Choosing a Citrix Monitoring Strategy: Key Capabilities and Pitfalls to Avoid

© eG Innovations, Inc | www.eginnovations.com
Choosing a Citrix Monitoring Strategy:
Key Capabilities & Pitfalls to Avoid
Rob Beekmans
Senior Consultant
PQR
rob.beekmans@pqr.nl
Srinivas Ramanathan
CEO
eG Innovations
srinivas@eginnovations.com

Bruce Popky
Director of Marketing Strategy
eG Innovations
bruce.popky@eginnovations.com
Moderator

 Please submit your questions at any time during the
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 A copy of this presentation is posted on SlideShare:
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Logistics

eG Innovations
 Leading provider of IT performance
monitoring, diagnosis and reporting
software
 Specialists in Citrix performance monitoring
and management
 Citrix Premier Technology Partner since 2004
 Our solutions are used in some of the largest
Citrix deployments in the world

PQR

Srinivas Ramanathan
CEO
eG Innovations
srinivas@eginnovations.com
@sramanat
Rob Beekmans
Senior Consultant
PQR
rob.beekmans@pqr.nl
@robbeekmans, http://robbeekmans.net
Today’s Presenters

Agenda
 Citrix performance monitoring wish list
 A quick look at the built-in Citrix monitoring tools:
 Citrix Director
 Citrix NetScaler Insight
 Citrix SCOM management packs
 What they do and what they don’t do
 How eG Enterprise complements the built-in Citrix
monitoring tools
 Q & A

48%
45%
7%
The most performance sensitive service
Similar in performance demands as other services
Not that performance sensitive
Citrix – One of the Most Performance
Sensitive Enterprise Applications
Source: 2016 Citrix Performance Survey,
http://www.eginnovations.com/solutions/sign-in?whitepaper=36
93% believe that Citrix is one of the
performance sensitive services in
enterprise networks.

Our Citrix Performance Monitoring
Wish List

Server Monitoring: Required, Not Sufficient
CPU
Memory
Disk
Network
Server Monitoring
 Is the server sized correctly?
 Is there an OS bottleneck: CPU,
memory, disk?
 Is the page file usage high?
 Are there many disk
reads/writes?
 Is any process leaking handles?
 Are there excessive TCP
retransmissions from the servers?
Citrix performance can be affected by network, virtualization, storage,
application issues. Server monitoring is necessary, but not sufficient.

Session Monitoring
 Are many sessions in
disconnected state (using
unnecessary resources)?
 How well is session pre-launch
working?
 Are many sessions inactive?
 Is user logon disabled on any
server?
 Compliance & Auditing: Who
logged in? When? How long?
 Conn
 ConnQ
 Active
 Disconnected
 Idle
 Down
 Prelaunch
 Linger
Monitoring Citrix Sessions & States
ICA Client
ConnQ
Listener Port Idle
Idle
Active
ICA
Session
Virtual Session

Logon is
slow
Application
is slow to
launch
Session gets
disconnected
Keystrokes
don’t show
up on time
Multimedia
playback is
choppy
User
ExperiencePrinting
doesn’t
work
Monitoring Citrix User Experience
User Experience
Monitoring
 How long did Citrix logon
take? If slow, why? Profile?
AD? GPO?
 How long does app launch
take?
 What is a user’s screen
refresh latency?
 Historical data for
troubleshooting?

 Emulates users
 Imposes the same workload
again and again
 Provides a measure of
experience EVEN when
there is no real load
 Monitors real users
 Actual workloads
 Direct measure of what
users are seeing
Synthetic Monitoring
Monitoring the Citrix User Experience
Real User Monitoring
User Experience
Monitoring
 Simulate logon; launch
different applications
 Synthetic monitoring
from multiple locations
 Real user monitoring
from the client, network,
server
 Must use a combination
of both approaches

Monitoring ICA Virtual Channels
Virtual Channel Monitoring
 What is the input/output line
speed?
 How much bandwidth is the
user session consuming?
 How much of this is:
 Audio bandwidth?
 Video bandwidth?
 Printer bandwidth?
 Drive bandwidth?
Framehawk
DCR
Thinwire
Multimedia
Flash
Generic USB
CDM
Audio
Lync
Printing
Mobile SDK
Mobile Sensors
Smartcard
Clipboard
KB& Mouse
ICA

Monitoring Citrix Application Usage
Virtual Application
Monitoring
 What are the most
popular applications?
 What are the most
CPU/memory intensive
applications?
 Who is accessing each
application?
 For how long was an
application accessed?

Monitoring Citrix Desktops (VDI)
Virtual Desktop Monitoring
 Visibility inside the desktop is
essential
 Should not require agents on
each desktop
 Report by user logged onto the
desktop, not VM name
 What applications are being
accessed? What resources are
in use?
 Which URLs are accessed for
browser apps?

