Configuration of VmgSessionActTest

Every user who is logged into a virtual desktop, may not actively use that desktop. In a VDI infrastructure, it is common for users to just log into desktops, and leave them unused for long time periods. Such desktops are a huge resource drain, as they continue to consume resources, regardless of the level of activity on them. Moreover, with many organizations these days providing the work-from-home option to their employees, identification of idle users is paramount, as such users themselves are deemed unproductive resource consumers. Also, this is a good indicator to whether/not the work-from-home facility is effectively used by employees or is abused! Besides, since idle users unnecessarily hold on to desktops, users with genuine needs may not have any desktops to work with. If administrators can quickly identify these idle users and the desktops they are logged into, they can rapidly pull the desktops from such users and assign them to users who can use them effectively. The Desktop Sessions Details test turns the spotlight on these idle users. For each user session on a virtual desktop, this test reports the total duration of the session and the percentage of time for which the session was active. The test also reports the total idle time during the session. From these statistics, administrators can accurately identify those users who are wasting the desktops assigned and resources allocated to them.

The default parameters associated with this test are:

• The TEST PERIOD list box helps the user to decide how often this test needs to be executed.

• In the HOST text box, specify the nick name of the Cloud Desktops component for which this test is to be configured.

• Specify the port at which the specified host listens to in the PORT text box. By default, this is NULL.

• To obtain the ‘inside view’ of performance of the cloud -hosted Windows desktops - i.e., to measure the internal performance of the Windows virtual desktops - this test uses a light -weight eGVMAgent software deployed on each of the desktops. Accordingly, Inside View Using parameter is by default set to eGVMAgent (Windows).

• Report Powered OS flag is relevant only for those tests that are mapped to the Inside View of Desktops layer. If this flag is set to Yes (which is the default setting), then the ‘inside view’ tests will report measures for even those Windows virtual desktops that do not have any users logged in currently. Such desktops will be identified by their name and not by the username_on_virtualdesktopname. On the other hand, if this flag is set to No, then this test will not report measures for those Windows virtual desktops to which no users are logged in currently.

• Report By User flag is set to Yes by default. The value of this flag cannot be changed. This implies that the virtual machines in VDI environments will always be identified using the login name of the user. In other words, in VDI environments, this test will, by default, report measures for every username_on_virtualmachinename.

• Since this test runs for a ‘Cloud Desktops’ component, Is Cloud VMs flag is set to Yes by default.

• Specify the time duration (in minutes) of inactivity beyond which a session is considered to be “idle” by this test in the Idletime text box. By default, this parameter is set to 30 (minutes). This implies that by default, the test counts all sessions that have been inactive for over 30 minutes as idle sessions.

• If multiple components of the same component type are awaiting configuration, then an APPLY TO OTHER COMPONENTS button will appear in this page. Clicking on this button will allow you to apply the configuration to all/selected components of that type.

• Once the necessary values have been provided, clicking on the UPDATE button will register the changes made.

When changing the configuration for specific servers, a “*” beside the text box corresponding to the parameter signifies that these values have to be manually configured by the user. The parameter values that require to be configured will typically be prefixed with a “$” or contain a series of “*”. A value of “none” in the parameter value indicates that the corresponding parameter value can be changed if required.