Page 1 VMware View Administrator's Guide View 4.5 View Manager 4.5 View Composer 2.5 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.
Page 2 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.
Page 3: Table Of Contents
Optimize Windows Guest Operating System Performance 54 Optimize Windows 7 Guest Operating System Performance 55 Optimizing Windows 7 for Linked-Clone Desktops 56 Preparing Virtual Machines for View Composer 62 Creating Virtual Machine Templates 67 Creating Customization Specifications 68 VMware, Inc.
Page 4 VMware View Administrator's Guide Creating Desktop Pools 69 Automated Pools That Contain Full Virtual Machines 70 Linked-Clone Desktop Pools 73 Manual Desktop Pools 92 Microsoft Terminal Services Pools 96 Provisioning Desktop Pools 98 Setting Power Policies for Desktop Pools 107...
Page 5 Backing Up and Restoring View Configuration Data 257 Monitor View Components 262 Monitor Desktop Status 263 Understanding View Manager Services 263 Add Licenses to VMware View 266 Update General User Information from Active Directory 266 Migrating View Composer with an Existing Database Troubleshooting View Components 269...
Page 6 VMware View Administrator's Guide Overriding IP Addresses Using the -A Option 292 Setting the Name of a View Connection Server Group Using the -C Option 293 Updating Foreign Security Principals Using the -F Option 294 Listing and Displaying Health Monitors Using the -H Option 294...
Page 7: About This Book
This guide also describes how to maintain and troubleshoot VMware View components. Intended Audience This guide is intended for anyone who wants to configure and administer VMware View. The information in this guide is written for experienced Windows or Linux system administrators who are familiar with virtual machine technology and datacenter operations.
Page 8 VMware View Administrator's Guide Services provides offerings to help you assess, plan, build, and manage your virtual environment. To access information about education classes, certification programs, and consulting services, go to http://www.vmware.com/services. VMware, Inc.
Page 9: Configuring View Connection Server
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 , see the VMware View Integration Guide. vdmadmin View Administrator and View Connection Server View Administrator provides a management interface for View Manager.
Page 10 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 Guide. Procedure Open your Web browser and enter the following URL, where server is the host name or IP address of the View Connection Server instance.
Page 11 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. VMware, Inc.
Page 12: Configuring Vcenter Server And View Composer
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 Guide.
Page 13 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 179. VMware, Inc.
Page 14 VMware View Administrator's Guide Procedure Click View Configuration > Servers. In the vCenter Servers panel, select the vCenter Server instance. 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.
Page 15 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. VMware, Inc.
Page 16: Backing Up View Connection Server
VMware View Administrator's Guide Procedure Remove the linked-clone pools that were created by View Composer. In View Administrator, click Inventory > Pools. 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.
Page 17: Configuring Settings For Client Sessions
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. VMware, Inc.
Page 18 VMware View Administrator's Guide 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.
Page 19 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. VMware, Inc.
Page 20: Disable Or Enable View Connection Server
VMware View Administrator's Guide Configure the Tunnel Connection When the tunnel connection 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 with the Microsoft RDP display protocol.
Page 21: Edit An External Url
View Manager component entries that store configuration settings View LDAP also contains a set of View Manager plug-in DLLs that provide automation and notification services for other View Manager components. Security server instances do not contain a View LDAP directory. VMware, Inc.
Page 22: Configuring View Connection Server Settings
VMware View Administrator's Guide Configuring View Connection Server Settings You can use View Administrator to modify configuration settings for View Connection Server instances. VMware, Inc.
Page 23: Configuring Role-Based Delegated Administration
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. VMware, Inc.
Page 24: Using Folders To Delegate Administration
VMware View Administrator's Guide 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.
Page 25: Understanding Permissions
Admin1 has the Administrators (Read only) role on the folder. When a permission is MarketingDesktops 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. VMware, Inc.
Page 26: Manage Administrators
VMware View Administrator's Guide Table 2-5. Permissions on the Role Tab for Inventory Administrators Administrator Folder view-domain.com\Admin1 /MarketingDesktops 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.
Page 27: Manage And Review Permissions
You can delete a permission that includes a specific administrator user or group, a specific role, or a specific folder. Review Permissions on page 29 You can review the permissions that include a specific administrator or group, a specific role, or a specific folder. VMware, Inc.
Page 28 VMware View Administrator's Guide Add a Permission You can add a permission that includes a specific administrator user or group, a specific role, or a specific folder. Procedure In View Administrator, select View Configuration > Administrators. Create the permission. Option...
Page 29: Manage And Review Folders
If you decide to change the way your desktop pools are subdivided, you can move desktops pools from one folder to another. Remove a Folder on page 30 You can remove a folder if it does not contain inventory objects. You cannot remove the root folder. VMware, Inc.
Page 30 VMware View Administrator's Guide Review the Desktop Pools in a Folder on page 31 You can see all of the desktop pools in a particular folder in View Administrator. Review the Desktops in a Folder on page 31 You can see all of the desktops in a particular folder in View Administrator. A desktop inherits the folder from its pool.
Page 31: Manage Custom Roles
In View Administrator, select View Configuration > Administrators. On the Roles tab, click Add Role. 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. VMware, Inc.
Page 32: Predefined Roles And Privileges
VMware View Administrator's Guide 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...
Page 33 Inventory Administrators View, but not modify, inventory objects. (Read only) When administrators have this role on a folder, they can only view the inventory objects in that folder. VMware, Inc.
Page 34 VMware View Administrator's Guide 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.
Page 35: Required Privileges For Common Tasks
Administrators role on the root folder to publish the base image to the Transfer Server repository. Modify or delete a pool Manage Pool on the pool. Add or remove desktops from a pool Manage Pool on the pool. VMware, Inc.
Page 36 VMware View Administrator's Guide Table 2-10. Pool Management Tasks and Privileges (Continued) Task Required Privileges Refresh, Recompose, Rebalance, or change the default View Manage Composer Pool Image on the pool. Composer image Change folders Manage Pool on both the source and target folders.
Page 37: 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. VMware, Inc.
Page 38 VMware View Administrator's Guide 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.
Page 39: Preparing Unmanaged Desktop Sources
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.
Page 40 Familiarize yourself with the TCP ports that the View Agent installation program opens on the firewall. See the VMware View Architecture Planning Guide for more information. Download the View Agent installer file from the VMware product page at http://www.vmware.com/products/. Procedure To start the View Agent installation program, double-click the installer file.
Page 41 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. Windows Vista does not support the PCoIP Smartcard subfeature. VMware, Inc.
Page 42 VMware View Administrator's Guide VMware, Inc.
Page 43: Creating And Preparing Virtual Machines
After you create a virtual machine, you must install a guest operating system. Prepare a Guest Operating System for View Desktop Deployment on page 46 You must perform certain tasks to prepare a guest operating system for View desktop deployment. VMware, Inc.
Page 44 VMware View Administrator's Guide 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.
Page 45 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. VMware, Inc.
Page 46 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 Guide 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.
Page 47: Install View Agent On A Virtual Machine
“Prepare a Guest Operating System for View Desktop Deployment,” on page 46. 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,”...
Page 48 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.
Page 49: Install View Agent Silently
Prepare the guest operating system for View desktop deployment. See “Prepare a Guest Operating System for View Desktop Deployment,” on page 46. Download the View Agent installer file from the VMware product page at http://www.vmware.com/products/. The installer filename is xxxxxx .exe VMware-viewagent-4.5.0-...
Page 50 VDM_SERVER_PASSWORD=secret ADDLOCAL=Core,ThinPrint,USB" 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. If Windows Media Player is not installed, the View Agent installation program does not install the multimedia redirection (MMR) feature.
Page 51 Description Disables the bootstrap splash screen and extraction dialog, which prevents the display of interactive dialogs. For example: VMware-viewconnectionserver-4.5. x - xxxxxx .exe /s The /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 /v"...
Page 52 VMware View Administrator's Guide Table 4-4. MSI Command-Line Options and MSI Properties (Continued) MSI Option or Property Description Determines the component-specific features to install. In an interactive installation, the ADDLOCAL View installer displays custom setup options to select. The MSI property, ADDLOCAL, lets you specify these setup options on the command line.
Page 53 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 Redirection For details about the custom setup options, see “View Agent Custom Setup Options,” on page 48. VMware, Inc.
Page 54: Configure A Virtual Machine With Multiple Nics For View Agent
For example: n.n.n.n/m (REG_SZ) 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.
Page 55: Optimize Windows 7 Guest Operating System Performance
“Optimizing Windows 7 for Linked-Clone Desktops,” on page 56 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. VMware, Inc.
Page 56: Optimizing Windows 7 For Linked-Clone Desktops
VMware View Administrator's Guide 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.
Page 57 This feature was information and introduced in individual prefetch Windows XP. files, which are generated on demand. VMware, Inc.
Page 58 VMware View Administrator's Guide Table 4-7. Impact of Windows 7 Services and Tasks on OS Disk Growth and IOPS When OS Is Left Idle (Continued) Default Occurrence or Impact on Linked- Turn Off This Service or Task Description Startup Clone OS Disks...
Page 59 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. VMware, Inc.
Page 60 VMware View Administrator's Guide Procedure In vSphere Client, select the parent virtual machine and select Open Console. Log in to the Windows 7 guest operating system as an administrator. Click Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Administrative Tools.
Page 61 Log in to the Windows 7 guest operating system as an administrator. Click Start and type in the Search programs and files box. Windows Defender Click Tools > Options > Administrator. Deselect Use this program and click Save. VMware, Inc.
