Setting Up Published Desktops And Applications In Horizon 7 VMware 7.3 73

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Setting Up Published Desktops and Applications in Horizon 7

Setting Up Published

Desktops and

Applications in Horizon 7

Modiﬁed for Horizon 7 7.3.2

VMware Horizon 7 7.3

Setting Up Published Desktops and Applications in Horizon 7

VMware, Inc. 2

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Contents

1Setting Up Published Desktops and Applications in Horizon 7 5

2Introduction to Published Desktops and Applications 6

Farms, RDS Hosts, and Published Desktops and Applications 6

Advantages of RDS Desktop Pools 7

Advantages of Application Pools 7

3Setting Up Remote Desktop Services Hosts 9

Remote Desktop Services Hosts 10

Install Remote Desktop Services on Windows Server 2008 R2 11

Install Remote Desktop Services on Windows Server 2012 or 2012 R2 12

Install Desktop Experience on Windows Server 2008 R2 13

Install Desktop Experience on Windows Server 2012, 2012 R2, or 2016 13

Restrict Users to a Single Session 14

Install Horizon Agent on a Remote Desktop Services Host 14

Printing From a Remote Application Launched Inside a Nested Session 21

Enable Time Zone Redirection for RDS Desktop and Application Sessions 22

Enable Windows Basic Theme for Applications 22

Configure Group Policy to Start Runonce.exe 23

RDS Host Performance Options 23

Configuring 3D Graphics for RDS Hosts 24

Configure RDS Per Device Client Access License Storage 26

4Creating Farms 28

Farms 28

Preparing a Parent Virtual Machine for an Automated Farm 29

Worksheet for Creating a Manual Farm 33

Worksheet for Creating an Automated Linked-Clone Farm 34

Worksheet for Creating an Automated Instant-Clone Farm 40

Create a Manual Farm 44

Create an Automated Linked-Clone Farm 44

Create an Automated Instant-Clone Farm 45

5Creating RDS Desktop Pools 47

Understanding RDS Desktop Pools 47

Create an RDS Desktop Pool 48

Desktop Pool Settings for RDS Desktop Pools 49

Troubleshooting Instant Clones in the Internal VM Debug Mode 50

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Adobe Flash Quality and Throttling 51

Configure Adobe Flash Throttling with Internet Explorer for RDS Desktop Pools 52

6Creating Application Pools 53

Application Pools 53

Worksheet for Creating an Application Pool Manually 54

Create an Application Pool 55

7Managing Application Pools, Farms, and RDS Hosts 57

Managing Application Pools 57

Managing Farms 58

Managing RDS Hosts 64

Manage Published Desktop and Application Sessions 68

Configuring Load Balancing for RDS Hosts 69

Configure an Anti-Affinity Rule for an Application Pool 76

8Entitling Users and Groups 78

Add Entitlements to a Desktop or Application Pool 78

Remove Entitlements from a Desktop or Application Pool 79

Review Desktop or Application Pool Entitlements 79

Configuring Start Menu Shortcuts for Desktop and Application Pools 80

Implementing Client Restrictions for Desktop and Application Pools 83

Restricting Desktop or Application Access 83

Restricting Remote Desktop Access Outside the Network 88

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Setting Up Published Desktops

and Applications in Horizon 7 1

Setting Up Published Desktops and Applications in Horizon 7describes how to create, and deploy pools

of desktops and applications that run on Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (RDS) hosts. It includes

information about configuring policies, entitling users and groups, and configuring remote application

features.

Intended Audience

This information is intended for anyone who wants to create and provision desktop and application pools.

The information is written for Windows system administrators who are familiar with virtual machine

technology and data center operations.

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Introduction to Published

Desktops and Applications 2

With Horizon 7, you can create published desktops associated with a farm, which is a group of Windows

Remote Desktop Services (RDS) hosts. You can also deliver a published application to many users by

creating application pools. The published applications in application pools run on a farm of RDS hosts.

This section includes the following topics:

nFarms, RDS Hosts, and Published Desktops and Applications

nAdvantages of RDS Desktop Pools

nAdvantages of Application Pools

Farms, RDS Hosts, and Published Desktops and

Applications

You can use Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (RDS) to provide users with desktop sessions on RDS

hosts and deliver applications to many users.

RDS Host

RDS hosts are server computers that have Windows Remote Desktop Services and Horizon Agent

installed. These servers host applications that users can access remotely. To access RDS applications,

Horizon Client 3.0 or later is required.

Farms

Farms are collections of RDS hosts and facilitate the management of those hosts. Farms can have a

variable number of RDS hosts and provide a common set of published applications or RDS published

desktops to users. When you create an RDS application pool, you must specify a farm. The RDS hosts in

the farm provide application sessions to users. A farm can contain up to 200 RDS host servers.

Published Desktops

Published desktops are RDS desktop pools, which provide users with desktop sessions on RDS hosts.

Multiple users can have desktop sessions on an RDS host simultaneously.

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Published Applications

Published applications are application pools that run on a farm of RDS hosts. Published applications let

you deliver seamless applications to many users.

Advantages of RDS Desktop Pools

Horizon 7 offers the ability to create RDS desktop pools as its basis of centralized management.

You can create an RDS desktop pool from a physical system such as an RDS host. Use RDS desktop

pools to provide multiple users with desktop sessions on an RDS host.

Advantages of Application Pools

With application pools, you give users access to applications that run on servers in a data center instead

of on their personal computers or devices.

Application pools offer several important benefits:

nAccessibility

Users can access applications from anywhere on the network. You can also configure secure network

access.

nDevice independence

With application pools, you can support a range of client devices, such as smart phones, tablets,

laptops, thin clients, and personal computers. The client devices can run various operating systems,

such as Windows, iOS, Mac OS, or Android.

nAccess control

You can easily and quickly grant or remove access to applications for one user or a group of users.

nAccelerated deployment

With application pools, deploying applications can be accelerated because you only deploy

applications on servers in a data center and each server can support multiple users.

nManageability

Managing software that is deployed on client computers and devices typically requires significant

resources. Management tasks include deployment, configuration, maintenance, support, and

upgrades. With application pools, you can simplify software management in an enterprise because

the software runs on servers in a data center, which requires fewer installed copies.

nSecurity and regulatory compliance

With application pools, you can improve security because applications and their associated data are

centrally located in a data center. Centralized data can address security concerns and regulatory

compliance issues.

nReduced cost

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Depending on software license agreements, hosting applications in a data center can be more cost-

effective. Other factors, including accelerated deployment and improved manageability, can also

reduce the cost of software in an enterprise.

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Setting Up Remote Desktop

Services Hosts 3

Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (RDS) hosts provide desktop sessions and applications that users

can access from client devices. If you plan to create RDS desktop pools or application pools, you must

first set up RDS hosts.

This section includes the following topics:

nRemote Desktop Services Hosts

nInstall Remote Desktop Services on Windows Server 2008 R2

nInstall Remote Desktop Services on Windows Server 2012 or 2012 R2

nInstall Desktop Experience on Windows Server 2008 R2

nInstall Desktop Experience on Windows Server 2012, 2012 R2, or 2016

nRestrict Users to a Single Session

nInstall Horizon Agent on a Remote Desktop Services Host

nPrinting From a Remote Application Launched Inside a Nested Session

nEnable Time Zone Redirection for RDS Desktop and Application Sessions

nEnable Windows Basic Theme for Applications

nConfigure Group Policy to Start Runonce.exe

nRDS Host Performance Options

nConfiguring 3D Graphics for RDS Hosts

nConfigure RDS Per Device Client Access License Storage

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Remote Desktop Services Hosts

An RDS host is a server computer that hosts applications and desktop sessions for remote access. An

RDS host can be a virtual machine or a physical server.

An RDS host has the Microsoft Remote Desktop Services role, the Microsoft Remote Desktop Session

Host service, and Horizon Agent installed. Remote Desktop Services was previously known as Terminal

Services. The Remote Desktop Session Host service allows a server to host applications and remote

desktop sessions. With Horizon Agent installed on an RDS host, users can connect to applications and

desktop sessions by using the display protocol PCoIP or Blast Extreme. Both protocols provide an

optimized user experience for the delivery of remote content, including images, audio and video.

The performance of an RDS host depends on many factors. For information on how to tune the

performance of different versions of Windows Server, see

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/windows/hardware/gg463392.aspx.

Horizon 7 supports at most one desktop session and one application session per user on an RDS host.

Horizon 7 supports both local printer redirection and native network printers.

Local printer redirection is designed for the following use cases:

nPrinters directly connected to USB or serial ports on the client device

nSpecialized printers such as bar code printers and label printers connected to the client

nNetwork printers on a remote network that are not addressable from the virtual session

Network printers are managed using corporate print servers, which allows for greater management and

control of printer resources. Native printer drivers for all possible printers need to be installed on the

virtual machine or RDSH host. If you consider this challenging, there are third-party options such as

advanced versions of ThinPrint that can provide network printing without the need to install additional

printer drivers on each virtual machine or RDSH host. The Print and Document Services option included

with Microsoft Windows Server is another option for managing your network printers.

