VMware Horizon 7: Install, Configure, Manage [V7] Course Information

Course Length: 5 Days

This five-day, hands-on course gives you the skills to deliver virtual desktops and applications through a single virtual desktop infrastructure platform. This course builds your skills in installing, configuring, and managing VMware Horizon® 7 through a combination of lecture and hands-on labs. You will learn how to configure and deploy pools of virtual machines, how to manage access and security of the machines, and how to provide a customized desktop environment to end users.

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Course Objectives

By the end of the course, you should be able to meet the following objectives:

• Identify VMware Horizon components
• Install and configure View Connection Server
• Install and configure virtual desktops
• Configure and manage VMware Horizon® Client™ systems
• Configure and manage pools of physical and virtual machines
• Configure and manage automated pools of full virtual machines
• Configure and manage pools of linked-clone desktops
• Configure and manage automated pools of instant clones
• Configure and manage Remote Desktop Services (RDS) pools of desktops and applications
• Use Horizon Administrator to configure the VMware Horizon environment
• Configure secure access to virtual desktops
• Use VMware User Environment Manager™ to manage user personalization and application configurations 
• Describe steps to deploy profile management
• Use VMware App Volumes™ to provision and manage applications 
• Manage the performance and scalability of a VMware Horizon deployment

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Pre-requisites

Customers attending this course should have at a minimum the following VMware infrastructure skills:

• Use VMware vSphere® Web Client to view the state of virtual machines, datastores, and networks
• Open a virtual machine console on VMware vCenter Server® and access the guest operating system
• Create snapshots of virtual machines
• Configure guest customization specifications
• Modify virtual machine properties
• Convert a virtual machine into a template
• Deploy a virtual machine from a template

Attendees should have at a minimum the following Microsoft Windows system administration experience:

• Configure Active Directory services, including DNS, DHCP, and time synchronization
• Restrict users’ activities by implementing Group Policy objects
• Configure Windows systems to allow Remote Desktop Connections
• Build an ODBC connection to an SQL Server database

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Intended Audience

Technical personnel who work in the IT departments of end-customer companies and people who are responsible for the delivery of remote or virtual desktop service

Sample VMware Horizon 7: Install, Configure, Manage [V7] Course Outline

1. Course Introduction

• Review course goals
• Review course objectives
• Review the course outline
• Find additional resources after this course

2. Introduction to VMware Horizon

• Recognize the features and benefits of VMware Horizon
• Identify the major function of each VMware Horizon component
• Define a use case for your virtual desktop and application infrastructure

3. View Connection Server

• Identify the VMware vSphere® requirements for a connection server
• Describe the network and firewall configurations for View Connection Server
• License VMware Horizon components
• Configure View Connection Server

4. VMware Horizon Pools and Desktops

• Outline the process and choices in setting up VMware Horizon 7 virtual machines
• Compare the remote display protocols that are available in VMware Horizon
• List the ports that must be opened in the machine’s firewall for VMware Horizon operations
• Outline the configuration choices when installing Horizon Agent
• Identify the steps to set up a template for desktop pool deployment
• Describe how information on the Users and Groups page can be used to control and monitor View users
• Explain the hierarchy of global policies, pool-level policies, and user-level policies
• List the View Group Policy administrative (ADM) template files

5. Horizon Client Options

• Describe the requirements for a Horizon Client installation
• Explain USB redirection and options
• Describe the power states for desktops
• Define and compare a thin client with a system running Horizon Client
• Discuss the benefits of Virtual Printing
• Explain the Virtual Printing architecture
• Describe the configuration options for Virtual Printing
• Explain the location-based printing feature

6. Creating Automated Pools of Full Virtual Machines

• Recognize how an automated pool operates
• Compare dedicated-assignment and floating-assignment pools
• Outline the steps to create an automated pool
• Examine the entitlement of desktops in automated pools

7. Creating and Managing Linked-Clone Desktops

• Describe the VMware linked-clone technology
• Explain why both a parent virtual machine and a snapshot must be used to create linked clones
• Outline the system requirements for View Composer
• Describe the relationship between a persistent disk and the system disk
• Outline the steps necessary to set up an automated desktop pool that uses linked clones
• Compare the purpose of the parent and the replica virtual machines
• Compare the linked-clone management operations
• Describe the management operations for persistent disks

8. Creating and Managing Instant-Clone Pools

• Identify the advantages of instant clones
• Distinguish View Composer clones from instant clones
• Identify the requirements of instant clones
• Describe the types of instant-clone virtual machines
• Explain how folders are used to delegate pool administration
• Outline the steps to set up an automated pool that uses instant clones
• Describe instant-clone limitations in VMware Horizon 7
• Describe the creation of instant clones
• Set up an automated pool of instant clones

9. Creating RDS Desktop and Application Pools

• Explain the difference between an RDS desktop pool and an automated pool
• Describe how a user can access a single application by using the RDS application pool
• Describe the relationship between an RDS host, a farm, and an application pool
• Create an RDS desktop pool and an application pool
• Explain how the View Composer linked-clone technology can automate the build-out of RDS server farms
• Describe the load-balancing options for RDS hosts

10. VMware Horizon 7 Authentication

• Compare the authentication options that View Connection Server supports
• Describe the purpose of TrueSSO single sign-on
• Identify TrueSSO single sign-on components

11 Managing VMware Horizon Security

• Compare tunnels and direct connections for client access to desktops
• Compare the benefits of using either VMware Horizon Security Server or Access Point in the DMZ
• Identify where the tunnel endpoints are in a security server or an Access Point implementation
• Identify the tunnel endpoints when the security gateway is not used
• Explain a direct connection
• List the advantages of direct connections

12. Profile Management Using User Environment Manager

• Identify the use cases and benefits of using User Environment Manager
• Describe User Environment Manager and its architecture
• Explain the User Environment Manager functional areas and their benefits
• Explain User Environment Manager profile management and its features
• Use the User Environment Manager management console and application profiler to manage user personalization and application configurations

13. Using App Volumes to Provision and Manage Applications

• Explain how App Volumes works
• Identify the features and benefits of App Volumes
• Identify the interface elements of App Volumes
• Install and configure App Volumes

14. Command-Line Tools and Backup Options

• Describe key View Connection Server features that are available as command-line options with the vdmadmin command
• Explain the purpose of kiosk mode for client systems and how it is configured
• Explain why you might want to limit the domains that View Connection Server makes available to end users
• Identify the log locations for each VMware Horizon component

15. VMware Horizon Performance and Scalability

• Describe the purpose of a replica server
• Compare a replica server to a standard connection server
• Explain how multiple VMware Horizon servers maintain synchronization
• List several best practices for multiserver deployment in a pod
• Describe how a load-balancing capability might improve VMware Horizon performance