Creating the Staging Database

IT Asset Management (Cloud)

The staging database allows the XenApp server agent to drop collected data in a conveniently close location. From here, an inventory beacon collects the data for transfer to the central operations databases for IT Asset Management.

The staging database can be installed in any convenient Microsoft SQL Server 2012 (or later) database:

• If your inventory beacon is located on a SQL server, the staging database can be on the inventory beacon
• Where there is an inventory beacon with network access to your XenApp server (and Citrix Virtual Apps is running its database in SQL Server), the staging database can be installed into the same database as used by Citrix Virtual Apps
• If none of these suit, use any other SQL Server instance that allows network access both from the XenApp server agent on the XenApp server and from the inventory beacon.

It is a small footprint database (half a dozen tables and one stored procedure) that is size-limited by the scale of your Citrix Virtual Apps implementation, with data being replaced at each upload.

To create the staging database (using supplied script):

1. Use your browser to access the following Flexera Customer Community link: https://community.flexera.com/t5/FlexNet-Manager-knowledge-base/Adapter-Tools-for-FlexNet-Manager-Suite/ta-p/5114, and then download the Adapter Tools for FlexNet Manager Suite archive and save it to a convenient location (such as C:\temp) on a suitable server.
2. In your unzipped archive, navigate into the \Citrix XenApp Server Agent subdirectory.
3. Further navigate into the appropriate sub-folder for your version of Citrix Virtual Apps (noting that the XenAppAgent folder applies to XenApp and XenDesktop versions 7.5 and later, and to Citrix Virtual Apps and Virtual Desktops versions 7.1808 and later):
   • XenAppAgent6
   • XenAppAgent65
   • XenAppAgent
   Note: If it happens that you have multiple different versions of Citrix Virtual Apps (for example, in different domains), you may use a single database for all versions of Citrix Virtual Apps. The following script is identical in all these folders.
4. From your chosen folder, collect a copy of the database creation/update script SetupXenAppAgentStagingDatabase.sql.
5. On your selected SQL Server, drop a copy of this file, and execute it in SQL Server Administration Studio against your chosen database instance.
   An appropriate SQL Server database instance:

   • Is accessible from the XenApp server(s) running the XenApp server agent
   • Is accessible from the inventory beacon responsible for uploading collected inventory to IT Asset Management
   • Grants read/write access to the account running the scheduled task for the Citrix XenApp server adapter (if you choose to use Windows Authentication — if not, take note of the account name and password for database access that you will include in the database connection string)
   • Grants read access to the service account running the inventory beacon engine (if you choose to use Windows Authentication — if not, take note of the account name and password for database access that you will include in the database connection string).

The script generates the SQL schema for the database, including creating the appropriate stored procedure. Take note of the connection string needed to connect to this database for your future reference.