VMware Horizon

Main article: Virtualization. Classification and applications

2022: VMware Horizon 8 2203

On April 19, 2022, the company VMware announced the release of an updated version of its platform for virtualizations the delivery and delivery PERSONAL COMPUTER of VMware Horizon 8 2203 desktop and applications (as now indicated by the release, the last four figures are the year and month of release).

^{VMware Horizon 8 2203}

According to the company, Horizon 8 2203:

Virtual Desktops

• During a virtual PC session, access to the console mice and to the client is completely blocked vSphere
• Roaming profiles are now supported for URL Content Redirection capability by Horizon Agent for Windows and Horizon Client for Windows
• Live captions are now supported for Microsoft Teams calls on Horizon HTML Access and Horizon Client for Chrome platforms
• Encoder CPU Controller is now dynamically scaled up and down by the number of frame updates per second, as shown in the use of CPU for Blast Extreme
• Driver Mapping now supports driver replacement when creating a virtual printer for Linux and Mac clients
• When you configure location based printing, you can add a printer by name or IP address

Horizon Agent

The MaxBandwidthBurstMsec registry key now sets the bursting interval for the data that is sent to the client. This is the time interval during which the bandwidth can temporarily exceed the limit set by the MaxBandwidthKbps option.

Horizon Client

All clients have been upgraded and installers are available for the following platforms:

• Horizon Client for Android
• Horizon Client for Chrome
• Horizon Client for iOS
• Horizon Client for Linux
• Horizon Client for Mac
• Horizon Client for Windows

Horizon Agent for Linux

• This release added support for two distributions:
• * Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Workstation 8.5
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Server 8.5

• Also, the following distributions are no longer supported:
  • RHEL Server 8.3

• * CentOS 8.x
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) 15 SP1
  • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 15 SP1

• You can now configure application pools that are hosted on virtual desktops with a single session. Each application can support one user session at a time.
• The/etc/vmware/config printSvc.printerFilter option allows you to configure a search filter that prevents certain printers from being redirected to the Linux virtual desktop. The option supports syntax based on printer name, driver or manufacturer^[1]

2021: VMware Horizon 8 (2106)

On July 26, 2021, VMware announced the release of an update to its platform for virtualization and delivery of VMware Horizon 8 desktops and applications (2106).

Major Updates:

• Support for Horizon 7.10 and 7.13 was expanded to March 17, 2022 and October 15, respectively
• Recommendations about Horizon Agent suggest that it is no longer necessary to reinstall Horizon Agent to upgrade VMware Tools if interop matrix conditions are met
• Supports 20 thousand sessions per Pod module
• VMware Update Manager migration support for port groups from NSX VDS to NSX CDS
• Additional REST API endpoints that provide access federation functions, Event DB API, RBAC support via REST API, and more

Now, for Horizon desktop sessions, administrators can disable screenshots and screen recording, which could lead to theft data by users. The option is only supported on - Windows agents. This is done by setting the registry key to 1: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesVmware, Inc.Vmware VDMAgentConfigurationScreen-capture Blocking.

So far, it is not supported for HTML5 access, but you can simply disable this HTML5 access itself. Only snapshots are blocked through View Client, and to disable them in the guest OS itself, you need to use Microsoft recommendations.

Sysprep can now be used for Instant Clones without parent VMs. This can lead to a drop in deployment speed and more reboots. But the user will have SID and the same function that related clones have.

Updates in Horizon Console:

• Type Selection vCenter for Cloud Burst - You can now choose how to manage Cloud Burst premium resources that must meet the 120ms requirements between agents and Connection Server. Thus, the user can use the third-party vCenter cloudy data center to manage Horizon resources through the Connection Server. It is no longer necessary to deploy Pods public cloud to for management only.

^{Horizon_Console}

• The possibility of constant access to applications (Forever Application Sessions) is necessary for such services as online dashboards, status tracking (for example, patients), stock tickers, etc. These sessions can be configured at the pool/farm level or in global settings. They support authenticated users on Windows and Linux clients.
• When creating Full Clone and Managed Manual Desktop pools, you can select 5K and 8K permissions for Blast clients. A maximum of 2 monitors can be used. Only 4K is supported for PCoIP.

• Additional authentication methods for Untrusted Domains:
  • SAML
  • True Single Sign-On
  • Smart card

Horizon Cloud Connector 2.0 has the following updates:

• You can now have multiple stateless connector nodes. Horizon Cloud Connector serves as a node for Kubernetes containers that run critical Horizon services.
• Service-level fault tolerance - Continuous availability features are now available for the license server.
• Licenses now support SNMP traps, such as synchronization problems and life cycle event notifications.

Updates in Horizon Agent:

• Windows Agent - It has received support for Windows Server 2022, as well as an update to the data collection mechanism that is used for monitoring and trawling. Data collection logging is set by default and can be enabled through the registry key.
• Linux Agent - there are several new features at once:
  • Linux Smartcard redirection - Support for this mechanism is available on Red Hat Enterprise Linux desktops with Security-Enhanced Linux enabled.
  • Digital watermark - support for watermarks for Linux sessions, which allows you to protect intellectual property.
  • Support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.4 (Workstation and Server) and CentOS 8.4.

Remote access capabilities include:

• Xbox One Support for Windows Clients
• Ability to modify audio sample rate that is saved between sessions
• Ability to use 6 monitors in 4K mode
• Ability to use GPU encoding for session collaboration mode on Windows 2004 and later

Copy/Paste updates also appeared - you can now use Clipboard Redirection to disable and enable copy-paste operations within a session.

In addition, there are additional updates in this category:

• 48khz audio support via RTAV (default 16khz)
• Copy/paste updates for slow networks
• Emulation of smart card certificate caching for non-Windows clients
• Optimized print task monitoring (queue displays user name in session)
• Support for Microsoft Edge Chromium features:
  • HTML5 Multimedia Redirection
  • Browser Redirection
  • Geolocation Redirection

• * USB Redirection

Blast updates include:

• Blast Virtual Channel security features
• Optimize your Blast codec, including client speed and improved text compression
• Optimizes frame scheduler that optimizes scalability and reduces latency
• Optimizing the Creation of Blast Workers
• NVIDIA Ampere A10 and A40 GPU support
• Optimized NVIDIA GPU codec for remote connection via Horizon Agent
• Support for 10-bit HDR 4:2:0 video for Windows 10 Agent and Client, as well as VM with NVIDIA vGPU
• 10-bit HDR 4:4:4 video support for Windows 10 Agent and Client, VMs with NVIDIA vGPU, and Intel (Ice Lake +) clients

Microsoft Teams Optimizations:

• Updates WebRTC
• Linux Support for Microsoft Teams Optimizations
• Support for Mac Client readback
• Dynamic video resolution based on thin client CPU performance
• Optimizing screen sharing for Mac and Linux
• Mac support for Microsoft Teams optimizations as remote app

Now for brauzeramicrosoft Edge (Chromium) are supported the following group politicians:

• Enabling HTML5 Multimedia Redirection
• Enabling VMware Browser Redirection
• Enabling VMware Geolocation Redirection (also supported for UPD printing)
• Ability to define default settings for UPD printers
• Agent Configuration Support - Settings for RDS Sessions
• Unity Touch and Hosted Apps - a new setting for "Redirect legal notice messages as a window"
• Screen-capture Blocking Support
• Setting Sample Rate - Recording Audio Device - sets the sampling rate for RDS hosts and published applications.

2020: VMware Horizon 8 (2006)

On August 13, 2020, VMware announced the availability for VMware Horizon 8 (2006) download, as well as detailed all its updated capabilities.

According to the company, updates to the Horizon platform (version 2006) include:

• Changed version format for Horizon Server, Horizon Client, Horizon Agent, and Horizon Console products. It is now in YYMM format. For example, this version from June 2020 is 2006.
• Horizon 2006 supports parallel upgrade of Connection Servers (up to three at a time).
• Updated site deployment option set (pod):
  • General (normal non-permissive installation vSphere)
  • AWS (VMware Cloud on AWS or EC2 Native)
  • Dell EMC (VMware Cloud on Dell EMC)
  • Azure (Azure VMware Solution)
  • Google Cloud (on VMware engine)
  • Oracle Cloud (on VMware engine)

• Digital Watermark - You can now make a watermark to protect intellectual property ownership, authenticity, and verification. You can set options such as IP address, username, domain, and more.
• REST API - endpoints have appeared, including the rights assignment and inverse sections. Swagger UI is also available locally.
• Smart Provisioning - The Instant Clones Smart Provisioning feature extends desktop features when they are deployed. If there are few VMs on the host, they will be automatically created without the parent VM (full clone), and if there are many - then on the basis of the parent image (Instant Clone).

