Horizon 8 Reviews

We use the solution for remote desktops for a small number of users, but we do not use Citrix. Therefore, Horizon View is sufficient for us to publish applications or desktops for small services.

The solution has a lot of Visual Desktop's persistent and non-persistent desktops which publish the applications.

The integration could be improved. For example, there could be more integration and easier integration with products such as Okta and Duo. VMware Horizon View could be a multifactor authentication and authorization product, with more options for workflows, user assignments, and group assignments. Currently, it is complicated to configure a demo, so more integration would be beneficial.

I am currently using the solution.

The solution is stable.

The solution is scalable.

I give the solution an eight out of ten.

We essentially use it to enable remote workers.

The most valuable features are the ability to manage a great number of desktops at once and the remote access for users who are working from outside of the office or from a different office in the country.

The remote application features have some room for improvement.

I've dealt with Horizon 7 for as long as it has been out.

Its stability is great.

Its scalability is great.

Their tech support is good. It used to be better. It has dropped off a little bit, but it is good.

The initial setup of Horizon 7 (and Horizon 8) is fairly straightforward for the infrastructure. Getting the use cases for each desktop pool can be a challenge.

I don't know about the price. I know there are different tiers with the license, but I'm not sure exactly what it costs anymore.

I would advise defining your use cases before you start.

I would rate VMware Horizon 7 a nine out of 10.

We use this solution for virtual desktop infrastructure and remote desktop connections on client sites with 18 clients or end-user devices.

It is stable and easily scalable. 

The remote connection, bandwidth usage, and error connection can be improved. Working with the load balancer sites should also be improved. For example, with Horizon, we can use two clients with a one megabit connection, but with Citrix, we can use four or five clients with the same bandwidth through ICA protocol. VMware must improve remote connection, connection stability, and load balancing.

I have been using this solution for five or six years. 

VMware is stable. We don't need to switch after installation, but for one area, the connection stability is currently lower than other solutions. We tested it, and one connection from the load balancer or the firewall needs to be improved.

It is easily and quickly scalable and expandable. 

We are also Citrix Platinum partners. We are using Citrix solutions and desktop. When we create a project, we give our clients options and considerations between Citrix and VMWare. They choose after that.

For one building or two buildings that are nearby, or one local site, we prefer Horizon Seven. If end users are connected to VDI desktops or other Citrix services or if they are using a load balancer like NetScaler, for coming from outside to the inside of corporate, we are using Citrix VDI because of the ITA protocol.

The initial setup is quick and easy, but after that, you must configure user groups, machine groups, and delivery groups. It also requires some scripting and other tweaks, but the initial setup is easy for VMware Horizon.

The deployment duration depends on the number of users. For example, for 1,000 end users, you need redundancy servers for VMWare Horizon, and you need other servers for connecting to vCenter. Load balancing depends upon the client's sites. For example, for 10 users, I can make a connection locally in 45 minutes to one hour, but for 1,000 end users from different sites, it can take two to four days. If the complexity is high, it can take one month.

In terms of the staff required for deployment and maintenance, it depends on the end users and requirements on the customer site. I can complete installation myself, for example, of up to 100 users on one site. If more sites and more configurations are needs, it is a team job. It depends on the end users and customer expectations.

I would rate VMware Horizon 7 a seven out of ten. If it becomes stronger like the Citrix ICA protocol, it would easily be a ten.

I have integrated this solution for educational institutions to help deploy applications to students and staff. I have also integrated this solution for a financial organization. This solution is deployed on-premises. 

The students and staff have different requirements, knowledge, and applications they need to install, so we segregate the VDI. I have master images and then whichever application a student or staff member needs installed, I'll install it on the master image, then deploy that image to that particular staff member or group of students. In a matter of minutes, they will have their application ready to use.

The ease of deployment is one of the most valuable features. If I want to install something, I can have a test phase to see what sort of impact it will have and whether it will affect production. So I can install it on my lab, make sure it is okay, and if it is, I can deploy it directly to the users or to the staff. 

Instant clone is one of the best features. Within seconds, we can create a new WEM based on the requirements. So whenever they log in, the system or VM will be able to use it. 

VMware Horizon could be improved with more integration. It is also very costly for Enterprise Plus, which is a drawback. The renewal costs for the license are very, very high. 

I have been integrating this solution for customers for years. 

This solution is stable and reliable. I would say it's one of the best options. 

VMware's support is tremendously good. I have never had any issues with their side, in terms of technical support. They have a very talented team and they'll fix your problem in no time. 

