Sessions by Users
The key challenge in monitoring large thin client farms or virtual desktop environments is to keep track of the user activity on the servers in the environment. Using the User Session Details Report provided by the eG Enterprise suite, administrators can figure out at what times the specified user logged in, which server the user accessed, how much CPU/memory was utilized by the user, and the applications/VMs used by the user. Like the other thin client reports, the Sessions by Users Report too permits administrators to customize the view by specifying the measures to be displayed in the report and computations to be performed on the measures (such as Avg, Max, Min etc.). Additionally, you can generate a report for all the users who are part of the active directory groups in a domain.
To view the user report, do the following:
Follow the menu sequence: REPORTS BY FUNCTION -> Domain Specific Reports -> Sessions -> Sessions - Sessions by Users.
The Sessions - Sessions by Users page will then appear. To monitor the servers pertaining to a particular farm, select the Zone to which the servers in the farm have been added.
The Component Type list is then populated with the Citrix XenApp, Citrix MF XP, VMware VDI, vSphere/VDI (i), and Terminal server types, based on the type of components present in the chosen Zone. Select a server-type from this list.
If Citrix XenApp is chosen from the Component Type list, then a Worker Group list box will appear. Worker groups are collections of XenApp servers, residing in the same farm, that are managed as a single unit. You can publish applications to a worker group. Select a Worker Group from this list if you wish to view the usage of a User belonging to that particular worker group. By default, Any option is selected from this list.
Note:
The Worker Group list box will appear only if the SHOW WORKER GROUPS flag is set to Yes while configuring the Citrix Users test.
Select a component from the Component list box for which reports are to be generated. By default, all components of the chosen Component Type will be selected.
Next, choose the User whose usage needs to be tracked. For a report on all users to the chosen Component Type, select the All option from User.
Note:
If the number of users to the zone exceeds the value configured for the MoreUsers parameter of the [CITRIX_USER_REPORT] section (in the {EG_INSTALL_DIR}\manager\config\eg_report.ini file), then a text box will be displayed instead of the list box for the User field. In the case of the text box, you will have to specify (and not choose) the name of the user for whom the report is to be generated. To generate a report for all available users, specify ‘*’.
The Organize By list box appears only when All option is selected from the User list. To generate this report for a particular thin client user, select the Users option from this list. To generate a thin client report for all users who belong to active directory groups, pick the Active Directory Group option from this list.
Note:
The Organize By list box will appear only if the DiscoverUsersforADXenUserReport flag under the [AD_XENUSER_REPORT] section of the eg_services.ini file is set to Yes. Selecting the Active Directory Group option from this list box alone will not ensure you of generating an active directory group-wise user report. To generate the active directory group-wise user report, you need to discover the domains of the active directory groups in the first place.
Procedure for discovering the domains of the Active Directory Groups
Configure the domains of all the active directory groups that need to be discovered for generating the report using the eG administrative interface (Users -> Configure Domains).
After the domains are configured, you need to discover the active directory groups available in each configured domain. The Active directory groups can either be discovered on a daily/weekly basis. Set the DiscoverUsersforADXenUserReportFreq flag in the [AD_XENUSER_REPORT] section of the eg_services.ini file to 1 for a daily discovery or 7 for a weekly discovery.
If the frequency with which the active directory groups have to be discovered is specified, then the time of starting the discovery process also needs to be specified. To do so, specify the time duration against the DiscoverUsersforADXenUserReportStartTime flag in the [AD_XENUSER_REPORT] section of the eg_services.ini file. If you want to start the discovery process between 8 PM and 9 PM, then specify the value as DiscoverUsersforADXenUserReportStartTime=20-21
Note that the Organize By list box will appear the very first time only after the discovery process is completed in the time mentioned against the DiscoverUsersforADXenUserReportStartTime flag.