Page 62: Preparing Virtual Machines For View Composer
VMware View Administrator's Guide 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.
Page 63 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. VMware, Inc.
Page 64 VMware View Administrator's Guide 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.
Page 65 See “Worksheet for Creating a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool,” on page 73. Prerequisites Prepare the parent virtual machine to meet the requirements of the View Composer service. See “Prepare a Parent Virtual Machine,” on page 63. VMware, Inc.
Page 66 Click Edit Settings and click the Options tab. 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.
Page 67: Creating Virtual Machine Templates
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. VMware, Inc.
Page 68: Creating Customization Specifications
VMware View Administrator's Guide 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 70 for information on creating automated pools. You do not create a linked-clone pool from a virtual machine template.
Page 69: Creating Desktop Pools
Setting Power Policies for Desktop Pools on page 107 You can configure a power policy for the virtual machines in a desktop pool if the virtual machines are managed by vCenter Server. VMware, Inc.
Page 70: Automated Pools That Contain Full Virtual Machines
VMware View Administrator's Guide Automated Pools That Contain Full Virtual Machines 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.
Page 71 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. VMware, Inc.
Page 72 VMware View Administrator's Guide 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 Manager uses to create the pool.
Page 73: Linked-Clone Desktop Pools
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. You cannot create a linked-clone pool from a virtual machine template. VMware, Inc.
Page 74 VMware View Administrator's Guide 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.
Page 75 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 101. VMware, Inc.
Page 76 VMware View Administrator's Guide Table 5-3. Worksheet: Configuration Options for Creating a Linked-Clone Desktop Pool (Continued) Option Description Fill In Your Value Here Maximum number of desktops If you use a naming pattern, specify the total number of desktops in the pool.
Page 77 A high storage- overcommit 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 89. VMware, Inc.
Page 78 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.
Page 79 Prerequisites Verify that the View Composer service is installed in vCenter Server and a View Composer database is configured. See the VMware View Installation Guide. Verify that View Composer settings for vCenter Server are configured in View Administrator. See “Configure View Composer Settings for vCenter Server,”...
Page 80 VMware View Administrator's Guide 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.
Page 81 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.
Page 82 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...
Page 83 For guidelines and rules for using QuickPrep customization scripts, see “Running QuickPrep Customization Scripts,” on page 84. 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. VMware, Inc.
Page 84 You can change the default account by using the Windows Services ( ) dialog and changing the services.msc 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.
Page 85 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 Guide. 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.
Page 86 VMware View Administrator's Guide Table 5-7. Example Sizing Table for Linked-Clone Disks Selected Free Space Min Recommended Max Recommended Data Type (GB) (GB) 50% Utilization (GB) (GB) OS disks 184.23 40.00 80.00 130.00 Persistent disks 28.56 4.00 10.00 20.00 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.
Page 87 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. VMware, Inc.
Page 88 VMware View Administrator's Guide Table 5-9. Example of a Sizing Estimate for Linked-Clone Disks Deployed on Selected Datastores Selected Free Space Min Recommended Max Recommended Data Type (GB) (GB) 50% Utilization (GB) (GB) OS disks 184.23 10 * (2*1GB) +...
Page 89 Storage is not overcommitted. None 4 times the size of the datastore. This is the default level. Conservative 7 times the size of the datastore. Moderate 15 times the size of the datastore. Aggressive Click Done. Click Finish. VMware, Inc.
Page 90 VMware View Administrator's Guide 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.
Page 91 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. VMware, Inc.
Page 92: Manual Desktop Pools
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...
Page 93 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. VMware, Inc.
Page 94 VMware View Administrator's Guide To prepare virtual machines managed by vCenter Server, see Chapter 4, “Creating and Preparing Virtual Machines,” on page 43. To prepare unmanaged virtual machines, physical computers, and Blade PCs, see Chapter 3, “Preparing Unmanaged Desktop Sources,”...
Page 95 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 104. VMware, Inc.
Page 96: Microsoft Terminal Services Pools
VMware View Administrator's Guide Table 5-14. Settings for Manual Desktop Pools Manual Managed Pool, Manual Unmanaged Manual Unmanaged Dedicated Manual Managed Pool, Pool, Dedicated Pool, Floating Setting Assignment Floating Assignment Assignment Assignment State Connection Server restrictions Remote desktop power policy...
Page 97 Table 5-15. Settings for Terminal Services Pools Setting Microsoft Terminal Services Pool State Connection Server restrictions Automatic logoff after disconnect Default display protocol RDP is the only supported display protocol for Terminal Services pools. Adobe Flash quality Adobe Flash throttling VMware, Inc.
Page 98: Provisioning Desktop Pools
VMware View Administrator's Guide 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 Start View Client and log in to a user's desktop.
Page 99 After the maintenance mode to return access to pool is created, you can manually put the your users. desktops into maintenance mode. For details, see “Manually Customizing Desktops,” on page 103. VMware, Inc.
Page 100 VMware View Administrator's Guide Table 5-16. Naming Desktops Manually or Providing a Desktop-Naming Pattern (Continued) Feature Providing a Desktop-Naming Pattern Naming Desktops Manually Dynamic or fixed pool size Dynamic. Fixed. If you remove a user assignment from a The pool contains the number of...
Page 101 This Is the Maximum Prefix Length 1-99 13 characters 100-999 12 characters 1,000 or more 11 characters Names that contain fixed-length tokens have different length limits. See “Length of the Naming Pattern When You Use a Fixed-Length Token,” on page 102. VMware, Inc.
Page 102 VMware View Administrator's Guide Using a Token in a Desktop Name You can place the automatically generated number anywhere else in the name by using a token. When you type the pool name, type surrounded by curly brackets to designate the token.
Page 103 When you finish the customization, you do not have to return ownership to the user assigned to the desktop. In a floating-assignment pool, you can test desktops in maintenance mode before you let users log in. VMware, Inc.
Page 104 VMware View Administrator's Guide To perform the same customization on all desktops in an automated pool, customize the virtual machine you prepare as a template or parent. View Manager deploys your customization to all the desktops. When you create the pool, you can also use a Sysprep customization specification to configure all the desktops with licensing, domain attachment, DHCP settings, and other computer properties.
Page 105 This disk-utilization percentage does not reflect disk usage that you might see inside the desktop's guest operating system. When you refresh the OS disks in a linked-clone pool with dedicated assignment, the View Composer persistent disks are not affected. VMware, Inc.
Page 106 VMware View Administrator's Guide Table 5-19. Desktop and Pool Setting Descriptions (Continued) Setting Options Default display protocol Select the display protocol that you want View Connection Server to use to communicate with View clients. The default option wherever it is PCoIP supported.
Page 107: Setting Power Policies For Desktop Pools
Power Policies for Desktop Pools Power policies control how a virtual machine behaves when the associated View desktop is not in use. You set power policies when you create or edit a desktop pool. Table 5-20 describes the available power policies. VMware, Inc.
Page 108 VMware View Administrator's Guide Table 5-20. Power Policies Power Policy Description Take no power action View Manager does not enforce any power policy after a user logs off. This setting has two consequences. View Manager does not change the power state of the virtual machine after a user logs off.
Page 109 When you configure an automated pool, you can specify the minimum and maximum number of virtual machines that must be provisioned and the number of spare desktops that must be kept powered on and available at any given time. VMware, Inc.
Page 110 VMware View Administrator's Guide Power Policy Examples for Automated Pools with Floating Assignments When you configure an automated pool with floating assignments, you can specify that a particular number of View desktops must be available at a given time. The spare, available desktops are always powered on, no matter how the pool policy is set.
Page 111 The default power plan on Windows 7 systems causes View desktops to become temporarily MPORTANT inaccessible when the operating system enters sleep mode. To prevent Windows 7 systems from entering sleep mode, change the power plan setting Put the computer to sleep to Never. VMware, Inc.
Page 112 VMware View Administrator's Guide VMware, Inc.
Page 113: Entitling Users And Groups
Remove Entitlements from a Desktop Pool You can remove entitlements from a desktop pool to prevent specific users or groups from accessing a desktop. Procedure In View Administrator, select Inventory > Pools. Select the desktop pool and click Entitlements. VMware, Inc.
Page 114: Review Desktop Pool Entitlements
VMware View Administrator's Guide Select the user or group whose entitlement you want to remove and click Remove. Click OK to save your changes. Review Desktop Pool Entitlements You can review the desktop pools that a user or group is entitled to.
Page 115 View Connection Server can access a desktop pool. Table 6-1. Tag Matching Rules View Connection Server Desktop Pool Access Permitted? No tags No tags No tags One or more tags VMware, Inc.
Page 116 VMware View Administrator's Guide Table 6-1. Tag Matching Rules (Continued) View Connection Server Desktop Pool Access Permitted? One or more tags No tags One or more tags One or more tags Only when tags match The restricted entitlements feature only enforces tag matching. You must design your network topology to force certain clients to connect through a particular View Connection Server instance.
Page 117 Select Restrict to these tags and select one or more tags. You can use the Make the pool accessible only to check boxes to select multiple tags. View Connection Server instances that have those tags Click OK to save your changes. VMware, Inc.
Page 118 VMware View Administrator's Guide VMware, Inc.
Page 119: Setting Up User Authentication
The Microsoft TechNet Web site includes detailed information on planning and implementing smart card authentication for Windows systems. Smart card authentication is not supported by View Client for Mac or View Administrator. See the VMware View Architecture Planning Guide for complete information on smart card support.
Page 120 VMware View Administrator's Guide The View client sends the user certificate to the View Connection Server instance or security server, which verifies the certificate by checking the certificate trust and validity period. Typically, users can successfully authenticate if their user certificate is signed and valid. If certificate revocation checking is configured, users who have revoked user certificates are prevented from authenticating.
