Creating a pool using Horizon Composer-linked clones

The following steps outline how to use the Horizon Administrator console to create a dedicated assignment desktop pool using Horizon Composer-linked clones. As discussed previously, it is assumed that you already have a virtual desktop master image that you have created a snapshot of. During each stage of the pool creation process, a description of many of the settings is displayed on the right-hand side of the Add Desktop Pool window. In addition, a question mark appears next to some of the settings; click on it to read important information about the specified setting:

  1. Log on to the Horizon Administrator console using an AD account that has administrative permissions within Horizon.
  2. Open the Catalog - Desktop Pools window within the console.
  3. Click on the Add... button in the Desktop Pools window to open the Add Desktop Pool window.
  4. In the Desktop Pool Definition | Type window, select the Automated Desktop Pool radio button as shown in the following screenshot, and then click on Next >:
  1. In the Desktop Pool Definition | User Assignment window, select the Dedicated radio button and check the Enable automatic assignment checkbox, as shown in the following screenshot, and then click on Next >:
Dedicated assignment pools assign a desktop to a single user permanently, although the Horizon administrator can remove the assignment. Floating assignment desktops are assigned to a user at logon, and unassigned when they log off. Floating assignment pools allow organizations to deploy only the number of concurrent desktops they need, rather than one per each user, although you must use tools such as persistent data disks, User Environment Manager, and so on, to ensure that user data and settings are retained when a user logs off.
  1. In the Desktop Pool Definition | vCenter Server window, select the View Composer linked clones radio button, highlight the vCenter server, as shown in the following screenshot, and then click on Next:

  1. In the Setting | Desktop Pool Identification window, populate the pool ID:, as shown in the following screenshot, and then click on Next. Optionally, configure the Display Name: field. When finished, click on Next:
The ID is used by Horizon internally to identify the pool; end users see only the Display name.
  1. In the Setting | Desktop Pool Settings window, configure the various settings for the desktop pool. Many of these options are self-explanatory; those that are not are described in the Desktop pool common terms section of this chapter. These settings can also be adjusted later, if desired. When finished, click on Next >:
  1. In the Setting | Provisioning Settings window, configure the various provisioning options for the desktop pool that include the desktop-naming format, the number of desktops, and the number of desktops that should remain available during Horizon Composer maintenance operations. When finished, click on Next >:
When creating a desktop naming pattern, use an {n} to instruct Horizon to insert a unique number in the desktop name. For example, using Win7x64{n}, as shown in the preceding screenshot, will name the first desktop Win7x64-1, the next Win7x6-2, and so on.
  1. In the Setting | View Composer Disks window, configure the settings for your optional linked clone disks. By default, both a Persistent Disk for user data and a non-persistent disk for Disposable File Redirection are created. When finished, click on Next >:
  1. In the Setting | Storage Optimization window, we configure whether our desktop storage is provided by VMware Virtual SAN, and, if not, whether to separate our Horizon desktop replica disks from the individual desktop OS disks. In our example, VMware Virtual SAN is not available, so we will simply click Next >:
As all-flash storage arrays or all-flash or flash-dependent Software Defined Storage (SDS) platforms become more common, there is less of a need to place the shared linked clone replica disks on separate, faster data stores than the individual desktop OS disks.
  1. In the Setting | vCenter Settings window, we will need to configure six different options that include selecting the parent virtual machine, which snapshot of that virtual machine to use, what vCenter folder to place the desktops in, what vSphere cluster and resource pool to deploy the desktops to, and what data stores to use. Click on the Browse... button next to the Parent VM: field to begin the process and open the Select Parent VM window:
  1. In the Select Parent VM window, highlight the virtual desktop master image that you wish to deploy desktops from, as shown in the following screenshot. Click on OK when the image is selected to return to the previous window:
The virtual machine will only appear if a snapshot has been created.
  1. In the Setting | vCenter Settings window, click on the Browse... button next to the Snapshot: field to open the Select default image window. Select the desired snapshot, as shown in the following screenshot, and click on OK to return to the previous window:
  1. In the Setting | vCenter Settings window, click on the Browse... button next to the VM folder location: field to open the VM Folder Location window, as shown in the following screenshot. Select the folder within vCenter where you want the desktop virtual machines to be placed, and click on OK to return to the previous window:
  1. In the Setting | vCenter Settings window, click on the Browse... button next to the Host or cluster: field to open the Host or Cluster window, as shown in the following screenshot. Select the cluster or individual ESXi server within vCenter where you want the desktop virtual machines to be created, and click on OK to return to the previous window:

  1. In the Setting | vCenter Settings window, click on the Browse... button next to the Resource pool: field to open the Resource Pool window, as shown in the following screenshot. If you intend to place the desktops within a resource pool, you would select that here; if not, select the same cluster or ESXi server you chose in the previous step. Once finished, click on OK to return to the previous window:
  1. In the Setting | vCenter Settings window, click on the Browse... button next to the Datastores: field to open the Select Linked Clone Datastores window, as shown in the following screenshot. Select the datastore or datastores where you want the desktops to be created, their Storage Overcommit level, and then click on OK to return to the previous window:
If you were using storage other than VMware Virtual SAN and had opted to use separate datastores for your OS and replica disks in step 11, you would have had to select unique datastores for each here instead of just one.
  1. The Setting | vCenter Settings window should now have all options selected, enabling the Next > button. When finished, click on Next >.
  1. In the Setting | Advanced Storage Options window, if desired, select and configure the Use View Storage Accelerator and Other Options check boxes to enable those features. In our example, we have enabled both the Use View Storage Accelerator and Reclaim VM disk space options, and configured Blackout Times to ensure that these operations do not occur between 08:00 and 17:00 on weekdays. When finished, click on Next >:
The Use native NFS snapshots (VAAI) feature enables Horizon to leverage features of a supported NFS storage array to offload the creation of linked clone desktops. If you are using an external array with your Horizon ESXi servers, consult the product documentation to learn whether it supports this feature. If you were using VMware Virtual SAN, this and other options under Other Options are grayed out, as these settings are not needed. Additionally, if View Storage Accelerator is not enabled in the vCenter Server settings, the option to use it would be greyed-out here.
  1. In the Setting | Guest Customization window, select the Domain: where the desktops will be created, the AD container: (also known as Organizational Unit, or OU) where the computer accounts will be placed, whether to Use QuickPrep or Use a customization specification (Sysprep), and any other options as required. When finished, click on Next >:
You may want to create a unique OU for each of your Horizon pools. This allows you to develop and apply Windows group policies (be they for Windows, Windows applications, or Horizon itself) on a per-pool basis.
  1. In the Setting | Ready to Complete window, verify that the settings we selected were correct, using the < Back button, if needed, to go back and make changes. If all the settings are correct, click on Finish to initiate the creation of the desktop pool.

The Horizon desktop pool and virtual desktops will now be created. To monitor the creation of the desktops, review the Monitoring the desktop creation process section of this chapter. Also located in this chapter is the Managing Horizon Desktop Pool Entitlements section, which outlines how to grant clients access to the desktop pools that we have created.

..................Content has been hidden....................

You can't read the all page of ebook, please click here login for view all page.
Reset
18.217.220.114