Quantifying Genuine User Experience in Virtual Desktop Ecosystems
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The document discusses the challenges of managing user experience in virtual environments, highlighting the complexity of identifying performance issues stemming from various factors such as latency, bandwidth, and response times. It outlines key metrics for measuring user experience, including logon times and connection quality, while providing guidelines for effective monitoring practices. Additionally, it presents solutions offered by eg innovations for monitoring user experience across platforms like VMware Horizon and Citrix.
![© eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com
Response Time = Latency
24
• RT = Wt + Qt [ Wt = Wait Time, Qt = Queuing
Time ]
• Try to keep Response time to less than 250ms
• Includes Latency of any protocol:
– ICA
– EDT
– PCoIP
– Blast
– TCP](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/wendyhowarddatacon2020-201104005107/85/Quantifying-Genuine-User-Experience-in-Virtual-Desktop-Ecosystems-24-320.jpg)
Quantifying Genuine User Experience in Virtual Desktop Ecosystems
- 1. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com Quantifying User Experience in Virtual Ecosystems Wendy Howard Technical Consultant eG Innovations
- 2. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com Agenda • Today’s Dilemma • Virtual Environment Challenges • User Experience Defined • Calculating User Experience • Making Improvements 2
- 3. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com Today’s Dilemma 3 Server admins provide remote access to apps and desktops using a virtual environment Users call and complain about poor performance Virtual environments are complex and hard to monitor Problems we have…
- 4. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com User Experience: The Measure of IT Success • When users complain: “My application is slow!” • Identifying the root cause is challenging: – In the application code, the server, OS, database, network connectivity, virtualization/cloud platform, storage array, etc.?
- 5. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com 5 Virtual Environment Challenges
- 6. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com What can impact the User Experience? 6 • Almost anything can impact a user’s experience... ...performance Jokers are everywhere!! Monitoring the performance of the digital workspace ecosystem has become mission-critical and is a foundation for success
- 7. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com Popular Virtualization Architectures
- 8. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com Citrix 8
- 9. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com VMware Horizon 9 Source: Navico.com
- 10. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com Microsoft 10
- 11. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com What do they all have in common? 11
- 12. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com Wrong Ways to ‘Calculate’ your User’s Experience Trouble Tickets 12 SupportCalls Emotional data Downtime %
- 13. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com Parts of the User Experience 13 Can I log into work quickly today? Why does my computer keep freezing? My cursor seems slow…. This application is moving at the speed of molasses… Latency Logins Response Times Bandwidth
- 14. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com Parts of the User Experience 14 Can I log into work quickly today? Why does my computer keep freezing? My cursor seems slow…. This application is moving at the speed of molasses…
- 15. 15 Round Trip
- 16. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com Round Trip Time 16 Source: 2016 Citrix Performance Survey by eG Innovations and DABCC Common reasons for Citrix Performance Issues
- 17. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com Network Latency= RTT 17 • Indicates the latency experienced by this user when transmitting/receiving data over the connection to the virtual environment • Try to keep latency below 250ms • For more aggressive SLA’s, keep it under 150ms High Network Latency, AKA Round Trip Time, can user can cause the user loss of productivity
- 18. 18 Logons
- 19. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com Logon KPIs 19 “The “logon time” KPI deals with the time it takes from when a user sits down in front of a device and submits their credentials for authentication, to when they can effectively start to use the system. ” – www.james- rankin.com Each virtual environment has their own steps during a logon, but they usually come down to: • Initialization • Authentication • Profile • Policies Citrix Virtual Desktop logon process
- 20. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com Measuring Logon times • Consider measuring the logon time plus the breakdown 20 Initialization Authentication Profile Policies User Initiates Credential obtention Enumeration Group Policies Scripts Hive load Folders Printers
- 21. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com Simulating Logins • Consider a simulator for measuring logons at regular intervals 21
- 23. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com Response Times • In general, response time is the time between the user taking an action, like using the mouse or keyboard, to the time it appears on the virtual app/desktop. 23 “Response Times by-itself mean very little and do not provide anyone a good view of what the system performance looks like. One has to look at Response Times in conjunction with other Performance Quantities.” – TangoWhiskey37.Github.io
- 24. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com Response Time = Latency 24 • RT = Wt + Qt [ Wt = Wait Time, Qt = Queuing Time ] • Try to keep Response time to less than 250ms • Includes Latency of any protocol: – ICA – EDT – PCoIP – Blast – TCP
- 25. 25 Bandwidth
- 26. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com Bandwidth Usage 26 • It’s important to track the bandwidth used on each interface. If the bandwidth usage is close to the maximum speed of the network interface, this can indicate a bottleneck that affects performance. • Also important to track individual user bandwidth usage across the interface Users
- 27. Bandwidth Usage 27 • There is no indicator of bad or good bandwidth usage. • Some users take up more than others • Important to measure usage across all users • Usually measured at a percentage of usage: • Bandwidth usage = • % of Bandwidth of User/total Bandwidth available • Generally, if the bandwidth usage is low, and latency is high, there’s a problem with the end-user’s network, resulting in poor user experience.
