Chapter 2 - Installation of the Broker – Desktop Delivery Controller

Abstract

This chapter provides information related to the installation of the Citrix Virtual Desktop broker. It shows how the desktop delivery controller (DDC) mechanism actually works. The integration of the DDC with Microsoft Active Directory ties the broker to the authentication mechanism. It shows how the Active Directory integration works, and also shows the process of integrating XenDesktop with the Active Directory. The Desktop Delivery Controller (DDC) is the core technology used to couple the XenDesktop components together. The DDC is effectively the traffic controller, directing the user to their assigned desktop based on their user credentials. The XenDesktop technology has drawn from the Citrix XenApp technologies. In the context of XenApp, the users are mapped to assigned applications, whereas in XenDesktop, they are mapped to assigned Desktop Groups. The most notable difference is that the components being assigned are not resident on the machines doing the brokering. The Citrix “Farm” mechanism remains largely the same, but the portion being “presented” to the users—a Windows desktop operating system—had to be rebuilt. The Virtual Desktop Agent components are designated as “Port ICA” in some of the registry settings.