Thursday 11 January 2018

VMware Horizon 7.4 What's New or Enhanced

This week I've been playing with VMware Horizon and looking at the VMware Horizon 7: Install, Configure, and Manage course.

The course is still based on Horizon 7.3, but now we have Horizon 7.4

What's New or Enhanced in 7.4


Horizon Connection Server:

Cloud Pod Architecture
  • The Cloud Pod Architecture feature now supports one-way Active Directory trust domains. Horizon administrators can implement one-way trust topologies in a Cloud Pod Architecture environment, and end-users can select and launch remote desktops and published applications across the trust.
  • Users can now launch remote desktops and applications on a later version pod when connected to an earlier version pod in a Cloud Pod Architecture environment.
  • You can enable the Session Collaboration feature for global desktop entitlements. 

Published Desktops and Application Pools
  • You can use NVIDIA GRID vGPU for 3-D rendering when you create an instant-clone farm.
  • The "Empty session timeout (applications only)" option provides a new “immediate” timeout value in the farm settings to log off the session when the last application window is closed.

Horizon Agent for Linux

  • Instant-Clone Floating Desktop Pool: You can create a Linux-based instant-clone floating desktop pool with Horizon 7 Agent for Linux. This feature is supported only on Ubuntu 14.04 and 16.04 systems.
  • Active Directory Integration with PBISO:Linux-based desktops are allowed to authenticate with Active Directory using PowerBroker Identity Services Open (PBISO): This feature is supported only on Ubuntu 14.04 and 16.04 systems.
  • 3Dconnexion Mouse:The 3Dconnexion mouse support is available in Horizon 7 Agent for Linux  using USB redirection.
  • Additional platform: SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3 and SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP3 are supported.

Horizon Agent

  • Session Collaboration: With the Session Collaboration feature, users can invite other users to join an existing remote desktop session.
  • Fingerprint Scanner Redirection by Using the Device Bridge BAS Plugin: You can redirect biometric devices, specifically fingerprint scanners, that are plugged into a serial port on a Windows client system to virtual desktops, published desktops, and published applications by using the device bridge feature. You can install the Device Bridge BAS Plugin by selecting the Device Bridge BAS Plugin custom setup option in the Horizon Agent installer.
  • Secure boot enabled machines supported with URL Content Redirection: URL content can now be redirected from machines that have secure boot enabled.
  • URL Content Redirection with Chrome: URL content can now be redirected in the Chrome browser. Both agent-to-client and client-to-agent redirection are supported. To use this feature, the VMware Horizon URL Content Redirection Helper extension must be installed and enabled in Chrome.

Horizon GPO Bundle 

  •  Configure Session Collaboration group policy setting: Use the Collaboration group policy setting in the VMware View Agent Configuration ADMX template file (vdm_agent.admx) to configure Session Collaboration on remote desktops.
  • Device Bridge BAS Plugin group policy setting: Use the Disable Device Bridge BAS Plugin group policy setting in the VMware View Agent Configuration ADMX template file (vdm_agent.admx) to disable the Device Bridge BAS Plugin.
  • Server clipboard memory size group policy settings for VMware Blast and PCoIP: Use the Clipboard memory size on server group policy setting for VMware Blast sessions, and the Configure clipboard memory size on server for PCoIP sessions, to specify the server's memory size value for clipboard redirection in bytes or kilobytes. The VMware Blast setting is in the VMware Blast ADMX template file (vdm_blast.admx). The PCoIP setting is in the PCoIP ADMX template file (pcoip.admx).
  • H264 High Color Accuracy: The VMware Blast setting in the VMware Blast ADMX template file (vdm_blast.admx) increases color accuracy when using H.264 encoding by using the YUV 4:4:4 colorspace instead of 4:2:0.
For more information Read the Release notes at VMware.com