VMware View - 4.6 Administrator’s Guide

VMware View Administration

View Manager 4.6

View Composer 2.6

This document supports the version of each product listed and supports all subsequent versions until the document is replaced by a new edition. To check for more recent editions of this document, see http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.

EN-000527-00

VMware View Administration

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The VMware Web site also provides the latest product updates.

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Copyright © 2011 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 http://www.vmware.com/go/patents.

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.

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VMware View Administration 7

Configuring View Connection Server 9

Using View Administrator 9

Configuring vCenter Server and View Composer 12

Backing Up View Connection Server 17

Configuring Settings for Client Sessions 17

Disable or Enable View Connection Server 21

Edit the External URLs 21

View LDAP Directory 22

Configuring View Connection Server Settings 23

Configuring Role-Based Delegated Administration 25

Understanding Roles and Privileges 25

Using Folders to Delegate Administration 26

Understanding Permissions 27

Manage Administrators 28

Manage and Review Permissions 29

Manage and Review Folders 31

Manage Custom Roles 33

Predefined Roles and Privileges 34

Required Privileges for Common Tasks 37

Best Practices for Administrator Users and Groups 39

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Preparing Unmanaged Desktop Sources 41

Prepare an Unmanaged Desktop Source for View Desktop Deployment 41

Install View Agent on an Unmanaged Desktop Source 41

Creating and Preparing Virtual Machines 45

Creating Virtual Machines for View Desktop Deployment 45

Install View Agent on a Virtual Machine 49

Install View Agent Silently 51

Configure a Virtual Machine with Multiple NICs for View Agent 56

Optimize Windows Guest Operating System Performance 56

Optimize Windows 7 Guest Operating System Performance 57

Optimizing Windows 7 for Linked-Clone Desktops 58

Preparing Virtual Machines for View Composer 64

Creating Virtual Machine Templates 69

Creating Customization Specifications 70

VMware View Administration

Creating Desktop Pools 71

Automated Pools That Contain Full Virtual Machines 72

Linked-Clone Desktop Pools 75

Manual Desktop Pools 95

Microsoft Terminal Services Pools 99

Provisioning Desktop Pools 100

Setting Power Policies for Desktop Pools 109

Entitling Users and Groups 115

Add Entitlements to Desktop Pools 115

Remove Entitlements from a Desktop Pool 115

Review Desktop Pool Entitlements 116

Restricting View Desktop Access 116

Setting Up User Authentication 121

Using Smart Card Authentication 121

Using Smart Card Certificate Revocation Checking 130

Using RSA SecurID Authentication 133

Using the Log in as Current User Feature 135

Configuring Policies 137

Setting Policies in View Administrator 137

Using Active Directory Group Policies 141

Using the View Group Policy Administrative Template Files 142

Setting Up Location-Based Printing 154

Using Terminal Services Group Policies 157

Active Directory Group Policy Example 158

Managing Linked-Clone Desktops 163

Reduce Linked-Clone Size with Desktop Refresh 163

Update Linked-Clone Desktops 165

Rebalance Linked-Clone Desktops 171

Manage View Composer Persistent Disks 173

Managing Desktops and Desktop Pools 179

Managing Desktop Pools 179

Reducing Adobe Flash Bandwidth 184

Managing Virtual-Machine Desktops 186

Export View Information to External Files 191

Managing Physical Computers and Terminal Servers 193

Add an Unmanaged Desktop Source to a Pool 193

Remove an Unmanaged Desktop Source from a Pool 194

Delete a Pool That Contains Unmanaged Desktops 194

Unregister an Unmanaged Desktop Source 195

Desktop Status of Physical Computers and Terminal Servers 195

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Managing ThinApp Applications in View Administrator 197

View Requirements for ThinApp Applications 197

Capturing and Storing Application Packages 198

Assigning ThinApp Applications to Desktops and Pools 201

Maintaining ThinApp Applications in View Administrator 208

Monitoring and Troubleshooting ThinApp Applications in View Administrator 211

ThinApp Configuration Example 214

Contents

Managing Local Desktops 217

Benefits of Using View Desktops in Local Mode 217

Managing View Transfer Server 223

Managing the Transfer Server Repository 227

Managing Data Transfers 233

Configure Security and Optimization for Local Desktop Operations 237

Configuring Endpoint Resource Usage 242

Configuring an HTTP Cache to Provision Local Desktops Over a WAN 247

Configuring the Heartbeat Interval for Local Desktop Client Computers 250

Manually Downloading a Local Desktop to a Location with Poor Network Connections 251

Troubleshooting View Transfer Server and Local Desktop Operations 254

Maintaining View Components 263

Backing Up and Restoring View Configuration Data 263

Monitor View Components 268

Monitor Desktop Status 269

Understanding View Manager Services 269

Add Licenses to VMware View 272

Update General User Information from Active Directory 272

Migrating View Composer with an Existing Database 272

Update the Certificates on a View Connection Server Instance or Security Server 274

Troubleshooting View Components 277

Monitoring System Health 278

Monitor Events in View Manager 278

Send Messages to Desktop Users 279

Display Desktops with Suspected Problems 279

Manage Desktops and Policies for Unentitled Users 280

Collecting Diagnostic Information for VMware View 280

Update Support Requests 284

Further Troubleshooting Information 285

Troubleshooting Network Connection Problems 285

Troubleshooting Desktop Pool Creation Problems 289

Troubleshooting USB Redirection Problems 292

Troubleshooting QuickPrep Customization Problems 293

View Composer Provisioning Errors 294

Windows XP Linked Clones Fail to Join the Domain 296

Using the vdmadmin Command 297

vdmadmin Command Usage 298

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Configuring Logging in View Agent Using the -A Option 301

Overriding IP Addresses Using the -A Option 302

Setting the Name of a View Connection Server Group Using the -C Option 303

Updating Foreign Security Principals Using the -F Option 304

Listing and Displaying Health Monitors Using the -H Option 304

Listing and Displaying Reports of View Manager Operation Using the -I Option 305

Assigning Dedicated Desktops Using the -L Option 306

Displaying Information About Machines Using the -M Option 307

Configuring Domain Filters Using the -N Option 308

Configuring Domain Filters 310

Displaying the Desktops and Policies of Unentitled Users Using the -O and -P Options 314

Configuring Clients in Kiosk Mode Using the -Q Option 315

Displaying the First User of a Desktop Using the -R Option 319

Removing the Entry for a View Connection Server Instance Using the -S Option 319

Setting the Split Limit for Publishing View Transfer Server Packages Using the -T Option 320

Displaying Information About Users Using the -U Option 320

Decrypting the Virtual Machine of a Local Desktop Using the -V Option 321

Unlocking or Locking Virtual Machines Using the -V Option 322

Detecting and Resolving LDAP Entry Collisions Using the -X Option 323

Setting Up Clients in Kiosk Mode 325

Configure Clients in Kiosk Mode 326

Running View Client from the Command Line 335

View Client Command Usage 335

View Client Configuration File 337

View Client Registry Settings 337

View Client Exit Codes 338

Index 341

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VMware View Administration

VMware View Administration describes how to configure and administer VMware View™, including how to configure View Connection Server, create administrators, provision and deploy View desktops, set up user authentication, configure policies, and manage VMware ThinApp™ applications in View Administrator. This information also describes how to maintain and troubleshoot VMware View components.

Intended Audience

This information is intended for anyone who wants to configure and administer VMware View. The information is written for experienced Windows or Linux system administrators who are familiar with virtual machine technology and datacenter operations.

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VMware View Administration

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Configuring View Connection Server 1

After you install and perform initial configuration of View Connection Server, you can add vCenter Server instances and View Composer services to View Manager, set up roles to delegate administrator responsibilities, and schedule backups of your configuration data.

This chapter includes the following topics:

“Using View Administrator,” on page 9

“Configuring vCenter Server and View Composer,” on page 12

“Backing Up View Connection Server,” on page 17

“Configuring Settings for Client Sessions,” on page 17

“Disable or Enable View Connection Server,” on page 21

“Edit the External URLs,” on page 21

“View LDAP Directory,” on page 22

“Configuring View Connection Server Settings,” on page 23

Using View Administrator

View Administrator is the Web interface through which you configure View Connection Server and manage your View desktops.

For a comparison of the operations that you can perform with View Administrator, View cmdlets, and

vdmadmin, see the VMware View Integration document.

View Administrator and View Connection Server

View Administrator provides a management interface for View Manager.

Depending on your View deployment, you use one or more View Administrator interfaces.

Use one View Administrator interface to manage the View components that are associated with a single, standalone View Connection Server instance or a group of replicated View Connection Server instances.

You can use the IP address of any replicated instance to log in to View Administrator.

You must use a separate View Administrator interface to manage the View components for each single, standalone View Connection Server instance and each group of replicated View Connection Server instances.

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VMware View Administration

You also use View Administrator to manage security servers and View Transfer Server instances associated with View Connection Server.

Each security server is associated with one View Connection Server instance.

Each View Transfer Server instance can communicate with any View Connection Server instance in a group of replicated instances.

Log In to View Administrator

To perform initial configuration tasks, you must log in to View Administrator.

Prerequisites

Verify that View Connection Server is installed on a dedicated computer.

Verify that you are using a Web browser supported by View Administrator. For View Administrator requirements, see the VMware View Installation document.

Procedure

1 Open your Web browser and enter the following URL, where server is the host name or IP address of the

View Connection Server instance.

https://

server

/admin

You access View Administrator by using a secure (SSL) connection. When you first connect, your Web browser might display a page warning that the security certificate associated with the address is not issued by a trusted certificate authority. This response is expected behavior because the default certificate supplied with View Connection Server is self-signed.

2 Click Ignore to continue using the current SSL certificate.

3 Log in using administrator credentials on the View Connection Server computer.

Initially, all users who are members of the local Administrators group (BUILTIN\Administrators) on the View Connection Server computer are allowed to log in to View Administrator.

After you log in to View Administrator, you can use View Configuration > Administrators to change the list of View Manager administrators.

Tips for Using the View Administrator Interface

You can use View Administrator user-interface features to navigate View Pages and to find, filter, and sort View objects.

View Administrator includes many common user interface features. For example, the navigation pane on the left side of each page directs you to other View Administrator pages. The search filters let you select filtering criteria that are related to the objects you are searching for.

Table 1-1 describes a few additional features that can help you to use View Administrator.

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Table 1-1. View Administrator Navigation and Display Features

View Administrator Feature Description

Chapter 1 Configuring View Connection Server

Navigating backward and forward in View Administrator pages.

Multicolumn sorting You can sort View objects in a variety of ways by using multicolumn sorting.

Selecting View objects and displaying View object details

Expanding dialog boxes to view details You can expand View Administrator dialog boxes to view details such as

Click the Back button in the upper left corner of a View Administrator page to go to the previously displayed View Administrator page. Click the Forward button to return to the current page.

Do not use your browser's Back button. This button displays the View Administrator log-in page.

Click a heading in the top row of a View Administrator table to sort the View objects in alphabetical order based on that heading.

For example, in the Inventory > Desktops page, you can click Pool to sort desktops by the pools that contain them.

The number 1 appears next to the heading to indicate that it is the primary sorting column. You can click the heading again to reverse the sorting order, indicated by an up or down arrow.

To sort the View objects by a secondary item, Ctrl+click another heading.

For example, in the Desktops table, you can click Users to perform a secondary sort by users to whom the desktops are dedicated. A number 2 appears next to the secondary heading. In this example, desktops are sorted by pool and by users within each pool.

You can continue to Ctrl+click to sort all the columns in a table in descending order of importance.

Press Ctrl+Shift and click to deselect a sort item.

For example, you might want to display the desktops in a pool that are in a particular state and are stored on a particular datastore. You can click Inventory > Pools, click the pool ID, click the Datastore heading, and Ctrl+click the Status heading.

In View Administrator tables that list View objects, you can select an object or display object details.

To select an object, click anywhere in the object's row in the table. At the top of the page, menus and commands that manage the object become active.

To display object details, double-click the left cell in the object's row. A new page displays the object's details.

For example, on the Inventory > Pools page, click anywhere in an individual pool's row to activate commands that affect the pool.

Double-click the Pool ID cell in the left column to display a new page that contains details about the pool.

desktop names and user names in table columns.

To expand a dialog box, place your mouse over the dots in the lower right corner of the dialog box and drag the corner.

Troubleshooting Access to View Administrator Without a Secure SSL Connection

You cannot log in to View Administrator through a Web browser when the SSL setting for your View clients is not consistent with the URL you use to connect to View Administrator. If you deselect the SSL setting, you cannot use https in the URL.

Problem

The URL that you use to log in to View Administrator no longer works. A connection failure occurs.

Cause

By default, View Manager uses SSL to create secure connections between View clients and View Connection Server. This setting also applies to computers that connect to View Administrator through a Web browser.

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VMware View Administration

This problem occurs when you change this setting in View Administrator by navigating to View Configuration > Global Settings and deselecting the Require SSL for client connections and View Administrator check box.

Solution

Use the following URL to connect to View Administrator, where server is the host name or IP address of the View Connection Server instance.

http://

server

/admin

Troubleshooting the Text Display in View Administrator

If your Web browser runs on a non-Windows operating system such as Linux, UNIX, or Mac OS, the text in View Administrator does not display properly.

Problem

The text in the View Administrator interface is garbled. For example, spaces occur in the middle of words.

Cause

View Administrator requires Microsoft-specific fonts.

Solution

Install Microsoft-specific fonts on your computer.

Currently, the Microsoft Web site does not distribute Microsoft fonts, but you can download them from independent Web sites.

Configuring vCenter Server and View Composer

To use virtual machines as desktop sources, you must configure View Manager to communicate with vCenter Server. To create and manage linked-clone desktops, you must configure View Composer settings in View Manager.

Add vCenter Server Instances to View Manager

You must configure View Manager to connect to the vCenter Server instances in your View deployment. vCenter Server creates and manages the virtual machines that View Manager uses as desktop sources.

If you run vCenter Server instances in a Linked Mode group, you must add each vCenter Server instance to View Manager separately.

Prerequisites

Install the View Connection Server product license key.

Prepare a vCenter Server user with permission to perform the operations in vCenter Server that are necessary to support View Manager. To use View Composer, you must give the user additional privileges. To manage desktops that are used in local mode, you must give the user privileges in addition to those that are required for View Manager and View Composer.

For details about configuring a vCenter Server user for View Manager, see the VMware View Installation document.

If you plan to have View Connection Server connect to the vCenter Server instance using a secure channel (SSL), install a server SSL certificate on the vCenter Server host.

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Chapter 1 Configuring View Connection Server

Procedure

1 In View Administrator, click View Configuration > Servers.

2 In the vCenter Servers panel, click Add.

3 In the server address text box, type the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) or IP address of the vCenter

Server instance.

The FQDN includes the host name and domain name. For example, in the FQDN

myserverhost.companydomain

.com,

myserverhost

is the host name and

companydomain

.com is the domain.

NOTE If you enter a server by using a DNS name or URL, View Manager does not perform a DNS lookup to verify whether an administrator previously added this server to View Manager by using its IP address. A conflict arises if you add a vCenter Server with both its DNS name and its IP address.

4 Type the name of the vCenter Server user.

5 Type the vCenter Server user password.

6 (Optional) Type a description for this vCenter Server instance.

7 To connect to the vCenter Server instance using a secure channel (SSL), make sure that Connect using

SSL is selected. SSL connection is the default setting.

8 Type the TCP port number.

The default port is 443.

9 (Optional) Click Advanced to configure the maximum concurrent pool operations in vCenter Server.

a Set the maximum number of concurrent provisioning operations.

This setting determines the largest number of concurrent requests that View Manager can make to provision full virtual machines in this vCenter Server instance. The default value is eight. This setting does not control linked-clone provisioning.

b Set the maximum number of concurrent power operations.

This setting determines the largest number of power operations (startup, shutdown, suspend, and so on) that can take place simultaneously on virtual machines managed by View Manager in this vCenter Server instance. The default value is five. This setting controls power operations for full virtual machines and linked clones.

10 Choose whether to configure View Composer.

Option Action

You are not using View Composer

You are using View Composer

Click OK.

Configure the View Composer settings.

What to do next

If this View Connection Server instance or group of replicated View Connection Server instances uses multiple vCenter Server instances, repeat this procedure to add the other vCenter Server instances.

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VMware View Administration

Remove a vCenter Server Instance from View Manager

You can remove the connection between View Manager and a vCenter Server instance. When you do so, View Manager no longer manages the View desktops created in that vCenter Server instance.

Prerequisites

Delete all the View desktops that are associated with the vCenter Server instance. See “Delete a Desktop Pool

from View Manager,” on page 183.

Procedure

1 Click View Configuration > Servers.

2 In the vCenter Servers panel, select the vCenter Server instance.

3 Click Remove.

A dialog warns you that View Manager will no longer have access to the virtual machines that are managed by this vCenter Server instance.

4 Click OK.

View Manager can no longer access the virtual machines created in the vCenter Server instance.

Create a User Account for View Composer

If you use View Composer, you must create a user account in Active Directory to use with View Composer. View Composer requires this account to join linked-clone desktops to your Active Directory domain.

To ensure security, you should create a separate user account to use with View Composer. By creating a separate account, you can guarantee that it does not have additional privileges that are defined for another purpose. You can give the account the minimum privileges that it needs to create and remove computer objects in a specified Active Directory container. For example, the View Composer account does not require domain administrator privileges.

Procedure

1 In Active Directory, create a user account in the same domain as your View Connection Server host or in

a trusted domain.

2 Add the Create Computer Objects, Delete Computer Objects, and Write All Properties permissions to

the account in the Active Directory container in which the linked-clone computer accounts are created or to which the linked-clone computer accounts are moved.

The following list shows all the required permissions for the user account, including permissions that are assigned by default:

List Contents

Read All Properties

Write All Properties

Read Permissions

Create Computer Objects

Delete Computer Objects

3 Make sure that the user account's permissions apply to the Active Directory container and to all child

objects of the container.

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Chapter 1 Configuring View Connection Server

What to do next

Specify the account in View Administrator when you configure View Composer for vCenter Server and when you configure and deploy linked-clone desktop pools.

Configure View Composer Settings for vCenter Server

To use View Composer, you must configure View Manager with initial settings that match the settings for the View Composer service that is installed in vCenter Server. View Composer is a feature of View Manager, but its service operates directly on virtual machines in vCenter Server.

NOTE If you are not using View Composer, you can skip this task.

Prerequisites

Verify that you created a user in Active Directory with permission to add and remove virtual machines from the Active Directory domain that contains your linked clones. See “Create a User Account for View

Composer,” on page 14.

Verify that you configured View Manager to connect to vCenter Server. See “Add vCenter Server Instances

to View Manager,” on page 12.

Procedure

1 In View Administrator, open the Edit vCenter Server dialog box.

a Click View Configuration > Servers.

b In the vCenter Servers panel, select the vCenter Server entry.

c Click Edit.

2 Select Enable View Composer and make sure that the port number is the same as the port that you

specified when you installed the View Composer service on vCenter Server.

View Manager verifies that the View Composer service is running on vCenter Server.

3 Click Add to add the domain user for View Composer account information.

a Type the domain name of the Active Directory domain.

For example: domain.com

b Type the domain user name, including the domain name.

For example: domain.com\admin

c Type the account password.

d Click OK.

e To add domain user accounts with privileges in other Active Directory domains in which you deploy

linked-clone pools, repeat the preceding steps.

4 Click OK to close the Edit vCenter Server dialog box.

What to do next

Repeat this procedure for each vCenter Server instance in which View Composer services are installed.

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VMware View Administration

Remove View Composer from View Manager

You can remove the connection between View Manager and the View Composer service installed in a vCenter Server instance. When you do so, View Manager no longer manages the linked-clone desktops created by View Composer in the vCenter Server instance.

Before you disable the connection to View Composer, you must remove from View Manager all the linkedclone desktops that were created by View Composer. After the connection to View Composer is disabled, View Manager cannot provision, manage, or delete the linked clones. View Manager does not force you to delete the linked clones. You must take this action on your own.

Procedure

1 Remove the linked-clone pools that were created by View Composer.

a In View Administrator, click Inventory > Pools.

b Select a linked-clone pool and click Delete.

A dialog box warns that you will permanently delete the linked-clone pool from View Manager. The virtual machines are deleted from vCenter Server. In addition, the associated View Composer database entries and the replicas that were created by View Composer are removed.

c Click OK.

d Repeat these steps for each linked-clone pool that was created by View Composer.

2 Click View Configuration > Servers.

3 In the vCenter Servers panel, select the vCenter Server instance in which View Composer is installed.

4 Click Edit.

5 In the View Composer Settings panel, deselect Enable View Composer and click OK.

You can no longer create linked-clone desktops in this vCenter Server instance, but you can continue to create and manage full virtual-machine desktop pools in the vCenter Server instance.

If linked-clone desktops were not deleted before you disabled the connection to View Composer, you can try enabling the connection to View Composer, deleting the linked clones, and disabling the connection to View Composer again. For details about enabling View Composer, see “Configure View Composer Settings for

vCenter Server,” on page 15.

Conflicting vCenter Server Unique IDs

If you have multiple vCenter Server instances configured in your environment, an attempt to add a new instance might fail because of conflicting unique IDs.

Problem

You try to add a vCenter Server instance to View Manager, but the unique ID of the new vCenter Server instance conflicts with an existing instance.

Cause

Two vCenter Server instances cannot use the same unique ID. By default, a vCenter Server unique ID is randomly generated, but you can edit it.

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Solution

1 In vSphere Client, click Administration > vCenter Server Settings > Runtime Settings.

2 Type a new unique ID and click OK.

For details about editing vCenter Server unique ID values, see the vSphere documentation.

Backing Up View Connection Server

After you complete the initial configuration of View Connection Server, you should schedule regular backups of your View Manager and View Composer configuration data.

For information about backing up and restoring your View configuration, see “Backing Up and Restoring View

Configuration Data,” on page 263.

Configuring Settings for Client Sessions

You can configure global settings that affect the client sessions that are managed by a View Connection Server instance or replicated group. You can set the session-timeout length, require SSL for client connections and View Administrator, display prelogin and warning messages, and set other client-connection options.

Set Options for Client Sessions and Connections

Chapter 1 Configuring View Connection Server

You configure global settings to determine the way client sessions and connections work.

The global settings are not specific to a single View Connection Server instance. They affect all client sessions that are managed by a standalone View Connection Server instance or a group of replicated instances.

You can also configure View Connection Server instances to use direct, nontunneled connections between View clients and View desktops. See “Configure the Secure Tunnel Connection and PCoIP Secure Gateway,” on page 19 for information about configuring direct connections.

Prerequisites

Familiarize yourself with the global settings. See “Global Settings for Client Sessions and Connections,” on page 18.

