Updating VXC 2112 / 2212 firmware without VXC Manager

My environment:  VXC 2112 and VXC 2212, with firmware 7.0_213

I have got a chance to hands on with the new Cisco Virtual Experience Client (VXC) 2112 and 2212.  The model number ends with 2 means it is a unit connecting to the Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp environment.

I have a need to upgrade it from firmware version 7.0_213 to 7.0_214, because according to the release notes, 7.0_214 is the first version to support XenDesktop 5 and XenApp 6.

You can upgrade it with the VXC Manager, however in my environment I haven't set that up, so there is a way to upgrade those standalone unit via FTP.

1.  You can add the following options in your DHCP pool, I am using a switch as the DHCP server:

ip dhcp pool vxc-pool
  option 161 ip 192.168.24.2
  option 162 ascii firmware$
  option 184 ascii panda
  option 185 ascii eatsbamboo

option 161 is the DHCP server IP address
option 162 is the FTP path, in my case it is ftp://192.168.24.2/firmware/wnos
Put the firmware file in the wnos folder, the firmware should name like this ZC0_wnos
option 184 is the FTP username
option 185 is the FTP password

2. Reboot your VXC client to get the update options from DHCP server.  Monitor your FTP server logs, and also the VXC on screen display.  It should be complete within 5 secs.

You will now have the new firmware on the VXC unit!  I have tried to connect it to XenDesktop 5 and XenApp 6 and it just works like a charm!

Time Synchronization between Windows Domain controller and domain clients

net time \\1.2.3.4 /set /yes

If you are in a Citrix XenDesktop 4 environment, you need the time sync otherwise the hosted VM can't register to the DDC

Tricks of integrating XenDesktop DDC with VMWare vCenter

My environment:  VMWare vCenter 4.1 on Windows 2008 server, ESXi 4.1, Citrix XenDesktop DDC 4

Citrix XenDesktop is the VDI products from Citrix, and it is flexible that the desktop client VM can run on Citrix XenServer and VMWare ESXi.  You can choose your preferred hypervisor for your client VMs.  In my testing I am using ESXi as the hypervisor for the client VMs. 

Integration is needed between Citrix DDC and VMWare vCenter because you need to know which VMs on your ESXi server hosting the client VMs.  During my integration work I have got the following error message in the Create Desktop Group wizard in DDC:

‘Invalid Address – The hosting infrastructure could not be reached at the specified address.’

The workaround is to allow both HTTP and HTTPS for SDK access on vCenter, to do this you can:

1. Edit C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\proxy.xml with your wordpad, and change the access mode of /sdk from httpsWithRedirect to httpAndHttps

<e id="5">
      <_type>vim.ProxyService.LocalServiceSpec</_type>
      <accessMode>httpAndHttps</accessMode>
      <port>8085</port>
      <serverNamespace>/sdk</serverNamespace>
    </e>

2. In DDC, when you are creating integration with vCenter, you can use the URL http://1.2.3.4/sdk where 1.2.3.4 is your vCenter IP address.  You can now allow HTTP access to your vCenter SDK.

Have fun!