Plain Virtualization

Recently been asked how can you connect to multiple Horizon Desktops from an endpoint.  Just to get things right there are just two ways depending where your virtual desktops are at. Scenario 1 Multiple virtual desktops from the same connection server but in different desktop pools. With Horizon Client, you will be able to connect multiple virtual desktops you are entitled to from just single instance whether on Mac of Windows as the Horizon Client window will be left open for you to select other virtual desktops to connect. Scenario 2 Mutiple virtual desktops from different connection servers. In this case, you will need to launch another instance of Horizon Client to connect to every connection server.  In Windows, this is easily done however on Mac, this might be a challenge.  You can of cause run a commend as written by this author here , to run another instance on Mac via Terminal window and keep it on the dock so you get two instance anytime you need it. ...

Remember back in the release of VMware View 5.0 (yes the name Horizon wasn't there then), I wrote an article on Deploy Persona Management Overview .  I also helped to answer one question in details here on Persona Management in the communities which now when I read it, I seems to know a lot I have forgotten already (am I aging). While doing a POC I gotten some difficulty in getting Persona Management to work even though policy was applied via Active Directory as well as even tried on the "master" VM used for creating the desktop pool.  Here is a KB on it. This is a screenshot on my customer environment apparently they have a global police in place to use only Local User Profiles so your persona will not work even settings it at domain policy or at local image policy.  I log into one of the View Desktop and run rsop.msc (you would need administrator rights), to see what policy is applied in the domain.  Some domain might take a bit of time up to 10mins to see t...

Was doing a Proof of Concept for Horizon View at one customer with a partner.  The infrastructure was setup and network trunked on the uplinks. We started out deploying all the components leveraging on customer's Active Directory, DHCP server and as well as Database. All was well and setup but two things was encountered: Every Desktop pools will always have some desktops not getting IP address. Horizon View client receive connection error after choosing a desktop or while using a desktop. Spend a bit of time troubleshooting by the partner.  Things like using a Windows DHCP instead of Linux (customer's was linux DHCP) and putting Horizon View Connection Server in the same subnet as the Desktops. I took over to see what have gone wrong since my partner has already done so many work.  Did some tests with my colleague, Wei Chiang who is strong in networking.  We managed to isolate the issue and even set static IP on those Desktops that does not have IP howeve...

It has been sometimes that I last setup my Horizon View Transfer server back when it was in version 5.0. Today as I need to setup in a Horizon View 5.2, I have to start creating.  So my setup was pretty simple, I have a share drive on the Transfer Server (this can be anywhere), and the binary installation was smooth. I couldn't find any much details of the restriction from the installation guide, but I did remember version 5.2 support Hardware version 9 which was previously not supported.  Also PVSCI was also supported for the virtual SCSI controller for the disk. After logging into Horizon View Administrator portal, I added the Transfer Server.  It was then rebooted with configuration to add in 4 virtual SCSI controllers. Now come the exciting part.  I could not add in the respository and keey getting error: " Error: 59 - Problem verifying information for an image repository" I was stuck!  D oing a G oogle returns me the closest KB but with a di ff...

On my previous post on VMware Horizon Suite, in it I provided some of the articles and one of them is a Reviewer's Guide . Going through the guide you might hit some hiccups.  Here I have show some of the resolution to get around it. Before we start, I assume you would have done your VMware Horizon View 5.2 if you are keen to integrate with Horizon Workspace. An overview before configuring the vApp. Make sure you do have the resources stated to run the Horizon Workspace vApp.  Do not downsize the resources as this will results in unexpected errors. Prior to setup, make sure you have create all entry for Forward and Reverse DNS and as well as SMTP server. Create IP Pool under vSphere Client under Datacenter. On Page 30, for Base DN,m its best to put the domain that you are going to work with entitling the user.  If you use a Group, the user can only below within that group. On Page 31, include all the groups and OU where the users will be located.  Tha...

As of 1st June 2013, VMware Horizon Suite adds a new licensing type for Concurrent user. With the launch of VMware Horizon Suite , arises many questions on licensing.  Here I have summarize some of the scenarios of licensing which will help you understand better. First we need to understand what is in the Suite.  VMware Horizon Suite comprises of Horizon Workspace, Horizon View and Horizon Mirage.  Each has its own licensing if purchase ala cart. Horizon Workspace - Named User Horizon View - Concurrent User Horizon Mirage - Named User From VMware Product Guide: Named User - Means your employee or Third Party Agent who has been authorized by You to use the Software in accordance with the terms of this Agreement. Named User - Specified user that is licensed to used the software.  No sharing licenses among users. License can be transfer to a new user if previous leave the company. From VMware Product Guide: Concurrent User -  Means t...

With the release of vSphere 5.1 Web Client and Horizon View 5.2 there came about some integration which was not really mentioned and talked about. However for those techies who are eager to try or test out new functionality there is something "hidden" in the installation folders of Horizon View Connection Server and the folder is named TechPreview . So what is this about?  Typically you do not get Tech Preview codes in the public.  This is actually a Horizon View Desktops Plug-in integration with vSphere Web Client. So let us go through the installation guide how this can be done and its documented here .  You can also refer to the Horizon View 5.2 Installation document page 113. As you follow the steps, there are some catchas you need to watch out and I have listed the below for you. In Section: Configure View to Recognize the vCenter Lookup Service Step 2: On setting the JAVA Home the document state: set JAVA_HOME=c:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Vie...

The announcement for Horizon Suite for the End User Computing (EUC) solution has been announced on 20th Feb 2013.  The release binary will be available in 4th March 2013.  You can read about here . I am very excited with this launch as it consists of 3 major components out of this suite.  Each with its own used cases and all combined to provide a new era of End User Computing experience.  You can see an overview video below: Horizon Suite If you remember during the VMworld 2011, there was two Projects announced with it which was part of EUC, Project Octopus and Project Appblast. With the announcement for Horizon Suite, you will know find there are this components namely Horizon Workspace, Horizon View, Horizon Mirage. To see a whole integration of Horizon Suite nicely done, take a look at the demo below by Andre Leibovici: Horizon Suite Demo Horizon Workspace incorporated two solutions which was once known as Horizon App Manager and also the Pro...