Page 121 If the user certificate is signed as part of a trust hierarchy, the signing certificate might be signed by another higher-level certificate. Select the parent certificate (the one that actually signed the user certificate) as your root certificate. On the Details tab, click Copy to File. The Certificate Export Wizard appears. VMware, Inc.
Page 122 Verify that the utility is added to the system path on your View Connection Server or security keytool server host. See the VMware View Installation Guide for more information. Procedure On your View Connection Server or security server host, use the...
Page 123 Chapter 7 Setting Up User Authentication Procedure Create or edit the file in SSL gateway configuration folder on the View Connection locked.properties Server or security server host. For example: install_directory \VMware\VMware View\Server\sslgateway\conf\locked.properties Add the , and properties to the file. trustKeyfile trustStoretype useCertAuth locked.properties...
Page 124 VMware View Administrator's Guide On the Authentication tab, select a configuration option from the Smart card authentication drop-down menu. Option Action Smart card authentication is disabled on the View Connection Server Not Allowed instance. Users can use smart card authentication or password authentication to Optional connect to the View Connection Server instance.
Page 125 In the left pane, expand the domain the user is located in and double-click CN=Users In the right pane, right-click the user and then click Properties. Double-click the attribute and type the SAN value of the trusted CA certificate. userPrincipalName Click OK to save the attribute setting. VMware, Inc.
Page 126 VMware View Administrator's Guide Add the Root Certificate to the Enterprise NTAuth Store If you use a CA to issue smart card login or domain controller certificates, you must add the root certificate to the Enterprise NTAuth store in Active Directory. You do not need to perform this procedure if the Windows domain controller acts as the root CA.
Page 127: Using Smart Card Certificate Revocation Checking
PCoIP display protocol. The PCoIP Smartcard subfeature is not supported on Windows Vista. Check the log files in drive :\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VDM\logs the View Connection Server or security server host for messages stating that smart card authentication is enabled.
Page 128 VMware View Administrator's Guide Logging in with OCSP Certificate Revocation Checking on page 128 When you configure OCSP certificate revocation checking, View sends a request to an OCSP Responder to determine the revocation status of a specific user certificate. View uses an OCSP signing certificate to verify that the responses it receives from the OCSP Responder are genuine.
Page 129 Chapter 7 Setting Up User Authentication Procedure Create or edit the file in the SSL gateway configuration folder on the View Connection locked.properties Server or security server host. For example: install_directory \VMware\VMware View\Server\sslgateway\conf\locked.properties Add the properties to the file. enableRevocationChecking crlLocation locked.properties to enable smart card certificate revocation checking.
Page 130 VMware View Administrator's Guide Example 7-3. locked.properties File The file shown enables smart card authentication and smart card certificate revocation checking, configures both CRL and OCSP certificate revocation checking, specifies the OCSP Responder location, and identifies the file that contains the OCSP signing certificate.
Page 131: Using Rsa Securid Authentication
SecurID authentication only for users who access View desktops remotely over the Internet. VMware View is certified through the RSA SecurID Ready program and supports the full range of SecurID capabilities, including New PIN Mode, Next Token Code Mode, RSA Authentication Manager, and load balancing.
Page 132 VMware View Administrator's Guide Procedure In View Administrator, select View Configuration > Servers. In View Connection Servers, select the View Connection Server instance and click Edit. On the Authentication tab, select Enable under RSA Secure ID 2-Factor Authentication. (Optional) To force RSA SecurID user names to match user names in Active Directory, select Enforce SecurID and Windows user name matching.
Page 133: Using The Log In As Current User Feature
The time on the system where the client logs in and the time on the View Connection Server host must be synchronized. If the default Access this computer from the network user-right assignments are modified on the client system, they must be modified as described in VMware Knowledge Base (KB) article 1025691. VMware, Inc.
Page 134 VMware View Administrator's Guide VMware, Inc.
Page 135: Configuring Policies
Configure Policies for Desktop Users on page 137 You can configure user-level policies to affect specific users. User-level policy settings always take precedence over their equivalent global and desktop-level policy settings. VMware, Inc.
Page 136 VMware View Administrator's Guide View Policies on page 137 You can configure View policies to affect all client sessions, or you can apply them to affect specific desktops or users. Local Mode Policies on page 138 You can configure local mode policies to affect all client sessions, or you can apply them to specific desktops or users.
Page 137 USB Access Determines whether desktops can use USB devices connected to the client system. The default value is Allow. To prevent the use of external devices for security reasons, change the setting to Deny. VMware, Inc.
Page 138 VMware View Administrator's Guide Table 8-1. View Policies (Continued) Policy Description Remote mode Determines whether users can connect to and use desktops running on vCenter Server instances. If set to Deny, users must check out the desktop on their local computers and run the desktop only in local mode.
Page 139: Using Active Directory Group Policies
Group policy settings are contained in entities called GPOs. GPOs are associated with Active Directory objects. You can apply GPOs to View components at a domain-wide level to control various areas of the View environment. After they are applied, GPO settings are stored in the local Windows Registry of the specified component. VMware, Inc.
Page 140: Using The View Group Policy Administrative Template Files
VMware View Administrator's Guide You use the Microsoft Windows Group Policy Object Editor to manage group policy settings. The Group Policy Object Editor is a Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in. The MMC is part of the Microsoft Group Policy Management Console (GPMC). See the Microsoft TechNet Web site for information on installing and using the GPMC.
Page 141 Chapter 8 Configuring Policies Table 8-3. View ADM Template Files Template Name Template File Description VMware View Agent Contains policy settings related to the vdm_agent.adm Configuration authentication and environmental components of View Agent. VMware View Client Contains policy settings related to View Client vdm_client.adm...
Page 142 VMware View Administrator's Guide Table 8-4. View Agent Configuration Template Settings (Continued) Setting Computer User Properties Specifies the amount of time in seconds that the View ConnectionTicketTimeout connection ticket is valid. View clients use a connection ticket for verification and single sign-on when connecting to View Agent.
Page 143 The URL of the View Connection Server Windows ViewClient_Broker_URL instance. Wyse Thin OS Linux The status of the tunnel connection for Windows ViewClient_Broker_Tunneled the View Connection Server, which can Wyse Thin OS be either true (enabled) or false Linux (disabled). VMware, Inc.
Page 144 VMware View Administrator's Guide Table 8-5. Client System Information (Continued) Registry Key Description Client Systems Supported The URL of the View Connection Server Windows ViewClient_Broker_Tunnel_URL tunnel connection, if the tunnel Linux connection is enabled. The remote IP address of the client...
Page 145 View Client wswc.exe process continues to run in the background. Security Settings Table 8-7 describes the security settings in the View Client Configuration ADM template file. Security settings include both Computer Configuration and User Configuration settings. The User Configuration setting overrides the equivalent Computer Configuration setting. VMware, Inc.
Page 146 VMware View Administrator's Guide Table 8-7. View Client Configuration Template: Security Settings Setting Computer User Description Determines whether user credentials can be provided Allow command line with View Client command line options. If this setting credentials is enabled, the smartCardPIN and password options are not available when users run View Client from the command line.
Page 147 CA. RDP Settings Table 8-8 describes the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) settings in the View Client Configuration ADM template file. All RDP settings are User Configuration settings. VMware, Inc.
Page 148 VMware View Administrator's Guide Table 8-8. View Client Configuration Administrative Template: RDP Settings Setting Description Determines whether audio information played on the View desktop is Audio redirection redirected. Select one of the following settings: Audio is disabled. Disable Audio Audio plays within the View desktop. This setting...
Page 149 Windows key combination redirection General Settings Table 8-9 describes the general settings in the View Client Configuration ADM template file. General settings include both Computer Configuration and User Configuration settings. The User Configuration setting overrides the equivalent Computer Configuration setting. VMware, Inc.
Page 150 VMware View Administrator's Guide Table 8-9. View Client Configuration Template: General Settings Setting Computer User Description Determines whether the View Client window is always Always on top the topmost window. Enabling this setting prevents the Windows taskbar from obscuring a full-screen View Client window.
Page 151 Maximum number of debug logs When a log file reaches its maximum size, no further entries are added and a new log file is created. When the number of previous log files reaches this value, the oldest log file is deleted. VMware, Inc.
Page 152 VMware View Administrator's Guide Table 8-11. View Common Configuration Template: Log Configuration Settings (Continued) Setting Properties Specifies the maximum size in megabytes that a debug log can reach before Maximum debug log size in Megabytes the log file is closed and a new log file is created.
Page 153: Setting Up Location-Based Printing
Location-based Printing for VMware View Software Settings folder under Computer Configuration. is a computer-specific policy. Computer- AutoConnect Location-based Printing for VMware View specific policies apply to all View desktops, regardless of who connects to the desktop. is implemented a name translation table. You use AutoConnect Location-based Printing for VMware View each row in the table to identify a specific printer and define a set of translation rules for that printer.
Page 154 Printing for VMware View. In the Policy pane, double-click Configure AutoConnect Location-based Printing. The AutoConnect for VMware View Location-based Printing window appears. Select Enabled to enable the group policy setting. The translation table headings and buttons appear in the group policy window.
Page 155 For example, to insert a row at the end of the table, click the first table button or press Alt+A. Click the last two buttons to import and save table entries. Table 8-15 shows an example of two translation table rows. VMware, Inc.
Page 156: Using Terminal Services Group Policies
VMware View Administrator's Guide Table 8-15. Location-Based Printing Group Policy Setting Example User/ Client User IP Port/ThinPrint IP Range Name Address Group Printer Name Printer Driver PortD PRINTER-1-CLR HP Color IP_10.114.24.1 LaserJet 4700 PS 10.112.116.140-10.1 PRINTER-2-CLR HP Color IP_10.114.24.2 12.116.145...
Page 157: Active Directory Group Policy Example
