Configuration of WVDInDelayTest

One of the most difficult problems to diagnose by the administrators on virtual desktops is the poor performance of the applications installed. Traditionally, diagnosis was done by collecting CPU, memory, disk I/O and a few other metrics related to the applications. The data collected from traditional metrics were not sufficient to figure out the root cause of poor performance of the applications. This is because, they did not factor in issues such as user input delays that may be caused by the virtual desktop itself, and not by the applications running on it or by the network.

Typically, every user input (e.g. keyboard clicks and mouse clicks) sits in the input queue on the session host until such time it is picked up for processing by an application’s message queue. In the event of heavy load on the AVD therefore, user input delays may increase. This could be a sign that user experience is degrading to the point where administrators might want to add more hosts or increase the VM instance size. Therefore, it is necessary for administrators to measure the user input delays while the applications are being accessed. This can be easily measured using the WVDInDelayTest test!

With the help of this test, administrators can determine the maximum and average time taken by the applications to respond to the user input received by the chosen Session Host / Azure Virtual Desktop. This way, administrators can figure out if there is any time delay in responses from applications. In addition, these metrics help administrators to differentiate desktop issues from network/application issues.

The default parameters associated with this test are as follows:

• The TEST PERIOD list box helps the user to decide how often this test needs to be executed.

• In the HOST text box, the IP address of the host for which the test is to be configured has to be specified.

• Specify the port at which the specified HOST listens to in the PORT text box. By default, this is NULL.

• If multiple components of the same component type are awaiting configuration, then an APPLY TO OTHER COMPONENTS check box will appear in this page. Clicking on this check box will allow you to apply the configuration to all/selected components of that type.

• Once the necessary values have been provided, clicking on the UPDATE button will register the changes made.

When changing the configuration for specific servers, a “*” beside the text box corresponding to the parameter signifies that these values have to be manually configured by the user. The parameter values that require to be configured will typically be prefixed with a “$” or contain a series of “*”. A value of “none” in the parameter value indicates that the corresponding parameter value can be changed if required.