Monitoring GPUs
GPU Monitoring
 Monitoring must be GPU-
aware
 Support for shared and
pass-through GPUs
 Highlight GPU bottlenecks
 Identify which
processes/VMs are
consuming GPU
CPU(s) Memory Hard Disk NIC Graphics
Hypervisor
vDriver vDriver
OS – XenApp Server
VM
User
Session
User
Session
User
Session
Virtual
Driver
Virtual
Driver
HDX
GPU
Driver

Monitoring Citrix License Usage
License Monitoring
 Is the license server available
and is it responsive?
 Is checkin/checkout of licenses
happening as expected?
 Are sufficient terminal server
licenses available?
 How many licenses are in use
and what are peak usage
times?

 Monitor resource usage on the servers
 Monitor Citrix sessions and their states
 Report on sessions for audit and compliance
 Monitor all aspects of the Citrix User Experience
 Support both Synthetic and Real user experience monitoring
 Monitor the Citrix Virtual Channels for each user session
 Track Citrix application usage and resource patterns
 Monitor virtual desktop activity and resource usage
 Monitor GPUs and other newer capabilities
 Monitor Citrix license usage
Our Citrix Monitoring Wish List

Monitoring the Citrix Delivery Controller
Delivery Controller (DC)
Monitoring
 Are all key services running?
 Is the DC responsive? Connection
to License server, Database ok?
 Is it time synchronized with
Active Directory?
 Are there connections failures,
unregistered desktops?
 Are there any VDAs not reporting
to the DC?
 Is any delivery group running out
of capacity?
Receiver
StoreFront
Citrix
Studio
Delivery
Controller
DB
Windows
Server OS
Machines
Windows
Desktop OS
Machines

Monitoring Citrix StoreFront
Citrix StoreFront
Monitoring
 Is the Citrix StoreFront
available and is it responsive?
 Are the stores accessible?
 What is the workload on the
StoreFront/IIS web server?
 Are connection or
authentication failures
happening?
 Is there any unusual activity
to the StoreFront server?
HA Pair StoreFront
Group
XenDesktop
Site
NetScaler
StoreFontStoreFont
XenDestop
Controller
XenDestop
Controller

Monitoring Citrix NetScaler
NetScaler
S1
S2
S3
Pw0
E1
AD
SAAS
Gateway
SQL
FTP
HTTPS
HTTP
TCP DMS
UDP C6 C8
IAAS
NetScaler
Citrix NetScaler Monitoring
 Is VPN tunneling working?
 Many application accesses
blocked by firewall rules?
 What is the bandwidth
saving from compression?
 Are any of the load balanced
virtual servers down or slow
to respond?
 What ICA sessions are
happening? Who and how
long?
Optimization Security Switching
SSL Offload Application Firewall L7 Request Switching
(Load Balance)
TCP Offload L4-7 ACL Advanced Health Check
TCP Buffering DoS Protections Content Switching
Surge Protection Rewrite + Responder GSLB
Compression SSL VPN VLAN, SR-IOV, PBR
Caching AAA for App Traffic Dynamic Routing
Web 2.0 Push Cloud Gateway App
Controller
AppExpert Callout
XenMobile NetScaler Cloud Connector
NetScaler DataStream

Monitoring Citrix Provisioning Services
Citrix PVS Monitoring
 How much of the RAM cache is
used? Is the server’s RAM sized
correctly?
 How much I/O from cache vs.
disk?
 Are there time outs at the client
side?
 Excessive vDisk retries?
 What are boot times of targets?
 Any vDisks locked for long time?
vDisk
Citrix Provisioning Server
XenApp Servers/
VDI Desktops

Monitoring Citrix XenMobile & ShareFile
Citrix XenMobile/ShareFile
Monitoring
 Is MDM available?
 Are there any non-compliant,
unmanaged or jailbroken devices?
 Any devices with blacklisted
applications?
 Track growth in adoption
 ShareFile connectivity working?
 Are the local storage zones
working?
XenMobile
MDM
NetScaler
Gateway
ShareFile

Monitoring the Non-Citrix Infra
 Any unusual blocking activity
on SQL server?
 Is the virtual platform sized
correctly? Are CPU ready times
within limits?
 Is Active Directory responsive?
 Is there excessive queueing for
any of the backend apps?
 What is the network latency
between the user’s terminal
and the server farm?
Monitoring the Citrix Supporting
Infrastructure
Exchange
Server
Microsoft
Hyper-V
VMware
SQL
Database Profile Server
SAN

Alerting & Ticketing
Multi-modal alerting
(proactively)
Integration with helpdesk tools –
ticketing and workflow management

StoreFront
Firewall
Firewall
NetScaler
Desktop Delivery
Controller
Virtual Machine
Infrastructure
Virtual Desktop
Agent
XenMobile Saas, Web,
Mobile, Data
Provisioning
Services
XenApp
Profile Store
License Server
Data Store
Domain Controller
Cloud
Switch SAN
Where is the Root-Cause?
What is the root cause of the service problem?
Network? VMware? AD? SQL? Storage? Profile Server?

