We have been lab testing a new Citrix environment for several of our line of business
apps, and one thing we’re concentrating on is 64-Bit citrix. This is also our first
experience with 64-bit Windows (Windows Server 2003 R2 in this case). Keep in mind
I’m updating as I go, so we may find different answers as we dig deeper.
For our test, we have two servers (P4 2.8 ghz x64 Dual Core). On one we are running
32-bit Windows Server 2003 R2 and Citrix Presentation Server 4.0 32-bit. On the other
we are running 64-bit Windows Server 2003 R2 and Citrix Presentation Server 4.0 64-bit.
Currently, they are both a member of the same server farm.
The server farm database is sitting on a 64-bit SQL Server 2005 installation on a
separate 64-Bit Windows OS. The first thing we learned was that to set this farm up,
we needed to install the SQL 2005 Native Client on each citrix server. That gave us
the necessary driver to set up the data source.
Next, we started installing applications. One of our first app installs on the 64-bit
Citrix server generated an error that a certain component was not compatible and would
not be installed. Its name suggested it was a 16-bit app, and you cannot run 16-bit
apps in a 64-bit environment. So this could quickly rule out the 64-bit option if
one of your apps has a critical component that is still 16-bit.
After installing some apps to both servers, we went to publish some of the apps in
Citrix and ran into another problem. If an app is 32 bit, it installs to a new directory
on the 64-bit server called c:\program files (x86). Since this directory is different
than the path on the 32-bit server, you would not be able to publish the app across
two servers of different types.
Some other highlights I will expand on as we get to them:
- Printer drivers must be 64-bit
- SAN and other hardware drivers must be 64-bit
- Security key drivers (like Sentinel) must be 64-bit
-
Certain Citrix utilities, like the Citrix Connection Configuration Utility, do not
install in a 64-bit environment
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