Book Image

Implementing VMware Horizon 7 - Second Edition

By : Jason Ventresco
Book Image

Implementing VMware Horizon 7 - Second Edition

By: Jason Ventresco

Overview of this book

VMware Horizon 7 has been a buzz since it was announced. One of the major reasons is the introduction of the new Instant Clones feature. This book will complement the product documentation by providing real-life examples of how it is implemented along with the latest features and components of the platform. We'll explore the latest features of the platform, including those added through product acquisitions such as User Environment Manager and App Volumes. Further on, you will also be introduced to the new capabilities added to the core product such Linked-Clone RDS pools. Upon completion of this book, you will have an understanding of the capabilities and benefits VMware Horizon can provide to your organization, and how each of its components are implemented.

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Implementing VMware Horizon 7 - Second Edition
Jason Ventresco
Jun, 2016 | 478 pages
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Table of Contents (21 chapters)
Implementing VMware Horizon 7 Second Edition
Implementing VMware Horizon 7 Second Edition
Credits
Credits
About the Author
About the Author
About the Reviewer
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
VMware Horizon Infrastructure Overview
VMware Horizon Infrastructure Overview
VMware Horizon components
VMware Horizon licensing
VMware Horizon core infrastructure requirements
VMware Horizon design overview
Summary
2
Implementing Horizon Connection Server
Implementing Horizon Connection Server
Overview of VMware Horizon Connection Server
Horizon Connection Server requirements
Horizon installation prerequisites
Deploying the first Horizon Connection Server
Configuring the Horizon Instant Clone Engine
Deploying a Horizon Replica Connection Server
Upgrading an existing Horizon Connection Server
Backing up a Horizon Connection Server
Horizon Connection Server recovery
Summary
3
Implementing Horizon Composer
Implementing Horizon Composer
Overview of VMware Horizon Composer
Horizon Composer requirements
Limits of Horizon Composer
Horizon Composer installation prerequisites
Deploying Horizon Composer
Configuring Horizon Composer
Backing up Horizon Composer
Horizon Composer recovery
Summary
4
Implementing Horizon Security Server
Implementing Horizon Security Server
Horizon Security Server overview
Horizon Security Server limits
Horizon Security Server additional considerations
Security Server network requirements
Installing and configuring Horizon Security Server
Deploying a Horizon Security Server
Updating the Horizon Security Server settings
Horizon Security Server backup
Horizon Security Server recovery or upgrade
Summary
5
Implementing VMware Horizon Access Point
Implementing VMware Horizon Access Point
Horizon Access Point overview
Horizon Access Point limits
Horizon Access Point additional considerations
Horizon Access Point network requirements
Preparing the infrastructure for a Horizon Access Point
Deploying a Horizon Access Point
Troubleshooting a Horizon Access Point deployment
Updating the Horizon Access Point configuration
Summary
6
Implementing a Horizon Cloud Pod
Implementing a Horizon Cloud Pod
Horizon Cloud Pod overview
Configuring a Horizon Cloud Pod
Creating Cloud Pod Global Entitlements
Removing a Horizon pod from a Cloud Pod
Updating the settings of a Global Entitlement
Determining the effective home site of a user or security group
Monitoring Global Entitlement Horizon client sessions
Summary
7
Using VMware Virtual SAN with Horizon
Using VMware Virtual SAN with Horizon
Introduction
Common VMware Virtual SAN terms
Sizing a Horizon environment for Virtual SAN
Virtual SAN and the vSphere VSAN SPBM framework
VMware Virtual SAN configuration overview
Deploy VMware Virtual SAN
Using VSAN with VMware Horizon
Summary
8
Implementing VMware User Environment Manager
Implementing VMware User Environment Manager
User Environment Manager overview
User Environment Manager pre-installation tasks
Installing the User Environment Manager Agent
Configuring User Environment Manager
Advanced UEM configuration examples
Summary
9
Implementing VMware App Volumes
Implementing VMware App Volumes
App Volumes overview
App Volumes prerequisites
Configuring App Volumes Manager
Deploying additional App Volumes Manager servers
Installing the App Volumes Agent
Installing the AppCapture program
Creating an AppStack
Assigning AppStacks
Deleting AppStacks assignments
Enabling Writable Volumes
Disabling Writable Volumes
App Volumes backup and recovery
App Volumes references
Summary
10
Creating Horizon Desktop Pools
Creating Horizon Desktop Pools
Horizon desktop pool overview
Desktop pool common terms
Horizon desktop pool options
QuickPrep versus Sysprep
Advantages of linked or Instant Clone desktops
Considerations for linked and Instant Clone desktops
Creating a Horizon desktop pool
Monitoring the desktop creation process
Common provisioning problems
Managing Horizon Desktop pool entitlements
Summary
11
Implementing Horizon Application Pools
Implementing Horizon Application Pools
Configuring a Windows RDS server for use with Horizon
Creating a Windows RDS farm in Horizon
Creating a Horizon application pool
Using the Horizon client to access application pools
Monitoring the status of Horizon application pool clients and RDS servers
Modifying or deleting a Horizon application pool
Managing a Horizon RDS farm or server
Summary
12
Performing Horizon Desktop Pool Maintenance
Performing Horizon Desktop Pool Maintenance
An overview of instant and linked clone maintenance
Managing Horizon maintenance tasks
Global settings for Horizon maintenance
Performing linked clone desktop maintenance
Performing instant clone desktop maintenance
Managing Horizon Composer persistent disks
Summary
13
Creating a Master Horizon Desktop Image
Creating a Master Horizon Desktop Image
The importance of desktop optimization
Optimization results – Horizon desktop IOPS
Optimization results – CPU utilization
Customizing the Windows desktop OS cluster size
Permanently removing Windows Store applications
Windows OS pre-deployment tasks
Removing unwanted application – native update features
Windows OS optimizations
Summary
14
Managing Horizon SSL Certificates
Managing Horizon SSL Certificates
Creating a Local Computer Certificates console
Requesting a certificate using Microsoft Active Directory Certificate Services
Requesting a certificate with Subject Alternative Names
Converting a certificate from PFX to PEM format
Replacing a Horizon Connection Server certificate
Replacing a Horizon Security Server certificate
Replacing a Horizon Composer certificate
Replacing a Horizon Access Point certificate
Replacing an App Volumes Manager server certificate
Summary
15
Using Horizon PowerCLI
Using Horizon PowerCLI
Enabling remote management on Windows
Viewing all the PowerCLI commands and their options
Sample data for Horizon PowerCLI commands
Horizon PowerCLI commands not covered in this chapter
Configuring the Horizon infrastructure
Administering Horizon desktop pools
Managing Horizon Client entitlements and sessions
Working with Horizon desktop network label Specifications
Retrieving information about the Horizon infrastructure
Summary

Sizing a Horizon environment for Virtual SAN

In this section, we will explore how to properly size our VMware ESXi servers so that they can accommodate VSAN in addition to the Horizon desktops. This section assumes that you are already aware of the storage, networking, and CPU requirements of the Horizon desktops themselves and are only looking to add VSAN as your virtual desktop storage platform.

Tip

In this chapter, we will focus on VSAN designs that use a combination of flash and magnetic disks. VSAN 6.2 introduced deduplication and compression capabilities for all-flash VSAN configurations, new monitoring dashboards, and other features. While the price of flash storage continues to drop at a steady rate, it is not yet at a point where it has become the default option for all Horizon deployments.

ESXi Server CPU requirements

Prior to determining vSphere's host, disk, or flash-based storage requirements, we must first ensure that our hosts have sufficient CPU resources available. VMware recommends...

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