If a user launches an application and also an RDS desktop, and both are hosted on the same RDS host,

they share the same user profile. If the user launches an application from the desktop, conflicts may

result if both applications try to access or modify the same parts of the user profile, and one of the

applications may fail to run properly.

The process of setting up applications or RDS desktops for remote access involves the following tasks:

1 Set up RDS hosts.

2 Create a farm. See Chapter 4 Creating Farms.

3 Create an application pool or an RDS desktop pool. See Chapter 6 Creating Application Pools or

Chapter 5 Creating RDS Desktop Pools.

4 Entitle users and groups. See Chapter 8 Entitling Users and Groups.

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5 (Optional) Enable time zone redirection for RDS desktop and application sessions. See Enable Time

Zone Redirection for RDS Desktop and Application Sessions.

Note If smart card authentication is enabled, make sure that the Smart Card service is disabled on RDS

hosts. Otherwise, authentication might fail. By default, this service is disabled.

Caution When a user launches an application, for example, a Web browser, it is possible for a user to

gain access to the local drives on the RDS host that is hosting the application. This can happen if the

application provides functions that cause Windows Explorer to run. To prevent this type of access to the

RDS host, follow the procedure that is described in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/179221 to prevent an

application from running Windows Explorer.

Because the procedure described in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/179221 affects both desktop and

application sessions, it is recommended that you do not create RDS desktop pools and application pools

on the same farm if you plan to follow the procedure in the Microsoft KB article, so that desktop sessions

are not affected.

Installing Applications

If you plan to create application pools, you must install the applications on the RDS hosts. If you want

Horizon 7 to automatically display the list of installed applications, you must install the applications so that

they are available to all users from the Start menu. You can install an application at any time before you

create the application pool. If you plan to manually specify an application, you can install the application

at any time, either before or after creating an application pool.

Important When you install an application, you must install it on all the RDS hosts in a farm and in the

same location on each RDS host. If you do not, a health warning will appear on the View Administrator

dashboard. In such a situation, if you create an application pool, users might encounter an error when

they try to run the application.

When you create an application pool, Horizon 7 automatically displays the applications that are available

to all users rather than individual users from the Start menu on all of the RDS hosts in a farm. You can

choose any applications from that list. In addition, you can manually specify an application that is not

available to all users from the Start menu. There is no limit on the number of applications that you can

install on an RDS host.

Install Remote Desktop Services on Windows Server

2008 R2

Remote Desktop Services (RDS) is one of the roles that a Windows Server can have. You must install

this role to set up an RDS host that runs Windows Server 2008 R2.

Prerequisites

nVerify that the RDS host is running Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1).

nVerify that the RDS host is part of the Active Directory domain for the Horizon 7 deployment.

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nInstall the Microsoft hotfix rollup that is documented in http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2775511.

nInstall the Microsoft update https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2973201.

Procedure

1Log in to the RDS host as an administrator.

2Start Server Manager.

3Select Roles in the navigation tree.

4Click Add Roles to start the Add Role wizard.

5Select the role Remote Desktop Services.

6On the Select Role Services page, select Remote Desktop Session Host.

7On the Specify Authentication Method page, select either Require Network Level Authentication or

Do not require Network Level Authentication, whichever is appropriate.

8On the Configure Client Experience page, select the functionality that you want to provide to users.

9Follow the prompts and finish the installation.

What to do next

If you plan to use HTML Access or scanner redirection, install the Desktop Experience feature. The steps

for installing Desktop Experience differ on Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012 or 2012

R2.

Restrict users to a single desktop session. See Restrict Users to a Single Session.

Install Remote Desktop Services on Windows Server 2012

or 2012 R2

Remote Desktop Services is one of the roles that a Windows Server 2012 or 2012 R2 can have. You

must install this role to set up an RDS host.

Prerequisites

nVerify that the RDS host is running Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2012 R2.

nVerify that the RDS host is part of the Active Directory domain for the Horizon 7 deployment.

Procedure

1Log in to the RDS host as an administrator.

2Start Server Manager.

3Select Add roles and features.

4On the Select Installation Type page, select Role-based or feature-based installation.

5On the Select Destination Server page, select a server.

6On the Select Server Roles page, select Remote Desktop Services.

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7On the Select Features page, accept the defaults.

8On the Select Role Services page, select Remote Desktop Session Host.

9Follow the prompts and finish the installation.

What to do next

If you plan to use HTML Access or scanner redirection, install the Desktop Experience feature. The steps

for installing Desktop Experience differ on Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012 or 2012

R2.

Restrict users to a single desktop session. See Restrict Users to a Single Session.

Install Desktop Experience on Windows Server 2008 R2

For RDS desktops and applications, and for VDI desktops that are deployed on single-user virtual

machines that run Windows Server, scanner redirection requires that you install the Desktop Experience

feature on the RDS hosts and the single-user virtual machines.

Procedure

1Log in as an administrator.

2Start Server Manager.

3Click Features.

4Click Add Features.

5On the Select Features page, select the Desktop Experience checkbox.

6Review the information about other features that are required by the Desktop Experience feature, and

click Add Required Features.

7Follow the prompts and finish the installation.

Install Desktop Experience on Windows Server 2012, 2012

R2, or 2016

For RDS desktops and applications, and for VDI desktops that are deployed on single-user virtual

machines that run Windows Server, scanner redirection requires that you install the Desktop Experience

feature on the RDS hosts and the single-user virtual machines.

Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, and Windows Server 2016 are supported on machines

that are used as RDS hosts. Windows Server 2012 R2 is supported on single-user virtual machines.

Procedure

1Log in as an administrator.

2Start Server Manager.

3Select Add roles and features.

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4On the Select Installation Type page, select Role-based or feature-based installation.

5On the Select Destination Server page, select a server.

6On the Select Server Roles page, accept the default selection and click Next.

7On the Select Features page, under User Interfaces and Infrastructure, select Desktop

Experience.

8Follow the prompts and finish the installation.

Restrict Users to a Single Session

Horizon 7 supports at most one desktop session and one application session per user on an RDS host.

You must configure the RDS host to restrict users to a single session. For Windows Server 2008 R2,

Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2012 R2, you can can restrict users to a single session by

enabling the group policy setting

Restrict Remote Desktop Services users to a single Remote Desktop Services session.

This setting is located in the folder Computer Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows

Components\Remote Desktop Services\Remote Desktop Session Host\Connections. For

Windows Server 2008 R2, you can also use the following procedure to restrict users to a single session.

Prerequisites

nInstall the Remote Desktop Services role as described in Install Remote Desktop Services on

Windows Server 2008 R2.

Procedure

1Click Start > Administrative Tools > Remote Desktop Services > Remote Desktop Session Host

Configuration.

2On the Edit Settings pane, under General, double-click Restrict each user to a single session.

3In the Properties dialog box, on the General tab, select Restrict each user to a single session and

click OK.

What to do next

Install Horizon Agent on the RDS host. See Install Horizon Agent on a Remote Desktop Services Host.

Install Horizon Agent on a Remote Desktop Services Host

Horizon Agent communicates with Connection Server and supports the display protocols PCoIP and Blast

Extreme. You must install Horizon Agent on an RDS Host.

Prerequisites

nVerify that you have prepared Active Directory. See the View Installation document.

nInstall the Remote Desktop Services role as described in Install Remote Desktop Services on

Windows Server 2008 R2 or Install Remote Desktop Services on Windows Server 2012 or 2012 R2.

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nRestrict users to a single desktop session. See Restrict Users to a Single Session.

nFamiliarize yourself with the Horizon Agent custom setup options. See Horizon Agent Custom Setup

Options for an RDS Host.

nIf the machine has the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable package installed, verify that the version

of the package is 2005 SP1 or later. If the package version is 2005 or earlier, you can either upgrade

or uninstall the package.

nDownload the Horizon Agent installer file from the VMware product page at

http://www.vmware.com/go/downloadview.

Procedure

1Log in as an administrator.

2To start the Horizon Agent installation program, double-click the installer file.

The installer filename is VMware-viewagent-x86_64-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe, where y.y.y is the version

number and xxxxxx is the build number.

3Select the Internet Protocol (IP) version, IPv4 or IPv6.

You must install all View components with the same IP version.

4Select your custom setup options.

Do not select the View Composer Agent option if you are installing Horizon Agent on an RDS host

that will be in a manual farm.

5In the Server text box, type the host name or IP address of a Connection Server host.

During installation, the installer registers the RDS host with this Connection Server instance. After

registration, the specified Connection Server instance, and any additional instances in the same

Connection Server group, can communicate with the RDS host.

6Select an authentication method to register the RDS host with the Connection Server instance.

Option Description

Authenticate as the currently logged in

user

The Username and Password text boxes are disabled and you are logged in to

the Connection Server instance with your current username and password.

Specify administrator credentials You must provide the username and password of a Connection Server

administrator in the Username and Password text boxes.

