As IT administrators, we are often asked how we can be more proactive to reduce exposure to issues that may arise. In Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop 7.18, a new feature was introduced to help identify issues from user locations to the Citrix environment hosting the applications and desktops. This feature, Application Probing, has a few requirements, but is not too difficult to set up and can provide immediate value.
Application Probing requires the following:
- Citrix XenApp / XenDesktop 7.18 or newer running on the controllers
- Windows Receiver 4.8 or later installed on machines acting as probe agents
- StoreFront needs to have a site with HTTP Basic Authentication enabled
- Each probe agent will need a unique domain account with rights to launch the applications / desktops
The configuration is managed in the Citrix Director console. In the console, you choose the applications to be probed, the endpoints to run the probe on, an e-mail address to send failure reports to, and a schedule to execute.
Once set up, specific endpoints in multiple locations will connect to specific applications / desktops in the background and record telemetry for five areas:
- StoreFront Reachability
- StoreFront Authentication
- StoreFront Enumeration
- ICA Download
- Application Launch
If any of the above stages fail, an email is sent and the failure history is stored in Director for reporting.
This new feature is easy to setup and time to value is minimal, but it is just the tip of the iceberg. Synthetic logins to go beyond the application launch allow our customers to gain visibility deep into the application layer.
Contact your Account Manager or info@gothamtg.com to find out more about how Gotham can help instrument your environment for success.