Citrix is a name that has become synonymous with virtualization in networking.

As a leading provider of virtualized servers and applications, Citrix has helped expand the network of countless enterprises.

Yet the complexity of monitoring these services on the client-side has raised some major challenges.

Here is our list of the nine best Citrix Monitoring tools:

The best Citrix monitoring tools

Using this set of criteria, we looked for virtualization monitors that can also watch over the networks and servers that support the activity of the hypervisor. Tools that are also able to monitor Hyper-V and VMWare were prioritized.

Our methodology for selecting a Citrix monitoring system

We reviewed the market for monitors that track hypervisors, such as Citrix systems, and analyzed the options based on the following criteria:

  • Automatic virtualization structure discovery and mapping
  • Simultaneous monitoring of supporting physical resources
  • The ability to spot the automatic movement of VMs between hosts
  • Warnings for resource capacity limits
  • Demand analysis
  • A free trial or a demo for a cost-free assessment opportunity
  • Value for money, represented by a Citrix monitor that can also be used to monitor other IT assets

All the products on this list are ideal for monitoring the performance of Citrix infrastructure and keeping key services available.

1. SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor (FREE TRIAL)

SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor is an application monitoring solution that can be used to monitor Citrix infrastructure. The tool enables you to monitor CPU load, performance counters, services, events and processes for Virtual Apps and Virtual Desktops. All of this information is shown in the form of a list format accompanied by a graph with time period options (1h, 12h, and 24h).

Key Features:

  • Application dependency mapping
  • Automatic virtual structure discovery
  • Watches VM to host moves
  • Correlates virtual to physical
  • Also good for Hyper-V, VMWare, and Nutanix

One of the most appealing features is the out-of-the-box monitoring templates that the program has for Citrix. Performance metrics include CPU entitlement, reservation, shares, usage, IMA network traffic sent/received, active connections, SecureTicketAuthority metrics, ICA session bandwidth metrics, Datastore read/writes, DynamicStore read/write, Encryption ActiveSync service,and end-user experience.

To keep you up-to-date on Citrix performance, SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor offers alerts. The software sends alerts to you by email and SMS if certain performance issues occur. For example, if a session slows to a crawl or an application isn’t available to a user the program sends a notification.

SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor is a reliable product for Citrix monitoring and measuring application performance. The user interface is straightforward and configurable so you can view all the information you need to uphold your services. The software is available from a price of $2,995 (£2,388.21). You can download the 30-day free trial.

Pros:

  • Designed with large and enterprise networks in mind
  • Supports auto-discovery that builds network topology maps and inventory lists in real-time based on devices that enter the network
  • Can monitor Virtual Apps, Virtual Desktops as well as the host’s resource consumption
  • Supports both SNMP monitoring as well as packet analysis, giving you more control over monitoring than similar tools
  • Uses drag and drop widgets to customize the look and feel of the dashboard

Cons:

  • This is a feature-rich enterprise tool designed for IT professionals, it may take time to explore all features and options

2. ManageEngine OpManager (FREE TRIAL)

EDITOR’S CHOICE

SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor (SAM) is our top choice for Citrix monitoring because it identifies all resource and service requirements for Virtual Apps implementations and keeps an eye on their performance. Get alerted with warnings so you can head off issues before they escalate without having to watch the screens all of the time.

Download: Start 30-day Free Trial

Official Site: solarwinds.com/server-application-monitor

OS: Windows Server 2016 or later

ManageEngine OpManager is a network performance monitor that implements network discovery and creates a network inventory plus topology maps. The service also monitors servers and virtualization with Citrix monitoring capabilities in that list of services.

  • Virtual structure autodiscovery
  • Spots remapping of VMs to hosts
  • Watches supporting server resources

The package scans Xen structures, mapping servers and VMs plus the connecting virtual network structure between them. As a server monitor, the tool can also correlate the linked demands on the physical server that supports the hypervisor.

Xen Motion will move the allocation of VMs from one host to another to match resource demand with capacity availability. This is a great service for the efficient use of resources, but a nightmare for monitoring. OpManager is able to track these movements and update its dependency maps so you can see exactly what is happening and where.

ManageEngine OpManager is written for Windows Server and Linux and it is also available as a service on the marketplaces of  AWS or Azure. There is a Free edition of OpManager and  ManageEngine offers a 30-day free trial of full service. If you choose not to buy at the end of the trial period, your installation switches over to the Free edition.

  • Monitors networks, servers, and virtualizations

  • Monitor for Hyper-V, VMWare, and Nutanix, as well as Citrix

  • Discovers virtual structures

  • Follows reallocation of VMs to hosts

  • No SaaS version

ManageEngine OpManager Access a 30-day FREE Trial

3. Paessler PRTG Network Monitor (FREE TRIAL)

Paessler PRTG Network Monitor is a network monitoring tool that has a number of sensors that can monitor Citrix hosts. Through the PRTG Citrix Hypervisor Host Sensor, you can monitor the CPU usage, memory usage, network usage, number of running virtual machines, and a load average of Xen host servers. Similarly, the Citrix Citrix Hypervisor Virtual Machine Sensor can monitor virtual machines on a Xen server. Through this sensor, you can monitor the CPU usage, memory usage, disk usage, network usage, and balloon driver target size.

