Users - Logon Performance Report

Administrators are often interested in figuring out the login duration of the each user into a RemoteApp/Desktop managed by an AVD broker. They would like to identify the user who has taken the maximum time duration to login into the RemoteApp/Desktop and where exactly the user login has taken the maximum time - is it during the user profile loading? or is it the LDAP bind time to the active directory? or is it the DC Discovery time?. The Users - Logon Performance report helps administrators historically analyze the login patterns to the RemoteApp/Desktop managed by an AVD broker, identify the RemoteApp/Desktop that were slow in responding to the user logon requests and rectify the problems caused due to the poor responsiveness of the RemoteApp/Desktop managed by AVD Brokers.

To generate this report, do the following:

1. Select the Logon Performance option from the Users sub node by following the menu sequence: REPORTS BY FUNCTION -> Domain-specific Reports -> Azure Virtual Desktop -> By Broker

2. When Figure 1 appears, do the following:

   

   Figure 1 : Setting criteria for generating the Users - Logon Performance report by AVD Broker

3. Choose a Report Type (Summary or Details) for generating the report. By default, Details option is chosen from this list which helps in generating the report along with a detailed logon analysis in a tabular format. Choosing the Summary option will generate a graphical report.

4. Administrators of large IT infrastructures, which are characterized by hundreds of components, may find it difficult to pick and choose the components for which a report is to be generated; this is because, in such environments, the Components list in this page will be populated with a large number of components, which would naturally make component selection tough. To enable administrators of such environments to quickly locate the components of interest to them and swiftly generate the reports, eG Enterprise provides a Analyze By list that consists of a variety of filter options. By default, the Zone option is chosen from this list (see Figure 1) – this indicates that the components for which a report is to be generated is part of a zone. In addition to this, the Analyze By list provides the following filter options as well:

   • Service:If the component for which reports are to be generated is involved in the delivery of a particular service, then pick this option from the Analyze By list. Doing so will invoke a Service list from which a service name is to be chosen. Upon selection of a service, the component types that are part of the service will populate the Component Type list in this page. Once you pick a component type, all components of that type, which are engaged in the delivery of the chosen service, will be displayed as candidates for selection in the Component list. By default, All Components option is chosen from the Component list. If there are still too many components in the list to choose from, you can narrow your search further by using the Search text box. Specify the whole/part of the component name to search for in this text box, and click the icon next to it. The Component list will then be populated with all component names that embed the specified search string. Select the component of your choice from this list.

   • Segment:If the components for which a report is to be generated is part of a segment, pick the Segment option from the Analyze By list. Then, select the segment of interest to you from the Segment list. This will populate the Component Type list with the types of components that are part of the chosen segment. If you select a component type from the Component Type list, then, all components of that type, which are part of the chosen segment, will be displayed in the Component list for selection. By default, All Components option is chosen from the Component list. If there are still too many components in the list to choose from, you can narrow your search further by using the Search text box. Specify the whole/part of the component name to search for in this text box, and click the icon button next to it. The Component list will then be populated with all component names that embed the specified search string. Select the component of your choice from this list.

   • Component:If you select a Component from the Analyze By list and a component type from the Component Type list, then, all components of that type, which are not part of a zone/segment/service, will be displayed in the Component list for selection. By default, All Components option is chosen from the Component list. If the Component list consists of too many components, then viewing all the components and selecting the ones you need for report generation could require endless scrolling. To avoid this, you can click the icon next to the Components list. A Component pop up window will then appear using which you can view almost all the components in a single interface and Select the ones to be included for generating the report. If there are still too many components in the list to choose from, you can narrow your search further by using the Search text box. Specify the whole/part of the component name to search for in this text box, and click the icon next to it. The Component list will then be populated with all component names that embed the specified search string. Select the component of your choice from this list.

5. Select the Zone to which the servers of interest to you belong. If no zones have been configured in your environment, then all the managed servers in the environment will be automatically grouped under a zone named Default; in such cases therefore, select the Default zone.

