VMware Horizon View 6 Desktop Virtualization Cookbook

Table of Contents

VMware Horizon View 6 Desktop Virtualization Cookbook

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewers

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Preface

The ever-evolving VMware Horizon family of products

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. VMware Horizon View Architecture Fundamentals

Introduction

Identifying why we need VMware Horizon with View

How it works…

Migrating our legacy desktops

Delivering applications instead of desktops

No storage array needed thanks to VMware Virtual SAN

Redefining office mobility

End user computing and security

Simplifying the desktop support

Bring Your Own Device

Understanding the risks of end user computing

How it works…

Reducing costs is not priority number one

Knowing our use cases

Complex workstations

Application and services compatibility

Mobility inside the office

Understanding how our desktop configuration impacts our design

How it works…

Full clone desktops

Horizon View Composer linked clones

Floating versus dedicated user assignment

Dedicated user assignment

Floating user assignment

Deciding between persistent and nonpersistent desktops

Persistent desktops

Nonpersistent desktops

Be smart – optimize your desktops!

Determining our Horizon View desktop infrastructure's requirements

How it works…

Key desktop resource requirements

Network adapter bytes total/sec

Physical disk – read/write bytes

Physical disk – reads/writes

The percent processor time

Memory-committed bytes

Horizon View Client's network bandwidth requirements

Client bandwidth estimates

Analyzing our Horizon with View environment

How it works…

Summary

2. Implementing a VMware Horizon View Cloud Pod

Introduction

The VMware Horizon View Cloud Pod overview

Sharing key data in the global data layer

Sending messages between pods

Federated Pod's topology limits

Federated Pod's port requirements

Configuring a VMware Horizon View Federated Pod

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Entitling users or groups in a Horizon View Federated Pod

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Assigning users and groups to Horizon View sites

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

There's more…

Reviewing your Horizon View Federated Pod configuration

Getting ready

How to do it...

Viewing Horizon View global entitlements

Viewing desktop pools in a global entitlement

Viewing AD group entitlements

Viewing AD user entitlements

Viewing AD user-dedicated user assignments

Viewing an AD user account's Horizon View home site

Viewing an AD security group's Horizon View home site

Viewing the Horizon View pods that are members of the federated pod

Viewing the Horizon View sites defined in the federated pod

How it works...

Modifying Horizon View Federated Pod objects

Getting ready

How to do it...

Modifying Horizon View pods

Modifying a Horizon View global entitlement

Modifying Horizon View sites

How it works...

Removing objects from your Federated Pod or global entitlements

Getting ready

How to do it...

Removing a Horizon View pod from a pod federation

Removing a desktop pool from a global entitlement

Removing an AD user or group from a global entitlement

Removing an AD user or group Horizon View home site association

Deleting a Horizon View home site

Deleting a global entitlement

Forcibly removing a Horizon View pod from a Federated Pod

How it works...

Disabling the Horizon View Cloud Pod Architecture feature

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

3. Horizon View Installation, Backup, and Recovery Using the CLI

Introduction

Automating the installation of Horizon View Connection Servers

Getting ready

How to do it...

The sample command-line installation of a standard Horizon View Connection Server

The sample command-line installation of a replica Horizon View Connection Server

The sample command-line installation of a Horizon View Security Server

How it works...

Horizon View Connection Server's command-line options

Horizon View Security Server's command-line options

How to obtain Active Directory object security identifiers

How to set a global Horizon View recovery password

Automating the installation of Horizon View Composer

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Performing Horizon View Connection Server backups

Getting ready

Backing up the vCenter Server database

Backing up the AD LDS database

How it works...

Performing Horizon View Connection Server recoveries

Getting ready

How to do it...

Restoring a single Horizon View Connection Server

Restoring the Horizon View Connection Server AD LDS database

Restoring the VMware vCenter Server database

Removing a Horizon View Connection Server

How it works...

Performing a Horizon View Composer backup

Getting ready

How to do it...

Backing up the Horizon View Composer database

Backing up the Horizon View Composer SSL certificates

How it works...

Performing Horizon View Composer recoveries

Getting ready

How to do it...

Restoring the Horizon View Composer database

Restoring the Horizon View Composer SSL certificates

Restoring Horizon View Composer with a new default SSL certificate

Restoring Horizon View Composer with a custom SSL certificate

How it works...

