Using Smart Check to proactively monitor the health of your XenApp and XenDesktop on-premises sites

Like many people, you probably go to the doctor for a regular physical each year. You do this because you care about your personal health and are interested in receiving good news from the doctor that all is well. Your doctor will take some key vitals, like your temperature, weight, blood pressure, blood oxygen level, and a blood sample for a basic blood test. If your vitals are in range, you leave with some confidence your health is good. If your vitals look off, your doctor will provide guidance on what needs to be done to get your health back on track, such as altering your diet, exercising more, prescribing some medicine, or maybe running some more advanced or targeted tests.

Using Citrix Smart Check is like getting a “physical” for your XenApp and XenDesktop on-prem sites

Smart Check takes the key vitals of your core components, like your Controllers, VDAs, StoreFront servers, Provisioning Servers, and License Server. After capturing these vitals, the results are analyzed for anomalies. If something out of the ordinary is discovered, Smart Check provides guidance and next steps. What is even better is that you barely have to lift a finger because Citrix automates and operates it all through Citrix Cloud.

Smart Check exited its “preview” phase last month and is now fully and freely available to all customers with Customer Success Services. In fact, we have 1700+ customers (and counting) using Smart Check! If you are running any edition of 7.6 LTSR, 7.15 LTSR, or any of the latest supported Current Releases, you can take advantage of Smart Check today.

And for those of you just now transitioning from XenApp 6.5 to 7.15 LTSR or the latest Current Release, you may still be learning and getting up to speed with the newer 7.x platform. Don’t let your unfamiliarity leave you feeling uneasy. Let Smart Check keep an eye on your environment and guide you to the resources, recommendations, and resolutions to help you keep your environment running smoothly.

Getting started takes less than 10 minutes. If you are starting from scratch and installing a new XenApp or XenDesktop site, you can start enabling Smart Check for your site during the installation of your Delivery Controllers by following the steps documented here. If you already have a XenApp or XenDesktop site up and running and chose not to enable Smart Check during the Delivery Controller installation process, you can manually add and enable your site for Smart Check by following these steps.

If you are currently using Smart Check, be sure to check out and start using our newest health checks released last month for:

  • StoreFront
  • Provisioning Services
  • License Server

As always, we value you as Citrix customers and welcome your feedback and questions, which you can share in the Smart Check discussion forum. Also, during certain phases of R&D for Smart Check, we like to engage in customer-focused research through our Citrix Insiders program. If you are not a Citrix Insider and want to become one, sign up today!

Stay tuned for more goodies on Smart Check in the coming weeks as we aim to make this a regular series.