Procedure

1 In View Administrator, click View Configuration > Global Settings.

2 Click Edit.

3 Configure the global settings.

4 Click OK.

What to do next

If you change the Require SSL for client connections and View Administrator setting, you must restart the View Connection Server service to make your changes take effect. In a group of replicated View Connection Server instances, you must restart the View Connection Server service on all instances in the group. You do not have to restart the Windows Server computer where View Connection Server is installed.

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VMware View Administration

Global Settings for Client Sessions and Connections

Global settings determine session time-out length and whether SSL is used, clients are reauthenticated after interruptions, View components use secure internal communications, prelogin and warning messages are displayed, and SSO is used for local-desktop operations.

Table 1-2. Global Settings for Client Sessions and Connections

Setting Description

Session timeout Determines how long a user can keep a session open after logging in to

View Connection Server.

The value is set in minutes. You must type a value. The default is 600 minutes.

When a desktop session times out, the session is terminated and the View client is disconnected from the desktop.

Require SSL for client connections and View Administrator

Reauthenticate secure tunnel connections after network interruption

Message security mode Determines the security of communications between View Manager

Disable Single Sign-on for Local Mode operations

Enable automatic status updates Determines if View Manager updates the global status pane in the upper

Determines if a secure SSL communication channel is used between View Connection Server and View desktop clients, and between View Connection Server and clients that access View Administrator.

When you select this setting, clients must use SSL connections.

You must select this setting if you use smart card authentication.

After you change this setting, you must restart the View Connection Server service to make your change take effect.

Determines if user credentials must be reauthenticated after a network interruption when View clients use secure tunnel connections to View desktops.

When you select this setting, if a secure tunnel connection ends during a desktop session, View Client requires the user to reauthenticate before reconnecting.

When this setting is not selected, the client reconnects to the desktop without requiring the user to reauthenticate.

This setting has no effect when you use direct connection.

components. Specifically, determines if signing and verification of the JMS messages passed between View Manager components takes place. For details, see “Message Security Mode for View Components,” on page 19.

Determines if single sign-on is enabled when users log in to their local desktops.

If you disable this setting, users must manually log in to their desktops to start their Windows sessions after they log in.

When you change this setting, the change takes effect for each user at the next user operation.

left corner of View Administrator every few minutes. The dashboard page of View Administrator is also updated every few minutes.

When you enable this setting, idle sessions do not time out for any user who is logged into View Administrator.

IMPORTANT Disabling idle-session timeouts increases the risk of unauthorized use of View Administrator. Use caution when you enable this setting.

By default, this setting is not enabled. Idle-session timeouts do occur.

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Chapter 1 Configuring View Connection Server

Table 1-2. Global Settings for Client Sessions and Connections (Continued)

Setting Description

Display a pre-login message Displays a disclaimer or another message to View Client users when

Display warning before forced logoff Displays a warning message when users are forced to log off because a

they log in.

Type your information or instructions in the text box in the Global Settings dialog window.

To display no message, leave the text box blank.

scheduled or immediate update such as a desktop-refresh operation is about to start. This setting also determines how long to wait after the warning is shown before the user is logged off.

Check the box to display a warning message.

Type the number of minutes to wait after the warning is displayed and before logging off the user. The default is five minutes.

Type your warning message. You can use the default message:

Your desktop is scheduled for an important update and will be restarted in 5 minutes. Please save any unsaved work now.

Message Security Mode for View Components

You can set the level of security for communications between View components. This setting determines whether to sign and verify JMS messages that are passed between View Manager components. Enabling this setting prevents control messages that did not come from an authorized source from being processed.

If any component in your View environment predates View Manager 3.0, signing and verification cannot take place.

Table 1-3 shows the options you can select to configure the message security level. To set an option, select it

from the Message security mode list in the Global Settings dialog window.

Table 1-3. Message Security Mode Options

Option Description

Disabled Message security mode is disabled.

Mixed Message security mode is enabled but not enforced.

You can use this mode to detect components in your View environment that predate View Manager 3.0. The log files generated by View Connection Server contain references to these components.

Enabled Message security mode is enabled. Unsigned messages are rejected by View components.

NOTE View components that predate View Manager 3.0 are not allowed to communicate

with other View components

Message security mode is supported in View Manager 3.1 and later. If you change the message security mode from Disabled or Mixed to Enabled, you cannot launch a desktop with a View Agent from Virtual Desktop Manager version 2.1 or earlier. If you then change the message security mode from Enabled to Mixed to Disabled, the desktop still fails to launch. To launch a desktop after you change the message security mode from Enabled to Mixed to Disabled, you must restart the desktop.

Configure the Secure Tunnel Connection and PCoIP Secure Gateway

When the secure tunnel is enabled, View Client makes a second HTTPS connection to the View Connection Server or security server host when users connect to a View desktop.

When the PCoIP Secure Gateway is enabled, View Client makes a further secure connection to the View Connection Server or security server host when users connect to a View desktop with the PCoIP display protocol.

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VMware View Administration

When the secure tunnel or PCoIP Secure Gateway is not enabled, the desktop session is established directly between the client system and the View desktop virtual machine, bypassing the View Connection Server or security server host. This type of connection is called a direct connection.

Clients that use the HP RGS display protocol do not use the tunnel connection or PCoIP Secure Gateway. These clients must use direct connections.

IMPORTANT A typical network configuration that provides secure connections for external clients includes a security server. To use View Administrator to enable or disable the secure tunnel and PCoIP Secure Gateway on a security server, you must edit the View Connection Server instance that is paired with the security server.

In a network configuration in which external clients connect directly to a View Connection Server host, you enable or disable the secure tunnel and PCoIP Secure Gateway by editing that View Connection Server instance in View Administrator.

Procedure

1 In View Administrator, click View Configuration > Servers.

2 In the View Connection Servers panel, select a View Connection Server instance and click Edit.

3 Configure use of the secure tunnel.

Option Description

Disable the secure tunnel

Enable the secure tunnel

The secure tunnel is enabled by default.

Deselect Use secure tunnel connection to desktop.

Select Use secure tunnel connection to desktop.

4 Configure use of the PCoIP Secure Gateway.

Option Description

Enable the PCoIP Secure Gateway

Disable the PCoIP secure Gateway

Select Use PCoIP Secure Gateway for PCoIP connections to desktop

Deselect Use PCoIP Secure Gateway for PCoIP connections to desktop

The PCoIP Secure Gateway is disabled by default.

5 Click OK to save your changes.

Set a Single Sign-on Timeout Limit for View Users

By default, when a user logs in to View Connection Server from View Client, single sign-on (SSO) is enabled. The user does not have to log in again to connect to the View desktop. During a desktop session, a user can leave the desktop, allow it to become inactive, and return without having to authenticate again. To reduce the chance that someone else could start using the desktop session, you can configure a time limit after which the user's SSO credentials are no longer valid.

You configure the SSO timeout limit by setting a value in View LDAP. When you change View LDAP on a View Connection Server instance, the change is propagated to all replicated View Connection Server instances.

The timeout limit is set in minutes. The time limit counter starts when the user logs in to View Connection Server. For example, if you set the value to 10 minutes, the user's SSO credentials are invalidated 10 minutes after the user logs in to View Connection Server.

NOTE On View desktops that are used in local mode, a checkout operation that takes longer than the SSO timeout value causes the user's SSO credentials to expire. For example, you might set the SSO timeout limit to 10 minutes. A user might log in to View Connection Server and check out a desktop. If the checkout takes 20 minutes, the user must log in again to connect to the local desktop, even though the user has not yet spent any time in a desktop session.

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Prerequisites

See the Microsoft TechNet Web site for information on how to use the ADSI Edit utility on your Windows operating system version.

Procedure

1 Start the ADSI Edit utility on your View Connection Server host.

2 Select or connect to DC=vdi, DC=vmware, DC=int.

3 On the object CN=Common, OU=Global, OU=Properties, set the pae-SSOCredentialCacheTimeout

attribute to the new SSO timeout limit in minutes.

The default value is -1, which means that no SSO timeout limit is set. A value of 0 disables SSO.

On remote desktops, the new SSO timeout limit takes effect immediately. You do not need to restart the View Connection Server service or the client computer.

On desktops that run in local mode, the new SSO timeout limit takes effect the next time a client computer that hosts the local desktop sends a heartbeat message to View Connection Server.

Disable or Enable View Connection Server

You can disable a View Connection Server instance to prevent users from logging in to their View desktops. After you disable an instance, you can enable it again.

Chapter 1 Configuring View Connection Server

When you disable a View Connection Server instance, users who are currently logged in to View desktops are not affected.

Your View Manager deployment determines how users are affected by disabling an instance.

If this is a single, standalone View Connection Server instance, users cannot log in to their desktops. They cannot connect to View Connection Server.

If this is a replicated View Connection Server instance, your network topology determines whether users can be routed to another replicated instance. If users can access another instance, they can log in to their desktops.

Procedure

1 In View Administrator, click View Configuration > Servers.

2 In the View Connection Servers panel, select the View Connection Server instance.

3 Click Disable.

You can enable the instance again by clicking Enable.

Edit the External URLs

You can use View Administrator to edit external URLs for View Connection Server instances and security servers.

By default, a View Connection Server or security server host can be contacted only by tunnel clients that reside within the same network. Tunnel clients that run outside of your network must use a client-resolvable URL to connect to a View Connection Server or security server host.

When users connect to View desktops with the PCoIP display protocol, View Client can make a further connection to the PCoIP Secure Gateway on the View Connection Server or security server host. To use the PCoIP Secure Gateway, a client system must have access to an IP address that allows the client to reach the View Connection Server or security server host. You specify this IP address in the PCoIP external URL.

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VMware View Administration

Both the secure tunnel external URL and PCoIP external URL must be the addresses that client systems use to reach this host. For example, if you configure a View Connection Server host, do not specify the secure tunnel external URL for this host and the PCoIP external URL for a paired security server.

NOTE You cannot edit the external URLs for a security server that has not been upgraded to View Connection Server 4.5 or later.

Procedure

1 In View Administrator, click View Configuration > Servers.

Option Action

View Connection Server instance

Security server

2 Type the secure tunnel external URL in the External URL text box.

The URL must contain the protocol, client-resolvable host name or IP address, and port number.

For example: https://view.example.com:443

3 Type the PCoIP Secure Gateway external URL in the PCoIP External URL text box.

Select the View Connection Server instance in the View Connection Servers panel and click Edit.

Select the security server in the Security Servers panel and click Edit.

Specify the PCoIP external URL as an IP address with the port number 4172. Do not include a protocol name.

For example: 100.200.300.400:4172

The URL must contain the IP address and port number that a client system can use to reach this security server or View Connection Server instance. You can type into the text box only if a PCoIP Secure Gateway is installed on the security server or View Connection Server instance.

4 Click OK to save your changes.

The external URLs are updated immediately. You do not need to restart the View Connection Server service or the security server service for the changes to take effect.

View LDAP Directory

View LDAP is the data repository for all View Manager configuration information. View LDAP is an embedded Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) directory that is provided with the View Connection Server installation.

View LDAP contains standard LDAP directory components that are used by View Manager.

View Manager schema definitions

Directory information tree (DIT) definitions

Access control lists (ACLs)

View LDAP contains directory entries that represent View Manager objects.

View desktop entries that represent each accessible desktop. Each entry contains references to the Foreign Security Principal (FSP) entries of Windows users and groups in Active Directory who are authorized to use the desktop.

View desktop pool entries that represent multiple desktops managed together

Virtual machine entries that represent the vCenter Server virtual machine for each desktop

View Manager component entries that store configuration settings

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View LDAP also contains a set of View Manager plug-in DLLs that provide automation and notification services for other View Manager components.

NOTE Security server instances do not contain a View LDAP directory.

Configuring View Connection Server Settings

You can use View Administrator to modify configuration settings for View Connection Server instances.

Chapter 1 Configuring View Connection Server

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Configuring Role-Based Delegated

Administration 2

One key management task in a View environment is to determine who can use View Administrator and what tasks those users are authorized to perform. With role-based delegated administration, you can selectively assign administrative rights by assigning administrator roles to specific Active Directory users and groups.

This chapter includes the following topics:

“Understanding Roles and Privileges,” on page 25

“Using Folders to Delegate Administration,” on page 26

“Understanding Permissions,” on page 27

“Manage Administrators,” on page 28

“Manage and Review Permissions,” on page 29

“Manage and Review Folders,” on page 31

“Manage Custom Roles,” on page 33

“Predefined Roles and Privileges,” on page 34

“Required Privileges for Common Tasks,” on page 37

“Best Practices for Administrator Users and Groups,” on page 39

Understanding Roles and Privileges

The ability to perform tasks in View Administrator is governed by an access control system that consists of administrator roles and privileges. This system is similar to the vCenter Server access control system.

An administrator role is a collection of privileges. Privileges grant the ability to perform specific actions, such as entitling a user to a desktop pool. Privileges also control what an administrator can see in View Administrator. For example, if an administrator does not have privileges to view or modify global policies, the Global Policies setting is not visible in the navigation panel when the administrator logs in to View Administrator.

Administrator privileges are either global or object-specific. Global privileges control system-wide operations, such as viewing and changing global settings. Object-specific privileges control operations on specific types of inventory objects.

Administrator roles typically combine all of the individual privileges required to perform a higher-level administration task. View Administrator includes predefined roles that contain the privileges required to perform common administration tasks. You can assign these predefined roles to your administrator users and groups, or you can create your own roles by combining selected privileges. You cannot modify the predefined roles.

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VMware View Administration

To create administrators, you select users and groups from your Active Directory users and groups and assign administrator roles. Administrators obtain privileges through their role assignments. You cannot assign privileges directly to administrators. An administrator that has multiple role assignments acquires the sum of all the privileges contained in those roles.

Using Folders to Delegate Administration

By default, desktop pools are created in the root folder, which appears as / or Root(/) in View Administrator. You can create folders under the root folder to subdivide your desktop pools and then delegate the administration of specific desktop pools to different administrators.

A desktop inherits the folder from its pool. An attached persistent disk inherits the folder from its desktop. You can have a maximum of 100 folders, including the root folder.

You configure administrator access to the resources in a folder by assigning a role to an administrator on that folder. Administrators can access the resources that reside only in folders for which they have assigned roles. The role that an administrator has on a folder determines the level of access that the administrator has to the resources in that folder.

Because roles are inherited from the root folder, an administrator that has a role on the root folder has that role on all folders. Administrators that have the Administrators role on the root folder are super administrators because they have full access to all of the inventory objects in the system.

A role must contain at least one object-specific privilege to apply to a folder. Roles that contain only global privileges cannot be applied to folders.

You can use View Administrator to create folders and to move existing pools to folders. You can also select a folder when you create a desktop pool. If you do not select a folder during pool creation, the pool is created in the root folder by default.

Different Administrators for Different Folders on page 26

You can create a different administrator to manage each folder in your configuration.

Different Administrators for the Same Folder on page 27

You can create different administrators to manage the same folder.

Different Administrators for Different Folders

You can create a different administrator to manage each folder in your configuration.

For example, if your corporate desktop pools are in one folder and your desktop pools for software developers are in another folder, you can create different administrators to manage the resources in each folder.

Table 2-1 shows an example of this type of configuration.

Table 2-1. Different Administrators for Different Folders

Administrator Role Folder

view-domain.com\Admin1 Inventory Administrators

view-domain.com\Admin2 Inventory Administrators

In this example, the administrator called Admin1 has the Inventory Administrators role on the folder called

CorporateDesktops and the administrator called Admin2 has the Inventory Administrators role on the folder

called DeveloperDesktops.

/CorporateDesktops

/DeveloperDesktops

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Different Administrators for the Same Folder

You can create different administrators to manage the same folder.

For example, if your corporate desktop pools are in one folder, you can create one administrator that can view and modify those pools and another administrator that can only view them.

Table 2-2 shows an example of this type of configuration.

Table 2-2. Different Administrators for the Same Folder

Administrator Role Folder

view-domain.com\Admin1 Inventory Administrators

view-domain.com\Admin2 Inventory Administrators (Read only)

In this example, the administrator called Admin1 has the Inventory Administrators role on the folder called

CorporateDesktops and the administrator called Admin2 has the Inventory Administrators (Read only) role

on the same folder.

Understanding Permissions

View Administrator presents the combination of a role, an administrator user or group, and a folder as a permission. The role defines the actions that can be performed, the user or group indicates who can perform the action, and the folder contains the objects that are the target of the action.

Chapter 2 Configuring Role-Based Delegated Administration

/CorporateDesktops

Permissions appear differently in View Administrator depending on whether you select an administrator user or group, a folder, or a role.

Table 2-3 shows how permissions appear in View Administrator when you select an administrator user or

group. The administrator user is called Admin 1 and it has two permissions.

Table 2-3. Permissions on the Administrators and Groups Tab for Admin 1

Role Folder

Inventory Administrators

Administrators (Read only)

MarketingDesktops

The first permission shows that Admin 1 has the Inventory Administrators role on the folder called

MarketingDesktops. The second permission shows that Admin 1 has the Administrators (Read only) role on

the root folder.

Table 2-4 shows how the same permissions appear in View Administrator when you select the

MarketingDesktops folder.

Table 2-4. Permissions on the Folders Tab for MarketingDesktops

Admin Role Inherited

view-domain.com\Admin1 Inventory Administrators

view-domain.com\Admin1 Administrators (Read only) Yes

The first permission is the same as the first permission shown in Table 2-3. The second permission is inherited from the second permission shown in Table 2-3. Because folders inherit permissions from the root folder, Admin1 has the Administrators (Read only) role on the MarketingDesktops folder. When a permission is inherited, Yes appears in the Inherited column.

Table 2-5 shows how the first permission in Table 2-3 appears in View Administrator when you select the

Inventory Administrators role.

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Table 2-5. Permissions on the Role Tab for Inventory Administrators

Administrator Folder

view-domain.com\Admin1

Manage Administrators

Users who have the Administrators role can use View Administrator to add and remove administrator users and groups.

The Administrators role is the most powerful role in View Administrator. Initially, members of the local Administrators group (BUILTIN\Administrators) on your View Connection Server host are given the Administrators role in View Administrator.

NOTE By default, the Domain Admins group is a member of the local Administrators group. If you do not want domain administrators to have full access to inventory objects and View configuration settings, you must remove the Domain Admins group from the local Administrators group.

Create an Administrator on page 28

To create an administrator, you select a user or group from your Active Directory users and groups in View Administrator and assign an administrator role.

/MarketingDesktops

Remove an Administrator on page 29

You can remove an administrator user or group. You cannot remove the last super administrator in the system. A super administrator is an administrator that has the Administrators role on the root folder.

Create an Administrator

To create an administrator, you select a user or group from your Active Directory users and groups in View Administrator and assign an administrator role.

Prerequisites

Familiarize yourself with the predefined administrator roles. See “Predefined Roles and Privileges,” on page 34.

Familiarize yourself with the best practices for creating administrator users and groups. See “Best Practices

for Administrator Users and Groups,” on page 39.

To assign a custom role to the administrator, create the custom role. See “Add a Custom Role,” on page 33.

To create an administrator that can manage specific desktop pools, create a folder and move the desktop pools to that folder. See “Manage and Review Folders,” on page 31.

Procedure

1 In View Administrator, select View Configuration > Administrators.

2 On the Administrators and Groups tab, click Add User or Group.

3 Click Add, select one or more search criteria, and click Find to filter Active Directory users or groups based

on your search criteria.

4 Select the Active Directory user or group that you want to be an administrator user or group, click OK

and click Next.

You can press the Ctrl and Shift keys to select multiple users and groups.

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Chapter 2 Configuring Role-Based Delegated Administration

5 Select a role to assign to the administrator user or group.

The Apply to Folder column indicates whether a role applies to folders. Only roles that contain objectspecific privileges apply to folders. Roles that contain only global privileges do not apply to folders.

Option Action

The role you selected applies to folders

You want the permission to apply to all folders

Select one or more folders and click Next.

Select the root folder and click Next.

6 Click Finish to create the administrator user or group.

The new administrator user or group appears in the left pane and the role and folder that you selected appear in the right pane on the Administrators and Groups tab.

Remove an Administrator

Procedure

1 In View Administrator, select View Configuration > Administrators.

2 On the Administrators and Groups tab, select the administrator user or group, click Remove User or

Group, and click OK.

The administrator user or group no longer appears on the Administrators and Groups tab.

Manage and Review Permissions

You can use View Administrator to add, delete, and review permissions for specific administrator users and groups, for specific roles, and for specific folders.

Add a Permission on page 30

You can add a permission that includes a specific administrator user or group, a specific role, or a specific folder.

Delete a Permission on page 30

You can delete a permission that includes a specific administrator user or group, a specific role, or a specific folder.

Review Permissions on page 31

You can review the permissions that include a specific administrator or group, a specific role, or a specific folder.

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VMware View Administration

Add a Permission

You can add a permission that includes a specific administrator user or group, a specific role, or a specific folder.

Procedure

1 In View Administrator, select View Configuration > Administrators.

2 Create the permission.

Option Action

Create a permission that includes a specific administrator user or group

Create a permission that includes a specific role

Create a permission that includes a specific folder

a On the Administrators and Groups tab, select the administrator or

group and click Add Permission.

b Select a role.

c If the role does not apply to folders, click Finish.

d If the role applies to folders, click Next, select one or more folders, and

click Finish. A role must contain at least one object-specific privilege to apply to a folder.

a On the Roles tab, select the role, click Permissions, and clickAdd

Permission.

b Click Add, select one or more search criteria, and click Find to find

administrator users or groups that match your search criteria.

c Select an administrator user or group to include in the permission and

click OK. You can press the Ctrl and Shift keys to select multiple users and groups.

d If the role does not apply to folders, click Finish.

e If the role applies to folders, click Next, select one or more folders, and

click Finish. A role must contain at least one object-specific privilege to apply to a folder.

a On the Folders tab, select the folder and click Add Permission.

b Click Add, select one or more search criteria, and click Find to find

administrator users or groups that match your search criteria.

c Select an administrator user or group to include in the permission and

click OK. You can press the Ctrl and Shift keys to select multiple users and groups.

d Click Next, select a role, and click Finish. A role must contain at least

one object-specific privilege to apply to a folder.

Delete a Permission

You can delete a permission that includes a specific administrator user or group, a specific role, or a specific folder.

If you remove the last permission for an administrator user or group, that administrator user or group is also removed. Because at least one administrator must have the Administrators role on the root folder, you cannot remove a permission that would cause that administrator to be removed. You cannot delete an inherited permission.

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Chapter 2 Configuring Role-Based Delegated Administration

Procedure

1 In View Administrator, select View Configuration > Administrators.

2 Select the permission to delete.

Option Action

Delete a permission that applies to a specific administrator or group

Delete a permission that applies to a specific role

Delete a permission that applies to a specific folder

Select the administrator or group on the Administrators and Groups tab.

Select the role on the Roles tab.

