• Implemented the new filters for Published Items
  • Deleted the original filtering code for both the Information and Filtering sections
  • Created code to handle the new filtering capabilities for both the Information and Filtering sections
  • Added Function OutputPubItemFilterSummary
    • Thanks to Michael B. Smith for help in getting the HTML output working properly
• Updated the ReadMe file

I have done all that I have the lab resources and time for on this script.

You can always find the most current script by going to https://www.carlwebster.com/where-to-get-copies-of-the-documentation-scripts/

Thanks

Webster

• Add Policy Filters (Criteria)
  • User, group, or computer
  • Gateway
  • Operating system
  • IP
  • Hardware ID
• Updated the ReadMe file

This script is still not complete. I need to add the new Filter settings for Published items.

https://github.com/CarlWebster/Parallels-RAS-V19.x-Doc-Script

You can always find the most current script by going to https://www.carlwebster.com/where-to-get-copies-of-the-documentation-scripts/

Thanks

Webster

• Added a Section Parameter
  • Processes one or more sections of the report.
  • Valid options are:
    • Site
    • LB (LoadBalancing)
    • Publishing
    • Printing (Universal Printing)
    • Scanning (Universal Scanning)
    • Connection
    • Policies
    • Admin (Administration)
    • Licensing
    • All
  • This parameter defaults to All sections.
  • Multiple sections are separated by a comma. -Section admin, licensing
• Updated the help text
• Updated the ReadMe file

I added this feature to save me time as I work on updating the Publishing and Policies sections.

This script is still not complete. I need to add the new Filter settings for Policy settings and Published items.

https://github.com/CarlWebster/Parallels-RAS-V19.x-Doc-Script

You can always find the most current script by going to https://www.carlwebster.com/where-to-get-copies-of-the-documentation-scripts/

Thanks

Webster

• Added to Connection settings, SAML
  • Properties
  • General
  • IdP
  • SP
  • Attributes
• Added to Site settings, Enrollment server AD integration
• For Provider settings, for Word output, added the provider name to make the Navigation panel in Word more useful
• Updated the ReadMe file

This script is still not complete. I need to add the new Filter settings for Policy settings and other places where the new Filter stuff is used. Additional updates to this script I will post only on GitHub.

https://github.com/CarlWebster/Parallels-RAS-V19.x-Doc-Script

You can always find the most current script by going to https://www.carlwebster.com/where-to-get-copies-of-the-documentation-scripts/

Thanks

Webster

• Change all Created and Modified dates to match the output formatting in the  console
• In Function OutputPublishingSettings:
  • Add AVDApp and AVDDesktop to WVDApp and WVDDesktop
  • If Preferred Routing is not enabled, added “Preferred routing is disabled”
• In Function OutputRASMailboxSettings, added the missing enum fixed in 19.2
  • YesTLS12IfAvailable – Use TLS 1.2 if available
• In Function OutputSite, add code to handle the different types of Registry  Optimizations
  • REG_DWORD
  • REG_EXPAND_SZ
  • REG_MULTI_SZ
  • REG_QWORD
  • REG_SZ

This script is far from complete. There are several new features not yet implemented, and I haven’t started on the new way of filtering policies or published resources. My April, May, and June are busy, so I don’t know how much more I can do on this script between now and June 30th.

You can always find the most current script by going to https://www.carlwebster.com/where-to-get-copies-of-the-documentation-scripts/

Thanks

Webster

• Added Connection Brokers/Auto-promotion
• Added to Secure Gateway/Network “Only allow Let’s Encrypt verification”
• Added Video Capture Devices policy settings
• Changed “Keep existing VRRP/keepalive settings” to “Keep existing VRRP/keepalived settings” for HALB Properties/Advanced
• Comment out FSLogix replicate settings as I don’t see them in the console now
• Removed policy properties that no longer exist
• There are over 1500 differences between the last 2.5 script update and this new 3.00.
  • The HTML diff file is over 25MB in size.
  • If you really want to see all the changes between 2.5 and 3.0, look at the diff file in GitHub.

This script is far from complete. There are several new features not yet implemented, and I haven’t started on the new way of filtering policies. My April, May, and June are busy, so I don’t know how much more I can do on this script between now and June 30th.

You can always find the most current script by going to https://www.carlwebster.com/where-to-get-copies-of-the-documentation-scripts/

Thanks

Webster

• When processing RD Session Hosts, the script had bad logic that assumed there was always only one RDS Group.
  • This caused some Agent settings to show as System.Object[] instead of their Numeric or Boolean value
  • For example:
    • Agent settings
      • Port : System.Object[]
      • Max Sessions : System.Object[]
      • Support Windows Shell URL namespace objects : System.Object[]
      • Allow 2xRemoteExec to send command to the client : System.Object[]
      • Use RemoteApp if available : System.Object[]
      • Enable applications monitoring : System.Object[]
      • Allow file transfer command (HTML5 and Chrome clients): System.Object[]
      • Do not allow to change location : System.Object[]
      • Enable drive redirection cache : System.Object[]
  • Oops, my bad. The fix only took one line of code and changing two variables.
  • Now the results are correct.
    • Agent settings
      • Port : 3389
      • Max Sessions : 25
      • Support Windows Shell URL namespace objects : True
      • Allow 2xRemoteExec to send command to the client : True
      • Use RemoteApp if available : False
      • Enable applications monitoring : True
      • Allow file transfer command (HTML5 and Chrome clients): True
      • Do not allow to change location : False
      • Enable drive redirection cache : True
  • Thanks to Thomas Krampe for all his help and remote sessions to track this down

If you have questions or issues, please email me. webster at carlwebster dot com.