Directory domain, create an OU specifically for your View desktops. Procedure On your Active Directory server, select Start > All Programs > Administrative Tools > Active Directory Users and Computers. Right-click the domain that contains your View desktops and select New > Organizational Unit. VMware, Inc.
Page 158 VMware View Administrator's Guide Type a name for the OU and click OK. The new OU appears in the left pane. To add View desktops to the new OU: Click Computers in the left pane. All the computer objects in the domain appear in the right pane.
Page 159 Verify that the Microsoft MMC and the Group Policy Object Editor snap-in are available on your Active Directory server. Procedure Copy the View component ADM Template files from the install_directory \VMware\VMware View\Server directory on your View Connection Server host to your Active Directory \Extras\GroupPolicyFiles server.
Page 160 VMware View Administrator's Guide In the right pane, right-click the GPO that you created for the group policy settings and select Edit. The Group Policy Object Editor window appears. Expand the Computer Configuration folder and then expand the Administrative Templates, System, and Group Policy folders.
Page 161: Managing Linked-Clone Desktops
Decide whether to force all users to log off as soon as the operation begins or wait for each user to log off before refreshing that user's desktop. If you force users to log off, View Manager notifies users before they are disconnected and allows them to close their applications and log off. VMware, Inc.
Page 162 VMware View Administrator's Guide Procedure In View Administrator, click Inventory > Pools. Select the pool to refresh by double-clicking the pool ID in the left column. Choose whether to refresh the whole pool or selected desktops. Option Action On the selected pool's page, click the Settings tab.
Page 163: Update Linked-Clone Desktops
View Composer does not support recomposing linked clones that use one operating system to a parent virtual machine that uses a different operating system. For example, you cannot use a snapshot of a Windows 7 or Windows Vista parent virtual machine to recompose a Windows XP linked clone. VMware, Inc.
Page 164 VMware View Administrator's Guide Prerequisites If you upgrade the parent virtual machine hardware to v7, deploy the linked clone pool on an ESX/ESXi 4.0 host or cluster. You cannot deploy the pool on a cluster with ESX/ESXi 4.0 hosts mixed with ESX/ESXi 3.5 hosts.
Page 165 If you used a Sysprep customization specification to customize the linked clones when you created the desktop pool, new SIDs might be generated for the recomposed virtual machines. For details, see “Recomposing Linked Clones Customized with Sysprep,” on page 85. VMware, Inc.
Page 166 VMware View Administrator's Guide Recompose Linked-Clone Desktops That Can Run in Local Mode You can recompose linked-clone desktops that can run in local mode. However, the desktops must be checked in or rolled back to the datacenter before the recompose operation can take place.
Page 167 The snapshot must use the same operating system as the original parent virtual machine's snapshot. Recompose the pool again. View Composer creates a base image from the snapshot and recreates the linked-clone OS disks. View Composer persistent disks that contain user data and settings are preserved during the recomposition. VMware, Inc.
Page 168: Rebalance Linked-Clone Desktops
A virtual machine with hardware v7 must run on an ESX/ESXi host that is version 4.0 or later. For information about upgrading View components, see the VMware View Upgrade Guide. Prepare the parent virtual machine for the recompose operation. For details, see “Prepare a Parent Virtual...
Page 169 The rebalance also refreshes the linked clones, reducing the size of their OS disks. It does not affect View Composer persistent disks. Apply these guidelines to desktop rebalances: You can rebalance dedicated-assignment and floating-assignment pools. You can rebalance selected linked clones or all clones in a pool. VMware, Inc.
Page 170: Manage View Composer Persistent Disks
VMware View Administrator's Guide You can rebalance a desktop pool on demand or as a scheduled event. You can schedule only one rebalance operation at a time for a given set of linked clones. If you start a rebalance operation immediately, the operation overwrites any previously scheduled task.
Page 171 OS disk. The OS data is saved with a copy of the base-image disk, so the stored disk can be larger than the original linked-clone OS disk. The View Composer persistent disk is saved on the datastore. The linked-clone desktop is deleted and does not appear in View Administrator. VMware, Inc.
Page 172 VMware View Administrator's Guide Attach a View Composer Persistent Disk to Another Linked-Clone Desktop You can attach a detached persistent disk to another linked-clone desktop. Attaching a persistent disk makes the user settings and information in the disk available to the user of the other desktop.
Page 173 View Composer persistent disk. You can import the persistent disk from a vSphere datastore into View Manager. You import the persistent disk file as a detached persistent disk in View Manager. You can either attach the detached disk to an existing desktop or recreate the original linked clone in View Manager. VMware, Inc.
Page 174 VMware View Administrator's Guide Procedure In View Administrator, click Inventory > Persistent Disks. Click the Detached tab. Click Import from vCenter. Select a vCenter Server. Select the datacenter where the disk file is located. Select a linked-clone pool in which to create a new linked clone desktop with the persistent disk.
Page 175: Managing Desktops And Desktop Pools
176 and “Fixed Settings in an Existing Desktop Pool,” on page 176. Procedure Click Inventory > Pools. Select a pool. Click Edit. Click a tab in the Edit pool_name dialog and reconfigure pool options. Click OK. VMware, Inc.
Page 176 VMware View Administrator's Guide Modifying Settings in an Existing Desktop Pool After you create a desktop pool, you can change certain configuration settings. Table 10-1. Editable Settings in an Existing Desktop Pool Configuration Tab Description General Edit pool-naming options. Pool Settings Edit desktop settings such as the remote desktop power policy, display protocol, and Adobe Flash settings.
Page 177 Prerequisites Verify that you created the pool by manually specifying desktop names. You cannot add desktops by providing new desktop names if you created the pool by providing a naming pattern. VMware, Inc.
Page 178 VMware View Administrator's Guide Procedure Create a text file that contains the list of additional desktop names. If you intend to add only a few desktops, you can type the desktop names directly in the Add Pool wizard. You do not have to create a separate text file.
Page 179 With linked-clone desktops, vCenter Server always deletes the virtual machines from disk. Do not delete the virtual machines in vCenter Server before you delete a desktop pool with View MPORTANT Administrator. This action could put View components into an inconsistent state. VMware, Inc.
Page 180: Reducing Adobe Flash Bandwidth
VMware View Administrator's Guide Procedure In View Administrator, click Inventory > Pools. Select a desktop pool and click Delete. Choose how to delete the pool. Option Description Choose whether to keep or delete the virtual machines in vCenter Server. Pool that contains full virtual-...
Page 181 Timer interval is 100 milliseconds. This setting results in the lowest number of dropped frames. Moderate Timer interval is 500 milliseconds. Aggressive Timer interval is 2500 milliseconds. This setting results in the highest number of dropped frames. Audio speed remains constant regardless of which throttling setting you select. VMware, Inc.
Page 182: Managing Virtual-Machine Desktops
VMware View Administrator's Guide 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 Start View Client and log in to a user's desktop.
Page 183 “Assigning Dedicated vdmadmin Desktops Using the -L Option,” on page 296. Prerequisites Verify that the desktop is not checked out for use in local mode. You cannot assign users or remove user assignments while desktops are checked out. VMware, Inc.
Page 184 VMware View Administrator's Guide Procedure In View Administrator, click Inventory > Desktops or click Inventory > Pools, double-click a pool ID, and select the Inventory tab. Select the desktop. Click More Commands > Unassign User. Click OK. The desktop is available and can be assigned to another user.
Page 185 Unknown Miscellaneous The virtual machine is in an unknown state. Maintenance mode Miscellaneous The virtual machine is in maintenance mode. Users cannot log in or use the virtual machine. VMware, Inc.
Page 186 VMware View Administrator's Guide Table 10-5. Status of Virtual-Machine Desktops That Are Managed by vCenter Server (Continued) Status Type of State Description Error Miscellaneous An unknown error occurred in the virtual machine. – Miscellaneous A failure occurred when the virtual machine was in any of the preceding states.
Page 187: Export View Information To External Files
For example, click Inventory > Desktops to display the desktops table. Click the Export icon in the upper right corner of the table. When you point your mouse at the icon, it displays the tooltip. Export table contents VMware, Inc.
Page 188 VMware View Administrator's Guide Type a filename for the file in the Select location for download dialog. The default filename is global_table_data_export.csv Browse to a location to store the file. Click Save. What to do next Open a spreadsheet or another tool to view the file.
Page 189: Managing Physical Computers And Terminal Servers
In the left column of the Pools table, click the pool ID of the manual pool. In the Inventory tab, click Add. Select desktop sources from the Add Desktop Resources window and click OK. View Manager adds the desktop source to the pool. VMware, Inc.
Page 190: Remove An Unmanaged Desktop Source From A Pool
VMware View Administrator's Guide Remove an Unmanaged Desktop Source from a Pool You can reduce the size of a manual desktop pool that uses unmanaged desktop sources by removing desktop sources from the pool. Procedure In View Administrator, click Inventory > Pools.
Page 191: Unregister An Unmanaged Desktop Source
View client. Disconnected Session state The desktop is in an active session, but it is disconnected from the View client. – Miscellaneous A failure occurred when the desktop was in any of the preceding states. VMware, Inc.
Page 192 VMware View Administrator's Guide VMware, Inc.
Page 193: Managing Thinapp Applications In View Administrator
MSI packages. A disjoint namespace occurs when an Active Directory domain name is different from the DNS namespace that is used by machines in that domain. See VMware Knowledge Base (KB) article 1023309 for more information.
Page 194: Capturing And Storing Application Packages
If you have multiple application repositories, you must use third-party solutions to manage load balancing and availability. View does not include load balancing or availability solutions. See the Introduction to VMware ThinApp and the ThinApp User's Guide for complete information on ThinApp features and how to use the ThinApp Setup Capture wizard.
Page 195 The network share path must be in the form \\ServerComputerName\ShareName where ServerComputerName is the DNS name of the server computer. Do not specify an IP address. For example: \\server.domain.com\MSIPackages Click Save to register the application repository with View Administrator. VMware, Inc.
Page 196 VMware View Administrator's Guide Add ThinApp Applications to View Administrator You add ThinApp applications to View Administrator by scanning an application repository and selecting ThinApp applications. After you add a ThinApp application to View Administrator, you can assign it to desktops and pools.
Page 197: Assigning Thinapp Applications To Desktops And Pools
You can assign one more ThinApp applications to a particular pool. Assign a ThinApp Template to a Desktop or Pool on page 201 You can streamline the distribution of multiple ThinApp applications by assigning a ThinApp template to a desktop or pool. VMware, Inc.
