System requirements
Introduction
The system requirements in this article were valid when this product version was released; updates are made periodically. System requirements components not covered here (such as StoreFront, host systems, and Citrix Receivers and plug-ins) are described in their respective documentation.
Important:
Review the pre-installation tasks article before installing Provisioning Services.
Unless otherwise noted, the component installer deploys software prerequisites automatically (such as .NET elements) if the required versions are not detected on the machine. The Citrix installation media also contains some of this prerequisite software.
For internationalization information, see Global Status of Citrix Products.
Database
The following databases are supported: Microsoft SQL Server 2012 through 2016 (x86, x64, and Express editions).
Database clustering is supported.
When configuring databases for provisioning, consider that no preference exists for any specific SQL collation. Collation supports the standard method recommended by Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops when using the configuration wizard. The administrator creates the database with a collation that ends with _CI_AS_KS. Citrix recommends using a collation that ends with _100_CI_AS_KS.
Note:
Refer to Supported Databases for XenApp and XenDesktop Components in the Knowledge Center for additional information about supported databases and clients.
License
The Citrix Licensing Server download for this release is included with the XenApp/XenDesktop installation media. You should always use the most recent Citrix License server to get the latest features.
Important:
Provisioning Servers must be connected to the license server to operate successfully. You must use the most recent version of the Citrix License server to get the latest features. Citrix recommends that you upgrade the License Server before upgrading PVS to avoid any licensing conflicts related to grace periods. For more information, see Licensing.
Provisioning Server
Operating systems
- Windows Server 2016
- Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2; Standard, Essential, and Datacenter editions
English, Japanese, and Simplified Chinese versions are supported.
Processors
Intel or AMD x64 compatible; 2 GHz minimum; 3 GHz preferred; 3.5 GHz Dual Core/HT or similar for loads greater than 250 target devices.
Storage
Disk storage management is important because a Provisioning Server can have many vDisks stored on it, and each disk can be several gigabytes in size. Your streaming performance can be improved using a RAID array, SAN, or NAS.
There must be enough space on the hard disk to store the vDisks. For example, if you have a 15 GB hard drive, you can only create a 14 GB vDisk. Additional requirements depend on several factors such as:
- Hard disk capacity – the requirements of the operating system and applications running on a target device. Citrix recommends adding 20% to the base size of the final installed image.
- Private Image Mode – the number of target devices using a vDisk in Private Image mode (vDisks in Private Image mode should be backed up daily).
- Standard Image Mode – the number of target devices using a vDisk in Standard Image mode. Best practice is to include making a copy of every vDisk created.
- Minimum common storage sizes
- 250 MB for the database
- 5 GB on a clean Windows system
- 15 GB per vDisk for Vista Class images (estimated)
Network adaptor
- Static IP
- Minimum 100 MB Ethernet, 1 GB Ethernet preferred; Dual 1 GB Ethernet for more than 250 target devices. Two NICs often perform better than a single dual-ported NIC.
PVS dependencies
The Provisioning Server install program requires Microsoft NET 4.6.1 and Windows PowerShell 3.0.
Network
UDP and TCP ports
Provisioning Server to Provisioning Server communication
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Each Provisioning Server must be configured to use the same ports (UDP) to communicate with each other using the Messaging Manager. At least five ports must exist in the port range selected. The port range is configured on the Stream Services dialog when the Configuration wizard is run.
Note: If you are configuring for high availability (HA), all Provisioning Servers selected as failover servers must reside within the same site. HA is not intended to cross between sites.
Default port range (UDP) 6890–6909
Target device to Provisioning Server communication
- Each Provisioning Server must be configured to use the same ports (UDP) to communicate with target devices using the StreamProcess.
- The port range is configured using the Console’s Network tab on the Server Properties dialog.
Note: The first 3 ports are reserved for Provisioning Services.
Default port range (UDP) 6910–6930
Target device to Provisioning Services communication
Unlike Provisioning Servers to target device port numbers, target device to Provisioning Server communication cannot be configured.
Ports (UDP) 6901, 6902, 6905
Login server communication
Each Provisioning Server used as a login server must be configured on the Stream Servers Boot List dialog when running the Configuration wizard.
Default port (UDP) 6910
Console communication
The SOAP Server is used when accessing the Console. The ports (TCP) are configured on the Stream Services dialog when running the Configuration wizard.
For Powershell: MCLI-Run SetupConnection
For MCLI: MCLI Run SetupConnection
TFTP
The TFTP port value is stored in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\BNTFTP\Parameters Port
Default port (TFTP) 69
TSB
The TSB port value is stored in the registry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\PVSTSB\Parameters Port
Default port (UDP) 6969
Port Fast
Port Fast must be enabled
Network card
PXE 0.99j, PXE 2.1 or later
Addressing
DHCP
Target device
In most implementations, there is a single vDisk providing a standard image for multiple target devices. To simplify vDisk and target device maintenance, create and maintain fewer vDisks and assign more target devices to each vDisk.