Select the folder on the Folders tab.

3 Select the permission and click Delete Permission.

Review Permissions

You can review the permissions that include a specific administrator or group, a specific role, or a specific folder.

Procedure

1 Select View Configuration > Administrators.

2 Review the permissions.

Option Action

Review the permissions that include a specific administrator or group

Review the permissions that include a specific role

Review the permissions that include a specific folder

Manage and Review Folders

You can use View Administrator to add and delete folders and to review the desktop pools and desktops in a particular folder.

Add a Folder on page 32

If you want to delegate the administration of specific desktops or pools to different administrators, you must create folders to subdivide your desktops or pools. If you do not create folders, all desktops and pools reside in the root folder.

Move a Desktop Pool to a Different Folder on page 32

After you create a folder to subdivide your desktop pools, you must manually move desktop pools to the new folder. If you decide to change the way your desktop pools are subdivided, you can move desktops pools from one folder to another.

Select the administrator or group on the Administrators and Groups tab.

Select the role on the Roles tab and click Permissions.

Select the folder on the Folders tab.

Remove a Folder on page 32

You can remove a folder if it does not contain inventory objects. You cannot remove the root folder.

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Review the Desktop Pools in a Folder on page 33

You can see all of the desktop pools in a particular folder in View Administrator.

Review the Desktops in a Folder on page 33

You can see all of the desktops in a particular folder in View Administrator. A desktop inherits the folder from its pool.

Add a Folder

You can have a maximum of 100 folders, including the root folder.

Procedure

1 In View Administrator, select Inventory > Pools.

2 From the Folder drop-down menu on the command bar, select New Folder.

3 Type a name and description for the folder and click OK.

The description is optional.

What to do next

Move one or more desktop pools to the folder.

Move a Desktop Pool to a Different Folder

Procedure

1 In View Administrator, select Inventory > Pools and select the pool.

2 From the Folder drop-down menu, select Change Folder.

3 Select the folder and click OK.

View Administrator moves the pool to the folder that you selected.

Remove a Folder

You can remove a folder if it does not contain inventory objects. You cannot remove the root folder.

Prerequisites

If the folder contains inventory objects, move the objects to another folder or to the root folder. See “Move a

Desktop Pool to a Different Folder,” on page 32.

Procedure

1 In View Administrator, select View Configuration > Administrators.

2 On the Folders tab, select the folder and click Remove Folder.

3 Click OK to remove the folder.

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Chapter 2 Configuring Role-Based Delegated Administration

Review the Desktop Pools in a Folder

You can see all of the desktop pools in a particular folder in View Administrator.

Procedure

1 In View Administrator, select Inventory > Pools.

The Pools page shows the pools in all folders by default.

2 Select the folder from the Folder drop-down menu.

The Pools page shows the pools in the folder that you selected.

Review the Desktops in a Folder

You can see all of the desktops in a particular folder in View Administrator. A desktop inherits the folder from its pool.

Procedure

1 In View Administrator, select Inventory > Desktops.

The Desktops page shows the desktops in all folders by default.

2 Select the folder from the Folder drop-down menu.

The Desktops page shows the pools in the folder that you selected.

Manage Custom Roles

You can use View Administrator to add, modify, and delete custom roles.

Add a Custom Role on page 33

If the predefined administrator roles do not meet your needs, you can combine specific privileges to create your own roles in View Administrator.

Modify the Privileges in a Custom Role on page 34

You can modify the privileges in a custom role. You cannot modify the predefined administrator roles.

Remove a Custom Role on page 34

You can remove a custom role if it is not included in a permission. You cannot remove the predefined administrator roles.

Add a Custom Role

If the predefined administrator roles do not meet your needs, you can combine specific privileges to create your own roles in View Administrator.

Prerequisites

Familiarize yourself with the administrator privileges that you can use to create custom roles. See “Predefined

Roles and Privileges,” on page 34.

Procedure

1 In View Administrator, select View Configuration > Administrators.

2 On the Roles tab, click Add Role.

3 Type a name and description for the new role, select one or more privileges, and click OK.

The new role appears in the left pane.

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Modify the Privileges in a Custom Role

You can modify the privileges in a custom role. You cannot modify the predefined administrator roles.

Prerequisites

Familiarize yourself with the administrator privileges that you can use to create custom roles. See “Predefined

Roles and Privileges,” on page 34.

Procedure

1 In View Administrator, select View Configuration > Administrators.

2 On the Roles tab, select the role.

3 Click Usage to display the privileges in the role and click Edit.

4 Select or deselect privileges.

5 Click OK to save your changes.

Remove a Custom Role

You can remove a custom role if it is not included in a permission. You cannot remove the predefined administrator roles.

Prerequisites

If the role is included in a permission, delete the permission. See “Delete a Permission,” on page 30.

Procedure

1 In View Administrator, select View Configuration > Administrators.

2 On the Roles tab, select the role and click Remove Role.

The Remove Role button is not available for predefined roles or for custom roles that are included in a permission.

3 Click OK to remove the role.

Predefined Roles and Privileges

View Administrator includes predefined roles that you can assign to your administrator users and groups. You can also create your own administrator roles by combining selected privileges.

Predefined Administrator Roles on page 35

The predefined administrator roles combine all of the individual privileges required to perform common administration tasks. You cannot modify the predefined roles.

Global Privileges on page 36

Global privileges control system-wide operations, such as viewing and changing global settings. Roles that contain only global privileges cannot be applied to folders.

Object-Specific Privileges on page 36

Object-specific privileges control operations on specific types of inventory objects. Roles that contain object-specific privileges can be applied to folders.

Internal Privileges on page 37

Some of the predefined administrator roles contain internal privileges. You cannot select internal privileges when you create custom roles.

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Chapter 2 Configuring Role-Based Delegated Administration

Predefined Administrator Roles

The predefined administrator roles combine all of the individual privileges required to perform common administration tasks. You cannot modify the predefined roles.

Table 2-6 describes the predefined roles and indicates whether a role can be applied to a folder.

Table 2-6. Predefined Roles in View Administrator

Role User Capabilities Applies to a Folder

Administrators Perform all administrator operations, including creating

additional administrator users and groups. Administrators that have the Administrators role on the root folder are super administrators because they have full access to all of the inventory objects in the system. Because the Administrators role contains all privileges, you should assign it to a limited set of users.

Initially, members of the local Administrators group on your View Connection Server host are given this role on the root folder.

IMPORTANT An administrator must have the Administrators role on the root folder to perform the following tasks:

Add and delete folders.

Manage ThinApp applications and configuration settings in View Administrator.

View and modify View Transfer Server instances and the Transfer Server repository.

Use the vdmadmin and vdmimport commands.

Administrators (Read only)

View, but not modify, global settings and inventory objects.

View, but not modify, ThinApp applications and settings, View Transfer Server instances, and the Transfer Server repository.

Use PowerShell commands and command line utilities, including vdmexport but excluding vdmadmin and vdmimport.

When administrators have this role on a folder, they can only view the inventory objects in that folder.

Agent Registration Administrators

Global Configuration and Policy Administrators

View and modify global policies and configuration settings except for administrator roles and permissions, ThinApp applications and settings, View Transfer Server instances, and the Transfer Server repository.

Global Configuration and Policy Administrators (Read only)

View, but not modify, global policies and configuration settings except for administrator roles and permissions, ThinApp applications and settings, View Transfer Server instances, and the Transfer Server repository.

Inventory Administrators

Perform all desktop, session, and pool-related operations.

Manage persistent disks.

Resync, Refresh, and Rebalance linked-clone pools and change the default pool image.

When administrators have this role on a folder, they can only perform these operations on the inventory objects in that folder.

Inventory Administrators (Read only)

View, but not modify, inventory objects.

When administrators have this role on a folder, they can only view the inventory objects in that folder.

Yes

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Global Privileges

Global privileges control system-wide operations, such as viewing and changing global settings. Roles that contain only global privileges cannot be applied to folders.

Table 2-7 describes the global privileges and lists the predefined roles that contain each privilege.

Table 2-7. Global Privileges

Privilege User Capabilities Predefined Roles

Console Interaction Log in to and use View Administrator. Administrators

Direct Interaction Use PowerShell commands and command

Manage Global Configuration and Policies

Manage Roles and Permissions

line utilities, except for vdmadmin and vdmimport.

Administrators must have the Administrators role on the root folder to use the vdmadmin and vdmimport commands.

View and modify global policies and configuration settings except for administrator roles and permissions.

Create, modify, and delete administrator roles and permissions.

sources such as physical systems, standalone virtual machines, and terminal servers.

During View Agent installation, you must provide your administrator login credentials to register the unmanaged desktop source with the View Connection Server instance.

Administrators (Read only)

Inventory Administrators

Inventory Administrators (Read only)

Global Configuration and Policy Administrators

Global Configuration and Policy Administrators (Read only)

Administrators

Administrators (Read only)

Administrators

Global Configuration and Policy Administrators

Administrators

Agent Registration Administrators

Object-Specific Privileges

Object-specific privileges control operations on specific types of inventory objects. Roles that contain objectspecific privileges can be applied to folders.

Table 2-8 describes the object-specific privileges. The predefined roles Administrators and Inventory

Administrators contain all of these privileges.

Table 2-8. Object-Specific Privileges

Privilege User Capabilities Object

Enable Pool Enable and disable desktop pools. Desktop pool

Entitle Pool Add and remove user entitlements. Desktop pool

Manage Composer Pool Image

Manage Desktop Perform all desktop and session-related operations. Desktop

Manage Local Sessions Roll back and initiate replications for local desktops. Desktop

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Resync, Refresh, and Rebalance linked-clone pools and change the default pool image.

Desktop pool

Chapter 2 Configuring Role-Based Delegated Administration

Table 2-8. Object-Specific Privileges (Continued)

Privilege User Capabilities Object

Manage Persistent Disks Perform all View Composer persistent disk operations,

including attaching, detaching, and importing persistent disks.

Manage Pool Add, modify, and delete desktop pools and add and

remove desktops.

Manage Remote Sessions Disconnect and log off remote sessions and send

messages to desktop users.

Manage Reboot Operation Reset desktops. Desktop

Persistent disk

Desktop pool

Desktop

Internal Privileges

Some of the predefined administrator roles contain internal privileges. You cannot select internal privileges when you create custom roles.

Table 2-9 describes the internal privileges and lists the predefined roles that contain each privilege.

Table 2-9. Internal Privileges

Privilege Description Predefined Roles

Full (Read only) Grants read-only access to all settings. Administrators (Read only)

Manage Inventory (Read only)

Manage Global Configuration and Policies (Read only)

Grants read-only access to inventory objects. Inventory Administrators (Read only)

Grants read-only access to configuration settings and global policies except for administrators and roles.

Global Configuration and Policy Administrators (Read only)

Required Privileges for Common Tasks

Many common administration tasks require a coordinated set of privileges. Some operations require permission at the root folder in addition to access to the object that is being manipulated.

Privileges for Managing Pools

An administrator must have certain privileges to manage pools in View Administrator.

Table 2-10 lists common pool management tasks and shows the privileges that are required to perform each

task. You perform these tasks on the Pools page in View Administrator.

Table 2-10. Pool Management Tasks and Privileges

Task Required Privileges

Enable or disable a pool Enable Pool on the pool.

Entitle or unentitle users to a pool Entitle Pool on the pool.

Add a pool Manage Pool

Modify or delete a pool Manage Pool on the pool.

Add or remove desktops from a pool Manage Pool on the pool.

IMPORTANT When adding a linked-clone pool, you must have the Administrators role on the root folder to publish the base image to the Transfer Server repository.

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Table 2-10. Pool Management Tasks and Privileges (Continued)

Task Required Privileges

Refresh, Recompose, Rebalance, or change the default View Composer image

Change folders Manage Pool on both the source and target folders.

Manage Composer Pool Image on the pool.

Privileges for Managing Desktops

An administrator must have certain privileges to manage desktops in View Administrator.

Table 2-11 lists common desktop management tasks and shows the privileges that are required to perform

each task. You perform these tasks on the Desktops page in View Administrator.

Table 2-11. Desktop Management Tasks and Privileges

Task Required Privileges

Remove a virtual machine Manage Pool on the pool.

Reset a virtual machine Manage Reboot Operation on the desktop.

Cancel, pause, or resume a task Manage Composer Pool Image

Assign or remove user ownership Manage Desktop on the desktop.

Enter or exit maintenance mode Manage Desktop on the desktop.

Roll back or initiate replications Manage Local Sessions on the desktop.

Disconnect or log off a remote session Manage Remote Sessions on the desktop.

Privileges for Managing Persistent Disks

An administrator must have certain privileges to manage persistent disks in View Administrator.

Table 2-12 lists common persistent disk management tasks and shows the privileges that are required to

perform each task. You perform these tasks on the Persistent Disks page in View Administrator.

Table 2-12. Persistent Disk Management Tasks and Privileges

Task Required Privileges

Detach a disk Manage Persistent Disks on the disk and Manage Pool on

the pool.

Attach a disk Manage Persistent Disks on the disk and Manage Pool on

the desktop.

Edit a disk Manage Persistent Disks on the disk and Manage Pool on

the selected pool.

Change folders Manage Persistent Disks on the source and target folders.

Recreate desktop Manage Persistent Disks on the disk and Manage Pool on

the last pool.

Import from vCenter Manage Persistent Disks on the folder and Manage Pool on

the pool.

Delete a disk Manage Persistent Disks on the disk.

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Chapter 2 Configuring Role-Based Delegated Administration

Privileges for Managing Users and Administrators

An administrator must have certain privileges to manage users and administrators in View Administrator.

Table 2-13 lists common user and administrator management tasks and shows the privileges that are required

to perform each task. You manage users on the Users and Groups page in View Administrator. You manage administrators on the Global Administrators View page in View Administrator.

Table 2-13. User and Administrator Management Tasks and Privileges

Task Required Privileges

Update general user information Manage Global Configuration and Policies

Send messages to desktop users Manage Remote Sessions on the desktop.

Add an administrator user or group Manage Roles and Permissions

Add, modify, or delete an administrator permission Manage Roles and Permissions

Add, modify, or delete an administrator role Manage Roles and Permissions

Privileges for General Administration Tasks and Commands

An administrator must have certain privileges to perform general administration tasks and run command line utilities.

Table 2-14 shows the privileges that are required to perform general administration tasks and run command

line utilities.

Table 2-14. Privileges for General Administration Tasks and Commands

Task Required Privileges

Add or delete a folder Must have the Administrators role on the root folder.

Manage ThinApp applications and settings in View Administrator

View and modify View Transfer Server instances and the Transfer Server repository

Install View Agent on an unmanaged desktop source, such as a physical system, standalone virtual machine, or terminal server

View or modify configuration settings (except for administrators) in View Administrator

Use PowerShell commands and command line utilities except for vdmadmin, vdmimport, and vdmexport

Use the vdmadmin and vdmimport commands Must have the Administrators role on the root folder.

Use the vdmexport command Must have the Administrators role or the Administrators

Must have the Administrators role on the root folder.

Manage Global Configuration and Policies

Direct Interaction

(Read only) role on the root folder.

Best Practices for Administrator Users and Groups

To increase the security and manageability of your View environment, you should follow best practices when managing administrator users and groups.

Because the Administrators role contains all privileges, assign it to a single user or to a limited set of users.

Choose a local Windows user or group to have the Administrators role.

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Create new user groups for administrators. Avoid using Windows built-in groups or other existing groups that might contain additional users or groups.

Because it is highly visible and easily guessed, avoid using the name Administrator when creating administrator users and groups.

Create folders to segregate sensitive desktops. Delegate the administration of those folders to a limited set of users.

Create separate administrators that can modify global policies and View configuration settings.

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Preparing Unmanaged Desktop

Sources 3

Users can access View desktops delivered by machines that are not managed by vCenter Server. These unmanaged desktop sources can include physical computers, terminal servers, and virtual machines running on VMware Server and other virtualization platforms. You must prepare an unmanaged desktop source to deliver View desktop access.

This chapter includes the following topics:

“Prepare an Unmanaged Desktop Source for View Desktop Deployment,” on page 41

“Install View Agent on an Unmanaged Desktop Source,” on page 41

Prepare an Unmanaged Desktop Source for View Desktop Deployment

You must perform certain tasks to prepare an unmanaged desktop source for View desktop deployment.

Prerequisites

Verify that you have administrative rights on the unmanaged desktop source.

To make sure that View desktop users are added to the local Remote Desktop Users group of the unmanaged desktop source, create a restricted Remote Desktop Users group in Active Directory. See the VMware View Installation document for more information.

Procedure

1 Power on the unmanaged desktop source and verify that it is accessible to the View Connection Server

instance.

2 Join the unmanaged desktop source to the Active Directory domain for your View desktops.

3 Configure the Windows firewall to allow Remote Desktop connections to the unmanaged desktop source.

What to do next

Install View Agent on the unmanaged desktop source. See “Install View Agent on an Unmanaged Desktop

Source,” on page 41.

Install View Agent on an Unmanaged Desktop Source

You must install View Agent on an all unmanaged desktop sources. View cannot manage an unmanaged desktop source unless View Agent is installed.

To install View Agent on multiple Windows physical computers without having to respond to wizard prompts, you can install View Agent silently. See “Install View Agent Silently,” on page 51.

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Prerequisites

Verify that you have administrative rights on the unmanaged desktop source.

Familiarize yourself with the View Agent custom setup options for unmanaged desktop sources. See

“View Agent Custom Setup Options for Unmanaged Desktop Sources,” on page 43.

Familiarize yourself with the TCP ports that the View Agent installation program opens on the firewall. See the VMware View Architecture Planning document for more information.

Download the View Agent installer file from the VMware product page at

http://www.vmware.com/products/.

Procedure

1 To start the View Agent installation program, double-click the installer file.

The installer filename is VMware-viewagent-4.6.0-

xxxxxx

.exe, where xxxxxx is the build number.

xxxxxx

.exe or VMware-viewagent-x86_64-4.6.0-

2 Accept the VMware license terms.

3 Select your custom setup options.

4 Accept or change the destination folder.

5 In the Server text box, type the host name or IP address of a View Connection Server host.

During installation, the installer registers the unmanaged desktop source with this View Connection Server instance. After registration, the specified View Connection Server instance, and any additional instances in the same View Connection Server group, can communicate with the unmanaged desktop source.

6 Select an authentication method to register the unmanaged desktop source with the View Connection

Server instance.

Option Action

Authenticate as the currently logged in user

Specify administrator credentials

The Username and Password text boxes are disabled and you are logged in to the View Connection Server instance with your current username and password.

You must provide the username and password of a View Connection Server administrator in the Username and Password text boxes.

7 Follow the prompts in the View Agent installation program and finish the installation.

8 If you selected the USB redirection option, restart the unmanaged desktop source to enable USB support.

In addition, the Found New Hardware wizard might start. Follow the prompts in the wizard to configure the hardware before you restart the unmanaged desktop source.

The VMware View Agent service is started on the unmanaged desktop source.

If Windows Media Player is not installed, the View Agent installation program does not install the multimedia redirection (MMR) feature. If you install Windows Media Player after installing View Agent, you can install the MMR feature by running the View Agent installation program again and selecting the Repair option.

What to do next

Use the unmanaged desktop source to create a View desktop. See “Manual Desktop Pools,” on page 95.

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Chapter 3 Preparing Unmanaged Desktop Sources

View Agent Custom Setup Options for Unmanaged Desktop Sources

When you install View Agent on an unmanaged desktop source, you can select certain custom setup options.

Table 3-1. View Agent Custom Setup Options for Unmanaged Desktop Sources

Option Description

USB Redirection Gives users access to locally connected USB devices on their

desktops.

Windows 2000 does not support USB redirection.

NOTE You can use group policy settings to disable USB redirection for specific users.

PCoIP Server Lets users connect to the View desktop with the PCoIP

display protocol.

NOTE On Windows Vista, if you install the PCoIP Server component, the Windows group policy Disable or enable

software Secure Attention Sequence is enabled and set to Services and Ease of Access applications. If you change this

setting, single sign-on does not work correctly.

PCoIP Smartcard Lets users authenticate with smart cards when they use the

PCoIP display protocol.

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44 VMware, Inc.

Creating and Preparing Virtual

Machines 4

You can use virtual machines managed by vCenter Server to provision and deploy View desktops. You can use a virtual machine managed by vCenter Server as a template for an automated pool, a parent for a linkedclone pool, or a desktop source in a manual pool. You must prepare virtual machines to deliver View desktop access.

This chapter includes the following topics:

“Creating Virtual Machines for View Desktop Deployment,” on page 45

“Install View Agent on a Virtual Machine,” on page 49

“Install View Agent Silently,” on page 51

“Configure a Virtual Machine with Multiple NICs for View Agent,” on page 56

“Optimize Windows Guest Operating System Performance,” on page 56

“Optimize Windows 7 Guest Operating System Performance,” on page 57

“Optimizing Windows 7 for Linked-Clone Desktops,” on page 58

“Preparing Virtual Machines for View Composer,” on page 64

“Creating Virtual Machine Templates,” on page 69

“Creating Customization Specifications,” on page 70

Creating Virtual Machines for View Desktop Deployment

The initial virtual machine establishes a virtual hardware profile and operating system to be used for rapid deployment of View desktops.

1 Create a Virtual Machine for View Desktop Deployment on page 46

You use vSphere Client to create virtual machines in vCenter Server for View desktops.

2 Install a Guest Operating System on page 47

After you create a virtual machine, you must install a guest operating system.

3 Prepare a Guest Operating System for View Desktop Deployment on page 48

You must perform certain tasks to prepare a guest operating system for View desktop deployment.

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Create a Virtual Machine for View Desktop Deployment

You use vSphere Client to create virtual machines in vCenter Server for View desktops.

Prerequisites

Upload an ISO image file of the guest operating system to a datastore on your ESX server.

Familiarize yourself with the custom configuration parameters for virtual machines. See “Virtual Machine

Custom Configuration Parameters,” on page 46.

Procedure

1 In vSphere Client, log in to the vCenter Server system.

2 Select File > New > Virtual Machine to start the New Virtual Machine wizard.

3 Select Custom and configure custom configuration parameters.

4 Select Edit the virtual machine settings before completion and click Continue to configure hardware

settings.

a Add a CD/DVD drive, set the media type to use an ISO image file, select the ISO image file of the

guest operating system that you uploaded to your datastore, and select Connect at power on.

b If you are installing a Windows XP guest operating system, add a floppy drive and set the Device

Type to Client Device.

c Set Power-on Boot Delay to 10,000 milliseconds.

5 Click Finish to create the virtual machine.

What to do next

Install a guest operating system on the virtual machine.

Virtual Machine Custom Configuration Parameters

You can use virtual machine custom configuration parameters as baseline settings when you create a virtual machine for View desktop deployment.

If you use View Administrator as your View desktop manager for deploying pooled desktops, you can change these settings when deploying template-based View desktops.