• Feature Changes - some features are declared as Deprecated (they will not be in future releases). For example, linked clones (Linked Clones, instead of them now Instant Clones) and permanent disks (Persistent Discs - they were replaced by App Volumes) go back.

Horizon Console enhancements include:

• Many minor improvements, including the ability to set a display name for global assignments, improved table views, and a more visible UI.
• Horizon Client Restrictions - In global settings, you can specify which versions of old Horizon Clients are blocked.
• More details on network interaction - ports on which desktops and pools interact, as well as incompatible network types.
• You can send the fidback directly to the VMware product team in 11 languages.
• Client Restrictions for Desktop Pools - You can now specify which workstations will be allowed to connect to the pool. To do this, add the user and desktop to the permissions.

Linux Desktop enhancements include:

• Now there is support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.8, as well as support for multi-sessions in Red Hat 7.8, 8.1 and Ubuntu 1804. To do this, you must install the Linux Agent with the --multiple-session key.

Blast Extreme enhancements: This release has several important enhancements for full-screen video and memory usage with the Blast Codec codec, which is now enabled by default. There is also support for the HEVC 4:4:4 Codec codec processors Intel from the tenth generation (Ice Lake). This is only available for machines Windows with the 2006 client. There was also support for 8K-.monitors

Horizon Agent Enhancements: There are updated optimizations for real-time audio and video, including H.265. All this allows you to better use the webcam for video conferencing. As of August 2020, support includes Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Skype for Business, and Windows Tablet. Also, the Location-Based Printing UI in the VMware Integrated Printing engine took a different form. You can configure this mechanism in the GPO Bundle.

Horizon Clients Customer Enhancements:

• Video and Desktop Sharing Optimization is available for Microsoft Teams (not supported for RDS desktop pools and application pools).
• Windows Client - Client Restriction Message mechanism, support for Windows 10 2004, support for redirection URLs for Microsoft Edge Chromium and the option to skip certificate revocation verification.
• Linux Client - Client Restriction Message mechanism, support for Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, full support for IPv6, casual screen permissions, updated SDK for client customization (as well as obtaining more data about connections and remote sessions).
• Mac Client - Client Restriction Message mechanism, USB auto-connect function for RDSH apps applications.
• iOS Client - Client Restriction Message mechanism, support for VMware Integrated Printing (including location-based printing).
• Android Client - the Client Restriction Message mechanism, support for VMware Integrated Printing, as well as the ability to transfer Android device ID to OPSWAT.
• Chrome Client - Client Restriction Message mechanism, support for ChromeOS 81 and ChromeOS 82.
• HTML5 Client - Client Restriction Message mechanism, support for Edge Chromium, the ability to save the configuration of monitors on Windows, MacOS and ChromeOS desktops.

App Volumes enhancements:

• Firstly, the concept of versions has changed.

• Secondly, many changes have appeared, including improvements in user login performance, support for various applications, and more, namely:
  • Microsoft LDAP Channel Binding - The App Volumes Manager has been updated and is now communicating with domain controllers via LDAP Channel Binding.
  • Assignment Filters - The ability to restrict the delivery of certain application packages to specific computers. This works for Microsoft Office 2019, Microsoft SQL Server 2019 and Microsoft Windows 10 (version 2004).
  • Rolling Upgrades - continuous upgrades are now supported without downtime.
  • MSIX App Attach Integration is a technology preview of the ability to bind applications in MSIX format. You can use the App Volumes Packaging Utility to do this.

VMware Dynamic Environment Manager enhancements: There were editions of the product - Standard and Enterprise. Standard is available for Horizon Standard and Advanced. If the user had Horizon 7.x with active SNS support, the user will receive the DEM Standard along with Horizon 8.

The functions of Standard include:

• Drive Mappings
• Folder Redirection
• Logon Tasks
• Logoff Tasks
• Printer Mappings

The elevated task privilege elevation type has now appeared: Dynamic Environment Manager can now manage ADMX policy templates for computers in addition to those for previously supported users.

2019

VMware Horizon 7.11

On December 16, 2019, it became known that VMware updated the components of its flagship platform for virtualization and delivery of enterprise PCs and VMware Horizon 7.11 applications.

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Changes and additions to Horizon 7.11 noted by the developer:

1. Authentication Horizon 7 SAML Authentication with VMware Unified Access Gateway 3.8. This Horizon release includes an update to the Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) Authentication mechanism, which allows you to use the same set of accounts data for authentications different websites. The SAML 2.0 standard is supported, which can be used alone or in conjunction with the TrueSSO mechanism.
2. Updated REST APIs. This Horizon release includes many additional APIs for configuring, monitoring, and external information about target devices. This allows you to build scalable automation scenarios, as well as integrate third-party solutions with Horizon for administrative tasks.
3. Update Horizon Group Policy Object (GPO) Bundle. Several improvements have been made to the Horizon GPO Bundle ADMX group policy templates. Also, 3 settings appeared in the vdm_agent.admx agent template:
   • Enable Battery State Redirection
   • Enable UWP support on RDSH platforms

4. * VMware AppTap Configuration The
   following configuration appears in the vdm_client.admx client template:
   • Save resolution and DPI to server

5. Horizon Console enhancements. In the presented version, Horizon Console based on HTML5 is the default administrator tool, and also provides the ability to remember the selection and run the HTML5 console always.
6. Other Horizon enhancements:
7. * Integrated Help Desk - The Help Desk Tool (Monitor > Help Desk) receives more information from Horizon Console.
8. * Displays the health status of the Connection Server on the dashboard. This information includes the use CPU and memory, and also shows those servers that went offline.
9. * Displays the progress bar during the Instant Clone Publish operation.
10. * Displays the name of the application to which the user is connected in the RDSH Sessions section.
11. * View Global Entitlements at desktop pool level. To do this, you no longer need to go to the Global Entitlements section separately, everything is visible in the properties of the pool.
12. Horizon Agents enhancements.
13. * Blast Extreme Blast Codec enhancements. In the presented version, this codec better processes contrast edges in images and fonts. It works as a full-fledged video codec, with features such as motion detection, motion vectors and macroblocks. The Blast Codec is disabled by default, but the user can enable it in the HKLM\SOFTWARE\VMware, Inc.\VMware registry key. Blast\Config, adding value EncoderBlastCodecEnabled = 1. On Linux, you must enable this codec in the\etc\vmware\config agent settings by setting it to allowBlastCodec=TRUE.
14. * Blast Extreme Dynamic Encoder - It allows you to dynamically switch between a video-optimized encoder and a text encoder - both for Blast Codec and Adaptive mode. This allows you to reduce the use of the channel and dynamically maintain the desired picture quality depending on the content. The dynamic encoder is disabled by default. To enable it for Windows, add it to the HKLM\SOFTWARE\VMware, Inc.\VMware registry branch Blast\Config value EncoderSwitchEnabled = 1. For Linux, add the allowSwitchEncoder=TRUE parameter to the\etc\vmware\config agent settings.
15. * Horizon Agent for Windows Enhancements:
16. * * Updated Skype for Business Q4 2019
17. * * Red Hat 8 Linux Support
18. * * Improved CPU performance
19. * * Local security authority (LSA) machine support during installation
20. * Horizon Agent for Linux Enhancements:
21. * * Support for TrueSSO on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7^[2]?

VMware Horizon 7.9

On July 2, 2019, the company VMware released an updated version of virtualizations PERSONAL COMPUTER the VMware Horizon 7.9 desktop enterprise platform and delivery.