You can always find the most current script by going to https://www.carlwebster.com/where-to-get-copies-of-the-documentation-scripts/

Thanks

Webster

• Added Function GetRASStatus to return the full status text for several RAS Status cmdlets
  • Updated all AgentState outputs to use the value from GetRASStatus
• Added HALB output
  • Virtual Servers
    • Properties
    • General
    • LB gateway payload
    • LB SSL payload
    • Devices
    • Advanced
• Changed the date format for the transcript and error log files from yyyy-MM-dd_HHmm format to the FileDateTime format
  • The format is yyyyMMddTHHmmssffff (case-sensitive, using a 4-digit year, 2-digit month, 2-digit day, the letter T as a time separator, 2-digit hour, 2-digit minute, 2-digit second, and 4-digit millisecond).
  • For example: 20221225T0840107271.
• Fixed call to Get-RASThemeFooterURL to always return an array (Thanks to Thomas Krampe for the debugging time)
• Fixed missing RDS Group Default settings (Thanks to Thomas Krampe)
• Fixed several logic errors where I assumed there were always RDS groups
• Fixed the German Table of Contents (Thanks to Rene Bigler)
  • From
    • ‘de-‘ { ‘Automatische Tabelle 2’; Break }
  • To
    • ‘de-‘ { ‘Automatisches Verzeichnis 2’; Break }
• For Policy setting Session/Connection/Primary connection/Login/Auto Login, change property name AutoStart to AutoLogin
• In Function AbortScript, add test for the winword process and terminate it if it is running
  • Added stopping the transcript log if the log was enabled and started
• In Function OutputFarmSite, only get the first Publishing Agent server for the Farm/Site settings
• In Functions AbortScript and SaveandCloseDocumentandShutdownWord, add code from Guy Leech to test for the “Id” property before using it
• Replaced most script Exit calls with AbortScript to stop the transcript log if the log was enabled and started
• Updated the help text
• Updated the ReadMe file
• Updated to allow running the script for RAS versions greater than 18.1

If you have questions or issues, please email me. webster at carlwebster dot com.

You can always find the most current script by going to https://www.carlwebster.com/where-to-get-copies-of-the-documentation-scripts/

Thanks

Webster

• Added array error checking for non-empty arrays before attempting to create the Word table for most Word tables
• Added Function OutputReportFooter
• Added Parameter ReportFooter
  • Outputs a footer section at the end of the report.
  • Report Footer
    • Report information:
      • Created with: <Script Name> – Release Date: <Script Release Date>
      • Started on <Date Time in Local Format>
      • Elapsed time: nn days, nn hours, nn minutes, nn.nn seconds
      • Ran from domain <Domain Name> by user <Username>
      • Ran from the folder <Folder Name>
• Updated Functions SaveandCloseTextDocument and SaveandCloseHTMLDocument to add a “Report Complete” line
• Updated Functions ShowScriptOptions and ProcessScriptEnd to add $ReportFooter
• Updated the help text
• Updated the ReadMe file

Thanks to fellow CTP Thomas Krampe for the push to add the report footer.

If you have questions or issues, please email me. webster at carlwebster dot com.

You can always find the most current script by going to https://www.carlwebster.com/where-to-get-copies-of-the-documentation-scripts/

Thanks

Webster

Note: The V1 script is for RAS V17 and the V2 script is for RAS V18.0.

A HUGE Thank You to fellow CTP and VIPP Guy Leech for his immeasurable help (and bad jokes).

