EdgeSight for NetScaler 2.1

Written by Thomas Poppelgaard. Posted in Edgesight, Netscaler

Citrix EdgeSight for NetScaler 2.1 is now available as a final product and not a beta anymore.

Citrix EdgeSight for NetScaler builds application visibility into the application delivery infrastructure, providing end-user performance monitoring for Web applications and enabling IT managers to proactively manage performance and availability based upon actual user experience.

EdgeSight for NetScaler transparently monitors Web application performance, both as transaction requests and responses traverse the Web application elivery infrastructure, and as the responses execute on the end users’ Web browsers. By directly monitoring both the Web application delivery infrastructure and the Web pages themselves, EdgeSight for NetScaler provides IT managers with unique and granular visibility to the key components of application performance.

Feature highlights for this release are:

  • Simplified Installation – Automated setup wizard, post installation setup wizard
  • NetScaler Configuration - Simplified EdgeSight wizard, ability to enable/disable on CS/LB vserver
  • Cool Dashboard - Application View, Client View, Improved Geo Location based details
  • Application Definition - Endpoint becomes Application
  • Application Dashboard - Global Vs Regional View, Response Time Calculation ,Browser Performance, Server Processing Time
  • Administrative Changes - Application View, Grouping within Application , Application Pages

 

Download Edgesight for NetScaler 2.1 Beta here

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Walk-through Guide – Installing EdgeSight 5.4 with SQL 2008 R2

Written by Thomas Poppelgaard. Posted in Edgesight, XenApp

Citrix have created this great walk-through guide Howto install Citrix EdgeSight 5.4 with SQL 2008 R2.

Background

  • Machine name is Windows-YC5LBMH.
  • The SQL Server 2008 R2 is already installed, and Report Server is local.
  • All accounts used are local not domain because it is in a lab environment. Normal installation utilizes Domain Accounts instead.

Installation of EdgeSight

After setting up a brand new virtual machine on Windows 2008 R2 64-bit:

  • Install the IIS and Message Queue
  • Install the SQL Server 2008 R2 (with Reporting Services)

Complete the following steps to install EdgeSight:

  • Start the EdgeSight Installation. The account Windows-YC5LBMH\rsno that belongs to User and Administrators group is used, and is logged on for using the Windows Integrated Authentication during the installation.

  • Select English.
  • Click Continue.

  • You will get an option to select either Web Server and Database or Database only. For a new installation select the Web Server and Database option, as shown in the following screen shot:

  • Click Next.
  • Ignore the following SSL warning because you do not intend to use SSL for the lab session. Click OK.

%temp% now contains the msibootstrapper2CSM_MSI_Install.log. After the Preparing to Install dialog box, there is the Citrix License Agreement dialog box.

  • Click Next.
  • Select Typical, if you wish to use the default settings and the allocated database space requirement is 500MB * (8+1) which is 4.5 GB.
  • For the test environment select Custom to specify the size of the EdgeSight database filegroups.

  • Create a user Credential 1 rsno before continuing with the Installation of EdgeSight:
  • Create this user account as a system administrator role account.
    You must create a user rsno as a administrator account that is registered with SQL Server with the minimum SQL Server roles.Note: At the end of the install, you must remove the DBCreator and SecurityAdmin from“rsno user and all the reports continues to generate correctly.

  • Select dbcreator and securityadmin for the rsno account.

  • Log on as Windows-YC5LBMH\rsno that has permissions in SQL and Windows-YC5LBMH computer as shown in the preceding screen shot. Because you have logged in as rsno to utilize the integrated Windows authentication in SQL, you have to be an administrator to execute the EdgeSight installation. 
    Note    : The SQL server is local and is on the same server.

  • Click Test Connect, and verify if the connection to the SQL database is successful.
    Note the Temp folder has the MSI log (msibootstrapper2CSM_MSI_Install.txt), the size is dependent on the amount of text generated with your installation (i.e. yours will not be exactly at 500KB).
  • Click Next.