The user account must be a domain user with access to View LDAP on the View Connection Server

instance. A local user does not work.

7Follow the prompts and finish the installation.

What to do next

Create a farm. See Chapter 4 Creating Farms.

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Horizon Agent Custom Setup Options for an RDS Host

When you install Horizon Agent on an RDS host, you can select custom setup options. In addition,

Horizon Agent installs certain features automatically on all guest operating systems on which they are

supported. These features are not optional.

To change custom setup options after you install the latest Horizon Agent version, you must uninstall and

reinstall Horizon Agent. For patches and upgrades, you can run the new Horizon Agent installer and

select a new set of options without uninstalling the previous version.

Table 3‑1. Horizon Agent Custom Setup Options for an RDS Host in an IPv4 Environment

Option Description

USB Redirection Gives users access to locally connected USB storage devices.

Specifically, redirection of USB flash drives and hard disks is supported in RDS desktops and

applications. Redirection of other types of USB devices, and other types of USB storage devices such

as security storage drives and USB CD-ROM, is not supported in RDS desktops and applications.

This setup option is not selected by default. You must select the option to install it. This option is

available on RDS hosts that run Windows Server 2012 or 2012 R2 but not Windows Server 2008 R2.

For information about using USB redirection securely, see the View Security document. For example,

you can use group policy settings to disable USB redirection for specific users.

HTML Access Enables users to connect to RDS desktops and applications by using HTML Access. The

HTML Access Agent is installed when this setup option is selected. This agent must be installed on

RDS hosts to enable users to make connections with HTML Access

3D RDSH Provides 3D graphics support to applications that run on this RDS host.

View Composer Agent Select this option if this machine is a parent virtual machine for the creation of an automated farm. Do

not select this option if this machine is an RDS host in a manual farm.

Client Drive Redirection Enables Horizon Client users to share local drives with their RDS desktops and applications.

After this setup option is installed, no further configuration is required on the RDS host.

Client drive redirection is also supported on remote desktops that run on single-user virtual machines

and on unmanaged machines.

Virtual Printing Enables users to print to any printer available on their client computers. Users do not need to install

additional drivers on their desktops.

Virtual printing is supported on the following remote desktops and applications:

nDesktops that are deployed on single-user machines, including Windows desktop and Windows

Server machines.

nDesktops that are deployed on RDS hosts, where the RDS hosts are virtual machines.

nRemote applications.

nRemote applications that are launched from Horizon Client inside remote desktops (nested

sessions).

The virtual printing feature is supported only when you install it from Horizon Agent. If you install it with

VMware Tools, it is not supported.

vRealize Operations

Desktop Agent

Enables vRealize Operations Manager to work with vRealize Operations Manager for Horizon.

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Table 3‑1. Horizon Agent Custom Setup Options for an RDS Host in an IPv4 Environment

(Continued)

Option Description

Scanner Redirection Redirects scanning devices that are connected to the client system so that they can be used on the

RDS desktop or application.

You must install the Desktop Experience feature in the Windows Server operating system on the RDS

hosts to make this option available in the Horizon Agent installer.

This setup option is not installed by default on Windows Server guest operating systems. You must

select the option to install it.

HTML5 Multimedia

Redirection

Redirects HTML5 multimedia content in a Chrome browser to the client for performance optimization.

This setup option is not installed by default. You must select the option to install it.

VMware Client IP

Transparency

Enables remote connections to Internet Explorer to use the client's IP address instead of the remote

desktop machine's IP address.

This setup option is not selected by default. You must select the option to install it.

Instant Clone Enables the creation of instant-clone virtual machines on a farm of RDS hosts.

This setup option is not installed by default on Windows Server guest operating systems. You must

select the option to install it.

In an IPv6 environment, the setup options are similar to IPv6.

Table 3‑2. Horizon Agent Features That Are Installed Automatically on an RDS Host

Option Description

PCoIP Agent Enables users to use the PCoIP display protocol to connect to applications and RDS desktops.

Windows Media Multimedia

Redirection (MMR)

Provides multimedia redirection for RDS desktops. This feature delivers a multimedia stream directly

to the client computer, which enables the multimedia stream to be processed on the client hardware

instead of on the remote ESXi host.

Unity Touch Enables tablet and smart phone users to interact with Windows applications that run on the remote

desktop. Users can browse, search, and open Windows applications and files, choose favorite

applications and files, and switch between running applications without using the Start menu or

Taskbar.

PSG Agent Installs the PCoIP Secure Gateway on RDS hosts to implement the PCoIP display protocol for

desktop and application sessions that run on RDS hosts.

VMwareRDS Provides the VMware implementation of Remote Desktop Services functionality.

In an IPv6 environment, the automatically installed features are PCoIP Agent, PSG Agent, and

VMwareRDS.

For additional features that are supported on RDS hosts, see "Feature Support Matrix for Horizon Agent"

in the View Architecture Planning document.

Silent Installation Properties for Horizon Agent

You can include specific properties when you silently install Horizon Agent from the command line. You

must use a PROPERTY=value format so that Microsoft Windows Installer (MSI) can interpret the properties

and values.

Table 3‑3 shows the Horizon Agent silent installation properties that you can use at the command-line.

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Table 3‑3. MSI Properties for Silently Installing Horizon Agent

MSI Property Description Default Value

INSTALLDIR The path and folder in which the Horizon Agent software is

installed.

For example: INSTALLDIR=""D:\abc\my folder""

The sets of two double quotes that enclose the path permit the MSI

installer to ignore the space in the path.

This MSI property is optional.

%ProgramFiles

%\VMware\VMware

View\Agent

RDP_CHOICE Determines whether to enable Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) on

the desktop.

A value of 1 enables RDP. A value of 0 leaves the RDP setting

disabled.

This MSI property is optional.

SUPPRESS_RUNONCE_CHECK Ignores pending Windows Update tasks scheduled at the next OS

reboot in

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

and RunOnceEx keys. Using this flag allows concurrent installation

but does not guarantee the installation outcome when the system

updates affect the Horizon Agent run-time dependencies.

This MSI property is optional.

None

URL_FILTERING_ENABLED Specifies whether the URL Content Redirection feature is installed.

A value of 1 installs the feature. You must then use group policy

settings to configure which URLs to redirect. See "Configuring URL

Content Redirection in the Configuring Remote Desktop Features

in Horizon 7 document.

This MSI property is optional.

VDM_SKIP_BROKER_REGISTRATION A value of 1 skips unmanaged desktops. None

VDM_VC_MANAGED_AGENT Determines whether vCenter Server manages the virtual machine

on which Horizon Agent is installed.

A value of 1 configures the desktop as a vCenter Server-managed

virtual machine.

A value of 0 configures the desktop as unmanaged by vCenter

Server.

This MSI property is required.

None

VDM_SERVER_NAME The host name or IP address of the View Connection Server

computer on which the Horizon Agent installer registers an

unmanaged desktop. This property applies to unmanaged desktops

only.

For example: VDM_SERVER_NAME=10.123.01.01

This MSI property is required for unmanaged desktops.

Do not use this MSI property for virtual-machine desktops that are

managed by vCenter Server.

None

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Table 3‑3. MSI Properties for Silently Installing Horizon Agent (Continued)

MSI Property Description Default Value

VDM_SERVER_USERNAME The user name of the administrator on the View Connection Server

computer. This MSI property applies to unmanaged desktops only.

For example: VDM_SERVER_USERNAME=domain\username

This MSI property is required for unmanaged desktops.

Do not use this MSI property for virtual-machine desktops that are

managed by vCenter Server.

None

VDM_SERVER_PASSWORD The View Connection Server administrator user password.

For example: VDM_SERVER_PASSWORD=secret

This MSI property is required for unmanaged desktops.

Do not use this MSI property for virtual-machine desktops that are

managed by vCenter Server.

None

VDM_IP_PROTOCOL_USAGE Specifies the IP version that Horizon Agent uses. The possible

values are IPv4 and IPv6.

IPv4

VDM_FIPS_ENABLED Specifies whether to enable or disable FIPS mode. A value of 1

enables FIPS mode. A value of 0 disables FIPS mode. If this

property is set to 1 and Windows is not in FIPS mode, the installer

will abort.

VDM_FLASH_URL_REDIRECTION Determines whether Horizon Agent can install the Flash URL

redirection feature. Specify 1 to enable installation or 0 to disable

installation.

This MSI property is optional.

INSTALL_VDISPLAY_DRIVER Configures the Horizon WDDM display driver. A value of 1 enables

the driver installation. A value of 0 or empty disables the driver

installation

In a silent installation command, you can use the MSI property, ADDLOCAL=, to specify options that the

Horizon Agent installer configures.

Table 3‑4 shows the Horizon Agent options you can type at the command line. These options have

corresponding setup options that you can deselect or select during an interactive installation.

For details about the custom setup options, see Horizon Agent Custom Setup Options for an RDS Host.