Version 2.50 12-Aug-2021

• Added a version test so the script only works with RAS 18.1
• Added documenting (my best attempt) an Azure provider connection
• Added Certificates
  • Alternate Names
  • General
    • Alternate Names
• Added Policies summary
• Added Policy Properties (took five days for this one section)
  • Policy
  • Policy/Criteria
  • Session
  • Session/Connection
  • Session/Connection/Primary connection
  • Session/Connection/Secondary connections
  • Session/Connection/Reconnection
  • Session/Connection/Computer name
  • Session/Connection/Advanced settings
  • Session/Connection/Web authentication
  • Session/Connection/Multifactor authentication
  • Session/Connection/Session prelaunch
  • Session/Connection/Local proxy address
  • Session/Display
  • Session/Display/Settings
  • Session/Display/Multi-monitor
  • Session/Display/Published applications
  • Session/Display/Desktop options
  • Session/Display/Browser
  • Session/Printing
  • Session/Scanning
  • Session/Audio
  • Session/Keyboard
  • Session/Local devices and resources
  • Session/Local devices and resources/Clipboard
  • Session/Local devices and resources/Disk drives
  • Session/Local devices and resources/Devices
  • Session/Local devices and resources/Video capture devices (not in PowerShell yet)
  • Session/Local devices and resources/Ports
  • Session/Local devices and resources/Smart cards
  • Session/Local devices and resources/Windows touch input
  • Session/Local devices and resources/File transfer
  • Session/Experience
  • Session/Experience/Performance
  • Session/Experience/Compression
  • Session/Network
  • Session/Server authentication
  • Session/Advanced settings
  • Client options
  • Client options/Connection
  • Client options/Logging
  • Client options/Update
  • Client options/PC keyboard
  • Client options/Single Sign-On
  • Client options/Advanced
  • Client options/Advanced/Global
  • Client options/Advanced/Language
  • Client options/Advanced/Printing
  • Client options/Advanced/Windows client
  • Client options/Advanced/RemoteFX USB redirection
  • Control settings
  • Control settings/Connections
  • Control settings/Password
  • Control settings/Import and export
  • Redirection
• Added Reporting
  • RAS reporting configuration
    • Session information
    • Server counters information
    • Custom reports
  • RAS Performance Monitor configuration
• Added Themes
  • General
  • Messages
  • HTML5 client/Branding
  • HTML5 client/Language bar
  • HTML5 client/Messages
  • HTML5 client/Gateway
  • HTML5 client/Legal policies
  • Windows client/Branding
  • Windows client/Messages
  • Windows client/Custom menu
• Added to Connection/Multi-factor authentication:
  • Enable MFA for all users except
  • Disable MFA for all users except
  • User or group list
  • Updated all items and text to match the console (a lot of work)
  • Added for Azure RADIUS, Duo RADIUS, FortiAuthenticator RADIUS, TekRADIUS, and RADIUS
    • Connection
    • Attributes
    • Automation
  • Added DeepNet Provider
    • Connection
    • Application
    • Authentication
  • Added SafeNet Provider
    • Connection
    • Authentication
  • Added Google Authenticator
    • General
• Added to Gateway and Gateway Default Settings:
  • HTML5/Allow cross-origin resource sharing
    • Domains for cross-origin resource sharing
    • Browser cache time in months
  • HTML5/Clipboard redirection
  • HTML5/File Transfer Direction
  • HTML5/Use ciphers according to server preference
  • Wyse/Do not warn if server certificate is not verified
• Added to Provider/Agent settings Drag and drop
• Added to Published Items their Status
  • Disabled
  • Enabled
  • In maintenance
• Added to RD Session Host, RD Session Host Groups, Provider, and Default Site Settings:
  • Agent settings/File Transfer Direction
  • Agent settings/File Transfer Location
  • Agent settings/File Transfer Do not allow to change location
• Change the wording in Connection/Authentication and Multi-factor authentication to match the console
• Fixed a lot of HTML and text formatting issues
• In Certificates/General, moved Expiration date to before Common name
• In Published Resources, only show Associated File Extensions if the EnableFileExtensions property is True. If you add file extensions and later disable file extensions, the extensions previously entered are still there
• Renamed in Gateway/SSL/TLS/HSTS settings “Max-age” to “Browse cache time in months”
• Renamed in RDS Host/Agent, RDS Group/Agent, and Provider/Agent settings:
• “Support Shell URL namespace objects” to “Support Windows Shell URL namespace objects”
• Removed the Restrictions label from Gateways/HTML5 as it is no longer in the console
• Updated Function GetVDIType with Hypervisor data for ESXi 7.0 and vCenter 7.0
• Updated the Help text
• Updated the ReadMe file

You can always find the most current script by going to https://www.carlwebster.com/where-to-get-copies-of-the-documentation-scripts/

Thanks

Webster

I updated the PDF last on 22-Sep-2021.

You can always find the most current PDF by going to https://www.carlwebster.com/where-to-get-copies-of-the-documentation-scripts/

Thanks

Webster

The next step is to create a management computer from the Windows 10 template with the additional servers built and configured. We use the VM built in this article for PowerShell scripting running consoles from Citrix, Microsoft, Parallels, and VMware. My lab’s infrastructure VMs reside in my XenServer pool, as explained in the Introduction article. I consider the management computer an infrastructure computer as it is permanent.

Note: What I call a Management Computer goes by different names.

• Jump Server
• Jump Machine
• Jump Host
• Bastion Machine
• Bastion Host
• And I am sure other locations around the world use other names

Whatever you want to call it, this is a centralized computer for managing and accessing servers, network equipment, storage devices, and other management activities. Some people use a server operating system (OS), and some use a desktop OS. It depends on the licensing restrictions of the software used on the computer.

From the introduction article, this is the VM we are building.

VMware

In vCenter, right-click the Windows 10 Template and click on New VM from This Template…, as shown in Figure 1.

Enter a Virtual machine name and click Next, as shown in Figure 2.

Click Next, as shown in Figure 3.

Select the NFS shared datastore created earlier in this series and click Next, as shown in Figure 4.

Select Power on virtual machine after creation and click Next, as shown in Figure 5.

Verify that the configuration data for the new VM is correct and click Finish, as shown in Figure 6. If any item is incorrect, click Back, correct the item(s), and continue.

It took about 2 minutes to create the VM from the template in my lab.

Wait for the creation of the VM to complete, as shown in Figure 7.

Since we enabled Remote Desktop in the Template, the new VM has it enabled.

In vCenter, select the new Windows 10 VM, and in the right pane, look at the IP address, as shown in Figure 8.

As shown in Figure 9, click Start, Run, and type in mstsc /v:ipaddress /admin, and press Enter [where IP Address is the IP address shown in Figure 8].

Using Remote Desktop at this point makes it easier for me to get screenshots.

Enter the credentials for the local account created during the Windows 10 template build and press Enter, as shown in Figure 10.

Click Yes, as shown in Figure 11.

