Installation guide

16 Implementing Windows Terminal Server and Citrix MetaFrame on IBM ^ xSeries Servers
3.1 Pilot phases
A WTS and MetaFrame pilot can be divided into the following phases:
1. Install the applications and test functionality in a multi-user environment.
2. Define the number of users and significant performance factors.
3. Define acceptable performance.
4. Establish baseline Terminal Server performance.
5. Run the pilot with your group of test users.
6. Measure Terminal Server performance during the test.
7. Gather user feedback.
8. Identify capacity limits.
9. Resolve issues found during the pilot.
Using the information gained from the pilot allows you to make sound judgements about the
number of servers required and the overall system design.
Consider reviewing Citrix Engineer Douglas Brown’s “Methodology in a Box”. It provides an
overall Citrix thin-client methodology that can assist you from the pilot through
implementation. You can find Methodology in a Box on the Web at:
http://www.dabcc.com/miab/default.htm
3.1.1 Testing applications in a multi-user environment
This is one of the most important phases of your Windows Terminal Server pilot. You need to
install all of the applications that you want to run on WTS to ensure that they operate as
expected in a multi-user environment. To illustrate the importance of testing, we provide a
real-life example.
One of our customers wanted to run a Telnet application on WTS. In principle, this is a simple
exercise. However, during testing, we found that user authentication was not working
correctly. Analysis showed that the server was authenticating users based on each
individual’s IP address. In a WTS environment, all users share a single IP address. The
resolution was to transmit the user’s Independent Computing Architecture (ICA) client name
to the server for use as a unique identifier.
This example illustrates that, in a WTS environment, you need to ensure that you test all
functions of your application thoroughly, especially before a large WTS rollout. You can find
information about installation and compatibility for several common applications in 5.4,
“Application installation and configuration examples” on page 43.
3.1.2 Securing the terminal server
Windows Terminal Server should be further secured using Group Policy Objects (GPOs).
Typical examples include using a GPO to hide a server’s drives from users or to remove a
user’s ability to run administrative tools. Use the pilot to test how you will implement GPOs
and to ensure they meet your security needs. The power of GPOs to secure and manage your
environment is enhanced with Windows Server 2003.
You can find a sample of GPO in 5.2, “Group Policy Object (GPO) and profile configuration”
on page 37. The same section also explains how to customize your users’ Start menu under
Windows 2000 to provide a simplified user desktop.