Test your Citrix knowledge…

True or False: Citrix Provisioning Services requires PXE

Answer: False

When using Provisioning Services, which is an optional component of XenDesktop, the target device utilizes a bootstrap file, which initializes the Provisioning Services stream. The target device must be able to obtain that bootstrap file, or else the stream will never begin.

Unfortunately, I still hear people saying that the only way to accomplish this is with PXE, which is incorrect.

Provisioning Services has a few different options for delivering the bootstrap file (these have been the most common approaches for many years):

1. The DHCP Method:
   Target device boots and sends DHCP discover broadcast
   DHCP server responds with a client IP, Option 66 & 67
   Target device uses the IP and contacts the server identified in Option 66 requesting the file from option 67.
   The PVS server sends the requests bootstrap file via TFTP to the target device.
2. The PXE Method:
   Target device boots and sends DHCP discover broadcast with Option 60 PXE Client
   DHCP server responds with IP
   PVS Servers, which are running PXE Services, respond with Boot Server
   Client uses the IP and picks one of the PVS responses and requests more information
   PVS responds with boot server/file name information
   Target device contacts the boot server and requests the file name.
   The PVS server sends the requests bootstrap file via TFTP to the target device.
3. The Local Method: An local file is created with the Boot Device Manager, a component of Provisioning Services. The local file is the bootstrap file, which tells the target how to contact the Provisioning Services farm. It is assigned to each target device either as an ISO attached to the target deices DVD drive, a USB drive, or as a small attached virtual hard disk drive.

It is a pretty good mix of organizations opting for DHCP or Local, much less using the PXE method. Both work, but DHCP and PXE requires more integration with your current environment than the Local method.

Daniel – Lead Architect

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