EXPAND YOUR HORIZON WITH HOSTED APPLICATIONS TECHNICAL WHITE PAPER AUGUST 2016

Transcription

1 EXPAND YOUR HORIZON WITH HOSTED APPLICATIONS TECHNICAL WHITE PAPER AUGUST 2016

2 Table of Contents Introduction... 3 Preparing for the Implementation Implementing Horizon Hosted Applications Upgrade to Horizon 7.01 or Later...6 (Optional) Deploy VMware Identity Manager and Its Advanced Web Portal... 6 Prepare the RDSH Servers...6 Create RDSH Server Farms and Application Pools, Then Entitle Users... 7 Add an RDSH Server Farm...8 Create Application Pools to Publish Applications...11 Manual Application Pools Desktop Pools...17 Final Steps...20 Additional Documentation About the Author TECHNICAL WHITE PAPER 2

3 Introduction VMware Horizon 7 offers full-featured support for hosted applications and shared desktop sessions, expanding the capabilities of the leading virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) platform. Tightly integrated with Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (RDS), Horizon can deliver hosted applications and desktop sessions, virtual desktops, and VMware ThinApp virtualized applications, all supported on the devices end users want to use. This white paper provides guidance for adding support for hosted applications and desktop sessions to your VMware Horizon infrastructure. Whether the goal is to integrate an existing RDS environment for combined management with VMware Horizon virtual desktops or deploy hosted applications and desktop sessions for the first time, VMware Horizon provides the technology required and a simple path forward. TECHNICAL WHITE PAPER 3

4 Preparing for the Implementation Successful IT projects require careful planning. Properly identifying the essential business and technical requirements, combined with a solid understanding of the existing infrastructure, facilitates planning a solution that fits. The following are examples of the types of questions to ask and information to gather before undertaking the implementation. It is important to have a solid understanding of the business objectives and other non-technical project requirements and to identify the business factors that could influence the project requirements or system design. For example: Will a substantially larger number of users access hosted applications or desktop sessions than is supported by the current Horizon virtual desktop infrastructure? Which locations require access to hosted applications or desktop sessions? Will the implementation coincide with a major change to the business, such as the acquisition of another company or the launch of a major new product or business initiative? Hosted applications and desktop sessions are an extension of the Horizon platform. Evaluate the existing Horizon infrastructure to develop an understanding of the Horizon components that are already installed. Which version of VMware Horizon is in production? How many separate Horizon infrastructures are implemented? How many Horizon Connection Servers and security servers are deployed? What are these servers virtual hardware specifications? If a new RDS infrastructure will be deployed: How many Remote Desktop Session Host (RDSH) servers are required? Which Windows Server version will the RDSH servers run? Which server will host the RDS License Server role? Which data center will host these new systems? If an RDS infrastructure is in place, inventory the major components and the specifications of their supporting systems. Which RDS versions are in use? Is it vanilla Microsoft RDS, or is a third-party platform built upon it, such as Citrix XenApp? Are any RDSH servers running on Windows Server 2008 or earlier (Terminal Services)? If the RDSH servers are running on Windows Server 2008 R2, do you plan to upgrade them to 2012 R2 or 2016? How many physical locations have an RDS infrastructure? What type of load balancing is in place? Is the RDS infrastructure stable? Are there system stability or application issues? TECHNICAL WHITE PAPER 4

5 Inventory and assess the applications that Horizon will be hosting. Are the applications new or hosted by any existing RDS infrastructure that will be migrated to Horizon? Migrations can be a good opportunity to phase out applications that are no longer needed and to verify that user entitlements to applications are correct. Questions to consider are: What are the requirements of the applications and their performance characteristics? How many RDSH servers are the applications currently installed on? How many servers do the applications need to be installed on? Who are the end users and which user communities do the applications serve? Are all the existing applications still in use or could any be decommissioned? Do existing applications require significant changes, such as upgrades? Are you planning to replace an existing application with another? Develop a thorough understanding of all applications that need to be made available with a supporting application inventory. Accurately identify the end-user requirements. Do end users need access only to applications or do they need access to desktop sessions as well? Which devices do end users use to access the system? From where do end users need to access the system? Which peripherals need to be supported? Which users should be supported first? What is the best approach to notifying and training end users about the new system? These are examples of the questions to ask and information to gather as part of planning for the implementation of VMware Horizon hosted applications. TECHNICAL WHITE PAPER 5

