Citrix Deployment Settings for MSEdge and Startup Boost Impacts…. Or Not?
Introduction
Citrix recently published some details on deploying MSEdge in Virtual Environments.
Tech Paper: Deployment Guide Microsoft Edge | Citrix Tech Zone
This publication sparked some interest on Social Media channels so we at Automai decided to look into these settings. The discussion was around, specifically the impact of “Startup Boost”
There was some discussion around the impact of Login performance when this setting is enabled.
The primary metric for these tests is login time.
Test Environment
The test environment consists of the following machines
- Automai Director
- Server 2019
- Automai BotManager
- Server 2019 – Remote Desktop Session Host
- Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops 2203
- Server 2019
- All-In-One Machine
- Broker Services
- Studio
- Storefront
- Citrix Session Host
- Server 2019 – Remote Desktop Session Host
- Citrix VDA 2203
- Citrix Profile Manager – Containerised Profile
- MSEdge
- Version 112.0.1722.58 (Official build) (32-bit)
Test Runs
The following test runs were configured to collate the results for the testing
- Repeat iteration 3 times
- Single user
- Login to the Citrix Remote Session
- Open MSEdge x 7
- Repeat iteration 3 times
- 5 users
- Login to the Citrix Remote Session
- Open MSEdge x 7
These tests were repeated for each of the following settings:
- Vanilla Edge without any specific settings applied
- Edge with all deployment settings applied and Startup Boost Disabled
- Edge with all deployment settings applied and Startup Boost Enabled
Test Results
After running the test runs as described the following results were shown based on login performance and edge launch time.
| Test Title | Logon | Edge Launch |
| Edge Default Settings | 21.708 | 1.7 |
| Edge Optimzed Settings | 18.891 | 1.049857143 |
| Edge Optimized Settings (No Startup Boost) | 18.849 | 1.617482143 |
All time measured in seconds and displayed as an average
Summary
The Logon time is not impacted by startup boost being enabled, you can see a difference of around half a second.
The launch time for MSEdge is also reduced by almost a second a second.
In general the settings provided do provide a performance boost for the end user experience.