Broadcom

Converge vSphere 8 to VMware vSphere Foundation 9.1.x

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ATTENTION!!

This is a document that was created from a Home Lab.

My Home Lab:

vSphere 8u3i

One vCenter

Two ESXi hosts (Nested)

One NFS datastore (TrueNAS)

Official Documentation

Source Converge a vCenter Instance and ESX Hosts to vSphere Foundation

Verify upgrade path from Product Interoperability Matrix

Requirements

Prepare a temporary IP for vCenter

Prepare five FQDNs and register on DNS (with reverse) for:

1 VCF Operation

3 VCF Management Services

1 VCF License server

And ten IP addresses (minimum) for Management Services

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UPGRADE STEP

• vCenter Upgrade
• Install VCF Installer
◦ Install VCF Operations
◦ Install VCF Management Services
• Upgrade ESXi
◦ Upgrade ESXi Hosts
◦ Upgrade vDS
◦ Upgrade VMware Tools
◦ Upgrade Virtual HW

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vCenter Upgrade

You must deploy the new vCenter in the vSphere Cluster that you need to upgrade at VVF. In my test, I deployed the new vCenter in another vSphere infrastructure, and the VCF Installer reports an error.

The vCenter upgrade process is a classic vCenter upgrade.

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Download vCenter 9.1 from the Broadcom Support Portal

Dedicate a temp IP address and FQDN name (need to register in DNS) for deployment

Mount the downloaded ISO on a bridge PC or Virtual Machine

Start the UI installer

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Select upgrade

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Start the deployment

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Deploy the VCF Installer appliance.

I covered this installation in another Post; read this post:

Start a New vSphere Foundation Deployment by Using the VCF Installer Deployment Wizard – BIOLNX

Deploy VCF Operations

Log in to VCF Installer

Download bundles for the VCF Installer appliance (Read this post: Start a New vSphere Foundation Deployment by Using the VCF Installer Deployment Wizard – BIOLNX)

Use VCF Installer to deploy your vSphere Foundation platform.

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Select I have an existing vCenter

Select the network infrastructure for the Management Services and Operations component in my Home Lab. I choose the network where the VM is deployed (otherwise, create a dedicated network; check the firewall configuration in the official documentation)

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Dedicate IP address and FQDN (with reverse)

VVFOPUP.pollaio.lan 192.168.80.110

VVFMNGSUP01.pollaio.lan 192.168.80.111

VVFMNGSUP02.pollaio.lan 192.168.80.112

VVFMNGSUP03.pollaio.lan 192.168.80.113

VVFLICUP01 192.168.80.114

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We enter the FQDN names of the objects; if entered correctly in the DNS (with the reverse), they have a green tick

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In my case, if the new vCenter is not deployed in the cluster that we want upgrade, we see an error.

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After vCenter migrating to the vSphere cluster object for the upgrade

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Save the Password!!!!

Start the VCF Operation appliance installation

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At the end of VCF operation Installation, we can log in to the VCF Operations UI

Now we can configure the License (See this post)

Register VCF Operations and Your License Server in Connected Mode – BIOLNX

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Upgrade ESXi

Log in to vCenter and select the Lifecycle Manager

After some time, under Software Depot, the new ESXi version appears

Now we create a new Image; go to Image Library and select Create Image

 

Validate and save

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Go to Inventory

Select the cluster and after updates

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Now the upgrade will start if the cluster is correctly configured

Upgrade Virtual Distributed Switch

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Next step

Upgrade VMware Tools

Upgrade Virtual Hardware

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Converge vSphere 8 to VMware vSphere Foundation 9.1.x

Register VCF Operations and Your License Server in Connected Mode

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In my previous post, I walked through the process of deploying VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF) in my Home Lab using the VCF Installer, from infrastructure preparation to the initial bring-up of the environment. [If you missed it, you can find it here:

Start a New vSphere Foundation Deployment by Using the VCF Installer Deployment Wizard – BIOLNX

With the deployment up and running, the next step is licensing the environment. In this post, I cover how I activated the VVF licenses, the options available, and a few gotchas I ran into along the way — useful if you’re following the same path in your own lab and want to move from a freshly deployed environment to a fully licensed one.

 

Log in to VCF Operations

From the navigation bar at the top, click Manage and in the left navigation pane, click Licensing -> Licenses & Registration

 

In the Register & License VCF Operations pane, click Continue

 

 

The Register and License VCF Operations workflow appears.
The first step of the procedure is complete because a license server is automatically deployed during a new VCF Operations 9.1 deployment and an upgrade to VCF Operations 9.1.

