Name: Horizon 8
Brand: Omnissa
Rating: 4.1 (115 reviews)

Solution Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

Jul 1, 2015

It controls what application a user will see in his/her desktop, but it blocks AppStack applications.

I was talking to my colleague Sven Huisman this morning and the discussion got to App Volumes and VMware UEM. We both are running some PoC's right now and are experiencing some rather interesting facts about both products.

There is one feature that I experienced before that I thought should be shared with you out there. It's something they need to work on, it's fairly simple but if it's not implemented in UEM soon, the combination with App volumes is rather useless.

Let me explain myself...

UEM

UEM is implemented to control what application a user will see in his/her desktop, this among other user profile controlling features is the core business of UEM.

App Volumes

App volumes is implemented to stop the image sprawl so you don't need 10 VDI golden images to conquer your ever demanding organization, you built one and add AppStack per department.

The marriage

The marriage took place the minute VMware acquired VMware UEM, both products suddenly are bonded, in good and in bad times until death do us part.

So what happens when you have a desktop that is controlled by UEM and you add an AppStack? Let me walk you through this.

You logon to the desktop
UEM kicks in and setup your desktop following the configuration you created
App Volumes integration with the Connection server kicks in and connects to AppStack to your desktop
You see all you apps that are installed in the image and all other settings like printers and drive mappings.

You won't however see your AppStack applications, they are there but UEM is still blocking them. The logon task of VMware UEM is happening before the AppStack is connected, the integration with the connection broker works for App Volumes but not yet for VMware UEM.

Can be tune this?

I've been playing around with it and there are a few way to get your applications available. One option is to click refresh yourself but that is of course the last option you want to give your users.

There are a few trigger available that you could use;

There is however no trigger for added AppStack and and haven't yet found a way to create something to run after logon that would do a refresh.

I created a unlock task that runs on the unlock trigger and chose UEM Refresh there. That one works for instantly after I unlock my desktop the apps are there.

I also added a scheduled task to do a refresh but again it's not really the way to go.

I think that VMware needs to add a little bit of integration here and ask the guys from Immidio to add a trigger called AppStackArrival.

If you found a great manageable way to do this, please let me know.. looking forward to it.

p.s. without UEM, App volumes will show you the applications instantly, just when you add UEM you add management on a different level that for now hurts me.

Update 5th June 2015 11:02: My co-worker Sven Huisman was digging a bit deeper and focused on AppVolumes to solve this issue. He found another workaround to solve this, this is a more workable workaround. Read about it here.

It does not solve it, the integration has to come from UEM detecting the AppStack or AppVolumes notifying UEM that it is doing something. It's at least a workable solution for now, now it's up to VMware.

Originally published on blog.webernetz.net.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user209226

System Administrator at a cloud solution provider with 51-200 employees

Mar 24, 2015

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It provides employees using many devices with portability but not for Linux desktops which should be included.

What is most valuable?

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.

How has it helped my organization?

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".

What needs improvement?

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.

For how long have I used the solution?

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.

What was my experience with deployment of the solution?

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.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

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.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

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

How are customer service and technical support?

Customer Service:

I haven't used it in this environment.

Technical Support:

I haven't used it in this environment.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

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.

How was the initial setup?

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.

What about the implementation team?

I deployed this solution in house and alone.

What was our ROI?

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.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

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).

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

Yes, we also looked at Windows Terminal Server.

What other advice do I have?

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.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. My company is a VMware solution provider partner (sell a private cloud solution) and VMware service provider partner.

it_user209226System Administrator at a cloud solution provider with 51-200 employees

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Aug 28, 2015

Just for update www.vmware.com/support/horizon-view/doc/horizon-611-view-release-notes.html Horizon 6 now supports Linux Desktop!
Enjoy

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it_user6561

Virtualization Counsultant at a tech company with 51-200 employees

May 22, 2013

Powerful way to customize our app and desktop for users.

It is best way to provide our user with vmware horizon service because it minimum workload and give us powerful way to customize our app and desktop for users with minimum time to repair or prepare them.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user6405

Engineer at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees

May 6, 2013

VMware Horizon View Feature Pack 1 Test Drive

VMware released the Feature Pack 1 for VMware Horizon View 5.2 a week or so after the standard release. The feature pack comes with the HTML5 Access (Blast Protocol) and Unity Touch.

