The Complete VMware Horizon 7: Beginner to Advanced: 3-in-1

To deploy a successful Vmware Horizon 7 environment there are a number of infrastructure components that need to be in place first. The example lab environment will give you the infrastructure foundation for this course to help build you own environment.

• Identify the requirements for the lab environment.

• Detail the example lab architecture and design.

The VMware Horizon View infrastructure components are hosted on a VMware vSphere platform (ESXi servers). Two set of infrastructure are required:; one to the View management components, and another to host the actual desktops.

• Set up a VMware ESXi host to host the management components.

• Set up a VMware ESXi host to host the virtual desktop machines.

• Set up and configure a vCenter server for each ESXi platform.

The VMware Horizon View infrastructure is installed on Microsoft Windows Servers, along with other requirements and dependencies such as MS SQL Server.

• Install Windows Servers to host Active Directory and SSL certificate requirements.

• Install Windows Server to install the Horizon View Connection Server.

• Install Windows Server with Microsoft SQL Express 2012 for the View Events Database.

The VMware Horizon View infrastructure relies on Microsoft Active directory to apply policies to the virtual desktop machines to deliver the end user experience.

• Create AD accounts for the example lab test users.

• Create AD service accounts for View and vCenter.

• Create OU’s to manage the virtual desktop machines.

The VMware Horizon View solution comprises of a number of different applications that need to be downloaded from the VMware web site.

• Download the core VMware software components.

• Download the VMware OS Optimization Fling software.

• Additionally, you will need a copy of MS Office 2016 and Notepad++

VMware VDI has been around a while and the number of features has grown with each new edition, with each adding new features and functionality to help reduce cost and improve end user experience.

• Discuss a brief history of the VMware VDI story and journey

• Discuss the new features in Horizon 7

• Discuss Horizon 7 editions and licensing options

The VMware Horizon 7 architecture is made up from a number of different components that work together to provide the platform for delivering virtual desktops, as well as delivering the optimum end user experience.

• Horizon View component overview and description

• Know how each Horizon View component works

• Learn additional features and functionality

There are a number of ways in which a view-based non-persistent or persistent virtual desktop can be built.

• Get to know the differences between non-persistent and persistent virtual desktop machines

• View Composer and Linked Clone virtual desktops

• Horizon View Instant Clones

How do you deliver the virtual desktop machine from the datacenter to the end user's device, and also ensure they get an experience that is better than or equal to a physical desktop.

• Delivering desktops using the PCoIP protocol

• Delivering desktops using the VMware Blast Extreme protocol

• Delivering high-end graphics using hardware accelerated graphics

Where do you start when considering a VDI project? There are a number of things to consider in building a business case, proving the technology, and finally deploying a production ready environment.

• Look at a project methodology for VDI

• Introducing the three project phases

• Deep diver into Phase I – Project Definition

When you start your project, the first thing you should consider is to take a snapshot of what your desktop environment looks like today. Profile the users, applications, and the resources in use today.

• Deliver a desktop assessment using LWL Stratusphere

• Measure the suitability for VDI

• Breakdown the user login process

Before you deploy a solution, you need to test its suitability for your environment and that it meets your project definition, business case, and user requirements.

• Deliver a Proof of Concept

• Deliver a Proof of Technology

• Deliver a Pilot to end users

The final phase of the project is to take all the findings along with your business and use cases, and start to design a production ready environment.

• VMware reference architecture with Pod and Block Architecture

• Build a production ready design

• Re-evaluate and measure against assessment data and success criteria

The first component to install is the Horizon View Composer that is the engine behind driving Linked Clone virtual desktop machines.

• Describe the prerequisites for View Composer

• Install the View Composer software

• Configuring the View Composer database

The key component to Horizon View environment is the Horizon View Connection Server. It's where users connect to in order to access their virtual desktop machines.

• Define the prerequisites for the Connection Server

• Install the View Connection Server software onto a Windows Server

Once the Horizon View Connection Server has been installed there are a number of additional configuration tasks that need to be completed.

• Install a current license key

• Configure the vCenter server details

• Configure the View Events database details

To add an element of high availability as well as scalability to the Horizon View environment you need to install additional Connection Servers. These are called Replica Servers.