  • Check the msibootstrapper2CSM_MSI_Install.txt for the following entries before you click Next in the SQL Server Database Selection dialog box.

  • For this installation, you can change the database name to ES54, as shown in the following screenshot:

  • Click Next.
  • Enter the credential 2 esno, and click Validate.The second credential esno is used to run the RSSH services the script host of the EdgeSight Web Server. It is also used to grant access to the EdgeSight database. All access by the EdgeSight Web Server except for Reporting Services uses esno credentials to access and write to the SQL database.

Note: The esno user is setup as shown in the following screen shot:

The DEFAULT size for database file is 500 MB. There are 8 filegroup files with one transaction log (4.5 GB total).

  • Change the values to 20 MB and 50 MB arbitraryly to save space.

  • Select the Server installation location. The default path is selected in the following screen shot:

  • Click Next.

  • Click Install.
    Note    : You might receive many entries in the installation log before clicking Install:

Note: After clicking on Install, the following entries are logged in the installation log:

Progress check (random) 1

Progress check (random) 2

Progress check (random) 3
The following screen shot indicates that the SQL database is created:

Progress check (random) 4
The following screen shot indicates that the Web server pages are copied to the installation location:

The EdgeSight Server 5.4 installation is complete.

  • Click Finish.

SQL Database

  • Note the size of the ES54 database which contains the static data in the various tables. it is approximately 256 MB.

  • Credential 1 rsno created the database and therefore the owner of ES54 database is rsno.

  • Credential 2 esno granted access to the ES54 database and therefor the Database role membership is [db_datareader; db_datawriter; db_owner; ztmanager; ztoperator; ztpublic].
    Note    : zt* roles are created by EdgeSight, and is used for reports.

The other Database role membership for esno are shown in the following screen shot:

Post Installation Setup Wizard

Complete the following steps after installation:

Note: You must be able to configure the email settings and use it if you are using an administrator’s email account. The user name is stored as a credential to the EdgeSight database.

  • Create an Initial Company.
    Every device that reports to the EdgeSight server must identify the company name else the device is reported as another company. When you access the EdgeSight Web Server, the TimeZone specified is used that is if you want historical data for computer X, from 3 a.m. to 6 a.m.then it is relative to the EdgeSight Web Server time.

  • Create the SuperUser Account.
    Note: All information here are fictional; the Email/Login is stored as a user account on the EdgeSight database.

  • Configure the Email Settings.

  • Configure Agent Support and Licensing.

Final Validation Screen of the Post-Installation Setup Wizard

  • Use the superuer account and logon to the EdgeSight server:

Report Server is currently empty and does not contain any EdgeSight reports and schedules.

  • Specify the rsno credentials for Report Server Credentials and esno credentials for Data Source Credentials.
    Note    : Most customers choose to use one account for both credentials.

  • Clear the User Report Server Credentials option to allow two credentials.

  • Click Save Changes.

The “Reporting Services is not configured or is configured incorrectly” message appears. The “Reporting Services Configuration Status – Webpage Dialog” Window appears. If the Windows does not appear and times out after 20 minutes, then there is a delay in the communication from the EdgeSight Web server to SQL Server Reporting Services. 
Note: Ensure that the SQL Server Agent is started. This is required for publishing the schedules.

After the SQL Server Agent is started, the Reporting Services Web page displays the EdgeSight Reports.

  • Double-click and open the Citrix folder. The string that appears, is the computer GUID.

If you share the Reporting Services Web site and Web service with multiple Edgesight Web servers, then more than one entry appears on this screen.

The Reporting Services data source to the EdgeSight database is stored here. You need not change this information because the EdgeSight Web Console Reporting Services configuration updates the required information.

You can run a report from Reporting Services report page. 
Note: This is useful if there is a problem with reports and you want to know if EdgeSight or the Reporting Services is having a problem.

