# Getting started with VDI Experience

Virtual desktop infrastructures (VDIs) 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. VDI Experience 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.

This documentation guides you through preparing your infrastructure and client devices for VDI Experience and shows you how to maximize the benefits of this powerful solution.

## Before you begin using VDI Experience

Monitoring virtual desktop sessions with VDI Experience requires installing specific components on VMs, client devices, and any integrations you might have. These components are:

* **Inbound connectors**: Integration components that allow external systems to send data to the Nexthink platform. Their purpose is to enrich the existing data collected by Nexthink by bringing in additional context from third-party tools or enterprise systems.
* **Collector**: An endpoint agent that provides the full range of VDI metrics, giving you everything from virtual infrastructure insights to comprehensive information about your Nexthink instance. This agent is intended for company-managed client devices and VMs, and enables comprehensive visibility into 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 choice of which components to deploy depends on your organization’s infrastructure and internal policies. The following figure shows a simple representation of a typical on-premises hosted VDI infrastructure, indicating which components to install on each node in your virtual infrastructure.

{% hint style="info" %}
The connection lines show the path of metrics collected in the `vdi_session` and `vdi_event` tables, specific to VDI Experience. To learn about these metrics, refer to the [desktop-virtualization-nql-capabilities](https://docs.nexthink.com/platform/user-guide/vdi-experience/desktop-virtualization-nql-capabilities "mention") and [nql-data-model](https://docs.nexthink.com/platform/understanding-key-data-platform-concepts/nql-data-model "mention") documents.
{% endhint %}

<figure><img src="https://268444917-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FxJSUDk9NTtCHYPG5EWs3%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-c1f152783b19b7edff963f221c9fce0f9a07eddf%2F_on-prem-vdi.png?alt=media" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

If your VDI infrastructure is cloud-hosted and you do not have on-premises integrations, the following image is more applicable to your setup.

<figure><img src="https://268444917-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FxJSUDk9NTtCHYPG5EWs3%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-e8ca875194725b7eb59fb81b71ed9e7984948447%2F_cloud-vdi.png?alt=media" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

To understand how to install and test each of these components, see the [deploying-nexthink-in-vdi-environment](https://docs.nexthink.com/platform/configuring_nexthink/bringing-data-into-your-nexthink-instance/deploying-nexthink-in-vdi-environment "mention") documentation.

{% hint style="info" %}
Depending on what components you install, the system will collect different metrics. To learn what metrics are provided by each installation scenario, refer to the [desktop-virtualization-nql-capabilities](https://docs.nexthink.com/platform/user-guide/vdi-experience/desktop-virtualization-nql-capabilities "mention") documentation.
{% endhint %}

## Accessing VDI Experience

VDI Experience is a concept that encompasses solutions focused on monitoring the health, performance, and usability of virtual infrastructures. See the [](https://docs.nexthink.com/platform/user-guide/vdi-experience "mention") document to learn what this comprehensive collection of solutions includes.

You can access VDI Experience from the following modules:

* **Desktop Virtualization**: The dedicated module of VDI Experience that acts as the central hub for monitoring virtual experience.
* **Live dashboards**: Specific dashboards for Citrix VM status monitoring
* **Alerts**
* **Device View**

### Desktop Virtualization

This dedicated module features two dashboards:

* Session overview
* Session view

To access **Desktop Virtualization**, navigate to the main menu and select **Desktop Virtualization** > **All sessions**:

<figure><img src="https://268444917-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FxJSUDk9NTtCHYPG5EWs3%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-700b125646954b80ef41380fcbff7acd803236d4%2Fimage.png?alt=media" alt="Accessing Desktop Virtualization"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

### Platform-specific VDI dashboards

Platform-specific dashboards provide comprehensive monitoring and management for environments that use a specific VDI vendor and platform. VDI Experience provides dashboards for the following platforms:

