Time to Upgrade your Horizon Environment

March 22, 2018 ~ vDelboy ~ Leave a comment

Is it time to upgrade your Horizon Environment? Is your infrastructure team getting ready to upgrade the vSphere servers? Both questions that you should probably be saying yes to.

If you have read any number of blogs that have been released recently, vSphere 5.5 will be going End of General Support in less that 6 months’ time. Read more here: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/51491

Upgrade to Horizon 7

So why am I talking about vSphere upgrades in a blog about Horizon upgrades. Well now is the time you need to ask what version of Horizon you are currently running, because if you haven’t updated to Horizon 7 yet then now would be a great time to start planning your upgrade.

You can read the rest of my post on VMware.com. Click Here

Horizon Cloud Pod Architecture 7.1 Update

March 17, 2017April 25, 2018 ~ vDelboy ~ Leave a comment

Last year with the release of Horizon 7 I wrote a blog on the new features of Cloud Pod Architecture (CPA) this included the new scale numbers. You can find that blog here.

This week VMware released Horizon 7.1 and with this release VMware has increased the scale numbers yet again for Cloud Pod Architecture.

Now with Horizon 7.1 Cloud Pod Architecture can support a maximum of 75k sessions across 5 sites.

The table below shows the new update compared with Horizon 7.0

	Horizon 7	Horizon 7.1
Total Number of Sessions	50,000	75,000
Total Number of Sites	5	5
Total Number of Pods	25	25

This is yet another great update to VMware’s Horizon and Cloud Pod Architecture.

New Requirement for VMware Identity Manager when clustering

August 17, 2016August 23, 2016 ~ vDelboy ~ 1 Comment

Recently VMware released Identity Manager 2.7 and with it there is a new requirement when clustering the Identity Manager behind a load balancer.

It is now required that you have a minimum of 3 Identity Manager Appliances with in the cluster.

The diagram below shows this minimum requirement.

This will also help when upgrading to future version. If there is a minimum of 3 appliances then it will be possible to upgrade these appliances one at a time with out any downtime.

To upgrade with a minimum of 3 in the cluster you and simply take a single appliance out of the load balanced pool upgrade the server and then add it back to the load balanced pool. Simply do this for each appliance in the load balanced pool and not down time will be required.

Configuring VMware Identity Manager with SQL Always On

May 18, 2016 ~ vDelboy ~ Leave a comment

For the last few weeks I have been testing VMware Identity Manager with SQL Always On database for multi-site deployments. This has been an interesting learning curve as its been some time since I last did anything substantial with Microsoft SQL. Before I start with the VMware Identity Manager I think it is worth calling out these 2 resources that I found really useful for setting up SQL Always On in my Lab.

This is a quick intro in to SQL Always On and how to configure it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKCqRgqLAuo

This was a useful step by step guide for deploying SQL Always On

http://www.careexchange.in/installingconfiguring-sql-2014-always-on-cluster-on-windows-2012-r2-recommended-way/

Now before configuring VMware Identity Manager with an SQL Always On Database you should be aware that even though there is a database in each of the datacenter’s all Read and Writes operations will take place on the Primary database with in the Availability Group.

From my testing I found that setting the database to automatic failover worked as expected and the database was only unavailable for a very short time less than a couple of seconds. However, I did find that when I failed the database back after an outage this took a bit more time and I would recommend that any failback is done in a much more controlled manner. In my testing fail back took about 40 seconds so a noticeable difference.

Creating the VMware Identity Manager SQL Always On Database

Open SQL Management Studio and log in with sysadmin privileges (This should be done on the primary server)
Click File – New – Query with current connection
In the editor window paste the following SQL Commands

CREATE DATABASE saas

COLLATE Latin1_General_CS_AS;

ALTER DATABASE saas SET READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT ON;

GO

BEGIN

CREATE LOGIN horizon WITH PASSWORD = N'H0rizon!';

END

GO

USE saas;

IF EXISTS (SELECT * FROM sys.database_principals WHERE name = N'horizon')

DROP USER [horizon]

GO

CREATE USER horizon FOR LOGIN horizon

with default_schema = saas;

GO

CREATE SCHEMA saas AUTHORIZATION horizon

GRANT ALL ON DATABASE::saas TO horizon;