6. By default, Microsoft AVD Broker is chosen from the Component Type list.

7. If the Report Type is Details, then, in the Component list box, all the components pertaining to the chosen Component Type will be listed. By default, All Components option is chosen from the Component list. Select the components for which this report is to be generated. If the Component list consists of too many components, then viewing all the components and selecting the ones you need for report generation could require endless scrolling. To avoid this, you can click the icon next to the Component list. A Component pop up window will then appear using which you can view almost all the components in a single interface and Select the ones to be included for generating the report.

8. If the Report Type is Details, then, in the User list box, all the users logged into the chosen Components will be listed. By default, All Users option is chosen from the User list. If the User list is too long, then viewing all the users and selecting the ones you need for report generation could require endless scrolling. To avoid this, you can click the icon next to the User list. This will open the USER pop up window using which you can view almost all the users in a single interface and Select the ones for which the report is to be generated. If there are still too many users in the list to choose from, you can narrow your search further by using the Search Options text box. Specify the whole/part of the user name to search for in this text box, and click the icon next to it. The User list will then be populated with all user names that embed the specified search string. Select the user of your choice from this list.

9. If the Report Type is Details, then a Report By Logons flag appears. By default, this flag is set to Users indicating that the Data report will be generated for each user by consolidating multiple logins of the users. If this flag is set to Sessions, then this report will be generated for each session host by consolidating multiple logins of the users each time a user logs into the session host.

10. If the Report Type is Details, by default, this report will list the Top 10 users/logon time. If you wish to view the report for the number of users/logon time of your choice, then, you may do so by selecting an option from the Show list box.

11. If you wish this report to display the AVD Host pool from which the user accessed a RemoteApp/Desktop managed by an AVD broker , then set the Show Host Pool flag as Yes, By default, this flag is set as No.

12. Then, specify the Timeline for the report. You can either provide a fixed time line such as 1 hour, 2 days, etc., or select the Any option from the list to provide a From and To date/time for report generation.

    Note:

    For every user registered with the eG Enterprise system, the administrator can indicate the maximum timeline for which that user can generate a report. Once the maximum timeline is set for a user, then, whenever that user logs into eG Reporter and attempts to generate a report, the Timeline list box in the report page will display options according to the maximum timeline setting of that user. For instance, if a user can generate a report for a maximum period of 3 days only, then 3 days will be the highest option displayed in the Timeline list - i.e., 3 days will be the last option in the fixed Timeline list. Similarly, if the user chooses the Any option from the Timeline list and proceeds to provide a start date and end date for report generation using the From and To specifications, eG Enterprise will first check if the user’s Timeline specification conforms to his/her maximum timeline setting. If not, report generation will fail. For instance, for a user who is allowed to generate reports spanning over a maximum period of 3 days only, the difference between the From and To dates should never be over 3 days. If it is, then, upon clicking the Run Report button a message box will appear, prompting the user to change the From and To specification.

13. In addition to the settings discussed above, this report comes with a set of default specifications. These settings are hidden by default. If you do not want to disturb these default settings, then you can proceed to generate the report by clicking the Run Report button soon after you pick the criteria for generating the report. However, if you want to view and then alter these settings (if required), click on the button. The default settings will then appear in the More Options drop down window (see Figure 2). The steps below discuss each of these settings and how they can be customized.

    

    Figure 2 : The default settings for generating the User Logon Performance report by AVD Broker

14. Specify the start time and end time for report generation against the Time period field (see Figure 2).

15. If the timeline specified for the report needs to exclude the data collected during the Weekends, then set Exclude weekends to Yes. If not, select No.

    Note:

    By default, the weekend constitutes Saturday and Sunday. To override this default setting, do the following:

    • Edit the eg_report.ini file in the <EG_INSTALL_DIR>\eg_install_dir>\manager\config directory.
    • In the [USER_LOGON_REPORT] section of the file, the exclude_weekend parameter is set to Saturday,Sunday by default. You can modify this by setting the exclude_weekend parameter to a comma-separated list of other days of the week - say Friday,Saturday.
    • Save the file after making the required changes.

16. If the Report Type is Details, then a Duration list box will appear (see Figure 2). By default, the greater than option is chosen from this list. For example, if you wish to generate the report only when the login time of the users exceeding 2 seconds, then you can do so by selecting greater than 2 seconds from the Duration list box.

