This blog is Part 2 in our series about preparing for the Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops LTSR. Check out Part 1 of this series here.
Our last Long Term Service Release (LTSR) was released in 2022, and since then we’ve introduced many new features via our Current Releases (CR). That means 2 years of new features are coming to our newest LTSR. We also know a lot of customers are on our 1912 LTSR, so there are almost 4 years of new features to discover. It is especially important for 1912 customers to begin prepping for an upgrade, as 1912 goes EOL in Dec 2024. Citrix previously announced that our new LTSR will be coming early 2024, which means it’s time to start planning your upgrade!
In Part 1 of this series, we talked about the various technical requirements to be aware of before an LTSR upgrade. In this blog, we will discuss the different options available for upgrading your LTSR environment.
Upgrade paths
There are two main paths when it comes to upgrading a Citrix environment: in-place upgrade and parallel build.
When you’re performing an in-place upgrade, you are upgrading the software that already exists on your Citrix infrastructure. There are two main pros for this method: (1) You don’t have to spin up any additional servers or infrastructure and (2) you don’t have to migrate users to new sites or URLs (but a production change is required). Because you’re performing the upgrade in-place, you will upgrade your current production site and database (vs building net new).
When upgrading in-place, there are ways to minimize downtime using forced Local Host Cache (LHC) mode because when you upgrade the site database there is brief downtime where new connections cannot be made. Citrix recommends doing the upgrade during a designated maintenance period to reduce the impact on the end-user experience. You can find detailed documentation on how to upgrade your environment in-place in our product documentation.
A parallel build involves building a new site completely separate from your already existing production site. The pros for a parallel build are: (1) You don’t interfere with your current production environment and (2) you can create a clean build from scratch without importing unnecessary legacy configurations. A parallel build would also be preferred if you need to upgrade OS versions. However, you need to have enough compute capacity to duplicate your environment, especially if you have to redeploy non-persistent VDAs. Additionally, there are migration considerations for the access tier if using StoreFront and/or NetScaler as you’ll have to move users to your new access tier. Once all users have been cutover to the new environment, you can decommission the legacy environment to reclaim hardware.
Both in-place and parallel upgrades are completely valid ways to upgrade your environment. You can also mix the two approaches, such as building new Citrix infrastructure but upgrading the VDAs in place. The path you choose depends on your organization’s goals with the migration as well as the hardware resources available.
Upgrade or Migrate
Once you have decided what needs upgrading and what path you’re going to take to get there, it’s time to fully flesh out an upgrade plan. The majority of enterprise environments are governed by change control, and as such upgrade plans need to be submitted to a Change Advisory Board (CAB). Change Advisory Boards often have certain requirements for approving an upgrade plan that include: upgrade plan, roll back plan, and maintenance windows.
If you are pursuing an in-place upgrade, you can reference our documentation for the order in which to upgrade your environment. Prior to upgrading, it is recommended to back up any customizations (like any custom StoreFront web.config or default.ica settings) so that way you can restore them after the upgrade is complete. It is also recommended to snapshot your VMs prior to upgrading to allow for rollback in case of any issues. It is highly recommended to backup your site database before upgrading.
If you have highly available configurations of your infrastructure, it is possible to upgrade all components except the site database without causing downtime. You can work around this downtime using forced LHC mode, however doing this during a maintenance window is still preferred. At a minimum, perform the upgrade of the site database during the maintenance window. If you want to minimize end-user impact, it is recommended to do all upgrades during designated maintenance periods. These maintenance periods will need to be communicated with end users.
If you are pursuing a parallel upgrade, the considerations for upgrading are slightly different. The main building activities of the environment are separate from the production sites, so a rollback/maintenance plan is not required for this stage. Refer to our product documentation for all the required infrastructure to set up a Citrix environment. You can use our Automated Configuration Tool (ACT) to migrate settings between on-premises sites, speeding up the migration process.
When building in parallel, rollback and migration plans need to be made for migrating users from the old environment to the new environment. Rollback and migration plans will vary depending on if you’re migrating access tiers or maintaining the same access URLs. Generally in this scenario we recommend a phased migration of users over to the new environment so that in the scenario where there is an issue the IT team isn’t overwhelmed with tickets. Rollback would generally involve switching users back to the old environment while the issues are mitigated.
If you are a Priority or Priority Plus customer, you also have the option of using scheduled support via Citrix Support. Scheduled support enables you to have support available while you are upgrading. If you are interested in leveraging your scheduled support entitlement, reach out to your Citrix representatives.
Learn More
We have an on-demand Citrix Master Class about preparing for the next LTSR, so be sure to check it out and learn great tips and tricks from our Citrix experts. You can also check out our latest Tech Paper about parallel migrations. Install 2311 today and start validating the new features for your use cases in preparation for the upcoming LTSR!
