Session and Account Management
This section describes some general guidelines regarding HDX™ session management and its relationship with macOS user account setup.
Citrix VDA for macOS does not change or manage user accounts in macOS. End users can log out or switch user accounts inside an active HDX session, which follows default macOS behaviors.
For HDX session, two different operations can be performed:
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Disconnect: ends the current active connection towards VDA. However, the HDX session for Citrix VDA for macOS is still alive and hence, the session is blocked and can be reused only by the last user connected.
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Logoff: terminates the current HDX session and the VDA is able to establish a new session upon new brokering requests from DDC.
Administrators and end users can disconnect or logoff HDX session through different approaches respectively.
For administrators, session can be disconnected or logged off through the WebStudio and Monitor Service Panel as shown in the following screenshots.
For end users, session can be disconnected or logged off in various ways as shown in the following screenshots.:
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From the Activity Manager at the top right of the Workspace app page,
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Pull down the Workspace app toolbar, click Ctrl-Alt-Del to log-off the HDX session
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Click Disconnect to disconnect the session.
When clicked, you will see below message box reminder.
Note:
Starting from Citrix Workspace™ app 2505 release, the “Ctrl-Alt-Del” button to sign off session is replaced by options when user click “Disconnect” button:
To enable this feature, edit the related Delivery Group option by adding the string in related tab.
for CVAD it is in the “User Settings”
for DaaS, it’s now in “Preference”
KEYWORDS:
ICA-LogOffOnClose=true ICA-PromptMessage="Do you want to sign out from the session?" ICA-Title="Sign out or disconnect" ICA-Icon=trueThe above strings are configurable if you want to customize them for end users.
Alternatively, an administrator or an end user can run the command sudo /opt/Citrix/VDA/bin/ctxlogoff to logoff a session directly from the VDA machine.
Administrators should guide their end users to logoff the session each time after usage if their organization wants to maximize the usage of the underlying devices with multiple user accounts configured.
Meanwhile, configure Machine Catalog - Desktop Experience as Random and related Delivery Group settings to allow unbinding between HDX session and the user.
Session Logoff and macOS User Logout Alignment
Citrix VDA for macOS supports alignment between HDX session logoff and macOS user logout. When this feature is enabled, logging out of the macOS user account inside the VDA also logs off the associated Citrix HDX session.
This feature is disabled by default.
Enable the feature
On the Mac VDA machine, open Terminal and run the following command:
sudo /opt/Citrix/VDA/bin/ctxreg create -k "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Citrix\AccessControl\Logoff" -v "LogoffAlignmentOption" -t REG_DWORD -d "0x01"
This command sets the following registry value to 1:
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Citrix\AccessControl\Logoff\LogoffAlignmentOption
Use the feature
After enabling the feature, start a new HDX session for the change to take effect.
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If an HDX session is currently active, disconnect the session. If no HDX session is active, skip this step.
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Connect to the Mac VDA again through HDX. Use either of the following options to log off the HDX session and log out of the macOS user account.
Option 1: Log off from the Workspace app toolbar
- In the HDX session, open the Workspace app toolbar.
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Select Log out from the sign-out or disconnect prompt.
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When the macOS logout confirmation dialog appears, select Log Out.
Option 2: Log out from macOS
- In the HDX session, log out of the macOS user account from the Apple menu.
- Confirm the macOS logout when prompted.
After the macOS user session logs out, the Citrix HDX session is logged off automatically.
Disable the feature
To disable session logoff and macOS user logout alignment, use either of the following methods on the Mac VDA machine.
Set LogoffAlignmentOption to 0:
sudo /opt/Citrix/VDA/bin/ctxreg create -k "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Citrix\AccessControl\Logoff" -v "LogoffAlignmentOption" -t REG_DWORD -d "0x00"
Or delete LogoffAlignmentOption:
sudo /opt/Citrix/VDA/bin/ctxreg delete -k "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Citrix\AccessControl\Logoff" -v "LogoffAlignmentOption"
If an HDX session is active, disconnect the session and connect again for the change to take effect.
Note:
This feature is fully supported in Citrix Workspace app for Mac. For Citrix Workspace app for Windows and Linux, logging out of the macOS user account inside the VDA logs off the HDX session. However, logging off the HDX session from the Workspace app toolbar might not always trigger macOS user logout.
Endpoint metrics monitoring
Endpoint metrics are vital for troubleshooting Citrix session performance as they provide insights into the “last mile” of the user experience and reveal details about the user’s immediate environment. These metrics can help identify bottlenecks related to poor Wi-Fi, low network throughput, and server/client issues. By offering a holistic view when combined with metrics in the session topology, endpoint data enables faster root cause identification and quicker resolution of performance issues, improving the user experience.
Use the policies in Citrix Studio to enable (refer to policy list) or disable the collection of listed endpoint metrics based on your requirements. The policies provide Citrix administrators with granular controls to report metrics in adherence to your compliance requirements.
For detailed settings, see Session Performance metrics - Endpoint metrics.