Logon Performance by Delivery Groups Test

The process of a user logging into a desktop/server OS machine managed by a Citrix Delivery Controller is complex. First, the user’s login credentials are authenticated. Then, the corresponding user profile is identified and loaded. Next, group policies are applied and logon scripts are processed to setup the user environment. Then, a HDX connection is established with the VM, subsequent to which, the VM starts and hands off keyboard and mouse control to the user. In the meantime, additional processing may take place for a user – say, applying system profiles, creating new printers for the user, and so on. A slowdown in any of these steps can significantly delay the logon process for a user and may adversely impact the logins for other users who may be trying to access desktops/applications at the same time. Hence, if a user complains that he/she is unable to access an application/desktop, administrators must be able to rapidly isolate exactly where the logon process is stalling and for which user.

The Logon Performance by Delivery Groups test tracks user connections to each delivery group configured in a site, measures the average time taken for users to access desktops/applications delivered by each group, isolates the group to which user logins are slow, and accurately pinpoints where the login process is bottlenecked. Detailed diagnostics provided by this test point to the precise user who is experiencing the slowness.

Target of the test : A controller in a Citrix Virtual Apps/Desktops Site 7.x

Agent deploying the test : An internal agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each delivery group configured in the Citrix Virtual Apps/Desktops Site 7.x.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter	Description
Test Period	How often should the test be executed.
Host	The IP address of the host for which the test is being configured.
Port	The port number at which the specified Host listens to. By default, this is 80.
Controller IP Address	Specify the IP address of the delivery controller in the site with which the eG agent should communicate for collecting performance metrics.
Controller Port	Specify the port number of the delivery controller in the site with which the eG agent should communicate for collecting performance metrics.
Username and Password	To connect to a delivery controller and pull out metrics from it, the eG agent requires Farm Administrator rights. In order to configure the eG agent with Farm Administrator privileges, specify the credentials of the Farm Administrator in the Username and Password text boxes. This user should also be assigned the Allow log on locally privilege on the Citrix Virtual Apps/Desktops Site 7.x host. The steps for assigning the Allow log on locally privilege are explained in the Pre-requisites for monitoring the Citrix Virtual Apps/Desktops Site 7.x topic.
Confirm Password	Confirm the Password by retyping it here.
Fully Qualified Domain Name	Here, specify the fully-qualified name of the domain to which the specified controller belongs.
SSL	Indicate whether/not the controller used for metrics collection is SSL-enabled. By default, this flag is set to Yes.
Report by Machine Type	If you want the results of this test to be grouped by machine type then set this flag to Yes. In this case therefore, the machine types (desktop or server OS machines) will be the primary descriptors of this test; expanding them will reveal the secondary descriptors – i.e., the delivery groups containing machines of each type. If you want the results of this test to be indexed only by the names of delivery groups, then set this flag to No.
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.
Detailed Diagnosis	To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, the eG Enterprise embeds an optional detailed diagnostic capability. With this capability, the eG agents can be configured to run detailed, more elaborate tests as and when specific problems are detected. To enable the detailed diagnosis capability of this test for a particular server, choose the On option. To disable the capability, click on the Off option. The option to selectively enable/disable the detailed diagnosis capability will be available only if the following conditions are fulfilled: The eG manager license should allow the detailed diagnosis capability Both the normal and abnormal frequencies configured for the detailed diagnosis measures should not be 0.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
Average logon duration	Indicates the average time taken for users to login to desktops/applications offered by this delivery group.	Secs	If this measure reports a high value consistently, it could indicate a slowdown in the logon process. You can use the detailed diagnosis of this measure to understand the logon experience of each user to the delivery group, identify that user who took the maximum time to login, and accurately isolate where he/she experienced slowness.
Logons	Indicates the number of users who recently logged into desktops/applications delivered by this delivery group.	Number	This is a good indicator of the current user load on a delivery group.
Brokering duration	Indicates time taken to complete the process of brokering sessions to this deliver group.	Secs	A high value indicates that brokering is taking a long time. If the Average logon duration is very high, you may want to compare the value of this measure with that of the VM start duration, HDX connection duration, Authentication duration, GPOs duration, Logon scripts duration, Citrix profile load duration, and Interactive session duration measures to know where exactly the user logon process slowed down – is it during authentication? Is it during brokering? Is it when establishing the HDX connection? Is it when applying GPOs? Is it during logon scripts execution? Is it while loading user profiles? Is it when starting the VM? Or is it when handing over control to the user?
VM start duration	Indicates the time taken for starting the machines in this delivery group.	Secs	A high value indicates that machines are taking too long to startup. If the Average logon duration is very high, you may want to compare the value of this measure with that of the Brokering duration, HDX connection duration, Authentication duration, GPOs duration, Logon scripts duration, Citrix profile load duration, and Interactive session duration measures to know where exactly the user logon process slowed down – is it during authentication? Is it during brokering? Is it when establishing the HDX connection? Is it when applying GPOs? Is it during logon scripts execution? Is it while loading user profiles? Is it when starting the VM? Or is it when handing over control to the user?
