Prove that Citrix server farm devices do not drift from their desired state
The Customer
A financial company with a 40-server Citrix farm supporting its operations needs to ensure that all servers match their specified build configuration and do not drift away from that state.
The Scenario
The customer chose Citrix for the same reason many people do: it promised to normalize the desktop. In fact, Citrix became famous precisely because of the great variance between Windows desktops. Citrix allows for standardization of applications, which eliminates the variance that occurs as users install different applications, etc.
Citrix came along and offered the thin client, heavy server model where very little relies on the desktop, and almost all is controlled at the server. This would seem to solve the problem of desktop drift. And when the web came along, Citrix was ideally positioned; they simply added a plug-in that let everything work through the browser.
People loved Citrix, until they ran into the same problem of drift seen on Windows desktops, except now the drift happened on servers. While Citrix does allow for application standardization, it still requires multiple Citrix servers – a farm – for scalability. This simply shifts the problem of synchronization of devices from desktops to the server. Citrix hooks the OS deep, so you must ensure that all of the Citrix servers have the same applications available, etc. Otherwise, the user experience becomes inconsistent: they log in, and the system seems to have hung, or has a different feel than it did before. These all trace back to the fact that keeping a farm of devices the same is tough, and drift quickly impacts the end users.
The old way: agility is lost
After choosing Citrix to be more in control and agile, the solution to server farm complexity that many managers resorted to was ironic: lock down the servers. Ironic, because it means the very reason for using Citrix in the first place (agility) is lost.
The SignaCert Solution: allows agility plus consistency
The company brought in the SignaCert Enterprise Trust Server (ETS) and created a reference that represents a Citrix server instance. The ETS uses that single reference to validate each of the Citrix servers, assuring consistency among all the machines in the farm. In addition, because ETS can ignore hardware, the concern over buying absolutely identical machines, right down to ones that come off the same manufacturing run, is eliminated. Note: even Citrix suggests customers buy the same machines.
The SignaCert Solution, in depth
The SignaCert client was rolled out to each of the devices in the farm; the client submits monitoring results to the ETS appliance. Results show if the devices are identical to the specified snapshot and if not, provide a detailed list of what files have been modified, which files have been removed and list any files that were added to the system. The company can use the deviations to quickly remediate the specific devices, bringing them back in compliance with the specified configuration. ETS was set up to monitor devices three times per day; they also run a deep verification whenever they push new software into production.
Results
SignaCert’s customer has gained tangible benefits from having a system that’s up and running correctly. First, the company has dramatically reduced the number of support calls, which in turn has reduced the stress and wasted time experienced by end users, letting them get back to their work. Second, it has allowed them to reduce the number of people on the help desk. Both have been considerable changes for their business as usual (BAU).