Introduction

For years, slow logons have been the most common complaint in VMware Horizon infrastructures. For a VMware Horizon user, slow logons can lead to frustration, lower productivity and efficiency. For a VMware 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 – VMware Horizon Client, VMware Horizon Connection Server, Active Directory, VMware vCenter, VMware vSphere ESX/VDI, VMware Horizon Composer and so on. Identifying exactly what is causing the slowdown is often time consuming and laborious.

To ensure great VMware 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 VMware 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 VMware 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 VMware Horizon farm, and at those times, it is important to know if VMware 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 VMware Horizon infrastructures. Using an agentless approach, the eG VMware Horizon Logon Simulator simulates a user logging in to a VMware 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 VMware 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 VMware Horizon Connection server, the eG VMware Horizon Logon Simulator provides a realistic measure of the user experience during logon. Since every simulation tests the entire VMware infrastructure (VMware Horizon Client, VMware Horizon Connection Server, Active Directory, VMware vCenter, VMware vSphere ESX/VDI, VMware 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 VMware 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 VMware Horizon logon URL, launches applications/desktops 24x7 at pre-configured intervals and tests the VMware 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.