To have a single vDisk, all target devices must have certain similarities to ensure that the OS has all of the drivers it requires to run properly. The three key components that should be consistent are the motherboard, network card, or video card.
If NIC teaming is desired, install and configure the OEM NIC teaming software before you install the target device software.
Tip:
The Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) is supported, however, secure boot is only supported using a Hyper-V 2016’s Secure Boot VM that uses the Microsoft UEFI Certificate Authority template.
Target devices are identified by the operating system that runs on the device.
Note:
Dual boot vDisk images are not supported.
The operating systems identified below are supported for target devices:
Operating System
- Windows 10 (32-bit or 64-bit); all editions
Note:
Support for the publicly available version at the time of the release. For more information, see Windows 10 Compatibility with Citrix Virtual Desktops (XenDesktop).
- Windows 8 (32-bit or 64-bit) and Windows 8.1 (32-bit or 64-bit); all editions
- Windows 7 SP1 (32-bit or 64-bit); Enterprise, Professional, Ultimate.
Note: The Ultimate edition of Windows 7 is supported only in Private Image mode.
- Windows Server 2016
- Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2012 R2; Standard, Essential, and Datacenter editions
Gen 2 VMs
For Provisioning Services support of Gen 2 VMs in a XenDesktop environment, the following operating systems are supported:
- Windows 2016, Windows 10 (with or without secure boot)
- Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2012 R2; Standard, Essential, and Datacenter editions
Note:
The Streamed VM wizard setup does not support SCVMM Gen 2 VMs\templates.
Linux streaming
For Linux streaming, the following operating systems are supported:
- Ubuntu desktop versions 16.04, 16.04.1 and 16.04.2 (with the 4.4.x kernel)
Note:
When using these distributions for Linux streaming, consider that the PVS installer requires that the Linux kernel package version be greater than or equal to version 4.4.0.53. The PVS installer automatically provides the correct version during the installation process.
- RedHat Enterprise Linux Server 7.2
- CentOS 7.2
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 12.1, 12.2
Note: The default kernel used for Ubuntu 16.04.2 is version 4.8; this kernel version is not currently supported.
Additional dependencies
.NET 4.6.1
Microsoft licensing
Consider the following when using Microsoft licensing keys with target devices:
- Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Server 2016, and Windows Server 2012 are deployed using either Key Management Server (KMS) or with Microsoft Multiple Activation Key (MAK) volume licensing keys.
- Windows Office 2010, Office 2013, and Office 2016 are deployed using KMS licensing.
- Volume licensing is configured within the vDisk image when the Imaging wizard is run on the Master target device. Volume licensing is configured for the vDisk file on the Microsoft Volume Licensing tab, which is available from the Console vDisk File Properties dialog.
Note: In order for MAK licensing to work, the Volume Activation Management Tool (VAMT) for that client OS must be installed on all login servers within a farm. In addition, both Private and Standard Image Modes support MAK and KMS.
File system type
NTFS
For Linux streaming, the following file system types are supported:
- EXT4
- BTRFS
- XFS
Note
Provisioning Services English on English, Japanese, German, French, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean, and Russian versions of operating systems are supported.
Console
Processor
Minimum 1 GHz, 2 GHz preferred
Memory
Minimum 1 GB, 2 GB preferred
Hard disk
Minimum 500 MB
Operating systems
- Windows Server 2016
- Windows Server 2012; Standard, Essential, and Datacenter editions
- Windows Server 2012 R2; Standard, Essential, and Datacenter editions
- Windows 10 (32-bit or 64-bit)
- Windows 8.1 (32-bit or 64-bit); all editions
- Windows 8 (32-bit or 64-bit); all editions
- Windows 7 (32-bit or 64-bit)
Additional dependencies
MMC 3.0, Microsoft .NET 4.5.2, Windows PowerShell 3.0
Store
The store must be able to communicate with the Provisioning Services database.
XenDesktop Setup Wizard
The Provisioning Services XenDesktop Setup wizard operates only with the equivalent version of the XenDesktop controller, that is, the version levels must be the same. In addition:
- One or more configured XenDesktop hosts with identical templates must exist.
- A Device Collection must have been created in the Provisioning Services Site.
- The vDisk that will be assigned to each VM must be in standard image mode.
Additional requirements include:
Permissions
-
A XenDesktop controller must exist with permissions for the current user.
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vCenter, SCVMM, and XenServer minimum permissions must be configured.
-
A Provisioning Services Console user account must be configured as a XenDesktop administrator and must have been added to a PVS SiteAdmin group or higher.
-
If you are using Provisioning Services with XenDesktop, the SOAP Server user account must have XenDesktop Full administrator privileges.
