Citrix PVS 7.6 Install – Part 3: Configuring DHCP for Citrix PVS PXE

This is part 3 in the Citrix Provisioning Services 7.6 installation and configuration guide. In this article we look at how to configure a Microsoft DHCP server in order to get Citrix PVS PXE boot working.

Quick Links

Here are the links to each of the articles that make up this series:

Step-by-Step Guide

There are a few ways a Citrix PVS Target Device can connect to the Citrix PVS server to stream the image. The best and most effcient way is via DHCP and PXE boot. In order to be able to use this configuration, you will need a DHCP server and you will need to configure the DHCP scope options to point to the Citrix PVS PXE server.

The alternative to using DHCP and PXE is to use the Provisioning Service Boot Device Manager. In this guide I am not going to be using it (as I chose the PXE boot option), however if you do use it, it essentially creates an ISO file that you boot the target device from. This ISO contains an IP address for the target device and all of the PVS server information. This will then allow the target device VM to connect to the PVS server and stream the image. The drawback to using this option is that you will need to manually create and manage and ISO file for each of your PVS target devices, which sort of takes away from the automated and easy deployment mechanism that is Citrix Provisioning Services.

The following article explains how to configure your existing DHCP server so that you can use PXE on your PVS target devices:

1. Log onto your Domain Controller (or a machine with AD tools installed) as a domain administrator (or at least a DHCP administrator)

2. Launch DHCP and navigate to the Sope Options for the scope that will be used for the Citrix PVS devices

3. Right-click Scope Options and select Configure Options

4. Select Option 66. For the string value enter the IP address of your Citrix PVS server

5. Select Option 67. For the string value enter "ARDBP32.bin"

6. Click OK on the Scope Options dialog box

7. You should now see two additional scope options configured – Option 66 and Option 67

8. Log out of the Domain Controller

Next article…

The next article coming up in the series is: Citrix PVS 7.6 Install & Configuration Guide – Part 4: Creating a Capture VM.

Comments

  1. Great instructions. One issue i have with using DHCP options is that it only allows for one TFTP server IP and in doing so removes any sort of resilience. Something which BDM does offer.

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