Table 4-1. Custom Configuration Parameters

Parameter Description and Recommendations

Name and Location

Host/Cluster

Resource Pool

Datastore

Guest Operating System

The name and location of the virtual machine.

If you plan to use the virtual machine as a template, assign a generic name. The location can be any folder within your datacenter inventory.

The ESX server or cluster of server resources that will run the virtual machine.

If you plan to use the virtual machine as a template, the location of the initial virtual machine does not necessarily specify where future virtual machines created from template will reside.

If the physical ESX server resources are divided into resource pools, you can assign them to the virtual machine.

The location of files associated with the virtual machine.

The type of operating system that you will install in the virtual machine.

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Chapter 4 Creating and Preparing Virtual Machines

Table 4-1. Custom Configuration Parameters (Continued)

Parameter Description and Recommendations

CPUs

Memory

Network

SCSI Controller

Select a Disk

The number of virtual processors in the virtual machine.

For most guest operating systems, a single processor is sufficient.

The amount of memory to allocate to the virtual machine.

In most cases, 512MB is sufficient.

The number of virtual network adapters (NICs) in the virtual machine.

One NIC is usually sufficient. The network name should be consistent across virtual infrastructures. An incorrect network name in a template can cause failures during the instance customization phases.

When you install View Agent on a virtual machine that has more than one NIC, you must configure the subnet that View Agent uses. See “Configure a Virtual Machine with Multiple

NICs for View Agent,” on page 56 for more information.

The type of SCSI adapter to use with the virtual machine.

For Windows 7 and Windows XP guest operating systems, you should specify the LSI Logic adapter. The LSI Logic adapter has improved performance and works better with generic SCSI devices.

LSI Logic SAS is available only for virtual machines with hardware version 7.

NOTE Windows XP does not include a driver for the LSI Logic adapter. You must download the driver from the LSI Logic Web site.

The disk to use with the virtual machine.

Create a new virtual disk based on the amount of local storage that you decide to allocate to each user. Allow enough storage space for the OS installation, patches, and locally installed applications.

To reduce the need for disk space and management of local data, you should store the user's information, profile, and documents on network shares rather than on a local disk.

Install a Guest Operating System

After you create a virtual machine, you must install a guest operating system.

Prerequisites

Verify that an ISO image file of the guest operating system is on a datastore on your ESX server.

Verify that the CD/DVD drive in the virtual machine points to the ISO image file of the guest operating system and that the CD/DVD drive is configured to connect at power on.

If you are installing Windows XP and you selected the LSI Logic adapter for the virtual machine, download the LSI20320-R controller driver from the LSI Logic Web site, create a floppy image (.flp) file that contains the driver, and upload the file to a datastore on your ESX server.

Procedure

1 In vSphere Client, log in to the vCenter Server system where the virtual machine resides.

2 Right-click the virtual machine, select Power, and select Power On to start the virtual machine.

Because you configured the CD/DVD drive to point to the ISO image of the guest operating system and to connect at power on, the guest operating system installation process begins automatically.

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3 Click the Console tab and follow the installation instructions provided by the operating system vendor.

4 If you are installing Windows XP and you selected the LSI Logic adapter for the virtual machine, install

the LSI Logic driver during the Windows setup process.

a Press F6 to select additional SCSI drivers.

b Type S to specify an additional device.

c On the vSphere Client toolbar, click Connect Floppy to select the LSI Logic driver floppy image

(.flp) file.

d Return to the Windows Setup screen and press Enter to continue the Windows setup process.

e When the Windows setup process has finished, disconnect the virtual floppy disk drive.

5 If you are installing Windows 7, activate Windows online.

What to do next

Prepare the guest operating system for View desktop deployment.

Prepare a Guest Operating System for View Desktop Deployment

You must perform certain tasks to prepare a guest operating system for View desktop deployment.

Prerequisites

Create a virtual machine and install a guest operating system.

Configure an Active Directory domain controller for your View desktops. See the VMware View Installation document for more information.

To make sure that View desktop users are added to the local Remote Desktop Users group of the virtual machine, create a restricted Remote Desktop Users group in Active Directory. See the VMware View Installation document for more information.

Verify that you have administrative rights on the guest operating system.

Procedure

1 In vSphere Client, log in to the vCenter Server system where the virtual machine resides.

2 Right-click the virtual machine, select Power, and select Power On to start the virtual machine.

3 Right-click the virtual machine, select Guest, and select Install/Upgrade VMware Tools to install the latest

version of VMware Tools.

4 Use the VMware Tools time synchronization function to ensure that the virtual machine is synchronized

to ESX.

ESX must synchronize to an external NTP source, for example, the same time source as Active Directory.

The VMware Tools online help provides information on configuring time synchronization between guest and host.

5 Install service packs and updates.

6 Install antivirus software.

7 Install other applications and software, such as Windows Media Player if you are using MMR and smart

card drivers if you are using smart card authentication.

IMPORTANT If you are installing Microsoft .NET Framework, you must install it after you install View Agent.

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Chapter 4 Creating and Preparing Virtual Machines

8 If View clients will connect to the virtual machine with the PCoIP display protocol, set the power option

Turn off the display to Never.

If you do not disable this setting, the display will appear to freeze in its last state when power savings mode starts.

9 If a proxy server is used in your network environment, configure network proxy settings.

10 Configure network connection properties.

a Assign a static IP address or specify that an IP address is assigned by a DHCP server.

View does not support link-local (169.254.x.x) addresses for View desktops.

b Set the preferred and alternate DNS server addresses to your Active Directory server address.

11 Join the virtual machine to the Active Directory domain for your View desktops.

You do not have to join a parent virtual machine that you use for View Composer to the Active Directory domain. A parent virtual machine can be a member of the local WORKGROUP.

12 Configure the Windows firewall to allow Remote Desktop connections to the virtual machine.

13 (Optional) Configure user customization scripts.

What to do next

Install View Agent. See “Install View Agent on a Virtual Machine,” on page 49.

Install View Agent on a Virtual Machine

You must install View Agent on virtual machines that are managed by vCenter Server so that View Connection Server can communicate with them. Install View Agent on all virtual machines that you use as templates for automated desktop pools, parents for linked-clone desktop pools, and desktop sources in manual desktop pools.

To install View Agent on multiple Windows virtual machines without having to respond to wizard prompts, you can install View Agent silently. See “Install View Agent Silently,” on page 51.

Prerequisites

Prepare the guest operating system for View desktop deployment. See “Prepare a Guest Operating System

for View Desktop Deployment,” on page 48.

Download the View Agent installer file from the VMware product page at

http://www.vmware.com/products/.

Verify that you have administrative rights on the virtual machine.

Familiarize yourself with the View Agent custom setup options. See “View Agent Custom Setup

Options,” on page 50.

Familiarize yourself with the TCP ports that the View Agent installation program opens on the firewall. See the VMware View Architecture Planning document for more information.

If you select the View Composer Agent custom setup option, verify that you have a license to use View Composer.

Procedure

1 To start the View Agent installation program, double-click the installer file.

The installer filename is VMware-viewagent-4.6.0-

xxxxxx

.exe, where xxxxxx is the build number.

xxxxxx

.exe or VMware-viewagent-x86_64-4.6.0-

2 Accept the VMware license terms.

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3 Select your custom setup options.

To deploy linked-clone desktops, select the View Composer Agent option.

4 Accept or change the destination folder.

5 Follow the prompts in the View Agent installation program and finish the installation.

NOTE If you did not enable Remote Desktop support during guest operating system preparation, the View Agent installation program prompts you to enable it. If you do not enable Remote Desktop support during View Agent installation, you must enable it manually after the installation is finished.

6 If you selected the USB redirection option, restart the virtual machine to enable USB support.

In addition, the Found New Hardware wizard might start. Follow the prompts in the wizard to configure the hardware before you restart the virtual machine.

The VMware View Agent service is started on the virtual machine.

If you selected the View Composer Agent option, the VMware View Composer Guest Agent Server service is started on the virtual machine.

What to do next

If the virtual machine has multiple NICs, configure the subnet that View Agent uses. See “Configure a Virtual

Machine with Multiple NICs for View Agent,” on page 56.

View Agent Custom Setup Options

When you install View Agent on a virtual machine, you can select custom setup options.

Table 4-2. View Agent Custom Setup Options

Option Description

USB Redirection Gives users access to locally connected USB devices on their

desktops.

Windows 2000 does not support USB redirection.

NOTE You can use group policy settings to disable USB redirection for specific users.

View Composer Agent Lets View Agent run on the linked-clone desktops that are

deployed from this virtual machine.

Virtual Printing Lets users print to any printer available on their Windows

client computers. Users do not have to install additional drivers on their desktops.

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Table 4-2. View Agent Custom Setup Options (Continued)

Option Description

Chapter 4 Creating and Preparing Virtual Machines

PCoIP Server Lets users connect to the View desktop using the PCoIP

PCoIP Smartcard Lets users authenticate with smart cards when they use the

Install View Agent Silently

You can use the silent installation feature of the Microsoft Windows Installer (MSI) to install View Agent on several Windows virtual machines or physical computers. In a silent installation, you use the command line and do not have to respond to wizard prompts.

With silent installation, you can efficiently deploy View components in a large enterprise.

Prerequisites

display protocol.

Installing the PCoIP Server feature disables sleep mode on Windows 7 and Windows Vista desktops and standby mode on Windows XP desktops. When a user navigates to the Power Options or Shut Down menu, sleep mode or standby mode is inactive. Desktops do not go into sleep or standby mode after a default period of inactivity. Desktops remain in active mode.

NOTE If you install the PCoIP Server feature on Windows Vista, the Windows group policy Disable or enable software Secure Attention Sequence is enabled and set to Services and Ease of Access applications. If you change this setting, single sign-on does not work correctly.

PCoIP display protocol.

Prepare the guest operating system for View desktop deployment. See “Prepare a Guest Operating System

for View Desktop Deployment,” on page 48.

Download the View Agent installer file from the VMware product page at

http://www.vmware.com/products/.

xxxxxx

The installer filename is VMware-viewagent-4.6.0-

xxxxxx

.exe, where xxxxxx is the build number.

Verify that you have administrative rights on the virtual machine or physical PC.

Familiarize yourself with the View Agent custom setup options. See “View Agent Custom Setup

.exe or VMware-viewagent-x86_64-4.6.0-

Options,” on page 50.

If you select the View Composer Agent custom setup option, verify that you have a license to use View Composer.

Familiarize yourself with the MSI installer command-line options. See “Microsoft Windows Installer

Command-Line Options,” on page 52.

Familiarize yourself with the silent installation properties available with View Agent. See “Silent

Installation Properties for View Agent,” on page 54.

Familiarize yourself with the TCP ports that the View Agent installation program opens on the firewall. See the VMware View Architecture Planning document for more information.

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Procedure

1 Open a Windows command prompt on the virtual machine or physical PC.

2 Type the installation command on one line.

This example installs View Agent in a virtual machine that is managed by vCenter Server. The installer configures the PCoIP, View Composer Agent, Virtual Printing, and USB redirection custom setup options.

VMware-viewagent-4.6.0ADDLOCAL=Core,PCoIP,SVIAgent,ThinPrint,USB"

xxxxxx

.exe /s /v"/qn VDM_VC_MANAGED_AGENT=1

This example installs View Agent on an unmanaged computer and registers the desktop with the specified View Connection Server, cs1.companydomain.com. The installer configures the SSO, Virtual Printing, and USB redirection custom setup options.

xxxxxx

VMware-viewagent-4.6.0VDM_SERVER_NAME=cs1.companydomain.com VDM_SERVER_USERNAME=admin.companydomain.com VDM_SERVER_PASSWORD=secret ADDLOCAL=Core,ThinPrint,USB"

.exe /s /v"/qn VDM_VC_MANAGED_AGENT=0

The VMware View Agent service is started on the virtual machine.

If you selected the View Composer Agent option, the VMware View Composer Guest Agent Server service is started on the virtual machine.

What to do next

If the virtual machine has multiple NICs, configure the subnet that View Agent uses. See “Configure a Virtual

Machine with Multiple NICs for View Agent,” on page 56.

Microsoft Windows Installer Command-Line Options

To install View components silently, you must use Microsoft Windows Installer (MSI) command-line options and properties. The View component installers are MSI programs and use standard MSI features.

For details about MSI, see the Microsoft Web site. For MSI command-line options, see the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Library Web site and search for MSI command-line options. To see MSI command-line usage, you can open a command prompt on the View component computer and type msiexec /?.

To run a View component installer silently, you begin by disabling the bootstrap program that extracts the installer into a temporary directory and starts an interactive installation.

At the command line, you must enter command-line options that control the installer's bootstrap program.

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Table 4-3. Command-Line Options for a View Component's Bootstrap Program

Option Description

/v"

MSI_command_line_options

Disables the bootstrap splash screen and extraction dialog, which prevents the display of interactive dialogs.

For example: VMware-viewconnectionserver-4.6.xThe /s option is required to run a silent installation.

Instructs the installer to pass the double-quote-enclosed string that you enter at the command line

as a set of options for MSI to interpret. You must enclose your command-line entries between double quotes. Place a double quote after the /v and at the end of the command line.

For example: VMware-viewagent-4.6.

To instruct the MSI installer to interpret a string that contains spaces, enclose the string in two sets of double quotes. For example, you might want to install the View component in an installation path name that contains spaces.

For example: VMware-viewconnectionserver-4.6.x-

xxxxxx

.exe /s /v"

In this example, the MSI installer passes on the installation-directory path and does not attempt to interpret the string as two command-line options. Note the final double quote that encloses the entire command line.

The /v"

command_line_options

x-xxxxxx

" option is required to run a silent installation.

.exe /s /v"

INSTALLDIR=""d:\abc\my folder"""

You control the remainder of a silent installation by passing command-line options and MSI property values to the MSI installer, msiexec.exe. The MSI installer includes the View component's installation code. The installer uses the values and options that you enter in the command line to interpret installation choices and setup options that are specific to the View component.

Chapter 4 Creating and Preparing Virtual Machines

xxxxxx

.exe /s

command_line_options

Table 4-4. MSI Command-Line Options and MSI Properties

MSI Option or Property Description

/qn

INSTALLDIR

ADDLOCAL

Instructs the MSI installer not to display the installer wizard pages.

For example, you might want to install View Agent silently and use only default setup options and features:

VMware-viewagent-4.6.x-

Alternatively, you can use the /qb option to display the wizard pages in a noninteractive, automated installation. As the installation proceeds, the wizard pages are displayed, but you cannot respond to them.

The /qn or /qb option is required to run a silent installation.

Specifies an alternative installation path for the View component.

Use the format property if you want to install the View component in the default path.

This MSI property is optional.

Determines the component-specific features to install. In an interactive installation, the View installer displays custom setup options to select. The MSI property, ADDLOCAL, lets you specify these setup options on the command line.

To install all available custom setup options, enter ADDLOCAL=ALL. For example: VMware-viewagent-4.6. If you do not use the MSI property, ADDLOCAL, the default setup options are installed.

To specify individual setup options, enter a comma-separated list of setup option names. Do not use spaces between names. Use the format

For example, you might want to install View Agent in a guest operating system with the View Composer Agent and PCoIP features:

VMware-viewagent-4.6.xADDLOCAL=Core,SVIAgent,PCoIP"

NOTE The Core feature is required in View Agent.

This MSI property is optional.

INSTALLDIR=path

xxxxxx

.exe /s /v"/qn"

to specify an installation path. You can ignore this MSI

x-xxxxxx

.exe /s /v"/qn

.exe /s /v"/qn ADDLOCAL=ALL"

ADDLOCAL=value,value,value...

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Table 4-4. MSI Command-Line Options and MSI Properties (Continued)

MSI Option or Property Description

REBOOT

/l*v

log_file

You can use the REBOOT=ReallySuppress option to allow system configuration tasks to complete before the system reboots.

This MSI property is optional.

Writes logging information into the specified log file with verbose output. For example: /l*v ""%TEMP%\vmmsi.log""

This example generates a detailed log file that is similar to the log generated during an interactive installation.

You can use this option to record custom features that might apply uniquely to your installation. You can use the recorded information to specify installation features in future silent installations.

The /l*v option is optional.

Silent Installation Properties for View Agent

You can include specific properties when you silently install a security server from the command line. You must use a values.

Table 4-5 shows the View Agent silent installation properties that you can use at the command-line.

PROPERTY=value

format so that Microsoft Windows Installer (MSI) can interpret the properties and

Table 4-5. MSI Properties for Silently Installing View Agent

MSI Property Description Default Value

INSTALLDIR

RDPCHOICE

VDM_VC_MANAGED_AGENT

VDM_SERVER_NAME

The path and folder in which the View Agent software is installed. For example: INSTALLDIR=""D:\abc\my folder""

The sets of two double quotes that enclose the path permit the MSI installer to ignore the space in the path.

This MSI property is optional.

Determines whether to enable Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) on the desktop.

A value of 1 enables RDP. A value of 0 leaves the RDP setting disabled.

This MSI property is optional.

Determines whether vCenter Server manages the virtual machine on which View Agent is installed.

A value of 1 configures the desktop as a vCenter Server-managed virtual machine.

A value of 0 configures the desktop as unmanaged by vCenter Server.

This MSI property is required.

The host name or IP address of the View Connection Server computer on which the View Agent installer registers an unmanaged desktop. This property applies to unmanaged desktops only.

For example: VDM_SERVER_NAME=10.123.01.01

This MSI property is required for unmanaged desktops.

Do not use this MSI property for virtual-machine desktops that are managed by vCenter Server.

%ProgramFiles %\VMware\VMware View\Agent

None

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Table 4-5. MSI Properties for Silently Installing View Agent (Continued)

MSI Property Description Default Value

VDM_SERVER_USERNAME

VDM_SERVER_PASSWORD

The user name of the administrator on the View Connection Server computer. This MSI property applies to unmanaged desktops only.

For example: VDM_SERVER_USERNAME=admin.companydomain.com

This MSI property is required for unmanaged desktops.

Do not use this MSI property for virtual-machine desktops that are managed by vCenter Server.

The View Connection Server administrator user password. For example: VDM_SERVER_PASSWORD=secret

This MSI property is required for unmanaged desktops.

Do not use this MSI property for virtual-machine desktops that are managed by vCenter Server.

None

In a silent installation command, you can use the MSI property, ADDLOCAL=, to specify custom features that the View Agent installer configures. Each silent-installation feature corresponds to a custom setup option that you can select during an interactive installation.

Table 4-6 shows the View Agent features you can type at the command line and the corresponding custom

setup options.

Table 4-6. View Agent Silent Installation Features and Interactive Custom Setup Options

Silent Installation Feature Custom Setup Option in an Interactive Installation

Core.

If you specify individual features with the MSI property, ADDLOCAL=, you must include Core.

If you specify ADDLOCAL=ALL, all features, including Core, are installed.

SVIAgent View Composer Agent

ThinPrint Virtual Printing

ThinPrintPCoIP Virtual Printing with PCoIP

PCoIP PCoIP Protocol

USB USB Redirection

HPRGS In an interactive installation, the HP RGS protocol feature is

VMVideo In an interactive installation, this feature is not a separate

VMwAudio In an interactive installation, this feature is not a separate

SmartCard In an interactive installation, the SmartCard feature is not a

VMCI In an interactive installation, the VMCI feature is not a

None.

During an interactive installation, the core View Agent functions are installed by default.

not a separate custom setup option.

custom setup option.

separate custom setup option.

For details about the custom setup options, see “View Agent Custom Setup Options,” on page 50.

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Configure a Virtual Machine with Multiple NICs for View Agent

When you install View Agent on a virtual machine that has more than one NIC, you must configure the subnet that View Agent uses. The subnet determines which network address View Agent provides to the View Connection Server instance for client protocol connections.

Procedure

On the virtual machine on which View Agent is installed, open a command prompt, type regedit.exe, and create a registry entry to configure the subnet.

For example: HKLM\Software\VMware, Inc.\VMware VDM\Node Manager\subnet =

In this example, n.n.n.n is the TCP/IP subnet and m is the number of bits in the subnet mask.

Optimize Windows Guest Operating System Performance

You can perform certain steps to optimize guest operating system performance for View desktop deployment. The steps apply to all Windows operating systems. All of the steps are optional.

Prerequisites

Prepare a guest operating system for View desktop deployment.

Procedure

Disable any unused ports, such as COM1, COM2, and LPT.

Adjust display properties.

a Choose a basic theme.

b Set the background to a solid color.

c Set the screen saver to None.

d Verify that hardware acceleration is enabled.

Select a high-performance power option and do not specify a sleep timer.

Disable the Indexing Service component.

n.n.n.n/m

(REG_SZ)

NOTE Indexing improves searches by cataloging files. Do not disable this feature for users that search often.

Remove or minimize System Restore points.

Turn off system protection on C:\.

Disable any unnecessary services.

Set the sound scheme to No Sounds.

Set visual effects to Adjust for best performance.

Open Windows Media Player and use the default settings.

Turn off automatic computer maintenance.

Adjust performance settings for best performance.

Delete any hidden uninstall folders in C:\Windows, such $NtUninstallKB893756$.

Delete all event logs.

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Run Disk Cleanup to remove temporary files, empty the Recycle Bin, and remove system files and other items that are no longer needed.

Run Disk Defragmenter to rearrange fragmented data.

What to do next

For Windows 7 guest operating systems, perform additional optimization tasks. See “Optimize Windows 7

Guest Operating System Performance,” on page 57.

Optimize Windows 7 Guest Operating System Performance

You can perform additional steps to optimize Windows 7 guest operating system performance for View desktop deployment. All of the steps are optional.

Prerequisites

Perform the guest operating system optimization steps that apply to all Windows operating systems. See

“Optimize Windows Guest Operating System Performance,” on page 56.

Procedure

1 Uninstall Tablet PC Components, unless this feature is needed.

2 Disable IPv6, unless it is needed.

3 Start the System Configuration Utility (msconfig.exe) and configure boot and startup settings.

a On the Boot tab, select No GUI boot and Base video.

b On the Startup tab, disable Adobe Acrobat and Reader.

4 Use the File System Utility (fsutil) command to disable the setting that keeps track of the last time a file

was accessed.

For example: fsutil behavior set disablelastaccess 1

5 Start the Registry Editor (regedit.exe) and change the TimeOutValue REG_DWORD in

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Disk to 0x000000be(190).

6 Shut down the guest operating system and power off the virtual machine.

7 Change the virtual machine video card RAM setting to 128 MB.

8 Power on the virtual machine.

What to do next

See “Optimizing Windows 7 for Linked-Clone Desktops,” on page 58 for information on disabling certain Windows 7 services and tasks to reduce the growth of View Composer linked-clone desktops. Disabling certain services and tasks can also result in performance benefits for full virtual machines.