For the discovery process to be successful or in other words to discover all the Active Directory Groups in the domains for generating this report, you need to do the following:
Manually enter all the domain names in the target environment in [DomainADXenUserReport] section of the <EG_INSTALL_DIR>\manager\config\eg_adxenuserreport.ini file. Taking the example of Chn, MAS domains, you need to enter them as shown below:
[DomainADXenUserReport]
Domain_Names=Chn,MAS- Once you enter the names of the domains, you need to provide valid credentials of each domain in this file under separate domain sections as shown below. These credentials can be obtained from the <EG INSTALL DIR>\manager\config\eg_authenticate.ini file.[Chn]
DNS_Name=Chn.eginnovations.com
CONNECT_USER=admin
CONNECT_USER_PWD=XXXXXXXXXXXX
SecurityGroupsADXenUserReport=EAA Access APD,EAA Access SBG FMS[MAS]
DNS_Name=MAS.EGINNOVATIONS.COM
CONNECT_USER=eguser
CONNECT_USER_PWD=XXXXXXXXX
SecurityGroupsADXenUserReport=AdministratorsOnce the discovery process starts, the report will be generated (after due credentials are provided as mentioned in the below steps) for all the users within each of the groups mentioned against the SecurityGroupsADXenUserReport field as shown above. Note that if wrong credentials like invalid domain name or an invalid security group name is entered in the eg_adxenuserreport.ini file, then the report will not be generated for the users pertaining to such domains or Active Directory Groups.
If the timeline specified for the report needs to exclude the data collected during the Weekends, then set Exclude weekends to Yes. If not, select No.
Note:
You can configure the days of the week that need to be considered as a ‘weekend’ using the CONSOLIDATED REPORTS page in the eG administrative interface; to access this page, follow the menu sequence: Admin tab -> Settings -> Reporter -> Consolidated Reports.
Select an option from the Sort By list based on which the generated report will be sorted and displayed. By default, the Session Start Time will be displayed in this list indicating that the generated report will be sorted based on the Session Start Time column.
Then, specify the Timeline for the graph. You can either provide a fixed time line such as 1 hour, 2 days, etc., or select the Any option from the list to provide a From and To date/time for report generation..
Note:
The default Timeline can be set using the CONSOLIDATED REPORTS page in the eG administrative interface. This page appears when you follow the Admin tab -> Settings -> Reporter -> Consolidated Reports menu in the eG administrative interface.
Shorter the Timeline for a report, lighter would be the query that is executed on the database, and faster the report generation. Report Timelines that run across many weeks therefore, cause excessive strain on the database, thus slowing-down report generation. To save the eG backend from injury, eG Enterprise automatically restricts the maximum Timeline for which a thin client report can be generated to the lower of the following values:
the value of the CtxLoginTest parameter in the [DDD_CLEANUP] section of the eg_format.ini file (in the <EG_INSTALL_DIR>\manager\config directory)
- the value of the MaxTimeline parameter in the [MISC] section of the eg_report.ini file (in the <EG_INSTALL_DIR>\manager\config directory).
- The maximum timeline for which the current user to eG Reporter is permitted to generate reports;
The [DDD_CLEANUP] section is where you define the interval (in days) at which the detailed diagnosis of specific tests is to be purged from the database. For the CtxLoginTest, the default interval is set to 32 days (i.e., just over a month), indicating that, by default, the detailed diagnosis of the CtxLoginTest is cleared from the database at the end of every month. Since critical thin client reports are generated based on the detailed diagnosis information, a Timeline that exceeds the duration set against CtxLoginTest would result in a report that displays invalid/no data. This duration however, is configurable. Similarly, you can also configure a MaxTimeline in the [MISC] section of the eg_report.ini file. By default, this parameter is set to 168 (hours), indicating that the maximum Timeline for a thin client report is 1 week (i.e., 24 * 7 = 168 hours). Also, while creating user profiles using the eG administrative interface, an administrator can indicate the maximum timeline for which that user can generate reports, so as to avoid long running reports.
Now, assume that you have set the CtxLoginTest parameter to 21 days (i.e., 3 weeks) and the MaxTimeline parameter to 336 hours (i.e., 2 weeks). Also, say that user john with access rights to eG Reporter has been configured to generate reports for a maximum timeline of 1 week. Therefore, whenever user john logs into eG Reporter and attempts to generate a thin client report, eG Enterprise compares the three values, picks the lowest of the three, and sets that value as the maximum Timeline for thin client reports. In our example, the maximum timeline settings of user john (i.e., 1 week) is the lowest Therefore, the maximum value that will be available for selection from the Fixed Timeline list box in the thin client report page will be 1 week.
