RemoteFX User Experience - OS Test
Microsoft RemoteFX™ enables the delivery of a full Windows user experience to a range of client devices including rich clients, thin clients, and ultrathin clients. RemoteFX delivers a rich user experience for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) by providing a 3D virtual adapter, intelligent codecs, and the ability to redirect USB devices in virtual machines. RemoteFX is integrated with the RDP protocol, which enables shared encryption, authentication, management, and device support. RemoteFX also delivers a rich user experience for session-based desktops and RemoteApp programs to a broad range of client devices.
If a remote user’s experience with a RemoteFX-enabled XenServer is poor, then administrators should be able to quickly figure out what is causing the quality of the UX to suffer – is it poor frame quality? or severe packet loss? or bad picture output owing to a high compression ratio? or bottleneck in TCP/UDP connectivity? The RemoteFX User Experience - OS test helps answer this question. For each remote user connecting to a RemoteFX-enabled Citrix Hypervisor, this test measures user experience and reports abnormalities (if any). This way, users who are experiencing a poor visual experience can be isolated and the reason for the same can be ascertained. In addition, the test points you to RemoteFX features that may have to be tweaked in order to improve overall performance.
This test is disabled by default. To enable the test, go to the enable / disable tests page using the menu sequence : Agents -> Tests -> Enable/Disable, pick the Citrix Hypervisor - VDI as the desired Component type, set Performance as the Test type, choose the test from the disabled tests list, and click on the < button to move the test to the ENABLED TESTS list. Finally, click the Update button.
Target of the test : A Citrix Hypervisor - VDI
Agent deploying the test : An internal/remote agent
Outputs of the test : One set of results for every user logged into the target Citrix Hypervisor-VDI.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
|
Test period |
How often should the test be executed. |
|
Host |
The host for which the test is to be configured. |
| Port |
The port at which the specified host listens. By default, this is NULL. |
|
Xen User, Xen Password and Confirm Password |
To enable the eG agent to connect to the XenServer API for collecting statistics of interest, this test should login to the target hypervisor as a root user. Provide the name of the root user in the Xen User text box. Root user privileges are mandatory when monitoring a XenServer 5.5 (or below). However, if you are monitoring XenServer 5.6 (or above) and you prefer not to expose the credentials of the root user, then, you have the option of configuring a user with pool-admin privileges as the Xen User. If you do not want to expose the credentials of a root/pool-admin user, then you can configure the tests with the credentials of a Xen User with Read-only privileges to the XenServer. However, if this is done, then the Xen Uptime test will not run, and the Xen CPU and Xen Memory tests will not be able to report metrics for the control domain descriptor. To avoid such an outcome, do the following before attempting to configure the eG tests with a Xen User who has Read-only privileges to the Citrix Hypervisor:
Once this is done, you can configure the eG tests with the credentials of a Xen User with Read-only privileges. The password of the specified Xen User needs to be mentioned in the Xen Password text box. Then, confirm the Xen Password by retyping it in the Confirm Password text box. |
| SSL |
By default, the Citrix Hypervisor is not SSL-enabled. This indicates that by default, the eG agent communicates with the target hypervisor using HTTP. Accordingly, the SSL flag is set to No by default. If you configure the target hypervisor to use SSL, then make sure that the SSL flag is set to Yes, so that the eG agent communicates with the target hypervisor using HTTPS. Note that a default SSL certificate comes bundled with every Citrix Hypervisor installation. If you want the eG agent to use this default certificate for communicating with an SSL-enabled Citrix Hypervisor, then no additional configuration is required. However, if you do not want to use the default certificate, then you can generate a self-signed certificate for use by the target hypervisor. In such a case, you need to explicitly follow the broad steps given below to enable the eG agent to communicate with the target hypervisor via HTTPS:
For a detailed discussion on each of these steps, refer to the Troubleshooting section of this document. |
|
Inside View Using |
By default, this test obtains the “inside view” of VMs using the eG VM Agent. Accordingly, the Inside view using flag is set to eG VM Agent by default. The eG VM Agent is a piece of software, which should be installed on every VM on a hypervisor. Every time the eG agent runs this test, it uses the eG VM Agent to pull relevant 'inside view' metrics from each VM. Once the metrics are collected, the eG agent then communicates with each VM agent and pulls these metrics, without requiring administrator privileges. Refer to Configuring the Remote Agent to Obtain the Inside View of VMs for more details on the eG VM Agent. |
|
Domain, Admin User, and Admin Password, and Confirm Password |
By default, these parameters are set to none. This is because, by default, the eG agent collects 'inside view' metrics using the eG VM agent on each VM. Domain administrator privileges need not be granted to the eG agent if it uses this default approach to obtain the 'inside view' of Windows VMs. |
|
Ignore VMs Inside View |