Example

Run the alert report with the following values:

  • -5 and -4 represents relatives days back from the execution date
  • Filter as 1
  • FilterName as Departments “All”
  • There is only one company “es,” thus the CompId is always 1.
  • DrillQSItems can be any text.

Run the same report from EdgeSight Web Console:

IIS Setup after EdgeSight is Installed

The following screen shot shows the /edgesight Home page:

The following screen shot shows the .NET Authorization Rules page:

The following screen shot shows the .NET Compilation page:

The following screen shot shows the .NET Globalization page:

The following screen shot shows the .NET Profile page:

The following screen shot shows the .NET Trust Levels page:

The .NET Users information was not available.

The following screen shot shows the Application Settings page:

The following screen shot shows the Connection Strings page:

The following screen shot shows the Machine Key page:

The following screen shot shows the Pages and Controls page:

The following screen shot shows the Providers page:

The following screen shot shows the Session State page:

The following screen shot shows the SMTP E-mail page:

The following screen shot shows the Authentication page:

The following screen shot shows the Compression page:

The following screen shot shows the Default Document page:

The following screen shot shows the Directory Browsing page:

The following screen shot shows the Error Pages:

The following screen shot shows the Handler Mappings page:

The following screen shot shows the HTTP Response Headers page:

The following screen shot shows the Logging page:

The following screen shot shows the Mime Types page: 

The following screen shot shows the Modules page:

The following screen shot shows the Request Filtering page:

The following screen shot shows the SSL Settings page:

The following screen shot shows the Session State for the default Web site:
Note that the value for timeout on session cookies is set as 20 minutes.

The following screen shot shows the Authentication for the default Web site:

The following screen shot shows the Compression page:

The following screen shot shows the Default Document page:

The following screen shot shows the Handler Mappings for the default Web site:

The following screen shot shows the HTTP Response Headers page:

The following screen shot shows the ISAPI Filters page:

The following screen shot shows the Logging page:

The following screen shot shows the Modules page:

The following screen shot shows the Request Filtering page:

The following screen shot shows the Application Pools page:

Doubles-click on EdgeSight to view the details:

This document applies to:

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Citrix EdgeSight 5.4

Written by Thomas Poppelgaard. Posted in Edgesight

New Features for EdgeSight 5.4

This release of the product includes the following new features:

  • EdgeSight Agent support for XenApp 6.5 for Windows 2008 R2. The EdgeSight for XenApp 6.x Agent x64 5.4 is supported on both XenApp 6.0 and XenApp 6.5 for Windows 2008 R2 systems.
  • Support for SQL Server Reporting Services 2008 R2.
  • Reporting on user/device license usage in the license trend and usage reports available on the Track Usage tab.
  • The ability to export a list of user/device licenses currently checked out from a selected license server. The User/Device License Listis available on the Track Usage tab.
  • The addition of advanced EdgeSight Agent properties used to throttle the number and frequency of event log message alerts for each log type (Application, Security, and System).
Important: Note that EdgeSight Server 5.3 requires SQL Server 2005 or SQL Server 2008. If you are upgrading EdgeSight Server from a release prior to EdgeSight 5.2 using SQL Server 2000, you will also need to upgrade your SQL Server installation.
Note: If you are upgrading EdgeSight Server from a release prior to EdgeSight 5.2, note that support for the EdgeSight Virtual Desktop Agent is not enabled by default. To enable support after upgrading, open the EdgeSight Server Console and go to Configure > Server Configuration > Settings and set EdgeSight for XenDesktop Support toOn.

New and Revised Reports and SQL Views

The User/Device License List is the only new report included in this release. There are no new SQL views, but the vw_lsm_archive_license_statistics (License Server Monitor Archive) SQL view was revised to remove unused fields and add fields related to user/device license data. The following fields were removed: license_type, grace_period, component_list, subscription_advantage, overdraft_protection, days_to_expire, and perm_license_count. The following fields were added: total_user_count and total_device_count. Use of the revised SQL view requires EdgeSight Server 5.4 and Citrix License Server 11.9.

