eG Monitoring
 

Measures reported by CtxXcXASessionTest

Citrix Virtual Apps server securely delivers virtual applications and desktops to any device, over any network, empowering the delivery of a modern digital workspace. End users establish sessions to access applications and desktops hosted on the Citrix Virtual Apps server independently of the device's operating system and interface. In Virtual Apps environment, maintaining session activity is critical for delivering an engaging and consistent user experience and ensuring best user productivity across any device. If users suffer session disconnects frequently or are unable to initialize / establish / terminate their sessions, it can adversely impact their productivity and their overall experience with the application/desktop delivery service. Moreover, if there are many idle and disconnected sessions on a server, they will unnecessarily hog precious server resources, causing critical business processes to contend for limited resources. This in turn can suspend/stall business-critical applications running on the server, thus delivering a sub-par experience to users. To prevent such anomalies, administrators should continuously track the status of sessions on the target Virtual Apps server, promptly capture sessions that are resource drainers, and rapidly initiate measures to control the resource usage of such sessions. This can be easily achieved using the CtxXcXASessionTest.

This test continuously monitors the sessions on the target Virtual Apps server and reports the count of sessions in different states. Detailed diagnostics reveal which sessions are in what state currently. Alerts are promptly sent out if sessions are in the ‘‘Connecting’ state for too long, or if there are any down, idle, or disconnected sessions on the server. This way, sessions that can potentially drain server resources and degrade user experience are brought to the attention of administrators. Besides warning administrators of resource contentions that idle/disconnected sessions can cause, the test also empowers them to avoid the probable resource shortage by initiating automated actions on these sessions. These actions and their outcome can be closely tracked, and errors (if any) can be investigated using detailed diagnostics.

Outputs of the test : One set of results for the Citrix Virtual Apps Server that is to be monitored

The measures made by this test are as follows:

Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation
Active_sessions Indicates the number of user sessions that are currently active on the target server.. Number This measure gives an idea of the server workload in terms of active sessions. Tracking the number of active sessions with time, a Citrix administrator can obtain information that can help him/her plan the capacity of their Cenvironment. The detailed diagnosis capability, if enabled, lists the active and inactive sessions on the Citrix Citrix Virtual Apps server.
Idle_sessions Indicates the number of sessions that are initialized and are currently ready to accept connections. Number To optimize the performance of a server, two default (idle) sessions are initialized before any client connections are made. For performance reasons, the number of idle sessions should be less than ten. Note that this test does not differentiate between RDP and ICA sessions.
Connected_sessions Indicates the current number of sessions that are connected, but no user has logged on to the server. Number A consistent increase in the value of this measure could indicate that users are having trouble logging in. Further investigation may hence be required. Note that this test does not differentiate between RDP and ICA sessions.
Connecting_sessions Indicates the number of sessions that are in the process of connecting. Number A very high value for this measure indicates a problem with the session or connection. Note that this test does not differentiate between RDP and ICA sessions.
Disconnected_sessions Indicates the number of sessions from which users have disconnected, but which are still active and can be reconnected. Number Too many disconnected sessions running indefinitely on a Citrix Virtual Apps server cause excessive consumption of the server resources. To avoid this, a session limit is typically configured for disconnected sessions on the Citrix Virtual Apps server. When a session limit is reached for a disconnected session, the session ends, which permanently deletes it from the server. Note that this test does not differentiate between RDP and ICA sessions.
Listen_sessions Indicates the current number of sessions that are ready to accept connections. Number Note that this test does not differentiate between RDP and ICA sessions.
Shadow_sessions Indicates the current number of sessions that are remotely controlling other sessions. Number A non-zero value for this measure indicates the existence of shadow sessions that are allowed to view and control the user activity on another session. Such sessions help in troubleshooting/resolving problems with other sessions under their control.
Down_sessions Indicates the current number of sessions that could not be initialized or terminated. Number Ideally, the value of this measure should be 0.

By default, if sessions to any of these ports - 65536, 65537, 65538 – could not be initialized or terminated, they will not be counted as a ‘down session’.
Init_sessions Indicates the current number of sessions that are initializing. Number A high value for this measure could indicate that many sessions are currently experiencing initialization problems.
Inactive_sessions Indicates the current number of user sessions that are inactive. Number  
Desktop_sessions Indicates the number of user sessions that are established from desktops. Number  
Mobile_sessions Indicates the number of user sessions that are established from mobile devices. Number  
Automation_Status Indicates the current status of automation actions.   The values reported by this measure and its numeric equivalents are mentioned in the table below:

Measure Value Numeric Value
Not Required 1
Started 2
Running 3
Completed 4
Not Enabled 5
Failed 6


Note:

By default, this measure reports the Measure Values listed in the table above. In the graph of this measure however, the value of this measure is represented using their numeric equivalents only.

Use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to find out what automation action was triggered when the session was identified as idle or disconnected session.