how to achieve great citrix user experience

© eG Innovations, Inc | www.eginnovations.com

User Experience Monitoring for Citrix Infrastructures

Why, What and How?

Bala VaidhinathaneG [email protected]


Moderator

Christine AckleyDirector of Marketing OperationseG [email protected]


Logistics

Please submit your questions at any time during the webinar using the questions panel on the GoToWebinar client.

This webinar is being recorded. You will receive a link to the recording in a few days.

A copy of this presentation is posted on Slideshare:http://www.slideshare.net/eginnovations/

http://www.slideshare.net/eginnovations/


eG Innovations

Leading provider of IT performance monitoring, diagnosis and reporting software

Specialists in Citrix performance monitoring and management

Citrix Premier Technology Partner since 2004

Our solutions are used in some of the largest Citrix deployments in the world


Today’s Presenter

Bala VaidhinathanCTOeG Innovations

[email protected]


Agenda

Why is Citrix user experience monitoring important?

What are the key aspects of Citrix user experience

you should track?

How to monitor Citrix user experience?

Going beyond performance monitoring

Live solution tour of eG Enterprise

Q & A


48%

45%

7%

The most performance sensitive service

Similar in performance demands as other services

Not that performance sensitive

Citrix – One of the Most Performance Sensitive Enterprise Applications

Source: 2016 Citrix Performance Survey, http://www.eginnovations.com/solutions/sign-in?whitepaper=36

93% believe that Citrix is one of the performance sensitive services in enterprise networks.

http://www.eginnovations.com/solutions/sign-in?whitepaper=36


What are the Biggest Citrix Performance Challenges?


10%

26%

27%

28%

32%

34%

48%

51%

53%

54%

56%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Not able to monitor GPU

No simple way to forecast/plan

No visibility into applications used in virtual…

Too many silo tools

No visibility outside Citrix tiers

Lack of end to end performance view

Lack single dashboard for Citrix tiers

Need better monitoring of Citrix XenApp

Users notice issues before you do

Diagnosis is too slow/complex

Citrix being blamed for everything

Not able to measure the user experience

62%

Up

Down

Not able to measure user experience



Logon is slow

Application is slow to

launch

Session gets disconnected

Keystrokes don’t show up on time

Multimedia playback is

choppy

UserExperience Printing

doesn’t work

What Constitutes Citrix User Experience?

User Experience Monitoring

How long did Citrix logon take? If slow, why? Profile? AD? GPO?

How long does app launch take?

What is a user’s screen refresh latency?


Ranking Citrix User Experience Problems

18%

25%

36%

39%

41%

45%

48%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Screen refresh is slow

Video playback is slow

User disconnects

Printing problems

Speed of access

Slow application launches

Frozen sessions

Slow logins

52%


Slow logons



Emulates users Imposes the same workload

again and again Provides a measure of

experience EVEN when there is no real load

Monitors real users Actual workloads Direct measure of what

users are seeing

Synthetic Monitoring

How to Monitor Citrix User Experience

Real User Monitoring


Simulate logon; launch different applications

Synthetic monitoring from multiple locations

Real user monitoring from the client, network, server

Must use a combination of both approaches


Synthetic Monitoringwith eG Enterprise


The eG Citrix Logon Simulator

• Periodically simulates a logon session for Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop

– Uses browser scripting in IE and simulates the exact process that the user goes through

– Black box approach; external view

– Verifies that the entire Citrix delivery infrastructure is working, the Citrix session is established, and the application is launched

• The simulated session detects logon issues proactively

• Run 24/7 against a Citrix farm (XenApp/XenDesktop)


How eG Citrix Logon Simulator Works

Test

Real User

Using

Simulated Session

From

Real Endpoint


The eG Citrix Logon Simulation – In Action

Simulated logon into Citrix via NetScaler

Applications enumerated on the StoreFront console

Launching application on StoreFront

Wait for application to launch before logging off


eG Logon Simulator


Feature Highlights

• Real-time simulation and testing of user session

• Complete visibility of logon process by testing entire Citrix delivery infrastructure

• Simulates exact same steps of a real user

• 24/7 logon testing allows simulation whenever and wherever needed

• Can be run from local or remote system

• Automated alerts accurately pinpoint logon issues

• Supports Citrix XenApp versions 6.x and 7.x, XenDesktop 7.x

• Simple to deploy – no recording/scripting; Deploy in minutes


Complete Session Emulation: Going Beyond Logon Monitoring

Simulated logon into Citrix via

NetScaler Applications enumerated on the StoreFront console

Launch application on StoreFront

Login to SAP Portal

Access HR information

Perform tasks:Approve, Revoke

Logout of SAP Portal


Complete Session Emulation – Record & Replay

Record a script to simulate a user session

Open the same application that a user access (e.g.,

browser, Citrix receiver)