EdgeSight Agents Supported for Upload to EdgeSight Server

Only the following agent types and versions are supported for upload to EdgeSight Server:

  •  EdgeSight for Endpoints 5.2 or higher
  • EdgeSight for Virtual Desktops 5.2 or higher
  • EdgeSight for XenApp 5.2 or higher
  • EdgeSight for XenApp 6 Agent x64 5.3 (64-bit) running on XenApp 6.0 systems.
  • EdgeSight for XenApp 6.x Agent x64 5.4 (64-bit) running on either XenApp 6.0 or XenApp 6.5 for Windows 2008 R2 systems.

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EdgeSight for Load Testing with XenDesktop & Login VSI

Written by Thomas Poppelgaard. Posted in Edgesight, XenDesktop

This whitepaper is an Implementation Guide for utilizing EdgeSight for Load Testing with XenDesktop 5 and Login VSI workloads

Introduction

With the release of XenDesktop 5, Citrix announced support for EdgeSight for Load Testing 3.8 with XenDesktop 51 workloads. Prior to the release of XenDesktop 5, load testing XenDesktop Hosted Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) desktops was most commonly performed using the Login Consultants’ Login VSI2 benchmarking tool. The Login VSI workload, included within the Login VSI tool, has become a common point of reference for VDI benchmarking. As part of Citrix XenDesktop Platinum, administrators have access to EdgeSight for Load Testing. EdgeSight for Load Testing can be utilized to create custom XenDesktop workloads for scalability testing, but given the popularity of the Login VSI workload and analysis tools, XenDesktop Platinum administrators may wish to integrate EdgeSight for Load Testing with the Login VSI workload3. By leveraging EdgeSight for Load Testing with the Login VSI workload, administrators can synchronize the performance monitoring of the XenDesktop infrastructure machines with the Login VSI workload execution timelines to correlate the Login VSI data analysis and XenDesktop infrastructure performance. In addition, EdgeSight for Load Testing provides the administrator with a collective view of each virtual desktop executing the VSI workload for monitoring purposes as shown in Figure 1.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the configuration steps required to leverage EdgeSight for Load Testing to launch XenDesktop connections that execute the Login VSI workload within the virtual desktop. This paper provides configuration guidance for integrating EdgeSight for Load Testing with both the Login VSI 2.14 and 3.0 versions.

Please note:

1 Only XenDesktop 5 is supported with EdgeSight for Load Testing, XenDesktop 4 is not supported. 2 For more detailed information regarding the Login VSI tool, please reference http://www.loginconsultants.com/ 3 Login Consultants’ Login VSI tool contains the Login VSI workload, VSI Launcher, and analysis tools. This paper focuses on using EdgeSight for Load Testing as an alternative to the VSI Launcher. 4 Login Consultants Login VSI 2.1 is no longer supported by Login Consultants

Download whitepaper here

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Benchmarking Citrix XenDesktop using Login Consultants VSI

Written by Thomas Poppelgaard. Posted in Edgesight, Provisioning, Whitepapers, XenDesktop

Overview

As part of the XenDesktop implementation planning process, IT administrators may want to execute scalability testing to establish target numbers for virtual desktop density and hardware requirements. Citrix Consulting has utilized the Login VSI tool from Login Consultants to execute scalability testing for XenDesktop. Login VSI is commonly referenced as a standard within the virtual desktop community and was designed for benchmarking Server Based Computing (SBC) and Desktop Virtualization (VDI) solutions including Citrix XenDesktop. The Login VSI tool consist of two key components, the Login VSI Launcher and the Login VSI workload. The focus of this paper is to provide guidance on utilizing the Login VSI Launcher in conjunction with a custom Python script to launch simultaneous XenDesktop connections that simulate a large number of end- users accessing the environment.