In the Select Connection Mode card, select
Start, and click Continue.

 

 

Navigate to the Registration section.

Get an activation code for your registration. In the Get Activation Code from VCF Business Services console card, click Start

 


The VCF Business Services console opens in a new tab.

 

 

Log in to the VCF Business Services console by using your Broadcom Support Portal credentials.

Select the Site ID to which you want to register this VCF Operations instance, and click
Next. If you have only one site, it is selected by default.

In the VCF Business Services console, оn the Register & License VCF Operations page, navigate to the Registration part of the registration workflow.

In the Name VCF Operations pane, click Start, enter a unique display name for your
VCF Operations instance, and click Save

The FQDN is only saved if you do not enter another display name. If you change the FQDN with another display name, the connectivity between
VCF Operations
and the VCF Business Services console is not impacted. You can change the display name at any time after the registration.

In the Generate Activation Code card, click Start

 

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A dialog box with the activation code appears.

 

 

Click Copy (and save the info into a notepad file) Verify that you copied the code, and click Finish

Navigate to the VCF Operations instance, and upload the activation code. In VCF Operations, in the Enter Activation Code card, click Start

 


A dialogue box appears.

In the text field, paste the activation code, and click Activate

 

 

 

In the Add Licenses from VCF Business Services console card, click Start

 

 

The VCF Business Services console opens in a new tab.

In the VCF Business Services console, add licenses to your license servers.

 

To complete the registration process, you must first add licenses to each license server.

In the Add Licenses section of the registration workflow, in the card for the respective license server, click Start
On the Allocate Licenses page, enter a display name for the license server.

If you want to split the default license or change a license’s capacity before assigning it, click the vertical ellipsis next to the license. To split the default license, select it from the list and click Create. Enter a name and license capacity for the split license. To change the capacity of a split license, enter the capacity for the license in the New Capacity column. Click Save.

Select licenses from the table to add to the license server, and click Confirm.
To license your environment, you must add at least one primary license to the license servers. You can add licenses during the registration process, or at any time after that.

 

   

 

Download the license file in the VCF Operations instance.

Navigate to the Licenses page.

In the Add Licenses to License Servers section, in the Download card, click
Download.

 

 

On the Register and License VCF Operations page, click Finish

 

 

 

Now we can assign the license to vCenter. Select Assign Primary License after checking the vCenter instance to assign the license.

 

 

 

Select the license to assign and click Assign

 

 

 

Now the assigned license Core Count and Host Count are Green (if you have sufficient licenses to assign)

 

 

 

From vCenter, by accessing from the vSphere client, we can show the license status under Administration -> License -> Version 9+ License

 

 

 

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Register VCF Operations and Your License Server in Connected Mode

Start a New vSphere Foundation Deployment by Using the VCF Installer Deployment Wizard

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For a long time, I wanted to get my hands on VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF) and understand closely how the deployment process has changed with the introduction of the VCF Installer. Thanks to a few days off and a desire to experiment, I decided to dedicate my Home Lab to this project, retracing the entire installation process step by step, from preparing the infrastructure to the first boot of the environment.

In this post, I tell you how I set up the deployment, what hardware and network resources I used, the configuration choices made along the way and, of course, the difficulties encountered (and how I solved them) during the installation via VCF Installer. The goal is to share a practical experience useful to those who want to approach VVF starting from a laboratory environment, without the complexity (and costs) of an enterprise deployment.

In this first post, we will see the installation; in the next posts, we will install/activate the licenses and install the Log component

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Being a home lab, my environment will consist of nested ESXi Hosts; here are some details:

Physical HW

ESXi Nested

Two VMs where I install my ESXi to 9.1

Check the Machine Certificate for each ESXi; the certificate needs to trust the ESXi FQDN name.

Storage 

As NFS, I created a TrueNAS VM that resides on SSD disks

Network of ESXI nested:

–One connected to my physical network cards of the server where the port group (VM Network) is present, where I will put the Management and Workload VM part of my ESXi servers
–One that is not connected to physical network cards and where I create a port group for the vMotion part
–One not connected to physical network cards and where I create a port group (NFS) for the NFS part (where, in addition to ESXi, I attach a network card for my TrueNAS)

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Required resources

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As you can see, we have, in addition to the vCenter add-ons, which are:

License Server

A part of VCF Operations. Provides secure and integrated license management for your platform.

vCenter

To say that we all know him well

VCF Operation

VMware Cloud Foundation Operations® (formerly VMware Aria Operations) or VCF Operations helps your organisation build, manage, operate, and secure your private cloud infrastructure by deploying and maintaining its fleet-level components, providing visibility and enhanced performance across the workload and infrastructure stack, and helping your organisation stay compliant with regulatory standards and organisational guidelines.