* [Citrix CVAD](https://docs.nexthink.com/platform/library-packs/vdi/citrix/citrix-cvad-essentials)
* [Citrix DaaS](https://docs.nexthink.com/platform/library-packs/vdi/citrix/citrix-daas-essentials)
* [Microsoft AVD](https://docs.nexthink.com/platform/library-packs/vdi/microsoft/microsoft-avd-essentials)
* [Microsoft Windows 365](https://docs.nexthink.com/platform/library-packs/vdi/microsoft/windows-365-essentials)
* [Omnissa Horizon on-premises](https://docs.nexthink.com/platform/library-packs/vdi/omnissa/omnissa-horizon-on-premises-essentials)

To access the dashboards, select **Desktop Virtualization** in the main menu, and then **Virtual machines** under the applicable platform.

<figure><img src="https://268444917-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FxJSUDk9NTtCHYPG5EWs3%2Fuploads%2FvH0S1y7fgpjbmCw6sMnp%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=23adbe69-44f0-4ca7-b628-9e84a6aecef6" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

### Alerts

You can access VDI Experience from Alerts when a monitor detects issues originating from virtual desktops.

See the [#use-case-4-the-monitor-detects-issues-for-virtual-desktops-vdi](https://docs.nexthink.com/platform/alerts-and-diagnostics/responding-to-alerts/alerts-overview#use-case-4-the-monitor-detects-issues-for-virtual-desktops-vdi "mention") documentation.

### Device View

You can access VDI Experience from any session or device list in Device View by selecting a specific device.

See the [device-view](https://docs.nexthink.com/platform/user-guide/device-view "mention") documentation.

## Granting permissions for VDI Experience

To grant proper permissions for VDI Experience as an administrator:

1. Select **Administration** > [**Roles**](https://docs.nexthink.com/platform/user-guide/administration/account-management/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 **Desktop Virtualization** section to enable the appropriate permission for the role.

### View domain impact on VDI Experience-related permissions <a href="#amplify-dataprivacysettingsforamplify" id="amplify-dataprivacysettingsforamplify"></a>

The table below shows what users with full and limited View domain access can do, assuming the necessary permissions are enabled.

<table><thead><tr><th width="410.5">Permission</th><th width="171.49993896484375">Full access</th><th>Limited access</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>View Desktop Virtualization dashboards</td><td><img src="https://268444917-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FxJSUDk9NTtCHYPG5EWs3%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-83bdc030baff81adb4e63584454cb0106c4d3a58%2Fimage%20(72).png?alt=media" alt="" data-size="original"></td><td><img src="https://268444917-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FxJSUDk9NTtCHYPG5EWs3%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-83bdc030baff81adb4e63584454cb0106c4d3a58%2Fimage%20(72).png?alt=media" alt="" data-size="original"></td></tr></tbody></table>

## Installing required components for VDI Experience

To start using VDI Experience, ensure that the required components are properly installed in your virtual environment. For detailed installation and architecture guidance, refer to the [deploying-nexthink-in-vdi-environment](https://docs.nexthink.com/platform/configuring_nexthink/bringing-data-into-your-nexthink-instance/deploying-nexthink-in-vdi-environment "mention") documentation.

## Getting familiar with VDI Experience

Read the [using-sessions-overview](https://docs.nexthink.com/platform/user-guide/vdi-experience/using-sessions-overview "mention") and [using-session-view](https://docs.nexthink.com/platform/user-guide/vdi-experience/using-session-view "mention") documentation to discover how you can use the VDI Experience module to enhance visibility, streamline troubleshooting and ensure a seamless user experience across your virtual desktop environments.

For system administrators, the [deploying-nexthink-in-vdi-environment](https://docs.nexthink.com/platform/configuring_nexthink/bringing-data-into-your-nexthink-instance/deploying-nexthink-in-vdi-environment "mention") page explains how to install and test the different components that enable data collection in the VDI Experience module.