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Citrix Advisor

February 24, 2026
Contributed by: 
C

Citrix Advisor is a service that helps you optimize Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops deployment and enhance its overall health and readiness. It automates environment checks and delivers actionable recommendations, empowering you to proactively identify configuration issues, inefficiencies, resource wastes, deviations from best practices, and more.

Advisor landing page

Note:

  • This service is available exclusively to Full Administrators.
  • We recommend submitting your feedback using the feedback icon in the top-right corner of the page.

Benefits

With Advisor, you can:

  • Proactively identify and resolve issues: Detect potential problems, configuration drift, and deviations from best practices before they impact users, disrupt business operations, or compromise security.
  • Optimize environment performance and stability: Fine-tune configurations, optimize resource allocation, and implement best practices to enhance the stability, security, and performance of your Citrix deployments.
  • Streamline operations and reduce overhead: Automate routine checks, simplify complex remediation tasks, and receive guided assistance, thereby reducing operational overhead and freeing up administrative resources.
  • Optimize costs and resource utilization: Identify areas of overspending, uncover opportunities for resource optimization, and ensure efficient utilization of Citrix technologies to minimize the total cost of ownership.
  • Maintain compliance and adherence to best practices: Ensure that your Citrix deployments adhere to Citrix best practices, security standards, and industry regulations, reducing risk and improving overall governance.
  • Simplify complex tasks: Simplify administrative tasks to support a healthy, optimized environment.

Check for recommendations

To check your site for Advisor recommendations, follow these steps:

  1. Sign in to Web Studio using an account with the Full Administrator role.
  2. In the left pane, select Advisor.
  3. Click Check site.

  4. On the Check site page, select the categories you want Advisor to check.

    Category Description Reference
    Security Recommendations for detecting threats and vulnerabilities that might lead to security breaches. Security recommendations
    Reliability Recommendations for ensuring and improving the continuity of your business-critical applications. Reliability recommendations
    Performance Recommendations for enhancing performance across applications and desktops to deliver faster, more responsive experiences for end users. Performance recommendations
    Operational excellence Recommendations for helping you achieve process and workflow efficiency, resource manageability, and deployment best practices. Operational excellence recommendations
    Cost optimization Recommendations for reducing overall spending by right-sizing resources, minimizing waste, and aligning capacity with actual usage needs. Cost optimization recommendations

  5. Click Run check to run a site check and generate updated recommendations based on the current configuration.

    All recommendations appear in the list.

    Access Advisor

Filter recommendations

You can filter recommendations by Impact, Category, or Component to focus on the information most relevant to your deployment.

  1. In Advisor, locate the filters at the top right of the recommendation list.

    Advisor Categories

  2. Click a filter (for example, Category) to view available options.

  3. Select one or more checkboxes to apply the filter. The list updates automatically to display only the recommendations that match your selections.

  4. Use multiple filters together to narrow down the list.

    Advisor filters

Review and act on recommendations

Use the recommendations list to understand configuration issues and improvement opportunities in your deployment. You can take the following actions on recommendations:

View recommendation details

To review a recommendation, select a recommendation to view its details in the lower pane.

Advisor Details

To implement the recommended actions for a recommendation, follow these steps:

  1. Select a recommendation.
  2. Click Fix now in the action bar.

  3. Follow the recommended steps to make the necessary updates.

    Sometimes, you’re directed to supporting documentation when automated configuration isn’t supported or feasible. We want to make sure that Advisor is designed to provide automated actions directly within the UI wherever possible, minimizing the need for manual setup.

  4. After making updates, click Recheck to update the status of the affected targets.

    Fix recommendation

Note:

The UI and steps vary depending on the recommendation. The screenshot shown is for illustration purposes only.

Dismiss recommendations

If a recommendation isn’t relevant to your deployment or doesn’t require action, you can remove it from the current list and future check results:

  1. Select the recommendation.
  2. Click Dismiss in the action bar.

Tip:

To restore a recommendation, click the Gear icon in the upper-right corner above the recommendation list, and select Manage dismissed items

Dismiss specific affected targets in a recommendation

If a recommendation includes affected targets that are intentionally non-compliant with best practices (for example, test, validation, or temporary resources), you can remove them from this recommendation (also known as granular dismissal).

Note:

Granular dismissal is supported only for the following targets: machine catalogs, delivery groups, application groups, and zones.

Detailed steps are as follows:

  1. Select the recommendation.
  2. Click the Affected targets field of the recommendation. The recommendation page displays all affected targets.

  3. Hover over the affected target that you want to dismiss. A Dismiss icon appears in the top-right corner of the target.

    granular dismissal

  4. Click the Dismiss icon. A dismissal confirmation dialog box appears.

  5. Enter a note for the dismissal if needed, and then click Dismiss. The affected target is removed from the recommendation page.

Tip:

To restore a dismissed target in a recommendation, click the Gear icon in the upper-right corner above the recommendation list, and select Manage dismissed items.

Customize check rules

You can customize Advisor check rules for the following recommendations:

  • Enhance Cloud Connector hardware: Adjust thresholds for CPU, memory, and disk usage, and exclude specific disks.
  • Release unused resources: Define custom unused time thresholds for machines and applications.
  • Optimize GPO configuration for VDAs: Modify the GPO processing time threshold.

To customize the check rule for a single recommendation, follow these steps:

  1. Select a recommendation and click Customize in the action bar.

    Customize check rule

  2. On the Customize page, update the check settings as needed.
  3. Click Save. Changes take effect the next time you run the check.

To customize check rules for all three recommendations from a central location, follow these steps:

  1. Click the Gear icon in the upper-right corner above the recommendation list, and select Customize rules. The three recommendations appear.
  2. Click the Edit icon next to a recommendation.
  3. Update the check settings as needed.
  4. To update check rules for the remaining recommendations, repeat steps 2–3.
  5. Click Save. Changes take effect the next time you run the check.

View the full site check report

The full report provides a summary of all Advisor recommendations from the latest site check. It includes passed, dismissed, and unresolved checkpoints, helping you assess the overall health and optimization opportunities in your DaaS site.

To view the full report, click the View full report icon at the top right of the recommendation list.

Advisor full report

References

This section lists all Citrix Advisor recommendations by category to help you understand their purpose and impact.

Security recommendations

Recommendation ID Impact Component Description
pgrade VDAs that reached End of Life REC_001 High VDA Some machines are using VDA versions that have reached End of Life and are no longer supported by Citrix. Upgrade affected machines to the latest LTSR or CR VDA version.
Assign resources to security groups REC_016 Medium General Some resources are assigned to individual users. It is a Citrix best practice only to assign user access through security groups to streamline management and enhance security. Reconfigure the user assignment for delivery and application groups to include only security groups.
Upgrade Citrix Workspace app versions that reached End of Life REC_017 High Workspace app Some endpoint devices use a Citrix Workspace app version that reached End of Life. Upgrade devices to the latest Workspace app version to reduce supportability and security risks. For simplified version management and automatic update control, use Global App Configuration Service. Additionally, consider using endpoint analysis solutions to enforce a minimum Workspace app version to access the store.
Use HTTPS for host connections REC_039 Medium General Some host connections are currently configured with HTTP instead of HTTPS. To ensure secure communication with your hypervisor, update these connections to use HTTPS. This requires enabling HTTPS on your hypervisor and ensuring valid TLS certificates are in place.
Upgrade StoreFront server versions that reached End of Life REC_043 High StoreFront Some StoreFront servers are running versions that have reached End of Life and are no longer supported by Citrix. To maintain a secure, supportable environment, upgrade all affected StoreFront servers to the latest LTSR or CR version.
Use HTTPS for StoreFront base URL REC_044 High StoreFront Some StoreFront base URLs are currently configured with HTTP instead of HTTPS. To protect user credentials and sensitive data, configure your StoreFront servers and associated load balancers to use HTTPS. Make sure the base URL begins with ‘https://’. This ensures all communications are encrypted and helps prevent security threats such as man-in-the-middle attacks.
Use HTTPS for communication between StoreFront and Delivery Controllers REC_045 High StoreFront Traffic between StoreFront and Delivery Controllers is currently transmitted over unencrypted HTTP, which can expose user credentials to security threats. To protect your environment, enable HTTPS on Delivery Controllers and configure StoreFront to use secure connections.

Reliability recommendations

Recommendation ID Impact Component Description
Configure restart schedules for multi-session delivery groups REC_004 High VDA Some multi-session delivery groups do not have restart schedules configured. Scheduled restarts help maintain optimal performance, stability, and resource availability across multi-session OS VDAs. To ensure service continuity and reduce downtime, create at least two restart schedules. Alternate restart schedules with tag restrictions by tagging VDAs into groups, such as ‘Even’ and ‘Odd.’
Host applications on multiple VDAs REC_006 High VDA Some published applications are hosted on only a single VDA, which can impact service continuity and lead to downtime risks. Ensure that each application is hosted on multiple VDAs in a delivery group to help maintain availability and reliability.
Upgrade VDAs to match the catalog functional level REC_008 High VDA Some machines use an earlier VDA version not supported by the minimum catalog functional level, which can prevent them from registering. To avoid registration issues, upgrade earlier VDA versions to match the catalog functional level.
Enable advanced health check for StoreFront stores REC_036 Medium StoreFront One or more stores on some StoreFront servers do not have advanced health check enabled. StoreFront uses the additional information from the advanced health check results to ensure launch requests are sent to the appropriate resource location (zone) in Local Host Cache (LHC) mode. Without advanced health check, launches may fail when in LHC mode. To improve the resiliency of your Citrix environment, enable advanced health check for all stores on the StoreFront servers.
Ensure StoreFront server redundancy REC_042 High StoreFront Some StoreFront server groups contain only one server, creating a single point of failure and a lack of redundancy in the event of an outage. For better resiliency, deploy at least two StoreFront servers in a server group and front them with a load balancer to ensure seamless failover and uninterrupted access.

Performance recommendations

Recommendation ID Impact Component Description
Rightsize high resource-consuming machines REC_023 Medium VDA Some machines show signs of performance strain, such as high CPU or memory utilization, or a high session count. This indicates machines are undersized to handle the workloads they support, which can lead to a poor user experience and reduced performance. Consider changing the machine size to increase the allocated resources for the machine or relocating power users to a delivery group that has high-performance machines.
Evaluate resource allocation for PVS servers REC_031 Medium Citrix Provisioning Some Citrix Provisioning (PVS) servers show signs of performance strain, such as high CPU or memory utilization. Insufficient server resource allocation may result in poor performance and extended boot times. Consider increasing the CPU and memory allocation for these PVS servers as needed.
Increase resource allocation for PVS servers REC_032 High Citrix Provisioning Some Citrix Provisioning (PVS) servers show signs of performance strain, such as critical CPU or memory utilization. Insufficient server resource allocation may result in poor performance and extended boot times. Consider increasing the CPU and memory allocation for these PVS servers as needed.
Evaluate write cache disk size for PVS target devices REC_033 Medium VDA The write cache disk usage on some Citrix Provisioning (PVS) target devices is nearing the threshold. To avoid performance issues and user session failures, evaluate the current write cache disk size and increase it as needed.
Optimize GPO configuration for VDAs REC_035 Medium VDA Some user sessions experienced prolonged GPO processing during logon, impacting performance. To increase control over environment settings, block Group Policy inheritance for your VDA organizational units and apply only relevant policies and security configurations. Additionally, consider leveraging Citrix Workspace Environment Management to process settings asynchronously for faster session logons.
Enable socket pooling for StoreFront stores REC_046 Medium StoreFront Some StoreFront stores don’t have socket pooling enabled. Socket pooling enhances efficiency by maintaining a pool of readily available network connections (sockets) for communication with Delivery Controllers or Cloud Connectors. Instead of creating a new socket for every request and then closing it (a high-overhead process), StoreFront reuses an existing connection from the pool. To enhance overall environment performance and efficiency, enable socket pooling on all stores, particularly for Transport Layer Security (TLS) connections.

Operational excellence recommendations

Recommendation ID Impact Component Description
Upgrade VDAs to the latest version REC_002 Low VDA Some machines are using older VDA versions. Upgrade to the latest LTSR or CR VDA version to access new features, improvements, and security enhancements.
Use Citrix Provisioning technology REC_003 Medium Citrix Provisioning All machines in the site are manually provisioned and do not use Citrix Provisioning technologies such as Machine Creation Services™ (MCS) or Provisioning Services (PVS). Use MCS or PVS to ensure VDA consistency, minimize manual tasks, and streamline environment scaling operations.
Back up your site configuration REC_011 High General You don’t have a backup of your site configuration. Create on-demand or scheduled backups to ensure you have a ready-to-use copy of your Citrix configurations for quick recovery.
Reset tainted Active Directory accounts REC_049 Medium Provisioning Some machine catalogs contain AD accounts marked as ‘tainted’ in the AD Identity Service. These accounts must be reset to be available for subsequent provisioning operations.

Cost optimization recommendations

Recommendation ID Impact Component Description
Enable Autoscale for your delivery groups REC_010 Medium VDA Some eligible delivery groups aren’t using Autoscale. Enable Autoscale for consistent machine power management, maintaining availability while effectively balancing costs and user experience.
Release unused resources REC_013 Medium General Some dedicated workloads, such as machines or applications, have not been used for over 30 days. To reduce unnecessary spending and optimize costs, release unused machines back to the available pool and manage unused applications.
Citrix Advisor
February 24, 2026
Contributed by: 
C
February 24, 2026
Contributed by: 
C

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