Guide for Citrix Recording using Load Runner

The below blog will guide you through the pre-requisites which are required and can be set up before starting the Citrix Scripting activities thus helping you take a smoother route of focusing on your script issues rather than the environment/ machine set up issues. This can also be used as a guide to set up the machine and environment for Citrix Application Recordings. So this is just a reference to avoid the known issues or the steps which needs to be taken care of before the recording starts and not to be treated as the only document to be referred to solve all the issues faced during the Citrix Recording

Pre-Requisites:

Before we start recording the Citrix flows, we need to ensure that we have the proper set up in terms of the Citrix Client, The Scripting Tool [Load Runner Version which supports Citrix Recording] and the Web Interface

Details required from Citrix Admin Team:

• Citrix Server Version
• Citrix Client Version
• Citrix Interface Used and Version

1. Client Machine - Machine in which we are planning to record the Citrix Flow using LR-VuGen]

• Install Citrix Client – Below are the list of clients supported/ not supported by HP for Citrix

XenApp Web plugin 11.0.0 for windows XP  à HP does NOT support any WEB/JAVA clients

Clients that HP supports are

XenApp Plugin (Client) 11.0 à HP advices against this client as there have been disconnect issues during the load test with this Client

Best Supported and Suggested Citrix Clients by HP are

Citrix Online Plugin 11.2
Citrix Online Plugin 12.0

https://www.citrix.com/english/ss/downloads/details.asp?downloadId=2304987&productId=186#top

On reaching the page by clicking the url, enter the credentials and login and then click Download against the “Citrix Online plug-in - Admin”. Citrix tries to download the file using the Citrix Downloader. You can either use the citrix download manager to download the citrix online plug in or you can download separately

Once you ensure the proper client is installed in your machine, check that the Citrix registry patch for the client is enabled. If not, enable it before you start recording anything from LR. Location of the registry patch that should be run is – “…./LoadRunner/dat” and the Patch Name is “Enable_Citrix_API.reg”

Before you run this API, go to Registry and check for the following paths and values

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Citrix\ICA Client\Engine\Lockdown Profiles\All Regions\Lockdown\Virtual Channels\Third Party\CustomVC]

"VirtualChannels"=""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Citrix\ICA Client\CCM]

"AllowSimulationAPI"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Ext\PreApproved\{238F6F83-B8B4-11CF-8771-00A024541EE3}]

By default these path would NOT be existing in the registry. When we run “Enable_Citrix_API.reg” [Open With à Registry Editor], all the above paths would get created in the registry. Validate them again for their existence. None of these paths SHOULD be added manually. All these should get added automatically when we run this API

OS of the Client Machine: Preferable to have it as “XP SP3 32 bit“

Disable DEP : Ensure that the DEP is completely disabled

Step I:

First thing is to validate the DEP under Performance of “Advanced” tab. Right click on My Computer, select Properties and choose “Advanced” tab and click Edit under “Performance”. Select the “Data Execution Prevention” tab

The First Option should be enabled [Turn on DEP for essential Windows Programs and Services Only]

The second Option [Turn on DEP for all programs and services except those I select should NOT be selected]

Enabling the first Option against the second is called as Disabling the DEP

Step II:

The Second part of Disable DEP activity is as below

Please refer to KB article:  (http://support.openview.hp.com/selfsolve/document/KM537975)

Content of the KM Document:

1. Right click on My computer.
2. Select Properties.
3. Select the Advanced tab.
4. Click Settings under Startup and Recovery.
5. Click Edit.
6. The boot.ini file will open. It should look like the following:

=================
[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS

[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
C:CMDCONSBOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons
======================

7. Change the setting noexecute=option TO noexecute=AlwaysOff
8. Reboot your machine.

The procedure given above applies only to Windows XP and Windows 2003. It does not apply to Windows Vistas.

Disable DEP in Vista: [http://support.openview.hp.com/selfsolve/document/KM747283]

1. Click Start

2. Click All Programs

3. Click Accessories

4. Right Click on Command Prompt

5. Left click on Run as Administrator

6. Click the Allow button if it asks you for permission

7. Type or copy and paste this into the command prompt window:

bcdedit.exe /set {current} nx AlwaysOff

8. Hit enter and you should see the confirmation: Operation Completed Successfully

9. Reboot and DEP should be off.

2.    Citrix Server:

Citrix XenApp 4.5 roll out 5.0 à HP does NOT support this version of the Server. Citrix XenApp Server 4.5 roll out 5 is different from Citrix XenApp Server 5.0

Server Versions that HP supports

Citrix Presentation Server 4.0
Citrix Presentation Server 4.5
Citrix XenApp Server 5.0

OS on which the server is running along with the service pack: Client and Server should be running in the same OS.

In Server also, ensure that the DEP is disabled

Citrix Agent installation on the server: This is mandatory for usage of few Citrix functions in the script like “ctrx_get_info”

3.     Citrix Client Interface:

Web Interface version:

To Identify the Web Interface Version, do the following

Open the server URL, where you get to see the application hosted

Right click on the main page and get view source. In the source code, search for Web Interface and that will have the Version

HP supports web Interface version 5.0 officially. However there have been instances of success with Versions 5.x also [As per HP Support Rep]

If you are NOT able to get the Interface version using the above steps, then ask the Citrix Admin of the Interface Version

4.     VuGen Installation:

VuGen 9.52 does NOT support the scripting of Citrix when the below Citrix Clients are used

VuGen v11 is the one which supports the above mentioned Citrix Clients

VuGen v11 should have the below mandatory patches installed - Patches 14+Patch1+patch2

The following are the mandatory patches which need to be installed in ORDER.

a) Critical Update patch:
HP Software Knowledge Document KM999242 (http://support.openview.hp.com/selfsolve/document/KM999242)

File name: LR_03014.exe

b)Patch 1:
HP Software Knowledge Document KM1035229 (http://support.openview.hp.com/selfsolve/document/KM1035229)

File name: LR_03017.EXE

c)Patch 2:
HP Software Knowledge Document KM1088984 (http://support.openview.hp.com/selfsolve/document/KM1088984)

File Name: LR_03044.exe

In Summary:

1. Install all the LR 11 patches

2. Install a supported Client as per the List

3. Run the registry patch from “LR/dat”

Other Steps to be ensured:

While recording, make sure that the Resolution is set to the same as that set in Server. This applies to even the machine on which the test will be run or in the machine in which the script would be validated

Registry Checks:

Ensure that the below in the Registry at the mentioned path or set the value accordingly

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Citrix\ICA Client\Engine\Lockdown Profiles\All Regions\Lockdown\Virtual Channels\Third Party\CustomVC

"VirtualChannels"=""
/* NOT YET CONFIRMED
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Citrix\ICA Client\Engine\Lockdown Profiles\All Regions\Lockdown\Virtual Channels\Third Party\CustomVC
"VirtualChannels"=""
*/

With all the above requisites in place, we should be able to record the application without any issues

5.     Load Generator – Citrix Configuration

The below are the changes we need to do in any Load Generator to run the Citrix scripts successfully:

1)    Citrix Client Version 12.1.0.30

2)    Need to add the following syntax in the “Citrix.asl” file in the Load Generator installation path (C:\Program Files\HP\Load Generator\merc_asl\Citrix.asl).

a.    ctrx_sync_on_text_ex

b.    ctrx_sync_on_bitmap_change