Stooging on XenApp 4? Upgrade now.

 

To clarify the distinction between upgrade and migrate:

• Upgrade: Installing a newer version over an existing version
• Migration: A clean, new installation of that program or service.

XenApp 4/4.5 –> XenApp 5

1. Upgrade Pres Server 4.0 for Windows Server 2003 to XenApp 5 for Windows Server 2003. In this case, to maintain the existing data store and server farm configuration. Each server must be upgraded, and Hotfix Rollup Pack 3 should be installed. In addition, the relevant components will also be upgraded. Lastly, .NET 2.0 SP1 or higher and Java Runtime Environment 1.6 Update 5 or higher are required.
   
2. Upgrade Pres Server 4.5 No FP1 or FP1 farm to XenApp 5 for Windows 2003. In this case, to maintain the existing data store and server farm configuration. This type of deployment is based on upgrading the relevant components only. If FP1 is not installed, please note that .NET 2.0 SP1 or higher and Java Runtime
   Environment 1.6 Update 5 or higher are required. In addition, Hotfix Rollup Pack
   3 should be installed.
   
3. Upgrade all servers in the existing Pres Server 4.5 FP1 farm to XenApp 5 for W2K3 and add several XenApp 5 for W2K8 servers to the farm until it can be
   transitioned to XenApp 5 for W2K8 entirely. This case is similar to the previous one, except that some XenApp 5 for W2K8 servers are added to the farm. In this case, maintain a mixed farm based on the existing data store and server farm configuration.
   
4. Migrate to a new XenApp 5 for W2K8 farm. In this case, the farm migration is based on a completely new installation of XenApp that initiates a new data store and server farm.

XenApp 5 –> XenApp 6

To transition to XenApp 6, administrators must migrate to a new farm and have the following options:

1. Create a new XenApp 6 farm and configure all settings manually
2. Create a new XenApp 6 farm and migrate settings from an existing XenApp 5 or Presentation Server 4.5 farm
   

Transferring settings from the legacy farm is best performed by installing the XenApp 6 Migration Tool on a XenApp 6 server and directly importing the settings by pointing at a server in the legacy farm. It is possible to import all settings or be selective. If the existing farm is based on server or application folders, these settings can be exported and designated so that they will be identified as Worker Groups within the new farm. Additional command-line entries are available to include, exclude, or modify specific settings. The administrator must have full administrative
rights in the target XenApp 6 farm and a minimum of view-only rights in the source legacy farm.

Prior to initiating the migration of settings, Worker Groups should be designated so that server and application silos can be assigned appropriately. This provides administrators with additional flexibility and enables a significant number of new servers to be added to the new XenApp 6 farm at once using a tool such as Citrix Provisioning services.

XenApp 6 –> XenApp 6.5

XenApp 6.5 implementations must be based on clean Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system installations as Citrix does not support operating system upgrades. Thus, there is no upgrade path to XenApp 6.5 from XenApp 5 or earlier products. In addition, a XenApp 6.5 farm can only encompass XenApp 6.5 servers - mixed farms are not supported.