Indicate what actions to perform

Specify what to match in the

response

Name the transaction step


eG Transaction Simulator


Emulates users Imposes the same workload

again and again Provides a measure of

experience EVEN when there is no real load

Monitors real users Actual workloads Direct measure of what

users are seeing

Synthetic Monitoring

How to Monitor Citrix User Experience

Real User Monitoring


Simulate logon; launch different applications

Synthetic monitoring from multiple locations

Real user monitoring from the client, network, server

Must use a combination of both approaches


Monitoring Real User Experience with eG Enterprise


Domain Controller

Web Interface

User Device

Database Server

License Server

Hypervisor + Virtual Desktop

Controller

3

1 7

6

2

4

10

5

9 11

8

Steps Involved in Citrix Logon


Domain Controller

Web Interface

User Device

Database Server

License Server

Hypervisor + Virtual Desktop

Controller

3

1 7

6

2

4

10

5

9 11

8

Where Citrix Logon Has to be Measured

In the XenApp server / virtual

desktop

At the Delivery Controller


Monitoring Real User Logonwith eG Enterprise


Monitoring User Latencies with eG Enterprise


Monitoring ICA Virtual Channels

Virtual Channel Monitoring

What is the screen refresh lag?

How much bandwidth is the user session consuming?

How much of this is:

Audio bandwidth?

Video bandwidth?

Printer bandwidth?

Drive bandwidth?

Framehawk

DCR

Thinwire

Multimedia

Flash

Generic USB

CDM

Audio

Lync

PrintingMobile SDK

Mobile Sensors

SmartcardClipboard

KB& Mouse

ICA


What are the Main Causes of Citrix Problems?

27%

29%

30%

31%

37%

40%

42%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Virtualization platform

Server OS

Network in the data center

Citrix tiers

Storage

Infra services (AD, Profile, etc.)

Enterprise applications

Network connection to the user terminals

53%


Network connection to user terminals



Monitoring Citrix Application Launch

Virtual Application Monitoring

How long did it take to launch an application?

What are the most popular applications?

What are the most CPU/memory intensive applications?

For how long was an application accessed?

1/19/2017

Oracle Confidential –Internal/Restricted/Highly Restricted

30

Going beyond User Experience Monitoring


When is a Citrix User Happy?

Well-planned infrastructure & service delivery

Proactive resolution before services are

impacted

Reliable

Fast mean-time-to-repair (MTTR)

Available at all times High response time

Available Performing Well

High throughput


Auto-Baselining for Proactive Alerting

Automatically computed baseline based on time of day, day of month

behavior enables proactive detection of problems


StoreFront

Fire

wal

l

Fire

wal

lNetScaler

Desktop Delivery

Controller

Virtual Machine

Infrastructure

Virtual Desktop

Agent

XenMobile Saas, Web,

Mobile, Data

Provisioning

Services

XenApp

Profile Store

License Server

Data Store

Domain Controller

Cloud

Switch SAN

Where is the Root-Cause?

What is the root cause of the service problem?Network? VMware? AD? SQL? Storage? Profile Server?


A few of the servers are handling most of

the sessions

Capacity Optimization Example


Capacity Planning Example


eG Enterprise – Summary

Monitor all aspects of Citrix user experience

Visibility into Citrix and non-Citrix tiers - performance, usage

Auto-baselining for proactive alerting

Correlation across tiers for root-cause diagnosis, lower MTTR

Dashboards to see KPIs of interest in real-time

Reports customized to different stakeholders

On-the-go mobile access for rapid troubleshooting


Dramatically simplify and accelerate application

performance management. Deliver peak performance, user satisfaction and ROI.

User Satisfaction

IT Productivity

Higher serviceuptime

Simplicity

Cost control & ROI

Total Citrix

Performance

Management

“

”

Total Citrix Performance Monitoring Benefits


Free Trialhttp://www.eginnovations.com/freetrial

Send an [email protected]

Call Us+1 (866) 526 6700

Next Steps

http://www.eginnovations.com/freetrial

http://www.eginnovations.com/freetrial

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


&