Slow Logons Report

The User Logon Performance report allows a detailed, historical analysis of the logon performance of all users of a Citrix/VDI farm, enabling administrators to isolate the slow logons. To help administrators focus on the slow logons alone, eG Enterprise provides the Slow Logons report. For a given period, this report automatically compares the logon duration of all the users in the farm with custom-defined delay thresholds, identifies the slow logons, and provides administrators with useful historical insights into only those slow logons. The report also highlights the users who have been impacted by the slow logons. Additionally, the report helps administrators study slow logon trends, so that they can quickly pick the dates on which logon slowness had peaked. The report also readily compares the total logons with slow logons, so that administrators can determine how good/bad the overall logon experience of the users in the farm is. In addition, the report also graphically breaks down the slow logon duration across all factors influencing it; this enables administrators to rapidly and accurately diagnose what has been consistently affecting the logon performance of the users in the farm – GPOs? profile loading? brokering? authentication?

To generate this report, do the following:

Select the Slow Logons option from the Users sub node by following the menu sequence: REPORTS BY FUNCTION -> Domain-specific Reports -> Virtual Applications / Desktops.
Figure 1 will then appear.

Figure 1 : Generating the Slow Logons report
Administrators of large IT infrastructures, which are characterized by hundreds of components, may find it difficult to pick and choose the components for which a report is to be generated; this is because, in such environments, the Components list in this page will be populated with a large number of components, which would naturally make component selection tough. To enable administrators of such environments to quickly locate the components of interest to them and swiftly generate the reports, eG Enterprise provides a Report By list that consists of a variety of filter options. By default, the Zone option is chosen from this list (see Figure 1) – this indicates that the components for which a report is to be generated is part of a zone. To include sub-zones also in your search for components, set the Include Subzones flag to Yes. In addition to this, the Report By list provides the following filter options as well:
- Service:If the component for which reports are to be generated is involved in the delivery of a particular service, then pick this option from the Report By list. Doing so will invoke a Service list from which a service name is to be chosen. Upon selection of a service, the component types that are part of the service will populate the Component Type list in this page. Once you pick a component type, all components of that type, which are engaged in the delivery of the chosen service, will be displayed as candidates for selection in the Components list. If there are still too many components in the list to choose from, you can narrow your search further by using the Search text box. Specify the whole/part of the component name to search for in this text box, and click the icon next to it. The Components list will then be populated with all component names that embed the specified search string. Select the component of your choice from this list.
- Segment:If the components for which a report is to be generated is part of a segment, pick the Segment option from the Report By list. Then, select the segment of interest to you from the Segment list. This will populate the Component Type list with the types of components that are part of the chosen segment. If you select a component type from the Component Type list, then, all components of that type, which are part of the chosen segment, will be displayed in the Components list for selection. If there are still too many components in the list to choose from, you can narrow your search further by using the Search text box. Specify the whole/part of the component name to search for in this text box, and click the icon button next to it. The Components list will then be populated with all component names that embed the specified search string. Select the component of your choice from this list.
- Component:If you select a Component from the Report By list and a component type from the Component Type list, then, all components of that type, which are not part of a zone/segment/service, will be displayed in the Components list for selection. If the Components list consists of too many components, then viewing all the components and selecting the ones you need for report generation could require endless scrolling. To avoid this, you can click the icon next to the Components list. A COMPONENTS pop up window will then appear using which you can view almost all the components in a single interface and Select the ones to be included for generating the report. If there are still too many components in the list to choose from, you can narrow your search further by using the Search text box. Specify the whole/part of the component name to search for in this text box, and click the icon next to it. The Components list will then be populated with all component names that embed the specified search string. Select the component of your choice from this list.
Select the Zone to which the servers of interest to you belong. If no zones have been configured in your environment, then all the managed servers in the environment will be automatically grouped under a zone named Default; in such cases therefore, select the Default zone.
Next, from the Component Type list, select the virtual server type for which this report is to be generated.
In the Components list box, all the components pertaining to the chosen Component Type will be listed. Select the servers for which this report is to be generated. If the Components list consists of too many components, then viewing all the components and selecting the ones you need for report generation could require endless scrolling. To avoid this, you can click the icon next to the Components list. A COMPONENTS pop up window will then appear using which you can view almost all the components in a single interface and Select the ones to be included for generating the report.
Next, in the User list box, all the users logged into the chosen Components will be listed. If the User list is too long, then viewing all the users and selecting the ones you need for report generation could require endless scrolling. To avoid this, you can click the icon next to the User list. This will open the USER pop up window using which you can view almost all the users in a single interface and Select the ones for which the report is to be generated. If there are still too many users in the list to choose from, you can narrow your search further by using the Search Users text box. Specify the whole/part of the user name to search for in this text box, and click the icon next to it. The User list will then be populated with all user names that embed the specified search string. Select the user of your choice from this list.
If the Report Type is Details, then a Report By Users flag appears. By default, this flag is set to Yes indicating that the Data report will be generated for each user by consolidating multiple logins of the users. If this flag is set to No, then this report will be generated each time a user logs into the target server.
Then, specify the Timeline for the report. You can either provide a fixed time line such as 1 hour, 2 days, etc., or select the Any option from the list to provide a From and To date/time for report generation.

