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Profile Management
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Save storage space using file deduplication

November 28, 2023
Contributed by: 
C

Identical files can exist in various user profiles in the user store. For example, different users download the same file or install the same software into their user profiles. With the File deduplication policy, Profile Management moves duplicate instances of files from the user store to a central location (called shared store) and deletes the other. Therefore, your storage cost is reduced.

Prerequisites

To enable file deduplication, make sure that you:

  • Use %username% or #samaccountname# in the Path to user store setting so that the shared store can be created automatically.
  • Install Citrix Profile Management version 2209 or later.

Enable and configure the File deduplication policy

Take the Workspace Environment Management (WEM) web console for an example. To enable and configure file deduplication using the console, follow these steps:

  1. Go to Profiles > Profile Management Settings > File deduplication.
  2. Select Enable file inclusions and specify files to deduplicate. If needed, select Enable file exclusions and specify files to exclude from the included files. See Enable file deduplication for more details.

We recommend deduplicating only files that change infrequently, such as:

  • Program files that users install:

    AppData\Local\Microsoft\Teams\*.exe, AppData\Local\Microsoft\Teams\*.dll, AppData\Local\Microsoft\OneDrive\*.exe, AppData\Local\Microsoft\OneDrive\*.dll

  • Installer or image files that users download:

    Downloads\*.exe, Downloads\*.msi, Downloads\*.iso

We don’t recommend deduplicating the following files:

  • Documents that users might edit frequently:

    Documents\*.elsx, Documents\*.docx

  • Data files that might change frequently:

    AppData\Local\*.dat

Note:

The effect of file deduplication can vary with the user environments and the files you specify for deduplication. We recommend customizing file settings based on the actual situations.

Change permission settings

When creating the shared store folder, Profile Management grants the folder to the following principals:

  • Domain computers (with Full control access)
  • Domain users (with Read access)

With these default permission settings, file deduplication works only on domain-joined machines. For it to work on non-domain-joined machines, you must assign those machines with a user account that has Full control access to the shared store folder. Detailed steps are as follows:

  1. On the shared store server, grant a user account (for example, admin0) Full control access to the shared store folder.
  2. On each VDA, add a Windows credential for the admin0 user account to sign in to the shared store folder. To do so, use Windows Credential Manager or Workspace Environment Management. See the procedures described in Enable credential-based access to user stores for details.
  3. (Optional) On the shared store server, locate the shared store folder and remove the permission entry for domain computers.

Support for data changes to deduplicated files

This feature can handle data changes to deduplicated files. For example, two users install software XYZ version 1 and you include it for file deduplication. Later, one user upgrades to version 2, Profile Management creates a new version of files in the shared store. When the other user also upgrades to version 2, Profile Management deletes the old version files.

Save storage space using file deduplication
November 28, 2023
Contributed by: 
C
November 28, 2023
Contributed by: 
C

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