You can record a Citrix session with the Citrix XenApp or XenDesktop. When you record,
the recording wizard automatically starts the client and configures it for recording. When you have
finished recording the session, the wizard generates a Citrix performance test.
Before you begin
- Install Citrix OnlinePlugin or Citrix Receiver and connect to Citrix XenApp or to Citrix
XenDesktop. For information about supported versions, see the System
Requirements document.
- If you use Microsoft Windows 2008, you must have Citrix Receiver
3.3 or 4.1. To run a citrix test on Microsoft Windows 2008, you must
install Citrix Receiver 3.3 or 4.1 and .Net Framework 3.5. To install
the .Net Framework 3.5 feature, open Control Panel and
click Turn Windows features on or off. In the
Add Roles and Features Wizard, on the Features page, select the .Net
Framework 3.5 Features check box, and click Next.
To specify the source files path of the feature, click Specify
an alternate source path, specify the path, click OK,
and click Install.
- The behavior of the recording wizard is controlled by recorder
preferences. To inspect the current settings, click , expand Test, and click Citrix
Recording. This procedure assumes that default settings
are used.
- After you record a test or when you run a test on Windows 2008,
the Citrix Image Synchronization tab does not
display the captured screenshot for Actual Image.
The bitmap hash code also varies for the actual and expected screenshot.
You must use the bitmap hash code of the Expected Image for Actual
Image. To do that, in the Citrix Image Synchronization,
click the Add Value icon and click Yes in
the confirmation message. The Image Synchronization entry is added
to the test. Save the test.
- By default, IBM® Rational® Performance Tester Agent
starts as a service. If you run a Citrix test on an agent, you must
start Rational Performance Tester Agent
as a process.
To start an agent as a process:
- Open the Windows Services window.
- For the Majordomo service, change the Startup
Type to Manual and then change
the Status to Stop.
- From the agent's installation directory, open the Majordomo folder,
and double-click the Majordomo.exe file.
Procedure
To record a Citrix test:
- In the Performance Test perspective, click the New
Test from Recording toolbar button or click .
- In the New Test from Recording wizard,
select Create a test from a new recording,
select Citrix Test, and click Next. If you are recording sensitive data, you can select a Recording
encryption level.
- On the Select Location page, select
the project and folder locations to contain the new test, type a name
for the test, and click Next. If
necessary, click the Create Parent Folder push button to create a new
project or folder.
- On the Citrix Connection Settings page,
specify how to connect to the Citrix server. Complete one of these
tasks:
- If your Citrix administrator has provided you with an ICA
file, complete these steps:
- Select With ICA file to use its
settings to connect to the server.
- Click Browse to locate and select
the ICA file on your computer.
- Click Next to continue.
- If you want to manually specify the Citrix server to use for
the session, complete these steps:
- Select On server to connect directly
to the server.
- Specify the name or IP address of the server or click Browse to
locate a server or server farm on your local network.
- Optional: If you need to change the Citrix
farm parameters, click Farm Settings.
- To record a Windows desktop
session, leave Initial program blank.
- If your Citrix administrator has published applications on
the network, complete these steps:
- Select On published application,
and click Browse to choose the application
from the list of published applications on the server or server farm.
- Optional: If you need to change the Citrix
farm parameters, click Farm Settings.
In this case, the server farm performs the load balancing and
selects the server automatically.
- To make the logon sequence part of the session parameters,
select Logon with user-specified credentials,
type your credentials, and specify the domain name. If this option
is disabled, your credentials are recorded as part of the logon sequence
during the recording.
Note: If you use the With
ICA file option and the ICA file contains the LogonTicket command,
even after you type your credentials as part of this step, you must
type your credentials again on the Citrix server to start a Citrix
test. To avoid entering credentials twice, you can manually remove
the LogonTicket command from the ICA file.
- Click Next to continue.
- On the Citrix Session Preferences page,
you can provide a description for the test, change the video settings,
encryption mode, and advanced options for the Citrix XenApp client.
Click Next to continue.
Note: Because
Citrix performance tests are based on low-level interactions with
the server, including mouse and window coordinates, the Citrix desktop
must be large enough to support the application under test. You must
particularly avoid scrolling windows during the recording.
- If this is the first time you record a Citrix performance
test, read the Privacy Warning, and then select Accept to
proceed.
- To start the recording, click Finish. The Citrix Recording window opens,
displaying the Citrix XenApp session and a set of recorder controls.
- In the Citrix Recording window, complete
the tasks to test. You can use the recorder controls in
the toolbar to add comments, record synchronizations, or take screen
captures during the recording.
- To add a user comment to the recorded test, click the Insert
user comment icon . Because Citrix tests can be long and difficult to read, meaningful
comments can help you locate important elements.
- To add an image synchronization to the recorded test,
click the Insert image synchronization icon , select an area of the screen
to be used for synchronization, and then click the Insert
image synchronization icon again. Image synchronizations
enable the test to keep track of the contents of a screen area during
the replay instead of focusing only on window events. You can use
these screen captures to maintain synchronization of a test in applications
that do not create or modify many windows, but update the contents
of a window regularly. The contents of an image can be evaluated either
as a bitmap hashcode or as a text value obtained by optical character
recognition.
- To insert a response time measurement during the recording,
click the Insert response time icon to create a start for
the measurement in the recording, and click the icon again to create
a stop.
- To add a screen or window capture to the recorded test,
click the Capture screen icon or Capture window icon . Screen and window
captures make your tests easier to read and help you visualize the
recorded test. To change the settings for screen and window captures,
click the Screen capture preferences icon , and then select one of these
options:
- No automatic screen capture
- Select this option if you do not want the test recorder to record
screen captures automatically. When this option is selected, you can
still record screen captures manually. This option is selected by
default.
- Capture screen every
- Select this option to automatically record a periodic screen capture
and specify the time between captures.
- Capture screen on window creation
- Select this option to record a screen capture each time a window
object is created in Citrix.
- Exclude tooltips
- When Capture screen on window creation is
selected, enable this option to prevent creating a screen capture
each time a tooltip event is displayed during the recording. If this
option is disabled, screen captures are recorded when tooltips are
displayed.
To preview all screen captures, window captures,
and image synchronizations on the side of the Citrix Recording window,
click the Screen capture preview button icon .
- When you have completed the sequence of actions to be tested,
close the session, and stop the recorder by clicking the Stop
recording icon . A progress window opens while the test is generated. On
completion, the Recorder Control view displays
the Test generation completed message,
the Test Navigator lists your test, and the test opens in the test
editor.