White Paper. PremiTech s Performance Guard Adds Value to Citrix MetaFrame Resource Manager.

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1 White Paper providing additional information about Citrix MetaFrame servers, extends these boundaries to include the complete IT infrastructure while always looking at this environment from an end-user perspective. PremiTech s Performance Guard Adds Value to Citrix MetaFrame Resource Manager. Written by Douglas Brown, DABCC, January 2005 Introduction Much like Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server is part of a larger IT infrastructure, monitoring tools, to be effective, also need to extend themselves beyond a single functional component in order to give IT management a complete picture of their environment while providing a consistent view of what their end-users experience. In this white paper, you will learn how Citrix Resource Manager can provide insight into the Citrix MetaFrame environment and how PremiTechʼs Performance Guard, while Overview PremiTechʼs Performance Guard Module for Citrix expands IT s ability to fully understand end-user activities and problems by monitoring not only the Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server(s), but the environment as a whole, from the end-user perspective. Performance Guard allows an administrator to monitor a wealth of information about client configuration, license usage, and server resources. The Performance Guard Module for Citrix monitors each end-user ICA session from the Citrix server for availability and performance of applications, as well as for application usage statistics. Using baselines and alarms, it sends alerts on application issues and performance bottlenecks, and enables IT managers to quickly identify and proactively resolve issues. By providing an accurate picture of service quality, Performance Guard also enables IT to guarantee compliance with Service Level Agreements (SLAs), and ensure that the customer is only paying for the service they receive.

2 Performance Guard is able to audit all the essential aspects of a Citrix-based IT system and produce status reports in real time without influencing the results in any way. We re not talking about rapidly antiquated test transactions and synthetic data, but rather actual data and reliable monitoring of any new or existing Citrix systemʼs capability to deliver business-critical services. Using one centralized server with Performance Guard, companies are able to improve system performance, increase user productivity, reduce expenses on infrastructure and help-desk resources,and ensure compliance with SLAs. In addition, software updates and new applications are instantly audited and reports are provided with all the other elements in the Citrix system. Citrix Resource Manager was designed to enable IT to monitor system performance of a Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server or a Server farm through applications based on real-time information or historical information that can be retrieved by implementing a Summary Database. An administrator has the ability to fine-tune monitoring processes by evaluating a specific or a series of performance metrics. PremiTech Performance Guard With the Performance Guard Agent running and capturing information on a Citrix MetaFrame server, Performance Guard can provide: Quality of service provided to the end-user, including latency, login time, round trip deviation, and bytes sent/received Local resources consumed, processes information, hardware inventory, user and session information Response time, bytes sent/received and activity level for all back-end server requests In addition, if you choose to install and run a Performance Guard Agent on the end-usersʼ workstations, Performance Guard will also capture: Local resource measurements Process and resource consumed Response times for all connections/ information requests Resource Manager can alert an administrator about any monitored metrics, loss of connectivity to a Citrix Access Suite license server, and any connectivity issues relating to the summary database. Once alerted (through , SMS or system console), the administrator can analyze the relevant data and take appropriate actions. Before discussing how each tool is best utilized, letʼs first look at some of the key information each tool can provide. Citrix Resource Manager Running locally on each Citrix MetaFrame server, Resource Manager can: Monitor the resources at a particular moment for any server in the Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server farm Analyze and report on current or past system activities using the Summary Database Create detailed billing reports based on historical data During an end-user working session, any problem can be isolated to a single component level client s workstation, network, Citrix MetaFrame server, Application Server period. The key to efficiently and effectively correcting the problem is first locating the problem. Functional monitoring tools, while concentrating on a single component, are valuable in helping to correct an isolated problem but do little to determine where, in a multi-tier environment, the problem actually is! Using Performance Guard, by monitoring the total IT environment, and visually comparing different response times to and from clients/servers, IT can quickly isolate where, in a multi-tier environment, the problem actually is. This, of course, is just the first step (and an important one) to correcting the problem at hand.

