How to make IBM iSeries (AS/400 client) hotkeys work in a XenApp published environment

Scenario:

You publish the AS/400 client IBM iSeries in XenApp. When users are testing the AS/400 clients, it works as expected and is able to connect to the respective back-end servers but the hotkeys / function keys are not working as expected.

Reason:

Citrix XenApp has its own set of preconfigured hotkeys that are the same as the AS/400 function key combinations, and the Citrix hotkey combination takes precedence.

Solution:

Disable the Citrix XenApp hotkeys. You can either disable all the hotkeys, or only those that coincide with the AS/400 hotkeys.

Procedure:

I will offer the solution that personally worked for me, which is to disable the hotkeys in the default.ica file.

The default.ica file is located in c:\Inetpub\wwwroot\Citrix\XenApp\conf folder. Note that this is the default location of the default Web Interface configuration. If you use the PNAgent, then instead of “XenApp” the folder is “PNAgent.” Look for the [WFLIENT] section and add the following text:

Hotkey1Char=(none)
Hotkey1Shift=(none)
Hotkey2Char=(none)
Hotkey2Shift=(none)
Hotkey3Char=(none)
Hotkey3Shift=(none)
Hotkey4Char=(none)
Hotkey4Shift=(none)
Hotkey5Char=(none)
Hotkey5Shift=(none)
Hotkey6Char=(none)
Hotkey6Shift=(none)
Hotkey7Char=(none)
Hotkey7Shift=(none)
Hotkey8Char=(none)
Hotkey8Shift=(none)
Hotkey9Char=(none)
HotKey9Shift=(none)
Hotkey10Char=(none)
Hotkey10Shift=(none)
Hotkey11Char=(none)
HotKey11Shift=(none)
Hotkey12Char=(none)
HotKey12Shift=(none)
Hotkey13Char=(none)
HotKey13Shift=(none)

This results in disabling all of the Citrix hotkeys. Feel free to disable just the hotkeys that coincide with the iSeries hotkeys. By disabling the Citrix hotkeys, any Function Key combination now follows the AS/400 assigned function key combinations

For more information, check out this article How to Enable or Disable Hotkeys within an ICA File (including Template.ica).

jay paloma  |  16 apr 2013

The Application Migration Workbook

Is your organization considering upgrading your Windows XP or Windows Vista standard client operating environment to Windows 7 or Windows 8, newer versions of Internet Explorer, or exploring aplication virtualization with Citrix XenApp, or VDI with CitrixXenDesktop? Some companies head off blindly and push ahead for stuff like “imaging” or “user state migration” or “deployment toolkit.” However in my experience with deploying client operating systems in the organization, one factor can easily be overlooked and rubbed off as less important, and this is application compatibility testing. Organizations think it is just a matter of installing the old application into the new operating system and see what happens. This manual testing method is time and resource consuming and does not offer any strategy with regards to remediation.

With Citrix AppDNA, the organization would enjoy a more targeted, systematic approach to application compatibility testing. Find out more about Citrix AppDNA here. And while you’re browsing through the site, check out The Application Migration Workbook to understand the Citrix approach to application compatibility testing.

IT Professionals: How PHIWUG Can Help Your Technical Career

My thoughts are racing once again, and I need to let this out. Too long to post in PHIWUG’s Facebook account, so I will just write it in my blog.

The IT professional world is full of technically proficient folks. Yes of course, that is OUR line and that’s what we are paid to do. But based on my IT career experience, one cannot become a network engineer forever. Sooner or later one would need to break out into something beyond administering and engineering.

And this is where community user groups like the Philippine Windows Users Group (PHIWUG) comes in to help us in our career development.

Most of us think that attending PHIWUG events would give us the technical knowledge to do our jobs. This is not necessarily so. If you ask me as a speaker in community events, more often than not, the topics shared by PHIWUG are too much for most of the attendees, and they end up getting nothing practical by way of new technical knowledge. Why? Because chances are, PHIWUG would have featured a new technology, which for someone passionate about technology, would just salivate on it. However, since that person does not have business development responsibilities in the company, the new knowledge ends up as a general FYI and not really practically usable in the organization.

In fact, the only practical takeaway an attendee gets may be free dinner.

