Applications-Users by Application Report

The performance of any Citrix/Terminal server is mainly identified based on the accessibility of the applications executing on the server and the users accessing the applications. If the most popular applications in a farm are identified, administrators can consider alternative load balancing strategies to ensure that the most popular applications are hosted on different servers. Also, administrators can identify the users who are frequently using the applications in a farm. The Users by Application report helps administrators identify the applications in a farm and lists the unique users accessing those applications.

To generate this report, do the following:

  1. Select the Users by Application option by following the menu sequence: REPORTS BY FUNCTION -> Domain-specific Reports -> Virtual Applications / Desktops -> Applications

  2. Figure 1 will then appear. To monitor the servers in a farm, select the Zone to which the servers in the farm have been added.

    Figure 1 : Generating the Users by Application report

  3. Next, select a criterion for analysis from the Analyze By list box. Using this report, you can analyze the user activity on applications executing on one/more independent virtualized components, or those that are part of a segment, service, or a zone. This way, you can assess the impact of the applications hosted on the virtual components of a particular service/segment/zone, and accordingly take decisions. The options provided by the Report By list box are discussed hereunder:

    • Component: Select this option to choose the component(s) from across all the managed components in the environment.
    • Service: Select this option if the components for which a report is to be generated are involved in the delivery of a business service. Then, select a Service.
    • Segment: Choose this option if the virtual hosts to be evaluated are part of a segment. Then, pick a Segment for analysis.
    • Zone: Pick this option for a report on the performance of virtual components that are included in a zone. Then, choose a Zone.
  4. Pick a component type for which the report is to be generated from the Component Type list.

  5. As soon as the Component Type is chosen, the Components list is populated with all the components pertaining to the chosen Component Type. 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. 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.

  6. The Applications list will now be populated with all the applications executing on the chosen components. If the Applications list consists of too many applications, then viewing all the applications and selecting the ones you need for report generation could require endless scrolling. To avoid this, you can click the button next to the Applications list. The Applications pop up window will then appear using which you can view almost all the applications in a single interface and Select the ones for which the report is to be generated. You can narrow your search further by using the Search text box. Specify the whole/part of the application name to search for in this text box, and click the icon next to it.

  7. Then, specify the Timeline for generating this 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.

  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 an application. However, if you want to view and then alter these settings (if required), click on the icon. 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 report

  9. Next, indicate the report Time period.

    Note:

    By default, the Time period is set to 24 hours. Accordingly, the From and To parameters in the [timeframe] section of the eg_report.ini file (in the <eg_install_dir>\manager\config directory) are set to 00:00 and 24:00 respectively. If need be, you can override this default setting by configuring a different timeframe against the From and/or To parameters. 

  10. 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>\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. If you wish to generate the report for each component in the Citrix/Terminal server farm, then, set the Group by Component flag to Yes. By default, this flag is set to No.

  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 Save - PDF. 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. Finally, click the Run Report button to generate the report.

  14. If the option chosen from the Report Generation list is Foreground Generation - HTML, then, Figure 3 will appear upon clicking on the Run Report button.

    Figure 3 : The generated Users by Application Report

    By carefully analyzing the generated report, administrators can figure out the unique users accessing the each application executing on the server in the farm and the name of the users accessing the applications over a chosen period of time. Using this report, administrators can easily figure out the application that was more frequently used/less frequently used by the users.

  15. If the option chosen from the Report Generation list is Foreground Generation - HTML and the Group by Component flag is set to Yes, then, Figure 4 will appear upon clicking on the Run Report button.

    Figure 4 : The generated report if the Group by Component flag is set to Yes

    Using this report, administrators can figure out the server/component on which the applications that are frequently accessed are executing and can perform load balancing to ensure that the applications are available to the users at all times.