Changes and additions in VMware Horizon 7.9, marked by the developer:

1. Horizon Connection Server enhancements:
2. * Changes for virtual desktops:
3. * * You can specify whether and when to refresh OS drives when creating an instant-clone desktop pool.
4. * * Ability to allow ESXi hosts to return unused storage space (reclaim) when working with instantaneous clones that are created in a disk-saving format. The setting is specified for the instant-clone pool and reduces disk consumption.
5. * Changes to Horizon Console (HTML5-based web interface that replaces the flash console)
6. * * Add, modify, or domain administrator delete instant-clone.
7. * * View the number of published desktop sessions for farms or registered hosts.
8. * * Set up event reporting and event monitoring.
9. * * Track sessions of published desktops and attachments.
10. * * Configure smart card authentication.
11. * * User role-based management, including delegation and casual roles.
12. * * The ability to update Hosted Applications icons (and updated icons in the console itself).
13. * * View additional information about RDS hosts within the farm.
14. * * Configure multi-session mode for published applications.
15. * * Configure global settings that affect client sessions and connections, and configure security settings.
16. * * Supports updated capabilities when configuring instant clones (refresh operation) and returning disk space to storage (reclaim) - above.
17. * * Publish and run Universal Windows Platform (UWP) applications.
18. * * Edit or delete the published app icon.
19. * Horizon Administrator Enhancements
20. * * You can use Horizon Administrator to configure options such as Always, Log to file on error (default), and Never to enable the generation and storage of Syslog events (not yet in Horizon Console).
21. * Cloud Pod Architecture
22. * * The Home Site Override tab is separate from the Users and Groups tab in Horizon Console. To set up the overlap of Home Site assignments, go to Inventory > Global Entitlements, select global entitlement, and then click the Home Site Override tab.
23. * * You can use Search Sessions in Horizon Console to find desktop or application sessions within a pod federation environment.
24. * Published Desktops and Attachments
25. * * You can publish and run Universal Windows Platform (UWP) applications
26. Improve Horizon Agent for Linux.
27. * Advanced support for smart card redirection from the client system. In the presented version, the following operating systems are supported for this:

#** Ubuntu 18.04

1. • • Ubuntu 16.04
     • SLED 12 SP3
     • SLES 12 SP3
     • SLED 11 SP4

2. * Improved user session performance by using a single stream architecture for all sessions. Starting with version 7.9, Horizon Agent for Linux uses the Java NIO solution, which supports all connections to the desktop in one thread (previously each connection had its own thread), which gives an increase in performance.
3. Horizon Agent Enhancements.
4. * Remote Access Protocols:
5. * * Horizon 7 version 7.9 is required to support Microsoft Media Server (MMS) and Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP).
6. * * NVIDIA Tesla T4 GPUs are validated and supported for Horizon 7 with Windows 10VDI, Windows Server 2016, and 2019. Blast Extreme can use the offload H.264, H.265 function, as well as the advanced capabilities of the T4 GPU.
7. * * The rotation of Blast log files has been improved to avoid disk clogging.
8. * Connection Quality:
9. * * Microsoft Teams has been validated and works for the Real-Time Audio-Video feature. To work comfortably, you will need at least 4 vCPU 4 GB of RAM for the published desktop and configured RTAV 640 x 480p video resolution.
10. * * You can configure the redirection of biometric devices (such as fingerprint scanners) that are connected to the USB ports of the Windows client system.
11. * * You can configure the redirection of card readers that are connected to USB ports for the virtual channel PCoIP on the Windows client system.
12. * * VMware Virtualization Pack for Skype for Business enhancements. These include:
13. * * * Proxy support for Windows 7 clients.
14. * * * Improved fallback audio quality for RDSH 2016 and 2019 terminal sessions.
15. * * * Skype for Business 2019 Server support.
16. * * * Mac Client IPV6 support.
17. * * VMware Integrated Printing supports more Universal Print Driver (UPD) settings for Windows client machines.
18. * * You can use VMware Integrated Printing with Horizon Client 5.1 for Linux and Horizon Client 5.1 for Mac clients.
19. * * The following signature readers are supported in the submitted version:
    • • • Wacom STU-520A

#*** Wacom STU-530G

1. • • • Wacom STU-500
       • Wacom DTU-1031

#*** Wacom Intuos Pro

1. * * Updated Windows display specifications require Windows 10 version 1803 or later to support 6 monitors.
2. * * Windows 10 notifications can be redirected to the client OS, its application session.
3. * * You can use HTML5 Multimedia Redirection in Horizon Client 5.1 for Linux.
4. Horizon GPO Bundle Refinements.
5. * The VMware View Agent Configuration ADMX (vdm_agent.admx) template contains the VMware Virtualization Pack for Skype for Business - Disable extended filter for acoustic echo cancellation group policy configuration.
6. * The VMware Horizon Client Drive Redirection ADMX (vdm_agent_cdr.admx) template contains two group policy settings - Exclude Vid/Pid Device and Include Vid/Pid Device. You can use them to enable or exclude devices that have specific product IDs when users use device redirection to guest operating systems.
7. * The Horizon PCoIP ADMX (pcoip.admx) and VMware Blast ADMX (vdm_blast.admx) template files contain two group policy settings - the drag and drop buffer format (Configure drag and drop formats), as well as its maximum size threshold (Configure drag and drop size).
8. Horizon Client capabilities (upgraded from version 5.0 to 5.1).
9. Updates in Horizon 7 Cloud Connector. This is a required component for Horizon 7.6 and later to use the following features:
10. * Licenses for subscriptions as part of the Workspace One Enterprise bandle.
11. * Functions of Cloud Monitoring Services (CMS) as part of Horizon Cloud Service. CMS capabilities include:
12. * * Report for users, apps, desktops, and how to use Horizon 7 pods connected through the cloud.
13. * * 7-day session history for the Help Desk Tool.
14. * * Metrics and status of Horizon sessions connected through the cloud.
15. Horizon 7 deployed in VMware Cloud on AWS:
16. * Manual pools are supported for Windows and Linux-based virtual machines.
17. * Support for SDDC Horizon 7 1.7 architecture.
18. * Support for the following AWS services:

#** AWS Directory Service for Microsoft Active Directory.

1. * * Event database on Amazon Relational Database^[3].

VMware Horizon 7.8

On March 17, 2019, it became known that the company VMware announced the next release of the enterprise creation platform infrastructures virtual PERSONAL COMPUTER - VMware Horizon 7.8.

Changes to Horizon 7.8 and its components:

1. Connection Server functions.
2. * Horizon Console (HTML5-based web interface)
3. * * You can use Horizon Console to initialize the Cloud Pod architecture, join nodes within the federation functionality, create and manage global access rights, sites, and home sites.
4. * * You can re-create and restore associated clones with persistent disks.
5. * * Cancel task is available for related clone operations.
6. * * Automatic linked-clone farms can be created.
7. * * You can configure Horizon Connection Server and user authentication. You can also configure the role model for access, policies, and client sessions.
8. * * You can configure shortcuts for published desktop and application pools.
9. * Cloud Pod Architecture
10. * * Horizon 7.8 architecture topology limits are as follows:
11. * * * 250,000 total sessions
12. * * * 50 pods objects
13. * * * 10,000 sessions per pod
14. * * * 15 sites
15. * * * 7 Connection Server instances per pod
16. * * * Total 350 Connection Server Instances
17. * * Published Desktops and Attachments
18. * * * Organizational Units (OU) objects are supported for published desktops and applications on RDS hosts.
19. * * * On RDS hosts, you can use CPU, memory, disk, and session count statistics to define load balancing policies for published desktops and applications.
20. * Virtual desktops
21. * * Instant clones support TRIM and UNMAP capabilities for vSAN storage.
22. * * You can reuse existing computer accounts to deploy new instant clone pools in the domain.
23. * True SSO Access Features
24. ** After users use True SSO for the login in desktops, they can unlock a desktop by repeated authentication on portaleworkspace ONE with the same kreda of True SSO.
25. * Changes to the secure domain access mechanism
26. * * The login mechanics have changed somewhat through Horizon Client. First, the user enters his full login with the domain into the text field (domainusername or username@domain.com), after which he is shown a select with a choice of domain, or he may not be at all, or there will be a * DefaultDomain * value. For more information, see the Send domain list and Hide domain list settings in VMware Horizon 7.8 Security.
27. * * You can force a user to enter credentials even if they have the Logon as current user configuration. This is described in more detail in Horizon 7.8 Administration, which describes how to configure Accept logon as current user.
28. * * You can refer to KB 67424 for more information on domain settings for Horizon Clients.
29. * * Improves the security of user authentication where the CVE-2019-5513 issue described in the VMSA-2019-0003 manual has been fixed.
30. Horizon Agent.
31. * In this version, you can use regular expressions when specifying Content Redirection URL rules. For more information, see "Regular Expression Rules That URL Content Redirection Supports" in Configuring Remote Desktop Features in Horizon 7.
32. * Smart card authentication is supported with UWP applications such as Microsoft Edge in remote desktops.
33. * The Helpdesk plugin is part of the Horizon Agent installer.
34. * VMware Integrated Printing contains a finishing option (staple and booklet options) for specialized redirected printers.
35. * When an administrator turns on read-only mode to connect other users to a session, the primary user can connect multiple users in session view. At the same time, only the main user can interact with the controls, and the rest simply look.

