From the Field: VMware Horizon 2106

By vJoeG · December 17, 2021

I’m back for an end-of-year blog around the latest GA of VMware’s Horizon suite, 2106. In this blog I’ll dig quickly into the installation of the Horizon connection server and its options, share some valuable links to more learning and tips, and a link to my YouTube channel where I will “Show” you the installation of the software, the Horizon Administration console and the steps needed after successful installation to get you up, running and ready to create VDI desktop and application pools.

I’ve also chosen to rename these technical posts using the ‘From the Field’ prefix since all of my experience with these products and technologies comes from real-world environments. Mostly my fun and diverse customers but also lab and collaboration with fellow IT aficionados.

I also created a video on my YouTube channel here: From the Field: Horizon 2106

This link will show you the Current Hardware Requirements for Horizon. Also check out the Release Notes for version 2106

Horizon version 2111 did arrive in GA in late November 2021 and is an ESB (extended service branch) release that you can read about in this VMware Blog post here: What’s new in Horizon 2111

Installation Steps:

It is recommended that you have at least 10 GB RAM and 4x CPUs in order to support deployments of 50 or more desktops.

From an elevated command line or right-click Run-As Administrator launch the installer “VMware-Horizon-Connection-Server-x86-64-8.3.0-18294467”

Accept the License Agreement

Keep the default folder location or specify an alternate folder or even drive

There are 3 choices for the Horizon Connection server. Standard, Replica, or Enrollment. Standard is the choice required for the first server in the Pod, every other server will be a Replica. The Enrollment server option is for when you are ready to implement TrueSSO. That will be another blog and video. Select or uncheck HTML if you want to allow or block logins using a web browser.

Chose a data recovery password. This password is to restore and repair the ADAM database in your implementation should failure occur. While this is rare you should still create and save this just in case.

Allow firewall changes and the installer will automatically set up the appropriate rules needed for the server. If you would like a comprehensive list of ports check the following link: Network ports in VMware Horizon

During installation, you can select the administrators that will have the right to login into the console. by default, the ID that you started the install with is selected. You can also change this to the machines Local Administrators group or even select another AD group. Once in the admin console more options for roles and rights exist.

You can choose to allow the VMware Horizon Connection server installation to participate in the VMware User Experience Improvement program. Data will be provided to collection servers in the background to VMware.

Select the model for this Horizon install (On-prem or the Cloud)

Click Install to proceed and finish the installation

After installation is complete and services start you can continue to the Horizon Administrator console for the next step in the configuration process

To get started you will Login to Horizon Administrator console

First things first, you need to apply your Horizon License

Next up add your vCenter server(s) to the console. This is where you will be connecting to build and store your VDI images and components for the Horizon Suite

I order to save and access the many events that will occur the Events Database needs to be configured. Look here for the Events Database standards and requirements

At install, you gave a user or group access to the administrator console. Here you can add additional users and groups to not only the administrator role but many more roles that are built into Horizon. You can also create your own roles with more granular settings that may not be in the core groups

In Global Settings, you have many options from Console and API time out to User disconnects, SSO credentials, and much more

Cloud Pod Architecture is a powerful component of Horizon to allow you to create federations of Horizon pools across many pods, data centers, and even many regions of the world.

Global Policies allow you control over MMR, USB access, and PCoIP. It’s worth noting that these settings can also be controlled with DEM and GPO as well so depending on the entry point to this you may set these at one of these layers.

The Dashboard is your starting point to get an overview of how your Horizon environment is doing. There is a lot of great information to keep things running in tip-top shape.