In this blog, we will explore RDSH sessions brokered by Horizon View. Rather than creating a blown desktop for a user, we can just use Microsoft remote desktop services which has a set of licensed users who can connect to it simultaneously be managed fully by Horizon View.
RDSH WorkFlow
Prerequisites for RDSH App Farm
- Microsoft RDSH License
- VM must be AD Joined
- Domain User with Administrator rights
- View Agent must be installed
- Install all Apps as needed
The installation of RDSH on the App Server is the same as we did on the Server farm so we will just continue as per the previous blog.
Step 1. I’ve deployed two VM’s as shown
Step 2. Login to the VM and open Server Manager as shown
Step 3. Choose remote Desktop Services Installation
Step 4. Choose the session-based desktop deployment
Step 5. Choose our rdsh server from the list
Step 6. Choose Broker, Web-Access and Session Host and Click Next to proceed
Step 7. On completion, reboot the VM
Install Horizon View Agent
Step 1. Launch the horizon view agent software we downloaded earlier.
Step 2. Click Next to continue
Step 3. We will now enter our horizon view connection server address here and Cllck Install
Step 4. Reboot the VM after the software is installed.
RDSH App Installs
Step 1. For this demo, I’ve installed LibreOffice on this App Server
Step 2. Login to VMware Horizon Administrator console as our administrator user.
Step 3. Open Server Manager – RDS – Collections – Go to RemoteApp Programs and we will now unpublish all these apps that came by default
Step 4. Select all Apps and click Next
Step 5. Click Unpublish
Step 5. We will now choose to publish our Libre Office Apps
Step 6. Click Publish
Step 6. We can verify our apps published if we login via the https:// URL of the RDSH AppServer as shown
Step 6. We can see all our apps thus published.
Step 7. Login to VMware View Administrator
Step 8. Go to Inventory > select Application > Click Farms > Add Farm
Step 9. We will choose a manual farm for now
Step 10. Give a name for our farm – eg: RDS-App-Farm1
Step 11. Pick the RDSH App server we deployed earlier and complete the wizard
Step 12. Go to Inventory > Applications > Add Application Pools
Step 13. Choose RDSH Desktop Pool and click Next to proceed
Step 14. Review all settings and click Finish to complete our configuration
Step 15. The created RDSH App pool is shown
Step 16. The events tab will provide you with recent activities on the VM’s being provisioned
Assigning Users a VDI Desktop
Our desktops are ready but for users to connect to the desktop, we will need to grant them permissions.
Step 1. Hover over to Applications Pool Section and Click on Entitlements
Step 2. Click on Add Entitlements and search for our user we added earlier
Step 3 Preview the screen to verify if our user has been added
Accessing VDI Desktops Users
In order to access the VDI Desktop, users can log in to a browser window or via a client on their laptop and type in the name of our connection server.
VMware Horizon HTML Access
HTML access is via VMware’s Blast protocol. In order for us to connect all we need to do is to launch a browser a punch in our Horizon View UAG / View Security Server / Connection server as below
Double click on any apps that are published
VMware Horizon Client
You could also install a client version on your laptop and connect to the VDI farms.
The easiest way to install the correct agent for the horizon environment is by accessing the web UI of our Horizon View UAG / View Security Server / Connection server https://horizon01.ash.local and download the Horizon client and install it.
By default, this will take you to vmware.com to download the latest horizon client but our administrators can force you to download from a fileserver URL as soon as you click the above option. We will cover it in our next blog.