4. Managing VMware Horizon View with PowerCLI

Retrieving the Horizon View license information

Enabling remote management on Windows

How to do it…

Establishing a remote Horizon View PowerCLI session

How to do it…

Viewing all the PowerCLI commands and their options

How to do it…

Listing all PowerCLI commands

Displaying the options for a single Horizon View PowerCLI command

Managing desktop pools with PowerCLI

How to do it…

How it works…

Creating an automatically provisioned linked-clone desktop pool

Getting ready

How to do it…

The dedicated assignment persistent linked-clone pool

The floating assignment (non-persistent) linked-clone pool

How it works…

Creating an automatically provisioned full-clone desktop pool

Getting ready

How to do it…

How it works…

Creating a manually provisioned desktop pool

Getting ready

How to do it…

How it works…

Creating a manual unmanaged desktop pool

Getting ready

How to do it…

How it works…

Creating a Microsoft Windows Remote Desktop Services (RDS) pool

Getting ready

How to do it…

How it works…

Updating the Horizon View pools

How to do it…

Updating a linked-clone pool

Updating an automatically provisioned full-clone pool

Updating a manually provisioned pool

Updating a manually provisioned unmanaged pool

Updating a Windows RDS pool configuration

How it works…

Creating a network label specification

Getting ready

How to do it…

How it works…

Exporting network label specifications for linked-clone pools

Getting ready

How to do it…

How it works…

Exporting network label specifications for full-clone pools

Getting ready

How to do it…

How it works…

Retrieving the Horizon View Composer Server information

How to do it…

How it works…

Retrieving a list of the Horizon View desktop pools

How to do it…

How it works…

Removing desktop pools

How to do it…

How it works…

Entitling a desktop pool

How to do it…

How it works…

Entitling or unentitling an individual desktop

How to do it…

Reviewing the desktop pool entitlement

How to do it…

Refreshing a linked-clone desktop or pool

How to do it…

How it works…

Recomposing a linked-clone desktop pool

How to do it…

How it works…

Rebalancing a linked-clone desktop pool

How to do it…

How it works…

Updating the Horizon View global settings

How to do it…

How it works…

Updating the Horizon View connection broker settings

How to do it…

How it works…

Adding a vCenter Server to Horizon View

How to do it…

How it works…

Removing a vCenter Server from Horizon View

How it works…

How to do it…

Updating the settings of vCenter Server that is linked to Horizon View

How to do it…

How it works…

Monitoring the remote Horizon View sessions

How to do it…

How it works…

Resetting a Horizon View desktop

How to do it…

How it works…

Disconnecting the Horizon View Client session

How to do it…

How it works…

Logging Off the Horizon View Client Session

How to do it…

Configuring the Horizon View license

How to do it…

Retrieving the global Horizon View configuration data

How to do it…

Retrieving the Horizon View connection broker information

How to do it…

How it works…

Retrieving a list of virtual machines managed by Horizon View

How to do it…

How it works…

Retrieving a list of physical machines

How to do it…

How it works…

Retrieving the AD user or group Information

How to do it…

How it works…

Retrieving information about persistent data disks

How to do it…

How it works…

Retrieving the Horizon View event reports and their descriptions

How to do it…

Retrieving the Horizon View event reports

How to do it…

How it works…

Retrieving the Horizon View infrastructure's health monitors and their status

How to do it…

How it works…

Retrieving a list of the vCenter Servers linked to the Horizon View environment

How to do it…

How it works…

Retrieving a list of the Windows RDS Servers registered with Horizon View

How to do it…

How it works…

Retrieving the Horizon View license information

How to do it…

5. Implementation of Horizon View Persona Management

Introduction

Understanding Horizon View Persona Management

Features of Horizon View Persona Management

Implementing Horizon View Persona Management

Getting ready

The Horizon View Persona Management repository

How to do it…

Configuring the Horizon View Persona Management components

Enabling VMware Horizon View Persona Management

How it works…

Configuring Horizon View Persona Management's advanced options

Getting ready

How do to it…

Roaming and Synchronization

Folder Redirection

Desktop UI

Logging

How it Works…

Folder Redirection

6. Delivering Applications Using VMware ThinApp

Introduction

Deploying VMware ThinApp

Getting ready

Choosing an operating system version

How to do it...

Capturing an application with ThinApp

Getting ready

How to do it...

How it works...

Updating ThinApp packages

Getting ready

How to do it...

Using built-in application updaters

Using alternate entry points

Configuring a Horizon View ThinApp repository

Getting ready

How to do it...

