Lab: Part 14 – Citrix StoreFront 3.x

How to install a new Citrix StoreFront farm with two servers.

More from the Lab!

 

We already discussed StoreFront installation in this blog post. Below is an update for the lab.

Make sure to check out our guide to optimize Storefront 3: StoreFront 3 optimizations.

Installation

Lab configuration

Virtual Machine #1 – StoreFront secondary server

• Name: SF01
• NSIP address: 10.0.0.31
• Subnet mask: 255.0.0.0
• 1024 MB of RAM
• 1 vCPU
• Network adapter: 1 – LAN (vLAN ID 2)
• 50 GB HDD
• Windows Server 2012 Datacenter Edition

Virtual Machine #2 – StoreFront primary server

• Name: SF02
• NSIP address: 10.0.0.32
• Subnet mask: 255.0.0.0
• 1024 MB of RAM
• 1 vCPU
• Network adapter: 1 – LAN (vLAN ID 2)
• 50 GB HDD
• Windows Server 2012 Datacenter Edition

Download StoreFront 3.x

Go to https://www.citrix.com/downloads/storefront-web-interface/product-software/storefront-30.html.

The current version available is 3.0.1.

Features

• Version 3.0.1 includes support for TLS 1.0 and 1.1
• Unified Receiver provides modern, centrally-managed and customizable user app selection experience across all user devices.
• Google Chrome Support without NPAPI.
• Delegating Authentication to XenApp and XenDesktop when there is no AD trust between sites.
• Treat All Desktops as Applications to apply Workspace Control and group icons together.
• Integrated Monitoring Service enables NetScaler to monitor StoreFront.
• Extended Store Customization SDK for business logic.

StoreFront documentation is available here.

Primary StoreFront installation

Connect on the primary StoreFront server. (SF02 in the lab)

You now need to create a new deployment to setup your first store.

Configure StoreFront

Our base URL is http://storefront. For this part of the lab, we do not use SSL.

Now enter the name of your new store. This will appear in the URL of the website.
http://<baseURL>/Citrix/<STORE>Web

Configure the new store by adding new services (XenApp, XenDesktop, etc.)

 

Our test StoreFront is only for internal access, no need to configure Remote Access.

Your first server is now configured. Now let’s take a look at the configuration.

On the left, take a look at Server Group, Authentication, Stores, Receiver for Web.

Create a new DNS record in your configuration:

Host A: storefront 10.0.0.32

Open a browser window, and navigate to http://storefront.citrixguru.lab/Citrix/CitrixGuruStoreWeb.

Connect with a domain account.

Secondary StoreFront installation

Connect on the secondary StoreFront server. (SF01 in the lab)

Repeat the same steps as for the primary StoreFront server.

Join Secondary StoreFront

On your primary server, go to Server group, select Add Server on the right.

StoreFront will generate an Authorization code for the process.

Authorizing server: SF02
Authorization code: 81111859

Go back on the secondary StoreFront server (SF01) and select Join Existing server group.

Type the server and the code previously generated by StoreFront.

After few minutes, the operation is successfully processed.

 

The secondary server was successfully installed.

Update the previously created DNS record in your configuration:

Host A: storefront 10.0.0.31

Open a browser window, and navigate to http://storefront.citrixguru.lab/Citrix/CitrixGuruStoreWeb.

Flush your DNS configuration

Both StoreFront servers are working.

Make sure to check out our guide to optimize Storefront 3: StoreFront 3 optimizations.

More from the Lab!