GO

Click Execute

The saas Database will now be created
Make a Full backup of the database (This must be done before adding the database to an Always On High Availability Group)
- Right click the database – Tasks – Back Up
Add the database to the Always On High Availability Group

NOTE: It is also recommended to make the following changes to SQL

Change ‘HostRecordTTL to a lower value than the default in multi-site deployments. 120 seconds is a good value
Change ‘RegisterAllProvidersIP’ to false in multi-site deployments

Connect VMware Identity Manager to the SQL Database

During the install of VMware Identity Manager connect to the SQL Database using the following settings

Jdbc:sqlserver://SQLAGListener;DatabaseName=saas

SQLAGListener = the SQL Availability Group Listener, in the example below that is SQLProdServer
If the secondary SQL server is on a different subnet add the following to the jdbc string
- multiSubnetFailover=true
  - Jdbc:sqlserver://SQLAGListener;DatabaseName=saas; multiSubnetFailover=true

VMware Horizon 7 New Features

March 22, 2016March 22, 2016 ~ vDelboy ~ 5 Comments

With the release of VMware Horizon 7 I thought I would try and highlight some of the new features that have now been added with this released.

Blast Extreme Protocol

With the update to Blast Extreme, VMware has upgraded the Blast Extreme protocol to the same level as PCoIP and RDP. Now not only will you be able to use the Blast Extreme protocol when connecting via HTML5, but now when you connect to a Virtual desktop or RDSH App using your Horizon client on any device you will be able to connect using the Blast Extreme protocol.

Just as with PCoIP and RDP, Horizon Administrators will be able to configure the Blast Extreme protocol as the default protocol for both desktop and application pools.

Blast Extreme will not only be available for standard desktop and application pools but also Global pools when configured with Cloud Pod Architecture

As time permits I will write another blog with more details around the new Blast Extreme protocol so watch this space

VMware Instant Clone Technology

VMware Instant Clones is the long awaited technology that is built on the VMware Fork technology that was previewed at VMworld and VMware has been working on for some time. VMware Instant Clones is helping to create the Just in Time desktop and it allows for a new virtual desktop to be created in seconds and thousands of virtual desktops to be created in a very short time. This is one of the best features of the Horizon 7 release and I believe that Horizon Administrators are going to love creating desktop pools using this new Instant Clone Technology.

For information on configuring the new Horizon Instant Clone technology see my blog here

Cloud Pod Architecture

The two main updates to Cloud Pod Architecture are Scale and Home Site improvements.

I have written two new blogs to cover these new updates you can find them below

Cloud Pod Architecture New Features

Update to How CPA Home Sites Work with Horizon 7

Smart Policies

The new Smart Policies are a way to have more granular control of what users can do when they connect to their virtual desktop or applications. With the first release of Smart Policies you will be able to manage these capabilities based on the following conditions

Horizon Conditions
- View Client Info (IP & Name)
- Endpoint location (Internal/External)
- Tags
- Desktop Pool name
Horizon Capabilities
- Clipboard
- Client Drive
- USB
- Printing
- PCoIP bandwidth profiles

For more information on these Capabilities see my more detailed blog Here

It should be noted to use Smart Policies you will need Horizon 7 and User Environment Manager 9. You would also need the latest View Agent and Clients installed to take advantage of these new features. The other thing to note is that these policies only work with the PCoIP and BLAST Extreme protocols and not RDP.

Desktop Pool Deletion

The Desktop Pool Deletion feature is often a request from customers to make it possible to stop Administrators from deleting a desktop pool that currently has active desktops with in the pool. With Horizon 6.x and earlier it was possible that an administrator could accidentally delete the wrong desktop pool and all the VM’s with in that pool. This feature when enabled would stop that from happening.

To enable this feature follow the instructions in my blog Here

These are just some of the new features that have been released with Horizon 7. For a full list of the new features check out the release notes here.

I also posted this blog on VMware.com here

Configuring VMware Horizon Instant Clones

March 22, 2016March 22, 2016 ~ vDelboy ~ 4 Comments

I have been testing VMware Horizon Instant Clones for some time now and several people have asked me how I configured instant clones as when they tried to test them either the instant clone option was grayed out or when instant clones is selected the next button is grayed out. The other issue I see is some people have issues deploying instant clones and they fail to deploy.