It should be noted that Citrix Consulting recommends leveraging Citrix EdgeSight for Load Testing 3.8 when performing scalability testing for XenDesktop 5. Guidance for utilizing EdgeSight for Load Testing 3.8 with XenDesktop 5 and the Login VSI workload has been documented by Citrix Consulting with step-by-step instructions on the Citrix Knowledge Center. The EdgeSight for Load Testing 3.8 tool is available to Citrix customers as part of XenDeskop 5 Platinum Edition and provides a collective view of the performance metrics for all respective XenDesktop components, but for IT Administrators who are looking to either execute scalability testing with XenDesktop 4 (EdgeSight for Load Testing is not supported with XenDesktop 4) or utilize the Login VSI tool‟s Launcher component with XenDesktop 5 must leverage a custom Python script to perform scalability testing. This configuration guide provides step-by-step instructions for tailoring the custom Python script for an individual XenDesktop environment and configuring the Login VSI Launcher to execute that respective Python script.

Click here to download the full whitepaper – Benchmarking Citrix XenDesktop using Login Consultans VSI

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Communication Ports Used by Citrix Technologies *updated

Written by Thomas Poppelgaard. Posted in Access Gateway, App Streaming, Branch Repeater, Citrix, Dazzle, Delivery Services, Edgesight, HDX, HDX3D Pro, Merchandise, Netscaler, Provisioning, Receiver, Reciever, Synchronizer, Webinterface, Whitepapers, Workflow Studio, XenApp, XenClient, XenConvert, XenDesktop, XenServer, XenVault

Fred Donovan from Citrix have updated the whitepaper - Communication Ports Used by Citrix Technologies to version 1.5 (April 2011)

Overview

This document provides an overview of ports that are used by Citrix components and must be considered as part of Virtual Computing architecture, especially if communication traffic traverses network components such as firewalls or proxy servers, where ports must be opened to ensure communication flow.

References

The assignments are listed by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), updated regularly, and revised when new information is available and new assignments are made. The specific location of the port numbers list is available at the following Web site: http://www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers.

Microsoft Article “Network Ports Used by Key Microsoft Server Products”.

Microsoft Article ID 832017 “Service overview and network port requirements for the Windows Server system”.

Download WhitePaper - Communication Ports Used by Citrix Technologies here

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Logon Optimization Guide

Written by Thomas Poppelgaard. Posted in Citrix Consulting, Edgesight, Whitepapers, XenApp, XenDesktop

Citrix Consulting have created a whitepaper called Optimization Guide User Logon.

The goal is understanding the Windows Logon Process and Simplifying Troubleshooting with EdgeSight.

Introduction

XenApp and XenDesktop simplify application and desktop management. However, long logon time is a common complaint that detracts from end-user satisfaction. Often, this is an unreported problem or administrators cannot quantify and identify the root cause. This paper outlines the logon process and looks at factors that cause excessive logon times, as well as how to track and repair issues or optimize steps. Finally, it also looks at how using EdgeSight can greatly simplify the troubleshooting process.

In particular, the inability to quantify logon times is subject to user subjectivity as what is excessive for one user may not be for another. As every environment is different, there is no standard measure as to what a normal logon time should be; acceptable logon times can range from several seconds to a minute or longer.

How the Logon Process Works

In order to better understand where time can be shaved from the user logon, we will first review the logon process as shown below: Please note that this diagram focuses on internal users accessing either a XenApp or XenDesktop resource. Additional steps are required based on external access via Access Gateway.

 

 

Download here

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Overview – Supported Databases for Citrix Products

Written by Thomas Poppelgaard. Posted in Citrix, Edgesight, Netscaler, Provisioning, Workflow Studio, XenApp, XenDesktop

I recommend that you look at this chart if you are in doubt about which database you want to use with a Citrix product, this chart gives you a quick overview in red and green colours ;o)

Citrix is committed to ensuring that their products function with the latest Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM databases and clients. Citrix will supply best efforts to ensure compatibility with upcoming database releases. New versions of supported databases (SQL, Oracle, or DB2) released after our products have been released should work. However, Citrix recommends creating a test environment to ensure there are no unforeseen issues related to changes made to the new version or update of the third-party product. Individuals wishing to use the new release with current Citrix products should perform their own testing before using the platform. Citrix does not support any BETA versions of third-party products. Attached to this article is a chart of the tested and supported databases for the following Citrix products:

  • XenApp 6.0 for Windows Server 2008 R2
  • XenApp 5.0 for Windows Server 2008
  • XenApp 5.0/Presentation Server 4.5 for Windows Server 2003 (IMA store, Configuration Logging, Resource Manager, and Resource Manager Summary Database)
  • Power and Capacity Management XenApp 6
  • Power and Capacity Management XenApp 5
  • XenApp Fundamentals 6.0
  • XenApp Fundamentals 3.0
  • XenApp Fundamentals 2.0
  • XenDesktop 5.0
  • XenDesktop 4.0
  • XenDesktop 3.0
  • SmartAuditor 1.3
  • SmartAuditor 1.2
  • SmartAuditor 1.1
  • Provisioning Services 5.6
  • Provisioning Services 5.1
  • Provisioning Services 5.0
  • Advanced Access Control 4.5
  • EdgeSight 5.3
  • EdgeSight 5.2.1
  • EdgeSight 5.1 Service Pack 1
  • EdgeSight for NetScaler

This is a living document; it will be updated as new information becomes available.

Download the Database Chart  for Citrix Products here

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EdgeSight for NetScaler 2.0

Written by Thomas Poppelgaard. Posted in Edgesight

Citrix EdgeSight for NetScaler builds application visibility into the application delivery infrastructure, providing end-user performance monitoring for Web applications and enabling IT managers to proactively manage performance and availability based upon actual user experience.

EdgeSight for NetScaler transparently monitors Web application performance, both as transaction requests and responses traverse the Web application delivery infrastructure, and as the responses execute on the end users’ Web browsers. By directly monitoring both the Web application delivery infrastructure and the Web pages themselves, EdgeSight for NetScaler provides IT managers with unique and granular visibility to the key components of application performance.

Feature highlights for this release are:
New platform support  — Windows 2008 , SQL 2008
Geolocation support — Reports based on user geographical location
New client OS/browser support — Windows 7,Windows 2008,Chrome/Safari/IE/Mozilla/Opera latest versions
UI interface — New look and feel to align with NetScaler GUI
Simplified installation process — Custom Installer to do prerequisite checks

https://www.citrix.com/English/ss/downloads/details.asp?downloadId=2303534&productId=25119

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Citrix EdgeSight Reporting Wiki

Written by Thomas Poppelgaard. Posted in Edgesight

The Citrix EdgeSight Reporting Wiki is a collaborative authoring encyclopedia project supported by Citrix EdgeSight Engineering. This is intended to be a collaborative Web site for the EdgeSight community. This Wiki is part of an initiative to enhance the information available about EdgeSight reports and is the primary source of information about reports.

This Wiki focuses primarily on historical reports. However, it also includes information about real-time reports and other helpful EdgeSight product information.

The EdgeSight Engineering and Documentation teams, as well as EdgeSight escalation engineers, technical support personnel and product managers regularly review the Wiki content, vetting it for technical accuracy.

Click here to goto the Citrix EdgeSight Reporting Wiki page

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Thomas Poppelgaard

|

Hi Youngtech

Citrix have created this knowledge article http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX131993

So i would say yes there is support from Citrix now, i still have people telling me that if you turn on “Interrupt safe mode” then the issue is still there and vSphere 5 doesn’t work with Citrix Provisioning Server 6

Dane Young

|

Thomas,

Did Citrix actually make a statement that this is supported now? Send me a DM on Twitter @youngtech if you don’t mind. I’m very curious if Citrix is now supporting PVS w/vSphere 5.

Thanks!
–youngtech

Ro

|

Sorry, not to nag, but it’s called Apple iOS, or just iOS. Not Mac iOS. OS X is often called Mac OS X.

Thanks for a great blog. It’s a great resource to keep up with the virtualization world.

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