Users - Logon Performance Report

Administrators are often interested in figuring out the login duration of the each user on the physical desktops in their environment. They would like to identify the user who has taken the maximum time duration to login into the desktop and where exactly the user login has taken the maximum time – is it during the user profile loading? or is it the LDAP bind time to the active directory? or is it the DC Discovery time?. The Users - Logon Performance report helps administrators historically analyze the login patterns to the physical desktops, identify the physical desktops that were slow in responding to the user logon requests and rectify the problems caused due to the poor responsiveness of the physical desktops.

To generate this report, do the following:

  1. Select the Logon Performance option from the Users sub node by following the menu sequence: REPORTS BY FUNCTION -> Domain-specific Reports -> Physical Desktops.

  2. When Figure 1 appears, do the following:

    Generating Users - Logon Performance report

    Figure 1 : Generating the Users - Logon Performance report

  3. Choose a Report Type (Summary or Details) for generating the report. The default Report Type is Details. A Summary report helps in generating the report in a graphical format.

  4. Next, select a criterion for analysis from the Analyze By list box. Using this report, you can analyze the logons of users logged into the physical desktops belonging to one/more components, or those that are part of a zone, service or a segment. The options provided by the Analyze By list box are discussed hereunder:

    • Component: Select this option to choose the component(s) from across all the managed components in the environment.
    • Service: If you want to generate a report for one/more components involved in the delivery of a service, select the Service option from Analyze By, and then pick the required Service from the drop-down list that appears
    • Segment: If you want to generate a report for one/more chosen components that belong to a segment, select the Segment option from Analyze By list box, and then pick the Segment from the drop-down list that appears.
    • Zone: To generate a report for one/more components that are included in a zone, pick the Zone option. A Zone drop-down list will then appear, from which you would have to select the zone to which the components of interest to you belong. A Sub zone flag also appears. Indicate whether the components present within the sub-zones of the chosen zone are also to be to be considered for report generation, by setting the Sub zone flag to Yes.
  5. By default, Physical Desktop Group is chosen from the Component Type list.
  6. If the Report Type is Details, then, in the Component list box, all the components pertaining to the chosen Component Type will be listed. By default, All components option is chosen from this list. You can even select the components of your choice to generate this report. If the Component list consists of too many components, then viewing all the components and selecting the ones you need for report generation could require endless scrolling. To avoid this, you can click the View icon icon next to the Component list. A Component pop up window will then appear using which you can view almost all the components in a single interface and Select the ones to be included for generating the report.
  7. If the Report Type is Details, then, in the User list box, all the users logged into the chosen Components will be listed. By default, All users option is chosen from this list. You can even choose the users based on your choice to generate this report. If the User list is too long, then viewing all the users and selecting the ones you need for report generation could require endless scrolling. To avoid this, you can click the icon next to the User list. This will open the User pop up window using which you can view almost all the users in a single interface and Select the ones for which the report is to be generated. If there are still too many users in the list to choose from, you can narrow your search further by using the Search Options text box. Specify the whole/part of the user name to search for in this text box, and click the icon next to it. The User list will then be populated with all user names that embed the specified search string. Select the user of your choice from this list.
  8. If the Report Type is Details, then a Report By Logons flag appears. By default, this flag is set to Users indicating that the Data report will be generated for each user by consolidating multiple logins of the users. If this flag is set to Sessions, then this report will be generated each time a user logs into the physical desktop and initiates a session.
  9. If the Report Type is Details, by default, this report will list the top 10 users/logon time. Therefore, the Top-10 option is chosen by default from the Show list. If you wish to view the report for the number of users/logon time of your choice, then, you may do so by selecting an option from the Show list box.

  10. Then, specify the Timeline for the report. You can either provide a fixed time line such as 1 hour, 2 days, etc., or select the Any option from the list to provide a From and To date/time for report generation.

    Note:

    For every user registered with the eG Enterprise, the administrator can indicate the maximum timeline for which that user can generate a report. Once the maximum timeline is set for a user, then, whenever that user logs into eG Reporter and attempts to generate a report, the Timeline list box in the report page will display options according to the maximum timeline setting of that user. For instance, if a user can generate a report for a maximum period of 3 days only, then 3 days will be the highest option displayed in the Timeline list - i.e., 3 days will be the last option in the fixed Timeline list. Similarly, if the user chooses the Any option from the Timeline list and proceeds to provide a start date and end date for report generation using the From and To specifications, eG Enterprise will first check if the user’s Timeline specification conforms to his/her maximum timeline setting. If not, report generation will fail. For instance, for a user who is allowed to generate reports spanning over a maximum period of 3 days only, the difference between the From and To dates should never be over 3 days. If it is, then, upon clicking the Run Report button a message box will appear, prompting the user to change the From and To specification.

