Citrix interview questions and answers for freshers and experienced professionals. These Citrix FAQ's are prepared by Citrix subject experts.
1. What is ICA?
Ans.
ICA – Independent Computing Architecture:
- Application publishing is supported by ICA.
- Low bandwidth is sufficient for ICA.
- Encryption is possible I ICA.
- Keyboard and Mouse inputs are present in ICA.
- ICA ensures session reliability.
2. What is RDP – Remote Desktop Protocol?
Ans.
RDP – Remote Desktop Protocol:
- RDP works only under TCP/IP.
- RDP does not support applications to run in a browser.
- Session reliability is not ensured by RDP.
3. What is Citrix Access Gateway?
Ans.
- CAG is a universal Secured Socket Layer Virtual Private Network appliance.
- It is a blend of best features of IPSec and SSL VPN.
- It allows easy access to the users and secure access to company.
- Any information resource can be gained by using CAG with secure, single point access, always-on features.
- Any firewall is supported for Citrix Access Gateway.
- Supports various types of applications, including IP telephony.
- Any application that is hosted on Citrix Presentation Server can be accessed in a secured manner.
4. Explain the load evaluators are supported in Citrix?
Ans.
- CPU Utilization
- Memory Utilization
- IP Range
- Page Swap
- Page Faults
- Disk Data I/O
- Context Switches
- Scheduling
- User Application Load
- Server Application Load
5. Do you have any idea ICA file in Citrix?
Ans.
- ICA stands for Independent Computing Architecture.
- It contains published application information.
- ICA file has Windows ‘ini’ format.
- It is organized in such a way that MetaFrame Presentation Server Clients can interpret.
- ICA file will initialize a client’s session running on the server.
- The MetaFrame Presentation Server‘s clients uses the ICA protocol for input formats and addresses the input to the server for further processing.
6. Can you explain what are the differences between ICA and RDP?
Ans.
ICA – Independent Computing Architecture:
- Application publishing is supported by ICA.
- Low bandwidth is sufficient for ICA.
- Encryption is possible I ICA.
- Keyboard and Mouse inputs are present in ICA.
- ICA ensures session reliability.
RDP – Remote Desktop Protocol:
- RDP works only under TCP/IP.
- RDP does not support applications to run in a browser.
- Session reliability is not ensured by RDP.
7. Do you know what is the limit of refresh time for Local Host Cache in Citrix?
Ans.
- LHC refresh time is 30 minutes.
- LHC can be created when IMA is stopped.
8. Tell me how to set the refresh time?
Ans.
- User the option "dsmaint recreatelhc" or "dsmaint refreshlhc" -> restart IMA.
9. Can you please explain how to see the LHC information?
Ans.
- The LHC information is available in the file imalhc.mdb.
- This file is available in c:\program files\citrix\independent management architecture\ directory
10. Do you know how to implement policies to streamed applications?
Ans.
- Open the application profile with Streaming Profiler.
- Move to Target and click on Edit->Target Properties.
- Move to Rules Tab.
- Add an Ignore Registry rule that is similar to the description I CTX10352.
- The GPO’s of the domain will be applied.
- Customize GPO configuration.
11. Do you have any idea about Citrix XML broker?
Ans.
- It functions as an intermediary between the farm and Web Interface.
- XML Broker receives the credentials of user from the Web Interface.
- XML Broker retrieves the applications which have user permissions to access.
- This is done by Independent Management Architecture and returns to the Web Interface.
- Once the user is authenticated, the XML broker locates the server in the farm.
- XML Broker returns the address of the service rendering server to the Web Interface.
- XMS Service functions between Web Interface and IMA service.
12. Tell me what is Speed Screen Latency Reduction?
Ans.
- SLR is built into MetaFrame Presentation servers and ICA client systems that provides users to experience smooth typing, where the latency is high between ICA client and the server.
- Smooth typing experience is provided while writing MS Word document, where the latency is 200 / 500 or even 1000ms of latency between them.
- Speed Screen Latency Reduction provides local text echo.
- This allows characters to be appeared on the ICA client device screen.
- After pressing a key, the ICA client sends the key press code to the server.
- The server processes the key sent, places the character into the screen buffer.
- Finally it sends the latest screen image to the client device.
13. Please tell me what is load balancing in Citrix?
Ans.
- Load balancing is a feature that distributes client requests across servers for optimum utilization of the resources.
- In a real-time scenario, the services are provided to large number of clients from a limited number of servers.
- To reduce the load on servers, the system selects certain servers.
- These servers implements certain criteria to forward incoming requests.
- There are virtual servers that identifies the server using the load balancing criteria.
- When the client connects to the server, the virtual sersver terminates the connection and initiates a new connection with the selected server.
