How to create a streaming profile using the Citrix Streaming Profiler
13th January 2007
Application streaming is a new option available in Citrix 4.5. If you wish to know more about what it is then click here. If you wish to know how to go about getting an application “streamed” then you are in the right place.
I am going to publish an application using application streaming in Citrix Presentation Server 4.5. To make this example simple I have chosen Microsoft Word as the application we are going to publish. This will be done in three stages. Firstly we create a profile of the application, then we publish it and finally we install the streaming client and ensure it works. I make the assumption that you have Citrix 4.5 Enterprise Version and the relevant management consoles already installed.
The Profiler
The Citrix Streaming Profiler can be found on the components CD included with Citrix Presentation server 4.5 Enterprise Edition. The idea is that you create a profile for the relevant operating system you wish to publish the appliation to, then store this profile on a network share where you can later publish the application. The profiler is therefore installed on a PC rather than on a Citrix server. You can create several profiles for one application if you wish to publish it to different operating systems such as Windows 2000 or XP. In this instance we shall create just one profile for Windows XP. Once you have installed from the components PC go to start, programs, Citrix, Streaming Profiler and you will be presented with the screen below. It should also be noted that some of the limitations of streaming are that it’s only available in the Enterprise edition and only available for the following clients:
Windows 2000
Windows XP
The PC you use for profiling should be as “clean” as possible with the same configuration as the PCs you will be publishing the app to ie installed on C drive, same service pack level if possible etc. As mentioned before the Citrix Streaming Profiler is include with the components CD so insert this into the PC you have selected to create the profile on and you will be presented with the following screen:
1.) Select Presentation Server Utilities.
2.) Select Install Citrix Streaming Profiler for Windows as below.
3.) New Profile
4.) Next.
5.) Enter a name for the profile. If there are other administrators apart from yourself and you have mixed operating systems etc it would be worth specifying this in the name ie: “MS Word for XP SP2″. As this is a quick run through I’m just going to call mine MS Word
6.) Select enhanced security.
7.) Select the operating system and language. See number eight for specifying levels of service pack.
8.) By default as you can see above the default is set as “All Service Pack Levels”. If you wish to specify a paticular service pack level just click on the “Set Service Pack Level” button and you will be presented with the following screen.
9.) We will select Quick Installer as we are just running the one application install.
10.) Next you are asked for the location of your setup files. Just browse to the install file on the CD or whereever you have it installed.
11.) Now you just click the “launch installer” button and wait. This may take a few minutes depending on the application size etc.
12.) The next is a clever bit. There are certain things that happen the first time you run applications. In the case of word the obvious example if that you may need to activate it. Obviously you don’t want every one of your users you publish the app to having to activate it and other setup procedures which will ultimately end up generating more work for yourself. You now have the opportunity to do this yourself. Simply highlight the relevant install selection and click run. You can then activate the product, enter serial number etc which will all be saved in the profile.
13.) When you have ran through the “first timers” as below click next.
14.) Now you are asked what applications you wish to publish. Select the relevant ones, just Word in my case and click Next.
15.) We will not sign the profile. Whether you do or not depends on your circumstances and company policies. I am running a very small network and this applicaion will be published for about a day to one PC so it’s not worth it in my case.
16.) You are now presented with an overview of what your profile will contain. Check it looks right and click finish. This may take some time.
17.) You can now see the complete profile, the files that it needs, the operating sytems you have created it for etc.
18.) Finally you need to save the profile somewhere. Ideally you should save it on a network share and remember it must be accessible by the relevant users. This does not have to be a Citrix server. I would recommend to save it on to a highly available file server.
Your Profile is now created. You can move on to phase two which is to publish the application.