Citrix XenDesktop Device Inventory

IT Asset Management can generate a license compliance position for applications installed on virtual machines that are created and managed by Citrix XenDesktop server. To generate complete and accurate license compliance position for some publishers, IT Asset Management collects the following information:

VDI templates, groups, and group membership inventory (collected through a separate .ndi file for each XenDesktop server on the appropriate inventory beacon). The Virtual Desktop Templates page displays the VDI template and the virtual desktop details for XenDesktop server. The Password Store on the appropriate inventory beacon must be configured to collect this inventory. See Using Password Manager When Collecting Specialized Inventory.
Normal hardware and software inventory of virtual machines (collected through at least one .ndi file for virtual machine based on each VDI template). For each VDI template, the virtual desktop records based on it are also displayed on this page.

Note:Citrix XenApp server inventory can be collected through the XenApp server adapter. For more information, see Inventory Adapters and Connectors Reference.

To collect Citrix Virtual Desktops inventory, IT Asset Management uses the following different components and processes:

Standard Components and Processes to VMware Device and Infrastructure Inventory

Inventory Type

Component Used

Process used

Purpose

VDI templates and VDI devices

inventory beacon

The inventory beacon connects to the Citrix

XenDesktop server and gets the VDI templates, groups, and group membership information. This information is collected through a separate .ndi file. You need the following settings:

Create one or more discovery and inventory rule with the following settings:
The target should include the subnet in which the desired virtual machines are hosted
The action should have the following options selected: Discover Citrix XenDesktop environments, and Gather Citrix XenDesktop environment inventory.
Configure the Password Store on the appropriate inventory beacon. See Using Password Manager When Collecting Specialized Inventory.

The collected information displays on the Inventory > Virtual Devices > Virtual Desktop Templates page. This page also displays the relation of VDI templates and the VDI devices.

With VDI template inventory, IT Asset Management can quickly identify the software applications that are installed when a virtual desktop is cloned from a VDI template, and the total number of cloned virtual desktops from a VDI template.

Organizations generally use specific VDI templates for specific user roles like one for the accounts department and other for the IT department.

Note:Flexera recommends including Inventory Agent in the VDI template so that each cloned VM is automatically managed by IT Asset Management.