Administrators of some high security XenServer environments might not have permissions to internally monitor one/more VMs. The eG agent can be configured to not obtain the 'inside view' of such ‘inaccessible’ VMs using the IGNORE VMS INSIDE VIEW parameter. Against this parameter, you can provide a comma-separated list of VM names, or VM name patterns, for which the inside view need not be obtained. For instance, your IGNORE VMS INSIDE VIEW specification can be: *xp,*lin*,win*,vista. Here, the * (asterisk) is used to denote leading and trailing spaces (as the case may be). By default, this parameter is set to none indicating that the eG agent obtains the inside view of all VMs on a Citrix Hypervisor host by default. Note: While performing VM discovery, the eG agent will not discover the operating system of the VMs configured in the IGNORE VMS INSIDE VIEW text box. |
|
Exclude VMs |
Administrators of some virtualized environments may not want to monitor some of their less-critical VMs - for instance, VM templates - both from 'outside' and from 'inside'. The eG agent in this case can be configured to completely exclude such VMs from its monitoring purview. To achieve this, provide a comma-separated list of VMs to be excluded from monitoring in the EXCLUDE VMS text box. Instead of VMs, VM name patterns can also be provided here in a comma-separated list. For example, your EXCLUDE VMS specification can be: *xp,*lin*,win*,vista. Here, the * (asterisk) is used to denote leading and trailing spaces (as the case may be). By default, this parameter is set to none indicating that the eG agent obtains the inside and outside views of all VMs on a virtual host by default. By providing a comma-separated list of VMs/VM name patterns in the EXCLUDE VMS text box, you can make sure the eG agent stops collecting 'inside' and 'outside' view metrics for a configured set of VMs. |
|
Ignore Winnt |
By default, the eG agent does not support the inside view for VMs executing on Windows NT operating systems. Accordingly, the IGNORE WINNT flag is set to Yes by default. |
|
Webport |
By default, in most virtualized environments, the target hypervisor listens on port 80 (if not SSL-enabled) or on port 443 (if SSL-enabled). This implies that while monitoring an SSL-enabled Citrix hypervisor, the eG agent, by default, connects to port 443 of the server to pull out metrics, and while monitoring a non-SSL-enabled Citrix hypervisor, the eG agent connects to port 80. Accordingly, the webport parameter is set to 80 or 443 depending upon the status of the ssl flag. In some environments however, the default ports 80 or 443 might not apply. In such a case, against the webport parameter, you can specify the exact port at which the target hypervisor in your environment listens so that the eG agent communicates with that port. |
|
Report by User |
While monitoring a Citrix hypervisor, the REPORT BY USER flag is set to No by default, indicating that by default, the guest operating systems on the target hypervisor are identified using the host name specified in the operating system. On the other hand, while monitoring a Citrix hypervisor-VDI, this flag is set to Yes by default; this implies that in case of the Citrix hypervisor-VDI model, by default, the desktops will be identified using the login of the user who is accessing them. In other words, in VDI environments, this test will, by default, report measures for every username_on_virtualmachinename. |
|
Report Powered OS |
This flag becomes relevant only if the report by user flag is set to ‘Yes’. If the report powered os flag is set to Yes (which is the default setting), then this test will report measures for even those VMs that do not have any users logged in currently. Such guests will be identified by their virtualmachine name and not by the username_on_virtualmachinename. On the other hand, if the report powered os flag is set to No, then this test will not report measures for those VMs to which no users are logged in currently. |
| Measurement | Description | Measurement Unit | Interpretation | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Average frames encoding time |
Indicates the average time taken for encoding the frames of this user. |
Secs |
Compare the value of this measure across users to know for which user frames encoding took too long. Encoding is a synchronous process that occurs on the server in the single-session (vGPU) scenario and on the VM in the multi-session scenario. The value of this measure should be under 33 ms. If it is under 33 ms but you still have performance issues, there may be an issue with the app or operating system you are using. |
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|
Frame quality |
Indicates the quality of the output frame expressed as a percentage of the quality of the source frame for this user. |
Percent |
High frame rates produce a smooth representation of frames for the particular user, while low frame rates may cause rough or choppy representation of frames for the particular user. A high value is hence desired for this measure. Compare the value of this measure across users to know which user received the poorest frame quality. The quality loss may be due to RemoteFX, or it may be inherent to the graphics source. If RemoteFX caused the quality loss, the issue may be a lack of network or server resources to send higher-fidelity content. If server resources are causing the bottleneck, try one of the following approaches to improve performance:
If network resources are causing the bottleneck, try one of the following approaches to improve network availability per session:
If client resources are causing the bottleneck, try one of the following approaches to improve performance:
|
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|
Frames skipped due to insufficient client resources |
Indicates the rate at which frames were skipped for this user due to insufficient client resources. |
Frames/Sec |
A low value is desired for this measure. Compare the value of this measure across users to know which user is connecting from a client sized with inadequate resources. If this measure reports an unusually high value for a user, try one of the following approaches to improve the experience for that user:
|
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|
Frames skipped due to insufficient network resources |
Indicates the rate at which frames were skipped for this user due to insufficient network resources. |
Frames/Sec |
A low value is desired for this measure. Compare the value of this measure across users to know which user is connecting via a network that is sized with inadequate resources. If this measure reports an unusually high value for a user, try one of the following approaches to improve network availability for that user's sessions:
|
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|
Frames skipped due to insufficient server resources |
Indicates the rate at which frames were skipped for this user due to insufficient server resources. |
Frames/Sec |
A low value is desired for this measure. Compare the value of this measure across users to know which user was unable to receive frames due to the lack of enough resources on the XenServer. If this measure reports an unusually high value for a user, try one of the following approaches to improve the experience of that user:
|
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|
Graphics compression ratio |
Indicates the ratio of the number of bytes encoded to the number of bytes input for this user. |
Percent |
The compression ratio typically affects the quality of the picture. Generally, the higher the compression ratio, the poorer the quality of the resulting picture. Ideally therefore, the value of this measure should be 0. You can compare the value of this measure across users to identify that user whose picture output was very poor owing to high compression. |
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|
Input frames |
Indicates the number of source frames provided per second as input to the RemoteFx graphics for this user. |
Frames/Sec |
|
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|
Output Frames |
Indicates the number of source frames sent per second to this user as output of RemoteFx graphics. |
Frames/Sec |
If this value is less than that of the Input Frames measure, it means that frames are being skipped. To identify the bottleneck, use the 'Frames skipped....' measures. A high value for any of the 'Frames skipped...' measures implies that the problem is related to the resource the counter tracks. For example, if the client does not decode and present frames at the same rate the server provides the frames, the frames skipped due to insufficient client resources will be high. On the other hand, if the value of this measure matches that of the Input frames measure, check the value of the Average frames encoding time measure. The value of the Average frames encoding time measure should be under 33 ms. If it is under 33 ms but you still have performance issues, there may be an issue with the app or operating system you are using. |
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|
Source frames |
Indicates number of frames per second composed at the source for this user. |
Frames/Sec |
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|
Base TCP round trip time |
Indicates the time between initiating a network request and receiving a response over TCP for this user. |
Seconds |
A high value for this measure could indicate a bottleneck in TCP connectivity between the user terminal and the server. |
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|
Base UDP round trip time |
Indicates the time between initiating a network request and receiving a response over UDP for this user. |
Seconds |
A high value for this measure could indicate a bottleneck in UDP connectivity between the user terminal and the server. |
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|
Current TCP bandwidth |
Indicates the amount of data that is currently carried from one point to another over TCP for this user. |
Mbps |
A consistent rise in the value of this measure could indicate that TCP traffic to/from the user is consuming bandwidth excessively. Compare the value of this measure across users to identify that user who is performing bandwidth-intensive operations on the XenServer. |
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|
Current TCP round trip time |
Indicates the average time between initiating a network request and receiving a response over TCP for this user. |
Seconds |
A high value could indicate a current problem with TCP connectivity between the user terminal and the server. |
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|
Current UDP bandwidth |
Indicates the amount of data that is currently carried from one point to another over UDP for this user. |
Mbps |
A consistent rise in the value of this measure could indicate that UDP traffic to/from the user is consuming bandwidth excessively. Compare the value of this measure across users to identify that user who is performing bandwidth-intensive operations on the XenServer. |
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|
Current UDP round trip time |
Indicates the average time between initiating a network request and receiving a response over UDP for this user. |
Secs |
A high value could indicate a current problem with UDP connectivity between the user terminal and the server. |
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|
Forward error correction |
Indicates the percentage of forward error corrections performed for this user. |
Percent |
RemoteFX UDP transport uses Forward Error Correction (FEC) to recover from the lost data packets. In the cases where such packets can be recovered, the transport doesn’t need to wait for the data to be retransmitted, which allows immediate delivery of data and prevents Head of Line Blocking. Preventing this stall results in an overall improved responsiveness. A high value is hence desired for this measure. |
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|
Loss |
Indicates the percentage of packets lost when being transmitted to this user. |
Percent |