17. If the Report Type is Details, then an additional Show Logon Detail for Print/PDF will appear as shown in Figure 2. By default, this flag is set to Yes indicating that this report when generated and printed/emailed would reveal the logon duration of each user session and the time taken by that session at each stage of the logon process, starting from login till session start-up on a Remote App/desktop managed by an AVD broker along with the default information provided in the report.

18. If there are too many reconnects for a user session, then, this report may skew the average user logon time calculated. To avoid this, administrators may exclude reconnects during report generation by choosing No from the Include Reconnects list. By default, Yes option is chosen from the Include Reconnects list.
19. By default, the check box preceding the Show Logon Performance Health is unchecked. Checking this check box reveals the Threshold field which consists of three unique color-coded text boxes. In these text boxes, starting from left to right, set the threshold to determine the logon performance health of each user based on the logon processing duration in the High/Medium/Low format. By default, 120/80/40 is displayed against this field.
20. If the Report Type is Details and if the Report By Logons flag is set to Sessions , then by default, the generated report will include the client IP of the users who have initiated the sessions. To this effect, the Include Client IP option will be chosen from the Client IP Filter list (see Figure 2). By default, * will be displayed in the text box adjacent to the Client IP Filter list indicating that the generated report will list all the IP addresses from which the users have initiated the sessions. If you wish to generate the report based on a few chosen client IP addresses or a range of IP addresses, the you can specify a comma-separated list of IP addresses or IP address patterns in the text box adjacent to the Client IP Filter list. For example, your specification can be: 192.168.10.100, 192.168.19.*, 192.168.8.1-192.168.8.255.Similarly, you can exclude a few IP addresses by choosing the Exclude Client IP option from the Client IP Filter list and include only the additional options to include/exclude the client name and client IP in the generated report is provided.

21. In large environments, reports generated using months of data can take a long time to complete. Administrators now have the option of generating reports on-line or in the background. When a report is scheduled for background generation, administrators can proceed with their other monitoring, diagnosis, and reporting tasks, while the eG manager is processing the report. This saves the administrator valuable time. To schedule background processing of a report, select the Background Save - PDF option from the Report Generation list. In this case, a Report Name text box will appear, where you would have to provide the name with which the report is to be saved in the background. To process reports in the foreground, select the Foreground Generation - HTML option from this list.

    Note:

    • The Report Generation list will appear only if the EnableBackgroundReport flag in the [BACKGROUND_PROCESS] section of the eg_report.ini file (in the [EG_INSTALL_DIR]\manager\config directory) is set to Yes.
    • The default selection in the Report Generation list will change according to the Timeline specified for the report. If the Timeline set is greater than or equal to the number of days specified against the MinDurationForReport parameter in the [BACKGROUND_PROCESS] section of the eg_report.ini file, then the default selection in the Report Generation list will be Background. On the other hand, if the Timeline set for the report is lesser than the value of the MinDurationForReport parameter, then the default selection in the Report Generation list will be Foreground. This is because, the MinDurationForReport setting governs when reports are to be processed in the background. By default, this parameter is set to 2 weeks - this indicates that by default, reports with a timeline of 2 weeks and above will be processed in the background.

22. Finally, click the Run Report button to generate the report.

23. If the Report Type is Summary and the option chosen from the Report Generation list is Foreground Generation - HTML, then, clicking on the Run Report button will invoke Figure 3.

    

    Figure 3 : The generated Users - Logon Performance report as a graph

    From Figure 3, administrators can figure out the following:

    • A distribution pie chart reveals the number of users in different distribution ranges of their login time (see Figure 3). This pie chart enables administrators to deduce, at a glance, the number of users who were logged in for a longer/shorter duration. Clicking on a particular range lists the users who fall within the value range represented by that range (see Figure 4).

      

      Figure 4 : The users belonging to an individual logon duration distribution range

    • Adjacent to the pie chart, you will find a bar chart (see Figure 3) that indicates the top N users based on the Total Logon Processing time during the specified Timeline.

      Note:

      The number of components to be displayed in the Top <N> Components bar chart is configurable. To specify the number, do the following:

      • Finally, save the eg_report.ini file.
      • Specify a number of your choice against the NoOfServersforChart parameter in the [USER_LOGON_report] section of the file. By default, the value displayed here is 10, indicating that, by default, the bar chart will be for the Top 10 Components. For example, if you change this value to 5, then a bar chart displaying the Top 5 Components will appear.
      • Edit the eg_report.ini file in the <EG_INSTALL_DIR>\manager\config directory.

