eG Monitoring
 

Measures reported by VTPcoipSessionTest

PCoIP - PC over IP - is a proprietary protocol for remote workstation and desktop resolution. VMware View supports PCoIP to deliver virtual desktops to users connecting to the VDI. Since PCoIP recognizes different types of content and then uses different compression algorithms based on the content type, it is often considered ideal to deliver on the VDI promise of a rich user experience.

The key factors influencing user experience in such cases are the latencies experienced by the user while connecting to the desktop via PCoIP and the bandwidth used when a user interacts with a virtual desktop. High latency and excessive bandwidth consumption can often slowdown access to desktops, thereby significantly delaying subsequent user operations. Hence, monitoring the latency and bandwidth usage of the PCoIP communication channel between the user terminal and the virtual desktops is essential.

This test auto-discovers the virtual desktops on the virtual host and the users who are currently connected to each desktop via PCoIP. For each such user, the test monitors the communication between a user and the virtual desktop, and reports the following:

  • The latency experienced by each user session;

  • The bandwidth used by the incoming and outgoing data/audio/multimedia traffic transacted by the PCoIP communication channel between each user and virtual desktop;

Using this test, an administrator can identify user sessions that are being impacted by high latency and abnormal bandwidth usage. In addition, the test also reveals the type of traffic that is causing excessive bandwidth usage, thereby providing pointers to how the client configuration can be fine-tuned in order to reduce bandwidth consumption and improve performance.

The measures made by this test are as follows:

Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation
NetRDTrip Indicates the round trip latency between the virtual desktop and this user terminal. Secs Comparing the value of this measure across users will enable administrators to quickly and accurately identify users who are experiencing higher latency when connecting to a virtual desktop.
DataReceived Indicates the amount of data that was received by this user from the virtual desktop during the last measurement period. Kb Comparing the value of each of measures across users will enable administrators to quickly and accurately identify users who are consuming the maximum bandwidth. Once you zero-in on the user, you can compare the DataReceived of that user with the DataSent to know when the user consumed more bandwidth - when receiving data or while sending data?
DataSent Indicates the amount of data that was sent by this user to the virtual desktop during the last measurement period. Kb
AudioDataRec Indicates the amount of sound/audio data that was received by this user during the last measurement period. Kb Comparing these values across users will reveal which user is sending/receiving intensive sound/audio data over PCoIP.
AudioDataSend Indicates the amount of sound/audio data that was transmitted from this user during the last measurement period. Kb
AudioRecBwd Indicates the bandwidth used while transmitting sound/audio to this user. Kbits/sec Comparing these values across users will reveal which user is sending/receiving bandwidth-intensive sound/audio files over PCoIP.
AudioTransBwd Indicates the bandwidth used while transmitting sound/audio packets to this user. Kbits/Sec
AudioTransLimBwd Indicates the maximum bandwith limit that is set for transmitting outgoing sound/audio packets from this user. Kbits/Sec The AudioTransLimBwd is defined by a GPO (Group Policy Object) setting, which is a collection of settings that define what a system will look like and how it will behave for a defined group of users. The GPO setting also controls what users can and cannot do on the virtual desktop.
ImgDataRec Indicates the amount of imaging data received by this user during the last measurement period. Kb Comparing these values across users will reveal which user is sending/receiving intensive images over PCoIP.
ImgDataSend Indicates amount of imaging data transmitted from this user during the last measurement period. Kb
ImgDecode Indicates the currrent estimate of the decoder processing capability. Kbits/sec  
ImgRecBwd Indicates the bandwidth utilized when the imaging packets were received by this user. Kbits/sec Comparing these values across users will reveal which user is sending/receiving bandwidth-intensive imaging files over PCoIP.
ImgTransBwd Indicates the bandwidth utilized when the imaging packets were transmitted from this user. Kbits/sec
ImgEncode Indicates the rate at which the imaging frames were encoded over a sampling period of a second while sending across the PCoIP channel. Frames/sec  
NetRecBwd Indicates the overall bandwidth used by incoming PCoIP packets. Kbits/sec Comparing the values of these measures across users will reveal which user is performing bandwidth-intensive operations over the PCoIP channel.
NetTransBwd Indicates the overall bandwidth used outgoing PCoIP packets. Kbits/sec
UsbRec Indicates the amount of USB data received over the PCoIP channel during the last measurement period. Kb Comparing the values of these measures across the users will reveal which user is sending/receiving intensive USB data over the PCoIP channel.
UsbSend Indicates the amount of USB data sent over the PCoIP channel during the last measurement period. Kbits/sec
UsbRecBwd Indicates the bandwidth used when this user received USB data over the PCoIP channel. Kbits/sec Comparing these values across users will reveal which user is sending/receiving bandwidth-intensive USB data over PCoIP.
UsbTransBwd Indicates the bandwidth used when this user transmitted USB data over the PCoIP channel. Kbits/sec
Duration Indicates the time duration for which the PCoIP channel is active between the virtual desktop and this user terminal since the start up of the PCoIP session. Secs A high value is desired for this measure.
NetTransLimit Indicates the maximum bandwidth limit that is set for outgoing packets from this user. Kbits/sec The value of this measure should not exceed the values that are set for the following:

  • GPO bandwidth limit for the PCoIP client

  • GPO bandwidth limit for the PCoIP server

  • Bandwidth limit for the local network connection

  • Negotiated bandwidth limit for the Zero Client firmware based on encryption limits

If the value of this measure exceeds the above values, then the packet transmission may be incomplete thus reducing the performance of the PCOIP channel.
NetTransActiveLimit Indicates the network bandwidth limit that is actively available for transmitting packets from this user. Kbits/sec  
RecPocket Indicates the number of received packets lost. Number A high value for these measures is indicative of a bad network connection between the user terminal and the virtual desktop.
TransPocket Indicates the percentage of transmitted packets lost. Number
NetRecPocket Indicates the percentage of received packets lost. Percent A value of this measure close to 100 is a indicator of a bad network connection between the user terminal and the virtual desktop.
NetTransPocket Indicates the percentage of transmitted packets lost. Percent