VCF Management Services

VCF 9.1 introduces VCF management services to provide a unified architecture for centralised lifecycle and operational functionalities. The VCF services runtime instance of the first VCF Instance hosts the fleet-level VCF management services components that perform global operations and the instance-level components for that VCF Instance. Every VCF Instance has a VCF services runtime instance that hosts the instance-level VCF management services that run local tasks. This foundation allows for a unified architecture, simplified lifecycle management, and streamlined backup and recovery of all hosted components.

For the VVF in management servers, we have:

Fleet lifecycle

Log management (to be installed in DAY+1)

SDDC lifecycle

Software depot

Telemetry

VCF services runtime

More details: Components in VCF and vSphere Foundation

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The steps we’ll take are:

1-Installing ESXi (we won’t cover it in this post)
2-Deploying the VCF installer
3-Configuring the DEPOT
4-Deploying VVF

VCF installer installation

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Log in to Broadcom Support Portal https://support.broadcom.com/ and Download VCF Installer

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The next step is to deploy the OVA to ESXi or VMware Workstation

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 Once the installation of the OVA is finished, access the URL with the IP or FQDN and log in with the admin@local account and password you set during the deployment

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Configure Depot Connection and download the installation Binaries

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Configuration of the repository for downloading the software for installation (vCenter, ESXi, etc.)

A token must be generated from the portal vcf.broadcom.com

To log in from the Support Portal, select Version 9. Licenses can be found

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1.Log in to the VCF Business Services console (vcf.broadcom.com)

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Go to the VCF Installer and create the ID of the depot to upload to the portal

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Return to the portal and upload the depot ID to the page that opened

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Copy the Activation code and enter it on the vcf installer screen

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Let’s download the binaries of the VMware vSphere fountadion

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Once the download is complete, we will see everything “Success”

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Now I have two ESXi Hosts (in my case, nested vvfesxi01.pollaio.lan and vvfesxi02.pollaio.lan) at version 9.1.0, just installed with no particular configuration (No Storage and more)

Deploy VVF

Let’s proceed with the deployment, selecting “Deployment Wizard” from the VCF Installer

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Let’s define the FQDNs for the various components (vCenter…), and I must obviously have already entered the association with the IP in my DNS (always remember the reverse of the DNS)

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I run the validate all

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Now let’s save and continue

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Select the version of VVF and DNS, NTP server and DNS suffix

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We add the ESXi hosts

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Caution: Verify the certificates correctly on the ESXi hosts, and that the hostname is populated correctly

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Let’s configure the network, where we will enter the configurations for the VVF management, vMotion and NFS part.

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Start a New vSphere Foundation Deployment by Using the VCF Installer Deployment Wizard

VMware vSphere Foundation for VDI (VVF for VDI)

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The exit of EUC services from Broadcom (after the acquisition of VMware by the US giant) has brought a situation of uncertainty for all those who have been appreciating for years the features of the VDI/Applications published with Horizon and all the products of the EUC ecosystem that were from VMware.

The birth of Omnissa (effective from the beginning of July) bodes well for the future (more information in this post of mine from a few weeks ago).

Of the many synergies that were natural when vSphere and Horizon were children of the same mother, the first uncertainty was the licensing issue.

VMware gave the possibility, once a specific Horizon license was purchased, to have the vSphere virtualization infrastructure licenses, practically a solution ready to be only implemented. (I remind you that Horizon also goes on other Hypervisors… obviously exploits 10% of the potential… on this issue. I expect news from Omnissa since vSphere and Horizon are no longer brothers). The only limitation of the vSphere license included in Horizon was the need to run on the vSphere platform, licensed with Horizon, only VDI environments and the servers necessary for operation (Connection Server ,,, App Volumes Manager etc ..)

Now that vSphere and Horizon no longer have the same mother, what happens to these licenses? Will I still be able to buy a bundle with Horizon and vSphere together?

This link explains that the best of the matter:

Setting the record straight: EUC to continue to offer Horizon with vSphere and vSAN (omnissa.com)

Where it is indicated that there will be a collaboration between Omnissa and Broadcom to allow the presence of a bundle with Horizon and vSphere.