Below are all of the things to check when configuring View Instant Clones. One of these issues has fixed all of the question I have been asked over the last few week during testing.

Licensing

Make sure you have the correct VMware Horizon license, there is a new license that include the Instant Clone feature. If you do not have the correct license then the option will be grayed out.

View Storage Accelerator

One of the requirements for Instant Clones is to enable the View Storage Accelerator. Before you try and deploy a new Desktop pool using Instant Clones make sure you have configured the View Storage Accelorator on you vCenter server.

Select the vCenter Server

If you have the View Storage Accelorator enabled and you select Instant Clones but the Next option is still grayed out make sure to select the vCenter itself.

Configure Instant Clone Domain Admin

Make sure you configure the Instant Clone Domain Admin, this account will need to be able to add new computers to your Active Directory.

Horizon View 7 Agent

Make sure you install the new Horizon View 7 Agent on to the gold image. There are a couple of things here you need to know

First if you want to use the gold image for View Instant Clones, then during the install of the View 7 agent you need to select this option
If you do select the View instant clone during the install then you can not install the view composer option, it is one or the other
Unlike with view composer with View Instant Clones it is the Agent its self that adds the VM to active directory and not a separate composer server. This make View Instant Clones much more light weight, no extra server or database is needed for View Instant Clones.

If you make sure you have checked all of these things, then I am sure that View Instant Clones will work and you will see just how fast this new option is when deploying desktops.

Final Note

One last thing to Note, you will see a number of new VM’s in your vCenter that relate to your newly deployed instance clone desktops. I have listed these below.

cp-template-XXXXXXXXX This is the template VM that will be used to create your Instant Clones, this will be created from your Gold Image. This will be created on the destination storage or your desktops, but under storage you will also see that it is on the same storage as your gold image. You will also notice you can not edit this VM.

cp-replica-XXXXXXXXX this is the replica that is created for your VM parents. This is created from the cp-template and is placed on the destination storage.

cp-parent-XXXXXXXXX you will see one of these for each of the servers in your cluster, so in my case you see 6 as there are 6 ESXi servers in my cluster. These are all created on the destination storage and will be powered on, each ESXi server will have 1 of these cp-parents powered on and in memory ready to create a new desktop.

Horizon 7 Desktop Pool Deletion Feature

March 22, 2016 ~ vDelboy ~ 3 Comments

One of the great new features in VMware Horizon 7 is the ability to stop desktop administrators from accidentally deleting a desktop pool that is currently full of active desktops. Once this feature is enabled the administrator will have to delete all of the desktops before deleting the desktop pool.

In this blog I will document how to configure the Desktop Pool Deletion feature. Before you configure this setting you should be aware that this is a global setting and as such once enabled it will be enabled for all desktop and application pools.

Follow these steps to enable the Desktop Pool Deletion feature

Upgrade all Connections Servers to Horizon 6.2
1. Note that signed Certificates are required
Start the ADSI Edit utility on the View Connection Server host.
In the Connection Settings dialog box, select or connect to DC=vdi,DC=vmware,DC=int
In the Computer pane, select or type localhost:389
Double click on the object CN=Common, OU=Global, OU=Properties
Edit the pae-NameValuePair attribute
Add the value cs-disableNonEmptyPoolDelete=1
Click Add and OK
Now when you try and delete a pool you will see the following message

VMware Horizon Smart Policies

March 22, 2016March 22, 2016 ~ vDelboy ~ 3 Comments

With the release of VMware Horizon 7 and User Environment Manager 9 VMware has introduced Smart Policy’s to help administrators manage their Virtual environments better and improve what users can get access to and from where.

Smart Policys can be set on the following conditions

View Client Info (IP & Name)
Endpoint location (Internal/External)
Horizon Tags
Desktop Pool name

Below is a list of the smart policy that can be set and how they can be used by the Horizon administrators.