      Similarly, you can configure the depth of the bars in the bar chart by specifying a numeric value against the 3DDepthforChart parameter in the [USER_LOGON_REPORT] section of the eg_report.ini file (in the {EG_INSTALL_DIR}\manager\config directory).

      Note:

      You can configure the colors to be used in the distribution chart and the Top <N> Components bar chart in the report, by editing the eg_report.ini file in the <eG_INSTALL_DIR>\manager\config directory. The [USER_LOGON_REPORT] section of the file defines the 20 default colors of the distribution and bar charts:

      [USER_LOGON_REPORT]

      ChartColor=#8399b0,#ffd95a,#a4ac91,#98d980,#d5b996,#f48848,#8b8cc2,
      #eb4052,#c4b3d0,#b18651,#ebb7ce,#028768,#f5c372,#887c65,#e4c536,
      #b5582c,#f94989,#770d72,#97a067,#89aeb7

       

      distColor=#115fa6,#f25454,#60bd68,#b276b2,#81bef7,#a61120,#ffd13e,
      #770d72,#887c65,#a4ac91

       

      You can override the default color settings of the distribution chart by modifying the color-codes specifying against distColor. For changing the colors used by the Top <N> Components chart, alter the codes listed against the ChartColor parameter.

24. If the Report Type is Details, the Report By Logons flag is set to Users and the option chosen from the Report Generation list is Foreground Generation - HTML, then, clicking on the Run Report button will invoke Figure 5, which will comprise the following:

    • The Overview section reveals at a single glance the count of total user logons, average total logon processing duration, maximum total logon processing duration and number of unique users who had logged in to the AVD environment through the Microsoft AVD Broker in the chosen time period.

      

      Figure 5 : Detailed Users - Logon Performance report

      Clicking on the Users count displayed in Figure 5 will reveal Figure 6 which lists the name of the unique users logged in through the target Microsoft AVD Broker.

      

      Figure 6 : Listing the name of unique users logged in

    • A Logon Performance Distribution pie chart reveals the number of users in different distribution ranges of their login time (see Figure 5). By merely looking at this pie chart, administrators can easily identify the average time duration taken by maximum number of users to login into the target environment.

    • The Total Logons vs Avg Total Logon Processing graph of Figure 5 helps administrators identify the exact day on which the total user logons and the total logon processing was at the maximum. By looking at this graph, administrators can identify the busiest day in terms of user logons and the day on which logon processing duration peaked. This analysis helps administrators pin-point the exact day on which user experience suffered due to poor logon processing duration and troubleshoot issues at a better pace.

    • A Total Logon Processing Trend graph (see Figure 5) displays the average and maximum logon processing trend of the users over the chosen time period. Adjacent to the Total Logon Processing Trend graph is the Avg Total Logon Processing Breakdown pie chart. This pie chart provides you with the split up time of the total logon processing duration. Using this graph, administrators can visually identify where exactly the users are facing difficulty during the logon process – is it during the Orchestration duration? or during the User profile load time? or during the Transport duration? or during the Group policy processing? etc.

    • The User Logon Analysis section provides a detailed split up of the logon duration of each user over a period of time if the Report By Logons flag is set to Users (see Figure 7).

      

      Figure 7 : The User Logon Analysis details when Report By Logons flag is set to Users

    • If the Report Type is Details , Report By Logons flag is set to Users and the Show Logon Performance Health (see Figure 2) check box is checked, then the logon processing duration in the Total Logon Processing column (see Figure 8) will be color coded based on the threshold limit set. This helps administrators identify the users whose logon duration is longer than usual.

      

      Figure 8 : The User Logon Analysis section when Show Logon Performance Health check box is checked

    • If the Report Type is Details and the Report By Logons flag is set to Sessions, then the User Logon Analysis section will display the detailed logon duration for each user along with the details of the Host pool and the Session Host to which each user belongs to (see Figure 9).

      

      Figure 9 : The User Logon Analysis details when Report By Logons flag is set to Sessions