Citrix ICA file behaviour (some of it)

When connecting to a Citrix environment the connection between end-point and resource is established via an ICA file. (receiver for web)

The ICA file is generated by storefront and delivered back to the end-point.

ICA file Location
The ICA file get stored in the users
"%Appdata%\local\Temp" or "%LocalAppData%\Local\Citrix\Web Helper\Temp\2"

ICA files downloaded 
IE downloads - 4 ICA files
Chrome downloads - 2 ICA files
Firefox - 4 ICA Files
(Note : 4 files are downloaded for desktops and 2 for published applications)

File Assocation
The ICA file is then launched via file Association to open Citrix Receiver or Citrix Connection Manager.

File Delete
When the session is disconnected or logged off the ICA file should be deleted. This is contolled via the Default.ICA file on storefront with the setting RemoveICAfile=Yes

Testing
My testing showed that Firefox did not always clean up the ICA files on logoff or disconnect and left 1 ICA file behind. This was always true when "Connection Manager" was used to open ICA files. When Receiver was used within Firefox the ICA files removed as expected.
It was noticed that ICA files are always called ICAxxxx except in firefox with connection manager which names the files WEQ3xxxxx

Storefront 3 - Cannot complete your request

I experienced the 1st connection to a storefront store each day gave the user a
"Cannot complete your request" message

If they user clicked to logon again it is successful.
The eventvwr showed Event ID 17 for each failure.

Typically this is caused by AV locking a file on first connection. However AV was not the culprit in my scenario. The AV Exceptions for reference are

\inetpub\temp\IIS Temporary Compressed Files 

\Windows\system32\inetsrv\w3wp.exe 

\Windows\SysWOW64\inetsrv\w3wp.exe

\Program Files\Citrix\Receiver StoreFront\Services\SubscriptionsStoreService

To correct the issue I needed to change asp.net file change notifications.
Info from Microsoft here. https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/tmarq/2007/11/01/asp-net-file-change-notifications-exactly-which-files-and-directories-are-monitored/

The change required is

For .NET 4 or lower

·         HKLM\Software\Microsoft\ASP.NET\FCNMode  DWORD = 1

           HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\ASP.NET\FCNMode DWORD = 1

  For .NET 4.5 and Higher

            o   Starting with the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 and later

            versions, FCNMode can be configured by using the httpRuntime

            settings as follows:

Citrix Storefront Tweaks

There are a number of settings that should be reviewed for a Storefront Installation.
This blog gives a great list of each along with how to set the option.

http://www.citrixguru.com/2015/07/03/storefront-3-optimizations/

Citrix Storefront AV Settings

The following are some additional Storefront AV exclusions that can be considered in the event that you are getting "Cannot complete request" error messages at logon.

\inetpub\temp\IIS Temporary Compressed Files
 \Windows\system32\inetsrv\w3wp.exe
\Windows\SysWOW64\inetsrv\w3wp.exe
\Program Files\Citrix\Receiver StoreFront\Services \SubscriptionsStoreService

A good central list of Citrix AV guidelines is available here
https://www.citrix.com/blogs/2013/09/22/citrix-consolidated-list-of-antivirus-exclusions/

StoreFront Timeout Settings

To Modify the default Citrix Storefront timeout setting edit the following files and change the values. (this was tested with Storefront v1.2)

C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Citrix\YourStoreNameWeb\web.config

Modify this element:


This Default is 8 hours. change to the desired value.

also, modify this element:



This one is in minutes, So change to the desired value.

Next:

C:\inetpub\wwwroot\Citrix\Authentication\web.config

Change all maxLifetime="" attributes to the duration you desire. There are 3 elements that have the attribute defaulted to 1:00:00 and one that has it defaulted to 20:00:00. In my environment I changed all 1:00:00 values to 12:00:00.

IPhone and Ipad reciever "The gateway setting is invalid"

My Iphone and IPad Citrix Receiver (5.7) was giving the message "The gateway setting is invalid" when trying to connect to my Storefront server behind my access gateway.

My Mac Receiver worked as expected.


The following setting on my access gateway was required to cure the problem.

Storefront Green Bubble Theme for Netscaler Access Gateway

The storefront gives us a nice green bubble front end making our Access Gateway black logon screen look very tired and also giving users a strange experience as they pass from a black screen into a green one.

To make the experience a little more continus you can add the green bubble default theme from storefront to your Access gateway with the following steps

1. Download the script file and theme to your PC, eg http://cdn.ws.citrix.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/GreenBubble.txt and http://cdn.ws.citrix.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/GreenBubble1.gz
2. SSH to your Netscaler (ie use Putty) and enter the ” shell” command
3. Run the following command:
mkdir /var/vpn/customizations
4. Use WinSCP to connect to your Netscaler. Copy the script file (GreenBubble.txt) to the /root folder and the GreenBubble1.gz file to /var/vpn/customizations
6. Run the following commands:
cd /var/vpn/customizations
gunzip GreenBubble1.gz
tar -xvf GreenBubble1
cd /root
mv GreenBubble.txt GreenBubble1.sh
chmod +x GreenBubble1.sh
./GreenBubble1.sh


thanks to a user who replied the details on how to do this on this blog article
http://blogs.citrix.com/2012/04/19/green-bubble-theme-for-citrix-netscaler/

I have seen a company that does fixed price customised interface should a customer ever require it
http://www.techstur.com/Solutions/Netscaler/Tech.aspx

Changing the Citrix Storefront internal beacon

The storefront GUI  on v1.1 does not offer a method to change the internal beacon from the entry made when first configured.

The path can however be changed by editing the config file directly.
The file Feature.config is in the following location

C:\Program Files\Citrix\Receiver Storefront\RoamingFeature

From Storefront v1.2 this can now be done in the GUI of the console.

Citrix StoreFront

Ive been playing around with the tech preview of Citrix Storefront.

I have the Receiver for web part working as per the installation instructions on the E-Docs.

I am however having problems with it working as a store for receiver.
The store I created has a HTTP URL and the Reciever will only except HTTPS entries.
to workaround this set the following reg key
HKLM\Software\wow6432node\citrix\dazzle\allowaddstore  VALUE = A


This however did still not get my Citrix Receiver communicating.

I installed a certifcate on my storefront server. Request Certificate
I set up HTTPS bindings on my server Set HTTPS bindings

But still when i create a store its always HTTP and not HTTPs.

(see my comments below for the resolution to this)

I also notice that when pointing at a legacy PNAgent site that i need to the enter the full URL
with the config XML file

eg. http://servername/Citrix/PnAgent/config.xml

Storefront config guide - The following is a great end to end article for getting store front and Access gateway on a netscaler running for remote users.
http://www.cb-net.co.uk/citrix-articles/2021-netscaler-configuring-access-gateway#NSDeploy