# Horizon Agent for Linux.

1. * Improved Linux distribution support - added RHEL 7.6 and CentOS 7.6.
2. * As of Horizon HTML Access version 5.0, multiple features monitors are supported for Linux desktops.
3. * Horizon 7.8 supports smart card redirection for Linux desktops with RHEL 7.1 and later. This feature allows the user to log in via a smart card connected to the client system.
4. * Advanced True SSO support for Ubuntu 16.04 or 18.04, SLED 12.x SP3, and SLES 12.x SP3.
5. * When an administrator turns on read-only mode to connect other users to a session, the primary user can connect multiple users in session view. At the same time, only the main user can interact with the controls, and the rest simply look.
6. * Enhanced NVIDIA vGPU support for SLED 12.x-based desktops.
7. Horizon GPO Bundle.
8. * The Content Redirection URL group policy contains a Redirection IP Rules Enabled URL setting that allows you to configure and filter IP addresses.
9. * The VMware Horizon Client Drive Redirection ADMX (vdm_agent_cdr.admx) Group Policy Template file contains client drive redirection settings. It allows you to configure the letter of the plug-in device and the timeout for initialization in the WindowsExplorer.
10. * Configuring Session Collaboration Group Policy allows you to pass input control to participants in a joint session.
11. * VMware Integrated Printing Group Policy settings allow you to set a filter when redirecting a client printer and configure preview settings.
12. Horizon 7 Cloud Connector. You can configure the root password obsolescence policy for the Horizon Cloud Connector virtual module.
13. Support for VMware Cloud on AWS.
14. * The Instant Clone Pool supports NSX-T network segments.
15. * See KB 58539 for a complete list of Horizon 7 features supported in VMware Cloud on AWS.
16. Updated version of User Environment Manager 7.9.0.
17. * Application blocking and privilege elevation capabilities are supported on workstations that use the User Environment Manager SyncTool utility.

Also updated components VMware Unified Access Gateway 3.5, VMware App Volumes 2.16, VMware Horizon Clients.^[4]

2018

VMware Horizon 7.7

On December 16, 2018, VMware announced the release of another update to its product, Horizon 7.7, including updated Horizon Client 4.10 customers.

Compatibility enhancements and OS support:

• Windows Server 2019 support for virtual desktop and RDSH servers.
• Support for the latest VMware vSphere 6.7 U1 and vSAN 6.7 Update 1.
• Support for Horizon 7 on VMware Cloud on AWS (SDDC version 1.5), including all of its latest capabilities.
• You can now run upgrades through the Horizon 7 Cloud Connector virtual module. This appliance is used to integrate Horizon Cloud Service with Horizon 7 components on customer sites and VMware Cloud on AWS.
• VMware Virtualization Pack for Skype for Business can now be used in an IPv6 environment.
• Horizon Clients now includes support for the latest operating systems, such as Mac OS 10.14 (Mojave) and Android 9.1.

Management Console Enhancements

Horizon Console (based on HTML5) has received several improvements:

• You can now add Manual and View Composer linked-clone pools, and add, disable, modify, and delete persistent disks for linked clones.
• On the Machines tab, you can quickly understand when someone other than the assigned user has logged into the virtual machine. Now there are 2 columns: Connected User and Assigned User (ficha is also available in Horizon Administrator).

• The old Horizon Administrator in the System Health dashboard displays details about registered VMware Unified Access Gateway modules for Release 3.4 and later:

* The Connection Server pod host name is now in the top pane, next to the header:

• Help Desk Tool Enhancement - Administrators can now complete the application process for the selected user. The Data Base records this action, including details such as date and time, desktop name and application name, pool name, and administrator name.

Scalability enhancements

• You can use a single instance of vCenter Server for multiple PODs in the CPA (Cloud Pod Architecture) architecture.
• The maximum number of servers per RDSH farm has been increased from 200 to 500.
• vMotion support was introduced for linked-clone and automated pools, which also contain full virtual machines.
• Support for vMotion has also been added for full clones with support for vGPU, instant clones, and linked clones.

Improved security and reliability

• Added the ability to audit the clipboard allows Horizon Agent to record information about the activities of copy and paste operations between the client and agent in the event log on the agent machine.
• You can add a Virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM) to an instant-clone desktop pool and remove the vTPM after the image creation operation.
• TLS 1.0 is now disabled by default on all clients.

User Experience Enhancements

• Blast Extreme Protocol Enhancements:

• • You can now use Blast Extreme to access physical computers and workstations.
  • For Windows clients, the Blast Extreme HEVC (H.265) video encoding protocol allows you to shrink almost twice as efficiently as before (with the same quality), or improve quality on the same band as H.264. Also added support for 8K mode. This requires an Nvidia Grid environment with NVIDIA hardware encoders and clients whose iron supports HEVC decoding.

• Windows Client Enhancements:
  • If client-drive redirection is enabled, users can drag and drop files and folders between the client system and remote desktops or published applications.
  • VMware Virtual Print allows the user to print on any Windows computer (it does the same as ThinPrint before). But in addition, VMware Virtual Print supports client printer redirection as well as location-based printing. The settings are saved at the user level.

• Improving published RDSH apps and desktops:
  • Multi-session mode, which allows the administrator to set a rule - whether the user can open multiple sessions to the same application from different devices. Requires Horizon Client 4.10.
  • On Windows clients, you can assign an RDSH application to a user to display on a single monitor or on a set of multiple screens.
  • The hybrid logon feature can be used with access for unauthorized users. It allows unidentified users, but with domain access, to access network resources (file balls, printers) without entering domain account information. Requires Horizon Client 4.10.

VMware Cloud on AWS Public Cloud Enhancements (SDDC 1.5)

• The minimum required cluster size has vSphere been reduced to 3 nodes. Stretched clusters are also supported.
• Support for VMware NSX-T network virtualization and VMware vSAN datastore encryption technologies.
• Support for Horizon 7 Enterprise Edition technologies: VMware User Environment Manager, VMware App Volumes, and VMware Instant Clone.

VMware Horizon 7 for Linux enhancements and added capabilities

• Linux desktops are now supported in Horizon 7 on VMware Cloud on AWS.
• Single sign-on (SSO) mode is now supported for SLED/SLES 12.x desktops.
• Audio input is now supported for SLED/SLES desktops.
• The Instant clone floating desktop pool is now available with SLED/SLES.
• Session collaboration is available when using the Linux desktop. You can now invite other users to join the remote session.
• Linux-based Instant clone desktops now allow offline connection to an Active Directory domain via Samba.

VMware Horizon 7.5

In May 2018, VMware announced the release of a product to create the VMware Horizon 7.5 VDI infrastructure.

Updated version of Horizon Console

This is the version of the web interface that allows you to create and manage virtual desktops and publish virtual PC applications. Horizon Console also includes VMware Horizon Just-in-Time Management Platform (JMP) integrated workflow capabilities.

VMware Cloud for AWS Deployment Capability

Horizon 7.5 virtual PC pools can be deployed in both cloud virtual machines VMware vCloud on AWS and non-virtual enterprise environments using the Cloud Pod Architecture (CPA), which can include VMware vCloud on AWS cloud installations. This is not a complete solution Desktop as a Service () DaaS because VMware is responsible for server the infrastructure, and the client is responsible for deploying and maintaining Horizon 7 and its components.

Virtual Desktop Enhancements

• Virtual machines on the vSphere platform can be created with Virtualization-based security (VBS) support. This allows you to deliver more secure work environments to end users.
• For automatic desktop pools that use regular full VM copies with VBS enabled, you can add a virtual device vTPM for added security.
• Horizon 7.5 fully supports vSphere 6.7.

Instant Clones

• Multiple profiles are vGPU supported for instant clones.
• You can select PCoIP or VMware Blast (without h264 hardware encoding) as the protocol for the NVIDIA GRID vGPU solution for the instant clone desktop pool.
• You can change the 3D vSGA/3D software settings for instant clone desktop pools.
• Horizon 7.5 supports the instant-clone API that appears in vSphere 6.7.

Cloud Pod Architecture

• The total session limit has been increased to 200,000 and the site limit has been increased to 10.
• You can configure desktop shortcuts for the global entitlements mechanism.

Horizon Help Desk Tool

• Horizon Help Desk Tool is fully integrated into Horizon Console.
• You can track Linux systems in Horizon Help Desk Tool in Horizon Console.
• Horizon Help Desk Tool displays the following additional metrics:
  • Skype for Business pairing status.
  • Status of the application or desktop session.
  • Disk device IOPS data.

Security enhancements

• Horizon 7.5 supports TLS 1.2.

Horizon agent for Linux

Three innovations appeared here:

• Контроль USB Redirection, Clipboard Redirection и Client Drive Redirection. With VMware User Environment Manager, you can define policies that can manage these capabilities.
• Support for Help Desk Tool - You can track Linux sessions of virtual PCs.
• Network Intelligence Transport Support for VMware Blast - Network Intelligence capabilities allow Blast to dynamically select a UDP or TCP transport for optimal data delivery to the user.

