Bad combination: Slow logon and Publish Application

Slow logons are already an issue but when it gets to a certain duration then it causes massive problems when using only publish application. Things can get even worse when Citrix user profile manager automatic configuration has not been disabled. Automatic configuration of UPM enforces profile streaming and it might and can cause further issues when dealing with a lot of small files like ini files, cookies, bookmarks and others.

What are the issues I'm talking about?

• Initial publish application don't start
• Starting multiple application at the same time end up on different server
• Profiles are loaded several times because apps are opened on different server
• Even longer wait time for users to get to their applications
• File corruption caused by profile streaming with a ton of small files (thousands above 1,500) and or big profiles (hundreds of Megabytes)

You can workaround issues but at the end, you might find yourself looking for a proper profile concept and finally start managing the user profiles. I see way too often that customer or consultants just turn on Citrix UPM and hoping for the best.

The breaking point is around 40-60 seconds of logon duration when things can turn Sauer. First, the initial start of an application might not work and you must set the following Citrix registry key ApplicationLaunchWaitTimeoutMS (see https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX128009 ) as a first workaround.

Next, you might notice that apps are opened on different servers and the reason for that is that Receiver delays by default only for 20 seconds the start of additional applications. You can extend the time by adding SucConnTimeout=40 (https://docs.citrix.com/content/dam/docs/en-us/receiver/windows/ica-settings/en.ica-settings.ica-settings-wrapper.pdf ) to the default.ica file to delay the start further.

In case you have file corruption you might want to disable the automatic configuration of UPM (should be disabled by default but there is a bug in some versions of UPM) but then you might get the full impact of user profiles that have not been managed in the past.

The process to start with real profile management in production can be long and painful! Therefore, don't hope for the best with profiles and start plan- and designing your profile management!

Profile Management includes

• Citrix User Profile Manager settings
• Application behavior and data redirection
• Profile Folder Redirection
• Monitoring the profile store
• Handling of profile store, cleanup (ProfileNurse, Citrix WEM)
• Optimizing profiles during and after the pilot phase

NOTE: I found all the above problems with one customer and took over two weeks to get things working in a productive environment.