When you do not use the ADDLOCAL property at the command line, Horizon Agent installs all options that

are installed by default during an interactive installation, if they are supported on the guest operating

system. When you use ADDLOCAL=ALL, Horizon Agent installs all of the following options, both on-by-

default and off-by-default, if they are supported on the guest operating system, except NGVC. NGVC and

SVIAgent are mutually exclusive. To install NGVC, you must specify it explicitly.

For details, see the ADDLOCAL table entry in Microsoft Windows Installer Command-Line Options in

Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon 7

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Table 3‑4. Horizon Agent Silent Installation Options and Interactive Custom Setup Options

Silent Installation Option

Custom Setup Option in an Interactive

Installation

Installed by Default Interactively or When

ADDLOCAL Is Not Used

Core Core Yes

USB USB Redirection No

SVIAgent View Composer Agent Yes

NGVC Instant Clone Agent No

RTAV Real-Time Audio-Video Yes

ClientDriveRedirection Client Drive Redirection Yes

SerialPortRedirection Serial Port Redirection No

ScannerRedirection Scanner Redirection No

FlashURLRedirection Flash URL Redirection

This feature is hidden unless you use the

VDM_FLASH_URL_REDIRECTION=1 property on

the command line.

ThinPrint Virtual Printing Yes

V4V vRealize Operations Desktop Agent Yes

VPA View Persona Management Yes

SmartCard PCoIP Smartcard. This feature is not installed by

default in an interactive installation.

VmwVaudio VMware Audio (virtual audio driver) Yes

TSMMR Windows Media Multimedia Redirection (MMR) Yes

RDP This feature enables RDP in the registry if you

use the RDP_CHOICE=1 property on the command

line or select RDP as the default display protocol

when you create or edit a desktop pool in View

Administrator.

This feature is hidden during interactive

installations.

Yes

VMWMediaProviderProxy VMware Virtualization Pack for Skype for

Business feature.

If you use ADDLOCAL to specify features individually, that is, you do not specify ADDLOCAL=ALL, you must

always specify Core.

Table 3‑5. Horizon Agent Silent Installation Features That Are Installed Automatically

Silent Installation Feature Description

Core The core Horizon Agent functions.

If you specify ADDLOCAL=ALL, the Core features are installed.

BlastProtocol VMware Blast

PCoIP PCoIP Protocol Agent

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Table 3‑5. Horizon Agent Silent Installation Features That Are Installed Automatically

(Continued)

Silent Installation Feature Description

VmVideo Virtual video driver

UnityTouch Unity Touch

PSG This features sets a registry entry that tells Connection Server whether

Horizon Agent is using IPv4 or IPv6.

You install the Flash URL Redirection feature by using the VDM_FLASH_URL_REDIRECTION=1 property in a

silent installation. This feature is not installed during an interactive installation or by using ADDLOCAL=ALL

in a silent installation.

For example: VMware-viewagent-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe /s /v"/qn VDM_VC_MANAGED_AGENT=1

VDM_FLASH_URL_REDIRECTION=1

ADDLOCAL=Core,SVIAgent,ThinPrint,USB,FlashURLRedirection,RTAV"

Printing From a Remote Application Launched Inside a

Nested Session

When you enable the Virtual Printing option during Horizon Agent installation, users can print from remote

applications that they launch from Horizon Client inside remote desktops (nested sessions) to printers on

their local client machine.

Beginning with Horizon 7 version 7.0.2, users can print from remote applications launched inside a nested

session to printers connected to the remote desktop machine rather than to printers connected to their

local client machine. To enable this feature, change the Thinprint session-in-session mode on the remote

desktop machine by changing the value of SiSActive to 0 in

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ThinPrint\TPClnRDP.

Note When SiSActive is set to 0 on the remote desktop machine, users can no longer print from

remote applications launched inside nested sessions to printers connected to their local client machine.

To reenable the default ThinPrint session-in-session mode, change the value of SiSActive to 1 in

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ThinPrint\TPClnRDP on the remote desktop machine.

For information about enabling the Virtual Printing option during Horizon Agent installation, see Horizon

Agent Custom Setup Options for an RDS Host.

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Enable Time Zone Redirection for RDS Desktop and

Application Sessions

If an RDS host is in one time zone and a user is in another time zone, by default, when the user connects

to an RDS desktop, the desktop displays time that is in the time zone of the RDS host. You can enable

the Time Zone Redirection group policy setting to make the RDS desktop display time in the local time

zone. This policy setting applies to application sessions as well.

Prerequisites

nVerify that the Group Policy Management feature is available on your Active Directory server.

The steps for opening the Group Policy Management Console differ in the Windows 2012, Windows

2008, and Windows 2003 Active Directory versions. See "Create GPOs for Horizon Group Policies" in

the Configuring Remote Desktop Features in Horizon 7 document.

nVerify that the Horizon 7 RDS ADMX files are added to Active Directory. See "Add the Remote

Desktop Services ADMX Files to Active Directory" in the Configuring Remote Desktop Features in

Horizon 7 document.

nFamiliarize yourself with the group policy settings. See " RDS Device and Resource Redirection

Settings" in the Configuring Remote Desktop Features in Horizon 7 document.

Procedure

1On the Active Directory server, open the Group Policy Management Console.

2Expand your domain and Group Policy Objects.

3Right-click the GPO that you created for the group policy settings and select Edit.

4In the Group Policy Management Editor, navigate to Computer Configuration > Policies >

Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Remote Desktop Services > Remote

Desktop Session Host > Device and Resource Redirection.

5Enable the setting Allow time zone redirection.

Enable Windows Basic Theme for Applications

If a user has never connected to a desktop on an RDS host, and the user launches an application that is

hosted on the RDS host, the Windows basic theme is not applied to the application even if a GPO setting

is configured to load the Aero-styled theme. Horizon 7 does not support the Aero-styled theme but

supports the Windows basic theme. To make the Windows basic theme apply to the application, you must

configure another GPO setting.

Prerequisites

nVerify that the Group Policy Management feature is available on your Active Directory server.

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The steps for opening the Group Policy Management Console differ in the Windows 2012, Windows

2008, and Windows 2003 Active Directory versions. See "Create GPOs for Horizon 7 Group Policies"

in the Configuring Remote Desktop Features in Horizon 7 document.

Procedure

1On the Active Directory server, open the Group Policy Management Console.

2Expand your domain and Group Policy Objects.

3Right-click the GPO that you created for the group policy settings and select Edit.

4In the Group Policy Management Editor, navigate to User Configuration > Policies >

Administrative Templates > Control Panel > Personalization.

5Enable the setting Force a specific visual style file or force Windows classic and set the Path to

Visual Style as %windir%\resources\Themes\Aero\aero.msstyles.

Conﬁgure Group Policy to Start Runonce.exe

By default, some applications that rely on the Explorer.exe file may not run in an application session. To

avoid this issue, you must configure a GPO setting to start runonce.exe.

Prerequisites

nVerify that the Group Policy Management feature is available on your Active Directory server.

The steps for opening the Group Policy Management Console differ in the Windows 2012, Windows

2008, and Windows 2003 Active Directory versions. See "Create GPOs for Horizon 7 Group Policies"

in the Configuring Remote Desktop Features in Horizon 7 document.

Procedure

1On the Active Directory server, open the Group Policy Management Console.

2Expand your domain and Group Policy Objects.

3Right-click the GPO that you created for the group policy settings and select Edit.

4In the Group Policy Management Editor, navigate to User Configuration > Policies > Windows

Settings > Scripts (Logon/Logoff).

5Double-click Logon and click Add.

6In the Script Name box, type runonce.exe.

7In the Script Parameters box, type /AlternateShellStartup.

RDS Host Performance Options

You can optimize Windows for either foreground programs or background services by setting

performance options. By default, Horizon 7 disables certain performance options for RDS hosts for all

supported versions of Windows Server.

The following table shows the performance options that are disabled by Horizon 7.

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Table 3‑6. Performance Options Disabled by Horizon 7

Performance Options Disabled by Horizon 7

Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing

Show shadows under mouse pointer

Show shadows under windows

Use drop shadow for icon labels on the desktop

Show windows contents while dragging

The five performance options that are disabled by Horizon 7 correspond to four Horizon 7 settings in the

registry. The following table shows the Horizon 7 settings and their default registry values. The registry

values are all located in the registry subkey HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\VMware, Inc.\VMware

VDM\Agent\Configuration. You can re-enable the performance options by setting one or more of the

Horizon 7 registry values to false.

Table 3‑7. Horizon 7 Settings Related to Windows Performance Options

Horizon 7 Setting Registry Value

Disable cursor shadow DisableMouseShadows

Disable full window drag DisableFullWindowDrag

Disable ListView shadow DisableListViewShadow

Disable Window Animation DisableWindowAnimation

Conﬁguring 3D Graphics for RDS Hosts

With 3D graphics configured for RDS hosts, both applications in application pools and applications

running on RDS desktops can display 3D graphics.

The following 3D graphics options are available:

NVIDIA GRID vGPU

(shared GPU hardware

acceleration)

A physical GPU on an ESXi host is shared among multiple virtual

machines. Requires ESXi 6.0 or later.