Select your region and click Yes, as shown in Figure 12.

Select your keyboard layout and click Yes, as shown in Figure 13.

Click Skip, as shown in Figure 14.

Click Accept, as shown in Figure 15.

Click Domain join instead, as shown in Figure 16.

Type in a local user account name and click Next, as shown in Figure 17.

Enter a password and click Next, as shown in Figure 18.

Confirm the password and click Next, as shown in Figure 19.

Select three security questions, enter the answer, and click Next, as shown in Figures 20 through 22.

Select your privacy settings and click Accept, as shown in Figure 23. I set them all to No.

Make a selection for Cortana, as shown in Figure 24. I selected Not now, plus one of the settings in my Lab Defaults Group Policy to disable the use of Cortana.

If you receive the following popup, click Yes, as shown in Figure 25. I only received this popup for VMware, not XenServer.

Right-click the network icon in the systray and click Open Network & Internet settings, as shown in Figure 26.

Click Change adapter options, as shown in Figure 27.

Right-click the adapter and click Properties, as shown in Figure 28.

Click Configure…, as shown in Figure 29.

Click the Power Management tab, deselect every option, and click OK, as shown in Figure 30.

Right-click the Adapter and click Properties, as shown in Figure 28.

Click Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and click Properties, as shown in Figure 31.

Select Use the following IP address, enter the IP information for your network, and click OK, as shown in Figure 32. For the DNS server addresses, use the IP addresses of your domain controllers.

How many DNS servers should you configure on the network adapter? Not as many as you think. I recommend on DCs, a total of three where the third is always 127.0.0.1. For all other computers, also no more than three. I have seen places with 15 DCs, and every computer had all 15 DCs in the list of DNS servers. If you understand Windows DNS client resolution timeouts, limit the number of DNS entries.

Click Close, as shown in Figure 33.

After clicking Close,  you lose the connection to the RDP session. Reconnect using the new static IP address.

Close Network Connections.

Click Home, then System, then About, and finally Rename this PC (Advanced), as shown in Figure 34.

Click Change, as shown in Figure 35.

Enter a Computer name, Domain, and click OK, as shown in Figure 36.

Enter the domain’s Administrator name and password and click OK, as shown in Figure 37.

Click OK, as shown in Figure 38.

Click OK, as shown in Figure 39.

Click Close, as shown in Figure 40.

Click Restart Now, as shown in Figure 41.

When the VM restarts, log in using the domain’s Administrator account.

Make any customizations you require to the VM before we start installing consoles. I upgraded my Windows 10 20H2 VM to Windows 10 21H1.

XenServer

In XenCenter, right-click the Windows 10 Template and click on New VM wizard…, as shown in Figure 42.

Select the Windows 10 Template template and click Next, as shown in Figure 43.

Enter a Name, an optional Description, and click Next, as shown in Figure 44.

Since the operating system is installed in the template VM, Click Next, as shown in Figure 45.

Select Don’t assign this VM a home server and click Next, as shown in Figure 46.

You may change the Number of vCPUs, Topology, and Memory if you wish. I left everything the same as the template VM. Click Next, as shown in Figure 47.

As my hosts do not have a GPU card, I clicked Next, as shown in Figure 48.

Click Edit, as shown in Figure 49.

I recommend changing both the Name and Description. Doing so makes it easier later if you ever delete a VM and its attached hard disks. If all the hard disks have the same name and description, it is challenging to determine which disks go with which VM.

Enter a Name and Description and click OK, as shown in Figure 50.

Click Next, as shown in Figure 51.

If multiple Virtual network interfaces are available, select the appropriate interface and click Next, as shown in Figure 52.

Verify all the configuration options are correct and click Create Now, as shown in Figure 53. If an option is not correct, click Previous, correct the option and then continue.

I deselected the option Start the new VM automatically since it doesn’t work.

Wait for the creation of the VM to complete, as shown in Figure 54. It took about 2 seconds in my lab to create the VM from the template.

In XenCenter, right-click the new VM and click Start, as shown in Figure 55.

Expand the XenServer host on which you started the VM, click the VM, and click the Networking tab, as shown in Figure 56. You see the IP address assigned to the VM.

As shown in Figure 57, click Start, Run, and type in mstsc /v:ipaddress /admin, and press Enter [where IP Address is the IP address shown in Figure 56].

Using Remote Desktop at this point makes it easier for me to get screenshots.

Enter the credentials for the local account created during the Windows 10 template build and press Enter, as shown in Figure 58.

Click Yes, as shown in Figure 59.

Select your region and click Yes, as shown in Figure 60.

Select your keyboard layout and click Yes, as shown in Figure 61.

Click Skip, as shown in Figure 62.

Click Accept, as shown in Figure 63.

Click Domain join instead, as shown in Figure 64.

Type in a local user account name and click Next, as shown in Figure 65.

Enter a password and click Next, as shown in Figure 66.

Confirm the password and click Next, as shown in Figure 67.

Select three security questions, enter the answer, and click Next, as shown in Figures 68 through 70.

Select your privacy settings and click Accept, as shown in Figure 71. I set them all to No.

Make a selection for Cortana, as shown in Figure 72. I selected Not now, plus one of the settings in my Lab Defaults Group Policy to disable the use of Cortana.

If you receive the following popup, click Yes, as shown in Figure 73. I only received this popup for VMware, not XenServer.

