Summary
This article provides descriptions and function definitions of the files used for the Application Isolation Environment feature of Citrix Presentation Server.
The High Level View of Application Isolation Environment
Note: AIECOM64.exe is only found on Citrix Presentation Server 4.0 for 64-bit Windows.
Application Isolation Environment Process Files
The following are descriptions and function definitions of the Application Isolation Environment process files.
AIESETUP.EXE - used to install an application into an isolation environment
Format:
aiesetup [/d] [/n] [/q] [/w] AIE_Name Setup_application [application parameters]
aiesetup [/?]
aiesetup [/e] AIE_Name
Additional option available for x64:
aiesetup [/64] - AIESETUP /64 is used to install 64-bit applications into an isolation environment
AIERUN.EXE - used to launch a published application into an isolation environment
Format:
aierun [/w] AIE_Name Application [application parameters]
Additional option available for x64:
aierun [/64] - AIERUN /64 is used to execute a 64-bit application
QAIE.EXE - isolation environment information tool, returns information about existing isolation environments
Format:
qaie
AIECOM.EXE - provides support for out-of-process com
AIECOM64.EXE – only found on Presentation Server for 64-bit Windows, provides support for out-of-process com in 64-bit environment
AIEADF.EXE - provides support for Installation Manager ADF
CTXSBXHOOK.DLL - provides isolation of the registry and the object manager
CTXSBX.SYS - provides file system isolation
• On Windows 2000 this is a boot start driver. On Windows Server 2003 this is an auto start driver.
• At boot time this driver creates the following data structures:
o FileObject collection
o ReparseManager collection
o LookasideLists for NAME_CONTROL structures
o Rules engine is initialized
CTXPIDMN.SYS - tracks process creation and destruction on the system
• CTXPIDMN.SYS can never be unloaded because it subscribes to process notification events
AIEIMA.DLL - IMA connection DLL
• AIEIMA.DLL provides functionality to enumerate and read Application Isolation Environments
• This read is performed through RPC because the user account of the launcher doesn’t have administrative privilege to access the IMA data store
• Enumeration is accomplished through a direct call to AIESAL.DLL
o Enumeration fails for non-administrator callers due to a permission check in IMA
• Returns the Application Isolation Environment name and UID only
• AIEIMA.DLL does RPC to AIESAL.DLL to retrieve the Application Isolation Environment
• The Application Isolation Environment interfaces in MFCOM communicate with AIESAL.DLL directly through LPC
• The Presentation Server Console utilizes the Java implementation of the Application Isolation Environment SAL
AIESAL.DLL - AIESAL.DLL is the IMA Subsystem Access/abstraction Layer for the Application Isolation Environment IMA subsystem. It is essentially the client piece for RPC to call into the application isolation environment IMA Subsystem. The Presentation Server Console makes use of this interface to gain access to the IMA data store. The Application Isolation Environment launcher and installer (AIERun and AIESetup) make use of this indirectly to retrieve Application Isolation Environment data at isolated application launch time.
AIESS.DLL - AIESS.DLL is the Application Isolation Environment IMA Subsystem. AIESS.DLL maintains the data associated with Application Isolation Environments within the IMA data store. AIESS.DLL is loaded at IMA Service start up time.
CTXSBXMSG.DLL - Event log - logs entries to the server Event Log to note when a service is not installed
AIE.DLL - Handles all launch-time actions. AIE.DLL reads rules from IMA, environment variables and provides an interface for launching applications into an isolation environment
• AIE.DLL provides functionality to install and launch applications
• AIE.DLL reads the rules as an XML blob from IMA
• All XML parsing done using MSXML.DLL
• All environment variables contained in the rules are next resolved
• AIE.DLL communicates with IMA via AIEIMA.DLL
• QAIE.EXE bypasses AIE.DLL
