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Frame Guest Agent (FGA)

Overview

Frame Guest Agent (FGA) is a collection of Frame-specific services that manage VM configuration and functionality. FGA provides the following services:

  • Communication between the VM and Frame backplane.

  • VM configuration, orchestration, and session management.

  • Session customization and scripting (stateful/stateless sessions, scripting, etc.)

  • Verification, migration, and upgrade orchestration.

  • Collection of server diagnostics and a variety of logs.

  • Frame Remoting Protocol (FRP) which is responsible for the capture, encoding, and streaming of virtual applications/desktops to end user devices.

note

FGA 8 supports both Frame Remoting Protocol (FRP) 7 (based on Secure WebSocket and TCP), and FRP8 (based on WebRTC and UDP).

Requirements

Network

The required ports/protocols for Frame Guest Agent 8 (using FRP7 or FRP8) are documented in the Networking Requirements based on your Frame account's deployment model.

OS Firewall

If your configuration relies on an OS-level firewall (e.g., Windows Firewall with Advanced Security or a third-party firewall) on a Sandbox, Utility Server, and/or persistent desktops, you will need to update firewall configurations on those workload VMs. For non-persistent Frame accounts, update the Windows Firewall on the Sandbox VM and publish, or use a GPO.

For example, using Windows Firewall with Advanced Security, Frame administrators would enable an inbound rule UDP ports 4503-4509 (either via GPO or directly within the workload VMs) for FRP8.

  1. Go to Windows Firewall with Advanced Security
  2. Select “Inbound Rules”
  3. Right click > “New Rule…”
  4. Port > UDP > Specific local ports: 4503-4509 > Allow the connection > Check all, Domain, Private, Public > Enter a name > Finish
note

Refer to the Networking Requirements for the complete list of inbound and outbound protocols/ports your OS firewall must allow for your workload VMs, specific to your deployment model, to work with your end users and Frame Platform using FRP7 and/or FRP8.

Windows Updates

For non-persistent Frame accounts, Frame requires Windows updates to be applied in the Sandbox. Frame admins can then publish those updates to their test or production pools. During the provisioning of test or production workload VMs (triggered by a publish or the increase in the max Default Capacity), the Frame Guest Agent will disable Windows Update Services in the newly-provisioned non-persistent workload VMs.

Frame does not disable Windows Update Services in Sandbox, Utility server, or persistent desktop VMs.

Windows OS Performance Counters

Frame administrators can monitor the behavior of Frame Agent in Windows OS workload VMs through a set of performance counters, as described in the following table. Admins can use Windows Reliability and Performance Monitor (perfmon) or third-party monitoring tools to capture and report on these counters.

NameDescriptionFRP VersionValue Range
AudioCaptureRateReal-time bandwidth (kbps) of captured audio.FRP7 only0 - 160 kbps
AudioEncoderRateReal-time bandwidth (kbps) of encoded audio.FRP7 only90 - 160 kbps
AverageFrameQP-DisplayXAverage Quantization Parameter (QP) value for the specific display. Lower values result in lower compression and higher image quality.FRP7 and FRP80 - 51
Bandwidth-DisplayXReal-time bandwidth (kbps) usage of Frame Remoting Protocol for the specific display.FRP7>0
CaptureFrameRate-DisplayXReal-time video capture rate (fps) of captured video on the Frame workload VM for the specific display.FRP7 and FRP8>0
EncoderFramerate-DisplayXReal-time video encoding rate (fps) of captured video on the Frame workload VM for the specific display.FRP7 and FRP8>0
EstimatedBandwidth-DisplayXEstimated real-time bandwidth (kbps) required to send encoded data (audio and video) from Frame workload VM via Frame Remoting Protocol for the specific display.FRP7 and FRP8>0
Framerate-DisplayXReal-time rate (fps) that encoded video is being sent via Frame Remoting Protocol for the specific display.FRP7 and FRP80 - 60 fps
Height-DisplayXCurrent height (pixels) of specific display.FRP7 and FRP8>0
MaxAudioBitrate-DisplayXMax audio bitrate (kbps) that can be achieved during the session for the specific display.FRP7 and FRP80 - 128 kbps
MaxFrameRate-DisplayXMax video frame rate (fps) that can be achieved during the session for the specific display.FRP7 only0 - 60 fps
MaxVideoBitrate-DisplayXMax video bitrate (kbps) that can be achieved during the session for the specific display.FRP7 only0 - 64000 kbps
MaxVideoFrameSize-DisplayXMax video frame size (bytes) that can be achieved during the session for the specific display.FRP7 only>0
MaxVideoQuantization-DisplayXMax Quantization Parameter (QP) value that can be achieved during the session for the specific display. Lower values result in lower compression and higher image quality.FRP7 only0 - 51
NetworkLatency-DisplayXReal-time one-way network latency (ms) between Frame workload VM and end-user terminal for the specific display.FRP7 only>0
NumberOfActiveDisplaysNumber of active displays within the session (1-4).FRP7 and FRP81 - 4
PixelRatio-DisplayXCurrent pixel ratio (ratio between available logical pixels in the session versus available physical pixels on the end-user device) for the specific display.FRP7 and FRP81 - 3
SendQueueSize-DisplayXThe size of Send Queue (kB) in the Frame Agent. Increasing value for this counter indicates an issue with the network between the workload VM and the end user.FRP7 only>0
VBVBufferSize-DisplayXVideo Buffering Verifier (VBV) buffer size for the specific display. VBV ensures the encoded stream does not overflow or underflow the decoder’s buffer.FRP7 only>0
VideoCapture-DisplayXVideo capture method used by the session for specific displayFRP7 and FRP81 = DXGI
2 = GDI
4 = X11
6 = NvFBC
7 = DXGI GPU
VideoCodec-DisplayXVideo codec used by the session for specific display.FRP7 and FRP80 = H.264
1 = MPEG2
2 = MPEG1
3 = VP9
VideoEncoder-DisplayXVideo encoder used by the session for specific display.FRP7 and FRP81 = x264
3 = NVENC
4 = FFMPEG (CPU)
Width-DisplayXCurrent width (pixels) of specific display.FRP7 and FRP8>0

Troubleshooting

Frame Guest Agent logs can be found in the C:\ProgramData\Nutanix\Frame directory within the session.

FGA Logs Location

After filing a support ticket, you may be asked by Frame support personnel to provide these logs, if available.