Hey folks. This is part 2 of the series of blog posts which I am writing which go through the steps to install and configure Citrix Workspace Environment Manager 1909. You can find part 1 here – https://www.virtualmanc.co.uk/2019/10/16/installing-citrix-workspace-environment-1909/

In part 1 we went through the process of configuring the WEM Infrastructure.  In this post we will install the WEM Agent and configure the endpoints to communicate with WEM via Group Policy. So let’s get cracking!

Agent Installation

So the first thing we need to do is install the WEM Agent on any endpoints which are going to be utilising WEM.  WEM supports the following endpoints:

• Windows 7
• Windows 8.1
• Windows 10 1607 and newer
• Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
• Windows Server 2012
• Windows Server 2012 R2
• Windows Server 2016
• Windows Server 2019

You can deploy the endpoints via multiple tools (i.e. CMCB, command line, GPO) but we are just going to deploy it manually in this instance.

1) The first step is to locate the setup software for the Agent. This comes as part of the download for the infrastructure setup. You will notice that we also have GPO Templates and configuration templates which we will cover later.

2) Select Next to continue the setup

3) Next we want to enter the installation path.

3) Now we configure what type of deployment we have. Unfortunately I don’t have a Citrix Cloud Deployment so here I am going to select an On-premise Deployment. Select Next to continue.

4) Now we need to configure what management server we need the agents to speak to. As you can see you can also change the ports here that it uses also. If you need to amend the ports that are used this is where you would do it.  If you pick the default configuration you will need to ensure that Ports 8286 and 8285 are open between your WEM Server and the clients.

Alternatively you can select the Skip Configuration and configure the settings via Group Policy. We will explain how to do that later.

5) If you want to specify a different location for the WEM Agent cache then you need to configure it here. By default it is installed in the default installation folder. The cache is used if the WEM server becomes unavailable.

6) Once you are happy with the configuration settings then select Install to complete the installation

7) The installation should complete successfully

8) After it has completed if you check the services you should see the following services running:

• Citrix WEM Agent Host Service
• Citrix WEM User Logon Service

Configure the WEM Agent via Group Policy

Using Group Policy to configure the WEM Agents is a much easier option in a Enterprise Environment than manually configuring it. We will show you how to import the WEM GPO’s, configure the settings and then check the GPO is applying properly.

1) The first step is to import the ADMX and ADML files.  The best way to do this is to copy the files into the C:\Windows\PolicyDefinitions folder on your Domain Controllers.  You can also copy them onto a management station which you edit the GPO’s from. There are 4 files you need to copy

• Citrix WorkSpace Environment Management Agent Host Configuration.ADML
• CitrixBase.ADML
• Citrix WorkSpace Environment Management Agent Host Configuration.ADMX
• CitrixBase.ADMX

2) Now we can either edit and existing policy and apply the settings or we can create a new one. I have created a new one and linked it to the OU in which my Citrix CVAD Servers sit.

3) If you have imported the ADMX & ADML files correctly you should see the settings below if you edit the GPO you have created or edited.  At a minimum the only setting you need to configure is the Infrastructure server setting

4) If you edit this setting just enter your WEM Server in here. This setting will now be deployed to all the computers in any OU which you link policy to.

5) Once you have edited the policy, give the endpoint a reboot (or just run gpupdate /force) to pick up the settings.  After that is done then we can run “gpresult /R /scope computer” and double check that the policy is applying

So that’s it for the post. In the next post we will deploy some configuration settings to some servers and make sure everything is working as expected.

Thanks for reading!