-
When creating new accounts in the Console, the user needs the Active Directory Create Accounts permission. To use existing accounts, Active Directory accounts have to already exist in a known OU for selection.
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When creating a machine catalog in XenDesktop, the boot device file is created automatically (eliminating the need to boot using PXE) and an unformatted write cache disk is automatically attached and formatted on first boot.
-
When updating the Virtual Desktop Agent (VDA) on the vDisk image, you must also set the appropriate functional level for the XenDesktop catalog using the XenDesktop Console. See the XenDesktop upgrade topics for more information.
-
If you are importing an Active Directory .csv file, use the following format:
\<name\>,\<type\>,\<description\>. The CSV file must contain the column header. For example, the csv file contents are as follows:Name,Type,Description,
PVSPC01,Computer,,
The trailing comma must be present to signify three values, even if there is no description. This is the same formatting used by Active Directory Users and Computers MMC when exporting the contents of an organizational unit.
-
If you are using Personal vDisks with XenDesktop, the SOAP Server user account must have XenDesktop full administrator privileges.
SCVMM
- SCVMM servers require that PowerShell 2.0 is installed and configured for the number of connections. The number of required connections for an SCVMM server should be greater than or equal to the number of hosted hypervisors used by the setup wizard for virtual machine cloning. For example: to set connections to 25 from a Powershell prompt, run:
winrm set winrm/config/winrs @{MaxShellsPerUser="25"}winrm set winrm/config/winrs @{MaxConcurrentUsers="25"}. - For Microsoft SCVMM to work with XenDesktop, the user must run the following PowerShell command;set-ExecutionPolicy unrestricted on SCVMM.
- For Microsoft SCVMM, please verify that the MAC address for the template is not 00-00-00-00-00-00 before attempting to clone the template. If necessary, use the template properties dialog to assign a MAC address.
Additional requirements
- If running a vCenter server on alternate ports, the following registry modifications must be made to connect to it from Provisioning Services:
-
Create a new key HKLM\Software\Citrix\ProvisioningServices\PlatformEsx
-
Create a new string in the PlatformEsx key named ServerConnectionString and set it to
http://{0}:PORT\#/sdkNote:
If using port 300,
ServerConnectionString= http://{0}:300/sdk
-
- If using multiple NICs, the XenDesktop wizard assumes that the first NIC is the Provisioning Services NIC, and therefore changes it in accordance with the virtual machine network in the Domain Controller. This is the first NIC listed in the virtual machines properties.
- To use the Synthetic switch-over feature, both the first legacy NIC and the synthetic NIC must be on the same network. If the Provisioning Services XenDesktop Set Up Wizard is used with SCVMM, both the first legacy and the synthetic NICs’ network will change according to the network resource set by XenDesktop, or by the user if SCVMM host has multiple network resources.
- Multi-NIC support for XenDesktop private virtual machine desktops.
- Legacy XenDesktop Virtual Desktop Agents are supported on VMs. For details, refer to VDA requirements in the XenDesktop documentation.
Streamed VM Wizard setup
Streamed VM Wizard requirements include:
- One or more hypervisor hosts must exist with a configured template.
- A Device Collection must exist in the Provisioning Services Site.
- A vDisk in Standard Image mode must exist, to be associated with the selected VM template.
Addtional requirements are described in the table below:
Template VM
- Boot order: Network/PXE must be first in list (as with physical machines).
- Hard disks: If you are using local write cache, an NTFS formatted disk large enough for the cache must exist. Otherwise, no hard disks are required.
- Network: Static MAC addresses. If you are using XenServer, the address cannot be 00-00-00-00-00-00
- Before attempting to create a template from a VM, ensure that the VM is fully operational.
Permissions
- The Provisioning Services Console user account must have been added to a PVS SiteAdmin group or above.
- If you are using Active Directory, when creating new accounts in the Console, the user needs the Active Directory Create Accounts permission. To use existing accounts, Active Directory accounts have to already exist in a known OU for selection.
ESD server requirements for vDisk Update Management
ESD server requirements are described in the table below:
WSUS server
3.0 SP2
SCCM
SSCM 2016
SCCM 2012 R2
SCCM 2012 SP1
SCCM 2012
Hypervisor
The following sections include configuration information about supported hypervisors.
Important:
Refer to Supported Hypervisors for Virtual Desktops (XenDesktop) and Provisioning Services for a complete list of supported hypervisors.
XenServer 5.6 and later
The template’s MAC address cannot be 00-00-00-00-00-00-00.
Nutanix Acropolis
This release provides support for provisioning to Nutanix Acropolis hypervisors using the XenDesktop Setup Wizard. The following are not supported:
- Linux VMs
- BDM partition
- UEFI
For configuration information, refer to Deploying virtual desktops to VMs using the XenDesktop Configuration Wizard.
