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Session performance

Overview

The session metrics offer a way to monitor the performance of a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and session-based computing (SBC). The activity of a client system, that doesn't necessarily have the Nexthink Collector installed on it, can be monitored from the host device. That activity is categorized as a session and reported by the Collector installed on that device. It works for persistent and non-persistent virtual machines.

Definition

When using Nexthink Finder or Portal, a session, also known as a session performance, is the term used to describe a group of metrics and data specific to virtualized environments. The metrics are computed per device, every 15 minutes.

Usage

First, make sure you configured the Portal settings to store the new data as by default they are disabled.

The new activities are available in the Finder. You can visualize them using the device view or the user view. When analyzing system activity, you can use them in investigations as well as incorporate them in custom metrics.

All the data associated with the session performance can be queried using NXQL. To learn more about NXQL, follow our tutorial.

Citrix RTT

The Round Trip Time (RTT) is a measurement provided by Citrix and defined by them as "the screen lag that the user experiences while interacting with an application or desktop hosted on Citrix Virtual App or Desktop respectively." (external source). The Citrix RTT field indicates the maximum round trip time identified during a period of 15 minutes.

Session network latency

The session network latency indicates the maximum time delay between an user action and its visual response. It is a measure of the performance of the network. When the value is too high, the user could experience screen lags sometimes coupled with a degraded user experience.

Session protocol

The session protocol reports the protocol used to initiate a communication channel between two systems. Here are the possible values:

  • Citrix - ICA

The Citrix Independent Computing Architecture

  • VMware - Blast

The VMWare Blast Extreme protocol

  • VMware - PCoIP

The VMware PC over IP protocol

  • RDP

The Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol

  • Local session

The Microsoft Local Session Manager in charge of managing local user sessions

  • Multiple

The user connected using several protocols during the event timeframe


Client IP

The client IP reports the local IP of the device connecting to the server. When they are multiple network interfaces, only the one that initiated the session is recorded.

Supported technologies

Citrix

The session performance metrics are available from Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (XenApp & XenDesktop) version 7.15 LTSR.

Find below the list of all the supported Citrix clients.

  • Citrix Workspace App for Windows

  • Citrix Workspace App for Mac

  • Citrix Workspace App for iOS

  • Citrix Workspace App for Android

  • Citrix Workspace App for Chrome

  • Citrix client for HTML5

Limitations

The Round Trip Time and Session Network Latency are not available for Android and iOS clients. This is a current limitation with Citrix clients for mobile devices.

The Client IP is not available for the HTML5 clients. For other clients, only the IPv4 is recorded.

Microsoft

All clients using Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) from Microsoft are supported, as well as the desktop and app virtualization Windows Virtual Desktop on Azure.

Limitations

The Session Network Latency is not available when the session is established using the "/admin" switch (console session with the ID number 0).

VMWare

The session performance metrics are available from VMWare Horizon version 7.12.

Find below the list of all the supported VMWare clients.

  • VMware Horizon Client for Windows

  • VMware Horizon Client for Mac

  • VMware Horizon Client for Linux

  • VMware Horizon Client for iOS

  • VMware Horizon Client for Android

  • VMware Horizon Client for Chrome

Amazon

The session performance metrics are available for Amazon WorkSpaces using the PCoIP protocol.

Find below the list of all the supported Amazon Workspaces clients:

  • macOS Client Application

  • Web Access

  • Windows Client Application

Supported operating systems

  • Windows 10

  • Windows Server 2016

  • Windows Server 2012

Unsupported operating systems

Here is the list of systems not compatible with the session metrics.

  • Windows 8.1

  • Windows 7

  • macOS

  • Windows Server 2019

  • Windows Server 2008 R2


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