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With the release of Feature Pack 2, the EdgeSight team has made some updates to both EdgeSight and EdgeSight for Load Testing. The key updates include;
EdgeSight 5.2 (for XenApp, Endpoints, and Virtual Desktops):
• Additional support for XenDesktop - Farm-wide monitoring and troubleshooting of virtual and physical desktops
• Support for the latest Citrix Receiver - Service Monitoring plug-in
• Microsoft Systems Center Operation Manager (MS SCOM) Support - Management pack connector
• Additional Operating System support - Windows 7
• New summary reports - XenApp, XenDesktop
EdgeSight for Load Testing 3.6:
• Service-based architecture - Easier to manage and does not require logged-in users for running the launchers
• Enhanced application security - When replaying scripts, allows for a basic level of authentication
• Intelligent Load Control - Ability to sense script execution & delays, and adjust accordingly (Introduced in 3.5)
• Xen Counters - Exposure of performance issues when XenApp is running on XenServer (Introduced in 3.5)
I've recorded a short video which gives a little more detail and a few screenshots in regards to the new EdgeSight functionality which you can find at http://www.citrix.com/tv/#videos/1164. In addition, there is a short ESLT 3.5 video from a month or so ago detailing those new features which is available at http://www.citrix.com/tv/#videos/666
Learn more about Citrix XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2
- Official Press Release - http://citrix.com/English/NE/news/news.asp?newsID=1857726
- XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 release Web Site - http://citrix.com/xenapp/featurepack2
- XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 Executive Video - http://citrix.com/xenapp/fp2/video
- XenApp Expert Series videos for this release - http://citrix.com/xenapp/fp2/expertseries
- XenApp 5 Feature Pack 2 Blogs- http://community.citrix.com/blogs/tag/xa5fp2
- Download XenApp technology previews - http://citrix.com/xenapp/techpreviews
- XenApp Product Page - http://citrix.com/xenapp/
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Over the past few years I've given dozens of EdgeSight presentations at partner events, Summit, Synergy, IForum or facilitated training for Citrix consultants and SE's across the globe. Usually I start these presentations off in a similar manner, and with this video I'm hoping to expand the audience even further. If you have only given EdgeSight a cursory look, or maybe have never seen it at all, I think this video will quickly give you a good understanding of what exactly it can do.
As I mentioned in my previous post, I'll be recording a whole series of EdgeSight related videos which will ultimately dive deeper into the product. But, you gotta start somewhere and I believe that this first video is a great place to start.
Excited to use this post to promote the release of EdgeSight for Load Testing 3.5. The XenServer performance counters that can now be captured will make using ELST to test XenApp on XenServer even more powerful and Intelligent Load Control is really the smartest way to do load testing anyone has thought of.
I've recorded and posted a quick new features presentation detailing these items which I hope you will check out at http://www.citrix.com/tv/#video/666
Look for more EdgeSight related videos from me on CitrixTV in the future.
As a Citrix consultant , one question that every customer asks me is, "How many users can I get on this server?" This seems like a simple question, but traditionally has had some difficult ways of finding an answer. Thankfully, the latest XenApp5 Feature Pack now includes Load testing services, an easy, efficient and inexpensive way to create a reliable answer to the question.
In the past, there were two main ways of answering this question. One required expensive and complicated software (and a team of experts who can actually program it) while the other required a team of people flying around to remote sites during off-hours so they could simulate user tasks. Needless to say either method was time-consuming, resource consuming and cost way too much money. In addition, when there was a new version of the application or a new remote office, you had to start from scratch and start the process all over again. This process is now far more exact and much easier with load testing services.
There are only two parts to load testing services, the controller and the launcher. The controller is the brains of the operation, and tells the launchers (installed on desktops or workstations in the remote sites) what tests to run. The launchers open a session to XenApp hosted applications, published desktops, a direct connection to the XML Broker, or through Web Interface. Once you give the controller a user account name and password and a target XenApp farm, you hit the record button and record what activities the simulated user should do. If you want the user to open Microsoft Word and copy an image, type a bunch of text or compose a letter, you simply do that while recording and load testing services translates that into instructions. After distributing the launchers to their remote locations, hitting the play button within the controller will instruct them to replay those tests for however long it has been scheduled.
While the tests are running, load testing services can track a myriad of Perfmon counters which can then be used to see when the server is at its limit. By turning on such items as Total Processor Time and Thread Queue Length or Memory consumption and Pages Per Second, one can determine when the server is running out of resources. All of these statistics and many others are presented to the administrator in a simple graph and table which, once viewed, will show when the bottleneck occurs. XenApp Platinum edition customers can also use application performance monitoring to measure performance as well.
Hopefully, I've made load testing services sound really easy to use, because in fact it really is that easy and anyone who can start a session on a XenApp server can use it effectively. Of course there are ways to use variables and wildcards and best practices for more advanced use cases, and more information on those items can be found in whitepapers and recordings available on Citrix.com or the Citrix Knowledge Base.
New applications, new servers, new users and new offices are being deployed throughout pretty much every organization and figuring out the correct amount of capacity needed quickly and cheaply has been, and will continue to be, a top priority for every IT department. With the inclusion of load testing services in XenApp5 Feature Pack, Citrix has given us the most effective way I have seen to do this. I encourage you to test it out for yourself.
Want to learn more? Also, check out Citrix.com/upgradetoxenapp5. As always, let us know your thoughts, questions and feedback below.
This post is part of a multi-part series on XenApp 5 Feature Pack:
- Part 1: Citrix Releases its own Economic Stimulus Plan with XenApp 5 Feature Pack
- Part 2: Manage your entire server farm from a single image with XenApp 5 Feature Pack
- Part 3: Profile Management, new in XenApp 5 Feature Pack! When does it make sense for your business?
- Part 4: Single Sign-on for any user! New in XenApp 5 Feature Pack!
- Part 5: XenApp 5 Feature Pack Transforms Server Sizing from an Art to an Exact Science!