AMD Multiuser GPU

using vDGA

A physical GPU on an ESXi host is shared among multiple virtual

machines. Requires ESXi 6.0 or later.

Virtual Dedicated

Graphics Acceleration

(vDGA)

A physical GPU on an ESXi host is dedicated to a single virtual machine.

Requires ESXi 5.5 or later.

Note Some Intel vDGA cards require a certain vSphere 6 version. See the

VMware Hardware Compatibility List at

http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php. Also, for Intel

vDGA, the Intel integrated GPU is used rather than discrete GPUs, as is

the case with other vendors.

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With vDGA, you allocate an entire GPU to a single machine for maximum performance. The RDS host

must be in a manual farm.

With AMD Multiuser GPU using vDGA, you can share an AMD GPU between multiple RDS hosts by

making it appear as multiple PCI passthrough devices. The RDS host must be in a manual farm.

With NVIDIA GRID vGPU, each graphics card can support multiple RDS hosts and the RDS hosts must

be in a manual farm. If an ESXi host has multiple physical GPUs, you can also configure the way the

ESXi host assigns virtual machines to the GPUs. By default, the ESXi host assigns virtual machines to

the physical GPU with the fewest virtual machines already assigned. This is called performance mode.

You can also choose consolidation mode, where the ESXi host assign virtual machines to the same

physical GPU until the maximum number of virtual machines is reached before placing virtual machines

on the next physical GPU. To configure consolidation mode, edit the /etc/vmware/config file on the

ESXi host and add the following entry:

vGPU.consolidation = "true"

3D graphics is only supported when you use the PCoIP or VMware Blast protocol. Therefore, the farm

must use PCoIP or VMware Blast as the default protocol and users must not be allowed to choose the

protocol.

Overview of Steps for Conﬁguring 3D Graphics

This overview describes tasks that you must perform in vSphere and Horizon 7 to configure 3D graphics.

For more information about setting up NVIDIA GRID vGPU, see the document NVIDIA GRID vGPU

Deployment Guide for VMware Horizon 6.1. For more information about setting up vDGA, see the

document Graphics Acceleration in View Virtual Desktops. For more information about setting up AMD

Multiuser GPU using vDGA, see the Setting Up Virtual Machine Desktops in Horizon 7 guide.

1 Set up an RDS host virtual machine. For more information, see Chapter 3 Setting Up Remote

Desktop Services Hosts.

2 Add the graphics PCI device to the virtual machine. See "Other Virtual Machine Device Configuration"

in the chapter "Configuring Virtual machine Hardware" in the vSphere Virtual Machine Administration

document. Be sure to click Reserve all memory when adding the device.

3 On the virtual machine, install the device driver for the graphics card.

4 Add the RDS host to a manual farm, create an RDS desktop pool, connect to the desktop using

PCoIP, and activate the display adapter.

You do not need to configure 3D graphics for RDS hosts in View Administrator. Selecting the option 3D

RDSH when you install Horizon Agent is sufficient. By default, this option is not selected and 3D graphics

is disabled.

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Conﬁgure RDS Per Device Client Access License Storage

When a client device connects to a published desktop or application on an RDS host, it receives an RDS

Per Device Client Access License (CAL), if the Per Device licensing mode is configured. You can store

the CAL on client devices and the Connection Server host, or only on the Connection Server host, by

configuring a global setting in Horizon Administrator.

Storing the CAL makes CAL usage efficient in RDS deployments and prevents the following problems.

nIf you deploy multiple license servers, and users run multiple sessions from a client device that

connects to different RDS hosts that use different license servers, each license server can potentially

issue a separate RDS Per Device CAL to the same client device. If a license server services both

Windows Server 2008 R2 RDS hosts and Windows Server 2012 or Windows Server 2012 R2 RDS

hosts (issuing both Windows Server 2008 R2 CALs and Windows Server 2012 or 2012 R2 CALs), a

single client device can use up as many as two CALs for each license server in your deployment.

nIf you have Windows 2012 or 2012 R2 CALs installed on a Windows Server 2012 license server, a

client device that makes a PCoIP or VMware Blast connection to a Windows Server 2008 R2 RDS

host is always issued a temporary license, even after multiple connections are made. A permanent

license is never issued for the client.

Storage of Per-Device CALs is supported only on Windows clients. Windows Zero clients and non-

Windows clients do not support this feature. For clients that do not support this feature, you can store

CALs only on the Connection Server host.

Prerequisites

Verify that the Per Device licensing mode is configured for the RDS host. You set the licensing mode by

configuring the Set the Remote Desktop licensing mode group policy setting. For more information, see

"RDS Licensing Settings" in the Configuring Remote Desktop Features in Horizon 7 document.

Procedure

1In Horizon Administrator, select View Configuration > Global Settings.

2In the General pane, click Edit.

3From the RDS Per Device CAL Storage Options drop-down menu, select a CAL storage option.

Option Description

Save only on Broker Store the CAL only on the Connection Server host.

This option sets the View LDAP entries cs-enablerdslicensing=true and

sendRdsLicense=false.

Save on both Clients and Broker Store the CAL on client devices and on the Connection Server host.

This option sets the View LDAP entries cs-enablerdslicensing=true and

sendRdsLicense=true.

Don't save the Per Device CAL Do not store the CAL.

This option sets the View LDAP entries cs-enablerdslicensing=false and

sendRdsLicense=false.

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4Click OK to save your changes.

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Creating Farms 4

A farm is a group of RDS hosts that provides a common set of applications or RDS desktops to users.

This section includes the following topics:

nFarms

nPreparing a Parent Virtual Machine for an Automated Farm

nWorksheet for Creating a Manual Farm

nWorksheet for Creating an Automated Linked-Clone Farm

nWorksheet for Creating an Automated Instant-Clone Farm

nCreate a Manual Farm

nCreate an Automated Linked-Clone Farm

nCreate an Automated Instant-Clone Farm

Farms

Farms simplify the task of managing RDS hosts, RDS desktops, and applications in an enterprise. You

can create manual or automated farms to serve groups of users that vary in size or have different desktop

or application requirements.

A manual farm consists of RDS hosts that already exist. The RDS hosts can be physical or virtual

machines. You manually add the RDS hosts when you create the farm.

An automated farm consists of RDS hosts that are instant-clone or linked-clone virtual machines in

vCenter Server.

Connection Server creates the instant-clone virtual machines based on the parameters that you specify

when you create the farm. Instant clones share a virtual disk of a parent VM and therefore consume less

storage than full virtual machines. In addition, instant clones share the memory of a parent VM and are

created using the vmFork technology.

View Composer creates the linked-clone virtual machines based on the parameters that you specify when

you create the farm. The virtual machines are cloned from a single parent virtual machine and are linked

to the parent in a mechanism that reduces the amount of storage that the virtual machines require.

VMware, Inc. 28

When you create an application pool or an RDS desktop pool, you must specify one and only one farm.

The RDS hosts in a farm can host RDS desktops, applications, or both. A farm can support at most one

RDS desktop pool, but it can support multiple application pools. A farm can support both types of pools

simultaneously.

Farms provide the following conveniences:

nLoad balancing

By default, Horizon 7 balances the load of the RDS desktop sessions and the application sessions

across all the RDS hosts in the farm. You can control the placement of new application sessions by

writing and configuring load balancing scripts. For more information, see "Configuring Load Balancing

for RDS Hosts" in the View Administration document.

nRedundancy

If one RDS host in a farm is offline, the other RDS hosts in the farm continue to provide applications

and desktops to users.

nScalability

A farm can have a variable number of RDS hosts. You can create farms with different numbers of

RDS hosts to serve user groups of different sizes.

Farms have the following properties:

nA Horizon 7 pod can have a maximum of 200 farms.

nA farm can have a maximum of 200 RDS hosts.

nThe RDS hosts in a farm can run any supported version of Windows Server. See "System

Requirements for Guest Operating Systems" in the View Installation document.

nAutomated linked-clone farms support the View Composer recompose operation but do not support

the refresh or rebalance operation. You can recompose an automated farm but not a subset of the

RDS hosts in the farm.

Important Microsoft recommends that you configure roaming profiles for users separately for each farm.

The profiles should not be shared between farms or users' physical desktops since profile corruption and

data loss may occur if a user is simultaneously logged in to two machines that load the same profile.

Preparing a Parent Virtual Machine for an Automated

Farm

To create an automated farm, you must first prepare a parent virtual machine. View Composer or

Connection Server uses this parent virtual machine to create linked-clone or instant-clone virtual

machines, which are the RDS hosts in the farm.

nPrepare an RDS Host Parent Virtual Machine

Both Connection Server and View Composer require a parent virtual machine from which you

generate a base image for creating instant clones or linked clones.