• Define the prerequisites for the Connection Server

• Install the View Replica Server software onto a Windows Server

To allow end users to connect to their virtual desktop machines from the Internet you need to deploy an externally facing Connection Server. This is called the Security Server.

• Define the prerequisites for the Connection Server

• Install the View Security Server software onto a Windows Server

• Pair the Security Server with a Connection Server

The Cloud Pod Architecture allows you to expand your View deployment to up to 50, 000 users, as well as providing DR across multiple sites.

• Get a detailed overview of the Cloud Pod Architecture

• Use cases

• Global user entitlements

The configuration process allows you to create a pod federation of up to five Horizon View pods as well as configuring different user entitlements based on the end users location.

• Initialize the Cloud Pod Architecture feature

• Connect two Horizon View pods together as a federation

• Configure global and user entitlements

SSL Certificates are a requirement in Horizon View to secure the communication between the different View components such as the Connection Server, Replica Server, and the clients.

• Installing the Certificate Services Role in AD

• Installing the SSL certificate on the Horizon View infrastructure components.

As this Windows desktop is going to be running as a VDI hosted virtual desktop, it needs to be built from the ground up as a VDI desktop, using the correct hardware configuration. We need to make this our gold image template from which all virtual desktops are created from.

• Understand the details of the build process, Virtual hardware specification, and BIOS settings

• Install the Windows 7 guest operating system

• Install the VMware specific components and VMware tools

Once you have created a Windows 7 virtual desktop machine, it needs to be optimized so that it runs optimally as a VDI desktop.

• Run the VMware OS optimization tool

• Install the Horizon Agent

• Post optimization task – clean the image and remove unnecessary software, files, and data

Once you have built and optimized a Windows 7 image, you can prepare it for delivery. This is dependent on the way the virtual desktops are going to be built.

• Create a template for full clone, persistent desktop pool

• Create a snapshot for a Linked Clone, non-persistent desktop pool

As this Windows desktop is going to running as a VDI hosted virtual desktop, it needs to be built from the ground up as a VDI desktop, using the correct hardware configuration. We need to make this our gold image template from which all virtual desktops are created from.

• Understand the details of the build process, virtual hardware specification, and BIOS settings

• Install the Windows 10 guest operating system

• Install the VMware specific components and VMware tools

Once you have created a Windows 10 virtual desktop machine, it needs to be optimized so that it runs optimally as a VDI desktop.

• Run the VMware OS optimization tool

• Install the Horizon Agent

• Post optimization task – clean the image and remove unnecessary software, files, and data

Once you have built and optimized a Windows 10 image, you can prepare it for delivery. This is dependent on the way the virtual desktops are going to be built.

• Create a snapshot to create an Instant Clone, non-persistent desktop pool

Horizon View uses the concept of a desktop pool to create a group of similarly configured virtual desktop machines.

• Get a detailed overview of what a desktop pool looks like

• Understand the different types of desktop pools

• Get an overview of persistent and non-persistent assignments

The first option we will discuss is how to build a desktop pool consisting of virtual desktop machines created using Instant Clones.

• Configure the Instant Clone Domain Admin for adding virtual desktops to AD

• Create a non-persistent desktop pool using the Windows 10 image

How to entitle end users to access the virtual desktops in the desktop pool.

• Entitle end users

With the Instant Clone desktop pool created, the virtual desktops are now created as per that pool configuration.

• Get to know how the newly created virtual desktop machines appear in vCenter

The next option we will discuss is how to build a desktop pool consisting of virtual desktop machines created using Linked Clones.

• Create a non-persistent desktop pool using the Windows 7 image

How to entitle end users to access the virtual desktops in the Linked Clone desktop pool.

• Entitle end users

With the Linked Clone desktop pool created, the virtual desktops are now created as per that pool configuration.

• Understand how the newly created virtual desktop machines appear in vCenter

The next option we will discuss is how to build a desktop pool consisting of virtual desktop machines created using Full Clones.

• Create a persistent desktop pool using the Windows 7 image

How to entitle end users to be able to access the virtual desktops in the Full Clone desktop pool.

• Entitle end users

The next option we will discuss is how to build a desktop pool consisting of virtual desktop machines created using Manual Pool.

