UiPath Robot used as Citrix XenApp/Virtual App

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How to use Robot as Citrix XenApp/ Virtual App?

UiPath Robots can be used as Citrix virtualized application. There is a centralized management of the Robot version and a quick procedure of making the Robot available to the user, without installing the application on VDI or local machine as described below:

  • Starting with Orchestrator version 2018.4, UiPath has implemented a new type of robot, named “floating attended”. This is a particular flavor of attended robot and the special difference is the fact that the robot is no longer linked to a machine name. More information on Floating Robots can be found here

UiPath Robot installation and configuration steps are listed below:

  1. Install the UiPath Robot using the .msi installer on the Citrix XenApp/Virtual Apps server(s). Download the latest version of Robot here. Information about UiPath Robot installation can be found here.
  2. Create a machine template in Orchestrator in order to provision floating attended robots based on that template.
  3. Provision robots in Orchestrator, one for every user that will access UiPath Robot as Citrix virtualized application.
  4. Connect Robot to Orchestrator, using the Orchestrator URL and MachineKey from the previously defined template.

Citrix Management/ Administration steps are listed below:

  1. From Citrix Studio console deliver UiPath Robot application to desired users/groups.
  2. From this point forward, every assigned user will be able to see UiPath Robot in Citrix StoreFront/Receiver/Workspace.
  1. Add the UiPath Robot application in “Favorites”, and it will be aavailble in “Start Menu” of the client machine.
When the user starts the application, the robot tray will appear in the system tray.
  1. After the Agent is started, the Robot appears CONNECTED in Orchestrator and in the Robot’s Setting dialog box.
  1. The name of the VDI machine where the user is connected is not the Machine Name that appears in the UiPath Agent, the latter is the name of the Citrix Application Server.
  1. On the server side, an ICA-CGP session is launched for each user.
  1. When the user starts, on client machine (VDI), a workflow execution, UiPath Executor starts on the Citrix Application server, inside the ICA-CGP session, but the workflow is executed in user’s interactive Windows session on the client machine.
  1. On the client side, user will be able to see the workflow’s execution.

Conclusion: the UiPath Robot Executor program resides on the Citrix Application Server, runs in the server’s memory but the workflow execution happens on the client VDI/machine.


Benefits:
  • Installation and upgrade are performed only one time for all the users. There is only one installation on each Citrix Application Server, which needs to be upgraded
  • Granular rights management for UiPath Robot application, from Citrix Studio Management Console
  • Citrix farm administrator can grant and revoke very fast the rights to access the application
NOTE ::
  • User must be admin on the VDA server (Citrix Application Server) in order to modify Orchestrator Settings in UiPath robot tray.
  • Nuget packages are stored in user’s profile (C:\Users\username\.nupkg) on the Citrix application server. It is recommended to use roaming profiles/Citrix UPM, otherwise packages will be downloaded at

a. Every login if server machines are stateless

b. Each server machine that is delivering the UiPath Robot for the first time, which might cause waste of storage space.

  • The Robot’s settings file, UiPath.settings, is stored in C:\programdata\UiPath\ on the Citrix application server, which means one single settings file that is applied to any user using this machine template.