Citrix Cloud Connectivity Test

Unavailability of the Citrix Cloud service will deny users access to their critical applications/desktops. Slowness in accessing the cloud can have an adverse impact on the user experience with the cloud. To avoid this, administrators should periodically check the accessibility and the responsiveness of the cloud service, proactively detect potential anomalies, and immediately initiate measures to pre-empt such abnormalities. This is what the Citrix Cloud Connectivity test does.

This test connects to the Citrix Cloud service via an API client and in the process, reports the following:

  • Whether/not the cloud service is available;
  • How quickly is the cloud responding to requests

This way, the test points administrators to issues in connecting to the cloud.

Target of the test : A Citrix Cloud Connector

Agent deploying the test : An internal agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for the Citrix Cloud Connector monitored

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter Description

Test Period

How often should the test be executed.

Host

The host for which the test is to be configured.

Port

The port at which the connector listens. By default, this is 443.

Customer ID

When configuring the Citrix Cloud service, you should have created an API client on the cloud, so that any external program can communicate with the cloud. This API client is tied to a customer ID. The Citrix Cloud API requires this customer ID, when calling REST APIs. To get the customer ID for the API client that you have created in your environment, do the following:

  • Sign in to the Citrix Cloud administrator console.
  • Click the “hamburger menu” in the upper left corner of the console.

  • Select “Identity and Access Management” from the drop-down menu. An API Access page (see Figure 1 ) will open in the right panel. Look for the phrase , "use <customerID> as the customer parameter" in the right panel. The <customerID> displayed within that phrase (as highlighted in the figure below) is the customer ID you need to configure the eG tests with.

    Figure 3 : Customer ID mapped to the API client

Secure Client File Path

When creating the API client on the cloud, you will be provided with an ID and a Secret for your client. Downloading this information saves a file named secureclient.csv. The eG agent uses the ID and Secret stored in this file to connect to the Citrix Cloud API. This is why, you will have to configure the Citrix Cloud Connectivity test with the full path to the secureclient.asv.

Proxy Host, Proxy Port, Proxy User Name, Proxy Password, and Proxy SSL

These parameters are applicable only if the Citrix Cloud Connector communicates with the Citrix Cloud via a Proxy server.

If the Proxy server requires authentication, then specify the credentials of a valid Proxy user against the Proxy User Name and Proxy Password text boxes. Confirm that password by retyping it in the Confirm Password text box. If the Proxy server does not require authentication, then specify none against the Proxy User Name, Proxy Password, and Confirm Password text boxes.

By default, the Proxy SSL flag is set to No. If the specified proxy server is SSL-enabled, then set the Proxy SSL flag to Yes

On the other hand, if the Citrix Cloud Connector is not using a Proxy server to communicate with the Citrix Cloud, then you need not disturb the default setting of any of the Proxy-related parameters. By default, these parameters are set to none.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation

Availability

Indicates whether/not the Citrix Cloud portal is available/accessible.

Percent

If the value of this measure is 100, it indicates that the cloud service is available. The value 0 denotes that the service is unavailable.

Response time

Indicates the time taken by the Citrix Cloud to respond to user requests.

Secs

A high value is a cause for concern, as it indicates that the Citrix Cloud service is responding slowly to requests. A low value is therefore desired for this measure.