CBR ICA Statistics Test

Branch Repeater includes ICA acceleration powered by HDX IntelliCache and HDX Broadcast technologies to optimize virtual application delivery. HDX IntelliCache optimizes delivery across multiple Citrix XenApp™ and Citrix XenDesktop™ sessions by locally caching and de-duplicating transmission of common graphics and data within the ICA protocol. HDX Broadcast, on the other hand:

Optimizes the flow of XenDesktop and XenApp ICA traffic across multiple connections in a branch by sensing and responding to network and traffic conditions;
Reduces XenDesktop and XenApp ICA bandwidth consumption by applying optimal compression techniques based on traffic characteristics, infrastructure capabilities and network conditions;
Orchestrates with XenDesktop and XenApp to participate in the ICA session and provides intelligent acceleration of the ICA protocol by sensing and responding to the network and traffic conditions;
Allows administrators to define rules that set which types of application traffic or ICA workflows receive the highest priority.

But, how can administrators determine the adequacy of these instrumentations? What if, even after having configured the branch repeater with acceleration rules, administrators continue to receive user complaints related to slowness in ICA connections to virtual desktops? To handle such situations, administrators should keep an eye on the accelerated traffic for each ICA application, measure the throughput of the traffic, and accurately identify those applications for which ICA traffic may have to be regulated further to reduce bandwidth consumption and optimize throughput. To achieve this, administrators can use the CBR ICA Statistics test. This test monitors the accelerated traffic to and from each ICA application, reports how effectively the branch repeater performs ICA acceleration, and in the process, accurately pinpoints areas for improvement – i.e., points to those applications for which the ICA traffic can be accelerated further by fine-tuning compression and QoS rules in the branch repeater.

Target of the test : A Citrix Branch Repeater

Agent deploying the test : An external agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each ICA application managed by the Citrix Branch Repeater 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 for which this test is to be configured.
Port	Refers to the port at which the specified host listens to. By default, this will be NULL.
SNMPPort	The port at which the monitored target exposes its SNMP MIB; The default value is 161.
SNMPVersion	By default, the eG agent supports SNMP version 1. Accordingly, the default selection in the SNMPversion list is v1. However, if a different SNMP framework is in use in your environment, say SNMP v2 or v3, then select the corresponding option from this list.
SNMPCommunity	The SNMP community name that the test uses to communicate with the firewall. This parameter is specific to SNMP v1 and v2 only. Therefore, if the SNMPVersion chosen is v3, then this parameter will not appear.
UserName	This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. SNMP version 3 (SNMPv3) is an extensible SNMP Framework which supplements the SNMPv2 Framework, by additionally supporting message security, access control, and remote SNMP configuration capabilities. To extract performance statistics from the MIB using the highly secure SNMP v3 protocol, the eG agent has to be configured with the required access privileges – in other words, the eG agent should connect to the MIB using the credentials of a user with access permissions to be MIB. Therefore, specify the name of such a user against this parameter.
Context	This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. An SNMP context is a collection of management information accessible by an SNMP entity. An item of management information may exist in more than one context and an SNMP entity potentially has access to many contexts. A context is identified by the SNMPEngineID value of the entity hosting the management information (also called a contextEngineID) and a context name that identifies the specific context (also called a contextName). If the Username provided is associated with a context name, then the eG agent will be able to poll the MIB and collect metrics only if it is configured with the context name as well. In such cases therefore, specify the context name of the Username in the Context text box. By default, this parameter is set to none.
AuthPass	Specify the password that corresponds to the above-mentioned Username. This parameter once again appears only if the SNMPversion selected is v3.
Confirm Password	Confirm the AuthPass by retyping it here.
AuthType	This parameter too appears only if v3 is selected as the SNMPversion. From the AuthType list box, choose the authentication algorithm using which SNMP v3 converts the specified username and password into a 32-bit format to ensure security of SNMP transactions. You can choose between the following options: MD5 - Message Digest Algorithm SHA - Secure Hash Algorithm SHA224 - Secure Hash Algorithm 224 bit SHA256 - Secure Hash Algorithm 256 bit SHA384 - Secure Hash Algorithm 384 bit SHA512 - Secure Hash Algorithm 512 bit
EncryptFlag	This flag appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPversion. By default, the eG agent does not encrypt SNMP requests. Accordingly, the this flag is set to No by default. To ensure that SNMP requests sent by the eG agent are encrypted, select the Yes option.
EncryptType	If the EncryptFlag is set to Yes, then you will have to mention the encryption type by selecting an option from the EncryptType list. SNMP v3 supports the following encryption types: DES - Data Encryption Standard 3DES - Triple Data Encryption Standard AES - Advanced Encryption Standard AES128 - Advanced Encryption Standard 128 bit AES192 - Advanced Encryption Standard 192 bit AES256 - Advanced Encryption Standard 256 bit
EncryptPassword	Specify the encryption password here.
Confirm Password	Confirm the encryption password by retyping it here.
Timeout	Specify the duration (in seconds) within which the SNMP query executed by this test should time out in this text box. The default is 10 seconds.
Data Over TCP	By default, in an IT environment, all data transmission occurs over UDP. Some environments however, may be specifically configured to offload a fraction of the data traffic – for instance, certain types of data traffic or traffic pertaining to specific components – to other protocols like TCP, so as to prevent UDP overloads. In such environments, you can instruct the eG agent to conduct the SNMP data traffic related to the monitored target over TCP (and not UDP). For this, set this flag to Yes. By default, this flag is set to No.
EngineID	This parameter appears only when v3 is selected as the SNMPVersion. Sometimes, the test may not report metrics when AES192 or AES256 is chosen as the Encryption type. To ensure that the test report metrics consistently, administrators need to set this flag to Yes. By default, this parameter is set to No.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement	Description	Measurement Unit	Interpretation
Data transmitted	Indicates the rate at which data was transmitted by this ICA application.	KB/Sec	If the value of these measures is well-within the bandwidth limit set for your WAN links, it indicates the efficiency of the branch repeater in maximizing throughput and minimizing bandwidth consumption. If the value of these measures indicates excessive bandwidth usage, then you may have to compare the value of these measures across ICA applications to know which application is consuming the maximum bandwidth. You should then alter the priority of the traffic and ICA workflows related to this application to reduce bandwidth usage.
Data received	Indicates the rate at which data was received by this ICA application.	KB/Sec
Data transmitted ratio	Represents the sent volume of this ICA application as a percent share of the total volume of traffic sent by all ICA applications.	Percent	Compare the value of this measure across applications to identify bandwidth-intensive applications, and to understand how ICA traffic priorities should be set in the branch repeater.
Data received ratio	Represents the received volume of this ICA application as a percent share of the total volume of traffic received by all ICA applications.	Percent	Compare the value of this measure across applications to identify bandwidth-intensive applications, and to understand how ICA traffic priorities should be set in the branch repeater.