A bit more about Machine Tag Restriction

Like already said in a previous post, I’m very interested on this new feature in XenApp/XenDesktop 7.12. I’ve learned a bit more about it so here are my new inputs!

First step: Create a tag!

By right clicking on Delivery Group or a VDA you will be able to manage the Tags and create one.

Second step: Configure Machine Tag Restriction

In order to configure Machine Tag Restriction, you need to limit a desktop (or a published application) to a specific Tag. In order to achieve this, select the Delivery Group in Studio in order to edit it. The important part is on the “Desktops” part:

EditDG

As you can see, I’ve put a restriction to the desktop “Windows 2012R2” with the Tag “Tag1”. Easy!

Now, since we haven’t configured any machine with the Tag, we cannot connect to the Desktop:

CannotStart

Third step: Add the tag to the machines

A right click on a machine will allow you to add the tag to this one. After that, you will be able to launch the Desktop.

Important facts:

You can retrieve Tags using PowerShell:

PS C:Usersdemoadmin> Add-PSSnapin Citrix*

PS C:Usersdemoadmin> Get-BrokerTag -AdminAddress xd1.citrix.lab

Description : Tag description1
MetadataMap : {}
Name : Tag1
UUID : 88d47462-2f9d-49a7-a244-e41807943e2e
Uid : 1

You can also retrieve Tags usage:

PS C:Usersdemoadmin> Add-PSSnapin Citrix*

PS C:Usersdemoadmin> Get-BrokerTagUsage -AdminAddress xd1.citrix.lab

TagName : Tag1
TagRestrictedApplicationGroups : 0
TagRestrictedEntitlementPolicyRules : 1
TagRestrictedRebootSchedules : 0
TagUUID : 88d47462-2f9d-49a7-a244-e41807943e2e
TagUid : 1
TaggedApplicationGroups : 0
TaggedApplications : 0
TaggedDesktopGroups : 0
TaggedMachines : 1
TotalTagRestrictedObjects : 1
TotalTaggedObjects : 1
UnknownTagRestrictedObjects : 0
UnknownTaggedObjects : 0

Even if it’s not mandatory to restart the Broker Agent on the VDA, the TagUUIDs are stored in the registry of the VDA at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWARECitrixVirtualDesktopAgentState:

Registry.png

 

 

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