open View?
A: Network Manager
Explanation : Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is known and widely used by various organizations for the purposes of monitoring their systems. Companies can use third-party tools such Microsoft Operations Management (MOM), HP Open View, or various other tools to monitor and manage their servers. In addition, if you are using Enterprise Edition of MetaFrame, you can use Citrix Network Manager as an SNMP agent to gather farmwide performance monitoring and management information.

14. What are two technical considerations for deciding to create more than one farm in a Presentation Server environment?
A: The Geographical Location of the servers and The type of network connection between the servers.

15. An administrator must consider which three factors when deciding which type of database to use in a farm?
A: Number of Users
Number of Applications
Number of servers running Presentation Server

16. Preferences of zone DCs (most, preferred...)

17. How to change the ICA port.
Change value of TCP/IP port for ICA Terminal Sessions.
ICAPORT {/QUERY | /PORT:num | /RESET}
/QUERY Query current setting.
/PORT:num Change the TCP/IP port to 'num'.
/RESET Reset the TCP/IP port to 1494.
18. How to change the xml service port.
A: Use the command line utility ctxxmlss
From the services applet stop the xml service
At a command prompt type:
ctxxmlss /u
ctxxmlss /rxxxx (where xxxx is the new port number)
RESTART the xml service from the services applet.
19. The ports for server-to-server communication and CMC ports.
IMA : 2512, 2513
20. Licensing issues (server + connection licenses)

21. Load balancing definition and elementary "workflow"

22. IMA (Independent Management Architecture)service used for what
A: The IMA Services checks about the connection between the Citrix Presentation Sever and Citrix Management Console.
It has separate Management architecture from the Windows Management architecture.
It links with Metaframe COM Server to provide COM Services, so that individual servers can be removed from the Citrix Management Console.

23. Components needed for web connectivity (IIS, Nfuse, SG/MSAM)

24. Troubleshooting using event log

25. Why is ICA that much faster than RDP? technological differences

26. Why does a new desktop get a "dial-up or network problems...” when the OS is win2k pro, or XP pro.

27. Why does the spooler service sometimes crash, after staring a print job?

28. How much SSL certificates, do I need to setup a CSG configuration?

29. Why does single sign-on not work, when using NFuse or WI?

30. Can you describe your best hardware configuration for a 35 to 40 user server?

31. How do you fight latency, and when is it needed? (ping times)

32. How does the raid controller need to be set on a terminal server?

33. Why does my CSG connection not work, while using a 56 bits version cert?

34. How do you configure a Cisco router TCP/IP stack for optimal citrix traffic?

35. Preferences of zone DCs

36. What are the differences between the Win2k license server and Win2k3?

37. Differences in GPO's between the 2 OS's. I also like to find out how they troubleshoot citrix issues. What sites do they use?

38. After installing the new Citrix Client my Icons are Upside Down. What Gives?
A: This problem has been traced back to two possible solutions involving the video drivers.
The following seemed to have resolved the problem.

First in Win9.x clients (where this has been a frequent issue)try decreasing the graphics acceleration setting in Control Panel\System\Performance.

If this does not work try to obtain the latest video drivers from the cards manufacturer for the graphics adapter and installing them.

39. How do I disable floppy drive access during a Citrix Session Logon?
A: Run regedt32.exe
Edit the key listed below:
“ HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogin\Parse”
Autoexec REG_SZ=1
Change the value from 1 to 0
Ensure that the Windows Explorer view is set to a view different than "Details"

40. I have a program that will only work if it is install mode any ideas?
A: Try adding the directory the program is in to the default path
by going into the system control panel applet and adding it under the
environment variables.
Or copy out the ini and dll file of the program out to each users windows/system32 folder in their home directory.
Some programs have a temp variable in their ini files. You may need to edit the location of the temp variable to point to the users home temp directory instead of the NT/Temp directory location. This should resolve the problem.

41. How do I Disable Print Drivers from Automatically Updating the DataStore?
A: 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. This occurred because the IMA Service needed to update the Management Console for MetaFrame XP with the information about the new printer or printer driver, which caused the huge amount of network traffic.

To resolve this problem, navigate to the following registry key and change the value of fDisablePrinterWorkerThread to 1:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Citrix\IMAPrinter
Type: REG_DWORD
Value: fDisablePrinterWorkerThread = 1

After you make this change to the registry, restart the IMA Service for the change to take effect.

NOTE: When the registry switch is set to 1, the IMA Service does not automatically update printer or
printer driver information to the Management Console. You need to update this information manually. To do this, click Printer Management in the left panel of the Management Console and then double-click Update Printer and Driver.
This setting is valid with: (or their equivalents)
MetaFrame XP Feature Release 3 for Windows 2000 and hotfix XE103W2K057
MetaFrame XP Service Pack 2 for TSE 4.0 and hotfix XE102T024.