The Philippine Windows Users Group (PHIWUG) is a non-profit local community of Microsoft Windows users ranging from Server Administrators, Engineers, and enthusiasts coming together to share and learn from each other on the topics related to Windows with emphasis on Windows Platforms.

Break out from an “engineering” mindset

IT professionals, you need to break out into something beyond the engineering role. An IT professional sooner or later becomes a trainer, a consultant, a presales technology specialist, an architect, a project manager, and so on and so forth. For all of these roles, different levels of technology knowledge is needed. However, one skill is A MUST in all of these roles: PRESENTATION. Yes, the IT professional cannot hide behind his or her console forever. One sooner or later needs to get out, get dressed, stand in front of people and talk to them about our technology. If you are currently in an engineering role in your company unfortunately you may not have the opportunity to get out in front of people to present.

PHIWUG will give you that opportunity. While you’re reading this, you may be aware that PHIWUG has regular community events. Where do they get their speakers from? People from the community who are very eager to share their stuff! Public speaking is something not natural for most if not all of these folks (including myself). Our only strength comes from that overflowing passion to share the tachnology with the community. If you are a well-versed public speaker and attend a PHIWUG event, you would know. PHIWUG speakers do not follow the usual norms of public speaking simply because they speak from the heart. The formal skills and confidence in public speaking comes later on

Even the best PHIWUG speakers started with trembling hands and knees!

If you have that desire yet you think “Oh, the PHIWUG speakers are so good I’m nothing compared to them,” well stop that thought! If it’s a consolation to you, all of us PHIWUG speakers started with trembling knees and mouse clicks that don’t hit their mark because of nervousness! Everyone started from nothing, so better start now! Lucky for you there is an opportunity where you can mess up your presentation and NOT get fired because of it! There are different levels of being in front presenting during events. One can be the speaker for the event, or one can assist with the demos and have little or even no speaking roles, just to build up confidence little by little. So take this opportunity to build up your career with the necessary skills. Oh, did I mention that you get to rub elbows with experts in their field? That’s another bonus!

Call to action

For one to get the most out of PHIWUG community events, one has to get out of the attendee’s chair and get onto the speaker’s podium. Talk to your PHIWUG leads and tell them you are interested in a speaking/demoing role, and participate actively in the PHIWUG Facebook discussions. It will give you the confidence and necessary skills later in your career. You want to get some skills out of PHIWUG events? Attend! You want to get THE MOST out of PHIWUG events? Deliver!

MVP Renewed for 2013

April 1 once again, and in spite of all the April Fools’ jokes going around, I anxiously wait for one very important message: that my MVP has been renewed! This year I got that same message again! Only this time, I am no longer categorized under Enterprise Security (where my previous projects took me), and into Windows Expert – Consumer (where my current gigs take me). Hope that this year would be fruitful in terms of writings and community events.

Considering a BYOD Policy for your Organization?

The scenario is familiar: your organization is inundated with connected unmanaged devices. The requests for corporate network access for tablets, smartphones and personal laptops which started from the top of the pyramid is now getting lower and lower, and subsequently more and more. Since you can’t beat them, at least come up with a system where your IT infrastructure can accommodate these devices while maintaining data security. Thus was born your organization’s Bring Your Own Device, or BYOD policy. You are not alone: many an organization’s BYOD policy started out the same way. The upside? Less capital expenditure for end-user devices. Note that I said end-user devices, don’t expect less CAPEX across the board since there’s no such thing as free lunch! But as an IT person, I personally would rather invest in the back-end infrastructure than end-user devices which, let’s admit it, has a very short life expectancy.

These questions often come out in mapping out the plans for a BYOD policy:

Who are candidates for BYOD? Altough the organization can opt to make this available to everyone, the best candidates are mobile workers, those whose roles can enable them to work from home (which is another practice gaining ground nowadays), and 3rd party contractors. For the first two examples, the objective is to address their mobility. The 3rd party contractors may be in your premises, but of course your organization may not be in a financial situation to purchase laptops for 3rd party use. If your organization is an educational one, then you will have a bigger population of candidates — the students!

What to access? By implementing and formalizing the corporate BYOD policy, you can now control what the endpoint devices can access and stop the assumption that they SHOULD be able to access whatever the corporate managed devices can access. For one, to ensure data security, these devices should only be able to access a managed host, and not actual data (which they can extract into their personal devices), or the apps (e.g., SAP). There are two ways of doing this: either implement Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), or roll out Windows to Go in your organization. Either way, the desktop operating system available to the devices comply with corporate security standards, because YOU the IT guy can make it so!