A high value indicates that a large number of packets were lost without being retransmitted. By comparing the value of this measure across users, you can find that user who has suffered the maximum data loss. This could be owing to a bad network connection between the remote user terminal and the server. |
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|
Retransmissions |
Indicates the percentage of packets that have been retransmitted to this user. |
Percent |
Retransmissions should only occur when it is certain that a packet to be retransmitted was actually lost. Redundant retransmissions can also occur because of lost acknowledgments, coarse feedback, and bad retransmissions. Retransmission rates over 5% can indicate degraded network performance on a LAN. The internet may vary between 5 and 15 percent depending upon traffic conditions. Any value above 25 percent indicates an excessive number of retransmissions that will significantly increase the time for the file transfer and annoy the user. |
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|
TCP received rate |
Indicates the rate at which the data is received over TCP for this user. |
Kbps |
A high value is desired for these measures as it indicates high TCP throughput. |
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|
TCP sent rate |
Indicates the rate at which the data is sent over TCP for this user. |
Kbps |
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|
UDP received rate |
Indicates the rate at which the data is received over UDP for this user. |
Kbps |
A high value is desired for these measures as it indicates high UDP throughput. |
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|
UDP sent rate |
Indicates the rate at which the data is sent over UDP for this user. |
Kbps |
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|
User's connection quality indicator |
Indicates the connectivity of this user with the Citrix environment. |
|
The values that this measure can report and their corresponding numeric values are discussed in the table above:
Note: By default, this measure reports the Measure Values listed in the table above. In the graph of this measure however, the value of this measure is represented using their numeric equivalents only. A major alert will be generated when this test reports the "Poor connection" value for this measure. Likewise, a minor alert will be generated when the value of this measure is "Weak connection". |
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|
User sessions |
Represents the current number of sessions for a particular user. |
Number |
A value of 0 indicates that the user is not currently connected to the Citrix. |
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|
Average frames encoding time |
Indicates the average time taken for encoding the frames of this user. |
Secs |
Compare the value of this measure across users to know for which user frames encoding took too long. Encoding is a synchronous process that occurs on the session host. The value of this measure should be under 33 ms. If it is under 33 ms but you still have performance issues, there may be an issue with the app or operating system you are using. |
||||||||||
|
Frame quality |
Indicates the quality of the output frame expressed as a percentage of the quality of the source frame for this user. |
Percent |
High frame rates produce a smooth representation of frames for the particular user, while low frame rates may cause rough or choppy representation of frames for the particular user. A high value is hence desired for this measure. Compare the value of this measure across users to know which user received the poorest frame quality. The quality loss may be due to RemoteFX, or it may be inherent to the graphics source. If RemoteFX caused the quality loss, the issue may be a lack of network or desktop resources to send higher-fidelity content. If desktop resources are causing the bottleneck, try one of the following approaches to improve performance:
If network resources are causing the bottleneck, try one of the following approaches to improve network availability per session:
If client resources are causing the bottleneck, try one of the following approaches to improve performance:
|
||||||||||
|
Frames skipped due to insufficient client resources |
Indicates the rate at which frames were skipped for this user due to insufficient client resources. |
Frames/Sec |
A low value is desired for this measure. Compare the value of this measure across users to know which user is connecting from a client sized with inadequate resources. If this measure reports an unusually high value for a user, try one of the following approaches to improve the experience for that user:
|
||||||||||
|
Frames skipped due to insufficient network resources |
Indicates the rate at which frames were skipped for this user due to insufficient network resources. |
Frames/Sec |
A low value is desired for this measure. Compare the value of this measure across users to know which user is connecting via a network that is sized with inadequate resources. If this measure reports an unusually high value for a user, try one of the following approaches to improve network availability for that user's sessions:
|
||||||||||
|
Frames skipped due to insufficient server resources |
Indicates the rate at which frames were skipped for this user due to insufficient server resources. |
Frames/Sec |
A low value is desired for this measure. Compare the value of this measure across users to know which user was unable to receive frames due to the lack of enough resources on the Microsoft RDS server. If this measure reports an unusually high value for a user, try one of the following approaches to improve the experience of that user:
|
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|
Graphics compression ratio |
Indicates the ratio of the number of bytes encoded to the number of bytes input for this user. |
Percent |