3 Now that we have isolated the problem, let s look at Resource Manager and Performance Guard too see where and how each tool can be utilized to further our investigation. Desktop: Performance Guard can provide vital information about the machine itself (memory, CPU, O/S), local processes, resource utilization and back end server responses. Using this information, IT can quickly isolate an under powered machine, runaway processes using high amounts of CPU or memory, poor response from all (or many) server requests (leading to a bad network card). It s not uncommon to find people using a 486 box, running a virus consuming memory or CPU, or streaming video from a website causing ill effects! Network (Client to Citrix Server): Using Performance Guard, IT can easily compare latency rates from different users on separate subnets. Drilling down deeper, IT can also view the amount of traffic flowing to and from ICA/ Citrix possibly causing stress on the network (we have come across people downloading gigs of itunes overloading the network). Other common problems can result from poorly configured client networks. Or, during the path traveled from Client to Citrix Server, multiple routers may be involved (which are overloaded), some within your control and some not. Once isolated, the problem can now be corrected and/or the appropriate documentation can be sent to your network provider. Citrix MetaFrame Server: Much like the desktop, Performance Guard will provide insight to local processes and resources consumption. Citrix Resource Manager can monitor the serverʼs local resources (memory, CPU, O/S), applications and their resource consumption, connectivity to the Access Suite License and Summary Database, and the network (server to client). This information can be used to properly scale the server, ensuring the local resources are not being over- or under-utilized. In addition, the data being provided by Resource Manager can assist in trouble-shooting specific problems, such as a rogue application monopolizing the CPU, servers running low on memory, memory leaks, and excessive paging. All of which can degrade performance for all Citrix users. Network (Citrix Server to Back-end Systems) and Backend Systems: Performance Guard will capture vital information, such as response time, bytes sent/received, connections/sec, connections resets, retransmissions, and availability. Given this information along with multiple views to this data (through easy to read graphs), it is possible to isolate LAN/WAN problems, duplex mismatch, server response issues, application performance problems and, issues with the domain controller and SAN/NAS. Conclusion It is at the end-user level that the most important service metrics and complete IT infrastructure view can be captured. Response time is the best global health indicator of system performance. System availability does not mean anything if not measured at the end point because more often that not, sluggish performance has nothing to do with the server itself but rather, the surrounding environment. PremiTech s PerformanceGuard allows an organizationʼs help-desk and IT departments to provide proactive service before problems occur, and allows them to quickly determine the root cause of a problem. From the above information, we have learned that a Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server environmentʼs performance is affected by much more than just the performance of the servers in the farm, but it is greatly affected by the environment in which the servers and the end-users reside. Even if you re already using Citrix s Resource Manager, PremiTech s Performance Guard adds tremendous value to any Presentation Server deployment. Performance Guard justifies itself by holistically monitoring the entire environment. This includes the MetaFrame Presentation servers, the back-end application servers, the domain controllers, client devices and the actual network traffic all from the end-user perspective.

4 The following table is a comparison of PremiTech Performance Guard and Citrix Resource Manager. Feature / Component PremiTech Performance Guard Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server Enterprise with Resourse Manager and Summary Database ICA Client CPU Usage Paging Free Physical Memory Free Virtual Memory Free Write I/O Read I/O Local Process List with resource consumption Hardware Inventory Software Inventory Recent Network Usage Network Trace Route ICA Network Latency Round Trip Deviation Sent Bytes/Second Total Sent Bytes Received Bytes/Second Total Received Bytes Average Sent Bytes Average Received Bytes Cirix Server Logon / Logoff Time Login Time Established Sessions Terminated Sessions Active Sessions CPU Usage Paging Free Physical Memory Free Virtual Memory Free Write I/O Read I/O Local Process List with resource consumption Hardware Inventory Software Inventory Recent Network Usage Network Trace Route Process Version Process Load Time Process Active Time Process Usage User vs. Kernal CPU Interrupt Time

5 The following table is a comparison of PremiTech Performance Guard and Citrix Resource Manager. Feature / Component PremiTech Performance Guard Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server Enterprise with Resourse Manager and Summary Database Citrix Server Network Histogram (request fulfilled) Request/Second Active Agents Sent Bytes/Second Sent Packets/Second Received Bytes/Second Received Packet/Second Packet/Request Bytes/Request Back-End Systems/Applications Connectons/Second Retransmission/Hour Retransmission Percentage Total Response Time Availability Misc. Features Fast and easy installation Automatic hotspot analysis for Servers and End-users SLA reports Alarms SNMP Integration Trend Analysis Help Desk Wizard User interface 100% web enabled Add-hoc Queries Custom End-User Reports Total Network Bandwidth as % 3rd party reporting tools United States: PremiTech Inc. 465 South Street Suite 103 Morristown, NJ USA Phone: PREMITECH Fax: info@premitech.com European Headquarters: PremiTech A/S Lautruphøj Ballerup Denmark Phone: Fax: PremiTech Inc. - The Performance Company PremiTech is a leading software company specialized in IT system performance monitoring and optimization. PremiTech s Performance Guard solution is installed at more than 2,000 locations in more than 100 countries and is the only solution of its kind to deliver real-time data on IT system performance from the end users perspective. c 2005 Premitech Inc.