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Optimizing Windows 7 for Linked-Clone Desktops

By disabling certain Windows 7 services and tasks, you can reduce the growth of View Composer linked-clone desktops. Disabling certain services and tasks can also result in performance benefits for full virtual machines.

Benefits of Disabling Windows 7 Services and Tasks

Windows 7 schedules services and tasks that can cause View Composer linked clones to grow, even when the linked-clone desktops are idle. The incremental growth of linked-clone OS disks can undo the storage savings that you achieve when you first create the linked-clone desktops. You can reduce linked-clone growth by disabling these Windows 7 services.

Windows 7 introduces new services and schedules older services, such as disk defragmentation, to run by default. These services run in the background if you do not disable them.

Services that affect OS disk growth also generate input/output operations per second (IOPS) on the Windows 7 virtual machines. Disabling these services can reduce IOPS and improve performance on full virtual machines and linked clones.

Disabling certain services also might benefit Windows XP and Windows Vista operating systems.

These best practices for optimizing Windows 7 apply to most user environments. However, you must evaluate the effect of disabling each service on your users, applications, and desktops. You might require certain services to stay active.

For example, disabling Windows Update Service makes sense if you refresh and recompose the linked-clone desktops. A refresh operation restores the OS disks to their last snapshots, deleting all automatic Windows updates since the last snapshots were taken. A recompose operation recreates the OS disks from a new snapshot that can contain the current Windows updates, making automatic Windows updates redundant.

If you do not use refresh and recompose regularly, you might decide to keep Windows Update Service active.

Overview of Windows 7 Services and Tasks That Cause Linked-Clone Growth

Certain Windows 7 services and tasks can cause linked-clone OS disks to grow incrementally every few hours, even when the linked-clone desktops are idle. If you disable these services and tasks, you can control the OS disk growth.

Services that affect OS disk growth also generate IOPS on the Windows 7 virtual machines. You can evaluate the benefits of disabling these services on full virtual machines as well as linked clones.

Before you disable the Windows 7 services that are shown in Table 4-7, verify that you took the optimization steps in “Optimize Windows Guest Operating System Performance,” on page 56 and “Optimize Windows 7

Guest Operating System Performance,” on page 57.

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Table 4-7. Impact of Windows 7 Services and Tasks on OS Disk Growth and IOPS When OS Is Left Idle

Default

Service or Task Description

Occurrence or Startup

Impact on LinkedClone OS Disks Impact on IOPS

Turn Off This Service or Task?

Windows Hibernation

Provides a powersaving state by storing open documents and programs in a file before the computer is powered off. The file is reloaded into memory when the computer is restarted, restoring the state when the hibernation was invoked.

Windows Scheduled Disk Defragmentation

Disk defragmentation is scheduled as a background process.

Windows Update Service

Detects, downloads, and installs updates for Windows and other programs.

Windows Diagnostic Policy Service

Detects, troubleshoots, and resolves problems in Windows components. If you stop this service, diagnostics no longer function.

Prefetch/Superfetch Stores specific

information about applications that you run to help them start faster.

This feature was introduced in Windows XP.

Default powerplan settings disable hibernation.

High.

By default, the size of the hibernation file, hiberfil.sys, is the same as the installed RAM on the virtual machine. This feature affects all guest operating systems.

Once a week High.

Repeated defragmentation operations can increase the size of linked-clone OS disks by several GB and do little to make disk access more efficient on linked clones.

Automatic startup Medium to high.

Causes frequent writes to the linked-clones' OS disks because update checks occur often. The impact depends on the updates that are downloaded.

Automatic startup Medium to high.

The service is triggered on demand. The write frequency varies, depending on demand.

Always on, unless it is disabled.

Medium

Causes periodic updates to its layout and database information and individual prefetch files, which are generated on demand.

High.

When hibernation is triggered, the system writes a hiberfil.sys file the size of the installed RAM.

Yes

Hibernation provides no benefit in a virtual environment.

For instructions, see

“Disable Windows Hibernation in the Parent Virtual Machine,” on

page 66..

High Yes

Medium to high Yes, if you use View

Composer recompose to install Windows updates and refresh to return OS disks to their original snapshots.

Small to medium Yes, if you do not

need the diagnostic tools to function on the desktops.

Medium Yes, if application

startup times are acceptable after you disable this feature.

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Table 4-7. Impact of Windows 7 Services and Tasks on OS Disk Growth and IOPS When OS Is Left Idle (Continued)

Default

Service or Task Description

Occurrence or Startup

Impact on LinkedClone OS Disks Impact on IOPS

Turn Off This Service or Task?

Windows Registry Backup (RegIdleBackup)

System Restore Reverts the

Windows Defender Provides anti-

Microsoft Feeds Synchronization task (msfeedssync.exe)

Automatically backs up the Windows registry when the system is idle.

Windows system to a previous, healthy state.

spyware features.

Periodically updates RSS feeds in Windows Internet Explorer 7 and 8 Web browsers. This task updates RSS feeds that have automatic RSS feeds synchronization turned on. The process appears in Windows Task Manager only when Internet Explorer 7 or 8 is running.

Every 10 days at 12:00 am

When Windows starts up and once a day thereafter.

When Windows starts up. Performs a quick scan once a day. Checks for updates before each scan.

Once a day. Medium.

Medium.

Each time this task runs, it generates registry backup files.

Small to medium.

Captures a system restore point whenever the system detects that it is needed. When the linked clone is idle, this overhead is small.

Medium to high.

Performs definition updates, scheduled scans, and scans that are started on demand.

Affects OS-disk growth if persistent disks are not configured. If persistent disks are configured, the impact is diverted to the persistent disks.

Medium. Yes.

There is no need for Windows Registry Backup. To restore registry data, you can use the View Composer refresh operation.

No major impact. Yes

Although its impact is small, this task is redundant if you use View Composer refresh to return OS disks to their original snapshots.

Medium to high. Yes, if other anti-

spyware software is installed.

Medium Yes, if your users do

not require automatic RSS feed updates on their desktops.

Disable Scheduled Disk Defragmentation on Windows 7 Parent Virtual Machines

Before you create linked clones, you must disable scheduled defragmentations on Windows 7 parent virtual machines. Windows 7 schedules weekly disk defragmentations by default. Repeated defragmentation operations significantly increase the size of linked-clone OS disks and do not make disk access more efficient on linked clones.

When you create a linked-clone pool from the parent virtual machine, the linked clones share the replica's disk. Subsequent defragmentation operations do not affect the replica's disk, which is read-only. Instead, defragmentations expand each clone's OS disk.

As a best practice, defragment the parent virtual machine one time, before you take a snapshot and create the pool. The linked clones benefit from the defragmentation because they share the replica's optimized, read-only disk.

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Prerequisites

Verify that the applications that you intend to deploy to the linked clones are installed on the virtual machine.

Verify that View Agent with View Composer Agent is installed on the virtual machine.

Procedure

1 In vSphere Client, select the parent virtual machine and select Open Console.

2 Log in to the Windows 7 guest operating system as an administrator.

3 Click Start and type defrag in the Search programs and files box.

4 In the Programs pane, click Disk Defragmenter.

5 In the Disk Defragmenter dialog box, click Defragment disk.

The Disk Defragmenter consolidates defragmented files on the virtual machine's hard disk.

6 In the Disk Defragmenter dialog box, click Configure schedule.

7 Deselect Run on a schedule (recommended) and click OK.

Defragmentation operations will not take place on linked-clone virtual machines that are created from this parent virtual machine.

Disable the Windows Update Service on Windows 7 Virtual Machines

Disabling the Windows Update Service can reduce the number of files that are created and writes that occur when updates are downloaded and installed. This action can reduce linked-clone growth and reduce IOPS in linked clones and full virtual machines.

Disable Windows Update Service if you refresh and recompose the linked-clone desktops. A refresh operation restores the OS disks to their original snapshots, deleting the automatic Windows updates. A recompose operation recreates the OS disks from a new snapshot that can contain Windows updates, making automatic Windows updates redundant.

Do not disable the Windows Update Service if you do not use recompose to install Windows updates in the linked clones.

Prerequisites

Verify that the most recent Windows updates are downloaded and installed on the virtual machine.

Procedure

1 In vSphere Client, select the parent virtual machine and select Open Console.

2 Log in to the Windows 7 guest operating system as an administrator.

3 Click Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Turn automatic updating on or off.

4 In the Important updates menu, select Never check for updates.

5 Deselect Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates.

6 Deselect Allow all users to install updates on this computer and click OK.

Disable the Diagnostic Policy Service on Windows 7 Virtual Machines

Disabling the Windows Diagnostic Policy Service can minimize the number of system writes and reduce the growth of linked-clone desktops.

Do no disable the Windows Diagnostic Policy Service if your users require the diagnostic tools on their desktops.

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Procedure

1 In vSphere Client, select the parent virtual machine and select Open Console.

2 Log in to the Windows 7 guest operating system as an administrator.

3 Click Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Administrative Tools.

4 Select Services and click Open.

5 Double-click Diagnostic Policy Service.

6 In the Diagnostic Policy Service Properties (Local Computer) dialog, click Stop.

7 In the Startup type menu, select Disabled.

8 Click OK.

Disable the Prefetch and Superfetch Features on Windows 7 Virtual Machines

By disabling the Windows prefetch and superfetch features, you can avoid generating prefetch files and the overhead associated with prefetch and superfetch operations. This action can reduce the growth of linkedclone desktops and minimize IOPS on full virtual machines and linked clones.

To disable the prefetch and superfetch features, you must edit a Windows registry key and disable the Prefetch service on the virtual machine.

Prerequisites

See the Microsoft TechNet Web site for information on how to use the Windows Registry Editor on Windows 7.

Procedure

1 Start the Windows Registry Editor on the local Windows 7 virtual machine.

2 Navigate to the registry key called PrefetchParameters.

The registry key is located in the following path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters.

3 Set the EnablePrefetcher and EnableSuperfetch values to 0.

4 Click Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Administrative Tools.

5 Select Services and click Open.

6 Double-click the Superfetch service.

7 In the Superfetch Properties (Local Computer) dialog, click Stop.

8 In the Startup type menu, select Disabled.

9 Click OK.

Disable Windows Registry Backup on Windows 7 Virtual Machines

Disabling the Windows registry backup feature, RegIdleBackup, can minimize the number of system writes and reduce the growth of linked-clone desktops.

Procedure

1 In vSphere Client, select the parent virtual machine and select Open Console.

2 Log in to the Windows 7 guest operating system as an administrator.

3 Click Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Administrative Tools.

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4 Select Task Scheduler and click Open.

5 In the left pane, expand Task Scheduler Library, Microsoft, Windows.

6 Double-click Registry and select RegIdleBackup.

7 In the Actions pane, click Disable.

Disable the System Restore on Windows 7 Virtual Machines

You do not need to use the Windows System Restore feature if you use View Composer refresh to restore linked-clone OS disks to their original snapshots.

When the operating system is idle, System Restore does not have a visible impact on OS-disk growth. However, when the operating system is in use, System Restore generates restore points based on system use, which can have a significant impact on OS-disk growth.

The function of Windows System Restore is the same as View Composer refresh.

As a best practice, you can disable Windows System Restore and avoid unnecessary growth in your linked clones.

If you do not use refresh, evaluate whether it is best to leave System Restore active in your View environment.

Procedure

1 In vSphere Client, select the parent virtual machine and select Open Console.

2 Log in to the Windows 7 guest operating system as an administrator.

3 Click Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Administrative Tools.

4 Select Task Scheduler and click Open.

5 In the left pane, expand Task Scheduler Library, Microsoft, Windows.

6 Double-click SystemRestore and select SR.

7 In the Actions pane, click Disable.

Disable Windows Defender on Windows 7 Virtual Machines

Microsoft Windows Defender can contribute to linked-clone OS disk growth and increase IOPS in linked clones and full virtual machines. Disable Windows Defender if you install other anti-spyware software on the virtual machine.

If Windows Defender is the only anti-spyware installed on the virtual machine, you might prefer to keep Windows Defender active on the desktops in your environment.

Procedure

1 In vSphere Client, select the parent virtual machine and select Open Console.

2 Log in to the Windows 7 guest operating system as an administrator.

3 Click Start and type Windows Defender in the Search programs and files box.

4 Click Tools > Options > Administrator.

5 Deselect Use this program and click Save.

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Disable Microsoft Feeds Synchronization on Windows 7 Virtual Machines

Windows Internet Explorer 7 or 8 uses the Microsoft Feeds Synchronization task to update RSS feeds in users' Web browsers. This task can contribute to linked-clone growth. Disable this task if your users do not require automatic RSS feed updates in their browsers.

Microsoft Feeds Synchronization can cause OS-disk growth if persistent disks are not configured. If persistent disks are configured, the impact is diverted to the persistent disks. In this situation, you should still disable Microsoft Feeds Synchronization to control persistent-disk growth.

Procedure

1 In vSphere Client, select the parent virtual machine and select Open Console.

2 Log in to the Windows 7 guest operating system as an administrator.

3 Click Start > Control Panel > Network and Internet > Internet Options.

4 Click the Content tab.

5 Under Feeds and Web Slices, click Settings.

6 Deselect Automatically check feeds and Web Slices for updates and click OK.

7 In the Internet Properties dialog, click OK.

Preparing Virtual Machines for View Composer

To deploy linked-clone desktops, you must prepare a parent virtual machine that meets the requirements of the View Composer service.

Prepare a Parent Virtual Machine on page 65

The View Composer service requires a parent virtual machine from which you generate a base image for creating and managing linked-clone desktops.

Activating Windows 7 and Windows Vista on Linked-Clone Desktops on page 66

To make sure that View Composer properly activates Windows 7 and Windows Vista operating systems on linked-clone desktops, you must use Microsoft volume activation on the parent virtual machine. The volume-activation technology requires a volume license key.

Disable Windows Hibernation in the Parent Virtual Machine on page 66

The Windows hibernation option creates a large system file that can increase the size of the linked-clone OS disks that are created from the parent virtual machine. Disabling the hibernation option reduces the size of linked-clones.

Configure a Parent Virtual Machine to Use Local Storage on page 67

When you prepare a parent virtual machine for View Composer, you can configure the parent virtual machine and linked-clone desktops to store virtual-machine swap files on the local datastore. This optional strategy lets you take advantage of local storage.

Keep a Record of the Parent Virtual Machine's Paging-File Size on page 68

When you create a linked-clone pool, you can redirect the linked clones' guest OS paging and temp files to a separate disk. You must configure this disk to be larger than the paging file in the guest OS.

Increase the Timeout Limit of QuickPrep Customization Scripts on page 69

View Composer terminates a QuickPrep post-synchronization or power-off script that takes longer than 20 seconds. You can increase the timeout limit for these scripts by changing the ExecScriptTimeout Windows registry value on the parent virtual machine.

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Prepare a Parent Virtual Machine

The View Composer service requires a parent virtual machine from which you generate a base image for creating and managing linked-clone desktops.

Prerequisites

Verify that you prepared a virtual machine to use for deploying View desktops. See “Creating Virtual

Machines for View Desktop Deployment,” on page 45.

You do not have to join the parent virtual machine to the Active Directory domain in which the linkedclone desktops will reside. The parent virtual machine can be a member of the local WORKGROUP.

IMPORTANT To use features that are supported in View Manager 4.5 or later, such as redirecting disposable data to a separate disk and customizing linked-clone desktops with Sysprep, you must deploy the desktops from a parent virtual machine on which View Agent 4.5 or later is installed.

You cannot use View Composer to deploy desktops that run Windows Vista Ultimate Edition or Windows XP Professional SP1.

If the parent virtual machine runs Windows XP, and your Active Directory runs on Windows Server 2008, apply an update patch on the Windows XP virtual machine. See the Microsoft Support Article 944043 at the following location: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/944043/en-us.

If you do not install the Windows Server 2008 read-only domain controller (RODC) compatibility pack for Windows XP, linked clones that are deployed from this parent virtual machine fail to join the domain.

When you install View Agent on the parent virtual machine, select the View Composer Agent option. See

“Install View Agent on a Virtual Machine,” on page 49.

To update View Agent in a large environment, you can use standard Windows update mechanisms such as Altiris, SMS, LanDesk, BMC, or other systems management software. You can also use the recompose operation to update View Agent.

To deploy desktops that run Windows 7 or Windows Vista, configure a volume license key and activate the parent virtual machine's operating system with volume activation. See “Activating Windows 7 and

Windows Vista on Linked-Clone Desktops,” on page 66.

If the parent virtual machine runs Windows 7, verify that you followed the best practices for optimizing the operating system. See “Optimizing Windows 7 for Linked-Clone Desktops,” on page 58.

Procedure

Remove the DHCP lease on the parent virtual machine to avoid copying a leased IP address to the linked clones in the pool.

a On the parent virtual machine, open a command prompt.

b Type the ipconfig /release command.

Verify that the system disk contains a single volume.

You cannot deploy linked clones from a parent virtual machine that contains more than one volume. The View Composer service does not support multiple disk partitions. Multiple virtual disks are supported.

Disable the hibernation option to reduce the size of linked-clone OS disks that are created from the parent virtual machine.

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You can deploy a linked-clone pool from the parent virtual machine. If the parent virtual machine hardware is v7, follow these rules when you create a linked-clone pool:

Deploy the linked-clone pool on an ESX/ESXi 4.x host or cluster. The linked-clone pool cannot reside on an ESX/ESXi 3.5 host or a cluster with ESX/ESXi 4.x hosts mixed with ESX/ESXi 3.5 hosts.

Create the linked-clone pool in vSphere mode.

What to do next

Use vSphere Client to take a snapshot of the parent virtual machine in its powered-down state. This snapshot is used as the baseline configuration for the first set of linked-clone desktops that are anchored to the parent virtual machine.

IMPORTANT Before you take a snapshot, completely shut down the parent virtual machine by using the Shut Down command in the guest operating system.

Activating Windows 7 and Windows Vista on Linked-Clone Desktops

To make sure that View Composer properly activates Windows 7 and Windows Vista operating systems on linked-clone desktops, you must use Microsoft volume activation on the parent virtual machine. The volumeactivation technology requires a volume license key.

To activate Windows 7 or Windows Vista with volume activation, you use Key Management Service (KMS), which requires a KMS license key. See your Microsoft dealer to acquire a volume license key and configure volume activation.

NOTE View Composer does not support Multiple Activation Key (MAK) licensing.

Before you create linked-clone desktops with View Composer, you must use volume activation to activate the operating system on the parent virtual machine.

NOTE Windows XP desktops with volume licenses do not require an activation.

When a linked-clone desktop is created, and each time the linked clone is recomposed, the View Composer agent uses the parent virtual machine's KMS server to activate the operating system on the linked clone.

The View Composer QuickPrep tool implements the activation through these steps:

1 Invokes a script to remove the existing license status on the linked-clone virtual machine

2 Restarts the guest operating system

3 Invokes a script that uses KMS licensing to activate the operating system on the clone.

Each time QuickPrep runs on a linked clone, the activation takes place.

For KMS licensing, View Composer uses the KMS server that is configured to activate the parent virtual machine. The KMS server treats an activated linked clone as a computer with a newly issued license.

Disable Windows Hibernation in the Parent Virtual Machine

The Windows hibernation option creates a hidden system file, Hiberfil.sys. Windows uses this file to store a copy of system memory on the hard disk when the hybrid sleep setting is turned on. When you create a linkedclone pool, the file is created on each linked clone's OS disk.

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On Windows 7 virtual machines, this file can be 10GB.

CAUTION When you make hibernation unavailable, the hybrid sleep setting does not work. Users can lose data if the hybrid sleep setting is turned on and a power loss occurs.

Prerequisites

Familiarize yourself with the Windows hibernation feature. See the Microsoft Support Web site. For information about disabling hibernation on Windows 7 or Windows Vista, see the Microsoft Support Web site and search for how to disable and re-enable hibernation on a computer that is running Windows.

Procedure

1 In vSphere Client, select the parent virtual machine and select Open Console.

2 Log in to the Windows guest operating system as an administrator.

3 Disable the hibernation option.

Operating System Action

Windows 7 or Windows Vista

Windows XP

a Click Start and type cmd in the Start Search box.

b In the search results list, right-click Command Prompt and click Run as

Administrator.

c At the User Account Control prompt, click Continue. d At the command prompt, type powercfg.exe /hibernate off and

press Enter.

e Type exit and press Enter.

a Click Start > Run. b Type cmd and click OK. c At the command prompt, type powercfg.exe /hibernate off and

press Enter.

d Type exit and press Enter.

4 Log out of the guest operating system.

When you create linked clone desktops from the parent virtual machine, the Hiberfil.sys file is not created on the linked-clone OS disks.

Configure a Parent Virtual Machine to Use Local Storage

In this procedure, you configure local storage for the virtual-machine swap files, not the paging and temp files in the guest OS. When you create a linked-clone pool, you also can redirect guest OS paging and temp files to a separate disk. See “Worksheet for Creating a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool,” on page 76.

Prerequisites

Prepare the parent virtual machine to meet the requirements of the View Composer service. See “Prepare a

Parent Virtual Machine,” on page 65.

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Procedure

1 Configure a swapfile datastore on the ESX/ESXi host or cluster on which you will deploy the linked-clone

pool.

2 When you create the parent virtual machine in vCenter Server, store the virtual-machine swap files on the

swapfile datastore on the local ESX/ESXi host or cluster:

a In vSphere Client, select the parent virtual machine.

b Click Edit Settings and click the Options tab.

c Click Swapfile location and click Store in the host's swapfile datastore.

For detailed instructions, see the VMware vSphere documentation.

When you deploy a pool from this parent virtual machine, the linked-clone desktops use the local ESX host's swapfile datastore.

Keep a Record of the Parent Virtual Machine's Paging-File Size

If you configure a separate disk for the guest OS paging and temp files, View Manager deletes these disposable files when a linked clone is powered off. This feature can slow the growth of linked clones. However, this feature can work only if you configure the disposable-file disk to be large enough to hold the guest OS's paging files.

Before you can configure the disposable-file disk, you must know the maximum paging-file size in the parent virtual machine. The linked clones have the same paging-file size as the parent virtual machine from which they are created.

NOTE This feature is not that same as configuring local storage for the virtual-machine swap files. See

“Configure a Parent Virtual Machine to Use Local Storage,” on page 67.

Procedure

1 In vSphere Client, right-click the parent virtual machine and click Open Console.

2 Select Start > Settings > Control Panel > System.

3 Click the Advanced tab.

4 In the Performance pane, click Settings.

5 Click the Advanced tab.

6 In the Virtual memory pane, click Change.

The Virtual Memory page appears.

7 Set the paging file size to a larger value than the size of the memory that is assigned to the virtual machine.

IMPORTANT If the Maximum size (MB) setting is smaller than the virtual-machine memory size, type a larger value and save the new value.

8 Keep a record of the Maximum size (MB) setting that is configured in the Paging file size for selected

drive pane.