The new HTML5 client for VMware Horizon View 5.2 is something I was looking forward to trying out. Is it a pain to use a full client' No, but having the flexibility to roam around to different devices and not need to install an application is a nice mobility feature.

Protocol Wars

The HTML5 client doesn’t use PCoIP, and instead uses VMware’s own Blast protocol. Using a different procol piques my interest because VMware does not own PCoIP, which is a Teradici product. Could VMware buy Teradici' They certainly could, but they haven’t in the past so it seems unlikely they ever will. The talking point response here seems to be that Teradici is a ‘hardware’ company and does not fit VMware’s portfolio which focuses on software. Maybe the goal is to keep using two protocols. Or maybe the long-term goal is to develop the Blast protocol to a point where PCoIP isn’t needed. That is 100% speculation on my part, obviously, and that would be far down the road.

The agent for the Blast Protocol is an additional application install from the feature pack, and must be installed into the virtual desktop image on top of the View Agent. The software must also be installed to the connection server, and the pool(s) must be edited to enable the ‘HTML Access’ checkbox, etc. The whole process is simple, and doesn’t require a reboot.

Gunnar Berger has created a video comparing the protocols on YouTube: VMware Horizon View – Blast protocol vs PCoIP. One thing that appears different in the release than in his video of the beta is that the shadowing “functionality” is actually removed. The behavior mimics PCoIP now in that if another client connects then it disconnects the original connection.

Blast Positives

Protocol wars aside, I do like the Blast implementation. The video performance is very good, although not as good as PCoIP; the build-to-lossless functionality is relatively noticeable, for example. Watching video shows the real performance differences. Normal usage is solid and responsive, and is fine for a task worker that doesn’t require multimedia.

From testing the client on different platforms and browsers, I noticed that the client detects whether the connection is coming from a mobile or regular desktop OS and adjusts accordingly. This is very handy, as using Safari on an iPad gives the touchpad overlay option in addition to the other options the tablet interface provides. The below images compare the experience from an iPad with Safari, and MacOS with Google Chrome:

Blast’s Room-for-Improvement

This is the first release, so there are going to be rough edges that need some polish. Below are some of the issues in the current release (Feature Pack 1 with Horizon View 5.2):

No Multimedia or Flash Redirection
No ThinPrint Support
No USB Support
No Audio Support
No WebCam Support
Unsupported on Android

I tried using HTML5 client from my Droid Bionic running Android ICS, even though the documentation does not list Android in the supported platforms. The web page notifies the user of such:

Proceeding with the Android native browser fails outright, but the client does work in a degraded state with Chrome for Android. The only bug I noticed with Chrome for Android was that the client panel shows up in the middle of the screen, which results in a couple pixel tall line through the desktop when the panel is shrunk.

Unity Touch

Unity Touch is a nice feature addition for tablet users, although using Windows 7 on a tablet is not exactly a pleasurable experience. Unity Touch does make it a bit more enjoyable, though. A panel is added to the left side of the interface that gives easy access to programs, files, and running applications:

Browsing Windows Explorer and the Start Menu aren’t really built for tablets, so moving these to a panel that is made for the tablet experience is perfect. This is a great start to making a full Windows OS (Win8 excluded) more accessible for a tablet.

Thoughts

The features added by the Horizon View 5.2 Feature Pack 1 are great additions to the product, and really add functionality that competing products do not have. The Blast protocol is still a new feature and has limitations of such, but using a desktop inside a web browser is perfect when on a device without the ability to install applications, and it provides easy, quick access at that. Unity Touch is a great usability/experience additional for tablet users that make Windows on a tablet a little more more enjoyable.

It’s great to see VMware innovating in the VDI space.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user271026System Administrator at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees

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Sep 4, 2015

Waiting to see the improvement.

