Machine Catalog Details - Cloud Test

In a Citrix cloud infrastructure, collections of virtual machines (VMs) or physical computers of the same type are managed as a single entity called a catalog. To deliver desktops to users, the machine administrator creates a catalog of machines and the assignment administrator allocates machines from the catalog to users by creating delivery groups.

This test auto-discovers the catalogs managed by the Citrix Cloud Site being monitored, and reports useful statistics related to each catalog, which reveal:

  • The catalog type;
  • The type of desktops/servers allocated to each catalog;
  • The availability, usage, and assignment of desktops/servers in each catalog

Target of the test : Citrix Cloud Control Plane

Agent deploying the test : A remote agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for every catalog of VMs or physical servers managed by the target Citrix Cloud Delivery Controller

First level descriptor: Machine type - i.e., Desktop OS Machines / Server OS Machines

Second-level descriptor: Catalog name

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.

Report by Machine Type

By default, this flag is set to Yes indicating that the individual descriptors of this test - i.e., the catalogs - are classified based on their machine type; in other words, the catalogs will be listed either under Server OS Machines or Desktop OS Machines based on their machine type. If you do not want to group the catalogs based on their machine types, set this flag to No.

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 determine the customer ID that is mapped to the API client you created, refer to Determining the Customer ID Mapped to an 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.csv.

Note:

Before specifying the path of the secureclient.csv file, make sure that the API client is created and this file downloaded by a valid Citrix cloud user with Read-only administrator rights to virtual apps/desktops. To know how to create this user on the cloud, refer to theCreating a New Citrix Cloud User for Monitoring PurposestopicTo know how this user can create an API client on the cloud, refer to Creating API Client on the Citrix Cloud.

Proxy Host and Proxy Port

If the Citrix Cloud Connector communicates with the Citrix Cloud via a proxy, then, you also need to configure the eG agent on the connector with the proxy server details. This will enable the eG agent to connect to the Citrix cloud without a glitch, and pull metrics. To facilitate this communication. do the following:

  • Specify the IP address/fully-qualified host name of the proxy server, against PROXY HOST.

  • Specify the port at which the Proxy server listens for requests from the eG agent, against PROXY PORT.

By default, both these parameters are set to none, indicating that the eG agent does not communicate with the Citrix Cloud via a proxy.

Note:

  • Before configuring these test parameters, make sure that the proxy server settings are imported to the eG agent side from the connector. To know how to achieve this, refer to Configuring the eG Agent with Proxy Server Settings.

  • To know what values you should configure these parameters with, do the following:

    • Login to the system hosting the Citrix Cloud Connector being monitored.

    • Open the Internet Explorer browser on that system, and click on the icon provided at the right corner of that browser.

    • Clicking the icon will invoke a menu. Choose Internet Optionsfrom the menu. Then, select the Connections tab in the Internet Options window that appears.

    • Now, click the LAN Settings button. This will open the Local Area Network (LAN) Settings window. In the Proxy Server section of this window, you will find that the Use a proxy server for your LAN check box is enabled. Configure the PROXY HOST and PROXY PORT parameters with the IP address and port numbers displayed in the Address and Port text boxes (respectively) under that check box.

    • If the Use a proxy server for your LAN check box is not enabled, then it means that the connector is not communicating with the cloud via a proxy. In this case, you need not change the default configuration for these parameters.

Region Endpoint

By default, US is chosen from this list indicating that this test will report metrics for those organizations whose users and resources are located in the United States region. Sometimes, the eG agent may collect the required metrics with a minor time delay due to the users and resources being monitored are in a different region. To avoid such time delays and to ensure end-user proximity and offer the best user experience, administrators are allowed to change the region based on where most of the users and resources are located. For instance, if the users and resources are located in the Asia-Pacific South region or approximately nearer to the Asia-Pacific South region, then, administrators need to choose 'AP-S' from this list. However, from this list, administrators are required to choose only the region that they had chosen when they signed in for the first time after onboarding their organization to the target Citrix Cloud.

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

Allocation type

Indicates the allocation type of the machines available in this catalog.

Number

This measure can report any one of the following values:

  • Static
  • Permanent
  • Random
  • Unknown

The table below provides the numeric values that correspond to the allocation types listed above, and a brief description of each type:

Allocation Type Numeric Value Description
Static 1 Indicates that the machines in this catalog are either assigned by the administrator or assigned on first use to users. This assignment will change only when the administrator explicitly changes the assignments.
Permanent 2 Indicates that the machines in this catalog are permanently assigned to the user.
Random 3 Indicates that the machines in this catalog are picked in random and are temporarily assigned to the user.

Note:

By default, this measure reports the Allocation Types listed in the table above. However, the graph of this measure will represent the allocation types using their corresponding numeric equivalents – i.e., 1 to 3.

The detailed diagnosis of this measure if enabled, lists the catalog to which the machine belongs, the zone to which the machine catalog belongs, the machine type, the number of sessions supported by the machine i.e, either Single session or Multi session, the location used for storing user data, the provisioning type and the scopes associated with the chosen catalog.

Are physical machines?

Indicates whether/not the machines in this catalog are power managed by the broker.

This measure reports a value Yes if the machines are power managed by the broker and No, if otherwise.

The table below provides the numeric values that correspond to the above mentioned values:

Measure Value Numeric Value
Yes 1
No 0

Note:

By default, this measure reports whether the machines are power managed by the broker or not. However, the graph of this measure will be represented using their corresponding numeric equivalents – i.e., 0 or 1.

Entitled machines used in delivery groups

Indicates the number of assigned machines (to users) in this catalog that are within delivery groups.

Number

Entitled machines available for delivery groups

Indicates the number of machines in this catalog that are available to users within delivery groups.

Number

Machines available for delivery groups

Indicates the number of machines in this catalog that are available for inclusion in delivery groups.

Number

Machines not entitled available for delivery groups

Indicates the number of machines within the delivery groups that are not yet assigned to users.

Number

Machines not entitled used in delivery groups

Indicates the number of unassigned machines in this catalog within the delivery groups but are still used in the pool.

Number

Machines used in delivery groups

Indicates the number of machines in this catalog that are within delivery groups.

Number

Total machines in catalog

Indicates the total number of machines in this catalog.

Number

The detailed diagnosis of the Allocation type measure if enabled, lists the catalog to which the machine belongs, the zone to which the catalog belongs, the machine type, the number of sessions supported by the machine i.e, either Single session or Multi session, the location used for storing user data, the provisioning type and the scopes associated with the chosen catalog.

Figure 1 : The detailed diagnosis of the Allocation type measure