Horizon Agent and Horizon GPO Bundle

For agents running on Windows virtual PCs, the following enhancements are available:

• HTML5 Multimedia Redirection support for the Edge browser (previously only Chrome was supported).
• Support for Content Redirection URLs - for example, you can specify the path *.acme.com/software in the rule.
• Simple Device Orientation (SDO) Sensor Redirection - redirects the screen orientation of the client device to the virtual desktop.
• VMware Logon Monitor - This tool monitors Windows user logins and captures performance metrics to help administrators solve brake login problems.
• VMware Horizon Performance Tracker is a remote desktop tool that monitors delivery protocol performance (PCoIP or Blast) and system resource utilization.
• Horizon Performance Tracker ADMX template file (perf_tracker.admx) - Contains policy settings related to Horizon Performance Tracker.

Horizon JMP Server

JMP is VMware's approach to organizing user desktops, which allows you to separate control levels (operating system, applications, and personal settings and data) using Instant Clones, App Volumes, and User Environment Management (UEM) technologies.

This allows you to focus not on the technical parameters of the desktop, but on business criteria. For example, you can define policies and a set of applications for the finance department and then create Finance type desktops that have specific virtual machine options, application set, and personalization. And all this is done in the same console.

As noted by VMware, this approach more than halves the deployment time of workstations. This mechanics has advantages from the point of view of security: firstly, desktops are deployed from secure and updatable "golden" images, and secondly, after the end of the user's work, his desktop is destroyed, and therefore the likely malware that may have ended during the user session.

You can castomize the desktop not only on the basis of the identification of a particular user, but also on the basis of the IP address of the connection, device and other variables. Using Smart Policies, you can manage files such as clipboard redirection, USB access, printing, and redirecting user drives.

Horizon Universal Subscription

Subscription allows you to pay for resources as they are consumed, which allows you to use Horizon cloud licenses as part of the overall pay-as-you-go license of Workspace ONE.

The cost of such a license starts from $8.25 per user per month (for applications from the cloud) and $16.5 per user of a virtual PC delivered from the Horizon Cloud (this is already a full-fledged DaaS solution).

VMware User Environment Manager 9.4.0 Enhancements

The most significant enhancements to this tool are as follows:

• All join events AppStacks added as triggered tacks. You can use this event to complete a task when all AppStacks are successfully attached.
• Argument-based privilege elevation. This privilege enhancement method allows you to control the startup of executable files based on combinations of file paths and command-line arguments.
• Privilege elevation logging. In Windows event log, you can now track all processes that are associated with privilege elevations, as well as running child processes that are run by the elevated application.
• Operating System condition. On the Windows 10 Start menu, Windows Version changed to Operation System. You can use this setting in User Environment Manager to set the location of the Start menu items (Windows 10 1703 and above).
• Full support for Windows 10 version 1803 (April 2018 Update).^[5]

2017

Released version 7.4

VMware in January 2018 released an updated version of the virtualization and delivery solution for virtual PCs and enterprise applications - VMware Horizon 7.4. The previous update to this VMware Horizon 7.3.1 product was released last fall.

Session Collaboration

This is a collaboration tool - the user simply calls the Session Balloon dialog and generates a link to it. After that, the link can be sent by mail, thrown Skype in or transmitted in some other way.

At the same time, the user who received the screen can expand it, and the original user can transfer control to any of them. To run this feature, you must enable it at the virtual PC pool or RDSH server farm level:

Session Collaboration Requirements:

• VMware Blast Extreme Protocol.
• Horizon Client 4.7 (for Windows, Mac, or Linux) and HTML Access 4.7.
• Maximum of 5 concurrent default users (can be increased).
• Horizon Agent 7.4 for VDI or RDSH.
• Horizon 7.4 Connection Server.
• Horizon 7 Enterprise Edition license.

Instant Clones for Linux

Now the instant clone feature is also available for Linux systems. The following requirements must be met for its operation:

• Floating Instant-clone desktop pool.
• Horizon 7.4 Connection Server and Linux Agent.
• Ubuntu version 14.04 or 16.04.
• Active Directory integration provided by Power Broker Identity Services Open (PBISO) v8.5.6 or later.

RDSH Instant-Clone Farms with vGPU support

RDSH server farms can now be Nvidia vGPU-enabled. They can take full advantage of Instant Clone technology.

Nvidia M10, M60, and P40 graphics card architectures are supported.

RSDH Published Applications

The following improvements have been made in this category:

• Hardware GPU support for Windows Server 2016.
• USB AutoConnect - Allows USB devices to connect automatically the next time a remote application starts.
• Improved application startup performance - The authorization time in published applications has been reduced.
• An optimized Empty-Session Timeout mechanism - you can now set the timeout to zero when you disable RDSH sessions.

Color precision for H264 encoding

Sometimes in an H.264 codec session, when the 4:2:2 chroma subsampling scheme works, there may be problems (see picture on the right).

To improve the situation, you can use the YUV 4:4:4 color scheme instead of 4:2:2. This gives more clarity of the perception of the text (as in the example on the left in the picture). This is enabled in the Blast Extreme ADMX template settings (vdm_blast.admx file).

Virtualization Pack for Skype for Business

VMware Horizon Virtualization Pack for Skype for Business - Skype Voice and Video Call Optimization Solution for Virtual PCs:

• Support for the Horizon 7 client for Mac, including HID devices and H.264 hardware cameras.
• Integration with Microsoft Office - this includes Microsoft SharePoint, Yammer, Microsoft Word and Microsoft Outlook.
• Call Delegation - users can receive calls on behalf of someone or in addition to someone else's call (you can also call on behalf of someone).
• Call via X (from home/work) - the user can call as an extension user or as an external user.
• Active Speaker Identification - Conference calls display a video stream of the person currently speaking.
• Volume Control from Remote Desktop - The user can now adjust the ringing volume from inside the guest OS.
• Response Groups-Routes calls in a user group (for example, if someone is called, the phone rings for the entire group).

Horizon Client for Chrome OS

The customer for chromobooks received the following improvements:

• Support for multi-monitor configurations.
• Multiple simultaneous sessions for Horizon 7 desktops and applications in seamless windows.
• Drag and drop pictures and text from Android phones to virtual machines.^[6]

You can download VMware Horizon 7.4 from the VMware website.^[7]

Released version 7.3

On September 22, 2017, VMware released version 7.3 of the Enterprise Desktop Virtualization and Delivery Platform. VMware Horizon 7.2 appeared in June 2017.^[8]

Changes to VMware Horizon 7.3 Components

VMware Horizon View Connection Server

• Horizon Help Desk Tool helps you:
  • View data about an application, its processes, and resource usage within a virtual machine or published desktop to identify applications consuming too many resources.
  • View information from the event log about user actions.
  • View updated metrics such as Horizon Client or Blast.
  • View session metrics, such as VM information, its usage CPU , and memory usage.
  • Assign a role with access to the Horizon Help Desk Tool to delegate authority to users to troubleshoot and support systems.

• Monitoring tools.
  • If the event database unexpectedly shuts down, the Horizon Administrator console has audit tools that let you understand what events occurred before and after you shut down the database.

• Instant Clones.
  • You can now create dedicated instant clone desktop pools, that is, with dedicated desktop users.
  • Windows Server support for instant clones. See KB 2150295 for a list of supported systems.
  • You can perform copy and paste operations in the AD container field and AD tree when you create an instant clone pool.
  • If there are no more VMs in the internal folders created in vSphere Web Client, you can delete them.
  • You can use the IcUnprotect.cmd utility for linked clones to unlock or remove a template, VM replica, parent VM, or folder from hosts. vSphere
  • Instant clones are now compatible with Storage DRS (sDRS) technology. That is, they can be on datastores that are part of the cluster sDRS.

• Cloud Pod architecture.
  • Maximum total session limit increased to 140,000.
  • Site limit increased to 7.
  • You can now configure Windows Start menu items for global rights assignment. Now that the user is connecting to Connection Server, which is part of the pod federation, Horizon Client for Windows places the necessary shortcuts to the Start menu on the user's client device.

• Published Desktops and Application Pools.
  • You can now deny access to desktop pools, application pools, global rights assignments to desktops and applications for specific client computers.
  • You can now configure Windows Start menu items for desktop and application pools. Now that the user is connected to Connection Server, Horizon Client for Windows places the required Start menu shortcuts on the user's client device.

• Virtual desktops and pools.
  • The Blast Extreme protocol allows you to avoid losing your connection when Windows clients are not connected for a short time.
  • Updated PerfMon performance counters on Windows Agents for Blast sessions provide information about audio, CDR, USB, and virtual printing devices.