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nActivating Windows on Linked-Clone RDS Hosts

To make sure that View Composer properly activates Windows Server operating systems on linked-

clone RDS hosts, you must use Microsoft volume activation on the parent virtual machine. The

volume-activation technology requires a volume license key.

nDisable Windows Hibernation in the Parent Virtual Machine

The Windows hibernation feature creates a hidden system file, Hiberfil.sys and uses this file to

store information that is needed for hybrid sleep. Disabling hibernation reduces the size of an instant

clone's or a View Composer linked clone's virtual disk.

Prepare an RDS Host Parent Virtual Machine

Both Connection Server and View Composer require a parent virtual machine from which you generate a

base image for creating instant clones or linked clones.

Prerequisites

nVerify that an RDS host virtual machine is set up. See Chapter 3 Setting Up Remote Desktop

Services Hosts. To set up the RDS host, be sure not to use a virtual machine that was previously

registered to View Connection Server.

A parent virtual machine that you use for View Composer must either belong to the same Active

Directory domain as the domain that the linked-clone machines will join or be a member of the local

WORKGROUP.

nVerify that the virtual machine was not converted from a View Composer linked clone. A virtual

machine that is converted from a linked clone has the clone's internal disk and state information. A

parent virtual machine cannot have state information.

Important Linked clones and virtual machines that were converted from linked clones are not

supported as parent virtual machines.

nTo create an automated instant-clone farm, you must select the Instant Clone option when you install

Horizon Agent on the parent virtual machine. See Install Horizon Agent on a Remote Desktop

Services Host.

nVerify that the virtual switch that the instant-clone VMs connect to has enough ports to support the

expected number of VMs. Each network card on a VM requires one port.

nVerify that you added an instant-clone domain administrator in Horizon Administrator.

nTo create an automated linked-clone farm, you must select the View Composer Agent option when

you install Horizon Agent on the parent virtual machine.

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To update Horizon Agent in a large environment, you can use standard Windows update mechanisms

such as Altiris, SMS, LanDesk, BMC, or other systems management software. You can also use the

recompose operation to update Horizon Agent.

Note Do not change the log on account for the VMware View Composer Guest Agent Server service

in a parent virtual machine. By default, this is the Local System account. If you change this account,

the linked clones created from the parent do not start.

nTo deploy Windows machines, configure a volume license key and activate the parent virtual

machine's operating system with volume activation. See " Activating Windows on Instant Clones and

View Composer Linked Clones" in the Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon 7 document.

nFamiliarize yourself with the procedure for disabling searching Windows Update for device drivers.

See the Microsoft Technet article, "Disable Searching Windows Update for Device Drivers" at

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc730606(v=ws.10).aspx.

nTo implement the RDS host load balancing feature, modify the RDS host parent virtual machine as

described in "Configuring Load Balancing for RDS Hosts" in the View Administration document.

Procedure

nRemove the DHCP lease on the parent virtual machine to avoid copying a leased IP address to the

linked clones in the farm.

a On the parent virtual machine, open a command prompt.

b Type the ipconfig /release command.

nVerify that the system disk contains a single volume.

You cannot deploy linked clones from a parent virtual machine that contains more than one volume.

The View Composer service does not support multiple disk partitions. Multiple virtual disks are

supported.

nVerify that the virtual machine does not contain an independent disk.

An independent disk is excluded when you take a snapshot of the virtual machine. Linked clones that

are created or recomposed from the virtual machine will not contain the independent disk.

nDisable the hibernation option to reduce the size of linked-clone OS disks that are created from the

parent virtual machine.

nBefore you take a snapshot of the parent virtual machine, disable searching Windows Update for

device drivers.

This Windows feature can interfere with the customization of linked-clone machines. As each linked

clone is customized, Windows might search for the best drivers on the Internet for that clone,

resulting in repeated searches and customization delays.

nIn vSphere Client, disable the vApp Options setting on the parent virtual machine.

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nOn Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012 R2 machines, disable the scheduled

maintenance task that recovers disk space by removing unused features.

For example: Schtasks.exe /change /disable /tn

"\Microsoft\Windows\AppxDeploymentClient\Pre-staged app cleanup"

If left enabled, this maintenance task can remove the Sysprep customization script after the linked

clones are created, which would cause subsequent recompose operations to fail with customization

operation timeout errors. For more information, see the Microsoft KB article available at

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2928948.

nOn Windows Server 2012 machines, apply the Microsoft hotfix available at

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3020396.

This hotfix allows Sysprep to customize a Windows Server 2012 virtual machine that has the RDS

role enabled. Without the hotfix, Sysprep customization will fail on the Windows Server 2012 linked-

clone machines that are deployed in an automated farm.

What to do next

Use vSphere Client or vSphere Web Client to take a snapshot of the parent virtual machine in its

powered-down state. This snapshot is used as the baseline configuration for the first set of linked-clone

machines that are anchored to the parent virtual machine.

Important Before you take a snapshot, completely shut down the parent virtual machine by using the

Shut Down command in the guest operating system.

Activating Windows on Linked-Clone RDS Hosts

To make sure that View Composer properly activates Windows Server operating systems on linked-clone

RDS hosts, you must use Microsoft volume activation on the parent virtual machine. The volume-

activation technology requires a volume license key.

To activate Windows with volume activation, you use Key Management Service (KMS), which requires a

KMS license key. See your Microsoft dealer to acquire a volume license key and configure volume

activation.

Note View Composer does not support Multiple Activation Key (MAK) licensing.

Before you create linked-clone machines with View Composer, you must use volume activation to activate

the operating system on the parent virtual machine.

When a linked-clone machine is created, and each time the linked clone is recomposed, the View

Composer agent uses the parent virtual machine's KMS server to activate the operating system on the

linked clone.

For KMS licensing, View Composer uses the KMS server that is configured to activate the parent virtual

machine. The KMS server treats an activated linked clone as a computer with a newly issued license.

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Disable Windows Hibernation in the Parent Virtual Machine

The Windows hibernation feature creates a hidden system file, Hiberfil.sys and uses this file to store

information that is needed for hybrid sleep. Disabling hibernation reduces the size of an instant clone's or

a View Composer linked clone's virtual disk.

Caution When you make hibernation unavailable, hybrid sleep does not work. Users can lose data if a

power loss occurs.

Procedure

1In vSphere Client, select the parent virtual machine and select Open Console.

2Log in as an administrator.

3Disable the hibernation option.

a Click Start and type cmd in the Start Search box.

b In the search results list, right-click Command Prompt and click Run as Administrator.

c At the User Account Control prompt, click Continue.

d At the command prompt, type powercfg.exe /hibernate off and press Enter.

e Type exit and press Enter.

Worksheet for Creating a Manual Farm

When you create a manual farm, the Add Farm wizard prompts you to configure certain settings.

You can print this worksheet and write down the values you want to specify when you run the Add Farm

wizard.

Table 4‑1. Worksheet: Conﬁguration Settings for Creating a Manual Farm

Setting Description

Fill in Your Value

Here

ID Unique name that identifies the farm in View Administrator.

Description Description of this farm.

Access group Access group in which to place all the pools in this farm.

For more information about access groups, see the role-based delegated

administration chapter in the View Administration document.

Default display protocol Select VMware Blast, PCoIP or RDP. RDP applies to desktop pools only.

The display protocol for application pools is always VMware Blast or

PCoIP. If you select RDP and you plan to use this farm to host application

pools, you must set Allow users to choose protocol to Yes. The default is

PCoIP.

Allow users to choose

protocol

Select Yes or No. This setting applies to RDS desktop pools only. If you

select Yes, users can choose the display protocol when they connect to an

RDS desktop from Horizon Client. The default is Yes.

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Table 4‑1. Worksheet: Conﬁguration Settings for Creating a Manual Farm (Continued)

Setting Description

Fill in Your Value

Here

Pre-launch session

timeout (applications only)

Determines the amount of time that an application configured for pre-launch

is kept open. The default is 10 minutes.

If the end-user does not start any application in Horizon Client, the

application session is disconnected if the idle session times out or if pre-

launch session times out.

If you want to end the pre-launch session after timeout, you must set the

Log off disconnected session option to Immediate.

Empty session timeout

(applications only)

Determines the amount of time that an empty application session is kept

open. An application session is empty when all the applications that run in

the session are closed. While the session is open, users can open

applications faster. You can save system resources if you disconnect or log

off empty application sessions. Select Never or set the number of minutes

as the timeout value. The default is After 1 minute.

When timeout occurs Determines whether an empty application session is disconnected or logged

off after the Empty session timeout limit is reached. Select Disconnect or

Log off. A session that is logged off frees up resources, but opening an

application takes longer. The default is Disconnect.

Log off disconnected

session

Determines when a disconnected session is logged off. This setting applies

to both desktop and application sessions. Select Never, Immediate, or

After ... minutes. Use caution when you select Immediate or After ...

minutes. When a disconnected session is logged off, the session is lost.

The default is Never.

Allow HTML Access to

desktops and applications

on this farm

Determines whether HTML Access to RDS desktops and applications is

allowed. Check the Enabled box to allow HTML Access to RDS desktops

and applications. When you edit this setting after a farm is created, the new

value applies to existing desktops and applications as well as new ones.