- The load balancing feature manages the traffic from layer 4 (TCP / UDP) to layer 7(FTP,HTTP)
14. Please explain XML Service of Citrix?
Ans.
- An interface for HTTP is provided as a service to the ICA browser.
- TCP packets are used by this XML Service.
- TCP in XML Service allows to work across many firewalls.
- The port that supports Citrix XML Service is 80.
15. Can you please explain what is shadowing?
Ans.
- The Shadowing feature enables one user to join remotely to another user.
- One user can access the session of another user remotely.
By joining remotely, the user accessing another user, can diagnose or take technical support from the other user.
16. How to remove a dead server from the Citrix Management Console?
Ans.
- Execute the DSVERIFY SERVERS /CLEAN /FORCE for optimizing the Data Store.
- DSVerify can run on any of the server in the farm.
- MetaFrame feature release 3 has a command line tool known as DSCHECK.
- Use the following command using DSVerify command line tool:
--- DSCHECK / CHECK
- Or right click on the ‘server in the farm’ and click ‘Remove Server from Farm’.
- Use this option when the servers no longer operational.
17. Tell me what is the use of Independent Management Architecture?
Ans.
- IMA has a data store, a database to store MetaFrame XP configuration information.
- IMA has a protocol, to transfer the changing data between MetaFrame XP servers including server load and current user connections.
- IMA verifies the connections between Citrix Presentation Server and Citrix Management Console.
- Its architecture is separated from Windows Management Architecture.
- IMA is linked with Meta Frame Common Object Model (MF-COM) services.
- These links enables to remove individual servers from Citrix Management Console.
18. Please tell us what are the services provided by Citrix?
Ans.
The services that are provided by Citrix are:
- Citrix Virtual Memory Optimization Service.
- Encryption Service.
- Citrix XTE Service.
- Independent Management Architecture.
- Citrix SMA Service (Switch Monitoring and Accessories).
- Secure Gateway Service.
- Diagnostic Facility Common Object Model (COM) Service.
19. Tell us what is the purpose of Zones?
Ans.
- Data collector persist information about user’s session, Zones and published applications.
- A farm has subset known as Zone.
- Zone has various server members.
- One of the server members is Zone Data Collector.
- Communications is established among Zones using ZDCs.
- Zones are useful in traffic controlling.
20. Do you know what is Citrix?
Ans.
- Citrix is an application deployment system.
- Applications are delivered to remote systems.
- Using Citrix, one can access the customized applications.
- Citrix allows users to share documents among users.
- Emails can be accessed using citrix.
- Citrix allows file transfer from home computer to office computer.
21. Can you explain what is Local Host Cache (LHC) and what is the purpose of LHC?
Ans.
- The LHC is a name given to the MS Access database which is created on every local MPS server.
- It stores the partitions of the Data Store to keep the server function, when an outrage occurs.
- When the data store goes offline, the server will continue functioning normally
- The LHC database enables the data store functionality up to 48 hours.
- LHC will ensure the data accessibility that is pertinent locally, even though the database is not available.
22. Can you please explain what are the ports associated with Citrix services?
Ans.
- Default ICA port is A: 1494.
- Default listening port for Citrix XML Service is 80.
- ICA : 1494.
- UDP port used for client broadcasting is 1604.
- IMA port numbers are 2512, 2513.
- CMC, SSL port number is 443.
- Server to SQL port is 1433.
- Port for Session Reliability is 2598.
- Port number for licensing is 27000.
23. Do you know how does Citrix work?
Ans.
- To work with Citrix, install the Terminal Services of OS.
- Citrix allows multiple users to execute multiple applications on its server.
- At the time of running the applications, the screen shots are sent to the client system.
- The keyboard inputs and mouse movements are sent to the Citrix Server.
- Then the accessibility to the applications is done by client.
- Citrix will back up the applications’ data, if required by the client.
24. Please tell us what is the need of Data Store?
Ans.
- Data Store is a database which contains all the configuration information required by the Citrix Farm.
- Changes can be made at any time to the Meta Frame Server.
- These changes are persisted in the Data Store.
- Data store will store the following information:
1. Server Configuration.
2. User Configuration.
3. Print Environment.
4. Published Application
25. Can you please explain what are the effective uses of Citrix?
Ans.
- Users can gain access to remote systems by configuring dial up settings.
- Users can backup data on the remote drive from their workstations.
- Microsoft Outlook accessibility is faster for dialup users
- Cloud computing is made effective using Citrix
- Allows maintaining virtualization to manage virtual data centers and maintain virtual work styles.
26. What are the steps to clearing xenserver cache?
Ans.
Dnscmd ServerName /clearcache