• Customer Experience Improvement Program.
  • See Trust Assurance Center for details of this program.
  • Security.
  • * With the USB over Session Enhancement SDK, you no longer need to open TCP port 32111 for USB traffic to the DMZ where the Security Server is located. This figure is supported for both virtual desktops and published (RDS).
  • Database support.
  • * Always On Availability Groups for Microsoft SQL Server 2014 is now fully supported in Horizon 7.3.

Horizon Agent for Linux

Changes

• UDP-based connections for Blast Extreme protocol.
• UDP is enabled by default for client and agent.
• KDE support.
• KDE support is available for CentOS 7, RHEL 7, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04 and SLED 11 SP4.
• MATE support.
• It is available for Ubuntu virtual machines 14.04 and 16.04.
• H.264 hardware codec.
• It is now available for vGPU technology with NVIDIA graphics cards that use the 384 or later series driver.
• Platform support.
• RHEL 7.4 x64 and CentOS 7.4 x64 are now supported as a virtual PC deployment platform.

Horizon Agent

• HTML5 Multimedia Redirection feature.
• You can now install HTML5 Multimedia Redirection by selecting an option in the Horizon Agent installer. In this case, if the user uses, browser Chrome then the multimedia content HTML5 will be transmitted from the virtual dextop to the client machine, reducing the load on the host. ESXi This allows the user to get better audio and video performance.
• SHA-256 support.
• The Horizon Agent now supports the SHA-256 encryption algorithm. It is also supported by Horizon Client 4.6, as well as Horizon 7 version 7.2 and later.
• Enhanced USB redirection features in User Environment Manager.
• User Environment Manager has increased the timeout to ensure that a smart USB redirection smart policy is applied when the login is long.
• You can now disable User Environment Manager control over USB redirection by setting the registry key on the client machine.

Horizon GPO Bundle

• VMware Horizon Printer Redirection ADMX template file.

The new vdm_agent_printing.admx file contains settings for filtering policies for redirected printers.

• Configure the "Enable VMware HTML5 Multimedia Redirection" group policy.

VMware View Agent Configuration ADMX template file - vdm_agent.admx - enables HTML5 Multimedia redirection.

• Configure the "Enable URL list for VMware HTML5 Multimedia Redirection" group policy.

VMware View Agent Configuration ADMX template file - vdm_agent.admx - allows you to specify which sites to redirect HTML5 content for.

• Configuring Group Policy "Enforces Wallpaper Setting from GPO."

The VMware View Agent Configuration ADMX template file - ViewPM.admx - allows you to install desktop wallpaper according to AD Group Policy settings.

Horizon Apps release

On February 20, 2017, VMware announced the release of the VMware Horizon 7 portfolio expansion - Horizon Apps.

Horizon Apps is a technology designed to be installed in a private cloud. Customers can choose to implement the Horizon 7.1 workstation strategy or switch to Horizon Apps for a more holistic and application-focused strategy that includes the use of published applications.

In addition to using JMP and BLAST technologies, customers will have the opportunity to reduce the cost of providing resources.

2016

Updating the Port and Connection Diagram

On September 19, 2016, VMware released an update to the VMware Horizon 7 infrastructure port and connection diagram.

Changes have been made to the chart for some components of the PCoIP protocol and Blast Extreme. The changes correct some inaccuracies in the previous version^[9].

VMware Horizon Upgrades

On August 31, 2016, VMware introduced a number of VMware Horizon features.

As part of the upgraded product features:

• Advanced features in Blast-VMware Blast Extreme provides improved performance and reduced bandwidth consumption for JPEG and PNG files by up to 6x and 15% for streaming audio. This creates a good experience for end users using virtual applications and Windows desktops. Support for Riverbed technology in Horizon 7 will increase the speed of access to end devices in global computing networks (WAN), and the use of Horizon 7 and NVIDIA GRID for 3D graphics applications will reduce waiting times to 24 milliseconds. Horizon 7 will provide Swiftpoint mouse support for virtual desktops and applications on iPad and other iOS devices.
• High-performance devices available - The ever-expanding list of devices that support Blast will include thin and zero customers from,, Dell HP iGEL, and pre-technical support for. Raspberry Pi This will give customers the flexibility to use Blast to access desktops and applications in Horizon 7 or Horizon Air with affordable hardware. This will reduce the overall cost of providing and managing enterprise desktops.
• Cloud-driven plug-and-play devices - Horizon Air Hybrid Mode devices from Dell, EMC, Hitachi Data Systems, and QCT will support fast installation and delivery of virtual desktops and applications. Horizon Air provides a complete cycle of desktop and application management from the cloud, reducing time to deliver resources, install and configure, and enabling updates from the cloud.

Companies of all sizes can use VMware Horizon to support mobile employees and simplify workstation and application management through a digital workspace.

According to the vendor, VMware Horizon updates will be available in the third quarter of 2016.

VMware Horizon 7

On February 18, 2016, VMware introduced the VMware Horizon upgrade. According to the company, the product will provide unprecedented speed of delivery of personalized virtual applications and desktops and at the same time - the economic benefits of the cloud, as well as a display protocol optimized for the cloud.

VMware Horizon 7 View (2016)

VMware Horizon Air offers hybrid mode to simplify application and desktop delivery by combining the benefits of hyperconvergent infrastructure (HCI) and Virtual SAN Ready Nodes in a single cloud space to manage local and cloud implementations.

VMware Horizon 7 and VMware Horizon Air products include:

• Just in Time Delivery. The supply of full-featured personalized digital desktops based on VMware Instant Clone Technology (formerly Project Fargo) will be significantly accelerated (the ability to deliver 2 thousand desktops in less than 20 minutes) while preserving the economic benefits of non-continuous virtual applications and desktop products delivered on demand. Desktops will be disabled at the end of sessions, patches for applications and operating systems will be implemented between sessions, without disruption. In general, Just in Time Delivery offers improved management, maintenance, and security capabilities.
• Blast Extreme protocol. A dedicated display protocol optimized for mobile cloud networks allows GPUs to be offloaded to scale and support the mobile network for the widest range of H.264-enabled devices, including the most affordable peripherals. Performance and flexibility are provided by a choice between Blast Extreme and PCoIP based on a comprehensive set of user experience management features and the widest range of client devices served.

• Application lifecycle management. The feature is part of VMware App Volumes. VMware App Volumes 3.0 offers a state-of-the-art approach to application lifecycle management that simplifies application creation, delivery, and management. Unlike other technologies that seek to force control of each application layer, the latest VMware App Volumes release provides application-wide lifecycle management while maintaining all the benefits of a tiered application view. The solution provides key functions related to application lifecycle management, including automation, flexible delivery and monitoring, integrated with end-user management, and a unified administration system. Together, these components deliver significantly faster application delivery, unified application and user management, while reducing storage and maintenance costs by 70% and image processing time by 95%.

• Smart policies (VMware Horizon 7 only). Your organization's IT security will be enhanced with a real-time, policy-based solution that is context-driven and role-based, with features such as USB and clipboard control, hard drive redirection, and protocol configuration. By seamlessly integrating Single Sign-On with VMware Identity Manager, mobile users can access the Windows desktop without a password.

• Integration with VMware Workspace ONE. For organizations that need to manage employees using mobile devices and virtual applications and desktops, VMware Horizon will be integrated with and accessible through VMware Workspace ONE. VMware Workspace ONE creates a digital workspace that integrates EMM, VDI, and identity management technologies, delivering all of these benefits through a single mobile platform that securely manages and delivers business-critical resources to employees from an IT perspective and provides easy access to end users.

Horizon 7 Announcement

On February 9, 2016, VMware announced a solution for virtualizing the VMware Horizon 7 user environment^[10].

As part of the announcement of Horizon 7, it became known about the composition of the changes.

• Make full use of Instant Clone Technology.
  • This technology allows you to create a virtual machine clone on the fly - almost instantly deploy a new virtual PC, each of which will use the data of the base machine (total read memory). Combined with VMware App Volumes 3.0 plug-in virtual disk application delivery technology and User Environment Manager environment management, these capabilities will allow users instant access to their data without being "contaminated" by unnecessary installation programs and registry keys.
  • Applications will already enter the machine virtualized, packaged and ready to use, and the user can always disable them or connect new services. And all this will work quickly, since due to App Volumes technology, Windows will not age and slow down, and the desktops themselves will be available for use instantly. This will be achieved by destroying the user's desktop, and when connected, it will be collected on the fly using Instant Clone and App Volumes.
  • User desktop = (instantaneous clone of parent VM) + (enterprise apps on App Volumes) + (user data) + (user installed apps)

Patching applications will be different - the software can now be updated within App Volumes, and the user receives an updated application on the next registration with the system. There will be no Boot Storms when users register simultaneously - the desktops are always enabled.

