Unregistered VDAs are a major concern in XenDesktop deployments. Currently, when machines go unregistered, there is no easy way to troubleshoot them since direct network access to the machine is lost.

Have you faced the hassle of opening infrastructure management console to access the unregistered machine for troubleshooting the issue? If so, here is some great news for you this Christmas!! Do it simpler and easier with Citrix Director.

Starting Citrix Director 7.16, Director provides console access to machines allowing administrators to debug and fix machine related issues in real time even when there is no direct network connectivity to them. For more information on machine console access from Director, see the documentation.

How do I get console access to machines from Director?

The Machine Details page now contains a link to a machine’s console. On clicking Console as in the page below, a new tab containing the console access is opened.

Enter the host (pool master) credentials here.

Click Log on.

Note: Please make sure, you have a valid XenServer SSL Certificate configured, as the Console access is HTTPS based, in case you have not configured the certificate, you might need to accept the exception when prompted.

Upon successful validation of host credentials, the machine console is rendered on your browser with full mouse and keyboard functionality. Here you can troubleshoot any machine related issues.

 

Note:

  1. Machine console access is supported only for machines hosted on XenServer 7.3 and later.
  2. XenServer host must be accessible from the client where Director is being accessed for the console access to work.
  3. Some browsers block opening new tabs. Because Director launches a new tab for console access, make sure to disable the pop-up blocker for Director.
  4. Incase if you experience mouse pointer offset on a machine’s console, follow this article to improve the performance of mouse over VNC.
  5. When the machine is hosted on a slave you will have to accept two certificates (master and slave) to get access to its console.
  6. It is recommended that you replace the default XenServer SSL certificate with one from a trusted certificate authority. If not you will see a security error on your browser while accepting the certificate.