Clipboard

Enable
Disable
Allow Copy from Client to Agent
Allow Copy from Agent to Client

Client Drive

Disable
Allow All
Read Only

USB

Enable
Disable

Printing

Enable
Disable

PCoIP bandwidth profiles

High-Speed (20 Mbps)
LAN (10Mbps or Higher)
Dedicated WAN (5Mbps default)
Broadband WAN (2Mbps)
Low-Speed (1Mbps)
Extremely low-speed connections (up to 500Kbps)

The following table shows when to use the best bandwidth profile and for what use cases

	Description	BW(Mbps)	typical network	typical user
1	Best User Experience(workstation)	20	LAN	M&E CAD/CAM
2	Best User Experience(VDI)	10	LAN – MAN	Knowledge worker, video
3	Default Setting	5	WAN	Task worker, light video
4	Optimal User Experience	2	WAN	Office Apps
5	Prioritize Bandwidth	1	WAN	Basic Apps only
6	Minimum Bandwidth	0.5	WAN Low	Data Entry

The following table shows how the PCoIP profile is tuned based on the profile selected

GPO	1	2	3	4	5	6
Max Session BW (kbps)	9000	9000	9000	5000	2000	1000
Min Session BW (kbps)	100	100	100	100	100	100
Enable BTL	1	2	0	0	0	0
Max Initial Image Quality	100	90	80	70	70	70
Minimum Image Quality	50	50	40	40	30	30
Max FPS	60	30	30	20	15	5
Max Audio Bandwidth (kbps)	1600	1600	500	500	200	90
Image Quality performance.	50	50	50	50	25	0

To take advantage of these new Smart Policy you will need to use Horizon 7 and User Environment Manager 9 and have the latest Horizon Agents and Clients installed. It should also be noted that these policy only work with the PCoIP and BLAST Extreme protocols and not RDP.

For information on more new feature released with Horizon 7 see the following blog

VMware Horizon 7 New Features

Update to How CPA Home Sites Work with Horizon 7

March 22, 2016March 24, 2016 ~ vDelboy ~ 7 Comments

Several months ago I wrote a blog on how Home Sites work with VMware Horizon 6 Cloud Pod Architecture (CPA), you can find the blog here.

With the release of VMware Horizon 7 the way CPA handles Home Sites has been updated so the users with a Home Site will always receive a Desktop or App even if their Home Site is down.

Lets first review what would happen if a users Home Site was down. As you can see in the diagram below the Connection Brokers would return an issue that their Home Site was not available and the user would not be connected to a desktop.

Just as with Horizon 6 with Horizon 7 when the users Home Site is available then the user will always receive the desktop from the Home Site as the diagram below shows.

Here is where we see a change. Now with Horizon 7 if a users Home Site is off-line then the user will still receive a desktop this time from one of the other sites within the Global Pool. As shown below.

Once the Home Site comes back on-line the next time the user logs back in they will automatically be given a desktop from the Home Site once again.

Upgrading VMware App Volumes

March 16, 2015December 30, 2015 ~ vDelboy ~ 1 Comment

A number of people have now asked me about the process for upgrading VMware App Volumes Managers.

In this blog I will document how to upgrade an App Volumes deployment from 2.5 to 2.6. It should also be noted that to avoid downtime you should have at least 2 App Volumes servers load-balanced in a pool. To find out how to load-balance App Volumes see my blog on the VMware web site Here.

This process will work if you do not have your App Volume servers load-balanced however during the process your desktops will not have access to the App Volumes server, meaning no AppStack or Writable will be attached at boot-up or login.

Before beginning the upgrade process make sure you back up the SQL database that App Volumes is using.

To upgrade the App Volumes servers follow the following process:

Remove the first App Volumes server from the Load-balanced pool.
Log in to the first App Volumes server
Click Start -> Control Panel
Click Uninstall Program
Highlight App Volumes Manager and Click Uninstall

Click Next when the uninstaller starts
Click Remove
Click Finish
Now run the Setup file for the new version of App Volumes, in this case 2.6
Click Next

Accept the License agreement and click Next

Select the App Volumes Manager and click Install

Click Next
It is very important at this stage to select Connect to an existing SQL Server Database and click Next

Select the correct SQL server. Configure the SQL log in information. Select the Database. DO NOT check the Overwite existing database check box then click Next

NOTE: If you do not add a Login ID then servers SYSTEM account will be used to connect to the database and App Volumes will probably fail to start.

Confirm the ports are correct and click Next

Confirm the install location and click Next

Click Install
Click Finish
Add the App Volumes server back in to the Load Balanced pool.
Follow these steps for any additional App Volumes servers.

Once the serevrs are updated you should now update the App Volumes Templates. To do this check out my blog post here

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