Load Balance AppV 5.1 using Citrix ADC 11.x/12.x

Pre-requisite tasks

Step 1: Launch Active Directory User & Computers, Create a new Computer account in the Correct OU (in my case LAB\Lab Servers\VCS\Appv

PRE1

Step 2: Launch DNS Server Name > Forward Lookup Zone > LAB.LOCAL. Enter the below information and click Add Host

Name: LAB-APPV
IP Address: 192.168.0.96 (this will be a VIP Address created later in the article)

PRE2

Step 3: Run the following in Powershell (run as administrator) command to enable Kerberos for the LB Computer Account.

setspn -a http/lab-appv:50001 LAB\LAB-APPV
setspn -a http/lab-appv:50002 LAB\LAB-APPV
setspn -a http/lab-appv:50003 LAB\LAB-APPV
setspn -a http/lab-appv.lab.local:50001 LAB\LAB-APPV
setspn -a http/lab-appv.lab.local:50002 LAB\LAB-APPV
setspn -a http/lab-appv.lab.local:50003 LAB\LAB-APPV

PRE3

Add Load Balance Configuration

Step 1: Browse to Traffic Management > Load Balancing > Servers

sf1

Step 2: At Server, Click Add

sf2

Step 3: Enter Name and IP Address below, then click create

Name: LAB-APV1
IP Address: 192.168.0.43

APPV-LB

Step 4: Click Add again under Server, Enter Name and IP Address below, then click create

Name: LAB-APPV2
IP Address: 192.168.0.44

APPV-LB2

Step 5: The two server will now be add to server page.

Step 9: Browse to Traffic Management > Load Balancing > Service Groups

sf8

Step 10: Add the following info on basic setting, click OK

Name: LAB-SVG-APPV-MGT
Protocol: TCP

APPV-LB4

Step 11: Click No Service Group Members under services and groups section

Step 12: Choose Server Based, then Click to Select

APS-LBSVC-23

Step 13: Under Select Server Choose LAB-APPV1 , Add Port 50001 , click create and then repeat step 9/10 for LAB-APPV2

Step 14: Click OK at Load Balancing Service Group Main Page to create Service Group.

APPV-LB9

Step 15: Select Monitors from Advanced Setting, Click No Service Group to Monitor Bindings

Step 16:

APS-LBSVC-26

Step 17: Select TCP Monitor, Click Select

APPV-LB10

Step 18: Select Bind with weight left at 1

APPV-LB12

Step 21: Click Done to complete service group

Step 22: Repeat Step 9-14 with the additional appv ports for administrators:

Service Group:-

Name: LAB-SVG-APPV-PUB
Protocol: TCP
Port: 50002
Server Members : LAB-APPV1, LAB-APPV2
Monitor : TCP
No Threshold

Name: LAB-SVG-APPV-REP
Protocol: TCP
Port: 50003
Server Members : LAB-APPV1, LAB-APPV2
Monitor : TCP
No Threshold

APPV-LB14

Step 24: Browse to Traffic Management\Load Balancing\Virtual Server, Click Add

Step 25: Enter the following information. Click Ok

Name: LAB-VSRV-APPV-MGT
Protocol: TCP
IP Address: 192.168.0.96
Port: 50001

Step 26: Select No Load Balancing Virtual Server ServiceGroup

Step 27: Under ServiceGroup Binding, Click to Select

APS-LBSVC-34

Step 28: Select LAB-SVG-APPV-MGT and Click Select

APPV-LB17

Step 29: Click Bind

APPV-LB18

Step 30: Click Continue,then select Method from Advanced Setting

Step 31: Set the following information, then click OK, Then click Done

Load Balancing Method: Least Connection
Backup LB: Round Robin

Step 32: Repeat Step 24-31

AppV Publishing Service

VServer & Service Group

Name: LAB-VSRV-APPV-PUB
Protocol: TCP
IP Address: 192.168.0.96
Port: 50002
Service Group: LAB-SVG-APPV-MGT

Persistence

None required, leave Least Connection for Method

AppV Reporting Service

VServer & Service Group

Name: LAB-VSRV-APPV-REP
Protocol: TCP
IP Address: 192.168.0.96
Port: 50003
Service Group: LAB-SVG-APPV-REP

Persistence

None required, leave Least Connection for Method

Step 53: Confirm all 3 Virtual Servers appear Up.

APPV-LB20

Test & confirm Load Balance

Step 1: Access the AppV Management http://lab-appv:50001

Step 2: Confirm the AppV Management Console loads and packages are shown.

Step 3: Access the AppV Management http://lab-appv:50002 with a user that had packages assigned (in my case LAB\ctxuser1

Step 4: Confirm on accessing the webpage that the packages that are assigned are listed on the <Packages> </Packages>

APPV-LB22

Step 5: Access the AppV Management http://lab-appv:50003 with a user that had packages assigned (in my case LAB\ctxuser1

Step 6: Confirm on accessing the webpage the below screen appears. The method not allowed is ok as it is expecting other information in the request.

APPV-LB23

4 comments

Gerard says:

April 26, 2017 at 12:45 pm

Hi David.
thank you for your article. It works fine.

When we change to ssl, bind the certificate to the virtual server, to the iis on the app-v Server, create the dns record, it doesn´t work. Can you recommend us the best practise to use ssl for this szenario?

Thank you in advance
Gérard

LikeLike

- Wilky says:
  
  April 27, 2017 at 8:30 am
  
  Hi Gerard,
  
  Are you binding the certificate to the three separate websites? To do this you’ll need to re-configure each existing website to another port , then r-bind to select https, existing port configured during installation and then selecting the certificate. Repeat then for each of the website and then remove the http binding.
  
  Nothing on the load balancing configuration needs to be change.
  
  i’ll publish an article on how this is done if that helps.
  
  LikeLike
  
- Wilky says:
  
  April 27, 2017 at 9:04 am
  
  i have complete a article to cover enabling SSL communication in AppV – https://wilkyit.com/2017/04/27/appv-5-1-configuring-ssl-for-appv-managementpublishing-and-reporting-services/
  
  Hope this helps and resolves your issue
  
  LikeLike
  
AppV 5.1 – Configuring SSL for AppV Management/Publishing and Reporting Services | Wilky.IT - Desktop Virtualisation Blog says:

April 27, 2017 at 9:02 am

[…] is a follow on my previous post – Installing Microsoft App-V 5.1 on Windows Server 2016 and Load Balance AppV 5.1 using Netscaler 11.x/12.x on how to secure the communication within App-V by using SSL instead of the default […]

LikeLike