Citrix XenApp : Unwanted Event Log Entry : DCOM Event ID 10016 Error

Here is a nice write-up from Jacques Bensimon with a follow-up by Aaron Silber on creating a new Citrix console MMC.

On the subject of unwanted event log entries, another one (from Citrix this time) is a DCOM event 10016 that shows up on all servers in a PS/XA farm every time a non-Administrator uses the management console (e.g. Help Desk personnel or anybody with access to the Citrix console who is not a local Admin on every farm server).  It is the result of the “Diagnostic Facility Extension” to the “Citrix Access Management Console” MMC snap-in which gets activated every time the console is launched and causes some underlying OS debug facility (only available  to Administrators) to be queried on every server.  There is apparently no way to grant the necessary permission to non-admins, so the best answer is to create a custom MMC console with the “Citrix Access Management Console” snap-in but with the “Add all extensions” box unchecked (in the Extensions tab) and all extensions unchecked except for “Presentation Server Extension”.  This has everything anybody really needs to manage a farm (applications, sessions, processes, etc), loads a little faster, and keeps the event log clear.  As an added benefit of using this custom console, since it no longer invokes the “My Knowledge Extension”, you can now use “LOCALHOST” as the only entry in the discovery server list without having to put up with the “The My Knowledge feature will be unavailable” message every time you open the console.  [This issue by the way has been cleverly resolved by Citrix in XA 5 for Windows Server 2008 … by getting rid of the “My Knowledge” feature entirely! J]

 

Additionally, if you copy this newly created mmc file that you just created to “C:\Program Files\Common Files\CitrixAccess Management Console – Framework” and make sure to name it cmi20.mmc (I would recommend renaming the original) and wipe out any %AppData%CitrixMMC folder that exists (or at least the mmc (ok they are actually .msc) files), then this new, customized version of the MMC will be used for all of the default AMC icons, on the ICA Toolbar and in the Start Menu!