Using Login PI to monitor DaaS provider
By Chris van Werkhoven
For a very long time, SCOM (sometimes extended with third-party plugins) is being used as datacenter management system in SBC and VDI environments. With mixed results, because when all individual items like CPU, memory and IO queues are giving a green light, it doesn't mean that the end-user will have a good user experience. And in particular user experience is the cause of many helpdesk calls.
When we go a bit further, where the workspace is provided by a DaaS provider, it becomes a lot harder to get a good view on the performance and user experience. Enterprise tools such as SCOM don't work in this model and monitoring tools of DaaS providers are usually only for the operations team of the provider and not for the IT department or service desk of the customer.
We've also encountered this dilemma in the Login Online Desktop, because user experience is crucial to the user acceptance. What is the best way to put yourself in the user's place to optimally support him?
Login PI fills exactly this need! Because of the integration of Login PI into the Login Online Desktop we can now monitor the DaaS provider (such as Colt, XtraDesktop or VMware) and spot certain trends in performance. This enables us to improve the performance of the workspace or applications.
Graph 1: In this graph you can see what the variance is in load times of applications such as Office 2013, Adobe and an Internet browser.
Graph 2: In this graph login times are being shown, with a clear peak at 9 o'clock. Further investigation at the DaaS provider could be necessary when login times are always doubled around 9 AM.
Imagine how great it would be for a customer's service desk to see what the user is experiencing at a certain moment! In a hosted desktop environment there are many links in the chain, but Login PI makes it possible to search for a solution for the end-user much faster and more efficiently. And just like the other software products of Login Consultants, like Automation Machine and Login VSI, Login PI is an integrated part of the Login Online Desktop.