Getting started with Desktop Virtualization

Virtual desktop infrastructures have many layers that can affect user experience. The source of poor performance can be, for example, the endpoint device, its network connection, the data center host, the VM, or the application connectivity. Desktop Virtualization allows you to quickly and accurately identify the origin of performance degradation by showing issues as patterns in the connection, allowing you to drill down to the root cause.

Collector agents installed on client devices communicate with Collector agents installed in VM environments. Allow virtual channels to enable client device metrics.

Refer to your vendor's documentation to learn how to enable virtual channels.

Accessing Desktop Virtualization

Navigate to the main menu and select Desktop Virtualization:

Granting permissions for Desktop Virtualization

Refer to the Roles documentation for a detailed description of Permissions, View domain options and Data privacy granularity settings.

To enable proper permissions for Desktop Virtualization as an administrator:

1. Select Administration > Roles from the main navigation panel.

2. Create a New Role or edit an existing role by hovering over it.

3. In the Permissions section, scroll down to the VDI section to enable the appropriate permissions for the role.

Installing connectors and endpoint agent for Desktop Virtualization

VDI Experience relies on specific configurations for VMs and the physical devices connecting to the virtual infrastructure.

Virtual infrastructure

1. Install the applicable connector for your VDI environment:

   • CVAD: Connector for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops

   • Citrix DaaS: Connector for Citrix DaaS

   • Microsoft AVD: Connector for Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop

2. Install Collector on VMs; see the Installing Collector on Windows documentation to learn how to perform the installation.

Physical devices connecting to the virtual infrastructure

Collector

Install Collector on endpoint devices connecting to a VDI session with the VDI-specific parameter setting; see the Installing Collector on Windows documentation to learn how to perform the installation.

VDI Client Extension

The VDI Client Extension is a lightweight agent for personal employee devices and self-managed devices, on which Nexthink Collector cannot be installed.

See the Installing the Nexthink VDI Client Extension documentation for details about the extension and installation instructions.

Desktop Virtualization dashboards

Desktop Virtualization features the following dashboards:

• Sessions overview, which allows you to oversee all VDI sessions. Use this dashboard to identify which sessions need troubleshooting.

• Session view, which shows you the details of a selected session. Use this dashboard to focus on the metrics of a specific session.