The initial setup is not straightforward. You need to be very careful because it's based on end user experience, which is very important. You need to look at all the aspects of it—networking, cabling, storage, switching—and if performance is what most users need, there should be no compromise on this. You need to understand what your requirements are, what applications you may be running on the system, and then you need to design the storage. For example, if a customer has applications that demand more IOPS, then I would consider going for all-flash storage or an HTI solution, like Dell. Performance demands are very important and you need to consider all the levels and aspects I listed. 

Planning is very important. Installation itself is not straightforward, and does take some time. It took me an hour and a half to two hours to complete the installation. I had a team of five to help me deploy VMware to cover the levels of storage, networking, computing, and cabling. 

I implemented through an in-house team. 

The license is very costly, as well as the renewal cost. We have the Enterprise Plus license. I recommend that my customers renew the support contract because they will inevitably have issues. VMware releases new features and if customers want to use these features, they definitely have to maintain their support contract. 

I would rate VMware Horizon an eight out of ten. 

I have several customers—a few educational institutions and one financial organization—who use Horizon in their infrastructure. I definitely recommend this solution, especially for educational institutions, because it's really good for them to have VDI infrastructure. This is one of the best solutions they can implement.  

The best thing about this product was the ease of customizing the terminal, including the ability to add or decrease memory.

One issue we had with this product was that the connection was unstable. Sometimes we had to force values so the end-user could continue working, which caused some information to get lost. 

I have been using VMware Horizon View for around three years.

There were problems with the stability of the product's connectivity, which lowered my rating of the product.

I would rate it an eight out of ten because the connection is unstable. It is really good in the other aspects.

Features like LinkedClone, Desktop Pool with many delivery options and one single pane of glass to rule all desktop environments can simplify VDI management and reduce infrastructure costs.

In my low use-case, Horizon VDI is showing the agility to provide employees using many devices such as a tablet, PC and Mac, with portability but still stay within an active directory environment, with data and software which are in a "usable secure place".

I think that providing the solution for Linux desktops could be a real improvement as this would deliver desktops for operations and administrative operators without huge licensing costs (Desktops that have LibreOffice, Firefox and Linux client for client-server application). Another enhancement for this product could be a more simplified active directory GPO management through the Horizon Administrator console.

I've been using this solution for one year, but only for demo purposes. We use this solution to try to demonstrate its real value.

During the deployment take care with deploying the primary domain controller and the underlying vSphere environment.The VMs must be correctly resolved, NTP must be correctly reached and synchronized to, and PDC must be correctly configured. No issues will be encountered if you watch out for these simple constraints.

The product is mature, and stability is never compromised. In some cases, stability is gained by the underlying infrastructure stability. For this reason, pay attention to infrastructure metrics like storage IOPS and CPU utilization. In my case, the underlying infrastructure is covering up many possible issues.

I haven't scaled out my infrastructure, because my environment didn't reach the limit.

I haven't used it in this environment.

I haven't used it in this environment.

Yes, I used Microsoft Terminal server (from Windows Server 2003 and 2008). I suggest deploying this solution to a few remote desktops, but still keep a VDI solution because it is lacking in many features like management, mobility and multimedia experience. For this reason, I switched to Horizon.

Deployment is not very easy, because there are many implications with the underlying infrastructure (which must be used only as a VDI infrastructure) and Active Directory GPO, which cannot be directly handled by View Administrator.

I deployed this solution in house and alone.

Choosing VDI to save hardware costs is not the goal of Horizon, because the infrastructure and licensing break-even point can only be reached after the 1000^th VDI. ROI must be measured in controlling the manpower costs. For this reason, often it is difficult to show the real advantage of the Horizon solution. In my case, because I'm using it for demo purposes I can't give more details about this.

Licensing costs are important and physical infrastructure could not be shared between classic server virtual datacenter and a Horizon environment. In my case the use of NFR costs (only for demo purpose) are near zero, (the infrastructure is made by using recycled hardware).

Yes, we also looked at Windows Terminal Server.

In my opinion, this product should be the first environment that an enterprise company must consider. This product is a potential first player providing a top enterprise solution to deliver VDI in large and very large environments. For this reason, my rating of is 10/10 when considering a solution for enterprise environment and 8/10 in a mid-size deployment.

Pay attention to how many virtual desktops you should deliver and what is the real desktop utilization.A few desktops and too much customizations could cause an unjustified costs for three years.

The solution is primarily used to manage VMs. 

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The free version of the solution is great. It's perfect for if you have to build lab environments. 

They need to improve the stabilization process of major releases.

Few years.

The stability can be an issue when new versions are released.

N/A: I use the solution for a lab environment.

As a free product, they do not offer technical support. Therefore, when I use it, I am on my own and I do my own troubleshooting.

Some Virtual Box - I prefer VMware

The initial setup is not difficult or complex. It's a very easy process. A company shouldn't have trouble with the implementation.

This product is free to use.