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Monitoring Best Practices - You should know about the following best practices when monitoring a virtualized environment:
- Configuring the EdgeSight Agent in a provisioned environment
- Monitoring performance counters
- Using additional tools to monitor the environment
EdgeSight Agent Configurations in a Provisioned Environment - If an EdgeSight Agent is installed on a provisioned virtual desktop that uses a standard image mode vDisk, any data that is collected and stored on the virtual desktop is at risk of being erased during the restart of the virtual desktop. To avoid this issue, you must configure the Agent Database using one of the following options:
EdgeSight Agent Direct with Attached Local Disk - The Agent Database is stored on an attached disk, which the virtual desktop recognizes as local storage. After the restart of a virtual desktop, the attached disk is again recognized as local storage and the data from the last session is persistent.
EdgeSight Agent Brokered without Attached Local Disk - The Agent Database is stored on an external EdgeSight Agent Database server, which retains the data until it is uploaded to the EdgeSight Server. Requirements for this configuration include:
Performance Counters - During the installation of XenApp, several Citrix performance counters are installed on the server. It is recommended to use EdgeSight to monitor performance counters, such as CPU utilization, memory consumption, and free disk space. Depending on your environment, you may want to monitor other performance counters as well. For example, monitoring the Disk Queue Length performance counter allows you to be alerted when one of the disks of your XenApp servers in being heavily used.
In a XenApp environment, it is also important to monitor services. At a minimum, monitoring of the following services is recommended, although you may choose to monitor others, depending on your environment.
Additional Monitoring Tools - In addition to EdgeSight, you can use the follow tools and utilities to monitor a virtualized environment:
Desktop Director - A tool that provides a detailed overview of XenDesktop hosted desktops and XenApp sessions. Support and helpdesk teams can quickly perform crucial tasks for end users while also monitoring and troubleshooting system issues before they become system critical.
AppCenter - A tool that monitors servers, farms, published resources, and sessions in a XenApp environment. You can configure customizable displays, called My Views, to quickly access preferred performance data.
HDX Monitor - A tool used to review the performance of the various HDX technologies that are implemented in a XenDesktop environment.
XenCenter - A tool used to gather XenServer host information, such as logs and crash dumps. You can also use the following command to collect the output of logs and other system information data. >> xen-bugtool <<
For more information about using XenCenter to monitor an environment, see Citrix eDocs at eDocs.citrix.com
Microsoft System Center A set of tools, including Configuration Manager and Virtual Machine Manager, used to help manage and monitor physical and virtual environments and end user devices.
EdgeSight Agent Direct with Attached Local Disk - The Agent Database is stored on an attached disk, which the virtual desktop recognizes as local storage. After the restart of a virtual desktop, the attached disk is again recognized as local storage and the data from the last session is persistent.
EdgeSight Agent Brokered without Attached Local Disk - The Agent Database is stored on an external EdgeSight Agent Database server, which retains the data until it is uploaded to the EdgeSight Server. Requirements for this configuration include:
- A file share accessible by virtual desktops to store static configuration files
- An EdgeSight Agent database server to host external Firebird databases
Performance Counters - During the installation of XenApp, several Citrix performance counters are installed on the server. It is recommended to use EdgeSight to monitor performance counters, such as CPU utilization, memory consumption, and free disk space. Depending on your environment, you may want to monitor other performance counters as well. For example, monitoring the Disk Queue Length performance counter allows you to be alerted when one of the disks of your XenApp servers in being heavily used.
In a XenApp environment, it is also important to monitor services. At a minimum, monitoring of the following services is recommended, although you may choose to monitor others, depending on your environment.
- Print Spooler
- Independent Management Architecture Service
- XML Service
- License Server Communication
- Zone Data Collector election
- Load Balancing for XenApp Servers
- Citrix Hotfix Level
- Network Traffic
Additional Monitoring Tools - In addition to EdgeSight, you can use the follow tools and utilities to monitor a virtualized environment:
Desktop Director - A tool that provides a detailed overview of XenDesktop hosted desktops and XenApp sessions. Support and helpdesk teams can quickly perform crucial tasks for end users while also monitoring and troubleshooting system issues before they become system critical.
AppCenter - A tool that monitors servers, farms, published resources, and sessions in a XenApp environment. You can configure customizable displays, called My Views, to quickly access preferred performance data.
HDX Monitor - A tool used to review the performance of the various HDX technologies that are implemented in a XenDesktop environment.
XenCenter - A tool used to gather XenServer host information, such as logs and crash dumps. You can also use the following command to collect the output of logs and other system information data. >> xen-bugtool <<
For more information about using XenCenter to monitor an environment, see Citrix eDocs at eDocs.citrix.com
Microsoft System Center A set of tools, including Configuration Manager and Virtual Machine Manager, used to help manage and monitor physical and virtual environments and end user devices.