This will be possible on Virtual Hardware version 11. While floating pools of virtual PCs will be supported. NVIDIA GRID for such desktops will not be supported yet.

• Smart policies for user devices based on login conditions
  • VMware Horizon View 7 provides Smart Policies that allow you to apply rules depending on the user login method. For example, a user who logs through the network is wise to disable copying to a USB device, redirecting the keyboard, and printing capability. You can castomize bandwidth over the PCoIP protocol, depending on the type of user login.

• Mobile Machine Console Access Enhancements and Blast Extreme Protocol
  • Blast Extreme virtual machine console web access technology is now fully integrated into the access protocol stack with PCoIP and RDP. With this technology, you can have a fast-working device with a virtual PC console at up to 4K resolution. Blast Extreme is sharpened for mobile devices, which is expressed in the fact that the protocol itself takes care of reducing the CPU load and longer battery life.
  • Also, Blast Extreme is now optimized for workloads in virtual PCs that use NVIDIA GRID technology (K1, K2, M6, and M60 cards are supported). Since in the NVIDIA GRID environment, most of the CPU load falls on the shoulders of the vGPU, this allows you to achieve a synergistic effect for Blast Extreme technology. All this together gives up to 18% more users on the server, an increase in the frame by 6-13%, a decrease in latency by up to 51 ms, as well as a decrease in channel bandwidth requirements by 48-89%. If that's all true, it's super cool. You can read about the details on the NVIDIA blog.

• Horizon Access Point Features
  • This is an alternative to Security Server in VMware View, which protects VMware Horizon View infrastructure when accessed from the outside. Can be configured for RADIUS or RSA SecurID protocols:

• Support for vSGA mode for AMD adapters
  • Following support for NVIDIA technologies, VMware is gradually increasing support for AMD adapters. The vSGA regime will now be maintained for them:
  • Support will be provided for AMD SR-IOV (single root I/O virtualization) technology, native AMD drivers for hardware acceleration OpenGL, DirectX and OpenCL. In addition, they promise certification for Solidworks, PTC and Siemens applications.

• Flash Redirection Preview
  • This technology allows you to redirect flash content to the end device of the user and there already form and display an image. So far, this technology is available in Tech Preview status.

• Support for Intel vDGA Graphics with the latest Intel Xeon processor E3.
  • Iris Pro GPU integrated modules with Intel Graphics Virtualization Technology (Intel GVT-d) are now supported for Direct vDGA Request mode.

• Print enhancements and Windows 10
• Printing from a virtual PC will be up to 4 times faster, and Windows 10 will improve support for scanners and serial port querying.

• Redirection URL Functions
  • The administrator can specify - which addresses can be opened locally, inside the virtual PC (securely), and for which you need to run the browser on the host machine (everything else).

• Updated VMware Horizon Client 4.0 Clients
  • Horizon Client 4.0 Windows:
  • * Full support for Blast Extreme and hardware acceleration.
  • Provides scalable resolution for better readability.
  • * Auto-sharing USB devices for Client Drive Redirection (improved).
  • * Print works faster.
  • * Works faster over the WAN network through Security Server.
  • * Updated OpenSSL and TLS.
  • * Windows Server 2012 support.
  • VMware Horizon Client 4.0 Mac:
  • * Full Blast Extreme support.
  • * Works with split-view in OS X El Capitan.
  • * Full screen and multi-monitor improvements.
  • * Open local files through Horizon hosted apps.
  • * Print works faster.
  • * Works faster over the WAN network through Security Server.
  • * 64-bit client version.
  • * Remembering username/domain at login.
  • * Updated OpenSSL and TLS.
  • VMware Horizon Linux Client 4.0:
  • * RHEL 7.2 x64 and Ubuntu 14.04 x64 support.
  • * Full Blast Extreme support.
  • * Print works faster.
  • * Works faster over the WAN network through Security Server.
  • * FIPS mode for Blast Extreme, PCoIP and USB.

• * VMware Horizon iOS Client 4.0:
• ** Split view для iPad Air 2 и iPad Pro.
  • * Full support for Blast Extreme and hardware acceleration.
  • * Using Apple Pencil as a mouse.
  • * Real-time Audio when using a microphone.
  • * Improved settings (available on the client itself).
  • * Updated OpenSSL and TLS.

• * VMware Horizon Android Client 4.0:
  • * Support for access through Android Fingerprint
  • * Full support for Blast Extreme and hardware acceleration.
  • * Real-time Audio when using a microphone.
  • * Ability to use internal storage for applications on a virtual PC.
  • * Updated OpenSSL and TLS.
  • VMware Horizon Chrome OS Client 4.0:
  • * Full Blast Extreme support.
  • * The ability to use Google Drive storage and USB storage for applications in a virtual PC.
  • HTML Access 4.0:
  • * Linux desktop support runs on Safari mobile in iOS.
  • * F5 APM (Access Policy Manager) support.

• VMware Horizon for Linux enhancements.
  • SLED 11 SP3 support.
  • Copy/paste operations between Linux-PC and client OS.
  • vGPU support for RHEL 7.x (6.2.1).
  • SSO operation for RHEL 6.6 and CentOS 6.6 without smart cards (6.2.1).

• Horizon Air Hybrid mode.
  • This mode provides architecture opportunities:
  • * The desktops and applications are located locally (on-premise).
  • * The Cloud Infrastructure Dashboard is available as a SaaS.

• Scalability and flexibility improvements
  • In the Cloud pod architecture, there can be up to 10 POD's at 4 sites with up to 50 thousand desktops.
  • Cloud pod architecture (CPA) allows you to assign site rights to nested AD security groups.
  • * Improved fault tolerance support - If site resources are unavailable, the user is automatically redirected to another site where the backup desktop is waiting for him.

VMware Horizon 6.2 - for Linux

On January 6, 2016, it became known about the release virtualizations of VMware Horizon for Linux as part of the VMware Horizon 6.2 desktop solution, it helps create a virtual desktop infrastructure based on computers with a host OS. Linux This is popular in organizations where such workstations are used for graphical modeling, complex calculations and other performance-demanding loads^[11]

Horizon 6.2 fully supported Virtual Shared Graphics Acceleration (vSGA), Virtual Dedicated Graphics Acceleration (vDGA), and NVIDIA GRID vGPU modes based on GRID 2.0 for Linux desktops:

Linux Distribution	3D Graphics Modes
	vSGA	vDGA	vGPU
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.6 Workstation x86_64	No	Horizon 6.1.1 or later	Requires NVIDIA M60, GRID 2.0 and Horizon 6.2 or later
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1 Workstation x86_64	Horizon 6.2 or later	No	Requires NVIDIA M60, GRID 2.0, Horizon 6.2 or later

Most recently, VMware released VMware Horizon 6.2.1, where several additional features appeared in terms of Linux desktop support:

• Clipboard Redirection (Copy / Paste).

In Linux desktops, keyboard redirection has appeared, which allows you to copy and paste formatted text from the host PC to and from the virtual PC, as well as pictures. Naturally, for security reasons, you can disable this feature in the/etc/vmware/config configuration file (see "Setting Up Horizon 6 for Linux Desktops").

• Single Sign-On

Linux-PC has SSO support, allowing the user of the host device not to enter login credentials into his Linux virtual PC, which is integrated with Active Directory services through Open LDAP. These features are supported for Horizon Client under Mac, Windows, and Linux. At the moment, the function is available only for the PC Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.6 Workstation x86_64 and CentOS 6.6 x86_64.

• Smart Card Authentication

Smart card authentication in a virtual PC is required in many public and private organizations with appropriate regulatory procedures. Personal Identity Verification (PIV) and Common Access Cards (CAC) with Red Hat Enterprise Linux distribution 6.6 Workstation x86_64 are supported for authentication.

• Kerberos Authentication

After you install the View Agent on a Linux virtual PC, you can select the Kerberos authentication type in addition to the existing MD5 digest authentication.

• Consolidated Client Environment Information

Before VMware Horizon 6.2.1, all user environment information (host name, IP address, etc.) was written to a standard log file containing debug information. This was inconvenient, since the file is large, and it was difficult to extract the necessary data from it. Now there is a separate/var/log/vmware/Environment.txt file for this purpose, which will help solve problems when configuring the virtual PC infrastructure.

You can get VMware Horizon 6.2.1 for Linux in two ways:

1. Buy the VMware Horizon 6 Enterprise Edition license, which contains everything you need to build your VDI infrastructure, including on the Linux platform.
2. Use the specialized edition Horizon 6 for Linux standalone,

2015: Next VMware Horizon 6 Release

On April 6, 2015, VMware introduced a new release of VMware Horizon 6 with advanced application publishing capabilities, 3D application support through high-performance virtual desktops, and improved Chromebook support.