Note that this timeline restriction does not apply to fixed timeline settings alone. If a user chooses the Any option from the Timeline list and proceeds to provide a start date and end date for report generation using the From and To specifications, eG Enterprise will first check if the user's Timeline specification is equal to or below the lowest of the three values discussed above. If not, report generation will fail. For instance, for a user who is allowed to generate reports spanning over a maximum period of 3 days only, the difference between the From and To dates should never be over 3 days. If it is, then, upon clicking the Run Report button a message box will appear, prompting the user to change the From and To specification.
In addition to the settings discussed above, this report comes with a set of default specifications. These settings are hidden by default. If you do not want to disturb these default settings, then you can proceed to generate the report by clicking the Run Report button soon after you pick a User. However, if you want to view and then alter these settings (if required), click on the
button. The default settings will then appear in the More Options pop up window. The steps below discuss each of these settings and how they can be customized.Specify the start time and end time for report generation against the Time period field.
Note:
The default Time period to be displayed here can be configured using the CONSOLIDATED REPORTS page in the eG administrative interface. This page appears when you follow the Admin tab -> Settings -> Reporter -> Consolidated Reports menu in the eG administrative interface.
In large environments, while generating reports for long time periods, say a few weeks to months, report generation was found to slow down, owing to the large volume of data being processed. If users needed to generate many such reports quickly, the slowdown compelled them to generate these reports one after another, thus affecting the speed of their operations, and consequently, their productivity. eG Enterprise now includes a background processing feature that will enable users to process multiple reports, spanning long time periods in the background, while allowing them the bandwidth to generate short-term reports in the foreground. This way, users can generate multiple reports with little-to-no loss of time. To schedule background processing of a report, select the Background Save - PDF option or the Background Save - CSV option from the Report Generation list. In this case, a Report Name text box will appear, where you would have to provide the name with which the report is to be saved in the background. To process reports in the foreground, select the Foreground Generation - HTML option from this list.
Note:
The Report Generation list will appear only if the EnableBackgroundReport flag in the [BACKGROUND_PROCESS] section of the eg_report.ini file (in the {EG_INSTALL_DIR}\manager\config directory) is set to Yes.
The default selection in the Report Generation list will change according to the Timeline specified for the report. If the Timeline set is greater than or equal to the number of days specified against the MinDurationForReport parameter in the [BACKGROUND_PROCESS] section of the eg_report.ini file, then the default selection in the Report Generation list will be Background. On the other hand, if the Timeline set for the report is lesser than the value of the MinDurationForReport parameter, then the default selection in the Report Generation list will be Foreground. This is because, the MinDurationForReport setting governs, when reports are to be processed in the background. By default, this parameter is set to 2 weeks - this indicates that by default, reports with a timeline of 2 weeks and above will be processed in the background.
Finally, click the Run Report button to generate the report.
If a specific user is chosen from the User list and the option chosen from the Report Generation list is Foreground Generation - HTML, then, the User report will appear upon clicking the Run Report button.
The report consists of a SUMMARY section that displays the average and maximum duration for which the specified user accessed the servers in the farm, and the values of the user-configured measures aggregated at the farm-level. The SESSION DETAILS section of the report displays the user-configured measures along with when and to which server the chosen user logged in, the duration of every access, and the applications accessed by the user. Clicking on the
icon will lead you to the Summary pop up window where you could find the overview of each user session. This includes the login time, the client name, the client IP, the application accessed by the chosen user, the active/idle time of the user in the session and the session start up details of the user. Clicking on the icon would lead you to the detailed diagnosis of the User sessions measure for the chosen time period. For Citrix and Terminal servers alone, the SESSION DETAILS section is followed by another section that provides details of the disconnected sessions (if any) of the chosen user during the specified timeline. These details include the exact time at which the eG agent reported the disconnect, the session ID corresponding to the disconnected session, and the client type. Typically, when a user disconnects, the applications started by the user will keep running on the server consuming resources. By providing the complete details of disconnected sessions pertaining to a user, the User report enables administrators to identify times when the resources available to the server were unnecessarily locked owing to disconnects, investigate the reasons behind the disconnects, and endeavour to minimize these occurrences.From the User Activity report for a Citrix XenApp server, you can determine which applications in the entire farm were excessively utilized by the given user, and which Citrix servers these applications are executing on. To do so, click on the Applications Accessed link in the SUMMARY section.
