VMware Horizon

Note:

After reviewing telemetry data and conducting interviews with customers to determine use of this capability, this target was deemed appropriate to deprecate. If you replaced this technology with something that is currently not supported, submit an idea at the Cloud Management and AIOps Idea Portal. The last Turbonomic version that will contain this target is 8.15.0.

VMware Horizon provides end users access to all of their virtual desktops, applications, and online services through a single digital workspace.

With the information provided by Horizon, Turbonomic efficiently utilizes the VDI infrastructure to avoid inappropriately placed or sized desktops, ensure users are matched to desktop images that meet their demand, while gaining valuable insight into the interconnected nature of your environment.

Prerequisites

  • Horizon 7.0 or higher

  • The version of the vCenter target associated to the Horizon target must be 5.0+

Adding Horizon targets

Note:

This topic describes features that are available in the new design of the user interface. This new design is enabled by default. If you switched to the legacy design, click New Feature Toggle button in the navigation bar of the user interface and then turn on the toggle to re-enable the new design. For more information, see New Design for the User Interface.

Note:

For each Horizon target, add only one connection server servicing that site. Turbonomic will use the default port of 443. Adding multiple connection servers for the same site results in inconsistent and duplicate actions.

  1. Click Settings > Target Configuration.

  2. On the Target configuration page, click Add Target.

  3. On the Select target page, click Horizon.

  4. In the side panel, review the connection requirements and then click Connect Target.

  5. Configure the following settings:

    • IP address of the Horizon Connection Server

      Specify the IP address of the Horizon connection server.

    • Username

      Specify the username of the account Turbonomic uses to connect to the target.

      Specify the username in the User Principal Name (UPN) format. For example, user.name@domain.com.

      This account must be an Administrator (Read-Only) account.

    • Password

      Specify the password of the account Turbonomic uses to connect to the target.

    • vCenter username

      Specify the username for the user account Turbonomic uses to connect to the vCenter target related to Horizon.

      Leave this field blank if the Horizon and vCenter credentials are identical.

    • vCenter password

      Password for the user account Turbonomic uses to connect to the vCenter target related to Horizon.

      Leave this field blank if the Horizon and vCenter credentials are identical.

    • LDAP server domain name

      Specify the fully qualified domain name of the LDAP server Turbonomic uses in conjunction with the Horizon target.

      By default, Turbonomic will do a lookup based on the domain entered in the Username and select a healthy DNS server from the response.

    • LDAP server port

      Specify the port to use for the LDAP connection. By default, Turbonomic uses port 389 for unsecure connections, and port 636 for secure connections.

    • Connect securely to LDAP server using SSL

      If you select this option, Turbonomic uses SSL to communicate to the LDAP server.

      This option is selected by default.

    • LDAP server username

      Specify the username in the User Principal Name (UPN) format. For example, user.name@domain.com.

    • LDAP server password

      Specify the password Turbonomic uses to connect to the LDAP server.

Monitored resources

Turbonomic monitors the following commodities of the Horizon target:

  • Business User

    • ImageCPU

      ImageCPU is the measurement of CPU that is utilized by a user's desktop images, expressed as a percentage of CPU capacity.

    • ImageMem

      ImageMem is the measurement of memory that is utilized by a user's desktop images, expressed as a percentage of memory capacity.

    • ImageStorage

      ImageStorage is the measurement of storage that is utilized by a user's desktop images, expressed as a percentage of storage capacity.

  • Desktop Pool

    • Pool CPU

      Pool CPU is the measurement of CPU that is utilized by active sessions in a desktop pool.

    • Pool memory

      Pool memory is the measurement of memory that is utilized by active sessions in a desktop pool.

    • Pool storage

      Pool storage is the measurement of storage that is utilized by active sessions in a desktop pool.

    • Active sessions

      Active sessions is the number of active sessions in a desktop pool, expressed as a percentage of the pool's capacity.

    • Total sessions

      Total sessions is the number of active and disconnected (non-terminated) sessions in a desktop pool, expressed as a percentage of the pool's capacity.

  • View Pod

    • Active sessions

      Active sessions is the number of active sessions in a desktop pool, expressed as a percentage of the pool's capacity.

    • Total sessions

      Total sessions is the number of active and disconnected (non-terminated) sessions in a desktop pool, expressed as a percentage of the pool's capacity.

Actions

Turbonomic recommends actions for the various entities of the Horizon target as follows:

  • Desktop Pool

    • Turbonomic does not recommend actions to perform on a desktop pool. Instead, it recommends actions to perform on the business users running active sessions in the pool.

  • View Pod

    • Turbonomic does not recommend actions to perform on a view pod. Instead, it recommends actions to perform on the business users running active sessions in the view pod.

  • Business User

    • Move Business User due to image congestion

    • Move Business User due to desktop pool congestion

Under some circumstances, you can have Business Users who need large-scale desktop images. This appears as users with high utilization of the image resources. In this case, Turbonomic can recommend moving the Business Users to a different desktop pool that serves up large-scale images.

To support moving Business Users, you must create a placement policy that merges desktop pools. Be sure to merge only desktop pools that are similarly configured – they should run the same operating system and applications, and differ only in allocated memory and/or CPU.

To merge desktop pools:

  1. Create a new placement policy.

  2. Choose Merge as the policy type.

  3. For the consumer type to merge, choose Desktop Pool.

  4. Choose the pools that you want to merge.

  5. Save the policy.

For more information, see Creating Placement Policies.