Rob’s Favorite Want …
Mobile App for Monitoring
 Monitor on-the-go
 Get alerts wherever you are
 Find and fix issues from a
smart phone

 Monitor the Citrix Delivery Controller
 Monitor Citrix NetScaler devices
 Monitor application flows seen by NetScaler
 Monitor StoreFront and Citrix PVS
 Monitor Citrix supporting infrastructure (Virtual, storage, network,
file/profile servers, SQL, Active Directory, backend apps)
 Monitor users’ network connections to Citrix farm
 Monitor Citrix XenMobile & ShareFile
 Alert proactively
 Assist with root-cause diagnosis
 Historical reports, trends, analytics – for troubleshooting, capacity planning,
right-sizing, migration
 Mobile app for the on-the-go access
Our Citrix Monitoring Wish List

Monitoring Options in
Citrix’s Portfolio

Citrix Director
Citrix Studio Citrix DirectorPoSH
WCF [80]
PoSH
WCF [80]
Machine Creation
Services
Infrastructure
Services
Broker
Service
Feature &
Integration Services
Virtual Desktop
(VDA)
Citrix
Desktop
Service
Citrix ICA
Service
(PicaSvc2.exe)
Configuration
Services
Machine
Creation
Service
Host Service
AD Identify
Service
Environment
Test Service
Configuration
Logging
Service
Monitor
Service
Storefront
Service
Broker
Service
Delegated
Admin Service
Controller
SQL ServerSQL ServerSQL ServerSQL Server

Citrix Director

Citrix Director - Summary
Good insights into Citrix sessions and virtual channels
Citrix logon breakdown for troubleshooting logon performance
Delivery controller error reporting – failed connections,
desktops, etc.
Control action – shadow session, terminate a session, etc.
Only focuses on the Citrix stack
Visibility mainly to the delivery controller and VDAs
More of a helpdesk tool – on-demand analysis, not proactive
alerting

NetScaler
Cloud
Citrix NetScaler Insight Center
Enterprise
Desktop
NetScaler Insight Center

HDX
Insight
ICA Session
Start and
Stop
ICA Session
Handshake
Periodic
Status on
Data
Transfers
Virtual
Channel
Events
Application
Start and
Stop
TCP Events
(Latency,
Jitter, RTT)
Citrix NetScaler Insight Center

Citrix NetScaler Insight

Citrix NetScaler Insight - Summary
Insights into Citrix sessions and application launches
Visibility into network connections from user terminals
Easy to deploy, agentless
Not sufficient if the problems are on the Citrix servers/ desktops
No visibility into the non-Citrix tiers (storage, virtualization, etc.)
Requires NetScaler Platinum license

Monitors Rules Views Tasks Knowledge Reports
Citrix Management Packs
Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM)
Citrix SCOM Management Packs

Citrix SCOM Management Packs

Citrix SCOM Management Packs - Summary
Good for SCOM users – Citrix alerts in SCOM
Insights into all key Citrix tiers
Several built in reports – sessions, logons, resources, etc.
SCOM not easy to use for a Citrix admin
Drilldowns are minimal
Visibility into VMware, other tiers requires other management
packs
Need Citrix platinum license

7/20/2
016
Oracle Confidential –
Internal/Restricted/Highly Restricted
4
7

Integrated Monitoring of Everything
Citrix
Complement & Extend Citrix Performance Management Solutions
Citrix NetScaler
Insight
Multi Admin
ConsolesCitrix Director
Citrix Products
eG Enterprise
Performance Monitoring

eG Enterprise – Live Demo

Single Pane of Glass View

Citrix XenApp In Depth

Auto-Baselining for Proactive Alerting
Automatically computed baseline
based on time of day, day of month
behavior enables proactive detection
of problems.

Topology Views for Root-Cause Diagnosis
An issue with Citrix XenApp is
affecting the user experience.

Making the Monitoring Virtualization Aware
The Citrix XenApp performance is in
fact being affected by an issue in the
VMware host it is hosted on.

Drilldown to the Root-Cause
One of the VMs is taking excessive
CPU resources, starving other VMs
and affecting the performance of
application servers on these VMs.

Drilldown to the Root-Cause
OOPS – a samba backup job running
on the VM is causing the issue!

Mobile App for On-the-Go Access

eG Enterprise - Summary
Visibility into all the Citrix tiers
Indepth (domain specific) monitoring of each tier
Visibility into non-Citrix tiers supporting Citrix
Insights into all aspects of user experience
Auto-baselining for proactive alerting
Correlation across tiers for root-cause diagnosis
Reporting customized to different stakeholders
On-the-go mobile access

Dramatically simplify and
accelerate application
performance management.
Deliver peak performance,
user satisfaction and ROI.
User Satisfaction
IT Productivity
Higher service
uptime
Simplicity
Cost control & ROI
Total Citrix
Performance
Management
Total Citrix Performance Monitoring
Benefits

For More Information
Web: http://www.eginnovations.com
Trial: http://www.eginnovations.com/freetrial
Email: info@eginnovations.com
Ph: +1 (866) 526 6700
Web: http://www.pqr.com
Email: info@pqr.com
Ph: +31 (30) 6629729

Free Trial
http://www.eginnovations.com/freetrial
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