Both MetaFrame XP Feature Release 3 for Windows 2000 & MetaFrame Presentation Server 3.0 for Windows 2000
and 2003 contain the code need for the registry change.
Ensure the latest MfPrintSs.dll is installed on the server.
NOTE:
If you’re interviewing, you want somebody who has a good solid overall understanding of Citrix and how it fits into the organization etc.
So as well as those questions, I'd be asking them how they would bring new sites online. I'd want them to know how web interface and CSG work and to tell me the process when users connect using these products to launch their apps.
I would tell them about your setup and ask them how you could improve it.
Also you will want to know what they know about Terminal Services. I'm amazed at how many questions here get asked about the TS license server. Most seem to not even know it needs to be loaded.

42. How do I remove a dead server from the Citrix Management Console?
A: Run DSVERIFY SERVERS /CLEAN /FORCE to optimize the Data Store.
DSVerify can be run rom any server in the farm.
Dsverify is available here.
Metaframe Feature Release 3 has a new command line tool called DSCHECK works in a similar way:
DSCHECK /CLEAN



43. What is relay Program Neighborhood The user interface for the Program Neighborhood Client that
lets users view the published applications they are authorized to use in the
server farm. Program Neighborhood allows access to application sets and
custom ICA connections.

44. What is relay Program Neighborhood Agent The Program Neighborhood Agent allows you to
deliver published applications directly to users’ desktops so users can access
links to published applications with or without a Web browser. With the
Program Neighborhood Agent, links to published applications appear in the
Start menu, on the Windows desktop, or in the Windows notification area.
Remote applications are integrated into the desktop and appear to the user as
local applications. You must use the Web Interface for MetaFrame
Presentation Server to use the Program Neighborhood Agent.

45. What is relay published application An application installed on a server or server farm that is
configured for multiuser access from MetaFrame Presentation Server Clients.
With Load Manager, you can manage the load for published applications
among servers in the farm. With Program Neighborhood and the Web
Interface, you can push a published application to your users’ client desktops.

46 What is relay listening port ? The TCP port on a computer running MetaFrame Presentation
Server that the Citrix SSL Relay monitors for data from a Web server.
What is seamless window One of the settings you can specify for the window size property of
a published application. If a published application runs in a seamless window,
the user can take advantage of all the client platform’s window management
features, such as resizing, minimizing, and so forth.

47 What is Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)/Transport Layer Security (TLS) A standards-based
architecture for encryption, authentication, and message integrity. It is used to
secure the communications between two computers across a public network,
authenticate the two computers to each other based on a separate trusted
authority, and ensure that the communications are not tampered with. SSL/
TLS supports a wide range of ciphersuites.

48 What is server A server on which MetaFrame Presentation Server software is running. You
can publish applications, content, and desktops for remote access by clients on
these servers.
What is server farm A group of computers running MetaFrame Presentation Server and
managed as a single entity, with some form of physical connection between
servers and a database used for the farm’s data store.
49. What is session ID A unique identifier for a specific client session on a specific computer
running MetaFrame Presentation Server.

50 What is Independent Management Architecture (IMA) Citrix’s server-to-server infrastructure
that provides robust, secure, and scalable tools for managing any size server
farm. Among other features, IMA enables centralized platform-independent
management, an ODBC-compliant data store, and a suite of management
products that plug in to Presentation Server Console.

51. What is Citrix XML Service A Windows service that provides an HTTP interface to the ICA
browser. It uses TCP packets instead of UDP, which allows connections to
work across most firewalls. The default port for the Citrix XML Service is 80.

52. What is shadowing A feature that enables an authorized user to remotely join or take control
of another user’s client session for diagnosis, training, or technical support.
What is SpeedScreen Latency Reduction A combination of technologies implemented in ICA
that decreases bandwidth consumption and total packets transmitted, resulting
in reduced latency and consistent performance regardless of network
connection.

53. What is universal printing
When you use universal printing you do not need to install and
duplicate a potentially large set of native printer drivers in your server farm.
The universal printer drivers can replace multiple native printer drivers that
would otherwise be needed in diverse printing environments. MetaFrame
Presentation Server Clients can work with universal drivers depending on the
client device’s version and platform.

54. What is Windows-Based Terminal (WBT)
A fixed-function thin-client device that can run applications only by connecting to a server. WBTs cannot run applications locally.

55. What is zone
A logical grouping of computers running MetaFrame Presentation Server,
typically related to the underlying network subnets. All servers in a zone
communicate with the server designated as the data collector for the zone.

56. What is zone data collector
A computer that stores dynamic data for one zone in a farm.
Examples of dynamic data include current server load, the number of current
user sessions, and the applications currently running in user sessions on a
specified server.

57. What is local host cache A local subset of the server farm data store information. This file is
present on all computers running MetaFrame Presentation Server. See also
data store.

ICA file A text file (with the extension ica) containing information about a published
application. ICA files are written in Windows ini file format and organize
published application information in a standard way that MetaFrame
Presentation Server Clients can interpret. When a client receives an ICA file, it
initializes a session running the application on the server specified in the file.
ICA protocol The protocol that MetaFrame Presentation Server Clients use to format
user input (keystrokes, mouse clicks, and so forth) and address it to servers for
processing. Servers use the ICA protocol to format application output (display,
audio, and so forth) and return it to the client device.