HDX connection duration	Indicates the time taken to complete the steps required for setting up the HDX connection from the client to the machines in this delivery group.	Secs	A high value indicates that HDX connections are taking time to be established. If the Average logon duration is very high, you may want to compare the value of this measure with that of the Brokering duration, VM start duration, Authentication time, GPOs duration, Logon scripts duration, Citrix profile load duration, and Interactive session duration measures to know where exactly the user logon process slowed down -is it during authentication? Is it during brokering? Is it when establishing the HDX connection? Is it when applying GPOs? Is it during logon scripts execution? Is it while loading user profiles? Is it when starting the VM? Or is it when handing over control to the user?
Authentication duration	Indicates the time taken to authenticate remote sessions to the machines in this delivery group.	Secs	A high value indicates authentication delays. If the Average logon duration is very high, you may want to compare the value of this measure with that of the Brokering duration, VM start duration, HDX connection duration, GPOs duration, Logon scripts duration, Citrix profile load duration, and Interactive session duration measures to know where exactly the user logon process slowed down – is it during authentication? Is it during brokering? Is it when establishing the HDX connection? Is it when applying GPOs? Is it during logon scripts execution? Is it while loading user profiles? Is it when starting the VM? Or is it when handing over control to the user?
GPOs duration	Indicates the time taken to apply group policy settings on the machines in this delivery group.	Secs	A high value indicates that GPO application is taking time. If the Average logon duration is very high, you may want to compare the value of this measure with that of the Brokering duration, VM start duration, HDX connection duration, Authentication duration, Logon scripts duration, Citrix profile load duration, and Interactive session duration measures to know where exactly the user logon process slowed down – is it during authentication? Is it during brokering? Is it when establishing the HDX connection? Is it when applying GPOs? Is it during logon scripts execution? Is it while loading user profiles? Is it when starting the VM? Or is it when handing over control to the user?
Logon scripts duration	Indicates the time taken for logon scripts to be executed on the machines in this delivery group.	Secs	A high value indicates that logon script execution is taking time. If the Average logon duration is very high, you may want to compare the value of this measure with that of the Brokering duration, VM start duration, HDX connection duration, Authentication time, GPOs duration, Citrix profile load duration, and Interactive session duration measures to know where exactly the user logon process slowed down – is it during authentication? Is it during brokering? Is it when establishing the HDX connection? Is it when applying GPOs? Is it during logon scripts execution? Is it while loading user profiles? Is it when starting the VM? Or is it when handing over control to the user?
Citrix profile load duration	Indicates the time taken by the logon process to load the profile of the users to this delivery group.	Secs	A high value indicates that profiles are taking too long to load. If the Average logon duration is very high, you may want to compare the value of this measure with that of the Brokering duration, VM start duration, HDX connection duration, Authentication duration, GPOs duration, Logon scripts duration, and Interactive session duration measures to know where exactly the user logon process slowed down – is it during authentication? Is it during brokering? Is it when establishing the HDX connection? Is it when applying GPOs? Is it during logon scripts execution? Is it while loading user profiles? Is it when starting the VM? Or is it when handing over control to the user?
Interactive session duration	Indicates the time taken by the logon process to handoff keyboard and mouse control to the users to this delivery group.	Secs	A high value indicates delays in handing off keyboard and mouse control to users. If the Average logon duration is very high, you may want to compare the value of this measure with that of the Brokering duration, VM start duration, HDX connection duration, Authentication duration, GPOs duration, Logon scripts duration, and Citrix profile load duration measures to know where exactly the user logon process slowed down – is it during authentication? Is it during brokering? Is it when establishing the HDX connection? Is it when applying GPOs? Is it during logon scripts execution? Is it while loading user profiles? Is it when starting the VM? Or is it when handing over control to the user?
Pre-user initialization duration	Indicates the time overlaps with Group Policy Objects and logon scripts (configured through GPO).	Seconds	If the value of this measure is high, administrators should consider optimizing the Group Policy Objects and logon scripts configured through GPO.
User initialization duration	Indicates the time taken for executing userinit.exe for this user.	Seconds	When a user logs on to a Windows machine, Winlogon runs userinit.exe which runs logon scripts, re-establishes network connections, and then starts Explorer.exe, and the Windows user interface. If Average logon duration is abnormally high, then compare the value of this measure with the other time measurements to determine whether/not the logon delay can be attributed to slowness in the completion of user initialization tasks. A high value of this measure could indicate that the machine is not able to reach domain controller a network issue or a large number of logon scripts (corrupt) are configured through active directory user object. To resolve the issue, the administrators should immediately initiate the investigation before it causes serious impact on the logon process.
Shell duration	Indicates the duration between the initialization of the user interface to the time the user receives keyboard and mouse control.	Seconds	A high value of this measure could indicate that the VDA is heavily loaded with numerous applications running or if desktop has too many icons, etc.
Delay duration	Indicates the cumulative time delay between the Pre-userinit and Userinit phases.	Seconds
Other processing duration	Indicates the time taken by this user to perform processes other than logon related processes.	Seconds	The value of this measure is calculated as follows: Average logon duration - (sum of Brokering duration, VM start duration, HDX connection duration, Authentication duration, GPOs duration , Logon scripts duration, Citrix profile load duration and Interactive session duration measures)