VDI Experience NQL capabilities

New NQL capabilities

Desktop Virtualization uses the following tables that are specific to VDI:

• vdi_session

• vdi_events

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 vdi_sessions and vdi_events 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 ]

Identify endpoints using VDI

devices
| where virtualization.vdi_reporting in [ inactive, active ]

Sessions where experience was bad for at least 5 minutes during the last 4 hours

vdi_sessions 
| with session.vdi_events during past 4h 
| compute time_while_bad = health.duration_with_bad_session.sum()
| where time_while_bad > 5min
| list user.name, device.name, vdi_session.name, last_interaction_time

NQL table reference

The following sections outline the range of available data in the vdi_sessions and vdi_events tables, and explains how their availability may vary depending on which agent is installed on the client device. These metrics provide detailed insights into virtual desktop sessions.

The table columns show the following information and use cases:

• Field — NQL data model fields used by VDI Experience. For the complete data model, see the NQL data model documentation.

• Collector — Nexthink Collector is installed on the endpoint device with the built-in VDI Client Extension. Use this setup to collect the full range of metrics from company-managed endpoint devices. For more information, see the Installing Collector documentation.

• Standalone VDI Client Extension — Only the stand-alone VDI Client Extension is installed on the endpoint device. Use this setup for devices managed by external third parties (eg., contractors, consultants, or business partners), as well as personal or self-managed employee devices. For more information, see the Installing Collector documentation.

• Nothing installed — Neither Collector, nor the VDI Client Extension is installed on the endpoint device. In this case, metrics are available only from the Collector running on the virtual machine, focusing solely on the status and performance of the remote desktop session.

Metrics in vdi_sessions

Field	Collector	Standalone VDI Client Extension	Nothing installed
agent_version	✓	✓	✓
desktop_pool	✓	✓	✓
disk_image	✓	✓	✓
first_seen	✓	✓	✓
id	✓	✓	✓
initial_program	✓	✓	✓
last_client.app_version	Only available for Citrix when the Client Extension is not enabled during the installation of the Collector.	✓	Only available for Citrix, when neither the Collector or the Client Extension is installed.
last_client.device.collector.uid	✓	-	-
last_client.device.name	✓	✓	Only available when using a client application and not a web client.
last_client.device.operating_system.platform	✓	✓	✓
last_client.device.uid	✓	-	-
last_client.plugin_version	✓	✓	-
last_interaction_time	✓	✓	✓
last_seen	✓	✓	✓
logon_server	✓	✓	✓
name	✓	✓	✓
region	✓	✓	✓
remote_protocol	✓	✓	✓
session_type	✓	✓	✓
state	✓	✓	✓
transport_protocol	✓	✓	✓
uid	✓	✓	✓
virtualization_type	✓	✓	✓

Metrics in vdi_events

Field	Collector	Standalone VDI Client Extension	Nothing installed
bucket_duration	✓	✓	✓
client.app_version	Only available for Citrix when the Client Extension is not enabled during the installation of the Collector	✓	Only available for Citrix when neither the Collector nor the Client Extension is installed.
client.cpu.normalized_usage	✓	✓	-
client.device.collector.uid	✓	-	-
client.device.name	✓	✓	Only available when using a client application and not a web client.
client.device.operating_system.platform	✓	✓	✓
client.device.uid	✓	-	-
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	Requires the ping host to be set for the Collector running in the VM.	Requires the ping host to be set for the Collector running in the VM.	-
client.network.wifi_signal_strength	✓	✓	-
client.network.wifi_transmission_rate	✓	✓	-
client.network.wired_link_speed	✓	✓	-
client.plugin_version	✓	✓	-
context.location.country	✓	✓	✓
context.location.site	✓	✓	✓
context.location.state	✓	✓	✓
context.location.type	✓	✓	✓
context.organization.entity	✓	✓	✓
context.vdi_client.location.country	✓	-	-
context.vdi_client.location.site	✓	-	-
context.vdi_client.location.state	✓	-	-
context.vdi_client.location.type	✓	-	-
context.vdi_client.organization.entity	✓	-	-
end_time	✓	✓	✓
framerate	✓	✓	✓
health.duration_with_average_client_processor	✓	✓	-
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	✓ ⚠️ Not collected on Windows 10 and Server OS before 2022	✓ ⚠️ 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	✓	✓	✓