What to do next

When you configure a linked-clone pool from this parent virtual machine, configure a disposable-file disk that is larger than the paging-file size.

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Increase the Timeout Limit of QuickPrep Customization Scripts

The increased timeout limit is propagated to linked clones that are created from the parent virtual machine. QuickPrep customization scripts can run on the linked clones for the time that you specify.

Alternatively, you can use your customization script to launch another script or process that performs the longrunning task.

NOTE Most QuickPrep customization scripts can finish running within the 20-second limit. Test your scripts before you increase the limit.

Prerequisites

Install View Agent with the View Composer Agent option on the parent virtual machine.

Verify that the parent virtual machine is prepared to create a linked-clone pool. See “Prepare a Parent

Virtual Machine,” on page 65.

Procedure

1 On the parent virtual machine, start the Windows Registry Editor.

a Select Start > Command Prompt.

b At the command prompt, type regedit.

2 In the Windows registry, locate the vmware-viewcomposer-ga registry key.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\vmware-viewcomposer-ga

3 Click Edit and modify the registry value.

Value Name: ExecScriptTimeout Value Type: REG_DWORD Value unit: milliseconds

The default value is 20000 milliseconds.

The timeout value is increased. You do not have to restart Windows for this value to take effect.

What to do next

Take a snapshot of the parent virtual machine and create a linked-clone pool.

Creating Virtual Machine Templates

You must create a virtual machine template before you can create an automated pool that contains full virtual machines.

A virtual machine template is a master copy of a virtual machine that can be used to create and provision new virtual machines. Typically, a template includes an installed guest operating system and a set of applications.

You create virtual machine templates in vSphere Client. You can create a virtual machine template from a previously configured virtual machine, or you can convert a previously configured virtual machine to a virtual machine template.

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See the vSphere Basic System Administration guide for information on using vSphere Client to create virtual machine templates. See “Automated Pools That Contain Full Virtual Machines,” on page 72 for information on creating automated pools.

NOTE You do not create a linked-clone pool from a virtual machine template.

Creating Customization Specifications

Customization specifications are optional, but they can greatly expedite automated pool deployments by providing configuration information for general properties such as licensing, domain attachment, and DHCP settings.

With customization specifications, you can customize View desktops as they are created in View Administrator. You create new customization specifications by using the Customization Specification wizard in vSphere Client. You can also use the Customization Specification wizard to import existing custom

sysprep.ini files.

See the vSphere Virtual Machine Administration document for information on using the Customization Specification wizard.

Make sure that the customization specifications are accurate before you use them in View Administrator. In vSphere Client, deploy and customize a virtual machine from your template using the customization specifications. Fully test the virtual machine, including DHCP and authentication, before you create View desktops.

NOTE To apply customization specifications to desktop pools that use Windows XP, you must install Microsoft Sysprep tools on your vCenter Server machine.

You do not have to install Sysprep tools in vCenter Server for desktop pools that use Windows 7 or Vista. Sysprep tools are built into these operating systems.

When you use a Sysprep customization specification to join a Windows 7 desktop to a domain, you must use the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the Active Directory domain. You cannot use the NetBIOS name of the Active Directory domain.

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Creating Desktop Pools 5

With View Manager, you create pools of desktops that deliver View desktop access to clients. View Manager deploys pools from desktop sources, which can be virtual machines that are managed by vCenter Server, virtual machines that run on another virtualization platform, or physical computers, terminal servers, or blade PCs.

You can create several types of desktop pools. You can also provision an individual desktop by deploying a manual pool with a single desktop source.

Automated Pools That Contain Full Virtual Machines on page 72

To create an automated desktop pool, View Manager dynamically provisions desktops based on settings that you apply to the pool. View Manager uses a virtual machine template as the desktop source for the pool and creates a new virtual machine in vCenter Server for each desktop.

Linked-Clone Desktop Pools on page 75

To create a linked-clone desktop pool, View Composer generates linked-clone virtual machines from a snapshot of a parent virtual machine. View Manager dynamically provisions the linked-clone desktops based on settings that you apply to the pool.

Manual Desktop Pools on page 95

To create a manual desktop pool, View Manager provisions desktops from existing desktop sources. For each desktop in the pool, you select a separate desktop source to deliver View access to clients.

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Microsoft Terminal Services Pools on page 99

You can use Microsoft Terminal Servers to provide Terminal Services sessions as desktops to View clients. View Manager manages Terminal Services sessions in the same way that it manages other View desktops.

Provisioning Desktop Pools on page 100

When you create a desktop pool, you select configuration options that determine how the pool is managed and how users interact with the desktops.

Setting Power Policies for Desktop Pools on page 109

You can configure a power policy for the virtual machines in a desktop pool if the virtual machines are managed by vCenter Server.

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Automated Pools That Contain Full Virtual Machines

Worksheet for Creating an Automated Pool That Contains Full Virtual Machines

When you create an automated desktop pool, the View Administrator Add Pool wizard prompts you to configure certain options. Use this worksheet to prepare your configuration options before you create the pool.

You can print this worksheet and write down the values you want to specify when you run the Add Pool wizard.

To create a linked-clone pool, see “Linked-Clone Desktop Pools,” on page 75.

Table 5-1. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating an Automated Pool That Contains Full Virtual Machines

Option Description Fill In Your Value Here

User assignment Choose the type of user assignment:

In a dedicated-assignment pool, each user is assigned to a desktop. Users receive the same desktop each time they log in.

In a floating-assignment pool, users receive different desktops each time they log in.

For details, see “User Assignment in Desktop

Pools,” on page 101.

Enable automatic assignment In a dedicated-assignment pool, a desktop is

assigned to a user when the user first logs in to the pool. You can also explicitly assign desktops to users.

If you do not enable automatic assignment, you must explicitly assign a desktop to each user.

vCenter Server Select the vCenter Server that manages the virtual

machines in the pool.

Pool ID The unique name that identifies the pool in View

Administrator.

If multiple vCenter Servers are running in your environment, make sure that another vCenter Server is not using the same pool ID.

A View Connection Server configuration can be a standalone View Connection Server instance or a group of replicated instances that share a common View LDAP configuration.

Display name The pool name that users see when they log in with

View Client. If you do not specify a display name, the pool ID is displayed to users.

View Folder Select a View Folder in which to place the pool or

leave the pool in the default root folder.

If you use a View Folder, you can delegate managing the pool to an administrator with a specific role. For details, see “Using Folders to

Delegate Administration,” on page 26.

NOTE View folders are different than vCenter Server folders that store desktop virtual machines. You select a vCenter Server folder later in the wizard with other vCenter Server settings.

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Table 5-1. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating an Automated Pool That Contains Full Virtual Machines (Continued)

Option Description Fill In Your Value Here

Delete desktop after logoff If you select floating user assignment, choose

whether to delete desktops after users log off.

NOTE You set this option on the Pool Settings page.

Pool Settings Settings that determine the desktop state, power

status when a virtual machine is not in use, display protocol, Adobe Flash quality, and so on.

For descriptions, see “Desktop and Pool

Settings,” on page 107.

For a list of the settings that apply to automated pools, see “Desktop Settings for Automated Pools

That Contain Full Virtual Machines,” on

page 75.

For more information about power policies and automated pools, see “Setting Power Policies for

Desktop Pools,” on page 109.

Virtual machine naming Choose whether to provision desktops by

manually specifying a list of desktop names or by providing a naming pattern and the total number of desktops.

For details, see “Naming Desktops Manually or

Providing a Naming Pattern,” on page 101.

List of desktop names If you specify names manually, prepare a text file

that lists desktop names and, optionally, the associated user names.

Naming pattern If you use this naming method, provide the

pattern.

View Manager uses your pattern as a prefix in all the desktop names and appends a unique number to identify each desktop.

For details, see “Using a Naming Pattern for

Automated Desktop Pools,” on page 104.

Maximum number of desktops If you use a naming pattern, specify the total

number of desktops in the pool.

You can also specify a minimum number of desktops to provision when you first create the pool.

Number of spare (powered on) desktops

Minimum number of desktops If you use a naming pattern and provision

If you specify names manually or use a naming pattern, specify a number of desktops that View Manager keeps available and powered on for new users. For details, see “Naming Desktops

Manually or Providing a Naming Pattern,” on

page 101.

When you specify names manually, this option is called # Unassigned desktops kept powered on.

desktops on demand, specify a minimum number of desktops in the pool.

If you provision desktops on demand, View Manager creates desktops as users connect to the pool for the first time.

View Manager creates the minimum number of desktops when you create the pool.

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Table 5-1. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating an Automated Pool That Contains Full Virtual Machines (Continued)

Option Description Fill In Your Value Here

Template Select the virtual machine template that View

vCenter Server folder Select the folder in vCenter Server in which the

Host or cluster Select the ESX host or cluster on which the desktop

Resource pool Select the vCenter Server resource pool in which

Datastores Select one or more datastores on which to store the

Guest customization Select a customization specification (SYSPREP)

Manager uses to create the pool.

desktop pool resides.

virtual machines run.

the desktop pool resides.

desktop pool.

For clusters, you can use shared or local datastores.

from the list to let View Manager configure licensing, domain attachment, DHCP settings, and other properties on the desktops.

Alternatively, you can customize the desktops manually after View Manager creates them.

Create an Automated Pool That Contains Full Virtual Machines

You can create an automated desktop pool based on a virtual machine template that you select. View Manager dynamically deploys the desktops, creating a new virtual machine in vCenter Server for each desktop.

To create a linked-clone pool, see “Linked-Clone Desktop Pools,” on page 75.

Prerequisites

Prepare a virtual machine template that View Manager will use to create the desktops. View Agent must be installed on the template. See Chapter 4, “Creating and Preparing Virtual Machines,” on page 45.

If you intend to use a customization specification, make sure that the specifications are accurate. In vSphere Client, deploy and customize a virtual machine from your template using the customization specification. Fully test the resulting virtual machine, including DHCP and authentication.

Verify that you have a sufficient number of ports on the ESX virtual switch that is used for desktop virtual machines. The default value might not be sufficient if you create large desktop pools. The number of virtual switch ports on the ESX host must equal or exceed the number of desktop virtual machines multiplied by the number of virtual NICs per virtual machine.

Gather the configuration information you must provide to create the pool. See “Worksheet for Creating

an Automated Pool That Contains Full Virtual Machines,” on page 72.

Decide how to configure power settings, display protocol, Adobe Flash quality, and other settings. See

“Desktop and Pool Settings,” on page 107.

Procedure

1 In View Administrator, click Inventory > Pools.

2 Click Add.

3 Select Automated Pool.

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4 On the vCenter Server page, choose Full virtual machines.

5 Follow the prompts in the wizard to create the pool.

Use the configuration information that you gathered in the worksheet. You can go directly back to any wizard page that you completed by clicking the page name in the navigation panel.

In View Administrator, you can view the desktops as they are added to the pool by clicking Inventory > Desktops.

What to do next

Entitle users to access the pool. See “Add Entitlements to Desktop Pools,” on page 115.

Desktop Settings for Automated Pools That Contain Full Virtual Machines

You must specify desktop and pool settings when you configure automated pools that contain full virtual machines. Different settings apply to pools with dedicated user assignments and floating user assignments.

Table 5-2 lists the settings that apply to automated pools with dedicated assignments and floating assignments.

For descriptions of each desktop setting, see “Desktop and Pool Settings,” on page 107.

Table 5-2. Settings for Automated Pools That Contain Full Virtual Machines

Setting

Automated Pool, Dedicated Assignment

Automated Pool, Floating Assignment

State Yes Yes

Connection Server restrictions Yes Yes

Remote desktop power policy Yes Yes

Automatic logoff after disconnect Yes Yes

Allow users to reset their desktops Yes Yes

Allow multiple sessions per user Yes

Delete desktop after logoff Yes

Default display protocol Yes Yes

Allow users to choose protocol Yes Yes

Max number of monitors Yes Yes

Max resolution of any one monitor Yes Yes

Adobe Flash quality Yes Yes

Adobe Flash throttling Yes Yes

Linked-Clone Desktop Pools

Because linked-clone desktops share a base system-disk image, they use less storage than full virtual machines.

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Worksheet for Creating a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool

When you create a linked-clone desktop pool, the View Administrator Add Pool wizard prompts you to configure certain options. Use this worksheet to prepare your configuration options before you create the pool.

You can print this worksheet and write down the values you want to specify when you run the Add Pool wizard.

Before you create a linked-clone pool, you must use vCenter Server to take a snapshot of the parent virtual machine that you prepare for the pool. You must shut down the parent virtual machine before you take the snapshot. View Composer uses the snapshot as the base image from which the clones are created.

NOTE You cannot create a linked-clone pool from a virtual machine template.

Table 5-3. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool

Option Description Fill In Your Value Here

User assignment Choose the type of user assignment:

In a dedicated-assignment pool, each user is assigned to a desktop. Users receive the same desktop each time they log in.

In a floating-assignment pool, users receive different desktops each time they log in.

For details, see “User Assignment in Desktop

Pools,” on page 101.

Enable automatic assignment In a dedicated-assignment pool, a desktop is

assigned to a user when the user first logs in to the pool. You can also explicitly assign desktops to users.

If you do not enable automatic assignment, you must explicitly assign a desktop to each user.

vCenter Server Select the vCenter Server that manages the virtual

machines in the pool.

Pool ID The unique name that identifies the pool in View

Administrator.

If multiple View Connection Server configurations are running in your environment, make sure that another View Connection Server configuration is not using the same pool ID.

A View Connection Server configuration can be a standalone View Connection Server instance or a group of replicated instances that share a common View LDAP configuration.

Display name The pool name that users see when they log in with

View Client. If you do not specify a display name, the pool ID is displayed to users.

View Folder Select a View Folder in which to place the pool or

leave the pool in the default root folder.

If you use a View Folder, you can delegate managing the pool to an administrator with a specific role. For details, see “Using Folders to

Delegate Administration,” on page 26.

NOTE View folders are different than vCenter Server folders that store desktop virtual machines. You select a vCenter Server folder later in the wizard with other vCenter Server settings.

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Table 5-3. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool (Continued)

Option Description Fill In Your Value Here

Delete or refresh desktop on logoff

If you select floating user assignment, choose whether to refresh desktops, delete desktops, or do nothing after users log off.

NOTE You set this option on the Pool Settings page.

Pool Settings Settings that determine the desktop state, power

status when a virtual machine is not in use, display protocol, Adobe Flash quality, and so on.

For descriptions, see “Desktop and Pool

Settings,” on page 107.

For a list of the settings that apply to linked-clone pools, see “Desktop Settings for Linked-Clone

Desktop Pools,” on page 82.

For more information about power policies and automated pools, see “Setting Power Policies for

Desktop Pools,” on page 109.

Redirect Windows profile to persistent disks

If you select dedicated user assignments, choose whether to store Windows user-profile data on a separate View Composer persistent disk or the same disk as the OS data.

Separate persistent disks let you preserve user data and settings. View Composer refresh, recompose, and rebalance operations do not affect persistent disks. You can detach a persistent disk from a linked clone and attach it to another desktop.

If you store the Windows profile in the OS disk, user data and settings are removed during refresh, recompose, and rebalance operations.

Disk size and drive letter for persistent disk

If you store user profile data on a separate View Composer persistent disk, provide the disk size in megabytes and the drive letter.

NOTE Do not select a drive letter that already exists on the parent virtual machine or that conflicts with a drive letter that is used for a network-mounted drive.

Disposable File Redirection Choose whether to redirect the guest OS's paging

and temp files to a separate, nonpersistent disk. If you do, provide the disk size in megabytes.

With this configuration, View Manager deletes the disposable files when a linked clone is powered off. Linked clones can increase in size as users interact with their desktops. Disposable file redirection can save storage space by slowing the growth of linked clones.

The disk size should be larger than page-file size of the guest OS. To determine the page-file size, see “Keep a Record of the Parent Virtual Machine's

Paging-File Size,” on page 68.

When you configure the disposable-file disk size, consider that the actual size of a formatted disk partition is slightly smaller than the value you provide in View Administrator.

Disposable file redirection is supported in vSphere mode only.

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Table 5-3. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool (Continued)

Option Description Fill In Your Value Here

Virtual machine naming Choose whether to provision desktops by

List of desktop names If you specify names manually, prepare a text file

Naming pattern If you use this naming method, provide the

Maximum number of desktops If you use a naming pattern, specify the total

Number of spare (powered on) desktops

Minimum number of desktops If you use a naming pattern and provision

Parent virtual machine Select the parent virtual machine for the pool.

Default image (snapshot) Select the snapshot of the parent virtual machine

manually specifying a list of desktop names or by providing a naming pattern and the total number of desktops.

For details, see “Naming Desktops Manually or

Providing a Naming Pattern,” on page 101.

that lists desktop names and, optionally, the associated user names.

pattern.

View Manager uses your pattern as a prefix in all the desktop names and appends a unique number to identify each desktop.

For details, see “Using a Naming Pattern for

Automated Desktop Pools,” on page 104.

number of desktops in the pool.

You can also specify a minimum number of desktops to provision when you first create the pool.

If you specify names manually or use a naming pattern, specify a number of desktops that View Manager keeps available and powered on for new users. For details, see “Naming Desktops

Manually or Providing a Naming Pattern,” on

page 101.

When you specify names manually, this option is called # Unassigned desktops kept powered on.

desktops on demand, specify a minimum number of desktops in the pool.

If you provision desktops on demand, View Manager creates desktops as users connect to the pool for the first time.

View Manager creates the minimum number of desktops when you create the pool.

To use features that are supported in View Manager 4.5 or later, such as redirecting disposable data to a separate disk and customizing the linked clones with Sysprep, you must select a parent virtual machine on which View Agent 4.5 or later is installed.

NOTE You cannot use View Composer to deploy desktops that run Windows Vista Ultimate Edition or Windows XP Professional SP1.

to use as the base image for the pool.

Do not delete the snapshot and parent virtual machine from vCenter Server, unless no more linked clones will be created from this default image. View Manager requires the parent virtual machine and snapshot to provision new linked clones in the pool, according to pool policies.

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Table 5-3. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool (Continued)

Option Description Fill In Your Value Here

Publish base image to the Transfer Server repository.

Select this option if you use the pool to provision local desktops. When a local desktop is provisioned, View Transfer Server downloads the base image from the Transfer Server repository to the client.

You can also publish the base image after you create the pool.

vCenter Server folder Select the folder in vCenter Server in which the

desktop pool resides.

Host or cluster Select the ESX host or cluster on which the desktop

virtual machines run.

You can deploy a linked-clone pool on a cluster that contains ESX/ESXi 4 hosts mixed with ESX/ESXi 3 hosts if you do not set vSphere mode.

Use vSphere mode for View Composer

If you select a cluster that contains ESX 4 hosts only, you can create the pool in vSphere mode.

IMPORTANT Several View Composer features are available only in vSphere mode.

For details, see “Using vSphere Mode for View

Composer,” on page 83.

Resource pool Select the vCenter Server resource pool in which

the desktop pool resides.

Select Datastores Select one or more datastores on which to store the

desktop pool.

A table on the Select Datastores page of the Add Pool wizard provides high-level guidelines for estimating the pool's storage requirements. These guidelines can help you determine which datastores are large enough to store the linkedclone disks. For details, see “Storage Sizing for

Linked-Clone Desktop Pools,” on page 88.

If you store user data and OS data on separate disks, you can store the persistent disks and OS disks on separate datastores.

You can store the replica (master) virtual machine on a high-performance datastore and the linked clones on separate datastores.

This feature is supported in vSphere mode only.

For details, see “Storing View Composer

Replicas and Linked Clones on Separate Datastores,” on page 93.

For clusters, you can use shared datastores. In vSphere mode, you can use shared or local datastores.

For more information about the disks that are created for linked clones, see “Linked-Clone

Desktop Data Disks,” on page 94.

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Table 5-3. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool (Continued)

Option Description Fill In Your Value Here

Storage Overcommit Determine the storage-overcommit level at which

View Manager creates linked-clone desktops on each datastore.

As the level increases, more linked clones fit on the datastore and less space is reserved to let individual clones grow. A high storageovercommit level lets you create linked clones that have a total logical size larger than the physical storage limit of the datastore. For details, see “Set

the Storage Overcommit Level for Linked-Clone Desktops,” on page 91.

Active Directory domain Select the Active Directory domain and user name.

View Composer requires certain user privileges to create a linked-clone pool. The domain and user account are used by QuickPrep or Sysprep to customize the linked-clone desktops. For details, see “Create a User Account for View Composer,” on page 14.

You specify this user when you configure View Composer settings for vCenter Server. For details, see “Configure View Composer Settings for

vCenter Server,” on page 15. You can specify

multiple domains and users when you configure View Composer settings. When you use the Add Pool wizard to create a pool, you must select one domain and user from the list.

Active Directory container Provide the Active Directory container relative

distinguished name. For example: CN=Computers

When you run the Add Pool wizard, you can browse your Active Directory tree for the container.

Use QuickPrep or a customization specification (Sysprep)

Choose whether to use QuickPrep or select a customization specification (Sysprep) to let View Manager configure licensing, domain attachment, DHCP settings, and other properties on the desktops.

Sysprep is supported only in vSphere mode and on vSphere 4.1 software. You cannot use Sysprep to customize linked-clone desktops on vSphere 4.0 or VMware Infrastructure 3.5 software.

After you use QuickPrep or Sysprep when you create a pool, you cannot switch to the other customization method later on, when you create or recompose desktops in the pool.

For details, see “Choosing QuickPrep or Sysprep

to Customize Linked-Clone Desktops,” on

page 85.

Power-off script QuickPrep can run a customization script on

linked-clone desktops before they are powered off.

Provide the path to the script on the parent virtual machine.

Post synchronization script QuickPrep can run a customization script on

linked-clone desktops after they are created, recomposed, and refreshed.

Provide the path to the script on the parent virtual machine.

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Create a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool

You can create an automated, linked-clone desktop pool based on a parent virtual machine that you select. The View Composer service dynamically creates a new linked-clone virtual machine in vCenter Server for each desktop.

To create an automated pool that contains full virtual machines, see “Automated Pools That Contain Full

Virtual Machines,” on page 72.

Prerequisites

Verify that the View Composer service is installed in vCenter Server and a View Composer database is configured. See the VMware View Installation document.

Verify that View Composer settings for vCenter Server are configured in View Administrator. See

“Configure View Composer Settings for vCenter Server,” on page 15.

Verify that you prepared a parent virtual machine. View Agent must be installed on the parent virtual machine. See Chapter 4, “Creating and Preparing Virtual Machines,” on page 45.

Take a snapshot of the parent virtual machine in vCenter Server. You must shut down the parent virtual machine before you take the snapshot. View Composer uses the snapshot as the base image from which the clones are created.

NOTE You cannot create a linked-clone pool from a virtual machine template.