6 Implementing Horizon Hosted Applications Implementing support for hosted applications and desktop sessions with VMware Horizon involves the following steps, whether you are deploying hosted applications for the first time or migrating a Microsoft RDS-based infrastructure, such as XenApp. 1. Upgrade Horizon to version 7.01 or newer. 2. (Optional) Deploy VMware Identity Manager and its advanced Web portal. 3. Prepare the RDSH servers. 3. Create the RDSH server farms and application pools in Horizon, then entitle users. Upgrade to Horizon 7.01 or Later While support for hosted applications was first introduced in Horizon 6, Horizon 7.01 or later should be deployed to benefit from all of the latest features. Adding hosted application support to your Horizon infrastructure does not require many design changes, such as new Connection Servers. But if you are anticipating significantly increasing the number of users or locations you need to support, or planning to introduce new business requirements, such as Internet-based users, you might need to expand your Horizon infrastructure. For resources on Horizon infrastructure design and deployment, see the Additional Documentation section. (Optional) Deploy VMware Identity Manager and Its Advanced Web Portal As an option, VMware Identity Manager can be deployed to provide an advanced Web portal for access to hosted applications and desktops. VMware Identity Manager is a purpose-built virtual appliance providing access to hosted applications and desktops, Horizon virtual desktops, SaaS applications, VMware ThinApp virtualized applications, and even XenApp and XenDesktop published resources. If VMware Identity Manager has already been deployed to support Horizon virtual desktops, you do not need to add support for hosted applications. The hosted applications and desktops that each user is entitled to access will be automatically synchronized to each user s Web portal, alongside their virtual desktops. For resources on how to deploy VMware Identity Manager, see the Additional Documentation section. The same steps to configure Horizon Connection Servers for virtual desktops apply to hosted applications and shared desktops. Prepare the RDSH Servers VMware Horizon leverages Microsoft RDS to provide support for hosted applications and shared desktops. After you have completed any necessary changes to the Horizon infrastructure and optionally deployed VMware Identity Manager, you can prepare the RDSH servers. If you have an existing RDS environment, including those supporting third-party systems integrated with RDSH such as Citrix XenApp, preparing a host for Horizon simply requires installing the Horizon Agent. If you do not have an existing RDSH infrastructure, you must first deploy RDSH servers with installed and configured applications before installing the Horizon Agent. The Horizon Agent supports RDSH servers running Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, and Windows Server 2012 R2. If your existing RDSH servers are running earlier versions of Windows Server, you must first upgrade the operating system. However, if possible, it is better to replace old systems with new RDSH servers with cleanly installed applications. TECHNICAL WHITE PAPER 6

7 For resources on designing and deploying a Microsoft Remote Desktop Services infrastructure, see the Additional Documentation section. Note: Before installing Horizon Agent, be sure to back up existing RDSH servers and their installed applications. 1. To configure the Horizon Agent, specify a Horizon Connection Server (standard or replica) and provide the credentials of an account with administrative rights to the Horizon system during installation. Figure 1: Installing Horizon Agent 2. Click Next and wait for the installation to finish. To complete the installation, you must reboot each RDSH server. Be sure to schedule appropriate downtime to avoid interrupting active users. You can also silently install the Horizon Agent to support automated deployment during IT service windows. After the agent has been installed on each RDSH server, Horizon can be configured to provide hosted applications and desktop sessions. Create RDSH Server Farms and Application Pools, Then Entitle Users A farm consists of multiple RDSH servers. You can use a farm to group servers that provide the same applications, typically to the same user communities. Before applications can be published, you must create at least one farm. TECHNICAL WHITE PAPER 7