Note Unlike an automated farm, a manual farm does not have the setting Max sessions per RDS

server, because a manual farm can have RDS hosts that are not identical. For RDS hosts in a manual

farm, you can edit individual RDS hosts and change the equivalent setting Number of connections.

Worksheet for Creating an Automated Linked-Clone Farm

When you create an automated linked-clone farm, the Add Farm wizard prompts you to configure certain

settings.

You can print this worksheet and write down the values you want to specify when you run the Add Farm

wizard.

Table 4‑2. Worksheet: Conﬁguration Settings for Creating an Automated Linked-Clone Farm

Setting Description

Fill in Your Value

Here

ID Unique name that identifies the farm in Horizon Administrator.

Description Description of this farm.

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Table 4‑2. Worksheet: Conﬁguration Settings for Creating an Automated Linked-Clone Farm

(Continued)

Setting Description

Fill in Your Value

Here

Access group Access group in which to place all the pools in this farm.

For more information about access groups, see the role-based delegated

administration chapter in the View Administration document.

Default display protocol Select VMware Blast, PCoIP or RDP. RDP applies to desktop pools only.

The display protocol for application pools is always VMware Blast or

PCoIP. If you select RDP and you plan to use this farm to host application

pools, you must set Allow users to choose protocol to Yes. The default is

PCoIP.

Allow users to choose

protocol

Select Yes or No. This setting applies to RDS desktop pools only. If you

select Yes, users can choose the display protocol when they connect to an

RDS desktop from Horizon Client. The default is Yes.

Pre-launch session

timeout (applications only)

Determines the amount of time that an application configured for pre-launch

is kept open. The default is 10 minutes.

If the end-user does not start any application in Horizon Client, the

application session is disconnected if the idle session times out or if pre-

launch session times out.

If you want to end the pre-launch session after timeout, you must set the

Log off disconnected session option to Immediate.

Empty session timeout

(applications only)

Determines the amount of time that an empty application session is kept

open. An application session is empty when all the applications that run in

the session are closed. While the session is open, users can open

applications faster. You can save system resources if you disconnect or log

off empty application sessions. Select Never or set the number of minutes

as the timeout value. The default is After 1 minute.

When timeout occurs Determines whether an empty application session is disconnected or logged

off after the Empty session timeout limit is reached. Select Disconnect or

Log off. A session that is logged off frees up resources, but opening an

application takes longer. The default is Disconnect.

Log off disconnected

session

Determines when a disconnected session is logged off. This setting applies

to both desktop and application sessions. Select Never, Immediate, or

After ... minutes. Use caution when you select Immediate or After ...

minutes. When a disconnected session is logged off, the session is lost.

The default is Never.

Allow HTML Access to

desktops and applications

on this farm

Determines whether HTML Access to RDS desktops and applications is

allowed. Check the Enabled box to allow HTML Access to RDS desktops

and applications. When you edit this setting after a farm is created, the new

value applies to existing desktops and applications as well as new ones.

Max sessions per RDS

server

Determines the maximum number of sessions that an RDS host can

support. Select Unlimited or No More Than .... The default is Unlimited.

Enable provisioning Select this checkbox to enable provisioning after you finish this wizard. This

box is checked by default.

Stop provisioning on error Select this checkbox to stop provisioning when a provisioning error occurs.

This box is checked by default.

Setting Up Published Desktops and Applications in Horizon 7

VMware, Inc. 35

Table 4‑2. Worksheet: Conﬁguration Settings for Creating an Automated Linked-Clone Farm

(Continued)

Setting Description

Fill in Your Value

Here

Naming pattern Specify a prefix or a name format. Horizon 7 will append or insert an

automatically generated number starting with 1 to form the machine name. If

you want the number at the end, simply specify a prefix. Otherwise, specify

{n} anywhere in a character string and {n} will be replaced by the number.

You can also specify {n:fixed=<number of digits>}, where fixed=<number

of digits> indicates the number of digits to be used for the number. For

example, specify vm-{n:fixed=3}-sales and the machine names will be

vm-001-sales, vm-002-sales, and so on.

Note Each machine name, including the automatically generated number,

has a 15-character limit.

Max number of machines The number of machines to be provisioned.

Minimum number of ready

(provisioned) machines

during View Composer

maintenance operations

This setting lets you keep the specified number of machines available to

accept connection requests while View Composer recomposes the

machines in the farm.

Use vSphere Virtual SAN Specify whether to use VMware Virtual SAN, if available. Virtual SAN is a

software-defined storage tier that virtualizes the local physical storage disks

available on a cluster of ESXi hosts. For more information, see "Using

Virtual SAN for High-Performance Storage and Policy-Based Management"

in the Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon 7 document.

Select separate

datastores for replica and

OS disks

(Available only if you do not use Virtual SAN) You can place replica and OS

disks on different datastores for performance or other reasons.

Parent VM Select a parent virtual machine from the list. Be aware that the list includes

virtual machines that do not have View Composer Agent installed. You must

not select any of those machines because View Composer Agent is

required. A good practice is to use a naming convention that indicates

whether a virtual machine has View Composer Agent installed.

Snapshot Select the snapshot of the parent virtual machine to use as the base image

for the farm.

Do not delete the snapshot and parent virtual machine from vCenter Server,

unless no linked clones in the farm use the default image, and no more

linked clones will be created from this default image. The system requires

the parent virtual machine and snapshot to provision new linked clones in

the farm, according to farm policies. The parent virtual machine and

snapshot are also required for View Composer maintenance operations.

VM folder location Select the folder in vCenter Server in which the farm resides.

Setting Up Published Desktops and Applications in Horizon 7

VMware, Inc. 36

Table 4‑2. Worksheet: Conﬁguration Settings for Creating an Automated Linked-Clone Farm

(Continued)

Setting Description

Fill in Your Value

Here

Cluster Select the ESXi host or cluster on which the desktop virtual machines run.

With Virtual SAN datastores (a vSphere 5.5 Update 1 feature), you can

select a cluster with up to 20 ESXi hosts. With Virtual Volumes datastores (a

vSphere 6.0 feature), you can select a cluster with up to 32 ESXi hosts.

In vSphere 5.1 or later, you can select a cluster with up to 32 ESXi hosts if

the replicas are stored on VMFS5 or later datastores or NFS datastores. If

you store replicas on a VMFS version earlier than VMFS5, a cluster can

have at most eight hosts.

In vSphere 5.0, you can select a cluster with more than eight ESXi hosts if

the replicas are stored on NFS datastores. If you store replicas on VMFS

datastores, a cluster can have at most eight hosts.

Resource pool Select the vCenter Server resource pool in which the farm resides.

Datastores Select one or more datastores on which to store the farm.

A table on the Select Linked Clone Datastores page of the Add Farm

wizard provides high-level guidelines for estimating the farm's storage

requirements. These guidelines can help you determine which datastores

are large enough to store the linked-clone disks. For details, see "Storage

Sizing for Instant-Clone and Linked-Clone Desktop Pools" in the Setting Up

Virtual Desktops in Horizon 7 document.

You can use shared or local datastores for an individual ESXi host or for

ESXi clusters. If you use local datastores in an ESXi cluster, you must

consider the vSphere infrastructure constraints that are imposed on your

desktop deployment. For details, see "Storing Linked Clones on Local

Datastores" in the Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon 7 document..

Note If you use Virtual SAN, select only one datastore.

Storage Overcommit Determine the storage-overcommit level at which linked-clones are created

on each datastore.

As the level increases, more linked clones fit on the datastore and less

space is reserved to let individual clones grow. A high storage-overcommit

level lets you create linked clones that have a total logical size larger than

the physical storage limit of the datastore. For details, see "Storage

Overcommit for View Composer Linked-Clone Virtual Machines" in the

Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon 7 document.

Note This setting has no effect if you use Virtual SAN.

Setting Up Published Desktops and Applications in Horizon 7

VMware, Inc. 37

Table 4‑2. Worksheet: Conﬁguration Settings for Creating an Automated Linked-Clone Farm

(Continued)

Setting Description

Fill in Your Value

Here

Use native NFS

snapshots (VAAI)

(Available only if you do not use Virtual SAN) If your deployment includes

NAS devices that support the vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI),

you can use native snapshot technology to clone virtual machines.

You can use this feature only if you select datastores that reside on NAS

devices that support native cloning operations through VAAI.

You cannot use this feature if you store replicas and OS disks on separate

datastores. You cannot use this feature on virtual machines with space-

efficient disks.

This feature is supported on vSphere 5.0 and later.

For details, see "Using VAAI Storage for View Composer Linked Clones" in

the Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon 7 document..

Reclaim VM disk space (Available only if you do not use Virtual SAN or Virtual Volumes) Determine

whether to allow ESXi hosts to reclaim unused disk space on linked clones

that are created in space-efficient disk format. The space reclamation

feature reduces the total storage space required for linked-clone desktops.

This feature is supported on vSphere 5.1 and later. The linked-clone virtual

machines must be virtual hardware version 9 or later.