Right-click the network icon in the systray and click Open Network & Internet settings, as shown in Figure 74.

Click Change adapter options, as shown in Figure 75.

Right-click the adapter and click Properties, as shown in Figure 76.

Click Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and click Properties, as shown in Figure 77.

Select Use the following IP address, enter the IP information for your network, and click OK, as shown in Figure 78. For the DNS server addresses, use the IP addresses of your domain controllers.

How many DNS servers should you configure on the network adapter? Not as many as you think. I recommend on DCs, a total of three where the third is always 127.0.0.1. For all other computers, also no more than three. I have seen places with 15 DCs, and every computer had all 15 DCs in the list of DNS servers. If you understand Windows DNS client resolution timeouts, limit the number of DNS entries.

Click Close, as shown in Figure 79.

After clicking Close,  you lose the connection to the RDP session. Reconnect using the new static IP address.

Close Network Connections.

Click Home, then System, then About, and finally Rename this PC (Advanced), as shown in Figure 80.

Click Change, as shown in Figure 81.

Enter a Computer name, Domain, and click OK, as shown in Figure 82.

Enter the domain’s Administrator name and password and click OK, as shown in Figure 83.

Click OK, as shown in Figure 84.

Click OK, as shown in Figure 85.

Click Close, as shown in Figure 86.

Click Restart Now, as shown in Figure 87.

When the VM restarts, log in using the domain’s Administrator account.

Make any customizations you require to the VM before we start installing consoles. I upgraded my Windows 10 20H2 VM to Windows 10 21H1.

Install Active Directory Consoles

There are no Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops or Parallels Remote Application Server or VMware Horizon environments at this point in the lab’s building process. The only consoles to install at this point are for the Microsoft products in the lab.

Before the October 2018 update to Windows 10, a download was available for the Remote Server Administrative Tools (RSAT). The old approach to RSAT was that the Windows 10 upgrade removed the RSAT from the computer. The new approach allows the RSAT to persist between Windows 10 upgrades.

Click the Start button and click Settings, as shown in Figure 88.

Click Apps, as shown in Figure 89.

Click Optional features, as shown in Figure 90.

Click Add a feature, as shown in Figure 91.

Select the following items and click Install, as shown in Figure 92.

• RSAT: Active Directory Certificate Services Tools
• RSAT: Active Directory Domain Services and Lightweight Directory Services Tools
• RSAT: DHCP Server Tools
• RSAT: DNS Server Tools
• RSAT: Group Policy Management Tools

The tools install, as shown in Figure 93.

You can find the tools by clicking Start, scrolling down to, and expanding Windows Administrative Tools, as shown in Figure 94.

Installing RSAT installed several PowerShell modules. To ensure that we have current help text for every PowerShell module, start an elevated PowerShell session.

Click Start, scroll down to and expand Windows Powershell, right-click Windows PowerShell, click More, and click Run as administrator, as shown in Figure 95.

Type in the following in the PowerShell window, as shown in Figure 96.

update-help -force

The help text updates, as shown in Figure 96. You can safely ignore any warnings or errors.

To verify that PowerShell Remoting is enabled, type the following in the PowerShell window, as shown in Figure 97.

enable-psremoting

You can access each of the RSAT consoles from the start menu or build an MMC console containing all the snap-ins you use often.

Type mmc and press Enter in the PowerShell window and then exit PowerShell.

The mmc console opens, as shown in Figure 98.

Click File, click Add/Remove Snap-in…, or press Ctrl+M (my preference), as shown in Figure 99.

Double-click the following items, as shown in Figure 100.

• Active Directory Do…
• Active Directory Site…
• Active Directory Use…
• ADSI Edit

Double-click Certification Authority, and on the popup, type in the name of your Certification Authority server and click Finish, as shown in Figure 101.

Scroll down, double-click the following and click OK, as shown in Figure 102.

• DHCP
• DNS
• Group Policy Manag…

Click on and expand each node. Connect to the appropriate server when requested.

Figure 103 shows my console.

I always recommend using these consoles installed on a management computer to avoid logging in on a production server (i.e., domain controller or certificate authority). While our lab servers may not be “production” level servers, we learn a valuable habit: stay off production servers when possible.

Save the mmc console to the location and name of your choice, as shown in Figure 104.

Install SQL Server Management Studio

We install the SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) in the management computer to avoid logging in to a production SQL Server. While our lab servers may not be “production” level servers, we learn a valuable habit: stay off production servers when possible.

In your internet browser, browse to https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/ssms/download-sql-server-management-studio-ssms?view=sql-server-ver15, and click the link to Download SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), as shown in Figure 105.

Note: The version number may change.

Click the link your browser provides to open the downloaded file, as shown in Figure 106.

Click Run on the popup, as shown in Figure 107.

You can exit your browser at this point.

Click Install, as shown in Figure 108.

SSMS begins installing, as shown in Figure 109. The installation takes a few minutes.

Click Close, as shown in Figure 110.

Click Start, scroll to and expand Microsoft SQL Server Tools 18, click Microsoft SQL Server Management…, as shown in Figure 111.

Enter the name of your SQL Server and click Connect, as shown in Figure 112.

As shown in Figure 113, we made a connection to the SQL Server.

If you get the error shown in Figure 114, did you remember to create the Inbound TCP Port 1433 firewall rule on the SQL Server?

Exit SSMS.