The software includes optimization tools for software-defined data centers with VMware NSX network virtualization and new features commissioned by US government agencies.

The release of VMware Horizon 6 brings together a set of features to help IT simplify Windows application and desktop management processes. Customers can leverage VMware Horizon 6 to leverage virtualization and transform desktops into secure virtual desktops, with business mobility.

As part of updates:

• Publishing applications and supporting 3D graphics
  • VMware Horizon 6 offers full application support from simple to complex. By redirecting local USB ports to local storage devices, you can provide access to files at the published application and virtual desktop level. Sharing NVIDIA GRID vGPU, VMware vSphere 6, and Horizon 6 technology delivers stable performance and high-quality 3D graphics on high-performance virtual desktops for even the most demanding customers, while ensuring scalability for IT teams.

• Optimize data centers with VMware vSphere 6, VMware NSX, and VMware Virtual SAN 6 to improve security and reduce costs
  • Innovations in VMware's unified platform for virtualized computing, networking, and storage in the hybrid cloud will reduce costs, simplify systems, and increase the scalability of virtual applications and desktops with VMware Horizon 6.

When co-installed with VMware Horizon 6, VMware NSX simplifies networking and security for VDI infrastructure. In a matter of seconds, IT administrators can create security policies and network features that quickly extend to virtual desktops and Horizon 6 applications. VMware NSX eliminates the need to manually configure networks and security settings for a VDI infrastructure that takes time and often leads to errors. Through micro-segmentation and integration with third-party security solutions, Horizon 6, along with VMware NSX, helps extend security to everything from data centers to endpoints.

The combination of VMware Virtual SAN 6 and Horizon 6 hyperconvergent storage provides more scalability, direct solution integration, and lower cost of ownership for virtual desktops. According to internal testing results - Horizon 6 can serve up to 4 thousand desktops on one cluster of 20 nodes.

Horizon 6 cloud architecture enhancements help IT administrators deploy desktops across multiple data centers across locations using a single monitoring and management interface.

The VMware Horizon 6 release is available for ordering.

2014: VMware Horizon 6

On April 11, 2014, VMware introduced a new version of Horizon 6, an integrated solution that provides access to published applications and desktops based on a single platform.

Description

VMware Horizon 6 offers new capabilities integrated into a single solution, while providing IT departments with a simplified approach to managing Windows applications and desktops. With Horizon 6, enterprise applications and Windows operating systems are managed centrally and updates can be installed flexibly and predictably. Horizon 6 provides flexible access to desktops or applications:

• Virtually - for access from different places and on different devices;
• Physically - Synchronize the entire desktop image with users' laptops for online and offline access;
• Secure - Providing applications and content in a managed, secure container to support Bring Your Own (BYO) concepts.

VMware Horizon 6 Features List

• Access to published applications and virtual desktops on a single platform-Horizon VMware 6 offers simplified management, end-user rights, and fast delivery of published applications, Windows desktops, remote desktops, and virtual desktops to multiple devices and locations. The new capabilities are built on a single platform, which is a continuation of the leading solution in the VDI market, VMware Horizon View.

• Unified Workspace for Simplified Access - With VMware Horizon 6, end users can access all applications and desktops from a single unified workspace. It supports the delivery of virtualized applications hosted in the data center or locally on a device, web and SaaS applications, RDS- and published applications from third-party platforms such as Citrix XenApp, from single sign-on.

• Optimize storage with VMware Virtual SAN and deliver from a software-defined data center-VMware Horizon 6 is optimized for software-defined data center (SDDC). The solution provides integrated management of VMware Virtual SANs that can significantly reduce storage costs for virtual desktops when using local storage. With this innovation, the capital cost of virtual desktops with Horizon 6 is comparable to the cost of physical computers.

• Closed-loop management and automation - VMware Horizon 6 offers new capabilities for transparency and automation from data center to device. The new VMware vCenter Operations for View provides operational and risk monitoring, proactive end-user behavior monitoring, and deep diagnostics from data center to device within a single console. Horizon 6 also supports automation and self-service, enabling IT to enable a range of business users to request desktops and applications through built-in workflows and automated provision of infrastructure resources. This closed control and automation is integrated with the vCloud Automation Center management console, making it easier for customers using vCloud Suite to install Horizon 6.

• Centrally manage employee virtual, physical, and personal device images-Centrally VMware manage employee virtual, physical, and personal PC images with one integrated solution. Using the updated VMware Mirage, IT administrators can design a single desktop with the required operating system and applications and provide access to it to end users in the department or the entire organization based on their needs.

• Hybrid Cloud Access - VMware Horizon 6 introduces a new client that seamlessly connects to virtual desktops and applications, runs in its own cloud, service provider cloud, or via VMware vCloud Hybrid Service with the same high end-user performance. This flexibility enables customers to deploy Horizon 6 with a hybrid cloud - balancing their own and leased cloud infrastructure to better meet their needs.

VMware Horizon 6 to support deployment models

• Horizon View Standard Edition. Delivers simple, high-performance desktop virtualization and improved user experience.

• Horizon Advanced Edition. Offers the most cost-effective solution for published and virtual applications and desktops, leveraging VMware Virtual SAN-optimized storage, central image management, and a single workspace for managing and delivering all applications and desktops.

• Horizon Enterprise Edition. Provides a cloud-ready solution for virtual desktops and applications with advanced cloud automation and management for hybrid cloud flexibility.

2010

VMware Horizon View 5.2.

• VMware Horizon View 5.2 is the desktop virtualization solution we are talking about today.
• VMware Horizon Mirage 4.0 is a solution that allows you to create a user workstation image by dividing it into layers (system, applications, and user data and settings), and then centrally manage such images. That is, it is a product for physical environments (and now it is not yet integrated with VMware View).
• VMware Horizon Workspace 1.0 is a combination of two products - Horizon Data (the former Project Octopus - solution a la enterprise Dropbox, about which we wrote a lot here), as well as Horizon Application Manager - a solution for the federation of SaaS applications and VDI services.

VMware Horizon View 5.2 Capabilities

Improved and new Horizon View 5.2 features include:

• An innovative way to work with mobile desktops: VMware Horizon View for iOS and Android clients with Unity virtualization technology enable the use of Windows desktop applications on mobile devices, transforming them into mobile applications that support gesture management (scrolling with a few fingers, zooming and other elements of user interaction) inherent in mobile devices.
• Improved management of large virtual desktop infrastructures-Increased performance of virtual desktop creation and delivery technology improves management when used in a large infrastructure, halving lead time, removing hardware and network constraints.
• Increased efficiency of data storage and use: the use of sparse SE drives reduced storage and administration costs by reducing desktop power requirements and the need for constant reorganization and restoration of images.
• Windows 8 support - Flexible support enables the latest desktop virtualization operating systems.
• 3D graphics hardware acceleration-Provides the most demanding applications for graphics performance on virtual computers. Complements software acceleration of graphics, giving customers more flexibility and a wide range of choices.
• Integration with VMware Horizon Suite - Allows you to assign ThinApp applications to individual end users and groups, in addition to dynamically allocated virtual machine memory. Integration with all VMware Horizon Suite products also provides easy application authorization and installation for specific users and groups.
• Integration with VMware Horizon Workspace - Provides access to Horizon View desktops through single sign-on from the user's desktop, and provides easy access to their virtual desktops from any device through HTML5-enabled browsers or browsing clients.
• Enhanced Media Services to Support Unified Communications: Now, with support from Microsoft Lync, Horizon View 5.2 provides customers with more choice in a unified communications environment that interacts with solutions from Avaya, Cisco, Mitel, and Vidyo.

Changes in VMware Horizon View 5.2 vs. VMware View 5.1:

• support for 32 hosts in a cluster based on VMFS volumes
• 32 hosts per cluster based on NFS volumes
• 16 virtual machines per physical core
• 1,000 virtual machines per virtual PC pool
• 140 virtual machines per VAAI-enabled LUN
• Support for 10,000 VMs per server vCenter
• 1000 virtual machines per VMware ESXi host

Horizon View 5.2 leverages VMware vSphere capabilities that represent the new Flexible Space Efficiency virtual disk format (Flex-SE is also SE sparse disk) to determine the optimal ratio between disk space consumption and storage load due to the size of the block allocated to the disk and the management of these blocks. In addition, it is possible to return remote and unused blocks of the virtual disk (on the guest OS) to the storage system using View Composer.

VMware Horizon

In August 2010, VMware introduced Horizon, a cloud-based management service that securely migrates enterprise profiles to the cloud. In this way, it creates new capabilities for delivering applications and data according to the settings (profiles) of end users, rather than devices or underlying operating systems, and for managing them.

Notes