F5 Citrix Sessions Test

When BIG-IP APM is integrated with Citrix, it performs authentication to control access to Citrix-published applications and remote desktops. BIG-IP APM Citrix integration simplifies the Citrix environment by replacing some of core services, including the Citrix Web Interface server, Citrix Access Gateway, Netscaler and Citrix Secure Ticketing Authority service. This way, establishing Citrix sessions through the BIG-IP APM is made easier for users who have privileges to login to the Citrix environment and access the published applications. In such environments, it is necessary for administrators to ensure that the user experience with the Citrix environment is good at all times. Sometimes, the user experience may get affected by the overload condition (if any) on the target APM due to the Citrix sessions. To avoid such eventualities, administrators may want to proactively detect the count of Citrix sessions established through the target BIG-IP APM at regular intervals. The Citrix Sessions test helps administrators in this regard!

At configured intervals, this test reports the total number of sessions established by the Citrix users through the BIG-IP APM, and warns administrators of a probable overload condition (if any). Additionally, the test also reports the count of sessions that were newly established and logged out.

Target of the test : A Big-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

Agent deploying the test : An external agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for the Big-IP APM that is being monitored.

Configurable parameters for the test

Parameter	Description
Test Period	How often should the test be executed.
Host	The IP address of the host that is being monitored.
Timeout	Specify the duration (in seconds) beyond which this test should time out in this text box. The default is 10 seconds.
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
Total sessions	Indicates the total number of Citrix sessions established through the target BIG-IP APM.	Number	This measure is a good indicator of session load caused by authorized Citrix users. Using the detailed diagnosis of this measure, you can identify following: User name used by the client to connect Citrix remote server. IP address of the client. Name of the Access profile through which user is connected Virtual server configured on the access profile. Port number of the virtual server. IP address of the Citrix remote server Time duration in minutes since the session has been started.
New sessions	Indicates the number of new Citrix sessions established during the last measurement period.	Number	A consistent zero value could indicate an issue such as authentication failure, poor connection, etcc.
New sessions percentage	Indicates the percentage of new Citrix sessions established during the last measurement period.	Percent
Logged out sessions	Indicates the number of Citrix sessions that logged out.	Number	If all the current sessions suddenly log out, it may indicate a problem condition that requires investigation.