VMware View

Horizon View 5.3 Part 3 – Prerequisites

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In order to provide a virtual desktop environment that meets that often varied needs of the users, Horizon View 5.3 contains a number of components and moving parts.  And like any complex system, there are a number of prerequisites and requirements that need to be met at an infrastructure level for Horizon View to be successfully deployed.

So what infrastructure do you need to have in place in order to successfully run a Horizon View environment? 

Horizon View is a virtual desktop environment, and the environment is based upon the vSphere platform.  The compatibility matrix for Horizon View 5.3 has not changed from the previous version, and Horizon View 5.3 supports vSphere 5.5 and the vCSA appliance.

Note: I won’t cover how to install and configure vSphere 5.5 or vCenter 5.5 in this series.  If you’re working with the Windows version of vCenter 5.5, please check out Derek Seaman’s excellent series on vCenter 5.5 at http://www.derekseaman.com/2013/10/vsphere-5-5-install-pt-1-introduction.html.  If you want to know more about the vCSA, you can check out my articles on the vCSA 5.5 appliance at http://seanmassey.net/vcenter-server-appliance/.

Horizon View also requires an Active Directory environment.  This isn’t surprising considering that Horizon View only supports virtual desktops running Windows.  The only versions of Active Directory that are supported are the Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008 versions.  I’m not sure if this means that the domain controllers have to be running a version of Server 2003 or Server 2008 or if the domain and forest functional levels cannot be raised above the Server 2008 R2 versions.  The documentation isn’t clear on this, and I haven’t had a chance to test it in my lab.

If you plan on using Horizon View Composer for linked-clone desktops, you will need to have a database for the Composer data.  Composer supports versions of Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server, including SQL Server Express.  It can be run on the same server with Composer.  Generally speaking, SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2 and Oracle 10g and 11g are supported, but because there are multiple patch levels and versions of Oracle and SQL Server, please refer to the compatibility matrix to find out if your database server is supported.

There are some best practices for configuring Active Directory in a VMware View environment, and I will be covering those in Part 4.

Horizon View 5.3 Appendix A – Links to Resources

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This appendix to the Horizon View 5.3 series will contain links to various resources from VMware and the community.  This page may be updated throughout the series as new links and resources are added.

VMware Documentation

All of the documentation for Horizon View 5.3 can be found at https://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/view_pubs.html.

PDF: VMware Horizon View Optimization Guide for Windows 7 and Windows 8

Note: Many of the manuals for 5.3 are the same as the manuals for 5.2.

VMware KB Articles

Connecting to the View ADAM Database

Using Windows Server 2008 R2 as a desktop operating system in VMware Horizon View

Community Blogs

Craig Kilborn has a series on upgrading from Horizon View 5.2 to Horizon View 5.3:
Part 1: Composer Server
Part 2: Connection Server
Part 3: Security Server
Part 4: View Agent
Load Balancing Horizon View – Design
Load Balancing Horizon View – Failure Testing

horizonflux.com
View Connection Server Memory Sizing and JVM Heap Size

Horizon View 5.3 Part 2–What’s New

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Although there haven’t been a lot of earth-shattering architecture changes in Horizon View 5.3, there have been some great new features added.  No, there aren’t virtual appliances that you can deploy as Connection and Security Servers.  Feature Pack 1 and VMware Blast haven’t been integrated into the base install – they are still add-on components that need to be installed on the View Desktops after the agent is installed.

In fact, there have been so few major changes to Horizon View 5.3 that VMware has said that the Horizon View 5.2 documentation still applies.  Aside from some release specific notes, the documentation that you view or download from the support site.

The full release notes can be found on the VMware support page.

