Default Parameters for VmgICASessionTest

The key factors influencing user experience in a virtual desktop infrastructure are the latencies experienced by the user while connecting to the desktop via ICA 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 ICA communication channel between the user terminal and the virtual desktops is essential.

The VmgICASessionTest auto-discovers the virtual desktops on the ESX host and the users who are currently connected to each desktop. 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 over the ICA 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.

This page depicts the default parameters that need to be configured for the VmgICASessionTest.

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

• To obtain the ‘inside view’ of performance of the cloud -hosted Windows desktops - i.e., to measure the internal performance of the Windows virtual desktops - this test uses a light -weight eGVMAgent software deployed on each of the desktops. Accordingly, Inside View Using parameter is by default set to eGVMAgent (Windows).

• Report Powered OS flag is relevant only for those tests that are mapped to the Inside View of Desktops layer. If this flag is set to Yes (which is the default setting), then the ‘inside view’ tests will report measures for even those Windows virtual desktops that do not have any users logged in currently. Such desktops will be identified by their name and not by the username_on_virtualdesktopname. On the other hand, if this flag is set to No, then this test will not report measures for those Windows virtual desktops to which no users are logged in currently.

• Report By User flag is set to Yes by default. The value of this flag cannot be changed. This implies that the virtual machines in VDI environments will always be identified using the login name of the user. In other words, in VDI environments, this test will, by default, report measures for every username_on_virtualmachinename.

• Since this test runs for a ‘Cloud Desktops’ component, Is Cloud VMs flag is set to Yes by default.

• In the Low Bandwidth in Mbps specify the bandwidth below which the test should consider the connection quality of the user on the target Citrix Virtual Apps server as poor or weak. By default, this is set to 1 Mbps.

• Specify the bandwidth beyond which the test should consider the connection quality of the user on the target Citrix Virtual Apps server as strong in the High Bandwidth in Mbps text box. By default, this is set to 8 Mbps.

• Indicate the latency below which the connection quality of the user on the target Citrix Virtual Apps server is considered as strong by this test in the Low Latency in MS text box. By default, this is set to 120 milliseconds.

• Indicate the latency beyond which the connection quality of the user on the target Citrix Virtual Apps server is considered as poor or weak by this test in the High Latency in MS text box. By default, this is set to 220 milliseconds.

• Specify the ICA Round Trip Time (RTT) below which the connection quality of the user on the target Citrix Virtual Apps server is considered as strong by this test in the Low ICA RTT in MS text box. By default, this is set to 150 milliseconds.

• Indicate the ICA Round Trip Time (RTT) beyond which the connection quality of the user on the target Citrix Virtual Apps server is considered as poor or weak by this test in the High ICA RTT in MS text box. By default, this is set to 300 milliseconds.

• DD FREQUENCY refers to the frequency with which detailed diagnosis measures are to be generated for this test. The default is 1:1. This indicates that, by default, detailed measures will be generated every time this test runs, and also every time the test detects a problem. You can modify this frequency, if you so desire. Also, if you intend to disable the detailed diagnosis capability for this test, you can do so by specifying none against DD FREQUENCY.

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

When changing default configurations of tests, the values with “$” indicate variables that will be replaced by the eG system according to the specific server being managed - for instance, $hostName is the host/nickname of the target host, $port is the port number of the server being monitored. E.g., for a server xyz:80, $hostName will be changed automatically by the eG manager to “xyz*” and $port will be changed to “80” when configuring a test.