Introduction

For years, slow logons have been the most common complaint in Omnissa Horizon infrastructures. For a Omnissa Horizon user, slow logons can lead to frustration, lower productivity and efficiency. For an administrator, logon slowness is a complex problem that takes a long time to resolve. There are dozens of steps involved in the logon process and they involve multiple components – Omnissa Horizon Client, Omnissa Horizon Connection Server, Active Directory, VMware vCenter, VMware vSphere ESX/VDI, Omnissa Horizon Composer and so on. Identifying exactly what is causing the slowdown is often time consuming and laborious.

To ensure great Omnissa Horizon user experience, administrators need to monitor their infrastructure proactively and be alerted to issues in advance, before users notice and complain. In order to do so, administrators need a consistent measure of Omnissa Horizon logon performance – one that is available 24x7, even when there are no users accessing the farm. Collecting logon metrics of real user activity is challenging. Metrics have to collected from the different tiers involved. Even then, it is difficult to get a consistent assessment of Omnissa Horizon logon performance because different users have different profiles and policies associated with them. Furthermore, there will be times when no one is logging in to the Omnissa Horizon farm, and at those times, it is important to know if Omnissa Horizon logon is working and whether users can launch their applications and desktops successfully.

The eG Logon Simulator, a part of the eG Enterprise, is a purpose-built solution for delivering proactive visibility into the logon performance in Omnissa Horizon infrastructures. Using an agentless approach, the eG Omnissa Horizon Logon Simulator simulates a user logging in to a Omnissa Horizon Unified Access Gateway or Access Point through a browser, reviewing the list of applications/desktops accessible, clicking on a selected application or desktop, launching it using Omnissa Horizon Connection Server by initiating a session and then logging off. By emulating the exact same process that users go through when they logon to Omnissa Horizon Connection server, the eG Omnissa Horizon Logon Simulator provides a realistic measure of the user experience during logon. Since every simulation tests the entire VMware infrastructure (Omnissa Horizon Client, Omnissa Horizon Connection Server, Active Directory, VMware vCenter, VMware vSphere ESX/VDI, Omnissa Horizon Composer, etc.), the results represent the cumulative health of all of the tiers supporting logons.

Unlike traditional simulation tools that require recording of a script that captures the typical steps a user performs, the eG Omnissa Horizon Logon Simulator requires no recording and hence, is simple to implement. Installed on any desktop that has the Chrome browser configured, the simulator targets the configured Omnissa Horizon logon URL, launches applications/desktops 24x7 at pre-configured intervals and tests the Omnissa Horizon logon availability and performance. When a problem is detected, the offending step is clearly highlighted, so administrators can start working on a resolution immediately.

The simulation can be configured to run from different remote locations, to understand the logon performance from each location. By testing the simulated session from different locations and at different times, administrators can diagnose and resolve logon issues before users experience them and call up the helpdesk. Licensing is based on number of simulation locations, not on the number of logons simulated.