Citrix Farm Sessions Test

This test reports key statistics pertaining to the user sessions on the Citrix farm server.

Target of the test : A Citrix ZDC

Agent deploying the test : An external agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for each farm server

Configurable parameters for the test

  1. TEST PERIOD – How often should the test be executed
  2. Host – The host for which the test is to be configured
  3. Port – Refers to the port used by the Citrix ZDC
  4. serverstats - If you want the test to report session statistics per server, then set the SERVERSTATS parameter to True. If this is the case, the statistics for individual servers in the zone are shown. By default, the SERVERSTATS parameter is set to False indicating that, by default, the test reports metrics for every Citrix zone in a farm, and not for every server.
  5. serverzonename - The SERVERZONENAME parameter is relevant only if the SERVERSTATS parameter is set to True. In such a case, if the SERVERZONENAME flag is also set to True, then the descriptors of the test will be of the form: ServerName:ZoneName. If this flag is set to False instead, the descriptors of the test will be of the form: ZoneName:ServerName.

 

Measurements made by the test

Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation

Unknown sessions:

Indicates the number of current sessions that are in an Unknown state.

Number

 

Active sessions:

Indicates the number of active sessions currently on the Citrix farm.

Number

This measure gives an idea of the farm workload in terms of active sessions. Tracking the number of active sessions with time, a Citrix administrator can obtain information that can help him/her plan the capacity of their Citrix farm. The detailed diagnosis capability, if enabled, lists the active and inactive sessions on the Citrix farm.

Connected sessions:

Indicates the current number of sessions that are connected.

Number

A consistent increase in the value of this measure could indicate that users are having trouble logging in. Further investigation may hence be required.

Connecting sessions:

Indicates the number of sessions that are in the process of connecting.

Number

A very high value for this measure indicates a problem with the session or connection.

Shadow sessions:

Indicates the number of sessions that are remotely controlling other sessions.

Number

A non-zero value for this measure indicates the existence of shadow sessions that are allowed to view and control the user activity on another session. Such sessions help in troubleshooting/resolving problems with other sessions under their control.

Disconnected sessions:

Indicates the number of sessions from which users have disconnected, but which are still active and can be reconnected.

Number

Too many disconnected sessions running indefinitely on a Citrix server cause excessive consumption of the server resources. To avoid this, a session limit is typically configured for disconnected sessions on the Citrix server. When a session limit is reached for a disconnected session, the session ends, which permanently deletes it from the server.

Listen sessions:

Indicates the current number of sessions that are ready to accept connections.

Number

 

Reset sessions:

Indicates the current number of sessions, the states of which were reset while in progress.

Number

 

Down sessions:

Indicates the current number of sessions that could not be initialized or terminated.

Number

Ideally, the value of this measure should be 0.

Initializing sessions:

Indicates the current number of sessions that are initializing.

Number

A very high value for this measure could indicate that too many sessions are currently experiencing initialization problems.

Stale sessions:

Indicates the current number of sessions that are stale.

Number