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So it is still possible to purchase one of the following licenses:

  • Horizon Enterprise term
  • Horizon Universal,
  • Horizon Enterprise Plus
  • Horizon Standard Plus
  • Horizon Apps Universal

What is the name of the vSphere package included in Horizon Solutions?

VMware vSphere Foundation for VDI (VVF for VDI)

What does it include?

• vSphere Enterprise Plus

• vCenter Standard

• vSAN Enterprise (100 GB) (licensed per Core)

So how much space have I included in vSAN?

Well, the game is quite simple: for each core of my vSphere cluster on which I host VDI and on which I have the VVF for VDI licenses, just multiply 100GB by the number of CORES. (there are no restrictions on the number of cores)

Let’s focus on the vSAN Enterprise license… what difference do we have from the previous Bundle?

  • vSAN Enterprise includes the same features as vSAN Advanced plus all those of vSAN Enterprise which are:
    • Data-at-rest and data-intransit encryption
    • File services
    • VMware HCI Mesh™2

In this link more information:

VVF_VDI_SPD_July2024.pdf (broadcom.com)

VMware vSphere Foundation for VDI (VVF for VDI)

EUC, un futuro luminoso per Horizon

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In questi giorni c’è molto fermento nel mondo dell’EUC (‘End-User Computing) in merito alla comparsa sul mercato di un nuovo nome.

Ma partiamo con ordine, nel lontano 2008 mi avvicino al modo delle VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) inizialmente con l’automatizzazione di aule corsi, grazie a VMware e al suo prodotto che allora era stato appena rinominato in Horizon View (se non sbaglio precedentemente si chiama VMware VDM….. ancora oggi, nelle installazioni dei Connection Server, troviamo una cartella VDM sotto c:\ProgramData).

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Col tempo le soluzione VDI di VMware sono evolute in maniera importante con l’aggiunta prima della tecnologia linked clones e poi con le instant clone (tecnologie che permettono di semplificare notevolmente la vita dell’amministratore delle postazioni di lavoro).

Abbiamo visto l’affiancare a Horizon soluzioni che permettono di sfruttare al meglio le VDI come App Volumes, DEM (Dynamic Environment Manager), Workspace One ecc.…

Poi dall’on-premise è stato portato anche sul Cloud con soluzione come Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure.

Anche per la mia carriera lavorativa il mondo delle VDI ha lasciato un solco importante dal 2021 sono vEXPERT (Con specificità nel mondo EUC) e dal 2024 sono EUCExpert e collaboro con VMware/Broadcom nel deploy.

Mi direte ok sono cose che ormai conosciamo ma quindi che cosa è successo??

Bene, sappiamo tutti che VMware è stata acquisita da Broadcom e una delle prime dichiarazioni della nuova proprietà è stata quella di non volere investire sull mondo EUC.

Ma quindi che succede?

Tutto i prodotti EUC di VMware sono riconosciuti tra i leader del mercato dei prodotti VDI e Desktop as a Service sono stati comprati da KKR (Fondo Americano nato nel 1977) per cui nasce Omnissa

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Nata con persone VMware per garantire la stessa qualità e lo stesso sviluppo in innovazione che è stato garantito in questi anni.

In cui continua o parte una nuova vita (scegliete voi) per tutti i prodotti EUC che molti noi conosciamo e apprezziamo  (Horizon ecc…)

Ne vedremo sicuramente delle belle e ci aspetta un futuro luminoso!

EUC, un futuro luminoso per Horizon

VMware Pre Broadcom vs VMware Broadcom – Primi dati reali

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Attenzione è una mia valutazione….quindi non sparate sul sistemista

Broadcom ha acquisito VMware, ormai lo sappiamo tutti.
La situazione di incertezza aleggia ovunque soprattutto sul mondo vSphere e sui costi (con tanti competitor che provano a ritagliarsi la loro fetta di mercato togliendole al leader indiscusso di questi anni)


Finalmente in questi giorni incomincio ad avere i primi dati effettivi (Prezzi ecc…) su cui iniziare a fare i primi ragionamenti.
!!Attenzione non voglio dare giudizi ma voglio solo paragonare due offerte fatte allo stesso cliente che abbiamo dovuto rivedere a seguito del nuovo listino (E parliamo di prezzi di listino.. senza eventuali scontistiche)!!

Ragioniamo su un cluster vSphere con 3 nodi da 2 processori ciascuno da 16 core.

