VDI Experience NQL capabilities
New NQL capabilities
The following tables are available in VDI Experience, which are specific to VDI-related metrics:
These tables provide insights into virtual desktop sessions and their associated events, enabling users to monitor performance and user interactions more effectively. The vdi_sessions table captures key information related to individual sessions, while the vdi_events table records significant events during those sessions.
Additionally, the tables are associated with the Devices and Users tables, allowing access to all related data. These additions promote improved analysis and troubleshooting within virtual desktop environments.
See the NQL data model for more details about the tables.
Increasing data resolution
When querying VDI event data with NQL, you can enhance the resolution of your results for the past 48 hours to 30-second intervals, allowing you to gain deeper insight into system behavior. This enables more accurate tracking of anomalies and system performance trends.
See the Retrieving high-resolution data for Desktop Virtualization page to understand how to increase the data resolution to 30-second intervals.
NQL examples
This list of query examples is designed to help you perform successful investigations in the Nexthink web interface. Go through the investigations listed below and pick the one most similar to the investigation you’re trying to complete. Copy the query and adjust it to your use case.
See the start and end of VDI sessions
session.lifecycle_events
| where device.virtualization.vdi_reporting == active
| where type in [ login, connect, disconnect, logout ]Metrics from Connectors
If you have on-prem or cloud integrations, use the appropriate inbound connectors to enrich the session data. Each connector type provides a separate set of additional metrics, as described below in the expandable sections.
Additional metrics provided by Citrix CVAD and DaaS connectors
virtualization.desktop_broker
virtualization.desktop_pool
virtualization.disk_image
virtualization.environment_name
virtualization.hostname
virtualization.hypervisor_name
virtualization.type
vdi_sessions.disk_image
vdi_sessions.hostname
Additional metrics provided by Microsoft AVD connector
virtualization.desktop_broker
virtualization.desktop_pool
virtualization.environment_name
virtualization.hypervisor_name
virtualization.instance_size
virtualization.region
virtualization.type
Collector can also populate these fields, which is handled with a higher priority. Therefore, the connectors will only enrich these fields if they are not already populated by running Collectors.
Metrics from Collectors and the VDI Client extension
VDI Experience requires installing specific agents on both VMs and client devices:
You must install Collector on all VMs to monitor activity and gather performance metrics within the virtual environment.
Depending on the type of client device and your desired level of insight, you can install one of the following agents:
Collector: Provides the full range of VDI metrics. This agent is intended for company-managed client devices and enables comprehensive visibility into the user experience.
VDI Client Extension: A lightweight agent that offers a limited set of metrics. It is designed for personal or self-managed employee devices where full Collector installation is not feasible.
The list of collected metrics depends on whether a client device has Collector or VDI Client Extension installed. Some metrics require running Collector; they are not available with the VDI Client Extension. Refer to the scenario descriptions and metric lists in the following sections.
Basic configuration scenario - Remote-only insights
If you only install the Collector on the VM, but not the VDI Client extension or Collector on the client device, you will collect the following initial metrics in the vdi_sessions and vd_events tables:
Metrics in vdi_sessions
agent_version
desktop_pool — When available for the Collector to update
disk_image — When available for the Collector to update
first_seen
id
initial_program
last_client.app_version — Only available for Citrix, when neither the Collector or the Client Extension is installed.
last_client.device.name — Only available when using a client application and not a web client.
last_client.device.operating_system.platform
last_interaction_time
last_seen
logon_server
name
region
remote_protocol
session_type
state
transport_protocol
uid
virtualization_type
Metrics in vdi_events
bucket_duration
client.app_version — Only available for Citrix when neither the Collector nor the Client Extension is installed.
client.device.name — Only available when using a client application and not a web client.
client.device.operating_system.platform
context.location.country
context.location.site
context.location.state
context.location.type
context.organization.entity
end_time
framerate
health.duration_with_average_network
health.duration_with_average_responsiveness
health.duration_with_average_session
health.duration_with_average_vm_memory
health.duration_with_average_vm_processor
health.duration_with_average_vm_storage
health.duration_with_bad_client_processor
health.duration_with_bad_network
health.duration_with_bad_responsiveness
health.duration_with_bad_session
health.duration_with_bad_vm_memory
health.duration_with_bad_vm_processor
health.duration_with_bad_vm_storage
health.duration_with_good_client_processor
health.duration_with_good_network
health.duration_with_good_responsiveness
health.duration_with_good_session
health.duration_with_good_vm_memory
health.duration_with_good_vm_processor
health.duration_with_good_vm_storage
ica.input_bandwidth_available
ica.input_bandwidth_used
ica.input_session_bandwidth
ica.input_session_linespeed
ica.latency
ica.output_bandwidth_available
ica.output_bandwidth_used
ica.output_session_bandwidth
ica.output_session_linespeed
idle_duration
network_rtt
rdp.frame_quality
rdp.frames_skipped_client
rdp.frames_skipped_network
rdp.frames_skipped_server
rdp.tcp_bandwidth
rdp.tcp_receive_rate
rdp.tcp_send_rate
rdp.udp_bandwidth
rdp.udp_receive_rate
rdp.udp_send_rate
resolution
start_time
state
transport_protocol
user_input_delay — Not collected on Windows 10 and Server OS before 2022
vm.agent_version
vm.cpu.context_switches
vm.cpu.interrupt_usage
vm.cpu.normalized_queue_length
vm.cpu.normalized_usage
vm.cpu.usage
vm.memory.available
vm.memory.cached
vm.memory.installed
vm.memory.non_paged_pool
vm.memory.paged_pool
vm.memory.pages_output_throughput
vm.memory.paging_file_size
vm.memory.usage
vm.memory.used
vm.network.incoming_throughput
vm.network.outgoing_throughput
vm.system_disk.duration_with_average_queue_length
vm.system_disk.duration_with_average_read_latency
vm.system_disk.duration_with_average_write_latency
vm.system_disk.duration_with_bad_queue_length
vm.system_disk.duration_with_bad_read_latency
vm.system_disk.duration_with_bad_write_latency
vm.system_disk.duration_with_good_queue_length
vm.system_disk.duration_with_good_read_latency
vm.system_disk.duration_with_good_write_latency
vm.system_disk.name
vm.system_disk.queue_length
vm.system_disk.read_iops
vm.system_disk.read_latency
vm.system_disk.read_throughput
vm.system_disk.write_iops
vm.system_disk.write_latency
vm.system_disk.write_throughput
vm.system_volume.capacity
vm.system_volume.free
vm.system_volume.usage
Intermediate configuration scenario - Limited visibility setup
If you install the VDI Client extension on a client device in addition to Collector on the VM, you will get additional metrics in the vdi_sessions and vd_events tables, beyond those already collected and listed inVDI Experience NQL capabilities:
Additional metrics in vdi_events
client.cpu.normalized_usage
client.network.active_network_adapter
client.network.incoming_errors
client.network.incoming_packets
client.network.incoming_throughput
client.network.ip_address
client.network.outgoing_errors
client.network.outgoing_packets
client.network.outgoing_throughput
client.network.wan_latency
client.network.wifi_signal_strength
client.network.wifi_transmission_rate
client.network.wired_link_speed
client.plugin_version
health.duration_with_average_client_processor
Advanced configuration scenario - Full visibility setup
If you install Collector (instead of the VDI Client Extension) on a client device in addition to Collector on the VM, you will gather another set of additional metrics in the vdi_sessions and vd_events tables, beyond those already collected and listed in VDI Experience NQL capabilities and VDI Experience NQL capabilities:
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