What’s New in Horizon View 5.3

  1. Support for virtual desktops running Windows Server 2008 R2 – this is perhaps the biggest new feature as it provides one avenue for providing VDI without having to deal with Microsoft’s broken VDA licensing model.  While this was possible, albeit hit-or-miss, in previous versions, Horizon View 5.3 provides official support for Server 2008 R2 desktops.  Some features, like Persona Management and ThinPrint, are not available.
  2. Support for Windows 8.1 – Horizon View 5.3 supports Windows 8.1 as a virtual desktop OS.  Unlike Server 2008 R2 desktops, all functionality of Horizon View is supported.
  3. Support for using Horizon Mirage for Managing Virtual Desktops – Horizon Mirage can be used for managing and deploying applications in Horizon View.
  4. vDGA Support – Virtual Dedicated Graphics Acceleration is now supported in Horizon View desktops.  This could provide better support for graphics intensive applications like medical imaging and CAD/BIM.
  5. Unbounded Linked-Clone Overcommit – In previous versions of Horizon View, there were a few settings that controlled how aggressively a pool would overcommit its storage and would limit the number of desktops placed on a datastore.  The unbounded overcommit option in Horizon View 5.3 will not limit the number of desktops placed on a datastore.
  6. Add Administrator Groups to Persona Management Redirected Folders – Persona Management includes the option to redirect certain Windows Profile folders, such as Desktop and Documents, to a network share.  However, if the Persona Management GPOs were used, domain administrators would not have access to those folders.  The updated GPO templates add a setting to grant Domain Administrators access to these folders.
  7. Direct-Connection Plugin – The direct-connection plugin provides yet another option for connecting to Horizon View desktops – this time foregoing the Connection Server entirely by connecting directly to the desktop.
  8. VSAN – VSAN is “supported” by Horizon View 5.3 as a tech preview since VSAN is still in Beta.  So unfortunately, no official support will be provided.

What’s New in Horizon View 5.3 Feature Pack 1

  1. Windows 7 Multimedia Redirection – Multimedia Redirection has been available for Windows XP and Windows Vista in previous versions of Horizon View, and it has now been extended to support Windows 7.
  2. Support for Server 2008 R2 Desktops – Real-Time Audio-Video, Unity Touch, and HTML Access are fully supported in Feature Pack 1.
  3. Support for Windows 8.1 – Real-Time Audio-Video and Unity Touch are supported in Feature Pack 1.
  4. Real-Time Audio-Video – Now supported on Linux Clients when using the Horizon View 2.2 client.
  5. HTML Access – There have been a number of additions and changes to this feature:
    • Sound is now available from the remote desktop
    • Copy and Paste between remote desktop and client device
    • Available for Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 as tech preview – no official support at this time
    • VMware Blast Gateway can now support up to 350 simultaneous users per Connection Server.

That pretty much covers what’s new in Horizon View 5.3.  As this series continues, we’ll start going into the requirements for running View and the various components that are needed in the environment.

Horizon View 5.3 Part 1–Introduction

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One of the many hats that I wore at [Previous Job] was VDI Administrator for a 200-seat VMware View deployment.  That deployment, initially built by a consultant, started with View 4.6.  I had updated it to View 5.1 and was planning another update to View 5.3 when I left.  I no longer work with Horizon View on a daily basis, but I run it in my home lab and am a VDI hobbyist.

The announcement of Horizon View 5.3 at VMware Europe in October was somewhat shocking.  Horizon View 5.2 had been released about seven months earlier in March 2013 and added a number of new features such as Unity Touch for mobile devices, HTML5 access to desktops, and support for larger clusters and multiple VLANs.

Horizon View 5.3 hit General Availability on November 21st, 2013, and it improved on Horizon View 5.2.  There have been few major changes from Horizon View 5.2, but the documentation from 5.2 is still valid for 5.3.

Unless Microsoft changes their licensing model yet again, one of the additions to Horizon View 5.3 could make 2014 the mythical “Year of VDI” more likely.  OK…maybe that’s a little hyperbolic, but between official support for VDI desktops running Windows Server and the number of new entries into the Desktop As A Service market, I’d like to think that there will be an uptick in VDI adoption.

Series Agenda

Horizon View is a large application with at least four major components, and it would be impossible to cover it all in one or two posts.  I’m not sure how many posts this series will be in total, but it should be at least ten covering the following topics:

  1. Changes/What’s New and System Requires for Horizon View 5.3
  2. Configuring SSL Certificates and Active Directory for Horizon View
  3. Installing Horizon View Composer
  4. Installing a standalone Horizon View Connection Server
  5. Installing a Replica Connection Server
  6. Installing and Configuring a Security Server
  7. Configuring the View Events Database
  8. Configuring Windows  7 and 8.1 as Desktop Sources
  9. Configuring Server 2008 R2 as a Desktop Source
  10. VMware Blast (HTML Access)
  11. Configuring a Transfer Server
  12. Automating Your View Environment

If time allows, I will look at the Real-Time Audio/Video component, Persona Management, and other components of Horizon View.