Configuring a Horizon View ThinApp repository

Scanning for ThinApp packages

Assigning ThinApp applications in Horizon View

Getting ready

How to do it...

Assigning an individual ThinApp package

Assigning applications using a ThinApp template

Removing ThinApp assignments

Getting ready

How to do it...

Removing a ThinApp assignment from a Horizon View desktop

Removing a ThinApp assignment from a desktop pool

7. Deploying Horizon View Clients in Kiosk Mode

Introduction

Preparing your VMware Horizon View and Microsoft AD infrastructures for Kiosk Mode Clients

Getting ready

How to do it…

How it works…

Location-based printing

Configuring the default values for Kiosk Mode Clients

Getting ready

How to do it…

How it works…

Adding AD accounts for Kiosk Mode Clients

Getting ready

How to do it…

How it works…

Verifying the configuration of Kiosk Mode Clients

Getting ready

How to do it…

How it works…

Configuring Kiosk Mode Horizon View Client devices

Getting ready

How to do it…

Connecting to Horizon View using Windows-based clients

Connecting to Horizon View using Linux-based clients

How it works…

Windows Horizon View clients options

Linux Horizon View client options

8. vRealize Operations for Horizon

Introduction

Implementing vRealize Operations for Horizon

Getting ready

How to do it…

Install the vRealize Operations vApp

Installing and configuring the V4V PAK file, license, and vRealize Operations adapter instance

Installing and configuring the V4V broker agent

Verifying that the V4V virtual desktop agent is installed

Monitoring Horizon View client sessions using V4V

Getting ready

How to do it…

Monitoring the Horizon View infrastructure using V4V

Getting ready

How to do it

Using the V4V Horizon View Dashboards

Getting ready

How to do it…

Horizon View Remote Sessions

Horizon View VDI Pools

Horizon View RDS Pools

Horizon View VDI Topology

Horizon View RDS Topology

Horizon View Application Topology

vSphere Topology

Horizon View Adapter Status

9. Using VMware Mirage with Horizon View

Introduction

Common Mirage terms

Specifying the Mirage server name in Horizon View

Getting ready

How to do it…

Setting the Mirage server name at the global level in Horizon View

Setting the Mirage server name at the Horizon View desktop pool level

Installing the Mirage client

Getting ready

How to do it…

Capturing a Mirage base layer

Getting ready

How to do it…

Capturing an application using Mirage

Getting ready

How to do it…

Centralizing Horizon View desktops using Mirage

Getting ready

How to do it…

Creating Mirage collections

Getting ready

How to do it…

Creating a dynamic collection using the Mirage console

Creating a static collection using the Mirage Web Manager

Installing applications using Mirage

Getting ready

How to do it…

Upgrading the Horizon View desktop OS using Mirage

Getting ready

How to do it…

10. Implementing VMware Virtual SAN for Horizon View

Introduction

Common VSAN terms

Sizing a Horizon View environment for VMware Virtual SAN (VSAN)

Getting ready

How to do it…

Determining the total number of vSphere host disks required

Magnetic disk capacity sizing

Flash capacity sizing

Calculating the total number of VSAN objects required

How it works…

VSAN limits and maximums

VSAN and the vSphere VSAN SPBM framework

Number of disk stripes per object

Flash read cache reservation (%)

Number of Failures to Tolerate

Object space reservation (%)

Enabling VMware Virtual SAN

Getting ready

How to do it…

Configuring the VSAN VMkernel adapters

Enabling and configuring VSAN

Using VSAN with VMware Horizon View

Getting ready

How to do it…

11. Implementing Application Streaming Using Windows Remote Desktop Services

Introduction

Configuring the Windows RDS server for use with Horizon View

Getting ready

Windows RDS host – hardware recommendations

Importing the Horizon View RDS AD group policy templates

How to do it…

How it works…

Creating an RDS farm in Horizon View

Getting ready

How to do it…

How it works…

Creating an RDS application pool in Horizon View

Getting ready

How to do it…

Using the Horizon View Client to access RDS-streamed applications

Getting ready

How to do it…

Monitoring the status of RDS hosts and sessions in Horizon View

Getting ready

How to do it…

Modifying an RDS application pool in Horizon View

Getting ready

How to do it…

Modifying an RDS farm or server in Horizon View

Getting ready

How to do it…

Index

VMware Horizon View 6 Desktop Virtualization Cookbook

VMware Horizon View 6 Desktop Virtualization Cookbook

Copyright © 2014 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: October 2014

