Upgrading to Citrix Storefront 2.5

Citrix

With the release of XenDesktop 7.5 comes a new version of Citrix Storefront. Upgrading to Storefront 2.5 is a simple process procedure that requires the installation of .Net 4.5.1 then Storefront upgraded and finally a database upgrade.

The Storefront binaries and included in the XenDesktop 7.5 media available from HERE. At the moment the Storefront binary is not available singularly from the Storefront/Web Interface section of the download site.

A backout plan is always a good idea incase something untoward happens, if the Citrix Storefront servers are virtual then you could create a snapshot of each and if disaster strikes when upgrading the first one you could revert the snapshot and propagate the changes from the remaining un-upgraded Storefront server.

In addition you should also backup the EDB (Exchange Database) file that is created with each Storefront store, these are located in c:\Program Files\Citrix\Receiver Storefront\Services\SubscriptionStoreServices\1_nameofstore. if total disaster strikes then by having these files you can rebuild the Storefront servers with stores of the same names and copy the EDB files back into the newly created stores. This will prevent the staff members from having to subscribe to all their applications again which of course will generate a few help desk calls.

Once you have the XenDesktop ISO run the CitrixStorefront-x64.exe file within the d:\x64\Storefront directory on your first Storefront server. Firstly you’ll need to upgrade to .Net 4.5.1if your Citrix Storefront server does not have internet access then you’ll need to obtain and install this prior to running the Storefront installation.

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Once .Net 4.5.1 is installed and happy the Citrix Storefront installation will continue, Just accept the defaults and click next through the options.

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Now Citrix Storefront 2.5 is installed on one Storefront server you should upgrade the second in the same sitting, you may find that after the upgrade in the server group node within Citrix Storefront that the Configuration status is shown as unknown. This isn’t an error rather than a message that a good replication between the two new versions of Storefront has not completed yet. So once you are happy the upgrade has completed then right click on the server group and perform a manual propagation of the configuration.

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New features within Citrix Storefront 2.5 includes:

Unauthenticated Store creation (including support for XenApp’s annonymous users feature)

Individual authentication configurations for Receiver for Web

Smart Card authentication for XenApp 6.5

And many other improvements and features

 

Author: Dale Scriven

7 thoughts on “Upgrading to Citrix Storefront 2.5

  1. Does the Storefront 2.5 need its own database or should it be connected to the Citrix Farm database?
    Thanks

    1. No Storefront now uses its own database in EDB format and Storefront handles all database operations itself,its not like Storefront 1.2 and older which required a SQL database so you now do not have to worry about the database other than clicking the propagate changes button when to change the configuration on a load balanced Storefront server.

  2. If your running Storefront 2.0.0.90- can you just do a straight upgrade or will you have to re-setup settings and such?

    1. Yes you can upgrade directly from Storefront 2.0 to 2.5 without any problems, just make sure as with all upgrades you have backups of the configuration as outlined in my post just in case. Its Storefront versions up to and including 1.2 you cannot directly upgrade to storefront 2.5.

      1. having an issue with clean installation 2. Your apps are not available at this time. Please try again in a few minutes or contact your help desk with this information: cannot contact the storefront name. any idea what this means.

        1. The Apps are not available at this time message is usually due to the STA servers (XenApp or XenDesktop Controllers) not been specified correctly within the create StoreFront store or if in use through the Access Gateway Published App’s tab. What is shown within the event viewer of the storefront servers ( have you installed one or two storefront servers) have a look at event viewer\Applications and Services Logs\Citrix Delivery Services and see what it says. If you want you can email me some screen grabs and more information to admin@vhorizon.co.uk and I’ll see what I can see.

          Regards
          Dale

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