Note:

For every user registered with the eG Enterprise system, the administrator can indicate the maximum timeline for which that user can generate a report. Once the maximum timeline is set for a user, then, whenever that user logs into eG Reporter and attempts to generate a report, the Timeline list box in the report page will display options according to the maximum timeline setting of that user. For instance, if a user can generate a report for a maximum period of 3 days only, then 3 days will be the highest option displayed in the Timeline list - i.e., 3 days will be the last option in the fixed Timeline list. Similarly, if the user chooses the Any option from the Timeline list and proceeds to provide a start date and end date for report generation using the From and To specifications, eG Enterprise will first check if the user’s Timeline specification conforms to his/her maximum timeline setting. If not, report generation will fail. For instance, for a user who is allowed to generate reports spanning over a maximum period of 3 days only, the difference between the From and To dates should never be over 3 days. If it is, then, upon clicking the Run Report button a message box will appear, prompting the user to change the From and To specification.
In addition to the settings discussed above, this report comes with a set of default specifications. These settings are hidden by default. If you do not want to disturb these default settings, then you can proceed to generate the report by clicking the Run Report button soon after you pick the criteria for generating the report. However, if you want to view and then alter these settings (if required), click on the button. The default settings will then appear in the MORE OPTIONS drop down window (see Figure 2). The steps below discuss each of these settings and how they can be customized.

Figure 2 : The default settings for generating the Slow Logons report
Specify the start time and end time for report generation against the Time period field (see Figure 2).

Note:

The default Time period to be displayed here can be configured using the consolidated reports page in the eG administrative interface; to access this page, follow the menu sequence: Settings -> Reporter -> Consolidated Reports. For more details regarding this page, refer to Consolidated Reports of this manual.
If the timeline specified for the report needs to exclude the data collected during the Weekends, then set Exclude weekends to Yes. If not, select No.

Note:

By default, the weekend constitutes Saturday and Sunday. To override this default setting, do the following:
- Edit the eg_report.ini file in the <eg_install_dir>\manager\config directory.
- In the [measure_group] section of the file, the exclude_weekend parameter is set to Saturday,Sunday by default. You can modify this by setting the exclude_weekend parameter to a comma-separated list of other days of the week - say Friday,Saturday.
- Save the file after making the required changes.
By default, the Logon Delay (secs) field consists of three unique color-coded text boxes. In these text boxes, starting from left to right, set the threshold beyond which the user logons should be termed as 'slow' in the Critical/Major/Minor format. By default, 120/80/40 is displayed against this field.
In large environments, reports generated using months of data can take a long time to complete. Administrators now have the option of generating reports on-line or in the background. When a report is scheduled for background generation, administrators can proceed with their other monitoring, diagnosis, and reporting tasks, while the eG manager is processing the report. This saves the administrator valuable time. To schedule background processing of a report, select the Background Save - PDF option from the Report Generation list. In this case, a Report Name text box will appear, where you would have to provide the name with which the report is to be saved in the background. To process reports in the foreground, select the Foreground Generation - HTML option from this list.

Note:
- The Report Generation list will appear only if the EnableBackgroundReport flag in the [BACKGROUND_PROCESS] section of the eg_report.ini file (in the [EG_INSTALL_DIR]\manager\config directory) is set to Yes.
- The default selection in the Report Generation list will change according to the Timeline specified for the report. If the Timeline set is greater than or equal to the number of days specified against the MinDurationForReport parameter in the [BACKGROUND_PROCESS] section of the eg_report.ini file, then the default selection in the Report Generation list will be Background. On the other hand, if the Timeline set for the report is lesser than the value of the MinDurationForReport parameter, then the default selection in the Report Generation list will be Foreground. This is because, the MinDurationForReport setting governs when reports are to be processed in the background. By default, this parameter is set to 2 weeks - this indicates that by default, reports with a timeline of 2 weeks and above will be processed in the background.
Finally, click the Run Report button to generate the report.

Figure 3 : The graphical User Logon Performance report
If you have chosen Foreground Generation - HTML from the Report Generation list is , then, clicking on the Run Report button will invoke Figure 3, which will comprise of the following:
- A Logons section that reports the total user logons during the chosen time period, the average time taken for the user logons and the number of users logged into the farm during the chosen time period.
- A Slow Logons section that reports the number of user logons that were declared slow during the chosen time period, the average time taken for the user logons and the number of users who experienced slow logon to the farmduring the chosen time period.
- A distribution pie chart that reveals the number of user logons in different distribution ranges (see Figure 3). The distribution ranges are obtained based on the threshold values specified in the Logon Delay (secs) shown in Figure 2.
- The Number of Users Affected by Slow Logons section reveals a stack trace chart. Using this chart, administrators can figure out when exactly the users were experiencing slow logons to the farm.
- A bar graph in the Slow logon Duration Trend section reveals the trend of slow logons. By analyzing the trend graph, administrators can quickly figure out the dates/time at which the logon slowness has peaked.
- A comparison graph in the Total Logons vs Slow Logons Trend section helps administrators compare the total logons with slow logons and determine how good/bad the overall logon experience of the users in the farm is.
- The Top 10 Users by Maximum Logon Duration bar graph section helps administrators figure out the top 10 users who took too long to login to the farm.
- An Avg Slow Logon Duration Breakdown (Secs) section reveals a pie chart that graphically breaks down the slow logon duration across all factors influencing it; this enables administrators to rapidly and accurately diagnose what has been consistently affecting the logon performance of the users in the farm – GPOs? profile loading? brokering? authentication?
- A Client Side Extension Time Breakdown (Secs) section reveals a pie chart that graphically breaks down the client side extension duration across all factors influencing it; this enables administrators to rapidly and accurately diagnose what has been consistently affecting the logon performance of the users in the farm – GPOs? profile management? Group policy drive maps?
- The Top 10 Users with Maximum Group Policy Duration bar graph section helps administrators figure out the top 10 users who took too long to login to the farm due to a higher group policy duration.
- The Slow Logon Details (Secs) section helps administrators with the data of each user; when exactly the user logged in; the logon duration; the client name, the controller and the client IP address through which the user logged into the server etc.