You’ll notice that I don’t cover setting up a vSphere Environment as part of this series.  Both ESXi and vCenter Server are required for Horizon View, and the best walkthrough for setting up a vSphere 5.5 environment is Derek Seaman’s 19+ part blog series.  I’ve linked to Derek in the past because he has some well researched and seriously good content.

Where I Go Spelunking into the Horizon View LDAP Database–Part 2

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In Part 1 of this series, I shared some of the resources that are currently available in the greater VMware View community that work directly with the View LDAP database.  Overall, there are some great things being done with these scripts, but they barely scratch the surface of what is in the LDAP database.

Connecting to the View LDAP Database

Connecting to the VIew LDAP database has been covered a few times, and VMware has a knowledgebase article that covers the steps to use ADSI edit on Windows Server. 

Any scripting language with an LDAP provider can also access the database.  Although they’re not View specific, there are a number of resources for using scripting languages, such as PowerShell or Python, with an LDAP database.

Top-Level LDAP Organizational Units

LDAP OUs

Like Active Directory or any other LDAP database, there are a number of top-level OUs where all the objects are stored.  Unlike many LDAP databases, though, the naming of these OUs doesn’t make it easy to navigate and find the objects that you’re looking for.

The OUs that are in the View LDAP Database are:

Organizational Unit Name

Purpose
Applications Pool, Application, and ThinApp settings
Data Disks Persistent Desktop Data Disks
Hosts ?? Possibly Terminal Server or Manual Pool members
Groups View Folders and Security Groups/Roles
ForeignSecurityPrincipals Active Directory SIDs used with View
Packages ?? Possibly ThinApp repositories or packages
People ??
Polices Various system properties stored in child container attributes
Properties VDM properties, child OU contains event strings
Roles Built-in security?
Servers Desktops
Server Groups Desktop Pools

You may notice that a few of the OUs have question marks under their purpose.  I wasn’t able to figure out what those OUs were used for based on how I had set up my home lab.  I normally don’t work with Terminal Server or Manual pools or ThinApp, and I suspect that the OUs that aren’t defined relate to those areas.

This series is going to continue at a slower pace over the next couple of months as I shift the focus to writing scripts against the LDAP database.

Where I Go Spelunking into the Horizon View LDAP Database–Part 1

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Note: The items and techniques discussed in this post are not supported by VMware.  Before using it in a production VMware View environment, please be sure to test it in a non-production environment. 

Like many of the other product offerings, VMware includes a set of PowerCLI cmdlets that can be used with VMware View.  However, unlike the other PowerCLI cmdlets, there are some significant limits to what can be done with these cmdlets, including:

  • They can only be used on the View Connection Server*
  • They are feature-limited
  • They haven’t been upgraded with the rest of View, so features like View Storage Accelerator/Content-Based Read Cache and VMware Blast cannot be managed from PowerShell

*Note: Scripts utilizing the View PowerCLI commands can be executed via PowerShell Remoting or tools like PSEXEC.  However, the script still needs to be locally stored on the Connection Server.

But there is still one option for working with View.  Although the API for View isn’t as robust as other mainstream VMware products, the primary database is based is LDAP.  This opens up a whole new world of possibilities when trying to automate against VMware View.

Exploring the View LDAP Database

VMware doesn’t provide a lot of information about the View LDAP database in their support documents, and in almost all cases, directly editing entries in LDAP is not supported.  But there is information out there.

A few months ago, I posted a script that worked directly against the View LDAP database to find and remediate desktops that were using the wrong snapshot as a base image.  Other bloggers and community members have put together some scripts that work directly against the LDAP database.  Some of those resources are:

The link to Luc Dekens’ blog contained a very surprising revelation – VMware includes an entire copy of the schema on the Connection Servers.  This can provide a good starting point for working with View’s LDAP database as it does include a description of what each field does.  Some of the descriptions also include accepted and/or default values.

With a default install of VIew, the schema file is located at %ProgramFiles%\VMware\VMware View\Server\LDAP\ldif, and it can be opened with any text editor program.

The existence of this file has already saved me a lot of time.  My initial plan was to actually dive in and map attributes to feature sets by trial-and-error.  I may have to do that for some items, such as the pae-CitrixXMLServicePort attribute, but this provides a rough map of the LDAP layout and what the different attributes control.

This only scratches the surface of what can be done with the LDAP database.  And like a large cave system that has multiple branches and tunnels, the View LDAP database has several containers, entities, and attributes that need to be explored.