  • Well-resented data screen
  • Xen server backup monitoring
  • Tracks physical resource usage
  • Alerts sent by email, SMS, or Slack

There is also a range of options for monitoring Citrix Hypervisor backups. For example, the IMAP Sensor allows you to monitor your emails for keywords that indicate a backup has been completed. By configuring this sensor you’ll be able to stay on top of backups and ensure your services are up-to-date.

The notifications system on PRTG Network Monitor is highly customizable. You can send alerts via email, SMS, or push notifications. Alerts can be scheduled according to your requirements. For example, you can configure it so you don’t get alerts outside of working hours.

The great thing about PRTG Network Monitor is that the sensors system makes it easy to configure. All you need to do is launch one of the preconfigured sensors and you’re ready to go. PRTG Network Monitor has a scalable pricing model. PRTG Network Monitor starts at $1600 (£1,276.31) for 500 sensors and one server installation. There is a 30-day free trial.

  • Uses a custom PRTG Citrix sensor to monitor Citrix-specific metrics and insights

  • Fully customizable dashboard is great for both lone administrators as well as NOC teams

  • Offers monitor on the hosts level as well as metrics on each virtual machine

  • Supports a wide range of alert mediums such as SMS, email, and third-party integrations into platforms like Slack

  • Supports a freeware version

  • Is a very comprehensive platform with many features and moving parts that require time to learn

Paessler PRTG Network Monitor Download 30-day FREE Trial

4. eG Enterprise (FREE TRIAL)

eG Enterprise, from eG Innovations, is a network monitoring software platform that can monitor all the Citrix services in a single pane of glass. eG Enterprise is a top application monitoring solution because it allows you to move past superficial metrics and on to the issue of problem resolution. You can monitor every layer of your Citrix infrastructure and monitor data like CPU usage with bar charts and graphs to make sure you can see everything you need to.

  • Discovery of VM to host structure
  • Clearly drawn dependency maps
  • Performance alerts

To keep up with performance issues, eG Enterprise uses alerts. Alerts work by using auto-baselines to monitor for unusual activity. You can also configure alarm policies through the Alarm Manager. In effect, you have complete control over the activity you’ll be notified about.

eG Enterprise is available in a number of versions (on-premises and in the cloud); Easy Evaluation, Perpetual License, Subscription, SaaS, and Audit service. In order to view a quote for this product, you will have to contact the company directly. You can download the 30 day free trial to figure out your network’s requirements.

  • Provides a highly visual way for you to monitor your SharePoint servers and services

  • Topological maps help display dependencies and bottlenecks in your system

  • Real-user monitoring provides highly accurate user experience metrics

  • Available for both on-premise and cloud-based deployments

  • Pricing is not transparent, must request a quote from the sales team

  • Configuration and onboarding can be cumbersome

  • Steeper learning curve than similar products

eG Enterprise Access 30-day FREE Trial

5. Dynatrace

  • Application dependency mapping
  • Identifies inner virtualization structure
  • Also good for VMware, Hyper-V, and KVM

What makes Dynatrace perfect for monitoring Citrix Hypervisor is that it can automatically detect and pinpoint the root cause of performance issues. This is even more useful due to the fact that infrastructure changes are updated automatically so new servers will be added to your monitoring environment automatically.

If you require a virtualization monitoring solution that provides visibility beyond the virtualization layer then Dynatrace is a natural choice. To view the price of Dynatrace you will have to contact the sales team directly. You can also download the 15-day free trial.

  • Excellent user interface

  • Can narrow down specific root causes for slowness, such as unoptimized Javascript or large images

  • Can run on both Windows or Linux operating systems

  • Runs in the cloud and doesn’t require installation or infrastructure expenses

  • Could use a longer trial period

  • Can be complicated for non-technical users

  • Is designed for enterprise use, not the best option for smaller companies

6. SysKit Monitor

SysKit Monitor is an agentless network monitoring solution. The tool tracks real-time and historic performance. You can also monitor the live experience of end users. You can monitor users activity such as logons and how long they spent during each state of their sessions.

  • Lightweight monitor
  • No-nonsense dashboard layout
  • Monitors many applications

Sessions are broken down into three sections; active, idle, and disconnected. The software also monitors for OS, patches, and licenses of components connected to your network. Real-time alerts keep you posted so you won’t miss anything important.

The reporting capabilities of Syskit Monitor are also very flexible. There are user monitoring reports and server auditing reports to show you everything you need to identify performance problems. When you generate a user monitoring reports for Syskit Monitor you can see a session log summary, details of user activity, most active users, a list of IP addresses and clients, and concurrent usage reports.