Page 198 Although assigning ThinApp applications to local desktops is not supported, View Administrator does not prevent you from doing so. If you want to experiment with assigning ThinApp applications to local desktops, you must meet certain requirements. See the VMware View Architecture Planning Guide for more information.
Page 199 You can assign a particular ThinApp application to one or more pools. If you assign a ThinApp application to a linked-clone pool and later refresh, recompose, or rebalance the pool, View Administrator reinstalls the application for you. You do not have to manually reinstall the application. VMware, Inc.
Page 200 VMware View Administrator's Guide Prerequisites Scan an application repository and add selected ThinApp applications to View Administrator. See “Add ThinApp Applications to View Administrator,” on page 196. Procedure Select Inventory > ThinApps and select the ThinApp application. From the Add Assignment drop-down menu, select Pools.
Page 201 Installs the full application on the local file system. Full Some ThinApp applications do not support both installation types. How the application package was created determines which installation types are available. VMware, Inc.
Page 202 VMware View Administrator's Guide When you assign a ThinApp template to a desktop, View Administrator begins installing the applications in the template a few minutes later. When you assign a ThinApp template to a pool, View Administrator begins installing the applications in the template the first time a user logs in to a desktop in the pool. After the installation is finished, the applications are available to all of the users of the desktop or pool.
Page 203: Maintaining Thinapp Applications In View Administrator
Modify or Delete a ThinApp Template on page 205 You can add and remove applications from a ThinApp template. You can also delete a ThinApp template. Remove an Application Repository on page 205 You can remove an application repository from View Administrator. VMware, Inc.
Page 204 VMware View Administrator's Guide Remove a ThinApp Application Assignment from Multiple Desktops You can remove an assignment to a particular ThinApp application from one or more desktops. Prerequisites Notify the users of the desktops that you intend to remove the application.
Page 205 You might need to remove an application repository if you no longer need the MSI packages that it contains, or if you need to move the MSI packages to a different network share. You cannot edit the share path of an application repository in View Administrator. VMware, Inc.
Page 206: Monitoring And Troubleshooting Thinapp Applications In View Administrator
VMware View Administrator's Guide Procedure In View Administrator, select View Configuration > ThinApp Configuration and select the application repository. Click Remove Repository. Monitoring and Troubleshooting ThinApp Applications in View Administrator View Administrator logs events that are related to ThinApp application management to the Events and Reporting database.
Page 207 Messages appear in the View Connection Server debug log file when an application repository is scanned. View Connection Server log files are located on the View Connection Server host in the drive :\Documents and directory. Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VDM\logs Cannot Assign a ThinApp Template You cannot assign a ThinApp template to a desktop or pool. Problem View Administrator returns an assignment error when you attempt to assign a ThinApp template to a desktop or pool.
Page 208 VMware View Administrator's Guide You can see the View Agent and View Connection Server log files for more information about the cause of the problem. View Agent log files are located on the desktop in drive :\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application...
Page 209: Thinapp Configuration Example
Copy your MSI packages to the shared folder. Register the shared folder as an application repository in View Administrator. In View Administrator, scan the MSI packages in the application repository and add selected ThinApp applications to View Administrator. VMware, Inc.
Page 210 VMware View Administrator's Guide Decide whether to assign the ThinApp applications to desktops or pools. If you use a common naming convention for your desktops, you can use desktop assignments to quickly distribute applications to all of the desktops that use that naming convention. If you organize your pools by department or user type, you can use pool assignments to quickly distribute applications to specific departments or users.
Page 211: Managing Local Desktops
View Connection Server to provide policy updates, and ensure that locally cached authentication criteria is current. By default, contact is attempted every 5 minutes. View Client with Local Mode is the fully supported feature that in earlier releases was an experimental feature called View Client with Offline Desktop. VMware, Inc.
Page 212 End users cannot access their local desktop while rollbacks and check-ins are taking place. This feature is available only for virtual machines that are managed by vCenter Server. Assigning application packages created with VMware ThinApp is not supported on local desktops. VMware, Inc.
Page 213 To see which user account is being used, in View Administrator, go to View Configuration > Servers, select the vCenter Server, and click Edit. The list of privileges required for vCenter Server operations is provided in the VMware View Installation Guide, in the section about configuring user accounts for vCenter Server.
Page 214 VMware View Administrator's Guide If you want desktops to run only in local mode so that users must always check out the desktop, set the Remote Mode policy to Deny. In View Administrator, go to the Policies tab for that pool.
Page 215 Occasionally, if you click inside a View desktop window when the guest operating system is starting up or shutting down, your pointer remains inside the window. After startup is complete and VMware Tools is running, the pointer is released. If your pointer is grabbed inside the desktop window, you can release it by pressing Ctrl+Alt.
Page 216 Each Transfer Server instance can accommodate 60 concurrent disk operations, though network bandwidth will likely be saturated at a lower number. VMware tested 20 concurrent disk operations, such as 20 clients downloading a local desktop at the same time, over a 1GB per second network connection.
Page 217: Managing View Transfer Server
If a local computer is corrupted or lost, the data that was replicated to the datacenter can be recovered. An event such as a network outage or the removal of View Transfer Server from View Manager can interrupt active data transfers. View Transfer Server resumes the paused transfers when the components are running again. VMware, Inc.
Page 218 VMware View Administrator's Guide Add View Transfer Server to View Manager View Transfer Server works with View Connection Server to transfer files and data between local desktops and the datacenter. Before View Transfer Server can perform these tasks, you must add it to your View Manager deployment.
Page 219 Manual, which effectively disables DRS. To migrate a View Transfer Server instance to another ESX host or datastore, place the instance in maintenance mode before you begin the migration. Procedure In View Administrator, click View Configuration > Servers. Select a View Transfer Server instance. Click Enter Maintenance Mode. VMware, Inc.
Page 220 VMware View Administrator's Guide If transfers are currently active, choose whether to cancel the active transfers or wait until the active transfers are completed before placing View Transfer Server in maintenance mode. If you cancel active transfers, View Transfer Server enters maintenance mode immediately.
Page 221: Managing The Transfer Server Repository
Transfer Server repository. When you publish an image file to the Transfer Server repository, View Transfer Server stores the files as encrypted packages. View Transfer Server can compress the packages to streamline downloads to local desktops. VMware, Inc.
Page 222 VMware View Administrator's Guide When a user checks out a linked-clone desktop for the first time, View Transfer Server performs two operations: Downloads the base image from the Transfer Server repository to the local computer. Downloads the remote linked-clone desktop from the datacenter to the local computer. The desktop consists of the linked clone's OS delta disk and a View Composer persistent disk.
Page 223 When all View Transfer Server instances are in maintenance mode, current transfer operations are stopped. In the Transfer Servers panel, next to Transfer Server repository, click None Configured. In the General panel on the Transfer Server repository page, click Edit. VMware, Inc.
Page 224 VMware View Administrator's Guide Type the Transfer Server repository location and other information. Option Description Path. Type the UNC path that you configured. Network Share Username. Type the user ID of an administrator with credentials to access the network share.
Page 225 Other View Transfer Server instances cannot access a Transfer Server repository that is configured on a local drive on one View Transfer Server instance. Prerequisites Verify that View Transfer Server is installed and configured. See “Add View Transfer Server to View Manager,” on page 218. VMware, Inc.
Page 226 VMware View Administrator's Guide Procedure Configure a local or remote destination folder to which you will migrate the Transfer Server repository. Option Action On the virtual machine where View Transfer Server is installed, create a path Local Transfer Server repository and folder for the Transfer Server repository.
Page 227: Managing Data Transfers
Replications occur in sequence to preserve the integrity of local desktop data. Each replication transfers data from a snapshot that is taken of the local desktop when the replication starts. Therefore, each replication represents a different state of the local desktop. VMware, Inc.
Page 228 VMware View Administrator's Guide When you initiate a replication, or when a replication is scheduled to begin, the request starts the next time the client computer contacts the datacenter. View Client with Local Mode takes a snapshot and starts the replication.
Page 229 If you initiate a replication while View Client with Local Mode is already replicating data, your replication starts after the previous replication is completed. Your pending request does not abort the previous replication. Procedure In View Administrator, click Monitoring > Local Sessions. Select local desktops. Click Initiate Replication. VMware, Inc.
Page 230 VMware View Administrator's Guide Choose whether to start the replication at the next connection between the local desktop and the datacenter. Option Description Starts the replication the next time View Client is running and the desktop contacts the datacenter. Cancels your replication request.
Page 231: Configure Security And Optimization For Local Desktop Operations
Options and change the directory where the local desktops are stored, they are stored in the default check-out directory. Desktop Operating System Default Check-Out Directory User Name \AppData\Local\VMware\VDM\Local Desktops Default directory on Windows 7 and C:\Users\ pool_display_name...
Page 232 VMware View Administrator's Guide Procedure In View Administrator, click View Configuration > Servers. In the View Servers panel, select a View Connection Server instance and click Edit. Select security and optimization settings for data transfers and local desktop operations. Optimizing Data Transfers Between Local-Desktop Host Computers and the...
Page 233 Procedure Start the ADSI Edit utility on your View Connection Server host. Select or connect to DC=vdi, DC=vmware, DC=int. On the object CN=Common, OU=Global, OU=Properties, set the pae-OVDIKeyCipher attribute to the new encryption key cipher value. You can set the encryption key cipher value to .
