We are excited to introduce a series of powerful new features in the latest update of MetrixInsight for Citrix VAD/DaaS. These enhancements bring greater visibility, improved troubleshooting capabilities, and deeper integration within SCOM, making it easier than ever to monitor and manage your Citrix environments effectively.
Integration Pack for Hyper-V MP
Understanding the relationship between VDA multi-session machines and their underlying infrastructure is crucial for effective monitoring. Our new Integration Pack for Hyper-V MP enables SCOM to correlate VDA multi-session machines' VM Virtual Hard Disks with their respective Hyper-V Windows Computer Physical Disks. This enhancement provides better insights into storage performance and faster issue resolution by linking virtual and physical disk performance metrics.
This functionality is especially valuable when used with SquaredUp DS for SCOM, as it leverages the SCOM object model more effectively than SCOM itself. By utilizing SquaredUp DS, administrators gain deeper visibility, better correlations, and more actionable insights, making it easier to troubleshoot and optimize virtualized environments. We would love to demonstrate this to you in a live demo.
Beacon Latency Monitoring for Network Performance Insights
To diagnose network-related performance issues, we’ve added Beacon Latency monitoring to track session-level latency from users' endpoints to a Beacon Host. Since we already monitor ICA RTT and ICA latency, this new metric provides even greater clarity by identifying whether network-related slowness originates from the client-side network or the backend infrastructure.
When users experience sluggish sessions, often caused by high ICA RTT, they may blame the EUC platform, but this monitor helps pinpoint whether the end-user network is a major contributing factor. High beacon latency strongly indicates that the client’s network is the first area to investigate, as it can lead to session lag, slow screen updates, and input delays. While backend infrastructure issues may still play a role, resolving client-side network problems should be the top priority before considering other factors.
Enhanced Observability for Wi-Fi Signal Strength
Weak Wi-Fi signal strength is a major contributor to high Beacon Latency and ICA RTT, leading to session lag, slow screen updates, and input delays. To help diagnose this, we’ve introduced Wi-Fi Signal Strength performance collection, enabling you to track Wi-Fi quality for Citrix VAD/DaaS sessions.
Now, when users report sluggish sessions and high ICA RTT is detected, you can determine if the client-side network is at fault. If high Beacon Latency is also observed, weak Wi-Fi is likely the cause. With this monitoring, you can now confirm whether Wi-Fi issues are contributing to performance problems, enabling faster troubleshooting and ensuring client network problems are resolved first before investigating other factors.
User Experience (UEX) Analyzer
With MetrixInsight's User Experience (UEX) Analyzer, you can now track these newly added Beacon Latency and Wi-Fi Signal Strength metrics, along with ICA RTT and ICA latency, providing a complete picture of user session performance. Not only can you track these metrics for active sessions, but you can also analyze past sessions that no longer exist, enabling deeper root cause analysis even after a session has ended. This historical insight enhances troubleshooting capabilities, allowing you to correlate network conditions with performance degradation over time and optimize user experience more effectively.
Pre-Built Override MP Files for Customizable Monitoring
We’ve introduced Pre-Built Override MP Files, providing different levels of monitoring and observability to fit your needs. By default, all monitor and rule workflows are disabled in the core MPs, ensuring a clean, noise-free setup. You can then manually enable specific monitors and rules or use pre-built override MPs to apply the desired level of monitoring, ensuring flexibility, actionable alerts, and efficient operations.
This approach aligns with best practices outlined in this Manifesto for SCOM Success, which emphasizes reducing alert noise by disabling all monitoring initially and enabling only what is useful and actionable. Instead of overwhelming administrators with excessive alerts, our Pre-Built Override MPs allow you to focus on meaningful, actionable alerts that provide real value and help in faster issue resolution.
MetrixInsight for Citrix VAD/DaaS
MetrixInsight for VAD/DaaS is a CITRIX® Ready SCOM Management Pack, designed for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, Citrix DaaS, Citrix License Server, Citrix Provisioning Services, Citrix StoreFront, Citrix Federated Authentication Service and NetScaler.
Beyond Citrix tooling, this solution seamlessly integrates your Citrix® Virtual Apps and Desktops or Citrix DaaS stack into SCOM while also enabling full-stack integration, including the underlying non-Citrix infrastructure. It dynamically discovers and visualizes the entire Citrix VAD and DaaS topology, providing robust monitoring and reporting. The result is a stable end-user computing platform, keeping your operations smooth and your users content. MetrixInsight for VAD/DaaS is an essential tool for anyone serious about their Citrix environment.
Beyond Citrix tooling, this solution seamlessly integrates your Citrix® Virtual Apps and Desktops or Citrix DaaS stack into SCOM while also enabling full-stack integration, including the underlying non-Citrix infrastructure. It dynamically discovers and visualizes the entire Citrix VAD and DaaS topology, providing robust monitoring and reporting. The result is a stable end-user computing platform, keeping your operations smooth and your users content. MetrixInsight for VAD/DaaS is an essential tool for anyone serious about their Citrix environment.