Important
An Acropolis hypervisor (AHV) plugin from Nutanix that supports Provisioning Services is required.
System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) VMM 2012 and later
Consider the following when configuring this type of hypervisor:
- VMM 2012, 2012 SP1, and 2012 R2 are significantly different from each other.
- When creating a machine template for VMM 2012 only, ensure that it has a similar hard disk drive structure and that it can boot from a vDisk in Private Image mode. Examples:
- To PXE boot a VM with write cache, create a VM with one hard disk drive.
- To use Boot Device Manager (BDM) to boot a VM with write cache, create a VM with two hard disk drives.
- To use BDM to boot a VM that uses a personal vDisk and write cache, create a VM with three hard disk drives.
- To do the Synthetic NIC Switch Over (boot using legacy NIC and then stream using synthetic NIC), both the legacy and the synthetic NICs must be in the same vlan in the template VMs. The Provisioning Services XenDesktop Set Up Wizard changes the vlan of both NICs to the vlan selected during the XenDesktop Set Up Wizard run. This uses two IP addresses
- When running the imaging wizard, make sure you select the legacy NIC’s MAC address.
- Provisioning Services does not support multiple legacy NICs in the VMM’s VM. This is because VMM uses the last legacy NIC and XenDesktop Set Up Wizard always uses the first NIC, regardless of whether it is legacy or synthetic.
- When creating a VMM template, make sure you select None – customization not required as the Guest OS profile in Configure Operating System menu.
- When using the XenDesktop Set Up Wizard, you may find that the targets are created but are not bootable with the error Device not found in PVS dB. This usual reason is that the template has the legacy and synthetic NICs in reverse order: synthetic is NIC 1 and legacy is NIC 2. To fix this, delete the NICs in the template. Make a legacy NIC 1 and synthetic NIC 2.
VMware vSphere ESX
- vSphere ESX 6.7 (7.15 LTSR CU3 and later)
- vSphere ESX 6.5
- vSphere ESX 6.0
- vSphere ESX 5.5
- vSphere ESX 5.0 and later – VMXNET3
- Sphere ESX 4.x – E1000
Template VM and the master VM
Both must have the same guest operating system, configuration, and virtual machine version. Mismatches cause the process to stop unexpectedly.
PVS and ESX VM version
- vCenter 5.5 defaults to virtual machine version 8, which is for ESX 5.0.
- The virtual machine version must be changed before OS installation.
- The template and the master VM must have the same virtual machine version.
Windows 7 with VMXNET NICs
- Windows 7 without service packs — Install Microsoft iSCSI hotfix http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2344941 and restart the VM before installing Provisioning Services target device software.
- Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 – Install Microsoft iSCSI hotfix http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2550978 and restart the VM before installing Provisioning Services target device software.
ESX
- For ESX 5.0 only, the Interrupt Safe Mode must be enabled on the Provisioning Services bootstrap. Otherwise, the VM displays a partial MAC address during reboot.
- With ESX 5.5, a VM created using the Web client defaults to virtual hardware version 10 (ESX 5.5) and a VM created using the vSphere client defaults to version 8 (ESX 5.0).
- When creating a new ESXi 5.5 template using the vSphere web client, you can only create hardware version 10 templates. Be sure to modify the template’s CD/DVD drive’s virtual mode from SATA to IDE. Remove the SATA controller if you are planning to use the VMXNet3 driver. This will ensure that the template is compatible with the XenDesktop Setup Wizard, which requires the drives that are created for the target to be attached using the SCSI driver.
- When using multiple NICs in ESX VM, be aware that the order of the NICs in the VM’s properties, BIOS, and OS may differ. Keep this in mind when making your choices for the streaming NIC. This should be the first NIC in the VM’s properties. You can choose the PXE NIC in the BIOS.
Host record
Regardless of the ESX version, the host’s address for the XenDesktop host will be that of the vCenter system. Do not enter the address used by the web client.
Linux streaming
Distributions
Ubuntu 16.04, 16.04.01 and 16.04.02 with the 4.4.x kernel. When using these distributions for Linux streaming, consider that the Provisioning Services installer requires that the Linux kernel package version be greater than or equal to version 4.4.0.53. The installer automatically provides the correct version during the installation process.
- RedHat Enterprise Linux Server 7.2
- CentOS 7.2
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 12.1, 12.2
Hypervisors
XenServer
ESX
Image management
Versioning
Note:
Reverse imaging is not necessary with Linux.
Caching
All cache modes supported. Refer to the Managing vDisks article for more information on supported cache types.
Once the write cache disk has been formatted, the Linux client will not shut down. Instead, it automatically begins using the cache disk.
Cache on device hard disk and Cache in device RAM with overflow on hard disk both use the Linux file system caching mode.
Important:
Linux streaming functionality works with the latest version of Provisioning Services in conjunction with corresponding versions of XenApp/XenDesktop.