Page 234 If the local desktop is checked out, check it in and remove any existing local files. Start the ADSI Edit utility on your View Connection Server host. Select or connect to DC=vdi, DC=vmware, DC=int. In the pae-VM record for the local desktop, clear the values for the pae-mVDIOfflineAuthKey, pae-mVDIOfflineDataKey, and pae-mVDIOfflineObfuscationKey attributes.
Page 235 In this example, the local desktop displayed a message such as . However, this amount "Transferring 871MB" of data was reduced by deduplication. Although the remaining data could not be compressed, only 2.198MB of data was transferred over the network. VMware, Inc.
Page 236: Configuring Endpoint Resource Usage
VMware View Administrator's Guide Guest File System Optimization of Data Transfers During transfer operations, View Transfer Server reduces the amount of data that must be sent over the network by taking advantage of guest file system optimization. When a desktop virtual machine contains a primary NTFS partition, View Transfer Server transfers the blocks that are allocated by NTFS.
Page 237 On Windows XP, the file mvdi.lst is located in the C:\Documents and Settings\ user_name \Local Settings\Application Data\VMware\VDM folder. Open the file and search for . The remote user security ID is also listed in this file. Open brokerGUID...
Page 238 VMware View Administrator's Guide Procedure To override the default behavior so that the local desktop uses only the amount of memory configured in vCenter Server, create and deploy a GPO to add one of the following registry keys and set the key to 1.
Page 239 On Windows XP, the file mvdi.lst is located in the user_name \Local Settings\Application Data\VMware\VDM C:\Documents and Settings\ folder. Open the file and search for . The remote user security ID is also listed in this file. Open...
Page 240: Configuring An Http Cache To Provision Local Desktops Over A Wan
VMware View Administrator's Guide Procedure To override the default behavior so that the local desktop uses bridged networking, create and deploy a GPO to add one of the following registry keys and set the key to 1. Scope of Setting...
Page 241 LDAP, the change is propagated to all the replicated View Connection Server instances. Prerequisites Familiarize yourself with using the command with the -T option. See “Setting the Split Limit for vdmadmin Publishing View Transfer Server Packages Using the -T Option,” on page 310. VMware, Inc.
Page 242 Description 64-bit HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, SOFTWARE, Wow6432Node, VMware Inc., VMware VDM 32-bit HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, SOFTWARE, VMware Inc., VMware VDM Click Edit > New > String Value and type in the new value entry. useProxyForTransfer Right-click the useProxyForTransfer entry, click Modify, type , and click OK.
Page 243: Configuring The Heartbeat Interval For Local Desktop Client Computers
View LDAP on your View Connection Server host. The ADSI Edit utility is installed with View Connection Server. When you change View LDAP on a View Connection Server instance, the change is propagated to all replicated View Connection Server instances. VMware, Inc.
Page 244 Server operating system version. Procedure Start the ADSI Edit utility on your View Connection Server host. Select or connect to DC=vdi, DC=vmware, DC=int. On the object CN=Common, OU=Global, OU=Properties, set the pae-mVDIOfflineUpdateFrequency attribute to the new heartbeat interval in minutes.
Page 245: Manually Downloading A Local Desktop To A Location With Poor Network Connections
224. Procedure In View Administrator, click View Configuration > Transfer Server Repository. In the Contents pane, select the package that is associated with desktop pool from which you will check out a desktop and click Details. VMware, Inc.
Page 246 VMware View Administrator's Guide Verify that the desktop pool is associated with this package. Locate the Repository path, including the package ID. For example: \\mycomputer.com\ImageRepository\Published\f222434a-e52a-4ce3-92d1-c14122fca996 Copy the package contents from the Transfer Server repository to the portable device. You must copy the entire package directory to the portable device.
Page 247 246. Procedure On the client computer, start Vmware View Client, connect to View Connection Server, log in to View Connection Server, and select a desktop pool. Click the down-arrow button next to the desktop pool and click Check out.
Page 248: Troubleshooting View Transfer Server And Local Desktop Operations
Recover Data from a Local Desktop on page 254 VMware View secures the virtual machine of a local desktop by encrypting all of its virtual disks. If the virtual machine's checkout identifier is deleted from the configuration, or the session or policy files become corrupted, you might not be able to power on or check in the local desktop.
Page 249 Install View Transfer Server on the virtual machine. In View Administrator, add View Transfer Server to View Manager. For more information about installing View Transfer Server, see the VMware View Installation Guide. Problems with Desktop Check-Outs After Initial Check-Out Assuming that View Transfer Server is functioning properly, you might find that check-out problems are due to View Connection Server no longer having the encryption key for files on the local machine.
Page 250 VMware View Administrator's Guide When end users attempt to check out the desktop again, only changed files are downloaded. The new files that get downloaded use a new encryption key, but the old files already on the local machine use the old encryption key, which View Connection Server no longer has.
Page 251 On the View Transfer Server virtual machine, open the Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services dialog box. Make sure that the VMware View Transfer Server Service, VMware View Transfer Server Control Service, and VMware View Framework Component services are started.
Page 252 On the View Transfer Server virtual machine, open the Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services dialog box. Make sure that the VMware View Transfer Server Service, VMware View Transfer Server Control Service, and VMware View Framework Component services are started.
Page 253 Verify that the View Connection Server machine can ping the View Transfer Server IP address. Verify that the View Transfer Server virtual machine satisfies the recommended system configuration. See the View Transfer Server system requirements in the VMware View Installation Guide. The Transfer Server Repository Is Missing In View Administrator, View Transfer Server displays a status of Missing Transfer Server Repository.
Page 254 Recover Data from a Local Desktop VMware View secures the virtual machine of a local desktop by encrypting all of its virtual disks. If the virtual machine's checkout identifier is deleted from the configuration, or the session or policy files become corrupted, you might not be able to power on or check in the local desktop.
Page 255 To recover a single disk from a virtual machine, specify the name of the VMware virtual disk file (VMDK file) for the disk as the argument to the -infile option. Do not specify a VMDK file that corresponds to a disk slice.
Page 256 Alternatively, examine the contents of a decrypted disk by attaching its VMDK file to a virtual machine in VMware Workstation. When you have recovered the data from the virtual machine files, roll back the local desktop.
Page 257: Maintaining View Components
262 “Monitor Desktop Status,” on page 263 “Understanding View Manager Services,” on page 263 “Add Licenses to VMware View,” on page 266 “Update General User Information from Active Directory,” on page 266 “Migrating View Composer with an Existing Database,”...
Page 258 VMware View Administrator's Guide If View Connection Server uses multiple vCenter Server instances with multiple View Composer services, View Manager backs up all the View Composer databases associated with the vCenter Server instances. You can perform backups in several ways.
Page 259 Location of the backup files. The default location is on the following path on the computer where View Connection Server is running. On a Windows Server 2008 computer: C:\Programdata\VMWare\VDM\backups On a Windows Server 2003 computer: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users \Application Data\VMWare\VDM\backups When you use Backup Now, View Manager also stores the backup files in this location.
Page 260 View Connection Server configuration data to the specified LDIF file. vdmexport For more information about the command, see the VMware View Integration Guide. vdmexport What to do next You can use the LDIF file to maintain your configuration data in the following ways.
Page 261 Copy the View Composer backup files from the View Connection Server computer to a location that is accessible from the vCenter Server computer where View Composer service is installed. On the vCenter Server computer, stop the VMware View Composer service. On the vCenter Server computer, open a Windows command prompt and navigate to the SviConfig executable file.
Page 262: Monitor View Components
For example: sviconfig -operation=restoredata -dsnname=LinkedClone -username=Admin -password=Pass -backupfilepath="C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware View Composer\Backup-20090304000010-foobar_test_org.SVI" Start the VMware View Composer service. What to do next For output result codes for the command, see “Result Codes for Restoring the View SviConfig restoredata Composer Database,”...
Page 263: Monitor Desktop Status
View Connection Server host or a security server, end users cannot log in to their desktops until you restart the services. You might also need to restart a service if it has stopped running or if the View Manager functionality that it controls appears to be unresponsive. VMware, Inc.
Page 264 Stop only the VMware View Connection Server service on a View Connection Server host or the VMware View Security Server service on a security server. Do not stop any other component services.
Page 265 Provides LDAP directory services for View Manager. This service must be running for the correct operation of View Manager. This service must also be running during upgrades of VMware View to ensure that existing data is migrated correctly. Services on a Security Server The operation of View Manager depends on several services that run on a security server.
Page 266: Add Licenses To Vmware View
If the current licenses on a system expire, or if you want to access VMware View features that are currently unlicensed, you can use View Administrator to add licenses. You can add a license to VMware View while View Manager is running. You do not need to reboot the system, and access to desktops is not interrupted.
Page 267 RSA key pair in a local file. aspnet_regiis aspnet_regiis -px "SviKeyContainer" "keys.xml" -pri The ASP.NET IIS registration tool exports the RSA public-private key pair from the SviKeyContainer container to the file and saves the file locally. keys.xml VMware, Inc.
Page 268 The registration tool imports the key pair data into the local key container. What to do next Install the new View Composer service on the destination vCenter Server computer. For installation instructions, see the VMware View Installation Guide. VMware, Inc.
Page 269: Troubleshooting View Components
271 “Display Desktops with Suspected Problems,” on page 271 “Manage Desktops and Policies for Unentitled Users,” on page 272 “Collecting Diagnostic Information for VMware View,” on page 272 “Update Support Requests,” on page 276 “Further Troubleshooting Information,” on page 276 “Troubleshooting Network Connection Problems,”...
Page 270: Monitoring System Health
Events are listed in the View Administrator interface for a limited time period. After this time, the events are only available in the historical database tables. You can use Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle database reporting tools to examine events in the database tables. For more information, see the VMware View Integration Guide.
Page 271: Send Messages To Desktop Users
VMware View. Error Reports a failed operation by View Manager. Information Reports normal operations within VMware View. Warning Reports minor problems with operations or configuration settings that might lead to more serious problems over time. You might need to take some action if you see messages that are associated with Audit Failure, Error, or Warning events.
