Can I treat roaming profiles differently?

[Hank Arnold]

This is a duplicate of a post to the win2000.advanced server NG. I realized
after I posted it that this might be a more appropriate place for it.
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We are in the process of migrating our users to roaming profiles. We have
two classes of users: those who get their desktop (at a shared workstation)
from a Citrix server (running TS in Application Mode)and those who do a
domain logon at their workstation and use published icons from the Citrix
server.

The first group are just fine. They log onto a workstation with a local
logon of "DEFAULT". This userid has no rights at all on the network. The
logon automatically launches the Citrix ICA client and the user logs onto
the Citrix server with their network userid and password and is load
balanced to one of two servers. Roaming profiles work great here.

The problem is with the second group. They log onto the workstation as a
domain logon with their network userid and password. On their desktop we
install icons that each launch a published application on the Citrix server
(load balanced) as well as some locally installed applications. The problem
is with the fact that desktop changes are copied back to the roaming profile
location whenever changes are made to the Citrix or the local desktop. For
example, when I place icons on the desktop for the locally installed
application, the same icon appears on the user's Citrix desktop. Of course,
the icon doesn't work. If I delete the non-functioning icons from the Citrix
desktop, they are
deleted from the local desktop the next time the user logs onto the domain
at the Workstation. While at work, this isn't a problem. The user never logs
onto the Citrix server directly, so the fact that the Citrix desktop is
getting "messed up" isn't a concern. However, some of these folks will log
in remotely and will get the Citrix full desktop. I'd like to minimize the
confusion that will occur and result in tech support calls.

Ideally, I'd like to have the Citrix user profile and the local workstation
profile treated differently. The Citrix desktop should be synced with the
roaming profile desktop. It's important the user have the same
profile/desktop regardless of which server they are accessing. With the
"published app" user, though, I'd like all the profile (especially the GPO
settings) synced except for the desktop.

Any ideas on how to do this? Can the local GPO settings do it? Can I
accomplish it via AD GPO? Or is there an easier or more elegant way?

 

[Andrew Mitchell]

Ideally, I'd like to have the Citrix user profile and the local
workstation profile treated differently. The Citrix desktop should be
synced with the roaming profile desktop. It's important the user have
the same profile/desktop regardless of which server they are accessing.
With the "published app" user, though, I'd like all the profile
(especially the GPO settings) synced except for the desktop.

You need to define a Terminal Services profile for each user. This is done
through the normal AD Users and Computers snap in.

The following page is for Windows Server 2003 but the same applies to Windows
2000
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/WindowsServ/2003/standard/pr
oddocs/en-us/ts_usr_c_tsprofile.asp

 

[Hank Arnold]

Currently there is a profile defined on each Citrix server and the local
computer. In each AD account, the "Profile" page is updated to point to the
roaming profile directory. Are you saying that I should remove that entry
and put it in the "Terminal Server" page instead?

 

[Andrew Mitchell]

Currently there is a profile defined on each Citrix server and the local
computer. In each AD account, the "Profile" page is updated to point to
the roaming profile directory. Are you saying that I should remove that
entry and put it in the "Terminal Server" page instead?

Your domain login accounts are using the roaming profile for both the desktop
and the Citrix server.
Leave the roaming profile alone and create a separate Terminal Services
profile entry for the users. This will cause the roaming profile to be used
only on the desktop and the TS profile will be used on metaframe.

 

[Hank Arnold]

Thanks, Andy. I think you've got me pointed in the right direction. It looks
to me like I should delete the entry on the "Profile" page and move it to
the TS Profile page. The way we operate at the Hospice I support, if someone
logs on at a workstation with their domain userid, that is "their"
workstation. They will only do a domain logon at that workstation. If they
use any other workstation, they will do a "local" logon with "DEFAULT" and
access the servers through Citrix ICA client. In short, there currently
isn't a big need for roaming profiles when the domain logon is not to a TS
server.

Right now, we are in the process of trying to get roaming profiles in place
and working so we can fully implement load balancing across all our
workstations. Right now, our biggest problem is that there is no
synchronization between the local profiles on our Citrix workstations. If a
user adds some shortcuts to files on the desktop or changes the setup of
their Outlook or default printer, it isn't reflected on the other server.
Thus, our "shared" workstations are currently hard coded to go to "CITRIX1".
In order to be able to use a published desktop, the profiles have to be kept
in sync. On certain days we have a large number of nurses logging in to
enter their activities and this causes overloading of one server.

Once we have full load balancing in place, I'll look at what is needed to
implement roaming profiles on the "Profile" page and manage them.

Thanks again for the pointers. Much appreciated.