Problem

Isolated user with poor logon performance.

Identify Root Cause

Understanding when user logon slowness is occurring can be challenging. With Goliath Performance Monitor, you can configure threshold-based alerts by navigating to the Configure - Monitoring Rules page.

Depending on your environment, there is a Citrix XenApp - Session & Server Performance rule and/or a Citrix XenDesktop - VDI Session & VDI Availability rule which allows you to set threshold-based alerts for end user experiences, including logon duration. These alerts can be configured for email, text message, SNMP trap, syslog or even sent on to a ticketing system using one of these methods. By configuring threshold-based alerts administrators can be notified of an issue before the user encounters it.

Figure 1 - Citrix XenDesktop - VDI Session & VDI Availability rule Edit dialog

Another area of Goliath Performance Monitor that can assist with troubleshooting logon duration is historical reporting. The XenApp/XenDesktop Session Logon Duration report provides a historical view of the logon durations for your user base. When configuring this report from the Reports page, sorting the report by the logon duration time in descending order allows you to view the highest logon durations at the top of your report.

If you set the report to run on a daily basis, for example, every morning at 10 AM, you will have a report listing the logon durations for your entire user base prepared for your review. As shown in the report example in the figure below, the report provides a breakdown of each specific user’s logon process to determine the exact timings for each step of their logon process which is beneficial when determining root cause for logon duration slowness issues.

Figure 2 - Citrix XenApp - Session Logon Duration report

Aside from proactive monitoring with alerting and reporting, real-time user logon analysis can be performed by navigating to the Views - Citrix Virtual Apps & Desktops page, where you can then search for the user and bring up their session details, including the breakdown of the user’s logon process.

This page is divided into 3 areas: App Servers and Published App & Desktops (for Citrix XenApp environments) and Virtual Desktops (for XenDesktop environments). You’ll want to navigate to the applicable section for your environment (Published App & Desktop or Virtual Desktops) to troubleshoot further.

Each area includes user session data (both past and present), and allow you to track the complete user experience through the environment, from the login at the endpoint, all the way through the environment back to the underlying infrastructure, and present these data points over the course of the session so you can troubleshoot any issue that takes place during a user’s session.

Using the search button at the bottom screen, you can filter the page to match the time period at hand and or specific user(s). Once the page is filtered, you will see the sessions with high logons by sorting the page by the Logon column. After reviewing the main display, click on the individual line items to drill into the sessions and go to the Logon Duration tab to identify root cause.

Figure 3 - Logon Duration tab