Page 272: Manage Desktops And Policies For Unentitled Users
Change or remove the policies that are applied to unentitled users. Collecting Diagnostic Information for VMware View You can collect diagnostic information to help VMware Technical Support diagnose and resolve issues with VMware View. You can collect diagnostic information for various components of VMware View. How you collect this information varies depending on the VMware View component.
Page 273 VMware View processes. The information is written to a zip file in a folder on the client machine's desktop. File a support request on the Support page of the VMware Web site, and attach the output zip file. VMware, Inc.
Page 274 When the script finishes, it informs you of the name and location of the output file. File a support request on the Support page of the VMware Web site and attach the output file. Collect Diagnostic Information for View Connection Server You can use the support tool to set logging levels and generate log files for View Connection Server.
Page 275 View Connection vdm-sdct Server instance. File a support request on the Support page of the VMware Web site and attach the output files. Collect Diagnostic Information for View Agent, View Client, or View Connection Server If you have direct access to the console, you can use the support scripts to generate log files for View Connection Server, View Client, or desktops that are running View Agent.
Page 276: Update Support Requests
Reply to the email message and attach the output file to the reply. If the output file is too large to include as an attachment (10MB or more), contact VMware Technical Support, tell them the number of your support request, and request FTP upload instructions. Alternatively, you can attach the file to your existing support request at the Support Web site.
Page 277 Connection Server host. Configure the host to report its fully qualified domain name (FQDN) or IP address when it directs the View Client to open a secure connection by creating the file C:\Program Files\VMware . The file must contain the following line, \VMware View\Server\sslgateway\conf\locked.properties...
Page 278: Troubleshooting Desktop Pool Creation Problems
Verify that the template for a desktop pool on vCenter is configured to use DHCP to assign IP addresses to desktops. In the VMware Infrastructure Client, clone one virtual machine manually from the desktop pool and verify that it obtains its IP address from DHCP correctly.
Page 279 A template is not accessible. The name of a template has been changed in vCenter. A template has been moved to a different folder in vCenter. A virtual machine image has been moved between ESX servers, or it has been deleted. VMware, Inc.
Page 280 VMware View Administrator's Guide Solution Verify that the template is accessible. Verify that the correct name and folder are specified for the template. If a virtual machine image has been moved between ESX servers, move the virtual machine to the correct vCenter folder.
Page 281 Reduce the number of concurrent operations that are allowed for vCenter. Configure additional vCenter Servers. For more information about configuring vCenter, see the VMware View Installation Guide. Virtual Machines Are Stuck in the Provisioning State After being cloned, virtual machines are stuck in the Provisioning state.
Page 282: Troubleshooting Usb Redirection Problems
By default, View Client for Windows does not allow you to select Human Interface Devices (HIDs) and Bluetooth devices that are paired with an HID for redirection. See http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1011600. RDP does not support the redirection of USB HIDs for the console session, or of smart card readers. See http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1011600.
Page 283: Troubleshooting Quickprep Customization Problems
Open the Device Manager on the guest, expand Universal Serial Bus controllers, and reinstall the VMware VDM Virtual USB Device Manager and VMware VDM Virtual USB Hub drivers if these drivers are missing or re-enable them if they are disabled.
Page 284: View Composer Provisioning Errors
SYSTEM You can change the default account by using the Windows Services ( ) dialog and changing services.msc the log-on properties of the VMware View Composer Guest Agent Server service. The internal service name is vmware-viewcomposer-ga View Composer Provisioning Errors If an error occurs when View Composer provisions or recomposes linked-clone desktops, an error code indicates the cause of the failure.
Page 285: Windows Xp Linked Clones Fail To Join The Domain
5/17/10 3:11:50 PM PDT: View Composer agent initialization state error (18): Failed to join the domain (waited 565 seconds) Cause This issue can occur if your Active Directory runs on Windows Server 2008. The Windows Server 2008 read- only domain controller (RODC) is not backward-compatible with Windows XP virtual machines. VMware, Inc.
Page 286 VMware View Administrator's Guide Solution Check the View Composer log for the following error message: 0x4f1: The system detected a possible attempt to compromise security. Please ensure that you can contact the server that authenticated you. By default, the View Composer log file is generated in the Windows...
Page 287: Using The Vdmadmin Command
For a comparison of the operations that are possible in View Administrator, View cmdlets, and , see the vdmadmin VMware View Integration Guide. vdmadmin Command Usage on page 288 The syntax of the command controls its operation.
Page 288: Vdmadmin Command Usage
Decrypting the Virtual Machine of a Local Desktop Using the -V Option on page 311 VMware View secures the virtual machine of a local desktop by encrypting its base image. If you are not able to power on or check in the local desktop, you can use the...
Page 289 You use the command options of the command to specify the operation that you want it to perform. vdmadmin Table 16-2 shows the command options that you can use with the command to control and examine vdmadmin the operation of View Manager. VMware, Inc.
Page 290 VMware View Administrator's Guide Table 16-2. Vdmadmin Command Options Option Description Administers the information that a View Agent records in its log files. See “Configuring Logging in View Agent Using the -A Option,” on page 291. Overrides the IP address reported by a View Agent. See “Overriding IP Addresses Using the -A Option,”...
Page 291: Configuring Logging In View Agent Using The -A Option
-A [-b Usage Notes To assist VMware Technical Support in troubleshooting a View Agent, you can create a Data Collection Tool (DCT) bundle. You can also change the logging level, display the version and status of View Agent, and save individual log files to your local disk.
Page 292: Overriding Ip Addresses Using The -A Option
VMware View Administrator's Guide Examples Display the logging level of the Agent for the machine machine1 in the desktop pool dtpool2. vdmadmin -A -d dtpool2 -m machine1 -getloglevel Set the logging level of the View Agent for the machine machine1 in the desktop pool dtpool2 to debug.
Page 293: Setting The Name Of A View Connection Server Group Using The -C Option
View Connection Server instance belongs. You can use the GUID to verify whether a View Connection Server instance is a member of the same View Connection Server group as another View Connection Server instance. For a description of how to use SCOM with VMware View, see the VMware View Integration Guide. Options The -c option specifies the name of the View Connection Server group.
Page 294: Updating Foreign Security Principals Using The -F Option
VMware View Administrator's Guide Updating Foreign Security Principals Using the -F Option You can use the command with the -F option to update the foreign security principals (FSPs) of vdmadmin Windows users in Active Directory who are authorized to use a desktop.
Page 295: Listing And Displaying Reports Of View Manager Operation Using The -I Option
HH:mm:ss ][-enddate yyyy-MM-dd-HH:mm:ss ] [-w | -n] -xml | -csv Usage Notes You can use the command to display the available reports and views, and to display the information that View Manager has recorded for a specified report and view. VMware, Inc.
Page 296: Assigning Dedicated Desktops Using The -L Option
VMware View Administrator's Guide Options Table 16-7 shows the options that you can specify to list and display reports and views. Table 16-7. Options for Listing and Displaying Reports and Views Option Description -enddate yyyy-MM-dd-HH:mm:ss Specifies a upper limit for the date of information to be displayed.
Page 297: Displaying Information About Machines Using The -M Option
Date on which the machine was created. Template path of the machine (if applicable). URL of the vCenter Server (if applicable). Options Table 16-9 shows the options that you can use to specify the machine whose details you want to display. VMware, Inc.
Page 298: Configuring Domain Filters Using The -N Option
VMware View Administrator's Guide Table 16-9. Options for Displaying Information About Machines Option Description -d desktop Specifies the name of the desktop pool. -m machine Specifies the name of the virtual machine. -u domain\user Specifies the login name and domain of the user.
Page 299 Display the domain search configuration on both View Connection Server instances in the group, and for the group. C:\ vdmadmin -N -domains -list Domain Configuration ==================== Cluster Settings Include: Exclude: Search : FARDOM DEPTX Broker Settings: CONSVR-1 Include: (*)Exclude: YOURDOM Search : Broker Settings: CONSVR-2 Include: Exclude: Search : VMware, Inc.
Page 300: Configuring Domain Filters
VMware View Administrator's Guide View Manager limits the domain search on each View Connection Server host in the group to exclude the domains FARDOM and DEPTX. The characters (*) next to the exclusion list for CONSVR-1 indicates that View Manager excludes the YOURDOM domain from the results of the domain search on CONSVR-1.
Page 301 The DEPTY and DEPTZ domains appear in the list because they are trusted domains of the DEPTX domain. Specify that the View Connection Server instance should make only the YOURDOM and DEPTX domains available, in addition to the primary MYDOM domain. vdmadmin -N -domains -include -domain YOURDOM -add vdmadmin -N -domains -include -domain DEPTX -add VMware, Inc.
Page 302 VMware View Administrator's Guide Display the currently active domains after including the YOURDOM and DEPTX domains. C:\ vdmadmin -N -domains -list -active Domain Information (CONSVR) =========================== Primary Domain: MYDOM Domain: MYDOM DNS:mydom.mycorp.com Domain: YOURDOM DNS:yourdom.mycorp.com Domain: DEPTX DNS:deptx.mycorp.com View Manager applies the include list to the results of a domain search. If the domain hierarchy is very complex or network connectivity to some domains is poor, the domain search can be slow.
Page 303 On CONSVR-1, display the currently active domains. C:\ vdmadmin -N -domains -list -active Domain Information (CONSVR-1) ============================= Primary Domain: MYDOM Domain: MYDOM DNS:mydom.mycorp.com On CONSVR-2, display the currently active domains. C:\ vdmadmin -N -domains -list -active Domain Information (CONSVR-2) ============================= VMware, Inc.
Page 304: Displaying The Desktops And Policies Of Unentitled Users Using The -O And -P Options
VMware View Administrator's Guide Primary Domain: MYDOM Domain: MYDOM DNS:mydom.mycorp.com Domain: YOURDOM DNS:yourdom.mycorp.com Displaying the Desktops and Policies of Unentitled Users Using the -O and -P Options You can use the command with the -O and -P options to display the desktops and policies that are vdmadmin assigned to users who are no longer entitled to use the system.
Page 305: Configuring Clients In Kiosk Mode Using The -Q Option
View Connection Server instance that clients use to connect to their desktops. When you configure defaults for password expiry and Active Directory group membership, these settings are shared by all View Connection Server instances in a group. VMware, Inc.
