Citrix Users By GPU Test
GPU-accelerated computing is the use of a graphics processing unit (GPU) together with a CPU to accelerate scientific, analytics, engineering, consumer, and enterprise applications. GPU-accelerated computing enhances application performance by offloading compute-intensive portions of the application to the GPU, while the remainder of the code still runs on the CPU.
In GPU-enabled virtual environments, if users to virtual applications complain of slowness when accessing graphic applications, administrators must be able to instantly figure out what is causing the slowness – is it because adequate GPU resources are not available to the users? Or is it because of excessive utilization of GPU memory and processing resources by any of the users accessing the applications on the host? Accurate answers to these questions can help administrators determine whether/not:
- The host is sized with sufficient GPU resources;
- The GPUs are configured with enough graphics memory;
Measures to right-size the host and fine-tune its GPU configuration can be initiated based on the results of this analysis. This is exactly what the Citrix Users By GPU test helps administrators achieve!
To help with better utilization of resources, you can track the GPU usage rates of your instances for each user who is currently accesing the applications on the on the host. When you know the GPU usage rates, you can then perform tasks such as setting up managed instance groups that can be used to autoscale resources based on needs.
Target of the test : A Citrix Virtual Apps server
Agent deploying the test : An internal/remote agent
Outputs of the test : One set of results for each user connected to the Citrix Virtual Apps that is to be monitored
Parameters | Description |
---|---|
Test Period |
How often should the test be executed. By default, this is 5 minutes. |
Host |
The host for which the test is to be configured. |
Port |
Refers to the port used by the target Citrix XenApp server . |
GPU Vendor |
By default, Auto is selected from this drop-down list indicating that this test would automatically discover the vendor name of the GPU card installed on the target server and collect performance metrics. However, you can select NVIDIA from this list if NVIDIA GPU card is installed in the target server. Choosing NVIDIA from this list will enable this test to use nvidia-smi commands to collect performance metrics from the NVIDIA GPU card. |
NVIDIA Home |
By default, this parameter is set to none indicating that the eG agent would automatically discover the location at which the nvidia-smi is installed for collecting the metrics of this test. If the nvidia-smi is installed in a different location in your virtual environment, then indicate that location in the NVIDIA Home text box. |
Report by Domain Name |
By default, the flag is set to Yes. This implies that by default, this test will report metrics for every domainname\username configured for this test. This way, administrators will be able to quickly determine which user logged in from which domain. If you want the test to report metrics for the username alone, then set this flag to No. |
Report by Client Name |
By default, this flag is set to No. If set to Yes, this test will report metrics for each client machine from which users logged into the XenApp server - i.e., the host name of the client machines will be the descriptors of this test. In this case therefore, the User name column of the detailed diagnosis of this test will indicate the names of the users who logged into the XenApp server. |
DD Frequency |
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. |
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:
|
Measurement | Description | Measurement Unit | Interpretation |
---|---|---|---|
User sessions |
Indicates the number of sessions established by this user. |
Number |
|
GPU processes running in user's sessions |
Indicates the number GPU processes that are currently running in this user's session. |
Number |
|
GPU compute usage for user's processes |
Indicates the percentage of GPU compute capability utilized by the processes running in this user's session. |
Percent |
The detailed diagnosis of this measure reveals the session ID, ID and name of process running in the session, total GPU utilization during the user session, GPU utilized for performing encoder, decoder, 3D, copy and video operations, the amount of memory that is currently in use, image path and information about the GPU card. |
Encoder usage for user's processes |
Indicates the percentage of GPU that is utilized for encoding processes during this user's session. |
Percent |
A value close to 100 is a cause of concern. By closely analyzing these measures, administrators can easily be alerted to situations where graphics processing is a bottleneck for any application. |
Decoder usage for user's processes |
Indicates the percentage of GPU that is utilized for decoding processes during this user's session. |
Percent |
|
Memory compute usage for user's processes |
Indicates the percentage of the allocated GPU memory that is currently being utilized by the processes running in this user's session. |
Percent |
A value close to 100% is a cause for concern as it indicates that the graphics memory on a GPU is almost always in use. |
Memory Used for user's processes |
Indicates the amount of the allocated GPU memory that is being utilized by the processes running in this user's session. |
MiB |
For better user experience with graphic applications, enough memory should be available to the applications. |
3D usage for user processes |
Indicates the percentage of GPU utilized for processing 3D frames in this users's session. |
Percent |
Compare the value of this measure across the users to identify which user is over-utilizing the GPU for processing 3D frames. |
Copy usage for user processes |
Indicates the percentage of the GPU utilized for copying operations performed during this user's session. |
Percent |
Compare the value of this measure across the users to identify which user is over-utilizing the GPU for copying operations. |
Video processing usage for user processes |
Indicates the percentage of GPU utilized for performing video decoding process during this user's session. |
Percent |
Compare the value of this measure across the users to identify which user is over-utilizing the GPU for video decoding. |