Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops

Session management configuration

By default, when a published application is closed, the user is logged off from the session host and the session is terminated. In the case where the user is using multiple published applications running on the same host, the session is only terminated when all applications have been closed.

In scenarios where users roam frequently or are expected to access open applications from the same hosts frequently throughout the day, the application launch times can be optimized by changing the session management behavior so that sessions are disconnected instead of logged off when the published application is closed. Therefore, allowing users to reconnect to an existing session instead of initiating a new session every time.

System requirements

  • Control plane
    • Citrix DaaS Cloud
    • Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 2607 LTSR or later
  • Virtual Delivery Agent
    • Windows: version 2607 or later

Configuration

Session management

You configure the behavior by configuring the following setting in Citrix policy:

  • Disconnect published app session after closing last app: the setting is disabled by default. Set to Enabled to change the application close behavior from log off to disconnect.

Automatic application reopen

Optionally, it is possible to reopen an application in the disconnected session to further optimize the application launch time by also reducing the time to wait for the application to open when the session is reconnected.

To configure applications to reopen automatically:

  1. Create a tag named CTX-DSMRELAUNCH
  2. Apply the tag to the published application you wish to automatically reopen in the disconnected session.

For more information on tags, see the Tags documentation.

Considerations

Disconnect session timer

Changing the application close behavior to disconnect may lead to an increased number of disconnected sessions persisting on the session host. Therefore, it is strongly recommended to configure disconnect timers to ensure that sessions do not remain in a disconnected state indefinitely. You can configure disconnect timeout through one of the following options:

  1. Leverage the Disconnected session timer – Multi-session and Disconnected session timer interval – Multi-session settings in Citrix policy.

  2. Use Group Policy to configure the Set time limit for disconnected sessions setting, located under Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Remote Desktop Services > Remote Desktop Session Host > Session Time Limits.

WEM multi-session optimization

Enabling WEM Multi-Session Optimization is highly recommended. This feature automatically reduces CPU and memory consumption for disconnected sessions after one minute, ensuring that resources are allocated to active users and enhancing overall server performance. Upon user reconnection, resource priorities and limits are restored accordingly.

For details, see the Workspace Environment Management (WEM) documentation.

Session management configuration