Page 306 VMware View Administrator's Guide When you add a client in kiosk mode, View Manager creates a user account for the client in Active Directory. If you specify a name for a client, this name must start with the characters "Custom-" and it cannot be more than 20 characters long.
Page 307 -Q -clientauth -getdefaults -xml Add an account for a client specified by its MAC address to the MYORG domain, and use the default settings for the group kc-grp. vdmadmin -Q -clientauth -add -domain MYORG -clientid 00:10:db:ee:76:80 -group kc-grp VMware, Inc.
Page 308 VMware View Administrator's Guide Add an account for a client specified by its MAC address to the MYORG domain, and use an automatically generated password. vdmadmin -Q -clientauth -add -domain MYORG -clientid 00:10:db:ee:76:80 -genpassword -ou "OU=kiosk- ou,DC=myorg,DC=com" -group kc-grp Add an account for a named client, and specify a password to be used with the client.
Page 309: Displaying The First User Of A Desktop Using The -R Option
If you want to reinstall VMware View on the removed systems without replicating the View configuration of the original group, restart all the View Connection Server hosts in the original group before performing the reinstallation. This prevents the reinstalled View Connection Server instances from receiving configuration updates from their original group.
Page 310: Setting The Split Limit For Publishing View Transfer Server Packages Using The -T Option
VMware View Administrator's Guide Examples Remove the entry for the View Connection Server instance connsvr3. vdmadmin -S -r -s connsvr3 Setting the Split Limit for Publishing View Transfer Server Packages Using the -T Option You can use the command with the -T option to set the split limit for publishing View Transfer Server vdmadmin packages.
Page 311: Decrypting The Virtual Machine Of A Local Desktop Using The -V Option
Decrypting the Virtual Machine of a Local Desktop Using the -V Option VMware View secures the virtual machine of a local desktop by encrypting its base image. If you are not able to power on or check in the local desktop, you can use the...
Page 312: Unlocking Or Locking Virtual Machines Using The -V Option
VMware View Administrator's Guide Examples Decrypt a full virtual machine by specifying its VMX file. vdmadmin -V -rescue -d lmdtpool -u MYCORP\jo -infile "J:\Temp\LMDT_Recovery \CN=lmdtpool,OU=Applications,DC=mycorp,DC=com.vmx" Decrypt the current version of the virtual machine's disk by specifying its VMDK file. scsi00 vdmadmin -V -rescue -d lmdtpool -u MYCORP\jo -infile "J:\Temp\LMDT_Recovery...
Page 313 Unlock the virtual machine for a View Transfer Server instance on a vCenter Server. vdmadmin -V -e -vcdn "CN=f1060058- dde2-4940-947b-5d83757b1787,OU=VirtualCenter,OU=Properties,DC=myorg,DC=com" -vmpath "/ DataCenter1/vm/Desktops/LocalMode/LDwin7" Lock the virtual machine machine3 in desktop pool dtpool3. vdmadmin -V -p -d dtpool3 -m machine3 VMware, Inc.
Page 314 VMware View Administrator's Guide VMware, Inc.
Page 315: Setting Up Clients In Kiosk Mode
"cm-" followed by a MAC address, or that start with the characters "Custom-". View Client in VMware View 4.5 does not allow the manual entry of user names that take either of these forms.
Page 316: Configure Clients In Kiosk Mode
VMware View Administrator's Guide Configure Clients in Kiosk Mode To configure Active Directory and View Manager to support clients in kiosk mode, you must perform several tasks in sequence. Prerequisites Verify that you have the privileges required to perform the configuration tasks.
Page 317 If you want to enable location-based printing for the clients, configure the Active Directory group policy setting , which is located in the Microsoft Group AutoConnect Location-based Printing for VMware View Policy Object Editor in the folder under Software Settings Computer Configuration Configure other policies that you need to optimize and secure the View desktops of the clients.
Page 318 VMware View Administrator's Guide Procedure Set the default values for clients. authentication_arguments ] [-ou DN ] vdmadmin -Q -clientauth -setdefaults [-b group_name | -nogroup] [ -expirepassword | -noexpirepassword ] [-group Option Description -expirepassword Specifies that the expiry time for passwords on the client accounts is the same as for the View Connection Server group.
Page 319 To display the MAC address, type the appropriate command for your platform. Option Action Enter Windows C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware View\Client\bin\wswc - printEnvironmentInfo View Client uses the default View Connection Server instance that you configured for it. If you have not configured a default value, View Client prompts you for the value.
Page 320 VMware View Administrator's Guide Option Description Specifies that the expiry time for the password on the client's account is the -expirepassword same as for the View Connection Server group. If no expiry time is defined for the group, the password does not expire.
Page 321 Display information about clients in kiosk mode and client authentication. authentication_arguments ] [-xml] vdmadmin -Q -clientauth -list [-b The command displays information about clients in kiosk mode and the View Connection Server instances on which you have enabled client authentication. VMware, Inc.
Page 322 VMware View Administrator's Guide Example 17-5. Displaying Information for Clients in Kiosk Mode Display information about clients in text format. Client cm-00_0c_29_0d_a3_e6 has an automatically generated password, and does not require an end user or an application script to specify this password to View Client.
Page 323 You should usually specify this option, MPORTANT and use the exit code to handle the error. Otherwise, you might find it difficult to kill the vmware-view process remotely. Specifies the password for the client's account. If you -p password defined a password for the account, you must specify this password.
Page 324 VMware View Administrator's Guide VMware, Inc.
Page 325: Running View Client From The Command Line
The command-line options that you specify alter the behavior of View Client. By default, the path to the command executable file is vdmadmin C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware View\Client . For your convenience, add this path to your PATH environment variable. \bin\wswc.exe Table 18-1 shows the command-line options that you can use with the command.
Page 326 VMware View Administrator's Guide Table 18-1. View Client Command-Line Options (Continued) Option Description Connects a USB device to the foreground desktop when you plug in the device. -connectUSBOnInsert This option is implicitly set if you specify the -unattended option. -desktopLayout window_size...
Page 327: View Client Configuration File
Table 18-2 shows the registry settings for View Client. All the settings are located under HKLM\Software\VMware, in the registry. Inc.\VMware VDM\Client\ Policy entries take precedence over registry settings, and command-line settings take precedence over policy entries. VMware, Inc.
Page 328: View Client Exit Codes
VMware View Administrator's Guide Table 18-2. View Client Registry Settings Registry Setting Description Specifies the default domain name. DomainName Specifies whether the menu bar (shade) at the top of the View Client window is enabled. The EnableShade menu bar is enabled by default except for clients in kiosk mode. A value of false disables the menu bar.
Page 329 Chapter 18 Running View Client from the Command Line Table 18-3. View Client Exit Codes (Continued) Exit Code Description View Connection Server error. Desktop was not available. VMware, Inc.
Page 330 VMware View Administrator's Guide VMware, Inc.
Page 331: Index
177 persistent disk management 36 changing the pool size 177 pool management 35 creating 70, 72 predefined 32 customizing desktops in maintenance understanding 23 mode 104 user and administrator management 37 desktop settings 73, 104 desktop-naming example 102 VMware, Inc.
Page 332 VMware View Administrator's Guide maintenance mode 103 setting permissions on manually copied desktop files 246 naming desktops manually 99, 100 setting up in kiosk mode 315 power policies 109, 110 command scripts, running on desktops 142 using a desktop-naming pattern 99...
Page 333 Provisioning configuring 300 state 281 displaying 298 desktop recomposition example of excluding domains 302 correcting an unsuccessful recomposition 167 example of including domains 301 linked-clone desktops 163, 164, 166 preparing a parent virtual machine 163 VMware, Inc.
Page 334 VMware View Administrator's Guide domains global settings enumerating trusted 151 client sessions 17, 18 filter lists 298 message security mode 19 drivers, installed on client systems for local glossary 7 desktops 215 GPOs creating for desktops 158 creating for View component policies 139...
Page 335 SSL for local desktop backing up 259 operations 231 importing 260 configuring the encryption key cipher 233, 234, licenses, adding to VMware View 266 linked-clone desktop creation choosing a naming pattern 101 configuring the heartbeat interval for all client computers 243...
Page 336 VMware View Administrator's Guide initiating a replication 229 loopback processing benefits 140 locking and unlocking remote desktops 312 enabling 159 manually copying desktop files 246 LSI20320-R controllers, installing driver 45 manually downloading desktops 245 recomposing when checked in 166 recovering data from virtual machines 254,...
Page 337 Windows 7 58 power policies disabling hibernation 64 automated desktop pools 110 disabling Windows 7 services 56 avoiding conflicts 111 preparing for View Composer 63 desktops and pools 107 PCoIP Server, View Agent custom option 41, 48 VMware, Inc.
Page 338 VMware View Administrator's Guide power-off script, customizing linked-clone remote sessions desktops 84 privileges for managing 34, 36 pre-login messages, displaying to clients 18 viewing 270 predefined administrator roles 23 replication configuring policies 227 prefetch and superfetch, disabling 60 printing, location-based 153...
Page 339 222 restoring the database 261 copying packages to a portable device 245 result codes for restoredata 262 deleting a package 225 swap files, linked-clone desktops 63, 65 determining the size of a base image 222 VMware, Inc.
Page 340 VMware View Administrator's Guide downloading system images 221 managing 221 vCenter Server instances adding in View Administrator 12 migrating 225 correcting conflicting unique IDs 16 publishing a package 224 removing in View Administrator 13 recovering corrupted shared folder 227 vdm_agent.adm 140, 141 recreating 227 vdm_client.adm 140, 144...
Page 341 168, 169 migrating the repository 225 recomposing linked-clone desktops 164 placing in maintenance mode 219 recreating a desktop with a detached persistent services on a View Transfer Server host 265 disk 173 status values 220 VMware, Inc.
Page 342 Setup Capture wizard 194 configuration file 327 VMware Tools, installing 46 exit codes 328 VMware View with Local Mode, See local syntax 325 desktop VMwareVDMDS service 264 volume activation, linked-clone desktops 64 XML output, fvdmadmin command 289 vSphere mode, View Composer 80 VMware, Inc.

This manual is also suitable for:

View composer 2.5

VMware View Manager 4.5 Admin Manual

1 Configuring View Connection Server

2 Configuring Role-Based Delegated Administration

3 Preparing Unmanaged Desktop Sources

4 Creating and Preparing Virtual Machines

5 Creating Desktop Pools

6 Entitling Users and Groups

7 Setting up User Authentication

8 Configuring Policies

9 Managing Linked-Clone Desktops

10 Managing Desktops and Desktop Pools

11 Managing Physical Computers and Terminal Servers

12 Managing Thinapp Applications in View Administrator

13 Managing Local Desktops

14 Maintaining View Components

15 Troubleshooting View Components

16 Using the Vdmadmin Command

17 Setting up Clients in Kiosk Mode

18 Running View Client from the Command Line

Quick Links

Troubleshooting

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Summary of Contents for VMware View Manager 4.5

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