The Citrix Logon Simulator Test

How often should the test be executed. The default is 15 minutes.

Note:

Some parameter changes can sometimes impact the simulation duration. Most often, this can happen in the following situations:

• If multiple desktops are configured for launching against PUBLISHED RESOURCES: In this case, the test will repeat the entire sequence of steps for every configured desktop - i.e., after a desktop is launched, the test will logoff and then log in again to attempt the launch of the next desktop. This can increase the duration of the simulation.
• If the value of the Launch Timeout and/or the Logoff Delay parameters of the test is significantly increased: If this is done, then the simulator will wait that much longer for the desktop launch or logoff to happen, thereby increasing simulation duration.
• If the Prompt flag of the test is set to Yes: If this is done, then the simulator will be forced to respond to each message prompt that appears during its interaction with the application. This in turn will increase simulation duration.

Sometimes, these changes can cause the simulation to take more time than the configured Test Period.

If this happens, the test will fail after logging an error to that effect in the <EG_AGENT_INSTALL_DIR>\agent\error_log file. To avoid this, it would be a good practice to relook at the Test Period configuration every time one of the parameters mentioned above is modified, and increase it if required.

The host for which the test is to be configured.

Specify the port used to connect to the Citrix Server here. By default, this is NULL.

Specify the URL for connecting to StoreFront / Citrix ADC. You can provide an HTTP or an HTTPS URL here. Before specifying the URL, ensure the following:

• Only StoreFront 2.0 (or above) and Citrix ADC (NetScaler Gateway) v9.3 (or above) is supported.

To know how to configure the resources to be monitored, refer to the How to Configure Published Resources for Monitoring? topic.

The simulator needs to run in the account of a user who has local administrator rights on the simulation end point - i.e., the system on which the external agent and the Citrix Workspace App have been installed. Specify the name of this user here. This user should also be logged in at all times for the simulator to run continuously.

If the user specified in Receiver Console Username belongs to a domain, specify the name of the domain in this text box. By default, none is specified against this text box.

By default, this parameter is set to 90 seconds. This implies that the simulator will wait for a maximum of 90 seconds (by default) for an application/desktop to launch. If the application/desktop does not launch even after the 90 seconds have elapsed, then the simulation will be automatically terminated, and the simulator will mark that application/desktop launch as 'failed'. Accordingly, the Application launch availability measure for that published resource (i.e., application/desktop) will report the value 0, and no launch duration will be reported for the same.

In some environments, one/more published applications may take a little longer to launch than the rest. In such environments, you can instruct the simulator to wait longer for launching each of the configured published resources, by increasing the Launch Timeout. The high time out setting for resource launch ensures that the simulator captures and reports only genuine launch failures, and does not treat a launch delay as a failure.

By default, this parameter is set to 30 seconds. This implies that the simulator will wait for a maximum of 30 seconds (by default) after each resource launch, for the logoff to occur. If the logoff does not happen even after 30 seconds have elapsed, then the simulation will be automatically terminated, and the simulator will mark the logoff attempt as 'failed'. A logoff duration will hence not be computed or reported in this case.

In some environments, even during normal operation, logoff may take longer. In such environments, you can instruct the simulator to wait longer for the logoff to occur, by increasing the Web Logoff Delay. The high time out setting for logoff ensures that the simulator waits for the log off to complete and captures and reports the accurate logoff duration.

By default, this flag is set to Yes, indicating that the eG agent itself automatically logs off the simulated sessions. Sometimes however, the eG agent may not be able to perform clean session logoffs. When this happens, simulated sessions may continue to linger on the server in a disconnected state. In simulations that are performed on-premises, where you have control over the target Citrix infrastructure, you can avoid such disconnected sessions and ensure clean application/desktop logoffs by deploying the light-weight eG Logoff Helper software. To know how to install the software, refer to The eG Logoff Helper topic. Once the helper is installed, set the Use ICA flag to No, so that the logoff helper is automatically used for performing session logoffs.

Note:

If the simulation is to be performed on the Citrix Cloud or the Citrix Workspace, where you have no control over the Citrix infrastructure, make sure that the Use ICA flag is set to Yes only.

Set this flag to Yes if the target Citrix environment is hosted on Citrix Cloud i.e., the SITE URL for connecting to StoreFront/ADC is hosted on Citrix Cloud. By default, this flag is set to No.

By default, the logon simulator will automatically take screenshots of failure conditions and displays the same in the layer model against the measure that reported failure as well as in the graphical view of the detailed diagnosis. To this effect, this flag is set to Yes, by default. If you do not wish to view the screenshot for the simulation, then, set this flag to No.

By default, this flag is set to No indicating that the logon simulator will not capture a screenshot and display the same in the graphical view of the detailed diagnosis if the simulation performed was successful. If you wish to capture a screenshot for successful simulations too and display the same, then, set this flag to Yes.

Specify the frequency i.e., measurement period for which a screenshot captured for a successful simulation should be retained in the layer model/graphical view. By default, this is set to 5 indicating that the screenshot captured for a successful simulation will be displayed for the subsequent 5 measurement periods provided, the logon simulation is successful during all those 5 measurement periods.

For the logon simulation to be successful on the simulation endpoint at all times, it is important for the Windows user session to always remain 'active'. To this effect, this flag is set to Yes by default.

By default, this flag is set to No indicating that administrators had to reconfigure this test whenever they performed troubleshooting of the site or the machine on which the logon simulation agent was installed. By setting this flag to Yes, they can simply pause the test and continue troubleshooting. The test configuration will be retained until the execution of the test is resumed.

Sometimes, applications / desktops may fail to launch once in a while due to network issues, system updates, etc. This can result in false alerts. Sometimes, in Citrix environments, the logon simulator may fail sporadically because Citrix Receiver on the client failed to start (after the ICA file is downloaded). This is a problem with the client and not with the Citrix service. An alert for this failure is also a false alert. To avoid such false alerts, the logon simulator supports retries. By configuring 1 or more retries against this parameter, you can considerably reduce false alerts. By default, this is set to 0.

For example, if you set this parameter to 2, then, if the first simulation attempt is successful, then, the logon simulator completes the simulation and reports the metrics. However, if the first simulation fails, then, the logon simulator attempts the simulation again. Alerts will be raised only when the simulation fails in all the retries.

Refers to the frequency with which detailed diagnosis measures are to be generated for this test. The default is 1:1. This indicates that, by default, detailed measures will be generated every time this test runs, and also every time the test detects a problem. You can modify this frequency, if you so desire. Also, if you intend to disable the detailed diagnosis capability for this test, you can do so by specifying none against dd frequency.