• Create a manual pool using the Windows 7 image

How to entitle end users to access the virtual desktops in the Manual desktop pool.

• Entitle end users

The display protocol is a key component in any VDI environment, and it is responsible for delivering the desktop experience to the end users device.

• Know the definition of a display protocol

• Know how a display protocol works

There are three main delivery/display protocols available in Horizon View: PCoIP, Blast Extreme, and RDP.

• Define how each display protocol works

• Know which protocol to use and when

There are a number of different options available for an end user to connect to their virtual desktop. There are software clients available for a number of platforms as well as hardware options.

• Horizon software clients

• Hardware-based clients

• Connect to a desktop using the Windows Client and a web browser

Now that users are connecting to their virtual desktop machines, the virtual desktop machines need to be tuned to deliver the optimal end user experience.

• Configure AD policies to fine tune the end user experience

• Display protocol tuning with the PCoIP tuning tool

Now that users are using their virtual desktop machines, the end user experience needs to be continually monitored in order to ensure users receive the optimal performance possible.

• Use Liquidware Labs Stratusphere for virtual desktop monitoring

The core component of the hosted desktop session is the RDSH server that hosts the actual sessions. The Horizon View Connection Server then acts as the broker between end user and the desktop session.

• Understand architecture of hosted desktop sessions

• Sizing a hosted desktop environment

• Know how to load balance desktop sessions

The key to configuring the hosted desktop sessions in Horizon View is setting up and configuring the RDSH server role.

• Add the RDSH role to a Windows Server

• Install the Horizon Agent on the RDSH server

For the Horizon View Connection Server to broker the desktop sessions, you need to configure server farms that will deliver the desktop sessions to the end users.

• Create a desktop session farm

• Create a desktop pool

• Entitle end users and tune the end user experience

To ensure performance levels and that the desktop sessions are spread evenly across the servers within the farms, you need to configure load balancing.

• Enable the Horizon Script Host feature for load balancing

• Install the CPU utilization script

• Configure the registry for executing the utilization scripts

The core component of the hosted application session is the RDSH server running RemoteApp, which hosts the actual sessions. The Horizon View Connection Server then acts as the broker between the end user and desktop session.

• Understand the architecture of hosted application sessions

• Sizing a hosted application environment

• Know how to load balance application sessions

The key to configuring the hosted apps sessions in Horizon View is setting up and configuring the RDSH server role and RemoteApp.

• Add the RDSH role to a Windows server

• Install the Horizon Agent on the RDSH server

For the Horizon View Connection Server to broker the application sessions, you need to configure server farms that will deliver the desktop sessions to the end users as well as application pools.

• Create an app session farm

• Create an application pool

• Entitle end users and tune the end-user experience

To ensure performance levels and that the application sessions are spread evenly across the servers within the farms, you need to configure load balancing.

• Enable the Horizon Script Host feature for load balancing

• Install the CPU utilization script

• Configure the registry for executing the utilization scripts

Application layering is a relatively new technology that allows you to attach applications to virtual desktops without having to install them as part of the operating system build.

• Get an overview of application layering

• Know the difference between app layering and app virtualization

• Understand how app layering works

Liquidware Labs are the market leader in application layering solutions and offers more advanced features than those delivered by the main vendors.

• FlexApp architecture overview

• Capture an application layer

Once the layers have been created, you then need a mechanism in which to deliver them to the end users' virtual desktop machines.

• Entitle end users to app layers.

When you move to a non-persistent virtual desktop environment where nobody “owns” their own desktop, you need to consider how you are going to personalize the desktop and deliver the user centric elements of the desktop, such as their settings and personal data.

• Get to know the definition of a user profile

• Understand what UEM is

• Also, understand why you need UEM in VDI

VMware offers an entry level profile management solution known as View Persona Management.

• Get an overview of the View Persona Management feature

• Know how View Persona Management works

• Install and configure View Persona Management

In most deployments, basic folder redirection is not enough, you will need to deploy a more advanced solution that can manage the entire user environment.

• Get an overview of Liquidware Labs ProfileUnity for advanced features and functionality for managing the user environment

This video provides an overview of the entire course. 

The term VDI has been around for many years now, but what exactly is it, and how does it work.

