Citrix: How to perform an unattended installation of the Cloud Gateway Express

At one of my customers there was a question to deploy the Cloud Gateway Express unattended. To do so we first have to install the prerequisites, from the eDocs:

Before the components are installed, the .NET Framework 3.5.1 Features > .NET Framework 3.5.1 feature and the Web Server (IIS) role are deployed, and the following role services are enabled if they are not already configured on the server.

  • Web Server > Common HTTP Features > Static Content, Default Document, HTTP Errors, HTTP Redirection
  • Web Server > Application Development > ASP.NET, .NET Extensibility, ISAPI Extensions, ISAPI Filters
  • Web Server > Health and Diagnostics > HTTP Logging
  • Web Server > Security > Windows Authentication, Request Filtering
  • Management Tools > IIS Management Console, IIS Management Scripts and Tools
  • Management Tools > IIS 6 Management Compatibility > IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility, IIS 6 WMI Compatibility, IIS 6 Scripting Tools

These features can be installed via Powershell:

[codesyntax lang=”powershell”]

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[codesyntax lang=”powershell”]

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And the installation of the Citrix Receiver Storefront can be made unattended by using the following command line:

[codesyntax lang=”dos”]

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Next phase is to configure the Cloud Gateway Express but because I’m joining an existing Server Group I have to find a way to create an Authorization Code in order to join the existing Server Group.

To join an existing server group

  1. If the Citrix Receiver Storefront management console is not already open after installation of Receiver Storefront, click Start > All Programs > Citrix > Citrix Receiver Storefront.
  2. In the results pane of the Citrix Receiver Storefront management console, click Join existing server group.
  3.  Log on to the primary server in the Receiver Storefront deployment that you wish to join and open the Citrix Receiver Storefront management console. Select the Server Group node in the left pane of the console and, in the Actions pane, click Add Server. Make a note of the authorization code that is displayed.
  4. Return to the secondary server and specify the name of the primary server in the existing server deployment that you wish to join. Enter the authorization code obtained from that server and click Join.
  5. Once the new server has joined the deployment, return to the primary server and, in the left pane of the Citrix Receiver Storefront management console, select the Server Group node. In the Actionspane, click Propagate Changes.The configurations of all the secondary servers in the deployment, including the new server you just added, are updated to match the configuration of the primary server.

The new secondary server is added to your deployment and all servers in the group are updated with details of the new server.

To manage your multiple server deployment, use only the Citrix Receiver Storefront management console on the primary server. Any configuration changes you make on the primary server must be propagated to the secondary servers to ensure a consistent configuration across the deployment.

As you can see the current eDocs don’t really mention this way of deployment so when I get more information on how to configure the Cloud Gateway Express I will add this to this blogpost.

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Kees Baggerman

Kees Baggerman is a Staff Solutions Architect for End User Computing at Nutanix. Kees has driven numerous Microsoft and Citrix, and RES infrastructures functional/technical designs, migrations, implementations engagements over the years.

3 comments

  1. Supported unattended installs/configs have always been an issue with WI and as it seems history repeats itself…

    /Henrik J
    /HenrikJay@Twitter

  2. @Henrik Johansson
    Note…not impossible…just an issue… 🙂

  3. Aaron Parker says:

    Here’s the PowerShell commands to enable the required IIS options – a little less verbose:

    Import-Module ServerManager
    Add-WindowsFeature –Name Web-Server,Web-WebServer,Web-App-Dev,Web-ISAPI-Ext,Web-ISAPI-Filter,Web-Security,Web-Basic-Auth,Web-Windows-Auth,Web-Mgmt-Tools,Web-Scripting-Tools,Web-Http-Redirect,Web-Mgmt-Compat,Web-Metabase,Web-WMI,Web-Lgcy-Scripting

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