The compression ratio typically affects the quality of the picture. Generally, the higher the compression ratio, the poorer the quality of the resulting picture. Ideally therefore, the value of this measure should be 0. You can compare the value of this measure across users to identify that user whose picture output was very poor owing to high compression. |
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|
Input frames |
Indicates the number of source frames provided per second as input to the RemoteFx graphics for this user. |
Frames/Sec |
|
||||||||||
|
Output Frames |
Indicates the number of source frames sent per second to this user as output of RemoteFx graphics. |
Frames/Sec |
If this value is less than that of the Input Frames measure, it means that frames are being skipped. To identify the bottleneck, use the 'Frames skipped....' measures. A high value for any of the 'Frames skipped...' measures implies that the problem is related to the resource the counter tracks. For example, if the client does not decode and present frames at the same rate the server provides the frames, the frames skipped due to insufficient client resources will be high. On the other hand, if the value of this measure matches that of the Input frames measure, check the value of the Average frames encoding time measure. The value of the Average frames encoding time measure should be under 33 ms. If it is under 33 ms but you still have performance issues, there may be an issue with the app or operating system you are using. |
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|
Source frames |
Indicates number of frames per second composed at the source for this user. |
Frames/Sec |
|
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|
Base TCP round trip time |
Indicates the time between initiating a network request and receiving a response over TCP for this user. |
Secs |
A high value for this measure could indicate a bottleneck in TCP connectivity between the user terminal and the AVD. |
||||||||||
|
Base UDP round trip time |
Indicates the time between initiating a network request and receiving a response over UDP for this user. |
Secs |
A high value for this measure could indicate a bottleneck in UDP connectivity between the user terminal and the Citrix. |
||||||||||
|
Current TCP bandwidth |
Indicates the amount of data that is currently carried from one point to another over TCP for this user. |
Kbps |
A consistent rise in the value of this measure could indicate that TCP traffic to/from the user is consuming bandwidth excessively. Compare the value of this measure across users to identify that user who is performing bandwidth-intensive operations on the Citrix. |
||||||||||
|
Current TCP round trip time |
Indicates the average time between initiating a network request and receiving a response over TCP for this user. |
Secs |
A high value could indicate a current problem with TCP connectivity between the user terminal and the Citrix. |
||||||||||
|
Current UDP bandwidth |
Indicates the amount of data that is currently carried from one point to another over UDP for this user. |
Kbps |
A consistent rise in the value of this measure could indicate that UDP traffic to/from the user is consuming bandwidth excessively. Compare the value of this measure across users to identify that user who is performing bandwidth-intensive operations on the Citrix. |
||||||||||
|
Current UDP round trip time |
Indicates the average time between initiating a network request and receiving a response over UDP for this user. |
Secs |
A high value could indicate a current problem with UDP connectivity between the user terminal and the Citrix. |
||||||||||
|
Forward error correction rate |
Indicates the percentage of forward error corrections performed for this user. |
Percent |
RemoteFX UDP transport uses Forward Error Correction (FEC) to recover from the lost data packets. In the cases where such packets can be recovered, the transport doesn’t need to wait for the data to be retransmitted, which allows immediate delivery of data and prevents Head of Line Blocking. Preventing this stall results in an overall improved responsiveness. A high value is hence desired for this measure. |
||||||||||
|
Loss |
Indicates the percentage of packets lost when being transmitted to this user. |
Percent |
A high value indicates that a large number of packets were lost without being retransmitted. By comparing the value of this measure across users, you can find that user who has suffered the maximum data loss. This could be owing to a bad network connection between the remote user terminal and the Citrix. |
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|
Retransmission |
Indicates the percentage of packets that have been retransmitted to this user. |
Percent |
Retransmissions should only occur when it is certain that a packet to be retransmitted was actually lost. Redundant retransmissions can also occur because of lost acknowledgments, coarse feedback, and bad retransmissions. Retransmission rates over 5% can indicate degraded network performance on a LAN. The internet may vary between 5 and 15 percent depending upon traffic conditions. Any value above 25 percent indicates an excessive number of retransmissions that will significantly increase the time for the file transfer and annoy the user. |
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|
TCP received rate |
Indicates the rate at which the data is received over TCP for this user. |
Kbps |
A high value is desired for these measures as it indicates high TCP throughput. |
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|
TCP sent rate |
|
Kbps |
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|
UDP received rate |
Indicates the rate at which the data is received over UDP for this user. |
Kbps |
A high value is desired for these measures as it indicates high UDP throughput. |
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|
UDP sent rate |
Indicates the rate at which the data is sent over UDP for this user. |
Kbps |
