Controller Database Connectivity Test

A site uses three SQL server databases:

  • Site – (also known as Site Configuration) stores the running Site configuration, plus the current session state and connection information.
  • Configuration Logging – (also known as Logging) stores information about Site configuration changes and administrative activities. This database is used when the Configuring Logging feature is enabled (default = enabled).
  • Monitoring – stores data used by Director, such as session and connection information.

Each Delivery Controller communicates with the Site database; Windows authentication is required between the Controller and the databases. If your Site contains more than one zone, the Site database should always be in the primary zone. Controllers in every zone communicate with that database.

Since the Site database forms a single point of failure, if the database server fails, existing connections will continue to function until a user either logs off or disconnects. New connections cannot be established if the database server is unavailable (except in certain cases when connection leasing is configured). If a user to a XenApp / XenDesktop site complaints that he is unable to connect to it, you may want to check if the database server is available. The Controller Database Connectivity test reports this information at pre-configured intervals. In addition, the test reports how long the database server has remained unavailable, thus indicating to you whether the unavailability was sudden or prolonged. This greatly aids troubleshooting, as it points to the time window in which the break in connection might have occurred, so that you can effectively time-correlate the unavailability with problems that might have occurred around that time frame and determine the source of the issue.

Target of the test : A Citrix Delivery Controller 7.x

Agent deploying the test : An internal agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for the Delivery Controller being monitored.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter Description

Test Period

How often should the test be executed.

Host

The IP address of the DDC for which this test is to be configured.

Port

Refers to the port at which the specified DDC listens to.

Measurements made by the test
Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation

Database availability

Indicates whether/not the Site database is available.

Percent

The value 100 indicates that the controller is able to connect to the database. The value 0 indicates that the database is inaccessible to the controller.

Database unavailability duration

Indicates how long the Site database was unavailable.

Mins

This measure will be reported only if the 'Database availability' measure reports the value 0.

A low value is desired for this measure. A consistent rise in this value indicates that the database has been unavailable to users for a long time. This could adversely impact user experience with XenApp/XenDesktop.