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it_user5676

Engineer with 501-1,000 employees

Apr 3, 2013

Allows for the creation of linked clone VM pools

View allows for the creation of linked clone VM pools and allows for easy administration of those pools. The automated tasks allow administrators to provision, refresh pools during off hours to keep the pools clean. View administrator is an easy tool to configure the servers in the environmnet. The ability to assign thin apps to a VM or pools of VMs in vmware view is an easy way to deploy applications to users.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

it_user4401Developer at a transportation company with 1,001-5,000 employees

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Feb 18, 2014

From my point of view, Horizon View has three main pros: first pro is the new HTML5 client with Blast, which allows Horizon to deliver full desktops to users' browsers and it has a touchscreen interface. Second pro is that the platform uses space efficiently through the SE Sparse disk format and provides native platform graphics processing unit support for 3D graphics acceleration. Third pro is that it features AppShift technology, which introduces gestures and UI changes that make it easier to use Windows and Windows desktop applications on touch-based devices and support for the Nvidia Virtual Graphics Platform and Microsoft Lync communicator.

it_user3573

Infrastructure Expert at a transportation company with 51-200 employees

Jan 9, 2013

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Review of VMware View

Valuable Features:

• Central Management • VMware vShield Endpoint • PCOIP (PC Over IP) Protocol • Linked Clones & ThinApps • Local Mode • VMware Knowledge

Room for Improvement:

• Expensive / ROI • DR • 3D and graphics performance • Required some VMware skills

Other Advice:

Who can benefit from it? • Organizations who buy lots of desktops / laptops • Call Centers • Military • High Security Profile Organizations • Many more…

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

PatrickCiPaaSSenior Technical Product Marketing Manager at a tech vendor with 51-200 employees

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Mar 27, 2013

Lior, your blog on vSphere 5 Certification for Datacenter Administration was featured on the IT Central Station blog. Have you have some great advice for virtual geeks! Thanks.

it_user1068

Tech Support Staff at a tech company with 51-200 employees

Jul 1, 2012

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VMware’s view is one of the best virtual desktop software's that I have used so far

Valuable Features:

View not only makes desktop management, storage, and provisioning easier, but also reduces the cost of management as well as automation of routine and storage duties performed by administrators.View easily allows for recovery of desktop systems in case of a disaster and enables end users to print universally using thin print, connect over the internet, and even create virtual desktop systems dynamically for them.

Room for Improvement:

I had a few challenges when using VMware's View that included support for desktops that are offline and services at the terminal as well as their management. Fortunately, the later versions of view have addressed these issues. This includes the view 3, 5.0 and 5.1 versions.

Other Advice:

View allows for remote desktop access on virtual infrastructure through a hardware device known as thin client and you can also keep your desktop offline and synchronize it again afterwards. View has many components that allow for these capabilities and includes Storage Accelerator, which ensures that virtualized shared storage capacities are optimized; USB connectivity that is upgraded improves support for USB devices, view manager, VMware vCentre Server, view client, VMware vSphere meant for desktops, view composer and a view administrator.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.

reviewer1613397

IT Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

Nov 4, 2024

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Enhanced security and access with advanced protocol features

Pros and Cons

"I find the security of Horizon to be most valuable."

"It would be beneficial to see improvements in client-side functionalities, especially for some Linux clients."

What is our primary use case?

We are continuing to use Horizon 8 for remote work. Our company data, along with customer data, is stored in the private data center. Horizon is used for accessing the data center and data.

How has it helped my organization?

If you configure Horizon well and limit access solely through Horizon 8, it enhances security by reducing the entry points for accessing data.

What is most valuable?

I find the security of Horizon to be most valuable. The Vue protocol, which is VMware BaaS, and the new BaaS codec feature of this protocol are particularly beneficial. The implementation of Instant Clone Technology also provides utility.

What needs improvement?

It would be beneficial to see improvements in client-side functionalities, especially for some Linux clients. A better in-built multi-factor authentication solution would also be advantageous. While there are ways to achieve this through Microsoft Azure and Google, a more integrated approach within Horizon would be ideal.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been working with Horizon 8 for a long time and have continued with each version since its release.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability is becoming a bigger issue for many software products these days, not just Horizon 8. Security issues can sometimes arise, which impacts stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

In terms of scalability, it is not a significant problem, suggesting that Horizon scales effectively.

How are customer service and support?

Our experience with VMware's customer service is limited. I would rate it a six out of ten due to possible transitions and product changes over recent years.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

How was the initial setup?

We cater to small companies, typically around 50 to 100 users. For these sizes, the setup is manageable and not overly complex. However, implementing a high-level solution for larger companies can be more complicated.