- 28. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com User Experience and Connection Quality Bandwidth + Response Time + Latency = 28 What is the Connection Quality of this user’s experience and why? Weak Connection= • Bandwidth is > 1Mbps • Latency is <150ms • Round Trip Time<180ms Strong Connection= • Bandwidth > 8Mbps • Latency <=150ms • Round Trip Time<=180ms Connection Quality
- 29. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com User’s Connection Quality Indicator (contd.) Connection Quality Indicator Alert in eG Enterprise Bandwidth (MBps) Latency (ms) RTT (ms) None None <= 0 < 0 < 0 Strong Normal > 8 <= 60 <= 80 Weak Minor > 1 & <= 8 >60 & <= 150 >80 & <= 180 Poor Major Any condition other than the above Any condition other than the above Any condition other than the above Citrix recommended computation of user’s connection quality indicator Strong: Network and servers are operating normally Weak: Possible network congestion or servers might be busy Poor: Network or servers may be experiencing problems
- 30. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com Do’s and Don’ts of Monitoring User Experience
- 31. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com Do’s of UX Performance Monitoring • Monitor End-to-end • Keep monitoring “TOMA” • Get regular reports and review them • Own up and speak up • Consider latencies and bandwidth usage 31
- 32. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com Don’t’s of UX Performance Monitoring • Ignore the data • Blame other teams for poor performance • Hide incriminating data • Look at isolated metrics 32
- 33. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com Summary • Users Experience is a sum of its individual parts – Use Connection Quality equation and User Logon data • Consider performance from all users • Use a tool, like eG Innovations, for calculating Connection Quality • Keep logins under 30s 33
- 34. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com eG Innovations & VMware Horizon: The Perfect Marriage eG Enterprise Version 7 VMware Horizon Version 7 • Monitors workspace user experience and proactively alerts to problems • Offers a single pane of glass for monitoring the entire VMware Horizon workspace from end to end • Ensures that the performance of the VDI infrastructure enabling digital transformation is top notch • Delivers a high-definition user experience on any device • Provides a centralized solution for accessing any app, endpoint management and content collaboration • Ensures digital transformation success with high ROI and operational efficiency Monitoring solution purpose-built for
- 35. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com eG Innovations and Citrix: The Perfect Marriage eG Enterprise Version 7 Virtual Apps and Desktops Version 7 • Monitors workspace user experience and proactively alerts to problems • Offers a single pane of glass for monitoring the entire Citrix workspace (on-prem, cloud, hybrid) from end to end • Ensures that the performance of the Citrix infrastructure enabling digital transformation is top notch • Delivers a high-definition user experience on any device • Provides a centralized solution for accessing any app delivery, endpoint management and content collaboration • Ensures digital transformation success with high ROI and operational efficiency Monitoring solution purpose-built for
- 36. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com
- 37. © eG Innovations, Inc. | www.eginnovations.com +1 (866) 526 6700 www.eginnovations.comWendy.Howard@eginnovations.com Thank You
Editor's Notes
- #2: In this talk, I will attempt to explain at a basic level, how to measure User Experience in a virtual environment. I will focus on how UX affects users today that are working remotely on applications and virtual desktops and show a few common ways to improve the experience within out getting too technical and in the weeds.
- #12: They are all complex, full of parts and you’re not sure where to start when there’s a problem.
- #17: There are different types of Latencies, in this case, I am talking about the Network connection from the virtual machine to the user’s end point.
- #18: Think of Client Network Latency as a ping check – it’s the RTT from the virtual machine to the end-user’s device and back.
- #21: Total logon time is the sum of these parts
- #22: Use a simulator like eG’s to launch desktops or applications throughout the day.
- #24: This is extremely difficult to measure without the proper tool in place.
- #27: Better if a tool automatically calculates the usage based on your max available bandwidth.
- #29: This user has a poor connection when any of the indicators are breaching the threshold. I promised math and here it is. Measurements are averaged over a time interval
- #30: EG enterprise has this built in and doesn’t require anything on the end-user’s side.this is just a suggestion and you can change it based on your protocols used for WVD, Horizon, or Citrix.