  11. In addition to the settings discussed above, this report comes with a set of default specifications. These settings are hidden by default. If you do not want to disturb these default settings, then you can proceed to generate the report by clicking the Run Report button soon after you pick the criteria for generating the report. However, if you want to view and then alter these settings (if required), click on the button. The default settings will then appear in the More Options drop down window (see Figure 2). The steps below discuss each of these settings and how they can be customized.

    Default settings for generating User Logon Performance report

    Figure 2 : The default settings for generating the User Logon Performance report

  12. Next, indicate the report Time period.

    Note:

    By default, the Time period is set to 24 hours. Accordingly, the From and To parameters in the [timeframe] section of the eg_report.ini file (in the <eg_install_dir>\manager\config directory) are set to 00:00 and 24:00 respectively. If need be, you can override this default setting by configuring a different timeframe against the From and/or To parameters. 

  13. If the timeline specified for the report needs to exclude the data collected during the Weekends, then set Exclude weekends to Yes. If not, select No.

    Note:

    By default, the weekend constitutes Saturday and Sunday. To override this default setting, do the following:

    • Edit the eg_report.ini file in the <eg_install_dir>\manager\config directory.
    • In the [measure_group] section of the file, the exclude_weekend parameter is set to Saturday,Sunday by default. You can modify this by setting the exclude_weekend parameter to a comma-separated list of other days of the week - say Friday,Saturday.
    • Save the file after making the required changes.

  14. If the Report Type is Details, then a Duration list box will appear (see Figure 2). By default, the greater than option is chosen from this list. For example, if you wish to generate the report only when the login time of the users exceeding 2 seconds, then you can do so by selecting greater than 2 seconds from the Duration list box.

  15. If the Report Type is Details, then an additional Show Logon Details for Print/PDF will appear (see Figure 2). By default, if the generated report is exported as a PDF or CSV file, then, when the Show Logon Details For Print/PDF flag is set to Yes, the Logon Time Break-up(secs) information (that appears in the User Logon Analysis (Secs) section in the generated report will also be exported to the PDF or CSV file. If you do not wish to export these details to the PDF or CSV file, then, set this flag to No.

  16. By default, the check box preceding the Show Logon Performance Health is unchecked. Checking this check box reveals the Threshold field which consists of three unique color-coded text boxes. In these text boxes, starting from left to right, set the threshold to determine the logon performance health of each user based on the logon processing duration in the High/Medium/Low format. By default, 120/80/40 is displayed against this field.

  17. In large environments, reports generated using months of data can take a long time to complete. Administrators now have the option of generating reports on-line or in the background. When a report is scheduled for background generation, administrators can proceed with their other monitoring, diagnosis, and reporting tasks, while the eG manager is processing the report. This saves the administrator valuable time. To schedule background processing of a report, you can either select the Background Save - PDF option or the Background Save - CSV option from the Report Generation list. In this case, a Report Name text box will appear, where you would have to provide the name with which the report is to be saved in the background. To process reports in the foreground, select the Foreground Generation - HTML option from this list.

    Note:

    • The Report Generation list will appear only if the EnableBackgroundReport flag in the [BACKGROUND_PROCESS] section of the eg_report.ini file (in the [EG_INSTALL_DIR]\manager\config directory) is set to Yes.
    • The default selection in the Report Generation list will change according to the Timeline specified for the report. If the Timeline set is greater than or equal to the number of days specified against the MinDurationForReport parameter in the [BACKGROUND_PROCESS] section of the eg_report.ini file, then the default selection in the Report Generation list will be Background. On the other hand, if the Timeline set for the report is lesser than the value of the MinDurationForReport parameter, then the default selection in the Report Generation list will be Foreground. This is because, the MinDurationForReport setting governs when reports are to be processed in the background. By default, this parameter is set to 2 weeks - this indicates that by default, reports with a timeline of 2 weeks and above will be processed in the background.
  18. Click the Done button if any changes were made to the More Options drop down window (see Figure 2).