Gather the configuration information you must provide to create the pool. See “Worksheet for Creating

a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool,” on page 76.

Decide how to configure power settings, display protocol, Adobe Flash quality, and other settings. See

“Desktop and Pool Settings,” on page 107.

IMPORTANT While a linked-clone pool is created, do not modify the parent virtual machine in vCenter Server. For example, do not convert the parent virtual machine to a template. The View Composer service requires that the parent virtual machine remain in a static, unaltered state during pool creation.

Procedure

1 In View Administrator, click Inventory > Pools.

2 Click Add.

3 Select Automated Pool.

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4 On the vCenter Server page, choose View Composer linked clones.

5 Follow the prompts in the wizard to create the pool.

Use the configuration information you gathered in the worksheet. You can go directly back to any wizard page you completed by clicking the page name in the navigation panel.

On the vCenter Settings page, you must click Browse and select the vCenter Server settings in sequence. You cannot skip a vCenter Server setting:

a Default image

b Virtual machine folder

c Host or cluster

d Resource pool

e Datastores

In View Administrator, you can view the desktops as they are added to the pool by clicking Inventory > Desktops.

The linked clones might restart one or more times while they are provisioned.

View Composer also creates a replica virtual machine that serves as the master image for provisioning the linked clones. To reduce space consumption, the replica is created as a thin disk. If all the desktops are recomposed or deleted, and no clones are linked to the replica, the replica virtual machine is deleted from vCenter Server.

If you do not store the replica on a separate datastore, View Composer creates a replica on each datastore on which linked clones are created.

If you store the replica on a separate datastore, one replica is created for the entire pool, even when linked clones are created on multiple datastores.

What to do next

Entitle users to access the pool. See “Add Entitlements to Desktop Pools,” on page 115.

Desktop Settings for Linked-Clone Desktop Pools

You must specify desktop and pool settings when you configure automated pools that contain linked-clone desktops created by View Composer. Different settings apply to pools with dedicated user assignments and floating user assignments.

Table 5-4 lists the settings that apply to linked-clone pools with dedicated assignments and floating

assignments.

For descriptions of each desktop setting, see “Desktop and Pool Settings,” on page 107.

Table 5-4. Settings for Automated, Linked-Clone Desktop Pools

Linked-Clone Pool, Dedicated

Setting

State Yes Yes

Connection Server restrictions Yes Yes

Remote desktop power policy Yes Yes

Automatic logoff after disconnect Yes Yes

Allow users to reset their desktops Yes Yes

Allow multiple sessions per user Yes

Delete or refresh desktop on logoff Yes

Assignment

Linked-Clone Pool, Floating Assignment

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Table 5-4. Settings for Automated, Linked-Clone Desktop Pools (Continued)

Linked-Clone Pool, Dedicated

Setting

Refresh OS disk after logoff Yes

Default display protocol Yes Yes

Allow users to choose protocol Yes Yes

Max number of monitors Yes Yes

Max resolution of any one monitor Yes Yes

Adobe Flash quality Yes Yes

Adobe Flash throttling Yes Yes

Assignment

Linked-Clone Pool, Floating Assignment

Using vSphere Mode for View Composer

In vSphere mode, View Composer can provision linked-clone desktops more quickly than in earlier releases. Several View Composer features are available only in vSphere mode.

You must create linked-clone virtual machines on hosts that run ESX/ESXi 4 or later, and you must configure linked-clone pools in vSphere mode, to take advantage of these View Composer and vSphere features:

Storing linked-clone virtual machines on local datastores

Redirecting disposable data to separate, non-persistent disks

Storing replicas and linked clones on separate datastores

Creating pools from a parent virtual-machine snapshot that uses hardware version 7

Using Sysprep customization specifications for linked-clone virtual machines

In addition, Sysprep is supported for linked-clones only on vSphere 4.1 software. You cannot use Sysprep on vSphere 4.0 or VMware Infrastructure 3.5 software.

vSphere mode uses a new API that operates on ESX/ESXi 4 or later. With this API, View Composer needs to make fewer API calls, which results in faster provisioning. ESX/ESXi 4 can take advantage of new hardware features on the host machines.

After you create or edit a linked-clone pool in vSphere mode, you cannot revert it to the old API.

When you create a linked-clone pool, the ESX/ESXi version determines whether vSphere mode is available:

You can enable vSphere mode if you select a cluster that contains ESX/ESXi 4 hosts only. If you plan to have ESX/ESXi 3.5 hosts in the cluster, do not enable vSphere mode. You cannot provision, refresh, or recompose a linked-clone pool created in vSphere mode if the cluster contains an ESX/ESXi 3.5 host.

You enable this feature by selecting the Use vSphere mode for View Composer check box when you create a linked-clone pool.

You must use vSphere mode if you select a single ESX/ESXi 4 host. You cannot deselect the Use vSphere mode for View Composer check box.

You cannot use vSphere mode if you select an ESX/ESXi 3.5 host or a cluster that contains an ESX/ESXi 3.5 host.

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View Composer Support for Linked-Clone SIDs and Third-Party Applications

View Composer can generate and preserve local computer security identifiers (SIDs) for linked-clone virtual machines in some situations. View Composer can preserve globally unique identifiers (GUIDs) of third-party applications, depending on the way that the applications generate GUIDs.

To understand how View Composer operations affect SIDs and application GUIDs, you should understand how linked-clone desktops are created and provisioned:

1 View Composer creates a linked clone by taking these actions:

a Creates the replica by cloning the parent virtual-machine snapshot.

b Creates the linked clone to refer to the replica as its parent disk.

2 View Composer and View Manager customize the linked clone with QuickPrep or a Sysprep

customization specification, depending on which customization tool you select when you create the pool.

If you use Sysprep, a unique SID is generated for each clone.

If you use QuickPrep, no new SID is generated. The parent virtual machine's SID is replicated on all provisioned linked-clone desktops in the pool.

Some applications generate a GUID during customization.

3 View Manager creates a snapshot of the linked clone.

The snapshot contains the unique SID generated with Sysprep or common SID generated with QuickPrep.

4 View Manager powers on the desktop according to the settings you select when you create the pool.

Some applications generate a GUID the first time the desktop is powered on.

For a comparison of QuickPrep and Sysprep customization, see “Choosing QuickPrep or Sysprep to Customize

Linked-Clone Desktops,” on page 85.

When you refresh the linked clone, View Composer uses the snapshot to restore the clone to its initial state. Its SID is preserved.

If you use QuickPrep, when you recompose the linked clone, the parent virtual machine's SID is preserved on the linked clone as long as you select the same parent virtual machine for the recompose operation. If you select a different parent virtual machine for the recomposition, the new parent's SID is replicated on the clone.

If you use Sysprep, a new SID is always generated on the clone. For details, see “Recomposing Linked Clones

Customized with Sysprep,” on page 87.

Table 5-5 shows the effect of View Composer operations on linked-clone SIDs and third-party application

GUIDs.

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Table 5-5. View Composer Operations, Linked-Clone SIDs, and Application GUIDs

Support for SIDs or GUIDs Clone Creation Refresh Recompose

Sysprep: Unique SIDs for linked clones

QuickPrep: Common SIDs for linked clones

Third-party application GUIDs

With Sysprep customization, unique SIDs are generated for linked clones.

With QuickPrep customization, a common SID is generated for all clones in a pool.

Each application behaves differently.

NOTE Sysprep and QuickPrep have the same effect on GUID preservation.

Unique SIDs are preserved. Unique SIDS are not

Common SID is preserved. Common SID is preserved.

The GUID is preserved if an application generates the GUID before the initial snapshot is taken.

The GUID is not preserved if an application generates the GUID after the initial snapshot is taken.

preserved.

Recompose operations do not preserve an application GUID unless the application writes the GUID on the drive specified as a View Composer persistent disk.

Choosing QuickPrep or Sysprep to Customize Linked-Clone Desktops

QuickPrep and Microsoft Sysprep provide different approaches to customizing linked-clone desktops. QuickPrep is designed to work efficiently with View Composer. Microsoft Sysprep offers standard customization tools.

When you create linked-clone desktops, you must modify each virtual machine so that it can function as a unique computer on the network. View Manager and View Composer provide two methods for personalizing linked-clone desktops.

Table 5-6 compares QuickPrep with customization specifications that are created with Microsoft Sysprep.

Sysprep is supported only when the pool is created in vSphere mode and on vSphere 4.1 software. You cannot use Sysprep to customize linked-clone deskstops on vSphere 4.0 or VMware Infrastructure 3.5 software.

Table 5-6. Comparing QuickPrep and Microsoft Sysprep

QuickPrep Customization Specification (Sysprep)

Designed to work with View Composer.

For details, see “Customizing Linked-Clone Desktops with

QuickPrep,” on page 86.

Uses the same local computer security identifier (SID) for all linked clones in the pool.

Can run additional customization scripts before linked clones are powered off and after linked clones are created, refreshed, or recomposed.

Joins the linked clone computer to the Active Directory domain.

For each linked clone, adds a unique ID to the Active Directory domain account.

Does not generate a new SID after linked clones are refreshed. The common SID is preserved.

Can be created with the standard Microsoft Sysprep tools.

Generates a unique local computer SID for each linked clone in the pool.

Can run an additional script when the user first logs in.

Joins the linked-clone computer to the Active Directory domain.

The domain and administrator information in the Sysprep customization specification is not used. The virtual machine is joined to the domain using the guest customization information that you enter in View Administrator when you create the pool.

For each linked clone, adds a unique ID to the Active Directory domain account.

Generates a new SID when each linked clone is customized. Preserves the unique SIDs during a refresh operation, but not during a recompose or rebalance operation.

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Table 5-6. Comparing QuickPrep and Microsoft Sysprep (Continued)

QuickPrep Customization Specification (Sysprep)

Does not generate a new SID after linked clones are recomposed. The common SID is preserved.

Runs faster than Sysprep. Can take longer than QuickPrep.

Runs again after linked clones are recomposed, generating new SIDs for the virtual machines.

For details, see “Recomposing Linked Clones Customized

with Sysprep,” on page 87.

After you customize a linked-clone pool with QuickPrep or Sysprep, you cannot switch to the other customization method when you create or recompose desktops in the pool.

Customizing Linked-Clone Desktops with QuickPrep

You can personalize the linked-clone desktops that are created from a parent virtual machine by using the QuickPrep system tool. View Composer executes QuickPrep when a linked-clone desktop is created or recomposed.

QuickPrep customizes a linked-clone desktop in several ways:

Gives the computer a name that you specify when you create the linked-clone pool.

Creates a computer account in Active Directory, joining the computer to the appropriate domain.

Mounts the View Composer persistent disk. The Windows user profile is redirected to this disk.

Redirects temp and paging files to a separate disk.

These steps might require the linked clones to restart one or more times.

QuickPrep uses KMS volume license keys to activate Windows 7 and Windows Vista linked-clone desktops. For details, see “Activating Windows 7 and Windows Vista on Linked-Clone Desktops,” on page 66.

You can create your own scripts to further customize the linked clones. QuickPrep can run two types of scripts at predefined times:

After linked clones are created or recomposed

Immediately before linked clones are powered off

For guidelines and rules for using QuickPrep customization scripts, see “Running QuickPrep Customization

Scripts,” on page 86.

NOTE View Composer requires domain user credentials to join linked-clone desktops to an Active Directory domain. For details, see “Create a User Account for View Composer,” on page 14.

Running QuickPrep Customization Scripts

With the QuickPrep tool, you can create scripts to customize the linked-clone desktops in a pool. You can configure QuickPrep to run customization scripts at two predefined times.

When QuickPrep Scripts Run

The post-synchronization script runs after linked clones are created, recomposed, or rebalanced, and the clones' status is Ready. The power-off script runs before linked clones are powered off. The scripts run in the guest operating systems of the linked clones.

How QuickPrep Executes Scripts

The QuickPrep process uses the Windows CreateProcess API call to execute scripts. Your script can invoke any process that can be created with the CreateProcess API. For example, cmd, vbscript, exe, and batch-file processes work with the API.

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In particular, QuickPrep passes the path that is specified for the script as the second parameter to the

CreateProcess API and sets the first parameter to NULL.

For example, if the script path is c:\myscript.cmd, the path appears as the second parameter in the function in the View Composer log file: CreateProcess(NULL,c:\myscript.cmd,...).

Providing Paths to QuickPrep Scripts

You provide paths to the QuickPrep customization scripts when you create a linked-clone desktop pool or when you edit a pool's guest customization settings. The scripts must reside on the parent virtual machine. You cannot use a UNC path to a network share.

If you use a scripting language that needs an interpreter to execute the script, the script path must start with the interpreter binary.

For example, if you specify the path C:\script\myvb.vbs as a QuickPrep customization script, View Composer Agent cannot execute the script. You must specify a path that starts with the interpreter binary path:

C:\windows\system32\cscript.exe c:\script\myvb.vbs

QuickPrep Script Timeout Limit

View Composer terminates a post-synchronization or power-off script that takes longer than 20 seconds. If your script takes longer than 20 seconds, you can increase the timeout limit. For details, see “Increase the

Timeout Limit of QuickPrep Customization Scripts,” on page 69.

Alternatively, you can use your script to launch another script or process that performs the long-running task.

QuickPrep Script Account

QuickPrep runs the scripts under the account under which the View Composer Agent service is configured to run. By default, this account is SYSTEM.

You can change the default account by using the Windows Services (services.msc) dialog and changing the log-on properties of the VMware View Composer Guest Agent Server service. The internal service name is

vmware-viewcomposer-ga.

QuickPrep Script Logs

View Composer logs contain information about QuickPrep script execution. The log records the start and end of execution and logs output or error messages. The log is located in the Windows temp directory:

C:\Windows\Temp\vmware-viewcomposer-ga-new.log

Recomposing Linked Clones Customized with Sysprep

If you recompose a linked-clone desktop that was customized with Sysprep, View Manager runs the Sysprep customization specification again after the OS disk is recomposed. This operation generates a new SID for the linked-clone virtual machine.

If a new SID is generated, the recomposed linked clone functions as a new computer on the network. Some software programs such as system-management tools depend on the SID to identify the computers under their management. These programs might not be able to identify or locate the linked-clone virtual machine.

Also, if third-party software is installed on the system disk, the customization specification might regenerate the GUIDs for that software after the recomposition.

A recomposition restores the linked clone to its original state, before the customization specification was run the first time. In this state, the linked clone does not have a local computer SID or the GUID of any third-party software installed in the system drive. View Manager must run the Sysprep customization specification after the linked clone is recomposed.

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Storage Sizing for Linked-Clone Desktop Pools

View Manager provides high-level guidelines that can help you determine how much storage a linked-clone desktop pool requires. A table in the Add Pool wizard shows a general estimate of the linked-clone disks' storage requirements when the pool is created and as the linked clones grow over time.

The storage-sizing table also displays the free space on the datastores that you select for storing OS disks, View Composer persistent disks, and replicas. You can decide which datastores to use by comparing the actual free space with the estimated requirements for the linked-clone disks.

The formulas that View Manager uses can only provide a general estimate of storage use. Your linked clones' actual storage growth depends on many factors:

Amount of memory assigned to the parent virtual machine

Frequency of refresh operations

Size of the guest operating system's paging file

Whether you redirect paging and temp files to a separate disk

Whether you configure separate View Composer persistent disks

Workload on the linked-clone desktops, determined primarily by the types of applications that users run in the guest operating system

NOTE In a deployment that includes hundreds or thousands of linked clones, configure your linked-clone pools so that particular sets of datastores are dedicated to particular ESX clusters. Do not configure pools randomly across all the datastores so that most or all ESX hosts must access most or all LUNs.

When too many ESX hosts attempt to write to linked-clone OS disks on a particular LUN, contention problems can occur, degrading performance and interfering with scalability. For more information about datastore planning in large deployments, see the VMware View Architecture Planning document.

Sizing Guidelines for Linked-Clone Pools

When you create or edit a linked-clone desktop pool, the Select Datastores page displays a table that provides storage-sizing guidelines. The table can help you to decide which datastores to select for the linked-clone disks.

Sizing Table for Linked-Clone Disks

Table 5-7 shows an example of storage-sizing recommendations that might be displayed for a pool of 10 virtual

machines if the parent virtual machine has 1GB of memory and a 10GB replica. In this example, different datastores are selected for OS disks and View Composer persistent disks.

Table 5-7. Example Sizing Table for Linked-Clone Disks

Selected Free Space

Data Type

OS disks 184.23 40.00 80.00 130.00

Persistent disks 28.56 4.00 10.00 20.00

(GB)

Min Recommended (GB) 50% Utilization (GB)

Max Recommended (GB)

The Selected Free Space column shows the total available space on all of the datastores that you selected for a disk type such as OS disks.

The Min Recommended column shows the minimum amount of recommended storage for a pool.

The 50% Utilization column shows the recommended storage when the linked-clone disks grow to 50% of the parent virtual machine.

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The Max Recommended column shows the recommended storage when the linked-clone disks approach the full size of the parent virtual machine.

If you store OS disks and persistent disks on the same datastore, View Manager calculates the storage requirements of both disk types. The Data Type is shown as Linked clones instead of a particular disk type.

If you store View Composer replicas on a separate datastore, the table also shows storage recommendations for the replicas and adjusts the recommendations for OS disks.

Sizing Guidelines

The table provides general guidelines. Your storage calculations must account for additional factors that can affect actual storage growth in the linked-clone pool.

For OS disks, your sizing estimates depend on how frequently you refresh and recompose the pool.

If you refresh your linked-clone pool between once a day and once a week, make sure that the Selected Free Space can accommodate storage use between the Min Recommended and 50% Utilization estimates.

If you rarely refresh or recompose the pool, the linked-clone disks continue to grow. Make sure that the Selected Free Space can accommodate storage use between the 50 % Utilization and Max Recommended estimates.

For persistent disks, your sizing estimates depend on the amount of Windows profile data that users generate on their desktops. Refresh and recompose operations do not affect persistent disks.

How View Manager Calculates the Minimum Sizing Recommendations

To arrive at a minimum recommendation for OS disks, View Manager estimates that each clone consumes twice its memory size when it is first created and started up. If no memory is reserved for a clone, an ESX swap file is created for a clone as soon as it is powered on. The size of the guest operating system's paging file also affects the growth of a clone's OS disk.

In the minimum recommendation for OS disks, View Manager also includes space for two replicas on each datastore. View Composer creates one replica when a pool is created. When the pool is recomposed for the first time, View Composer creates a second replica on the datastore, anchors the linked clones to the new replica, and deletes the first replica if no other clones are using original snapshot. The datastore must have the capacity to store two replicas during the recompose operation.

By default, replicas use vSphere thin provisioning, but to keep the guidelines simple, View Manager accounts for two replicas that use the same space as the parent virtual machine.

To arrive at a minimum recommendation for persistent disks, View Manager calculates 20% of the disk size that you specify on the View Composer Disks page of the Add Pool wizard.

NOTE The calculations for persistent disks are based on static threshold values, in gigabytes. For example, if you specify a persistent disk size of any value between 1024MB and 2047MB, View Manager calculates the persistent disk size as 1GB. If you specify a disk size of 2048MB, View manager calculates the disk size as 2GB.

To arrive at a recommendation for storing replicas on a separate datastore, View Manager allows space for two replicas on the datastore. The same value is calculated for minimum and maximum usage.

For details, see “Sizing Formulas for Linked-Clone Pools,” on page 90.

Sizing Guidelines and Storage Overcommit

After you estimate storage requirements, select datastores, and deploy the pool, View Manager provisions linked-clone virtual machines on different datastores based on the free space and the existing clones on each datastore.

Based on the storage-overcommit option that you select on the Select Datastores page in the Add Pool wizard, View Manager stops provisioning new clones and reserves free space for the existing clones. This behavior ensures that a growth buffer exists for each desktop on the datastore.

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If you select an aggressive storage-overcommit level, the estimated storage requirements might exceed the capacity shown in the Selected Free Space column. The storage-overcommit level affects how many virtual machines that View Manager actually creates on a datastore.

For details, see “Set the Storage Overcommit Level for Linked-Clone Desktops,” on page 91.

Sizing Formulas for Linked-Clone Pools

Storage-sizing formulas can help you estimate the size of linked-clone disks relative to the free space on the datastores that you select for OS disks, View Composer persistent disks, and replicas.

Storage Sizing Formulas

Table 5-8 shows the formulas that calculate the estimated sizes of linked-clone disks when you create a pool

and as the linked-clone desktops grow over time. These formulas include the space for replica disks that are stored with the clones on the datastore.

If you edit an existing pool or store replicas on a separate datastore, View Manager uses a different sizing formula. See “Sizing Formulas for Creating Linked Clones When You Edit a Pool or Store Replicas on a Separate

Datastore,” on page 91.

Table 5-8. Storage Sizing Formulas for Linked-Clone Disks on Selected Datastores

Data Type

Selected Free Space (GB)

Min Recommended (GB) 50% Utilization (GB)

Max Recommended (GB)

OS disks Free space on the

selected datastores

Persistent disks Free space on the

selected datastores

Number of VMs * (2 * memory of VM) + (2 * replica disk)

Number of VMs * 20% of persistent disk

Number of VMs * (50% of replica disk + memory of VM) + (2 * replica disk)

Number of VMs * 50% of persistent disk

Number of VMs * (100% of replica disk + memory of VM) + (2 * replica disk)

Number of VMs * 100% of persistent disk

Example of a Storage Sizing Estimate

In this example, the parent virtual machine is configured with 1GB of memory. The parent virtual machine's disk size is 10GB. A linked-clone pool is created with 10 desktops. Persistent disks are configured as 2048MB in size.

The OS disks are configured on a datastore that currently has 184.23GB of available space. The persistent disks are configured on a different datastore with 28.56GB of available space.

Table 5-9 shows how the sizing formulas calculate estimated storage requirements for the sample linked-clone

pool.

Table 5-9. Example of a Sizing Estimate for Linked-Clone Disks Deployed on Selected Datastores

Selected Free Space

Data Type

OS disks 184.23 10 * (2*1GB) +

Persistent disks 28.56 10 * (20% of 2GB) =

(GB)

Min Recommended (GB) 50% Utilization (GB)

10 * (50% of 10GB +

(2*10GB) =

40.00

4.00

1GB) + (2*10GB) =

80.00

10 * (50% of 2GB) =

10.00

Max Recommended (GB)

10 * (100% of 10GB + 1GB) + (2*10GB) =

130.00

10 * (100% of 2GB) =

20.00

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Sizing Formulas for Creating Linked Clones When You Edit a Pool or Store Replicas on a Separate Datastore

View Manager calculates different sizing formulas when you edit an existing linked-clone pool, or store replicas on a separate datastore, than when you first create a pool.

If you edit an existing pool and select datastores for the pool, View Composer creates new clones on the selected datastores. The new clones are anchored to the existing snapshot and use the existing replica disk. No new replicas are created.

