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How can I measure Citrix receiver framerate at the client end? I've tried FRAPS, but that doesn't seem to work. Is there a way to determine how many "frames" are sent per second from the client side? Assume a Windows 7 client connecting to a Windows 7 VM using the Citrix web plugin.

To restate the question, how could I potentially measure the Citrix client's frame display rate for some 200px^2 area? Assume that the remote VM will try and play back a frame sequence at 24fps. Will any frames drop?

Rex Hardin
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    I may have this wrong but frames are a video "component". Video isn't sent from a Citrix client to the Citrix server, it is sent from the Citrix server to the Citrix client. Mouse clicks and key strokes are sent from the Citrix client to the Citrix server. So it seems that you'd want to measure FPS metrics outbound on the server or inbound on the client, but not outbound on the client. – joeqwerty Jun 28 '13 at 14:37
  • You are correct, perhaps my phrasing is a bit funny. I'd like to measure the frequency of the frames arriving at the receiving end, or inbound on the client as you've put it - or rather, not just received, but displayed at the client end. – Rex Hardin Jun 28 '13 at 15:21

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Rex, the answer is most likey, there is no precise way to measure this. The impact will be most noticed in the bandwidth utilization between the client and citrix server. You should be able to measure the impact via the ICA virtual channels. Check out SMCConole, install it on the Citrix server. Results will vary depending on various factors, video dimensions, format, bit rate and frame rate. If you have LAN speed access to the citrix servers, bandwidth will not be a concern, but if over the internet or private WAN, expect major challenges.

user205630
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The Citrix protocol is very smart. It is not working as a video and thus there's no frame rate, it simply refreshes the screen. The protocol divides the screen to a number of areas and when ever a bit is changed in one of the areas it goes into some queue and when that queue is getting full it is then displayed on the screen. If nothing happens - nothing is changed. In the same way, when you enter a text, nothing happens until you press enter which then the protocol identifies the font the user used, changes to that font and then sends it as text to the client side.

Itai Ganot
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  • To restate the question, how could I potentially measure the Citrix client's frame display rate for some 200px^2 area? – Rex Hardin Jun 29 '13 at 21:59