Production reference: 1251014

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place

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Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78217-164-5

www.packtpub.com

Credits

Author

Jason Ventresco

Reviewers

Dee Abson

Andrew Alloway

Joe Jessen

Sean Massey

Acquisition Editor

Subho Gupta

Content Development Editor

Shaon Basu

Technical Editors

Indrajit A. Das

Akash Rajiv Sharma

Copy Editors

Dipti Kapadia

Stuti Srivastava

Project Coordinator

Shipra Chawhan

Proofreaders

Simran Bhogal

Stephen Copestake

Samantha Lyon

Indexers

Hemangini Bari

Monica Ajmera Mehta

Rekha Nair

Graphics

Ronak Dhruv

Abhinash Sahu

Production Coordinator

Shantanu N. Zagade

Cover Work

Shantanu N. Zagade

About the Author

Jason Ventresco has been a veteran of the IT field for 15 years and is currently working for EMC² as a principal solutions engineer. In this role, he designs, builds, and tests the latest end user computing solutions in order to validate their performance and provide guidance to EMC² customers and partners. He previously worked as a member of the global infrastructure team for FHI 360 and as an IT consultant for WorkSmart and Xerox Global Services. Jason has authored Implementing VMware Horizon View 5.2 and VMware Horizon View 5.3 Design Patterns and Best Practices, both by Packt Publishing.

Jason lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, with his wife and daughter. He holds two degrees: a Master of Science in Information Security & Assurance from Norwich University and a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology from the University of Phoenix. In his free time, he likes to travel, ride his WaveRunner, and attend Carolina Hurricanes games.

I would like to thank my wife, Christine, and my daughter, Amanda, for supporting me through all phases of my career, including the many hours I spent writing this book. I love you both very much!

I would also like to thank my parents, Richard and Linda Ventresco, for raising me and showing me that you can have anything you want if you are willing to put in the effort required. I love you, mom and dad!

I would also like to thank my fellow members of the EMC Solutions engineering team—both here in the US and in China. Working with them has helped provide me with the experience and knowledge required to write books such as this.

About the Reviewers

Dee Abson is a technical architect for a financial services company in Alberta, Canada. He has been working in the field of technology for over 20 years and specializes in server and virtualization infrastructure. Working with VMware products since ESX 2, he holds several VMware certifications, including VCP5-DCV. He has contributed to vSphere Design Pocketbook 2.0 Blog Edition, PernixData Press alongside other illustrious virtualization authors. Dee blogs at http://teebeedee.org, and you can connect with him through his Twitter handle, which is @deeabson.

I would like to thank my lovely wife, Aimée, for her patience and understanding during my oft-protracted review sessions.

Andrew Alloway was born and raised in Edmonton, Canada. He graduated from the University of Alberta with a degree in Computer Science.

Working in the unique and challenging IT environment of Nuna Logistics Limited, he supported northern mining sites. In 2012, some of his projects and works were featured in the Winter 2012 edition of Aptitude Magazine in an article titled Building the road to streamlined license agreements.

He is a supporter of open source technology and products, including Ubuntu, ICTFax, Apache, Drupal, and Piler.

He has designed and implemented projects including Exchange migrations, Lync deployments, System Center Configuration Manager, and various VMware products.

In 2013, Andrew attained his VMware Certified Professional 5 Data Center Virtualization certification.

Previously, he has worked on VMware Horizon Workspace Essentials, Packt Publishing.

I would like to thank my family for all the support I have received over the years and my employers for investing in the development of my skills and career.

Joe Jessen is a veteran of the IT Industry and has held roles in private corporations, vendors, and consulting organizations. He has been involved with application and desktop delivery since 1996, setting the strategic direction for global organizations with their end user computing initiatives.

Joe recently spent 5 years as an industry analyst with a heavy focus on virtualization and is currently engaged with a large hardware and software vendor, focusing on desktop virtualization solutions. He was also the technical reviewer for VMware Horizon View 5.3 Design Patterns and Best Practices, Packt Publishing. You can follow him on his Twitter handle, which is @JoeJessen. You can view his LinkedIn profile at http://www.linkedin.com/pub/joe-jessen/0/666/336/ and his website at www.solutions101.us.

Sean Massey has been working in the field of IT for 7 years. He is a systems administrator with a large electrical contractor in Appleton, WI, focusing on the servers, storage, and applications that run in the data center. He blogs at http://seanmassey.net and is a VMware vExpert and Pernix Pro. He currently lives in Kimberly, WI, with his wife, Laura, and their two children.

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