If you store replicas on a separate datastore, the other selected datastores are dedicated to linked-clone disks.

In these cases, View Manager does not include space for replicas when it calculates storage recommendations for linked-clone disks.

Table 5-10 shows the formulas that calculate the estimated sizes of linked-clone disks when you edit a pool or

store replicas on a separate datastore.

Table 5-10. Storage Sizing Formulas for Linked-Clone Disks When You Edit a Pool or Store Replicas on a Separate Datastore

Data Type

Selected Free Space (GB)

Min Recommended (GB) 50% Utilization (GB)

Max Recommended (GB)

OS disks Free space on the

selected datastores

Persistent disks Free space on the

selected datastores

Number of VMs * (2 * memory of VM)

Number of VMs * 20% of persistent disk

Number of VMs * (50% of replica disk + memory of VM)

Number of VMs * 50% of persistent disk

Number of VMs * (100% of replica disk + memory of VM)

Number of VMs * 100% of persistent disk

Example of a Storage Sizing Estimate When You Edit a Pool or Store Replicas on a Separate Datastore

The OS disks are configured on a datastore that currently has 184.23GB of available space. The persistent disks are configured on a different datastore with 28.56GB of available space.

Table 5-11 shows how the sizing formulas calculate estimated storage requirements for the sample linked-

clone pool.

Table 5-11. Example of a Sizing Estimate for Linked-Clone Disks When You Edit a Pool or Store Replicas on a Separate Datastore

Selected Free Space

Data Type

OS disks 184.23 10 * (2*1GB) =

Persistent disks 28.56 10 * (20% of 2GB) =

(GB)

Min Recommended (GB) 50% Utilization (GB)

10 * (50% of 10GB +

20.00

4.00

1GB) =

60.00

10 * (50% of 2GB) =

10.00

Max Recommended (GB)

10 * (100% of 10GB + 1GB) =

110.00

10 * (100% of 2GB) =

20.00

Set the Storage Overcommit Level for Linked-Clone Desktops

You can control how aggressively View Manager creates linked-clone desktops on a datastore by using the storage overcommit feature. This feature lets you create linked clones that have a total logical size larger than the physical storage limit of the datastore.

This feature works only with linked-clone pools.

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The storage overcommit level calculates the amount of storage greater than the physical size of the datastore that the clones would use if each clone were a full virtual machine. For details, see “Storage Overcommit for

Linked-Clone Desktops,” on page 92.

Procedure

1 In View Administrator, click Inventory > Pools.

2 When you create a new desktop pool or edit an existing pool, navigate to the Select Datastores page.

Option Action

New desktop pool

Existing desktop pool

3 On the Select Datastores page, select the storage overcommit level.

Option Description

None

Conservative

Moderate

Aggressive

4 Click Done.

a Click Add.

b Proceed through the Add Pool wizard until the Select Datastores page

is displayed.

a Select the linked-clone pool and click Edit.

b Click the vCenter Settings tab.

Storage is not overcommitted.

4 times the size of the datastore. This is the default level.

7 times the size of the datastore.

15 times the size of the datastore.

5 Click Finish.

Storage Overcommit for Linked-Clone Desktops

With the storage overcommit feature, you can reduce storage costs by placing more linked-clone desktops on a datastore than is possible with full virtual-machine desktops. The linked clones can use a logical storage space several times greater than the physical capacity of the datastore.

This feature helps you choose a storage level that lets you overcommit the datastore's capacity and sets a limit on the number of linked clones that View Manager creates. You can avoid either wasting storage by provisioning too conservatively or risking that the linked clones will run out of disk space and cause their desktop applications to fail.

For example, you can create at most ten full virtual machines on a 100GB datastore, if each virtual machine is 10GB. When you create linked clones from a 10GB parent virtual machine, each clone is a fraction of that size.

If you set a conservative overcommit level, View Manager allows the clones to use four times the physical size of the datastore, measuring each clone as if it were the size of the parent virtual machine. On a 100GB datastore, with a 10GB parent, View Manager provisions approximately 40 linked clones. View Manager does not provision more clones, even if the datastore has free space. This limit keeps a growth buffer for the existing clones.

Table 5-12 shows the storage overcommit levels you can set.

Table 5-12. Storage Overcommit Levels

Option Storage Overcommit Level

None Storage is not overcommitted.

Conservative 4 times the size of the datastore. This is the default level.

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Table 5-12. Storage Overcommit Levels (Continued)

Option Storage Overcommit Level

Moderate 7 times the size of the datastore.

Aggressive 15 times the size of the datastore.

Storage overcommit levels provide a high-level guide for determining storage capacity. To determine the best level, monitor the growth of linked clones in your environment.

Set an aggressive level if your OS disks will never grow to their maximum possible size. An aggressive overcommit level demands attention. To make sure that the linked clones do not run out of disk space, you can periodically refresh or rebalance the desktop pool and reduce the linked clones' OS data to its original size.

For example, it would make sense to set an aggressive overcommit level for a floating-assignment desktop pool in which the desktops are set to delete or refresh after logoff.

You can vary storage overcommit levels among different types of datastores to address the different levels of throughput in each datastore. For example, a NAS datastore can have a different setting than a SAN datastore.

Storing View Composer Replicas and Linked Clones on Separate Datastores

You can place View Composer replicas and linked clones on separate datastores with different performance characteristics. This flexible configuration can speed up intensive operations such as provisioning many linked clones at once or running antivirus scans.

For example, you can store the replica virtual machines on a solid-state disk-backed datastore. Solid-state disks have low storage capacity and high read performance, typically supporting 20,000 I/Os per second (IOPS). View Composer creates only one replica for each View Composer base-image snapshot on each ESX cluster, so replicas do not require much storage space. A solid-state disk can improve the speed at which ESX reads a replica's OS disk when a task is performed concurrently on many linked clones.

You can store linked clones on traditional, spinning media-backed datastores. These disks provide lower performance, typically supporting 200 IOPS. They are cheap and provide high storage capacity, which makes them suited for storing the many linked clones in a large pool. ESX does not need to perform intensive, simultaneous read operations on a linked clone.

Configuring replicas and linked clones in this way can reduce the impact of I/O storms that occur when many linked clones are created at once. For example, if you deploy a floating-assignment pool with a delete-desktopon-logoff policy, and your users start work at the same time, View Manager must concurrently provision new desktops for them.

IMPORTANT This feature is designed for specific storage configurations provided by vendors who offer highperformance disk solutions. Do not store replicas on a separate datastore if your storage hardware does not support high-read performance.

You must follow certain requirements when you store the replica and linked clones in a pool on separate datastores:

You can specify only one separate replica datastore for a pool.

If a replica datastore is shared, it must be accessible from all ESX hosts in the cluster.

If the linked-clone datastores are shared, the replica datastore must be shared. Replicas can reside on a local datastore only if you configure all linked clones on local datastores on the same ESX host.

This feature is supported in vSphere mode only. The linked clones must be deployed on hosts or clusters running ESX 4 or later.

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Availability Considerations for Storing Replicas on a Separate Datastore or Shared Datastores

You can store View Composer replicas on a separate datastore or on the same datastores as linked-clone virtual machines. These configurations affect the availability of the pool in different ways.

When you store replicas on the same datastores as linked clones, to enhance availability, View Composer creates a separate replica on each datastore. If a datastore becomes unavailable, only the linked clones on that datastore are affected. Linked clones on other datastores continue to run.

When you store replicas on a separate datastore, all linked clones in the pool are anchored to the replicas on that datastore. If the datastore becomes unavailable, the entire pool is unavailable.

To enhance the availability of the linked-clone desktops, you can configure a high-availability solution for the datastore on which you store the replicas.

Linked-Clone Desktop Data Disks

View Composer creates more than one data disk to store the components of a linked-clone desktop.

OS Disk

View Composer creates an OS disk for each linked clone. This disk stores the system data that the clone needs to remain linked to the base image and to function as a unique desktop.

QuickPrep Configuration-Data Disk

View Composer creates a second disk with the OS disk. The second disk stores QuickPrep configuration data and other OS-related data that must be preserved during refresh and recompose operations. This disk is small, typically about 20MB. This disk is created whether you use QuickPrep or Sysprep to customize the desktop.

If you configure separate View Composer persistent disks to store user profiles, three disks are associated with each linked clone: the OS disk, the second desktop disk, and the View Composer persistent disk.

The second desktop disk is stored on the same datastore as the OS disk. You cannot configure this disk.

View Composer Persistent Disk

In a dedicated-assignment pool, you can configure separate View Composer persistent disks to store Windows user-profile data. This disk is optional.

If you do not configure separate persistent disks, the Windows profile is stored in the OS disk. User data and settings are removed during refresh, recompose, and rebalance operations.

You can store persistent disks on the same datastore as the OS disk or on a different datastore.

Disposable-Data Disk

When you create a linked-clone pool, you can configure a separate, nonpersistent disk to store the guest OS's paging and temp files that are generated during user sessions. You must specify the disk size in megabytes.

This disk is optional.

When the linked clone is powered off, View Manager deletes the disposable files. Linked clones can increase in size as users interact with their desktops. Using disposable files can save storage space by slowing the growth of linked clones.

The disposable-data disk is stored on the same datastore as the OS disk.

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Manual Desktop Pools

To create a manual desktop pool, View Manager provisions desktops from existing desktop sources. For each desktop in the pool, you select a separate desktop source to deliver View access to clients.

View Manager can use several types of desktop sources in manual pools:

Virtual machines that are managed by vCenter Server

Virtual machines that run on VMware Server or another virtualization platform

Physical computers

HP Blade PCs

Worksheet for Creating a Manual Desktop Pool

When you create a manual desktop pool, the View Administrator Add Pool wizard prompts you to configure certain options. Use this worksheet to prepare your configuration options before you create the pool.

You can print this worksheet and write down the values you want to specify when you run the Add Pool wizard.

NOTE In a manual pool, you must prepare each desktop source to deliver View desktop access. View Agent must be installed and running on each desktop source.

Chapter 5 Creating Desktop Pools

Table 5-13. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating a Manual Desktop Pool

Option Description Fill In Your Value Here

User assignment Choose the type of user assignment:

In a dedicated-assignment pool, each user is assigned to a desktop. Users receive the same desktop each time they log in.

In a floating-assignment pool, users receive different desktops each time they log in.

For details, see “User Assignment in Desktop

Pools,” on page 101.

Desktop Sources The virtual machines or physical computers that

you want to use as View desktops in the pool.

1 Decide which type of desktop source you want

to use. You can use either virtual machines that are managed by vCenter Server or unmanaged virtual machines, physical computers, and blade PCs.

2 Prepare a list of the vCenter Server virtual

machines or unmanaged virtual machines, physical computers, and blade PCs that you want to include in the pool.

To use PCoIP with desktop sources that are unmanaged virtual machines, physical computers, or blade PCs, you must use Teradici hardware.

vCenter Server The vCenter Server that manages the desktops.

This option appears only if the desktop sources are virtual machines that are managed by vCenter Server.

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Table 5-13. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating a Manual Desktop Pool (Continued)

Option Description Fill In Your Value Here

Pool ID The pool name that users see when they log in and

Pool Settings Settings that determine the desktop state, power

that identifies the pool in View Administrator.

If multiple vCenter Servers are running in your environment, make sure that another vCenter Server is not using the same pool ID.

status when a virtual machine is not in use, display protocol, Adobe Flash quality, and so on.

For details, see “Desktop and Pool Settings,” on page 107.

For a list of the settings that apply to manual pools, see “Desktop Settings for Manual Pools,” on page 98.

Create a Manual Desktop Pool

You can create a manual desktop pool that provisions desktops from existing virtual machines, physical computers, and HP Blade PCs. You must select the desktop sources that make up View desktops in the pool.

For manual pools with desktops that are managed by vCenter Server, View Manager ensures that a spare desktop is powered so that users can connect to it. The spare desktop is powered on no matter which power policy is in effect.

Prerequisites

Prepare the desktop sources to deliver View desktop access. In a manual pool, you must prepare each desktop source individually. View Agent must be installed and running on each desktop source.

To prepare virtual machines managed by vCenter Server, see Chapter 4, “Creating and Preparing Virtual

Machines,” on page 45.

To prepare unmanaged virtual machines, physical computers, and Blade PCs, see Chapter 3, “Preparing

Unmanaged Desktop Sources,” on page 41.

Gather the configuration information that you must provide to create the pool. See “Worksheet for

Creating a Manual Desktop Pool,” on page 95.

Decide how to configure power settings, display protocol, Adobe Flash quality, and other settings. See

“Desktop and Pool Settings,” on page 107.

Procedure

1 In View Administrator, click Inventory > Pools.

2 Click Add.

3 Select Manual Pool.

4 Follow the prompts in the wizard to create the pool.

Use the configuration information that you gathered in the worksheet. You can go directly back to any wizard page that you completed by clicking the page name in the navigation panel.

In View Administrator, you can view the desktops as they are added to the pool by clicking Inventory > Desktops.

What to do next

Entitle users to access the pool. See “Add Entitlements to Desktop Pools,” on page 115.

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Chapter 5 Creating Desktop Pools

Create a Manual Pool That Contains One Desktop

You can create a pool that contains a single desktop when a user requires a unique, dedicated desktop, or when, at different times, multiple users must access a costly application with a single-host license.

You can provision an individual View desktop in its own pool by creating a manual desktop pool and selecting a single desktop source.

To mimic a physical computer that can be shared by multiple users, specify a floating assignment for the users entitled to access the pool.

Whether you configure the single-desktop pool with dedicated or floating assignment, power operations are initiated by session management. The virtual machine is powered on when a user requests the desktop and powered off or suspended when the user logs off.

If you configure the Ensure desktops are always powered on policy, the virtual machine remains powered on. If the user shuts down the virtual machine, it immediately restarts.

Prerequisites

Prepare the desktop source to deliver View desktop access. View Agent must be installed and running on the desktop source.

To prepare a virtual machine managed by vCenter Server, see Chapter 4, “Creating and Preparing Virtual

Machines,” on page 45.

To prepare an unmanaged virtual machine, physical computer, or Blade PC, see Chapter 3, “Preparing

Unmanaged Desktop Sources,” on page 41.

Gather the configuration information you must provide to create the manual pool. See “Worksheet for

Creating a Manual Desktop Pool,” on page 95.

Decide how to configure power settings, display protocol, Adobe Flash quality, and other settings. See

“Desktop and Pool Settings,” on page 107.

Procedure

1 In View Administrator, click Inventory > Pools.

2 Click Add.

3 Select Manual Pool.

4 Select the type of user assignment.

Option Description

Dedicated Assignment

Floating Assignment

The desktop is assigned to one user. Only that user can log in to the desktop.

The desktop is shared by all users who are entitled to the pool. Any entitled user can log in to the desktop as long as another user is not logged in.

5 On the Add vCenter Virtual Machines or Add Machines page, select the desktop source for your desktop.

6 Follow the prompts in the wizard to create the pool.

Use the configuration information you gathered in the worksheet. You can go directly back to any wizard page you completed by clicking the page name in the navigation panel.

In View Administrator, you can view the desktop as it is created by clicking Inventory > Desktops.

What to do next

Entitle users to access the pool. See “Add Entitlements to Desktop Pools,” on page 115.

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Desktop Settings for Manual Pools

You must specify desktop and pool settings when you configure manual pools. Not all settings apply to all types of manual pools.

Table 5-14 lists the settings that apply to manual desktop pools that are configured with these properties:

Dedicated user assignments

Floating user assignments

Managed desktop sources (vCenter Server virtual machines)

Unmanaged desktop sources

These settings also apply to a manual pool that contains a single desktop.

For descriptions of each desktop setting, see “Desktop and Pool Settings,” on page 107.

Table 5-14. Settings for Manual Desktop Pools

Manual Managed Pool,

Setting

Dedicated Assignment

Manual Managed Pool, Floating Assignment

Manual Unmanaged Pool, Dedicated Assignment

Manual Unmanaged Pool, Floating Assignment

State Yes Yes Yes Yes

Connection Server restrictions

Remote desktop power policy

Automatic logoff after disconnect

Allow users to reset their desktop

Allow multiple sessions per user

Default display protocol

Allow users to choose protocol

Max number of monitors

Max resolution of any one monitor

Adobe Flash quality

Adobe Flash throttling

Yes Yes Yes Yes

Yes Yes

Yes Yes Yes Yes

Yes Yes

Yes Yes Yes

To use PCoIP with a desktop source that is not managed by vCenter Server, you must install Teradici hardware on the desktop source.

Yes Yes Yes Yes

Yes Yes

Yes Yes Yes Yes

Yes

To use PCoIP with a desktop source that is not managed by vCenter Server, you must install Teradici hardware on the desktop source.

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Microsoft Terminal Services Pools

A Terminal Services pools can contain multiple desktop sources served by one or more terminal servers. A terminal server desktop source can deliver multiple View desktops.

View Manager provides load balancing for the terminal servers in a pool by directing connection requests to the terminal server that has the least number of active sessions.

You entitle a whole Terminal Services pool to users or user groups.

You should deploy a roaming profile solution to propagate user settings and data to the desktop that the user is currently accessing.

NOTE Terminal Services pools support the RDP display protocol only.

Create a Microsoft Terminal Services Pool

You can create a Microsoft Terminal Services pool that provisions desktops from terminal server desktop sources. You must select the desktop sources that make up View desktops in the pool.

Chapter 5 Creating Desktop Pools

Prerequisites

Prepare the terminal server desktop sources to deliver View desktop access. View Agent must be installed and running on each desktop source. See Chapter 3, “Preparing Unmanaged Desktop Sources,” on page 41.

Make a list of the terminal server desktop sources that you want to include in the pool.

Decide how to configure desktop settings. See “Desktop Settings for Microsoft Terminal Services

Pools,” on page 100. For descriptions of each desktop setting, see “Desktop and Pool Settings,” on

page 107.

Provide a pool ID that users see when they log in and that identifies the pool in View Administrator. If multiple vCenter Servers are running in your environment, make sure that another vCenter Server is not using the same pool ID.

Procedure

1 In View Administrator, click Inventory > Pools.

2 Click Add.

3 Select Microsoft Terminal Services Desktop Pool.

4 Follow the prompts in the wizard to create the pool.

Use the configuration information you gathered in the worksheet. you can go directly back to any wizard page you completed by clicking the page name in the navigation panel.

In View Administrator, you can view the desktops as they are added to the pool by clicking Inventory > Desktops.

What to do next

Entitle users to access the pool. See “Add Entitlements to Desktop Pools,” on page 115.

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Desktop Settings for Microsoft Terminal Services Pools

You must specify desktop and pool settings when you configure Microsoft Terminal Services pools. Not all settings apply to all types of Terminal Services pools.

Table 5-15 lists the settings that apply to Terminal Services pools.

For descriptions of each desktop setting, see “Desktop and Pool Settings,” on page 107.

Table 5-15. Settings for Terminal Services Pools

Setting Microsoft Terminal Services Pool

State Yes

Connection Server restrictions Yes

Automatic logoff after disconnect Yes

Default display protocol RDP is the only supported display protocol for Terminal

Services pools.

Adobe Flash quality Yes

Adobe Flash throttling Yes

Configure Adobe Flash Throttling with Internet Explorer in Terminal Services Sessions

To ensure that Adobe Flash throttling works with Internet Explorer in Terminal Services sessions, users must enable third-party browser extensions.

Procedure

1 Start View Client and log in to a user's desktop.

2 In Internet Explorer, click Tools > Internet Options.

3 Click the Advanced tab, select Enable third-party browser extensions, and click OK.

4 Restart Internet Explorer.

Provisioning Desktop Pools

When you create a desktop pool, you select configuration options that determine how the pool is managed and how users interact with the desktops.

User Assignment in Desktop Pools on page 101

You can configure a desktop pool so that users have dedicated assignments or floating assignments to the desktops in the pool. You must choose a user assignment for automated pools that contain full virtual machines, automated linked-clone pools, and manual pools.

Naming Desktops Manually or Providing a Naming Pattern on page 101

You can provision the desktops in an automated pool by manually specifying a list of desktop names or by providing a naming pattern and the number of desktops you want in the pool. These two approaches offer different advantages.

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VMware View - 4.6 Administrator’s Guide

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

Contents

VMware View Administration

Configuring View Connection Server 1

Using View Administrator

View Administrator and View Connection Server

Log In to View Administrator

Tips for Using the View Administrator Interface

Troubleshooting Access to View Administrator Without a Secure SSL Connection

Troubleshooting the Text Display in View Administrator

Configuring vCenter Server and View Composer

Add vCenter Server Instances to View Manager

Remove a vCenter Server Instance from View Manager

Create a User Account for View Composer

Configure View Composer Settings for vCenter Server

Remove View Composer from View Manager

Conflicting vCenter Server Unique IDs

Backing Up View Connection Server

Configuring Settings for Client Sessions

Set Options for Client Sessions and Connections

Global Settings for Client Sessions and Connections

Message Security Mode for View Components

Configure the Secure Tunnel Connection and PCoIP Secure Gateway

Set a Single Sign-on Timeout Limit for View Users

Disable or Enable View Connection Server

Edit the External URLs

View LDAP Directory

Configuring View Connection Server Settings

Understanding Roles and Privileges

Using Folders to Delegate Administration

Different Administrators for Different Folders

Different Administrators for the Same Folder

Understanding Permissions

Manage Administrators

Create an Administrator

Remove an Administrator

Manage and Review Permissions

Add a Permission

Delete a Permission

Review Permissions

Manage and Review Folders

Add a Folder

Move a Desktop Pool to a Different Folder

Remove a Folder

Review the Desktop Pools in a Folder

Review the Desktops in a Folder

Manage Custom Roles

Add a Custom Role

Modify the Privileges in a Custom Role

Remove a Custom Role

Predefined Roles and Privileges

Predefined Administrator Roles

Global Privileges

Object-Specific Privileges

Internal Privileges

Required Privileges for Common Tasks

Privileges for Managing Pools

Privileges for Managing Desktops

Privileges for Managing Persistent Disks

Privileges for Managing Users and Administrators

Privileges for General Administration Tasks and Commands

Best Practices for Administrator Users and Groups

Prepare an Unmanaged Desktop Source for View Desktop Deployment

Install View Agent on an Unmanaged Desktop Source

View Agent Custom Setup Options for Unmanaged Desktop Sources

Creating Virtual Machines for View Desktop Deployment

Create a Virtual Machine for View Desktop Deployment

Virtual Machine Custom Configuration Parameters

Install a Guest Operating System

Prepare a Guest Operating System for View Desktop Deployment

Install View Agent on a Virtual Machine

View Agent Custom Setup Options

Install View Agent Silently

Microsoft Windows Installer Command-Line Options

Silent Installation Properties for View Agent

Configure a Virtual Machine with Multiple NICs for View Agent

Optimize Windows Guest Operating System Performance