• Comparison between VDI and other technologies such as server-based computing

Why would an organization consider deploying a VDI solution to its end users?

• Overview of the benefits that deploying a VDI solution can bring to an organization – not just the IT admins, but end users too

VMware VDI has been around a while and the number of features has grown with each new edition, with each adding new features and functionality to help reduce cost and improve end user experience.

• Discuss a brief history of the VMware VDI story and journey from where it started to Horizon 7 today

VMware Horizon 7 has literally hundreds of new features and updates included in each release.

• An overview of the latest key features in the latest Horizon 7.1 point release

• An overview of some of the features in Horizon 7.x

VMware Horizon is available in a number of different editions, each edition consisting of different features.

• An overview of the Horizon editions and their use case

• An overview of the features in each edition

The VMware Horizon 7 architecture is made up from a number of different components that work together to provide the platform for delivering virtual desktops, as well as delivering the optimum end user experience.

• High level view of a complete Horizon solution

The VMware Horizon 7 architecture is made up from a number of different components, so how do they all fit together?

• Architectural overview of where each component fits

• How each Horizon View component works

• Additional features and functionality

There are a number of ways a user can be assigned to a virtual desktop machine, either persistent or non-persistent.

• What is non-persistent virtual desktop machines

• What is persistent virtual desktop machines

• The benefits of persistent versus non-persistent

There are a number of ways in which a view-based non-persistent or persistent virtual desktop can be built using different cloning methods.

• High-level overview of what cloning is, and the different options

• View Composer and Linked Clone virtual desktops

There are a number of ways in which a view-based non-persistent or persistent virtual desktop can be built using different cloning methods.

• Advantaged and limitations of Instant Clones

• Deep dive looks at how Instant Clones work

There are a number of ways how to manage a user profile in a VDI environment.

• Introduction to View Persona Management

• Why you need to manage user profiles differently

• Persona Management benefits

There are a number of ways how to manage a user profile in a VDI environment.  UEM is another, more advanced solution.

• Introduction to VMware UEM

• Smart Policies for Horizon

• UEM or Persona Management

User will expect the same functionality from a virtual desktop machine as they would with physical, so how do they connect external devices?

• How to print from a virtual desktop machine

• How to connect a USB device to a virtual desktop machine

How to deliver applications using VMware ThinApp.

• What is application virtualization

• How does ThinApp work

How to deliver the end user experience to the end user device using a delivery/display protocol.

• What is a display protocol

• How does it work

• Which one to choose, PCoIP, Blast Extreme, or RDP

How do you deliver high-end graphics to a virtual desktop machine?

• Deliver hardware accelerated graphics in Horizon

• Describe the options; vDGA, vSGA, or vGPU

How does an end user connect to their virtual desktop machine from their end point device?

• Horizon software-based clients

• Hardware-based client options

• Connecting from Browser

How to deliver applications for non-persistent virtual desktop machines using application layering.

• Introduction to App Volumes

• How does App Volumes work

In this video, we are going to define what we want to achieve.

• Identify business drivers, and building the business case

• Conduct assessments

• Define the success criteria

In this video, we will learn how to prove the technology works by deploying either a Proof of Concept (POC), a Proof of Technology (POT), or a Pilot, or maybe a mix of all three.

• Explain Proof of Concept(POC)

• Explain Proof of Technology (POT)

• Learn how to deliver a successful Pilot phase

In this video, we will learn about using all the results and findings from the previous project phases to put together your production design.

• Plan production design

• Prepare for deployment and rollout

In this video, we will learn example use case scenarios and the recommended solutions

• Explain call center users

• Explain marketing department users

• Explain engineering and CAD users

In this video, we will learn that to help with designing and building an environment, VMware have a reference architecture called the Pod & Block Architecture from which to build a solution from

• Design a block to host the virtual desktop machines

• Design a block to host the management infrastructure

• Explain pod configuration

Cloud pod architecture takes the modular approach of the pod and block architecture, and adds scalability in the number of users that can be supported by a single Horizon View deployment, and also how it can add multi-site support for making a highly available solution, all these terms will be explained in this video.

• Learn CPA Architecture

• Explain working of CPA

In this video we will learn that there are a number of consideration for building out the vSphere platform for hosting Horizon.

