Horizon 7.11 …….Whats New

Hussam Rabaya

VMware just announced Horizon 7.11 update in Dec 2019 , which include punch of  enhancement in administrators experience (in Horizon console new capabilities ) and end users experience (in protocols ,and new supported features and distribution on agent and Client )  

New Update Summary

  • Horizon Connection Server On-Premises
    • Horizon Console (HTML5-based Web Interface)
    • Cloud Pod Architecture
    • Published Desktops and Applications
    • Virtual Desktops progress bar
  • Horizon Agent :
    • Horizon Agent in Windows :
      • Blast Extreme Blast Codec
      • dynamic Remoting Protocols
      • New Enhanced Remote Experience
      • Windows include Skype for Business Q4 2019
    • Horizon Agent for Linux:
      • New Supported Linux Distributions
      • True SSO on RHEL/CentOS 8 Desktops
      • Blast Extreme Blast Codec
      • dynamic Remoting Protocols
  • UAG 3.8 :
    • Horizon 7.11 True SSO with UAG 3.8 support 3rd party SAML
  • Avi Networks with Horizon 7.11

Update Details

Horizon Connection Server On-Premises

  • Horizon Console (HTML5-based Web Interface)
    There are several enhancements to Horizon Console. These include:
    • Horizon Console is now the primary and recommended web interface for Horizon 7. The existing Flash-based Horizon Administrator web interface remains supported but will be deprecated in early 2020.    
    • Horizon Help Desk Tool is more visibly integrated into Horizon Console. In Horizon Console, click Monitor > Help Desk to open Horizon Help Desk Tool.
    • You can customize the user name and password labels that appear in the RADIUS two-factor authentication login dialog box.  
    • You can configure global client restriction settings to restrict client session connections to desktops and published applications for non-supported Horizon Client versions. navigating to Settings > Global Settings > Client Restriction Settings
    • You can view the CPU and memory consumption for each Connection Server in Horizon Console. You can monitor the load for a Connection Server in the Horizon Console dashboard. For each Connection Server, you can view the percentage of CPU and memory consumed, the number of display protocol sessions, Connection Server connection sessions, or the threshold for the maximum number of sessions that can connect to a Connection Server. You can also view the number of connected sessions for an RDS host.
    • The “Manage Composer Desktop Pool Image” privilege is renamed to “Manage Maintenance Operations on Automated Desktops and Farms” privilege. You can use this privilege to perform a push-image operation on an instant-clone desktop pool or farm. Object-specific privileges control operations on specific types of inventory objects. Roles that contain object-specific privileges can be applied to access groups.
    • You can view the published application names associated with a session when you view the session information for a farm. When a user launches a published desktop or application, a session is created. You can disconnect and log off sessions, send messages to clients, reset, and restart virtual machines.
  • Cloud Pod Architecture
    • 12,000 sessions per pod have been validated for Horizon 7 version 7.11.
    • To see the global desktop entitlement that contains a specific desktop pool, you can select Inventory > Desktops in Horizon Console. The name of the global desktop entitlement that contains the desktop pool appears in the Global Entitlement column for that desktop pool on the Desktop Pools page..
    • You can configure backup global entitlements. A backup global entitlement delivers remote desktops or published applications when the primary global entitlement fails to start a session because of problems such as insufficient pool capacity or unavailable pods. A backup global entitlement can contain pools from any pod in the pod federation.
  • Published Desktops and Applications
    • Horizon 7 supports Universal Windows Platform (UWP) applications that run on Windows 10 virtual desktop (WVD) hosts or a desktop pool.
  • Virtual Desktops
    • A progress bar indicates the pending image status of a master virtual machine and snapshot being published for the first time for an instant clone pool.
  • True SSO with UAG 3.8
    • You can use a third-party identity provider that uses an Unified Access Gateway appliance with the True SSO feature.
  • AVI Network Load Balancing support Horizon 7.11
    • VMware Avi Networks supports load balancing for Connection Server, Unified Access Gateway appliances, and App Volumes Manager.

Horizon Agent for Windows

  • The Blast Codec now delivers sharper images and fonts. It operates like a video codec, complete with motion detection, motion vectors, and macroblocks. The Blast Codec is an improvement over both Adaptive and H.264 encoders in desktop usage.
  • dynamic Remoting Protocols
    • A dynamic encoder switch allows you to switch between a video optimized encoder (H.264 4:2:0 or H.264 4:4:4) and a text optimized encoder (Blast Codec or Adaptive). =
    • The HW encoder supports five or more monitors.
    • Pending messages are batched and sent in larger packets, reducing bandwidth usage for data transmission.
  • New Enhanced Remote Experience
    • Administrators can use a registry key string or configure the GPO setting VMware AppTap Configuration for applications and processes so that when a user logs off a remote session, the applications and processes that prevent a remote session from ending will be ignored.
    • When preparing a desktop or RDSH image for nested-mode usage, you can install Horizon Agent and Horizon Client in any order.
    • Horizon Agent installer supports LSA enabled machines.
  • Updates to Horizon Agent for Windows include Skype for Business Q4 2019, support for Red Hat 8 Linux,.

Horizon Agent for Linux

  • Supported Distributions
    Horizon Agent for Linux now supports the following operating
RHEL (x64)  6.6, 6.7, 6.8, 6.9, 6.10, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6, 7.7, and 8.0
CentOS(x64) 6.6, 6.7, 6.8, 6.9, 6.10, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5, 7.6, 7.7, and 8.0
NeoKylin(x64) 6 Update 1
SLED(x64) 12.x SP1/SP2/SP3
SLES(x64) 12.x SP1/SP2/SP3
  • True SSO on RHEL/CentOS 8 Desktops
    The True SSO feature is supported on manual and automated full-clone desktops running the RHEL/CentOS 8 distribution. Instant-clone RHEL 8 desktops do not support True SSO.
  • Blast Extreme Blast Codec The Blast Codec now delivers sharper images and fonts. It operates like a video codec, complete with motion detection, motion vectors, and macroblocks. The Blast Codec is an improvement over both Adaptive and H.264 encoders in desktop usage.
  • dynamic Remoting Protocols
    • A dynamic encoder switch allows you to switch between a video optimized encoder (H.264 4:2:0 or H.264 4:4:4) and a text optimized encoder (Blast Codec or Adaptive). =
    • The HW encoder supports five or more monitors.
    • Pending messages are batched and sent in larger packets, reducing bandwidth usage for data transmission.
  • systems for Linux remote desktops.

Horizon Client

This release offers a variety of new features and enhancements to Horizon Clients 5.3, including support for HTTP 307 redirection, ability to customize RADIUS authentication login pages, and more.

General enhancements include:

  • Support for HTTP 307 redirection
  • Ability to customize the RADIUS authentication login page
  • Windows Client
    • Support for battery state redirection–
    •  Support for Universal Broker –use Horizon Client for Windows in a cloud brokering environment.
    •  Improvements to resolution and DPI to server–
  • Linux Client
    • Support for redirection of battery state 
    • Support for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6 
    • Support for redirection for Scanner and HTML5 Multimedia–.
  • iOS Client
    •  Support for OPSWAT integration for IOS client
    • Enhancements to the derived credentials feature 
    • Support in dark mode 
  • Android Client
    • Favorite desktops and apps –mark remote desktops and published applications as favorites
    • Set Unauthenticated Access in a JSON file enable or disable the Unauthenticated Access feature.
    • •New requirements to the derived credentials feature
  • Chrome Client
    • Favorite desktops and apps
    • Set Unauthenticated Access in a JSON file

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *