uberAgent

uberAgent vs. Splunk Template for XenDesktop 7

Both uberAgent and the Splunk Template for XenDesktop 7 can be used to monitor a Citrix XenDesktop/XenApp environment. This article highlights the key differences between both products.

Scope

The Splunk Template for XenDesktop 7 monitors part of the XenDesktop infrastructure (e.g. license server) and collects performance data per session and per machine on the XenApp session hosts.

uberAgent monitors user experience and application performance of Windows machines.

Support and Maintenance

Splunk does not provide support for its App for Citrix XenDesktop. New versions with bugfixes and additional features are rare.

uberAgent is fully supported. New versions are being released every 2-3 months. Fixes for critical bugs are made available immediately.

Footprint

The Splunk Template for XenDesktop 7 collects data via PowerShell scripts and WMI.

uberAgent, on the other hand, is written in C++ and accesses native APIs (no WMI). Therefore uberAgent has a much smaller footprint and consumes fewer resources on the monitored system.

Data volume

The Splunk Template for XenDesktop 7 generates a higher data volume per XenApp server than uberAgent.

Data collection

The Splunk Template for XenDesktop 7 collects the following data:

  • High-level overviews supporting multiple farms
  • Alerting
  • ICA latency reporting
  • User experience investigation
  • User logon time details
  • Performance visualization and monitoring
  • Application usage
  • Critical service monitoring

uberAgent collects the data about the following:

  • Logon duration
  • Computer startup duration
  • Machine performance
  • Session performance
  • Process performance
  • Application performance
  • Application usage
  • Application versions
  • Process startup duration
  • GPU usage
  • Browser performance per website

Here is the full list of metrics collected by uberAgent.

uberAgent vs. Splunk Template for XenDesktop 7