For details, see "Reclaim Disk Space on Linked-Clone Virtual Machines" in

the Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon 7 document.

Initiate reclamation when

unused space on VM

exceeds:

(Available only if you do not use Virtual SAN or Virtual Volumes) Type the

minimum amount of unused disk space, in gigabytes, that must accumulate

on a linked-clone OS disk to trigger space reclamation. When the unused

disk space exceeds this threshold, View initiates the operation that directs

the ESXi host to reclaim space on the OS disk.

This value is measured per virtual machine. The unused disk space must

exceed the specified threshold on an individual virtual machine before View

starts the space reclamation process on that machine.

For example: 2 GB.

The default value is 1 GB.

Blackout Times Configure days and times during which the reclamation of virtual machine

disk space do not take place.

To ensure that ESXi resources are dedicated to foreground tasks when

necessary, you can prevent the ESXi hosts from performing these

operations during specified periods of time on specified days.

For details, see " Set Storage Accelerator and Space Reclamation Blackout

Times for View Composer Linked Clones" in the Setting Up Virtual Desktops

in Horizon 7 document.

Setting Up Published Desktops and Applications in Horizon 7

VMware, Inc. 38

Table 4‑2. Worksheet: Conﬁguration Settings for Creating an Automated Linked-Clone Farm

(Continued)

Setting Description

Fill in Your Value

Here

Transparent Page

Sharing Scope

Select the level at which to allow transparent page sharing (TPS). The

choices are Virtual Machine (the default), Farm, Pod, or Global. If you turn

on TPS for all the machines in the farm, pod, or globally, the ESXi host

eliminates redundant copies of memory pages that result if the machines

use the same guest operating system or applications.

Page sharing happens on the ESXi host. For example, if you enable TPS at

the farm level but the farm is spread across multiple ESXi hosts, only virtual

machines on the same host and within the same farm will share pages. At

the global level, all machines managed by View on the same ESXi host can

share memory pages, regardless of which farm the machines reside in.

Note The default setting is not to share memory pages among machines

because TPS can pose a security risk. Research indicates that TPS could

possibly be abused to gain unauthorized access to data in very limited

configuration scenarios.

Domain Select the Active Directory domain and user name.

View Composer requires certain user privileges to farm. The domain and

user account are used by Sysprep to customize the linked-clone machines.

You specify this user when you configure View Composer settings for

vCenter Server. You can specify multiple domains and users when you

configure View Composer settings. When you use the Add Farm wizard to

create a farm, you must select one domain and user from the list.

For information about configuring View Composer, see the View

Administration document.

AD container Provide the Active Directory container relative distinguished name.

For example: CN=Computers

When you run the Add Farm wizard, you can browse your Active Directory

tree for the container.

Allow reuse of pre-

existing computer

accounts

Select this setting to use existing computer accounts in Active Directory for

linked clones that are provisioned by View Composer. This setting lets you

control the computer accounts that are created in Active Directory.

When a linked clone is provisioned, if an existing AD computer account

name matches the linked clone machine name, View Composer uses the

existing computer account. Otherwise, a new computer account is created.

The existing computer accounts must be located in the Active Directory

container that you specify with the Active Directory container setting.

When this setting is disabled, a new AD computer account is created when

View Composer provisions a linked clone. This setting is disabled by default.

For details, see "Use Existing Active Directory Computer Accounts for

Linked Clones" in the Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon 7 document.

Use a customization

specification (Sysprep)

Provide a Sysprep customization specification to customize the virtual

machines.

Setting Up Published Desktops and Applications in Horizon 7

VMware, Inc. 39

Worksheet for Creating an Automated Instant-Clone Farm

When you create an automated instant-clone farm, the Add Farm wizard prompts you to configure certain

settings.

You can print this worksheet and write down the values you want to specify when you run the Add Farm

wizard.

Table 4‑3. Worksheet: Conﬁguration Settings for Creating an Automated Instant-Clone Farm

Setting Description

Fill in Your Value

Here

ID Unique name that identifies the farm in Horizon Administrator.

Description Description of this farm.

Access group Access group in which to place all the pools in this farm.

For more information about access groups, see the role-based delegated

administration chapter in the View Administration document.

Default display protocol Select VMware Blast, PCoIP or RDP. RDP applies to desktop pools only.

The display protocol for application pools is always VMware Blast or

PCoIP. If you select RDP and you plan to use this farm to host application

pools, you must set Allow users to choose protocol to Yes. The default is

PCoIP.

Allow users to choose

protocol

Select Yes or No. This setting applies to RDS desktop pools only. If you

select Yes, users can choose the display protocol when they connect to an

RDS desktop from Horizon Client. The default is Yes.

Pre-launch session

timeout (applications only)

Determines the amount of time that an application configured for pre-launch

is kept open. The default is 10 minutes.

If the end-user does not start any application in Horizon Client, the

application session is disconnected if the idle session times out or if pre-

launch session times out.

If you want to end the pre-launch session after timeout, you must set the

Log off disconnected session option to Immediate.

Empty session timeout

(applications only)

Determines the amount of time that an empty application session is kept

open. An application session is empty when all the applications that run in

the session are closed. While the session is open, users can open

applications faster. You can save system resources if you disconnect or log

off empty application sessions. Select Never or set the number of minutes

as the timeout value. The default is After 1 minute.

When timeout occurs Determines whether an empty application session is disconnected or logged

off after the Empty session timeout limit is reached. Select Disconnect or

Log off. A session that is logged off frees up resources, but opening an

application takes longer. The default is Disconnect.

Log off disconnected

session

Determines when a disconnected session is logged off. This setting applies

to both desktop and application sessions. Select Never, Immediate, or

After ... minutes. Use caution when you select Immediate or After ...

minutes. When a disconnected session is logged off, the session is lost.

The default is Never.

Setting Up Published Desktops and Applications in Horizon 7

VMware, Inc. 40

Table 4‑3. Worksheet: Conﬁguration Settings for Creating an Automated Instant-Clone Farm

(Continued)

Setting Description

Fill in Your Value

Here

Allow HTML Access to

desktops and applications

on this farm

Determines whether HTML Access to RDS desktops and applications is

allowed. Check the Enabled box to allow HTML Access to RDS desktops

and applications. When you edit this setting after a farm is created, the new

value applies to existing desktops and applications as well as new ones.

Max sessions per RDS

server

Determines the maximum number of sessions that an RDS host can

support. Select Unlimited or No More Than .... The default is Unlimited.

Enable provisioning Select this checkbox to enable provisioning after you finish this wizard. This

box is checked by default.

Stop provisioning on error Select this checkbox to stop provisioning when a provisioning error occurs.

This box is checked by default.

Naming pattern Specify a prefix or a name format. Horizon 7 will append or insert an

automatically generated number starting with 1 to form the machine name. If

you want the number at the end, simply specify a prefix. Otherwise, specify

{n} anywhere in a character string and {n} will be replaced by the number.

You can also specify {n:fixed=<number of digits>}, where fixed=<number

of digits> indicates the number of digits to be used for the number. For

example, specify vm-{n:fixed=3}-sales and the machine names will be

vm-001-sales, vm-002-sales, and so on.

Note Each machine name, including the automatically generated number,

has a 15-character limit.

Max number of machines The number of machines to be provisioned.

Minimum number of ready

(provisioned) machines

during Instant Clone

maintenance operations

This setting lets you keep the specified number of machines available to

accept connection requests while Connection Server performs maintenance

operations on the machines in the farm. This setting is not honored if you

schedule immediate maintenance.

Use vSphere Virtual SAN Specify whether to use VMware Virtual SAN, if available. Virtual SAN is a

software-defined storage tier that virtualizes the local physical storage disks

available on a cluster of ESXi hosts. For more information, see "Using

Virtual SAN for High-Performance Storage and Policy-Based Management"

in the Setting Up Virtual Desktops in Horizon 7 document.

Select separate

datastores for replica and

OS disks

(Available only if you do not use Virtual SAN) You can place replica and OS

disks on different datastores for performance or other reasons.

If you select this option, you can select the options to select one or more

instant-clone datastores or replica disk datastores.

Parent VM Select a parent virtual machine from the list. Be aware that the list includes

virtual machines that do not have View Composer Agent installed. You must

not select any of those machines because View Composer Agent is

required. A good practice is to use a naming convention that indicates

whether a virtual machine has View Composer Agent installed.

Setting Up Published Desktops and Applications in Horizon 7

VMware, Inc. 41

Table 4‑3. Worksheet: Conﬁguration Settings for Creating an Automated Instant-Clone Farm

(Continued)

Setting Description

Fill in Your Value

Here

Snapshot Select the snapshot of the parent virtual machine to use as the base image

for the farm.

Do not delete the snapshot and parent virtual machine from vCenter Server,

unless no instant clones in the farm use the default image, and no more

instant clones will be created from this default image. The system requires

the parent virtual machine and snapshot to provision new instant clones in

the farm, according to farm policies. The parent virtual machine and

snapshot are also required for Connection Server maintenance operations.