• Learn high-level vSphere design

• Learn configuration maximums

• Learn ESXi host server sizing recommendations

In this video we will learn considerations for building and designing the View components such as the connection server, replica, security server, composer, vCenter and VMware access point.  We will also look at some of the configuration maximums that you need to be aware of.

• Learn component design considerations

• Learn networking and load balancing

• Learn remote desktop design considerations

In this video we will learn that horizon is also reliant on a number of external infrastructure components to build the full solution.

• Explain database requirements

• Explain AD and file servers

• Explain IP Addressing, Antivirus, and license activation options

We will learn to build and configure the infrastructure to host the virtual desktop machines in this video.

• Explain desktop pool design and sizing the virtual desktop machines in the pools

• Explain sizing the hosting servers

• Explain DR options

An example of how to build, size, and design an example environment will be explained in this video.

• Learn pool design for end user requirements

• Learn sizing the desktops blocks, storage, and management block

• Learn about network requirements

To deploy a successful Vmware Horizon 7 environment there are a number of infrastructure components that need to be in place first. The example lab environment will give you the infrastructure foundation for this course to help build you own environment.

• Identify the requirements for the lab environment

• Detail the example lab architecture and design

The VMware Horizon View infrastructure components are hosted on a VMware vSphere platform (ESXi servers). Two set of infrastructures are required; one to the View management components, and another to host the actual desktops.

• Setup a VMware ESXi host to host the management components

• Setup a VMware ESXi host to host the virtual desktop machines

• Setup and configure a vCenter server for each ESXi platform

The VMware Horizon View infrastructure is installed on Microsoft Windows Servers, along with other requirements and dependencies such as MS SQL Server.

• Install Windows Servers to host Active Directory and SSL certificate requirements

• Install Windows Server to install the Horizon View Connection Server

• Install Windows Server with Microsoft SQL Express 2012 for the View Events Database

The VMware Horizon View infrastructure relies on Microsoft Active directory to apply policies to the virtual desktop machines to deliver the end user experience.

• Create AD accounts for the example lab test users

• Create AD service accounts for View and vCenter

• Create OU’s to manage the virtual desktop machines.

The VMware Horizon View solution comprises of a number of different applications that need to be downloaded from the VMware web site.

• Download the core VMware software components

• Download the VMware OS Optimization Fling software

• Additionally you will need a copy of MS Office 2016 and Notepad++

The first component to install is the View Composer server and associated Composer database.

• Configure a SQL database for Composer

• Install the View Composer software

The next component is the Horizon View Connection Server.

• Install the first Connection Server

Once the Horizon View Connection Server has been installed there are a number of additional configuration tasks that need to be completed.

• Install a current license key

• Configure the vCenter server details.

• Configure the View Events database details.

The next component to install is a Replica Server, which is installed as an additional connection server for scalability of users and to ensure the is not a single Connection Server.

• Install the Connection Server software and selecting the Replica Server role

The next component to install is a Replica Server, which is installed as an additional connection server for scalability of users and to ensure the is not a single Connection Server.

• Configure the Connection Server in preparation for the Security Server – configuring the one-time pairing password

• Install the Connection Server software and selecting the Security Server role

The next component to install is an Enrollment Server, which is installed to request short lived certificates on behalf of users.

• Install the Connection Server software and selecting the Enrolment Server role

Configuring the ESXi host server to enable GPU cards using the PCI-Pass Through feature.

• Configure PCI devices in the ESXi host server

• Configure and enable the NVIDIA GPU cards

The Cloud Pod Architecture (CPA) feature allows you scale your environment up to 120,000 users across multiple sites and pods, also enabling high availability.

• Initialize the CPA feature

• Create pod federations on two sites

• Entitle users to CPA

As Horizon View is essentially like a web service to which end users connect from their endpoint device to the View Connection Server, you need to ensure that this connection is secured.

• Install and configure SSL certificates

• Use SSL to establish the secured link between the client device and the virtual desktop machine, as well as the View components.

True SSO provides a way to authenticate to Microsoft Windows, retaining all of the users’ normal domain privileges, without requiring them to provide AD credentials.