Con le precedenti licenze e il vecchio listino nello scenaro ipotizzato dovevamo considerare:

  • Licenza VMWARE VCENTER SERVER 8 STANDARD
  • Licenza VMWARE VSPHERE 8 STANDARD FOR 1 PROCESSOR
  • Support/Subscription
  • Support/Subscription

Con il nuovo listino e le nuove tipologie di licenze invece dobbiamo considerare:

  • VMWARE VSPHERE STANDARD per core (Che comprende la licenza di vCenter)

Entrambe le soluzioni con 5 anni.

Da una prima analisi le prime valutazioni sono:
Con il nuovo listino si viene a pagare circa 30-35% in meno.
Ho una semplificazione nella quotazione (una sola voce rispetto alle 4 precedenti)

Ovviamente:

  • Non abbiamo le licenze perpetue (comunque chi non vuole il supporto sul proprio ambiente di produzione o la possibilità di effettuare aggiornamenti?)
  • é una prima offerta e la quotazione può dipendere da vari fattori e i prezzi potrebbero nuovamente cambiare
  • Le funzionalità all’interno dei bundle possono essere leggermente differenti (il link per vedere le funzionalità presenti nei nuovi bundle VMware vSphere® Product Line Comparison)
  • Posso aver sbagliato i calcoli 🙂
  • Possono avermi dato dei prezzi sbagliati 🙂 spero di no per il cliente 🙂

ma aspettavo di avere due informazioni reali per fare le mie prime considerazioni.

L’unica cosa che posso dire è di valutare con attenzione il cambio …. (io sono il primo che accetta nuove sfide..) ma attenzione a tutti i prezzi nascosti e valutate bene!

P.S. se qualcuno ha delle esperienze in merito … condividiamole.

VMware Pre Broadcom vs VMware Broadcom – Primi dati reali

VMware Horizon 2312

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As usual, every 3 months VMware releases a new version of Horizon (and also of almost all EUC applications)
The following have been available for a few days:
Horizon 8 2312
App Volumes 4 2312
Dynamic Environment Manager 2312
ThinApp 2312

Among the various features released for Horizon 8, the most interesting one is Agent Auto Upgrade:

“The agent auto upgrade feature allows customers to automatically initiate upgrades without manual intervention. To utilize this feature, on-premises systems must have access to CDS servers. Customers without CDS access can establish their webserver, host the agent components, and then register the agent build with the connection server to upgrade agents in VDI/RDSH desktops. This feature requires Horizon Plus or Horizon Universal License, and is available for Full Clone Desktops and RDSH Servers only. To upgrade Horizon Agent in Instant Clone Desktop Pools or RDS Farms, upgrade Horizon Agent on the Golden Image and schedule maintenance to push the new image.”

VMware Horizon 2312

Steps for Upgrade Horizon 23xx to the next version

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The release of new versions of VMware Horizon 8 each quarter of the year (to provide new features and resolve any security holes) entails the need to have a consolidated, conservative update procedure with the least impact on users.
Below I report the procedure that I am using successfully.

User impact:

  • Users already connected to the VDI do not encounter problems or disconnections
  • Users who need to connect during update activities may have problems (normally a maintenance window is declared)

Steps

  • Restarting the Connection Servers Operating System (One at a time is a step preparatory for committing any pending Windows updates), after each reboot check from the Horizon web console that everything is ok
  • Disable Provisioning
  • Shut down all three Connection Servers
  • Snapshot of the VMs hosting the Server connection
  • Turn on the Connection Server (One at a time), after each reboot check from the Horizon web console that everything is ok
  • Backup DB Adam (C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware View\Server\tools\bin\vdmexport.exe > vdmconfig.ldf)
  • Disable and Updating one Connection Server ( disabling the Connection Server being updated puts the connection server offline for the load balancer on the top of the connection servers and it is not used for authenticating users and assigning VDI) and after upgrade enable the Connection Server.
  • Repeat the previous step for all Connection Servers
  • If necessary, reapply the customizations
  • Check from the console that everything is ok

After the horizon upgrade, test the Desktop Pool:

  • Try a connection from internal
  • Try a connection from external
  • Delete a VDI machine
  • Publish a new Master Image

For upgrading three Connection servers all steps necessity of two hours
During the activities, the users connected to the VDI do not encounter any problems

The next step, after complete the Connection Servers upgrade, is to update the Horizon agent on the master image and delete the Connection Servers snapshot

Steps for Upgrade Horizon 23xx to the next version