Query on running robots

Hello,
My question is related to deployment architecture of a robot in production style environments.
In most of the cases I understand that a dedicated desktop or VDI or windows virtual server will be provided for installing the robots which can then run automation process like running app or launching browser etc.

In our usecase customer doesnt have VDI setup and also doesnt wish to have any dedicated virtual servers/desktops for the robot.
They use Xenapp 6.5 for app virtualization and can provide ā€˜xen app with published desktopā€™ which can be accessed via a Citrix url.

Is it possible to install robot in this fashion and how will the orchestrator be able to communicate with the robot in unattended fashion.
Has anyone come across a case where dedicated machines wont be provided to the robots either as VDI or desktop or windows virtual servers.

hi,

i am not handy with XANAPP but as per my knowledge, we can install Uipath in Xenapp server and can connect to orchestrator like how we do for VDI

To answer your question, Robot uses a separate user session, a robot machine requires some components to be installed and some additional permission to communicate. Also a robot deployment mode is available called High Density robot where multiple robots can run parallaly per user session. HD robot deployment may not be possible for your requirement.
Additionally, UiPath 18.4 onwards supports native citrix automation.( Selectors available in citric env)

Thanks, Tuhin

Hi Tuhinā€¦ Thanks for your message. My main query is related to where we can deploy the robot as the customer doesnt have VDI and doesnt want to create new Vmware based windows virtual servers.

As per my understanding the native citrix automation is a way of creating process by accessing citrix based apps. But this still requires robot to run on a VDI or vm and then open a browser, go to citrix url and then login to access citrix app - Isnt this assumption correctā€¦ My problem here is I dont have dedicated machine for robot and hence can robot run as a Citrix Xen app or Citrix Xen app published desktop or anything elseā€¦

Please let me know what you think

Hi Venkatā€¦ yes we can install the robot in the citrix server itself similar to my thick client and then robot can access the app from that server which at the end of the day will be same as both ot them running on a windows server. The way a human interacts in that usecase is as follows

The flow is as below

  • User opens a browser in his local machine and type in the citrix url
  • Citrix login page is displayed where he enters his credentials
  • He can then see all the applications under his citrix account including app published as desktop
  • He can then launch this feature to view the desktop where robot and client app is installed

How can this scenario be automated using UI Path Orchestrator as how will it access citrix urlā€¦ ?
We cannot directly access the Xenapp receiver as that should only be via citrix only . Else its similar to running app and robot on dedicated vm

Could someone elaborate on this statement? Specifically the part about ā€œā€¦the desktop where Robot and Client App is installedā€. I would be interested in knowing exactly how the Robot (runtime) is Installed and Configured from a Citrix Desktop perspective. Do you just install Robot on Citrix Server and as Users log into it and spawn a Desktop Instance, it automatically allocates a Robot Runtime Instance to the Desktop Instanceā€¦? I am not all that familiar in how Citrix Desktop(s) work or how they are allocated by User.

@rstaylor62,
For this a better understanding of Citrix is needed. I can try to present a little background. Citrix environment is created as a ā€œteamā€ of several servers on which useful applications are installed. Every application (including desktop - this is also treated as an application) is configured in Citrix Studio and deployed on external server (StoreFront / WebInterface) in website appliance. Everytime user is launching app (desktop as well) the connection to application server is made (after authentication in AD) and application is presented to the user as a streamed view (ICA-RDP protocol) with use of RDP license. Long story short - You can assume that citrix desktop is working very similar to normal RDP connection to the remote machine. UiPath Studio in this context can work as same as for every remote machine. You need to install Studio on any machine on which you will make the robots. You need to install Runtime on Citrix XenApp workers (servers which handles the applications) as well as the UiPath Robot. Then you need to connect Robots with Orchestrator and you can perform the tasks on each XenApp server. Additionally each robot can be deployed as separate user so robot can do the connection to Citrix through web portal (like user normally do) and do some task on desktop but this requires separate AD account for robot. Or if we are talking about attended robot then task can be performed on active user session. Hope that I didnā€™t mixed up anything :smiley:

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Good response ā€¦Thankyou

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