Expert... 2 citrix servers with different gateways!!!!! 1

[riannuzzi]

Hi All.

I am running Metaframe XP

What I would like to do is put 2 servers with the same application in the same farm and publish it. I would like each citrix server to have its own default gateway hence its own internet connection. So if one internet connection goes down the clients can still access the application through the live connection. I realize I will need 1 ALTADDR command on each server.

Is this possible or will this cause issues with citrix, I find that citrix can not do complicated things well. The clients will be connecting directly to the IP using tcp 1494/1604. If anyone has done this please advise.....

Thanks

 

[DDILL]

First I want to make sure you are aware that you will need 1494 and 80. You mentioned you are running XP and you should not be running the browser subsystem. As for the setup you are reffering to this should not be very complicated at all. I would recommend using two NIC cards though and let the server to server communication occur over an internal network. This should be one zone since you are only talking two servers and you should have enough bandwidth to transmit load balancing data, etc. Try reviewing the Advanced Concepts guide for details on server to server communication and zones. Citrix is actually pretty good at doing complex setups. Citrix focuses on Enterprise companies and Enterprise companies focus on complexity :>).

 

[riannuzzi]

Ok Thanks for the tips.

I failed to mention that this system is currently running live. There are 2 separate farms on each server. The reason I did this is because if one farm database fails I will have the other. I was thinking of putting both servers in the same farm but I don't like the idea f having one database that can fail and bring doen both servers. Remember the published app is the same on both server. So far I have redundant internet lines, redundant servers and redundant farms. The clients are coming on to both servers using 1494/1604 with the win2000 ica client.

My problem is sometimes the application goes blank and that citrix server accepts connections but every connection thereafter gives a black screen so I need to re-boot to fix the problem. I think this is because the citrix servers are getting confused...

Any comments

 

[maximumbit]

sounds like your main objective is redudancy. You should really be doing the secondary internet connection on your network layer and not mess with Citrix. You should configure a backup line on your router if the primary goes out. The citrix servers can be in one farm, add additional servers with the same applications so you split your load and have some level of redudancy.

As far as datastore, you can put it on a SQL cluster with sufficient hardware redudancy.

If even at that point you are worried about redudancy, you can add a second switch with failover, SLA's for 99.9999% uptime with your internet provider and consider a storage area network for storing the SQL database which contains your Citrix data store.


Putting multiple NIC's and screwing around with farm topology is a really bad way to deal with the issue in my opinion. Keep your servers clean and as lean as possible. Keep all user specific data away from the citirx servers. there should be nothing but applications on them. that way if you ever loose a box, who cares! user can log right bakc in and load balancing will flip them over to another box. If you loose the whole environment, keep images and you can restore the whole thing in minutes.

Citrix is awesome technology for complex environments. Use it correctly and it can work wonders.