AVD Sprawl Report

Microsoft AVD environments are typically characterized by a multitude of AVD Host Pools, each hosting numerous AVD session hosts. Administrators need to periodically review the usage of these AVD session hosts in order to identify those AVD session hosts that have been utilized optimally and those that have been under-utilized. Since each AVD session host, regardless of its powered-on state(availability) and user activity, consumes resources, the knowledge of unused/under-used AVD session hosts will enable administrators to decide whether/not to pull down such AVD session hosts in an effort to conserve valuable physical resources. The resources thus released may be used to support critical operations performed by other AVD session hosts or to avert slowdowns/performance degradations experienced by mission-critical applications executing on these AVD session hosts. This may also lead to cost control, improved operational efficiency and better scaling of the AVD environment.

To provide administrators with insights into the sprawl percentage of AVD session hosts across their Microsoft AVD environment, and to enable them to instantly identify unused AVD session hosts, eG Enterprise offers the AVD Sprawl report.

To generate this report, do the following:

  1. Follow the menu sequence: REPORTS BY FUNCTION -> Domain-specific Reports -> Virtualization -> Azure Virtual Desktops -> By Broker -> Sprawl in the eG Reporter interface. Figure 1 then appears.

    Figure 1 : Providing the specifications for the AVD Sprawl report

  2. Select a criteria for analysis from the Analyze by list box. Using this report, you can analyze the performance of one/more independent Microsoft AVD components, or those that are part of a Zone. The options provided by the Analyze by list box are discussed hereunder:

    • Component: Select this option to choose the component(s) from across all the managed components in the environment. For instance, for a report on the performance of all the managed ESX hosts in the environment, select VMware vSphere ESX from the Component Type list, select Component from the Analyze by list, and then select all the virtual hosts listed in the Component list.

    • Zone: Pick this option for a report on the performance of virtual components that are included in a zone. Then, choose a Zone. When a zone is picked, the Include Subzone flag is set to Yes by default, indicating that the virtual components within the Subzones of the chosen zone will also be considered for report generation. To exclude Subzones from the scope of your report, set this flag to "No".

  3. By default, Microsoft AVD Control Plane is chosen as the component type from the Component Type list.
  4. If the Components 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 button next to the Components list. The Components pop up window will then appear using which you can view almost all the components in a single interface and select the ones for which the report is to be generated.
  5. Once the component is chosen from the Components list, the Resource Groups list will be populated with all the resource groups that are mapped to the chosen component. By default, this report will be generated for all resource groups. To this effect, AIl Resource Groups option will be chosen from this list. If you wish to generate the report for a resource group of your choice, then you can do so by selecting the resource group from this list.
  6. Similarly, once the component is chosen from the Component list, the Host Pools list will be populated with all the host pools that are mapped to the chosen component. By default, this report will be generated for all host pools. To this effect, AIl Host Pools option will be chosen from this list, by default. If you wish to generate the report for a host pool of your choice, then, you can do so by selecting the host pool from this list.

  7. Then, specify the Timeline for the graph. 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.

  8. 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 one/more components from the Components list. 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 3). The steps below discuss each of these settings and how they can be customized.

    Figure 2 : The default settings for generating the AVD Sprawl report

  9. Next, indicate the report Time Period.

  10. If the timeline specified for the report needs to exclude the data collected during the weekends, then set Exclude weekends to Yes(Saturday,Sunday). 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>\manager\config directory.
    • In the [EXCLUDE_WEEKEND] section of the file, the Days parameter is set to Saturday,Sunday by default. You can modify this by setting the Days parameter to a comma-separated list of other days of the week - say Friday,Saturday.
    • Save the file after making the required changes.

  11. For easy identification, eG Enterprise color-codes the sprawl percentage of AVD session hosts in the generated report. This is based on the value specified in the Sprawl (%) text box. By default, this value is set to 80 indicating that if the Sprawl percentage of an AVD Session host is 80 or above, then the value specified against the AVD session host in the SPRAWL (%) column of the generated report will be highlighted using the color specified in this text box.

  12. 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, you can either select the Background Save - PDF option or the Background Save - CSV 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.

  13. Once you are done with your selection, click the Done button to exit More Options drop down window.

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

    Figure 3 : The generated AVD Sprawl report

  15. If you have chosen Foreground Generation - HTML from the Report Generation list is , then, clicking on the Run Report button will invoke , which will comprise of the following:

    • A Summary section as shown in providing an at-a-glance view of the total components in the chosen time period, the count of resource groups and host pools with idle sessions hosts and the count of session hosts on which sessions were not initiated.

    • The bar graphs in the Top 10 Resource Groups with Idle Session Hosts and Top 10 Host Pools with Idle Session Hosts sections (see ) help administrators identify at a single glace the top resource groups and host pools on which maximum number of session hosts were idle during the chosen time period.

    • The Details table provides detailed information on each AVD session host, the percentage of time the session host was available and the percentage of time the session host had user sessions initiated on it. This help administrators identify the percentage of Sprawl and assess the usage of AVD session host.