Install Microsoft Office

I only need Microsoft Excel and Word on my management PC for use with scripting. Unfortunately, if you tell the Office 365 site to install Office or select the Install option from the Office ISO, you get every Office component installed. To restrict what you download, install, and configure, you must use an XML file.

Microsoft makes the Office Customization Tool if you do not know how to create the required XML file.

Open a command prompt.

Make a folder named O365 on the C drive by typing md c:\O365 followed by cd c:\O365, as shown in Figure 115.

In your internet browser, browse to https://config.office.com/ and click Create, as shown in Figure 116.

Select the following, as shown in Figure 117:

Architecture: 64-bit

Office Suites: Microsoft 365 Apps for business

Viso: None (shows as Select Visio product)

Project: None (shows as Select Project product)

Additional products: None (shows as Select Additional product)

Select the update channel and Select the version you prefer, as shown in Figure 118.

Deselect the apps you do NOT want to be installed and click Next, as shown in Figure 119.

Select primary language and any additional languages or proofing tools required and click Next, as shown in Figure 120.

Select Office Content Delivery Network (CDN), leave the other two options at the default settings, and click Next, as shown in Figure 121.

Deselect Uninstall any MSI versions of Office, including Visio and Project, leave the other options at their default settings, and click Next, as shown in Figure 122.

Select Automatically accept the EULA and click Next, as shown in Figure 123.

Enter your organization’s name, an optional description, and click Next, as shown in Figure 124.

Microsoft offers numerous settings for configuring Office applications. If you wish, you can review the options and make any configuration changes required. After reviewing the Application preferences, click Finish, as shown in Figure 125.

Click Export, as shown in Figure 126.

Select your desired Default File Format and click OK. As shown in Figure 127, I prefer using Office Open XML formats.

Select I accept the terms in the license agreement, enter a File Name for the XML file, and click Export, as shown in Figure 128.

Using Windows File Explorer, browse to the location your internet browser save the XML file, typically your user account’s Downloads folder, as shown in Figure 129.

Right-click the XML file and click Copy, as shown in Figure 130.

In Windows File Explorer, browse to C:\O365, right-click in the empty space and click Paste, as shown in Figure 131.

Exit Windows File Explorer.

Now we need to download the Office Deployment Toolkit.

In your internet browser, browse to https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49117, and click Download, as shown in Figure 132.

Click the link your browser provides to open the file, as shown in Figure 133.

Click Run, as shown in Figure 134.

Select Click here to accept the Microsoft Software License Terms and click Continue, as shown in Figure 135.

Browse to C:\O365 and click OK, as shown in Figure 136.

Click OK, as shown in Figure 137.

Exit your internet browser.

In the command prompt, type in setup.exe /configure configuration.xml (use your XML file name) and press Enter, as shown in Figure 138.

Office starts installing, as shown in Figures 139 and 140.

When the installation and configuration are complete, click Close, as shown in Figure 141.

Exit the command prompt.

Click Start and verify that only the Office applications you installed are there. I installed only Microsoft Excel and Word, as shown in Figures 142 and 143.

Start any installed Office product to start the licensing and activation process, as shown in Figure 144.

After the activation process completes, click Done, as shown in Figure 145.

Additional Applications

There are many other applications you can install. Feel free to install and configure any software you require.

Here is some of the software I use.

• Citrix PVS Console (Can’t install yet)
• Citrix Studio Console (Can’t install yet)
• Google Chrome
• Notepad++
• Parallels Remote Application Server Console and PowerShell (Can’t install yet)
• PuTTY
• VMware Horizon Dynamic Environment Manager Management Console (Can’t install yet)
• WinSCP

Many management consoles are web-based—for example, vCenter, Citrix Director, VMware Horizon Connection Server, and others. I manage my Netgear switches and WiFi router and my two Synology units using a browser.

Install vCenter Root Certificate

The vCenter root certificate requires installing to manage vCenter from this computer. Citrix Studio also requires it to create a hosting connection to vCenter.

In Part 6, we downloaded the root certificate from vCenter.

Browse to the certs\win folder, as shown in Figure 146.

Double-click the file with the extension “crt”.

Click Open if you receive a file security warning, as shown in Figure 147.

Click Install Certificate…, as shown in Figure 148.

Click Local machine and Next, as shown in Figure 149.

Select Place all certificates in the following store and click Browse…, as shown in Figure 150.

Click on Trusted Root Certification Authorities and click OK, as shown in Figure 151.

Click Next, as shown in Figure 152.

Click Finish, as shown in Figure 153.

Click OK, as shown in Figure 154.

Click OK, as shown in Figure 155.

Using your browser, go to the link for the vCenter Getting Started Page. For me, that is https://vcenter.labaddomain.com, as shown in Figure 156.

Click the padlock symbol, as shown in Figure 157.

Activate Windows 10

If you have a MAPS or similar subscription service, you can activate your copy of Windows 10.

Click Start, Settings, as shown in Figure 158.

Click Windows isn’t activated. Activate Windows now., as shown in Figure 159.

Click Change product key, as shown in Figure 160.

Enter your Windows 10 Product key and click Next, as shown in Figure 161.

Click Activate, as shown in Figure 162.

If your copy of Windows 10 activated successfully, click Close, as shown in Figure 163.  If activation was not successful, resolve the issue and attempt the activation again.

Windows 10 now shows as activated.

Exit all open windows.

