Login VSI 4.1 is out with new workloads and more

Today Login VSI, Inc. announced a new version of Login VSI:

Login VSI, Inc. announces Login VSI 4.1, a substantial update to its flagship product. Login VSI is the industry-standard performance validation solution for centralized virtualized desktop and server-based environments. The new release, which has been tested in limited private beta since May 2014, benefits two main audiences: Enterprises and vendors. Enterprises use Login VSI to optimize the performance of their virtualized environments. Vendors of virtualization technologies and solutions rely on Login VSI for testing and validating their products before bringing them to market.

What is Login VSI?

Login Virtual Session Indexer (Login VSI) is the industry standard load testing tool for virtualized desktop environments. Login VSI can be used to test the performance and scalability of VMware Horizon View, Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp, Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (Terminal Services) or any other Windows based virtual desktop solution.

Login VSI works without additional scripting and does not require any additional infrastructure. Login VSI is a tool that is easy to implement and easy to use  Because Login VSI can be deployed very quickly you can use it in every phase of your VDI project.

New Workloads

Login VSI 4.0, the previous version, included three workloads. Login VSI 4.1 now has four workloads. They added the Office Worker. Besides that the definitions of the previous workloads got a little bit changed. So now the workloads are:

Improved VSIMax

The new VSImax measurement and calculation methodology is no longer specifically dependent on Microsoft Office Word, which gives organizations that need to test without Microsoft Office more flexibility. In addition, version 4.1 includes new VSImax measurements to help identify specific bottlenecks such as CPU or disk IO. Together with an optimized VSImax calculation methodology, the new VSImax is now more precise and delivers more powerful insights.

Importing other performance metrics

It is now possible to import performance data from Microsoft Performance Monitor, ESXtop or other performance data from CSV files. Importing data from those sources gives more insight into where potential bottlenecks are.

Now you’re able to drill down into what is causing the bottleneck. You could analyse the difference between Microsoft Office 2010 and 2013 on the same foundation like the images below show.

Microsoft Office 2010	Microsoft Office 2013

When adding the metrics you can see that the problem lies with the CPU, which is at 100%.

What’s missing?

The new workload names and organization is in my opinion a great improvement. I still am missing one workload or option in Login VSI. Login VSI is now testing under maximum user load, which is a good thing. The test loops in a cycle with starting programs, scrolling through text, printing etc. In a lot of situations you do want to know what the maximum load is in your environment.

But there are situations that you just want to validate if your environment is adequate for your user population. You can already set it up so it will test with, for example 65% Task Workers and 35% Office Workers. What I miss is the possibility to add an ‘idle’ workload, to simulate the idle users when they are on a break, are in meetings, or just socialzing at the water cooler. I know the sessions don’t use a lot of resources, but they do use CPU and memory in the end.

Link to Login VSI 4.1 Press release here