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Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops

Learn how to monitor your Citrix platform using the Citrix VDA extension.

Getting started

To get started, just click the chat button in the upper-right corner of the Dynatrace menu bar to contact a Dynatrace ONE Product Specialist. Dynatrace ONE will make sure you have what you need to monitor your Citrix platform.

Prerequisites

To enable Dynatrace monitoring, your Citrix environment must include the following:

  • Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops (any version) or Citrix XenApp/XenDesktop (version 7.5 or later)
  • Citrix VDA running on Windows Server 2008 or later
  • OneAgent (full-stack or infrastructure mode) installed on the VDAs
  • Connection from the Citrix VDA server to one of the following Dynatrace components:
    • Dynatrace SaaS environment
    • Dynatrace Cluster ActiveGate
    • OneAgent-instrumented web server that is configured to allow beacon forwarding.
    • Dynatrace Environment Activegate with beacon forwarding enabled

Install the extension

  1. Get the install file (citrix-agent.zip) from your Dynatrace ONE Product Specialist via live chat.
  2. Extract the contents of the file.
  3. Select Settings > Custom extensions > Upload extension.
  4. Upload the custom.python.citrixAgent.zip file you extracted earlier.
  5. Install OneAgent on the Citrix VDA.
  6. Install OneAgent for Citrix (citrixagent.msi) on the Citrix server:
    • The installer will automatically detect the OneAgent installation folder and copy the appropriate files.
    • There are no parameters to be set on the installer.

Configure the extension

  1. Create a new Custom Application
    • Navigate to Deploy Dynatrace > Monitor a custom application.
    • Give your application a descriptive name, chose an icon, then select Monitor custom application.
    • Keep a note of the Beacon URL and Application ID that are generated.

All extension configuration is done via the Dynatrace interface at Settings > Monitored Technologies > Custom extensions > Citrix Virtual Apps & Virtual Desktops

The parameters are:

Parameter Details
Metric Collection Select from Basic, Default or Advanced. This controls the number of metrics that are collected for each Citrix host in Dynatrace
Real User Monitoring Select from Enabled or Disabled. Enables RUM data to be collected from the VDAs. If this is disabled the citrixagent.exe process will not run.
Beacon URL The Beacon URL, from the custom application you created earlier.
Application ID The Application ID, from the custom application you created earlier.
Proxy Address Optional, a proxy address in case you need to use a proxy to access the Beacon URL from the VDAs.
Proxy Username Optional, The proxy username
Proxy Password Optional, The proxy password
Log level The log level, when troubleshooting select DEBUG
Verify Certificates Verify that the Beacon URL certificates are trusted. If unchecked, any certificate will be accepted

Metrics

The following metrics are captured by the extension:

Basic metrics

  • Active sessions
  • Latency
  • Open sessions
  • Output session bandwidth

Default metrics

  • Active sessions
  • App Sessions
  • Brokered Sessions
  • Database Avg. Transaction Time
  • Database Connected
  • Database Transaction Errors
  • Database Transactions
  • Desktop Sessions
  • Expired Launches
  • Expired Registration
  • Get ICA File
  • Get icon
  • Hard Registrations
  • Latency
  • List resources
  • Local Profile Setup Duration
  • Login attempts
  • Logon Duration
  • Notifications per second
  • Open sessions
  • Output session bandwidth
  • Registration Avg. Request Time
  • Registration Rejects
  • Registration Requests
  • Soft Registrations
  • Total Jobs Completed
  • Total Jobs Created
  • Total Jobs Failed

Advanced metrics

  • Active sessions
  • App Sessions
  • Brokered Sessions
  • Database Avg. Transaction Time
  • Database Connected
  • Database Transaction Errors
  • Database Transactions
  • Desktop Sessions
  • Expired Launches
  • Expired Registration
  • Get ICA File
  • Get icon
  • Hard Registrations
  • Latency
  • List resources
  • Local Profile Setup Duration
  • Login attempts
  • Logon Duration
  • Notifications per second
  • Open sessions
  • Output session bandwidth
  • Registration Avg. Request Time
  • Registration Rejects
  • Registration Requests
  • Soft Registrations
  • Total Jobs Completed
  • Total Jobs Created
  • Total Jobs Failed

Real User Monitoring

In addition to the above metrics, the extension also captures user sessions and user actions based on the Citrix sessions.