Up next: Create a 10ZiG Management Server

Landing page for the article series

Note: The V1 script is for RAS V17 and the V2 script is for RAS V18.

Version 2.10 25-Apr-2021

• Fixed wrong variables used to determine User Profile technology
• For RD Session Hosts properties:
  • Renamed the Properties tab to General
  • Renamed Agent Settings to Agent settings
  • Renamed User Profile to User profile
  • Renamed Desktop Access to Desktop access
  • Renamed RDP Printer to RDP printer
• For RD Session Hosts Groups properties:
  • Renamed Agent Settings to Agent settings
  • Renamed Desktop Access to Desktop access
  • Renamed RDP Printer to RDP printer
• For RD Session Hosts Schedule properties:
  • Renamed the Properties tab to General
• For VDI Providers properties:
  • Renamed Agent Settings to Agent settings
  • Renamed RDP Printer to RDP printer
• For Gateways properties:
  • Renamed the Properties tab to General
• For Certificates properties:
  • Renamed the Properties tab to General
• For Administration, Settings:
  • Rename Customer Experience Program to Customer experience program
  • Rename HTTP Proxy settings to HTTP proxy settings
• For License:
  • Rename License Details to License details
• For VDI, the following changes were made:
  • Providers tab, added Direct address
  • Providers properties, renamed the Properties tab to General
  • Providers properties, Agent settings:
    • Removed “Publishing Session Timeout”
    • Added “Enable drive redirection cache”
• Pools tab:
  • Pools:
    • Added Last modification by
    • Added Modified on
    • Added Created by
    • Added Created on
  • Templates tab:
    • For template properties, removed Status as I was getting the wrong status property
    • Template properties, renamed the Properties tab to General
    • Advanced tab, renamed Native Pool to Resource pool
• Updated the ReadMe file

You can always find the most current script by going to https://www.carlwebster.com/where-to-get-copies-of-the-documentation-scripts/

Thanks

Webster

That listening to the community is what made creating the V2.00 documentation script take so long. The RAS team reworked their PowerShell module and cmdlets to fix a lot of issues that people like Guy Leech and me brought to them. They also added many community requested features and made numerous changes to the RAS Management Console to make a more consistent admin experience.

I love working with the RAS product team because I can see changes and fixes I requested made it into the product.

Note: The V1 script is for RAS V17 and the V2 script is for RAS V18.

Version 2.00 20-Apr-2021

• Added 59 RDS Agent States
• Added a message to the error message for the missing RAS module
  • Added a link to the V2 ReadMe file
• Added a parameter, RASSite, allowing the report to contain data for the  specified Site
• Added additional Notification handlers types
• Added FSLogix to Farm/Site/Settings/Features
• Added Function GetFarmSites
• Added the missing License section for published RDSH applications to Text  and HTML output
• Added to Universal Printing/Printer drivers, “Settings are replicated to all  Sites”
• Added UPD and FSLogix to the User Profile tab for both RD Session Hosts and  RD Session Hosts/Groups
• Added VDI Pool Member type of “ALLGUESTSONPROVIDER”
• Added WVD Apps and Desktops to Publishing
• Changed $DesktopSize to use the new values of the DesktopSize property
  • Removed the property UseAvailableArea as it no longer exists
• Changed all RAS cmdlet names to use the new naming scheme Get-RAS*
• Changed all Write-Verbose statements from Get-Date to Get-Date -Format G  as requested by Guy Leech
• Changed Get-RASVDIHost to the new Get-RASProvider
• Changed Get-RASVDIHostStatus to the new Get-RASProviderStatus
• Changed PoSH module from PSAdmin to RASAdmin
• Changed some Write-Warnings to Write-Host as they are not warnings
  • Reformat most of the Write-Host statements to make the console output look  better
• Changed the font size of Word/PDF tables from 11 to 10 to prevent most word  wrapping to multiple lines
• Changed the RDS User Profile Technology to one line instead of two
• Changed the variable $MasterPublishingAgent to $PrimaryPublishingAgent
  • Changed the matching column headings from Master Publishing Agent to  Primary Publishing Agent
• Changed TWAIN and WIA state from “Unable to retrieve ___ Scanning information” to $False if unable to retrieve data or retrieved no data
• Fixed several alignment issues in the text output
• Fixed several formatting issues with the HTML and Word/PDF output
• Fixed several invalid $Null comparisons
• For RD Session Hosts, Agent settings, add the option Enable drive redirection  cache
• For replicating settings, standardized on the wording “Settings are replicated  to all Sites” followed by True or False
• In the Administration section, add the following:
  • Accounts, Receive system notifications
  • Settings, Miscellaneous, Reset idle RAS Console session after
• In the Connection section, add the following:
  • Allowed devices, headings for Secure Access and Device Access
  • Allowed devices, Allow only clients with the latest security patches
  • Allowed devices, Device Access, Mode text label
• In the Filters section, reformatted the output to make it more readable (at  least to me)
• In the Load Balancing section added CPU Optimization
• Moved Notification from Administration to Site Settings
• Removed all Turbo.net content
• Removed Function ProcessSites
• Removed MaxGuests from Provider/Agent Settings
• Removed property EnableCPULB from Load Balancing section
• Removed UPD settings from RD Session Hosts properties and Groups  properties
• Reorder Parameters in an order recommended by Guy Leech
• Reworked how the script processed a Farm with multiple Sites
  • For most of the Get-RAS* cmdlets, where needed, added the -Site parameter
• Updated Function SetWordCellFormat to the latest version
• Updated the Allowed authentication types to the new text in the console and  handled multiple selections
• Updated the help text
• Updated the ReadMe file
• When retrieving data for Gateways, set variables to values specifying if the  Gateway data could not be retrieved or found no Gateway data
• When using the output from Get-RASVDITemplate, change VDIHostId to  ProviderId
• With the addition of the “Last modification by”, “Modified on”, “Created by”,  and “Created on” properties to the PowerShell cmdlets, add those four  properties to the relevant report sections

