Session performance (classic)

The session metrics offer a way to monitor the performance of a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and session-based computing (SBC). The activity of a client system, that doesn't necessarily have the Nexthink Collector installed on it, can be monitored from the host device. That activity is categorized as a session and reported by the Collector installed on that device. It works for persistent and non-persistent virtual machines.

Definition

A session, sometimes referred to as session performance, is the term used to describe a group of metrics and data specific to virtualized environments. The metrics are computed per device, every 15 minutes.

Usage

First, make sure you’ve configured the settings to store the new data because, by default, they are disabled.

This new type of activity is available through the Nexthink web interface and also the Finder (classic) desktop application. You can visualize them using the device view or the user view. When analyzing system activity, you can use them in investigations as well as incorporate them in custom dashboards.

All the data associated with the session performance can be queried using NXQL (classic) or NQL. Refer to the NXQL tutorial or visit the Nexthink Query Language (NQL) documentation for more information.

Citrix RTT

The Round Trip Time (RTT) is a measurement provided by Citrix and defined by them as follows:

ICA RTT is the screen lag that the user experiences while interacting with an application or desktop hosted on Citrix Virtual App or Desktop respectively. (external source)

The Citrix RTT field indicates the maximum round trip time identified during 15 minutes.

Every 15 seconds, Collector queries the current RTT value. The data processing layer receives 4 values every minute for 15 minutes, identifies the highest one, and sends it to the data storage layer.

Session network latency

The session network latency indicates the maximum time delay between a user action and its visual response. It is a measure of the performance of the network. When the value is too high, the user might experience screen lags sometimes coupled with a degraded user experience.

Session protocol

The session protocol reports the protocol used to initiate a communication channel between two systems. Here are the possible values:

Citrix - ICA

The Citrix Independent Computing Architecture

VMware - Blast

The VMWare Blast Extreme protocol

VMware - PCoIP

The VMware PC over IP protocol

The Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol

Local session

The Microsoft Local Session Manager in charge of managing local user sessions

Multiple

The user connected using several protocols during the event timeframe

Client IP

The client IP reports the local IP of the device connecting to the server. When there are multiple network interfaces, only the one that initiated the session is recorded.

Supported technologies

Citrix

The session performance metrics are available from Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (XenApp & XenDesktop) version 7.15 LTSR.

All supported Citrix clients are listed below:

Citrix Workspace App for Windows
Citrix Workspace App for Mac
Citrix Workspace App for iOS
Citrix Workspace App for Android
Citrix Workspace App for Chrome
Citrix client for HTML5

Limitations

The Round Trip Time and Session Network Latency are not available for Android and iOS clients. This is a current limitation with Citrix clients for mobile devices.

The Client IP is not available for the HTML5 clients. For other clients, only the IPv4 is recorded.

Microsoft

All clients using Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) from Microsoft are supported, as well as the desktop and app virtualization Windows Virtual Desktop on Azure.

Limitations

The Session Network Latency is not available when the session is established using the "/admin" switch (console session with the ID number 0).

VMWare

The session performance metrics are available from VMWare Horizon version 7.12.

All supported VMWare clients are listed below:

VMware Horizon Client for Windows
VMware Horizon Client for Mac
VMware Horizon Client for Linux
VMware Horizon Client for iOS
VMware Horizon Client for Android
VMware Horizon Client for Chrome

Amazon

The session performance metrics are available for Amazon WorkSpaces using the PCoIP protocol.

All supported Amazon Workspaces clients are listed below:

macOS Client Application
Web Access
Windows Client Application

Supported operating systems

Windows 10
Windows Server 2016
Windows Server 2012

Unsupported operating systems

Here is the list of systems not compatible with the session metrics.

Windows 8.1
Windows 7
macOS
Windows Server 2019
Windows Server 2008 R2