It’s been a while since I posted anything related to transport performance enhancements. But it’s not because we haven’t been working on improving our protocol; quite the contrary, we’ve been a little too focused on that work.
One of the things that has kept us busy is further optimizing our protocol to better serve the increased variability in network characteristics brought about by the forced shift to remote and hybrid work over these last couple of years. With this “new” standardized work model, many variables have become the norm, and they all affect the quality of the user’s connection, meaning they directly impact the experience.
We are introducing a significant enhancement to Citrix Enlightened Data Transport (EDT) with Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 2303 to maximize session performance in these increasingly challenging scenarios. This enhancement comes in the form of a new congestion control algorithm. We’ve done extensive testing, but we also want you – our valued customers and partners – to be part of the development and feedback cycle so you can help shape the product. To that end, we are giving access to EDT’s new congestion control algorithm in tech preview capacity.
Tech Preview: How to test the new EDT congestion control
To try the new congestion control algorithm, you’ll need the following:
- VDA version 2303
- Workspace app for Windows 2303
- Run this script on the VDA machine after the VDA is installed
- Run this script on the client machine after Workspace app is installed
What to expect
Strictly from an HDX perspective, you can expect better in-session responsiveness (i.e., lower ICA RTT), higher throughput (i.e., better visual quality), and higher frame rate (i.e., smoother moving images), resulting in overall better interactivity and user experience. The higher the latency and loss rate, the more noticeable the benefits are.
Let me show you a couple of examples in an environment with a latency of 100ms (RTT), packet loss rate of 0.5%, and 1 Gbps of available bandwidth.
First, let’s take a look at the old EDT and new EDT side by side:
Let’s also take a look at TCP and new EDT side by side:
We also ran several bulk data transfer tests (file transfer) and saw improvements of up to 5X in some scenarios.
Get in touch!
We want to hear from you! It is important for us to give you the enhancements and performance you need to be successful, so please reach out to let us know about your experience with this tech preview, whether positive or negative.
Thank you for reading, and happy testing!
