Introduction

Amazon WorkSpaces is a fully managed, secure Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) solution which runs on AWS. With Amazon WorkSpaces, you can easily provision virtual, cloud-based Microsoft Windows desktops for users, providing them access to the documents, applications, and resources they need, anywhere, anytime, from any supported device.

A typical user logon in an Amazon WorkSpaces infrastructure begins with the user attempting to access the URL of the Amazon WorkSpaces over the web. Once the user conects to the Amazon WorkSpaces, he/she provides his/her login credentials at the login prompt. As soon as the credentials are validated, he/she will be allowed to access the desktop provisioned for him/her.

Many factors impact a user's logon experience. Slowness/failure of the web interface, authentication failures/delays, and network latencies can contribute to a sub-par logon experience. Because the failure points are one too many, proactive detection of a failed/slow logon and precise isolation of its root-cause is often a challenge for administrators. Another bottleneck to effective troubleshooting is the fact that logon issues do not come to light until a user actually logs in.

Collecting logon metrics of real user activity is challenging. Metrics have to be collected from the different tiers involved - the web interface, the network, and the Amazon WorkSpaces.

The eG Enterprise Logon Simulator for Amazon WorkSpaces, a part of the eG Enterprise, is a purpose built solution for delivering proactive visibility into the logon performance in Amazon WorkSpaces infrastructures. Using an agentless approach, the eG Enterprise Logon Simulator for Amazon WorkSpaces simulates a user logging into an Amazon WorkSpaces client portal through a browser and accessing his/her desktop. By emulating the exact same process that users go through when they logon to Amazon WorkSpaces, the eG Enterprise Logon Simulator for Amazon WorkSpaces provides a realistic measure of the user experience during logon. Since every simulation tests the entire Amazon WorkSpaces infrastructure, the results represent the cumulative health of all of the tiers supporting user logons.

Unlike traditional simulation tools that require recording of a script that captures the typical steps a user performs, the eG Enterprise Logon Simulator for Amazon WorkSpaces requires no recording and hence, is simple to implement. Installed on any physical or virtual machine, the simulator targets the configured logon URL and the desktop at pre-configured intervals and tests the logon availability and performance. When a problem is detected, the offending step is clearly highlighted, so administrators can start working on a resolution immediately.

The simulation can be configured to run from different remote locations to understand the logon performance from each location. By testing the simulated session from different locations and at different times, administrators can diagnose and resolve logon issues before users experience them and call up the helpdesk. Licensing is based on number of simulation locations, not on the number of logons simulated.