From which devices? Of course, personal devices. Which ones? Well that depends on which client can connect to your VDI infrastructure. A Microsoft-based VDI requires the Remote Desktop Services client, and this may be limited depending on the device (e.g., as of the time of writing, Apple iPad and iPhone does not have RDS client built-in). If your organization intends to implement the VDI solution from Citrix, for example, the Citrix Receiver is the client that you need, and this one is available free to a wide range of devices. Oh, and before we forget, consider also that these devices need to be enrolled and delisted from your BYOD program as needed.

How to manage? Yes, this is an important question. Do your homework on solutions to manage the devices, especially the non company owned ones. Ensure that these solutions support the device technologies intended to be part of your BYOD scheme. Devices are to be checked for security compliance before they could be enrolled, and they are to be delisted as needed. Most of all, if ever there is company data in the device, this data should be wiped off from the device when the device is delisted from the BYOD program.

We live in exciting times when the PC may not be the primary productivity device. By implementing VDI and BYOD, your organization can enjoy the usage of the latest technologies, less capital expenditure for client devices, and  more productive and happier end-users.

First crack at Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012

Due to a compelling and forced rebuild of my home/lab server, I installed Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012. It is, per my observation, a Windows Server 2012 Server Core with only the Hyper-V role installed. I have to say, it is very lightweight and has a very light footprint if one intends to build a server only for the hypervisor.

Advantages

1. Lightweight, very quick installation compared to a full-blown Windows setup.
2. Being lightweight also means I can pump in more machines in there than its predecessor, whose host OS already consumes some resources due to its full-blown Windows installation nature.
3. Less Windows components installed means less patches and leaner attack surface.

 

However I was also presented with the following challenges

1. Knowledge in remote administration and scripting is required to properly administer the server
2. There is no consolidated remote administration tool from Microsoft. We are used to MMC, yes. But once you have experience working with other hypervisor products, one can’t help but notice that Microsoft has no consolidated tool to administer a Hyper-V Server Core. You will choose between command line commands, PowerShell scripting and MMC console, depending on the task (although this presents an opportunity for me to create a consolidated writeup on the matter).

 

High-level tasks needed in setting up your own Hyper-V Server 2012 are as follows:

1. Setup the Hyper-V Server 2012
2. Logon, enable Remote Adminsitration, and configure the server. Here there are tons of things needed to be done to be able to remotely administer the server, like enabling Windows Firewall rules, starting up services, etc. Remember – as long as it’s done on the server, either you use command prompt commands or Powershell scripts.
3. Setup your remote administration client by adding the RSAT feature in Windows 7.
4. Continue configuring the server from the remote administration tools.

More posts on configuration problems and solutions to follow. Meanwhile, here are some pics.

The initial Hyper-V Server 2012 installation screen. Although it looks like a typical Windows Server installation, it is a lot faster than its full-blown counterpart.

The Server Core console, after installation and logged on. There’s a simple text-based menu for the initial tasks, but after this there’s a lot more things needed to be done.

Here’s what the logged off screen looks like.

 

One of my favorite features in this release is the dynamic memory provisioning capability. Guests can be allocated more (or less) memory depending on the availability.

 

jay paloma  |  9th jan 2012  |  singapore

Presenting, The Top 10 Posts for 2012!!!

Here they are … drum roll please!

1. Active Directory Organizational Unit Design Principles
2. Active Directory Forest Design Principles
3. Workaround: Outlook rules don’t run on additional MAPI mailboxes
4. Active Directory Site and Replication Design Principles
5. Active Directory Group Policy Design Principles
6. Active Directory Domain Design Principles
7. Using WMI to Filter GPO’s based on Windows Version and Role
8. Hyper-V Virtualization Stencils for Visio 2010
9. My Top Gun Anthem Story: Using Backing Tracks in a Live Performance
10. MDT 2010 Update 1 – Part 1 of 3 – What is User Driven Installation?

Category summary as follows:

1. Active Directory = 6
2. Messaging = 1
3. Office = 1
4. Music = 1
5. Deployment = 1

Thank you very much and Happy New Year to all!

jay paloma  |  31 dec 2012  |  singapore