You can always find the most current script by going to https://www.carlwebster.com/where-to-get-copies-of-the-documentation-scripts/

Thanks

Webster

Version 1.01 19-Apr-2021

• Added the missing License section for published RDSH applications to Text and HTML output
• Changed all Write-Verbose statements from Get-Date to Get-Date -Format G as requested by Guy Leech
• Changed the font size of Word/PDF tables from 11 to 10 to prevent most word wrapping to multiple lines
• Fixed several invalid $Null comparisons
• Updated Function SetWordCellFormat to the latest version
• Updated the help text
• Updated the ReadMe file

You can always find the most current script by going to https://www.carlwebster.com/where-to-get-copies-of-the-documentation-scripts/

Thanks

Webster

Parallels is committed to continuing working to include more PowerShell cmdlets in the future versions which will help me to fully document configuration available in the RAS Console.

This new script follows the same new script processing as the Citrix Federated Authentication Service script. The default output is now HTML, not Microsoft Word, and you can select multiple output formats. You can choose all four output formats if you wish like I do when I am testing the script. Making these changes allows me to use only one ParameterSet instead of five.

If you use any of the other documentation scripts, you know my goal is to follow a product’s console and document every nook and cranny and all available right-click properties, options, and details. Figures 1 through 8 show some of the various items in the RAS 17.1 console.

The list below highlights the RAS console items which are documented and others that have been left out (marked accordingly).

• Farm Settings
  • Site
• Site
  • RD Session Hosts
    • RD Session Hosts
      • Properties
      • Agent Settings
      • User Profile Disks
      • Desktop Access
      • RDP Printer
    • Groups
      • General
      • Agent Settings
      • User Profile Disks
      • Desktop Access
      • RDP Printer
    • Scheduler
      • Properties
      • Trigger
      • Options
  • VDI
    • Providers
      • Properties
      • Credentials
      • Agent Settings
      • RDP Printer
      • Scheduler
    • Pools
      • Pools
      • Members
    • Templates
      • Properties
      • Advanced
      • Preparation
      • License Keys
      • Security
    • Desktops
  • Remote PCs (Not implemented in PoSH yet)
  • Gateways
    • Gateways
      • Properties
      • Mode
      • Network
      • SSL/TLS
      • HTML5
      • WYSE
      • Security
      • Web
    • Tunneling Policies (Not implemented in PoSH yet)
  • Publishing Agents
    • Publishing Agents
      • Properties
    • Auto-promotion (Not implemented in PoSH yet)
  • Enrollment Servers (Not implemented in PoSH yet)
  • HALB (Not implemented in PoSH yet)
  • Themes (Not implemented in PoSH yet)
  • Certificates
    • Certificates
      • Properties
  • Settings
    • Auditing (Not implemented in PoSH yet)
    • Global logging (Not implemented in PoSH yet)
    • URL redirection
    • Notifications (Not implemented in PoSH yet)
    • Client settings
• Load Balancing
• Publishing
  • Type = Folder
    • Information
    • Sites
    • Folder
    • Filtering
  • Type = PCDesktop
    • Information
    • Sites
    • Remote PC Desktop
    • Filtering
    • Shortcuts
  • Type = RDSDesktop
    • Information
    • Sites
    • Publish from
    • Desktop
    • Filtering
    • Shortcuts
  • Type = VDIDesktop
    • Information
    • Sites
    • Virtual Desktop
    • Filtering
    • Shortcuts
  • Type = PCApp
    • Information
    • Sites
    • Remote PC Application
    • Filtering
    • Shortcuts
  • Type = RDSApp
    • Information
    • Sites
    • Publish from
    • Application
    • Filtering
    • Shortcuts
    • File extensions
    • License
    • Display
  • Type = VDIApp
    • Information
    • Sites
    • Virtual Desktop Application
    • Filtering
    • Shortcuts
• Quick Keypad (Not implemented in PoSH yet)
• Universal Printing
  • Universal Printing
  • Printer drivers
  • Fonts
• Universal Scanning
  • WIA
  • TWAIN
• Connection
  • Authentication
  • Multi-factor authentication
  • SAML (Not implemented in PoSH yet)
  • Allowed devices
• Device Manager (Not implemented in PoSH yet)
• Policies (Not implemented in PoSH yet)
• Administration
  • Accounts
  • Features
  • Settings
  • Mailbox
  • Reporting (Not implemented in PoSH yet)
• Information (Nothing here worth documenting)
• Monitoring (Nothing here worth documenting)
• Reporting (Nothing here worth documenting)
• License

Figure 9 shows a sample of the script running.

I hope the Parallels community finds this documentation script useful.

You can always find the most current script by going to https://www.carlwebster.com/where-to-get-copies-of-the-documentation-scripts/.

Thanks

Webster