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 11
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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