• Prepare AD for True SSO

• Create issuing, and deploying a True SSO certificate

• Configure the Connection Server for True SSO

Understand how to build an operating system image for a virtual desktop machine

• Explore the steps required to build the OS image

How to build a Windows 7 virtual desktop machine image for delivery in Horizon View.

• Create and configure the virtual hardware and virtual machine BIOS

• Install the OS

• Install VMware Tools

Optimizing the virtual desktop machine image for VDI.

• Run the VMware OS optimization tool

• Install the Horizon Agent

• Complete the post optimization tasks in preparation for deliver to end users

Preparing the virtual desktop machine image for delivery to end users.

• Create a Full Clone desktop template

• Create a Snap shot for Linked Clone desktops

How to build a Windows 10 virtual desktop machine image for delivery in Horizon View.

• Create and configure the virtual hardware and virtual machine BIOS

• Install the OS

• Install VMware Tools

Optimizing the virtual desktop machine image for VDI.

• Run the VMware OS optimization tool

• Install the Horizon Agent

• Complete the post optimization tasks in preparation for deliver to end users

Preparing the virtual desktop machine image for delivery to end users.

• Create a Snap shot for Instant Clone desktops

How to create and configure a desktop pool for GPU-enabled virtual desktop machine.

• Create and configure the virtual hardware for GPU-enabled virtual desktops

• Install the OS

• Prepare the desktop for delivery to end users

How to build a Linux virtual desktop machine image for delivery in Horizon View.

• Create and configure the virtual hardware and virtual machine BIOS

• Install the OS

• Install VMware Tools and the Horizon Agent

How to create and configure an automated desktop pool for Windows 7 virtual desktop machines.

• Deploy full clone desktops

• Configure a persistent user assignment

How to create and configure an automated desktop pool for Windows 7 virtual desktop machines.

• Deploy linked clone desktops

• Configure a non-persistent user assignment

How to create and configure a manual desktop pool using an existing built Windows 7 virtual desktop machine.

• Configure a persistent user assignment

How to create and configure an automated desktop pool for Windows 10 virtual desktop machines.

• Deploy instant clone desktops

• Configure a non-persistent user assignment

How to entitle end users to have access to the desktop pools.

• Entitle the Windows 7 desktop pools

• Entitle the Windows 10 desktop pools

Managing your desktop pools.

• Monitor the status of the desktop pools

• Linked Clone management and maintenance tasks

How to manage a user’s persistent disk.

• Detach persistent disks

• View detached disks in the inventory view

• Attach a persistent disk

How to create and configure a desktop pool for GPU-enabled virtual desktop machine.

• Create and configure the pool settings for GPU

• Configure 3D render and video memory settings

How does a user connect to a desktop pool and access the desktops within the pool.

• Connect to a virtual desktop machine using the Horizon Client

• Connect to a virtual desktop machine using the browser

What does the architecture for delivering published applications in Horizon look like.

• Horizon published apps architectural overview

• Understand how to size Horizon for publishing applications

• Understand Load balancing for published applications

How to install and configure the Horizon app publishing feature.

• Installation process overview

• Understand the adding and configuring the RDSH role to a Windows Server

• Explore installing applications to be published and installing the Horizon Agent

How to configure the Horizon View Administrator console for delivering published apps.

• Create a Farm containing the RDSH servers hosting the applications to be published

• Create an applications pool

• Entitle end users to the application pool

How to enable a more advanced load balancing solution for published applications.

• Enable the Horizon Script Host feature

• Install the CPU utilization script for monitoring the CPU resource of the RDSH servers

• Configure the registry to run the script

What does the architecture for delivering published desktops in Horizon look like.

• Horizon published desktops architectural overview

• How to size Horizon for publishing desktops

• Load balancing published desktops

How to install and configure the Horizon desktop publishing feature.

• Installation process overview

• Adding and configuring the RDSH role to a Windows Server

• Install the Horizon Agent

How to configure the Horizon View Administrator console for delivering published desktop.

• Understand Creating a Farm containing the RDSH servers hosting the desktop sessions to be published

• Understand Creating a desktop pool

• Entitle end users to the desktop pool

How to enable a more advanced load balancing solution for published desktops.

• Enable the Horizon Script Host feature

• Install the CPU utilization script for monitoring the CPU resource of the RDSH servers

• Configure the registry to run the script