Reporting session failures specific to an application launch or a running application is made easy with Citrix Director 7.15.
A XenApp and XenDesktop administrator uses Director to monitor failures but finds it difficult to determine why a session failed, it could be due to issues in the XenApp and XenDesktop stack or with the application.
This feature addresses this concern by collecting and displaying session failures due to applications. Administrators can generate reports on collected data and share with application vendors to address the failures.
Application failures are categorized into two types based on their severity: Application Faults and Application Errors. An Application Fault indicates a significant problem, usually a loss of functionality or data. An Application Error indicates a problem that is not immediately relevant; they signify conditions that might cause future problems.
Where can you find this feature on the Director console?
Log in to Director → Click Trends → Click Application Failures
What filters can be applied on the data collected?
The Director console queries failures from the Monitor service and displays them in a tabular format. The following filters are supported for Faults and Errors:
- Application Name (Name given for Admin on Studio)
- Process Name (ex: outlook.exe)
- Delivery Group
- Time range: Last 2 hours, Last 24 hours, Last 7 days, Last month, Custom Time Period
Application Faults
Application Errors
What do the table column names indicate?
Both Application Faults and Application Errors have the following columns:
- Time: Time of failure occurrence. You can sort the table by this column.
- Published Application Name: Name given to the application by the admin on Studio
- Note: Published Application name is displayed as “Unknown” when the corresponding application name can’t be derived. This typically occurs when the launched application fails in a desktop session or due to an unhandled exception caused by a dependent executable.
- Process Name: Executable involved in the failure
- Version: Version of the Executable involved in the failure
- Description: Failure details with the Executable name, path, version, exception code, module in which failure occurred
- Machine Name: Machine on which the failure occurred
Which Export format is supported?
You can export the table data and generate reports in CSV, Excel or PDF formats.
Which versions of XenApp and XenDesktop supports this feature?
XenApp and XenDesktop version 7.15 or later supports this feature.
Which versions of VDA supports this feature?
VDAs must be of version 7.15 or later. Desktop OS VDAs Windows Vista and later, Server OS VDAs Windows 2008 and later are supported.
What is the default retention period and how to change it?
Retention period varies with the License type and is as follows
| License Type | Out-of-Box Retention Days | Maximum configurable limit in Days | Maximum records in Database |
| Platinum | 1 | 31 | 1 Million (Fixed) |
| Enterprise | 1 | 31 | 1 Million (Fixed) |
| Non-Platinum Non-Enterprise |
1 | 7 | 1 Million (Fixed) |
To configure retention period for Application Faults, run the PowerShell command “Set-MonitorConfiguration -GroomApplicationFaultsRetentionDays <value in days>” on the Delivery Controller.
To configure retention period for Application Errors, run the PowerShell command “Set-MonitorConfiguration -GroomApplicationErrorsRetentionDays <value in days>” on the Delivery Controller.
Which are the Group policies to be applied to collect failures on VDAs?
By default, Application Faults on Server OS VDAs are collected. You can modify the collection settings through Group policies: Enable monitoring of Application Failures, Enable monitoring of Application Failures on Desktop OS VDAs and List of applications excluded from failure monitoring.
For more details, see the product documentation, http://docs.citrix.com/en-us/xenapp-and-xendesktop/7-15-ltsr/director/troubleshooting-applications.html#App_Failure_Monitoring