8 Add an RDSH Server Farm Creating a farm is simple. After the Horizon Agent has been installed on the RDSH servers, you can access them from the Horizon Administration console. 1. In the Horizon Administration console, go to Resources > Machines and then click the RDS Hosts tab. 2. Verify that each RDSH server s status is Available and has the correct agent version installed. Figure 2: Registered RDS Hosts in Horizon Administration Console 3. Next, navigate to Resources > Farms and click Add to create a new farm. 4. Choose between an Automated or Manual farm. An Automated farm automatically creates the RDSH Server virtual machines from a VirtualCenter template as part of the farm creation. Since this example uses RDSH Servers that already exist, a Manual farm will be selected. 5. Next, enter the information on the Identification and Settings page, as specified in Table 1. OPTION ID Description Access group Default display protocol Allow users to choose protocol Empty session timeout (applications only) When timeout occurs DESCRIPTION Alphanumeric identifier for the farm. Do not include spaces or special characters. Add a description to help identify the farm. Spaces and special characters are allowed. (Optional) Access groups help organize and restrict access to the Horizon Administration console using roles. Specify one here if an access group will be used. Select the default display protocol. VMware Blast is recommended, however, PCoIP is also available to support old zero and thin clients. Note that even though RDP can also be selected, RDP is not supported. Choose whether to allow users to choose between VMware Blast and RDP. Amount of time after which an empty session is timed out. An empty session is an open connection to an RDSH in which the user has closed all applications. The default is 1 minute. Choose how to handle an empty session that has timed out. Disconnect closes all open connections. Log off logs the user out. The default is Disconnect. TECHNICAL WHITE PAPER 8

9 OPTION Log off disconnected sessions Allow HTML Access to desktops and applications on this farm DESCRIPTION Choose whether disconnected user sessions are logged out and when. By default, disconnected sessions are never logged out, enabling users to reconnect to applications they left running on the RDSH servers. If you select After, specify the number of minutes before the user is logged out. Immediate logs disconnected users out immediately. Enables or disables access to this farm using the Horizon HTML5 Web browserbased client. The default is unchecked (disabled). Table 1: Identifications and Settings Specifications Figure 3: Adding an RDSH Server Farm: Identification and Settings TECHNICAL WHITE PAPER 9

10 6. Click Next, then on the Select RDS Hosts page, select which hosts to add to the farm, and then click Next. Figure 4: Adding an RDSH Server Farm: Select RDS Hosts 7. On the Ready to Complete page, review the configuration and click Finish. Figure 5: Adding an RDSH Server Farm: Ready to Complete TECHNICAL WHITE PAPER 10

11 After the farm is created, it will be listed on the Farms page. Figure 6: RDSH Server Farms in Horizon Administration Console Create Application Pools to Publish Applications After the farm has been created, simply create application pools to publish the applications that users need to access. 1. In the Horizon Administration console, go to Catalog > Application Pools. 2. Click Add. 3. The Add Application Pools window will be displayed. Select the appropriate farm and Horizon will analyze the RDSH Servers it contains and display the installed applications. 4. Check the check box next to each application to be published, then click Next. Figure 7: Select Applications to Include in the Application Pool TECHNICAL WHITE PAPER 11

12 5. Next, review the application pools to be created and change their system-generated alphanumeric IDs and display names, if necessary. Note that you cannot use special characters or spaces in the ID. Figure 8: Edit IDs and Display Names 6. Verify that the Entitle users after this wizard finishes check box is selected, then click Finish to create the application pools and publish the applications. 7. The final step is to entitle the users and groups who are allowed to access the new application pools. On the Add Entitlements page, click Add, select the appropriate users and groups, then click OK. Figure 9: Entitle Users and Groups TECHNICAL WHITE PAPER 12

13 8. To view and manage the new application pools, navigate to Catalog > Application Pools. Figure 10: Application Pools in Horizon Administration Console Users can now access their hosted applications using Horizon Client. Figure 11: Horizon Client with Hosted Applications TECHNICAL WHITE PAPER 13

14 Users can also access hosted applications from the VMware Identity Manager Web portal if it has been deployed. Figure 12: VMware Identity Manager Portal with Hosted Applications Manual Application Pools If any applications that need to be published were not found when Horizon scanned the farm, or if any applications require special parameters on launch, you can publish them manually. 1. In the Horizon Administration console, go to Catalog > Application Pools. 2. Click the Add button. 3. In the Add Application Pools window, select the appropriate farm then choose the option to Add application pool manually. TECHNICAL WHITE PAPER 14

15 4. Specify the configuration for the application to be manually published as detailed in Table 2. OPTION ID Display name Version Publisher Path Start Folder Parameters Description DESCRIPTION Alphanumeric identifier for the farm. Do not include spaces or special characters. Name of the application pool displayed in Horizon Client, Workspace Portal, and Horizon Administration console. (Optional) Version identifier for the application. (Optional) Publisher of the application. Complete path to the installed application on the RDSH, including Windows drive letter. Folder the application starts in, if required. (Optional) Launch time parameters for the application. (Optional) Description of the application pool. Spaces and special characters are allowed. Table 2: Add Application Pools Specifications Figure 13: Manually Add an Application Pool TECHNICAL WHITE PAPER 15

