Proactively detect and troubleshoot Citrix logon issues and ensure superior user experience
Free TrialFor years, slow logons have been the most common complaint of Citrix users. In a recent Citrix survey conducted by DABCC and eG Innovations, 52% of Citrix administrators reported slow login as the top complaint they see coming from users.
For users that log into Citrix sessions, slow logon times can lead to frustration and lower productivity. To ensure great Citrix user experience, administrators must monitor the infrastructure proactively and be alerted to issues in advance, before users notice and complain.
Collecting logon metrics for real user activity is challenging. There are dozens of steps involved in the Citrix logon process and they involve multiple components, such as Citrix StoreFront, Citrix Delivery Controller, Active Directory, Profile server, Citrix XenApp/XenDesktop, the Citrix data store, and more. Identifying exactly what is causing the slowdown can be time-consuming and laborious.
It is also difficult to get a consistent assessment of logon performance because users each have different profiles and policies associated with them. Furthermore, there are times when no users are logging into the Citrix farm. It is important to know at all times if logon is working and whether users will be able to launch their applications and desktops successfully once they logon.
The eG Enterprise Logon Simulator for Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop is a purpose-built synthetic performance monitoring solution that provides complete visibility into the logon performance of Citrix infrastructures. An integral part of the eG Enterprise performance monitoring suite, the eG Enterprise Logon Simulator for Citrix simulates the exact same process that users execute for Citrix XenApp logon or XenDesktop logon. This tool uses an agentless approach to:
Since every simulation tests the entire Citrix delivery infrastructure (NetScaler, StoreFront, Delivery Controller, XenApp Server, etc.). The results represent the cumulative health of all the tiers that support logon.
Using the eG Enterprise Logon Simulator at a client recently revealed periodic slowdowns and drops in application availability that the users were not reporting because by the time they would report it seemed to be working again. By diving in further with eG Enterprise, I was able to identify a storage issue as the root cause and resolve it! I now recommend the eG Enterprise Logon Simulator be used whenever I can. It is like the Bat
Signal for the #CitrixHero!
Since all the tiers of the Citrix environment need to work in concert for the logon operation, simulating logon helps test the availability and readiness of entire Citrix delivery infrastructure. This is also helpful to test if any changes in the Citrix environment (upgrades, patches, configuration changes, etc.) have affected the logon experience. eG Enterprise Logon Simulator for Citrix supports XenApp 6.x and 7.x and XenDesktop 7.x infrastructures.
Key Problems Identified
The eG Enterprise Logon Simulator for Citrix allows administrators to test real Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop sessions for simulated users from local or remote endpoints:
The eG Enterprise Logon Simulator for Citrix provides a host of vital metrics to monitor Citrix logon performance. The problematic step which causes slow logon is clearly highlighted, so administrators can triage the problem immediately. Intuitive dashboards, reports, and intelligent alerts provide full visibility into logon operations for faster issue diagnosis and resolution. Monitor key logon metrics, such as:
eG Enterprise helps pinpoint the cause of slowness, where the problem is, which users are experiencing issues, and whether it is a Citrix issue or a problem in the supporting infrastructure.