Citrix Sessions Test

How often should the test be executed.

The host for which the test is to be configured.

The port number at which the specified host listens to. By default, this is 1494.

By default, this parameter is set to 65536,65537,65538– these are nothing but the default ports at which the listener component listens. If any of these ports go down, then by default, this test will not count any of the sessions that failed when attempting to connect to that port as a Down session. You can override this default setting by adding more ports or by removing one/more existing ports.

By default, this flag is set to Yes. This indicates that the user login time displayed in the detailed diagnosis page for this test and in the Thin Client reports will be based on the eG manager's time zone by default. Set this flag to No if you want the login times displayed in the  detailed diagnosis page for this test and in the Thin Client reports to be based on the Citrix server’s local time.

By default, this flag is set to Yes. This implies that by default, the detailed diagnosis of this test will display the domainname\username of each user session that logged out. This default setting ensures that administrators are able to quickly determine the domains to which the users who logged out belonged. You can set this flag to No if you want detailed diagnosis to display only the username of the users who logged out.

In multi-user environments like Citrix Virtual Apps/Desktops, server resources are shared by all user sessions on that server. In such environments therefore, it is important to ensure that users engaged in business-critical operations have the resources they need. A resource shortage can not only impair user productivity, but can also bring crucial business processes to a halt, and can severely degrade overall user experience with the application delivery service. To avoid such an outcome, administrators need to rapidly identify and intelligently manage those types of user sessions that consume resources unnecessarily - i.e., user sessions that are 'unproductive resource consumers'. This way, administrators can make sure that adequate resources are always available for carrying out important business tasks.

Idle sessions and disconnected sessions on a server are often considered to be a waste of valuable resources. If administrators are empowered to quickly identify these sessions and automatically eliminate them or limit their resource usage, they can:

• Ensure that server resources are put to good business use;

• Avoid resource contentions, and the resultant delay in delivery of business services;

• Improve user productivity;

• Assure users of an above-par experience with Citrix Virtual Apps

To enable administrators to achieve all of the above, eG Enterprise offers 'Automation Actions'. These actions are governed by the 'Automation Action Enabled' flag.

This flag, if enabled, automatically initiates user-configured actions on idle and disconnected sessions, so that they do not consume more resources than they should. Such an action can restrict the amount of resources used by these sessions, change the priority level of processes running in these sessions, and completely log off the sessions.

Note:

The 'Automation Action Enabled' parameters, once configured, will apply only to the chosen component. These settings will not be applied to other components even if the Apply to other components button is clicked in the Specific Test Configuration page.

This parameter appears only if the Automated Action Enabled flag is set to Yes.

Administrators may want to allow a few critical processes - e.g., key operating system-level processes - unrestricted access to resources. This is because, applying resource usage limits to such critical processes might sometimes have unintended effects, including slow system responsiveness. To prevent such anomalies, administrators can use the Processes to ignore parameter.

Specify a comma-separated list of processes that should be excluded from automatic resource usage optimization. For example, your specification can be: Sophos UI,SearchApp.

This parameter appears only if the Automated Action Enabled flag is set to Yes.

Idle sessions on the target server are serious resource-drainers! Such sessions do not execute any operations, but consume resources significantly, thereby depriving critical sessions of the resources. To prevent this, administrators need to quickly capture idle sessions, and initiate measures to either terminate such sessions or cap their resource usage. This can be easily achieved using the Idle Sessions Action Enabled flag.

This flag, if enabled, ensures that a user-configured action is automatically triggered on sessions that are identified as 'idle'.

This parameter appears only if the Automated Action Enabled flag is set to Yes and the Idle Sessions Action Enabled flag is set to Yes.

Specify the duration (in minutes) of inactivity beyond which a session is considered to be “idle” by this test. By default, this parameter is set to 30 (minutes). This implies that by default, the test counts all sessions that have been inactive for over 30 minutes as idle sessions. Automated actions will be performed on such sessions only.

This parameter appears only if the Automated Action Enabled and Idle Sessions Action Enabled flags are set to Yes.

Here, you can choose either one or both actions that this test should automatically perform on an idle session. The options are as follows:

• Change process priority to Below Normal - Typically, processes running at high priority will consume a considerable amount of server resources. Sometimes, this may cause low-priority processes to slow down, as they have to contend for limited CPU, memory, and I/O resources. If many high-prirority processes run in idle sessions, the overall resource consumption of such sessions will increase. As a result, critical processes running in active sessions will be denied access to resources. To prevent such problematic situations, administrators can use the Change process priority to Below Normal option. When this option is chosen, the priority level of high priority processes running in idle sessions will be bumped down and set to Below normal. This way, the resource consumption of idle sessions can be controlled.
• Trim memory of the process - Choose this option if you want to trim/limit the memory usage of any process running in an idle session.

Note that the chosen action will not be triggered for the processes configured against the Processes to Ignore parameter.

This parameter appears only if:

• The Automated Action Enabled flag is set to Yes

• Idle Sessions Action Enabled flag is set to Yes

• The Trim memory of the process option is chosen from the Idle Session Action list

In this text box, specify the maximum amount of memory that any process running in an idle session can consume. By default, the value of this parameter is set to 10 MB. This implies that, by default, a process running in an idle session will not be allowed to consume more than 10 MB of memory, regardless of the memory capacity of the target server. This prevents wastage of memory resources by idle sessions, and also ensures that sessions running critical business applications do not run out of memory.

This parameter appears only if the Automated Action Enabled flag is set to Yes.

When a user abruptly disconnects his/her session, the applications started by the user will keep running on the target Virtual Apps server, consuming resources. This can lead to unnecessary resource consumption on the server. Hence, it is important to identify disconnected sessions and optimize their resource usage before they cause a serious resource contention on the server. This can be easily achieved using the Disconnected Sessions Action Enabled flag.

This flag, if enabled, ensures that user-configured actions are automatically performed on sessions that are identified as disconnected sessions.

This parameter appears only if the Automated Action Enabled and Disconnected Sessions Action Enabled flags are set to Yes.

This parameter enables administrators to specify how long a session should be disconnected from the target server for it to considered as a 'disconnected' session by this test. By default, this is set to 10 minutes. This means that any session that has remained disconnected from the server for 10 minutes and over, will be counted as a 'disconnected' session for the purpose of performing automated actions.

This parameter appears only if the Automated Action Enabled and Disconnected Sessions Action Enabled flags are set to Yes..

Here, you can choose the action that this test should automatically perform on a disconnected session. The recommended actions are:

• Change process priority to Below Normal - Typically, processes running at high priority will consume a considerable amount of server resources. Sometimes, this may cause low-priority processes to slow down, as they have to contend for limited CPU, memory, and I/O resources. If many high-prirority processes run in disconnected sessions, the overall resource consumption of such sessions will increase. As a result, critical processes running in active sessions will be denied access to resources. To prevent such problematic situations, administrators can use the Change process priority to Below Normal option. When this option is chosen, the priority level of high priority processes running in disconnected sessions will be bumped down and set to Below normal. This way, the resource consumption of disconnected sessions can be controlled.
• Logoff Session - When this option is selected, then, the disconnected session will be automatically logged off.

Note that the chosen action will not be triggered for the processes configured against the Processes to Ignore parameter.

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.