There are three versions of SysKit Monitor available to purchase: the Standard, Professional, and Enterprise versions. The Standard version costs $199 (£158.65) per server and includes agentless monitoring, user activity reports, and application reports.

  • Leverages agentless monitoring to provide a lightweight monitoring solution

  • Offers both real-time and historic insights into Citrix environments

  • Can view user-specific metrics such as last login, current status, and resource consumption

  • The interface closely resembles Microsoft Office, which I found to feel cluttered when monitoring at scale

The Professional version costs $299 (£238.36) per server and adds other features like PowerShell administration and License reports. The Enterprise version costs $449 (£357.94) per server and includes a web application plus performance reports. There is also a 30-day free trial version.

7. ControlUp

ControlUp is a performance monitoring software tool that identifies issues throughout your Citrix infrastructure. The program delivers transparency from hypervisors right through to individual user sessions. The dashboard shows performance data in real-time. Data shown on the dashboard includes latency, login times, and application launch times, in the form of a table. The table is color-coded so you can see problems at a glance.

  • Shows all Citrix structure
  • Monitors user activity
  • Tools to deal with resources shortages

Once an issue has been found there are a number of actions the user can take to address it. For example, the user can select the ‘Kill Policy’ option to remove group policy restrictions and enable configurations to be changed at a much faster rate than before (particularly useful when responding to performance troubles).

A distinct advantage of this product compared to many others on the market is that it can monitor multiple Citrix apps and desktops. The software supports all Citrix Virtual Apps, and Desktop versions so that you can manage your entire virtual infrastructure from one location.

There are three versions of ControlUp available to purchase: the Pro, Enterprise, and Platinum versions. The Pro version has one-day data retention, the enterprise version has one month, and the platinum version has one year. You need to contact the company directly to view a quote. You can download a free trial.

8. ExtraHop

ExtraHop is an application performance monitoring platform that has support for monitoring Citrix infrastructure. The ExtraHop Citrix ICA Module provides visibility for Virtual Desktops and Virtual Apps, and displays ICA and CGP transactions in real-time. The Citrix ICA module comes configured out-of-the-box. Metrics are broken down into user, session, and client type. From this module, you can monitor for issues like slow logins and long loading times.

  • Monitors inside and under Citrix
  • User, session, and client data classification
  • Identifies root cause for VM problems

It is worth noting that you can also monitor bandwidth with the ExtraHop Citrix ICA Module as well. The module shows bandwidth activity by the application so that you can see any bandwidth hogs in your virtual infrastructure. You also have an alerts system which notifies you when anomalous behavior is recognized.

The top-down perspective gained from using ExtraHop is excellent for diving straight to the root of performance problems. If one application is experiencing difficulties, you’ll be able to find it and start troubleshooting. To view the price for ExtraHop you will have to contact the company directly. A free trial is also available for download.

  • Offers a custom made Citrix ICA module

  • Great user interface, comes with an easy to view dark mode

  • Automatically detects network issues and provides correlation assistance

  • Must contact for pricing

  • Web-based management console could be made more intuitive

  • Filtering traffic has a fairly steep learning curve

9. Goliath Performance Monitor

Goliath Performance Monitor is a network monitoring tool that can monitor Citrix servers and applications. The tool has been designed to provide end-to-end visibility of virtualized infrastructure right down to end-user experience.

  • Strong in identifying network usage
  • Watches Xen resource usage
  • Identifies big resource users

For example, you can monitor End User Experience data such as Session start/end, ICA/RTT, Bandwidth, Packet loss, Network latency, ICA channel metrics, Logon duration, and availability. For applications, you can monitor processes per session, app performance, CPU, memory, IOPS, throughput, application availability, and more.

The program also has an intelligent alerts system. Alerts work on a threshold basis and are triggered once certain trigger conditions are met. For further analysis, you can use the advanced reporting and analytics module that includes 66 reports out-of-the-box. For example, you can generate a graph that displays the Average Time for parts of the Logon throughout Virtual Apps services.

Goliath Performance Monitor is available in a number of pricing options such as: perpetual license, subscription, enterprise license agreements, and OEM options. You can download a 30-day free trial.

  • Provides top-down monitoring from the host level to user experience metrics

  • Uses intelligent alerting to reduce false positives and decrease alert fatigue

  • Tracks Virtual Apps services and performance fluctuations over time

  • Offers multiple licensing options

  • The interface can be overwhelming, could use more visuals to break up text

  • Would like to see more integrations into a wider range of applications

  • Could use better customization options for file monitoring in Citrix

Choosing a Citrix monitoring tool

Software like SolarWinds Server & Application Monitor concentrates on a monitoring experience that keeps things simple for smaller enterprises.

Other tools like Dynatrace concentrate on increasing the visibility of performance issues and diagnosing the root cause of server or application problems. If you want the most responsive service then Dynatrace is probably your best bet on account of its automatic updates which keep you up-to-date.