Merging multiple sites into a single site

Multi-site support for Automated Configuration provides a method to merge multiple on-premises sites into a single cloud site.

Multi-site support adds unique prefixes and suffixes to component names on a per on-premises-site basis, ensuring name uniqueness after multiple on-premises sites are merged to a single cloud site.

Prefixes and suffixes can be assigned for each of the following components on a per-on-premises-site basis.

• AdminScope
• AdminRole
• ApplicationAdmin
• ApplicationFolder
• ApplicationGroup
• ApplicationUser
• DeliveryGroup
• GroupPolicy
• HostConnection
• MachineCatalog
• StoreFront
• Tag

Application folders support prefixing, suffixing, and rerooting. Rerooting adds an extra top level folder to an application’s existing folder structure.

Prefixing and suffixing rules

1. Prefixes and suffixes cannot contain any of the following special characters: \ , / ; : # . * ? = < > | ( ) " ' { } [ ]
2. Prefixes and suffixes can contain trailing spaces but not leading spaces.
3. Prefixes and suffixes must be double quoted to contain trailing spaces.
4. Prefixes and suffixes are applied at the time of import, merge, and add. The source .yml files are never modified.
5. The prefix and suffix process automatically prefixes or suffixes dependent component names when applicable. For example, if machine catalog names are prefixed with “East,” delivery groups referencing them are also prefixed with “East.”
6. If a component name already begins with the prefix or suffix, no prefix or suffix is added. Component names cannot contain double identical prefixes or suffixes.
7. Prefixes and suffixes can be individually used or used in combination.
8. Use of a prefix or a suffix on a component is optional.

Note:

The Full Configuration interface displays components in alphabetical order.

Group by site

Use prefixing to visually group components from a single site. Each site is listed in its own group with prefixing alphabetically controlling the ordering of different site groups.

Group by name

Use suffixing to visually group like-named components from multiple sites. Like-named components from different sites visually alternate.

SitePrefixes.yml file

Site prefixing begins with the SiteMerging.yml file that contains the site prefix and suffix mapping for one or more on-premises sites. You can manage the SiteMerging.yml file manually, or by using the available cmdlets listed at the Merging multiple on-premises sites cmdlets section.

Exporting, importing, merging, and adding

Merging cannot begin until you have exported an on-premises site. To export an on-premises site, see Migrating from on-premises to cloud.

Central export target folder

The methods described in this section place multiple site exports into a central file share location. The SiteMerging.yml file, CustomerInfo.yml file, and all export files reside in that file share location, allowing you to do the import from one location independent of the on-premises sites.

Cloud accessing operations never reference the on-premises sites or Active Directory, therefore allowing you to do cloud-accessing operations from anywhere.

Direct file share

The export, import, merge, and new/add operations provide a parameter to target or source a folder other than the default folder, %HOMEPATH%\Documents\Citrix\AutoConfig. The following examples use a central file share located at \\share.central.net that the admin already has access to, having provided credentials as needed.

To target the export to a site-specific folder, use the –TargetFolder parameter:

From the East DDC:

mkdir \\share.central.net\AutoConfig\SiteEast

Export-CvadAcToFile –TargetFolder \\share.central.net\AutoConfig\SiteEast

From the West DDC:

mkdir \\share.central.net\AutoConfig\SiteWest

Export-CvadAcToFile –TargetFolder \\share.central.net\AutoConfig\SiteWest

After the exports are complete, create the CustomerInfo.yml and SiteMerging.yml files and place them in \\share.central.net\AutoConfig.

Note:

Do not use the SiteRootFolder parameter when creating the SitePrefixes.yml when using this direct file share reference method.

To import, merge, or add from the direct file share, you must decide from which machine you want to do the cloud accessing operation. Options include:

• One of the on-premises DDCs where the tool is already installed.
• The machine hosting the file share.
• A different machine.

Automated Configuration must be installed on the machine accessing the cloud. Neither the on-premises PowerShell SDK, DDC, nor Active Directory are used, so the cloud accessing execution requirements are simpler than the export requirements.

To merge the East DDC to the cloud:

Merge-CvadAcToSite –SiteName East –SourceFolder \\share.central.net\AutoConfig\SiteEast -CustomerInfoFileSpec \\share.central.net\AutoConfig\CustomerInfo.yml

To merge the West DDC to the cloud:

Merge-CvadAcToSite –SiteName West –SourceFolder \\share.central.net\AutoConfig\SiteWest -CustomerInfoFileSpec \\share.central.net\AutoConfig\CustomerInfo.yml

The following is a sample SitePrefixes.yml file used in the previous example.

    East:
      SiteRootFolder: "" # Important: leave this empty
      AdminScopePrefix: "East_"
      AdminRolePrefix: "East_"
      ApplicationAdminPrefix: "East_"
      ApplicationFolderPrefix: "" # Note that a new parent root folder is used instead
      ApplicationFolderRoot: "East"
      ApplicationGroupPrefix: "East_"
      ApplicationUserPrefix: "East_"
      DeliveryGroupPrefix: "East_"
      GroupPolicyPrefix: "East_"
      HostConnectionPrefix: "East_"
      MachineCatalogPrefix: "East_"
      StoreFrontPrefix: "East_"
      TagPrefix: "East_"
      AdminScopeSuffix: "_east"
      AdminRoleSuffix: "_east"
      ApplicationAdminSuffix: "_east"
      ApplicationFolderSuffix: "_east"
      ApplicationGroupSuffix: "_east"
      ApplicationUserSuffix: "_east"
      DeliveryGroupSuffix: "_east"
      GroupPolicySuffix: "_east"
      HostConnectionSuffix: "_east"
      MachineCatalogSuffix: "_east"
      StoreFrontSuffix: "_east"
      TagSuffix: "_east"
    West:
      SiteRootFolder: "" # Important: leave this empty
      AdminScopePrefix: "Western "
      AdminRolePrefix: "Western "
      ApplicationAdminPrefix: "Western "
      ApplicationFolderPrefix: "" # Note that a new parent root folder is used instead
      ApplicationFolderRoot: "Western"
      ApplicationGroupPrefix: "Western "
      ApplicationUserPrefix: "Western "
      DeliveryGroupPrefix: "Western "
      GroupPolicyPrefix: "Western "
      HostConnectionPrefix: "Western "
      MachineCatalogPrefix: "Western "
      StoreFrontPrefix: "Western "
      TagPrefix: "Western "
      AdminScopeSuffix: ""
      AdminRoleSuffix: ""
      ApplicationAdminSuffix: ""
      ApplicationFolderSuffix: ""
      ApplicationGroupSuffix: ""
      ApplicationUserSuffix: ""
      DeliveryGroupSuffix: ""
      GroupPolicySuffix: ""
      HostConnectionSuffix: ""
      MachineCatalogSuffix: ""
      StoreFrontSuffix: ""
      TagSuffix: ""