The first section of the details that are then displayed will provide a farm-level summary of the utilization of the individual applications. The second section lists the servers in the farm, the applications executing on each of the servers, and the percentage of time every application on that server was utilized.
To return to the User Report click on the << link.
Now, to receive a quick update on the health of any of the servers in the chosen Zone, simply click on the corresponding Server hyperlink in the SESSION DETAILS section of the User Report. A Server Report will then appear.
Also, if the user report pertains to a Citrix/Terminal user (i.e., if the Component Type chosen for the report is Citrix XenApp, Citrix MF XP, or Terminal), then, the Session Details section of the User Report will include an Applications column. If you click on the DIAGNOSIS button in the Applications column corresponding to a Server in the Session Details section, you will view the detailed diagnosis of the resource (CPU and memory) utilization of the individual applications on the Citrix/Terminal server.
In addition to the above, the User Activity Report also enables you to figure out how the user-configured measures displayed in the SESSION DETAILS section performed during the period for which the user was accessing the server. To achieve this, just click on the hyperlinked value of the measure against a Server in the SESSION DETAILS section. A graph will then appear.
Using the graph, administrators can determine whether the server has experienced any spikes in resource usage during the user access. If so, then, this could indicate that the user was performing resource-intensive activities on the server, and could warrant a thorough investigation.
If you have chosen All from the User list, the Active Directory Group is chosen from the Organize By list box and the option chosen from the Report Generation list is Foreground Generation - HTML, then, upon clicking the Run Report button, the report will appear as detailed in step 16.
The SESSION DETAILS section of the report displays the user-configured measures along with when and to which Citrix/Terminal/VDI server the users of an Active Directory group logged in, the duration of their access and the time . If the users are not part of any of the active directory groups, then the session details of such users will be listed under the AD_NULL section.
If the Background Save - PDF option is chosen from the Report Generation list, then clicking on the Run Report button will not generate the report and display it in this page for your benefit. Instead, a message indicating that the report is being processed in the background will appear. This will be accompanied by a link, that will lead you to the page that lists all the reports that are being processed in the background, and their current status. If background report generation fails for a report, you can regenerate that report using this page, or can even delete that report if need be. On the other hand, if background processing successfully completes for your report, then, you can view a PDF of the report by clicking on the PDF icon in that page.
To configure the details that need to appear in the SUMMARY and SESSION DETAILS section of the report, edit the [CITRIX_USER_REPORT] section of the eg_report.ini file in the <EG_INSTALL_DIR>\manager\config directory. For example, you can specify the following in the above-mentioned section:
[CITRIX_USER_REPORT]
Citrix_MF_XP:CtxXpUserTest:Cpu_util#Cpu utilization=Avg,Max
Citrix_MF_XP:CtxXpUserTest:Mem_util#Mem util=Avg,Max
Citrix_MF_XP:CtxXpUserTest:Latency_avg=Avg,MaxFrom the above example, the following format can be inferred for the measure specification.
<InternalComponentType>:<InternalTest>:<InternalMeasure>#<Display name of Measure>=<Comma-separated list of functions>
Accordingly, in the first line of the example above:
- Citrix_MF_XP is the <InternalComponentType>
- CtxAppTest is the <InternalTest>
- Cpu_util is the <InternalMeasure>
- Cpu utilization is the <Display name of Cpu_util>
- Avg and Max the functions that will be executed on the value of the Cpu_util measure
Note:
If a display name is not provided for a measure, then the actual measure name will automatically become the display name.
Note:
By default, the Summary section will display only the average (Avg) values of the configured measures. However, if specific function names are provided in the [CITRIX USER_REPORT] section in the format discussed above, then such a specification will override the default setting.