  19. If the Report Type is Details, the Report By Logons flag is set to Users and the option chosen from the Report Generation list is Foreground Generation - HTML, then, clicking the Run Report button in Figure 1 will invoke Figure 3.

    Figure 3 : The generated Users - Logon Performance report

  20. The generated report in Figure 3 consists of the following sections:

    • An Overview section that reports the total user logons during the chosen time period, the average and maximum time taken for the user logons and the number of users logged into the physical desktop during the chosen time period.

    • A distribution pie chart that reveals the number of user logons in different distribution ranges (see Figure 3). The distribution ranges are based on the threshold values specified in the Threshold shown in Figure 2.
    • A comparison graph in the Total Logons vs Avg Logons Duration section helps administrators compare the total logons with average logons and determine how good/bad the overall logon experience of the users on the physical desktops is.
    • A bar graph in the Session Startup Duration Trend section reveals the trend of slow logons. By analyzing the trend graph, administrators can quickly figure out the dates/time at which the logon slowness has peaked.
    • An Avg Session Startup Breakdown (Secs) section reveals a pie chart that graphically breaks down the logon duration across all factors influencing it; this enables administrators to rapidly and accurately diagnose what has been consistently affecting the logon performance of the users on the physical desktops - GPOs? profile loading? user account discovery? Domain Controller discovery? etc.

    • The User Logon Analysis section provides the consolidated login duration of each user if the Report By Logons flag is set to Users. Expanding the right arrow button preceding each user in Figure 3 reveals the Logon Time Break- up (secs) section (see Figure 4).

      Figure 4 : Expanding the users to view their Logon time breakup

      This section (see Figure 4) reveals the time taken for the user during each step of logon.

    • If the Report Type is Details , Report By Logons flag is set to Users and the Show Logon Performance Health (see Figure 2) check box is checked, then the logon processing duration in the LOGON DURATION column will be color coded based on the threshold limit set (see Figure 5). This helps administrators identify the users whose logon duration is longer than usual.

    User Logon Performance report when Report By Users flag is set to Yes

    Figure 5 : Color coding of the Logon Duration column

  21. If the Report Type is Details and the Report By Logons flag is set to Sessions, then the report will be generated each time a user logs into the physical desktop as shown in Figure 6.The User Logon Analysis section (see Figure 6) displays the detailed logon duration for each user session and the Logon Duration is color coded accordingly based on the Threshold specified in the More Options window (see Figure 2).

    User Logon Performance report when Report By Users flag is set to No

    Figure 6 : The generated report based on per user session

    Note:

    If you do not want to generate such end to end analysis report, then you can do so by setting the enableDetailedData flag under the [USER_LOGON_REPORT] section of the <eG_INSTALL_DIR>\manager\config\eg_report.ini file to No.

  22. If the Report Type is Summary and the option chosen from the Report Generation list is Foreground Generation - HTML, then, clicking on the Run Report button will invoke Figure 7.

    Graphical User Logon Performance report

    Figure 7 : The graphical User Logon Performance report

    The generated report comprises the following sections:

    • A distribution pie chart reveals the number of users in different distribution ranges of their login time (see Figure 7). Clicking on the distribution range legend in the pie chart lists the users who fall within the value range represented by that slice (see Figure 8). Against every user, the actual average logon duration will be displayed.

      Figure 8 : The distribution range of users based on logon duration

      Note:

      By default, the chart type for distribution is a pie chart. However, you can have a bar graph depict the same data instead of a pie chart, by following the steps given below: 

      • Edit the eg_report.ini file in the <EG_INSTALL_DIR>\manager\config directory.
      • Change the value of the chartTypeForDist parameter in the [zone_report] section of this file from the default Pie, to Bar.
      • Save the eg_report.ini file.

      By default, the number of value ranges that need to be configured for the distribution chart is 10. To override this default setting, do the following:  

      • Edit the eg_report.ini file in the <EG_INSTALL_DIR>\manager\config directory.
      • Specify a number of your choice against the nofRangeForDist parameter in the [zone_report] section of this file. By default, this parameter will hold the value 10.
      • Save the eg_report.ini file.

    • Adjacent to the pie chart, you will find a bar chart (see Figure 7) that indicates the users that have based on the logon duration during the specified Timeline.