16 5. Verify that the Entitle users after this wizard finishes check box is selected and click Finish to publish the manual application pool. 6. In the Add Entitlements window, click Add and select the users and groups you want to entitle to the manual application pool, then click OK. Figure 14: Entitle Users and Groups TECHNICAL WHITE PAPER 16

17 Desktop Pools In addition to applications, Horizon can also publish shared desktops enabling you to support users who require a full RDS desktop. In Horizon, shared desktops are referred to as RDS Desktop Pools. To publish an RDS Desktop Pool: 1. In the Horizon Administration console, navigate to Catalog > Desktop Pools. 2. Click the Add button. This will display the Add Desktop Pool window. Figure 15: Add an RDS Desktop Pool 3. Select RDS Desktop Pool, then click Next. 4. In the Desktop Pool Identification window, specify the alphanumeric ID, display name, and optional description for the RDS desktop pool, then click Next. Figure 16: Desktop Pool Identification TECHNICAL WHITE PAPER 17

18 5. Specify the Desktop Pool Settings as detailed in Table 3, then click Next OPTION State Connection Server restrictions Adobe Flash quality Adobe Flash throttling DESCRIPTION Enable or disable the pool. Default is Enabled. Restrict publishing this desktop pool to specific Connection Servers using tags. Default is None. Limits the quality of Adobe Flash animations and applications if required. Options are Low, Medium, and High. Lower-quality settings reduce the amount of network bandwidth utilized. Default is Do not control. Throttles the frame rate of Adobe Flash animations and applications if required. Options are Conservative, Moderate, and Aggressive. More aggressive settings reduce the amount of network bandwidth utilized. Default is Disabled. Table 3: Desktop Pool Settings Specifications Figure 17: Configure the Desktop Pool 6. Select an RDS farm for the desktop pool, or create a new one if necessary, then click Next. Figure 18: Specify an RDS Farm for the New Desktop Pool TECHNICAL WHITE PAPER 18

19 7. On the Ready to Complete page, verify the settings for the new RDS desktop and be sure to check the Entitle users after this wizard finishes check box. Then click Finish. Figure 19: Add RDS Desktop Pool: Ready to Complete 8. On the Entitlements page, add the users and groups who you want to entitle to the desktop pool, then click Close. Figure 20: Entitle Users and Groups to the RDS Desktop Pool TECHNICAL WHITE PAPER 19

20 Once the new RDS desktop pool has been created, it can be viewed and managed on the Desktop Pools page in the Horizon Administration Console. Figure 21: Horizon Administration Console Desktop Pools Page Final Steps Once the hosted applications and shared desktops have been published and the appropriate users and groups entitled, you can perform any required quality assurance and user acceptance testing. When the infrastructure has been successfully tested, users can be trained and notified to access their desktops and hosted applications using the Horizon Client and Horizon-compatible devices including zero and thin clients and the Web-browser-based HTML5 client. TECHNICAL WHITE PAPER 20

21 Additional Documentation VMware Horizon 7 Product Page VMware Horizon 7 Datasheet VMware Horizon 7 Pricing, Purchasing and License Guide VMware Hands-On Lab for Horizon 7 VMware Horizon Online Course VMware Horizon 7 Enterprise Edition Reference Architecture Documentation Center for Horizon 7 VMware Identity Manager Product Page VMware Identity Manager Datasheet VMware Identity Manager Documentation and Release Notes About the Author Mark Ewert is the Lead Technologist on the VMware End-User-Computing Marketing Team. Over his more than 25-year career, Mark has designed and implemented hundreds of successful solutions, including numerous Citrix XenApp and VMware Horizon infrastructures. Mark is also the author or coauthor of several VMware technical resources, a frequent VMworld speaker, and developer of the View Controlled Recompose Script, a VMware Fling. TECHNICAL WHITE PAPER 21

22 VMware, Inc Hillview Avenue Palo Alto CA USA Tel Fax Copyright 2016 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. This product is protected by U.S. and international copyright and intellectual property laws. VMware products are covered by one or more patents listed at VMware is a registered trademark or trademark of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies. Item No: VMW-WP-EXPANDHORIZHOSTDAPPS-USLTR WEB 8/16