A VMware Horizon View block or pod could contains View Standard Server, Replica Servers, Security Servers and Transfer Servers. Also part of the View are View Agent installed on every desktop source and View Client installed on every end point device which is used to access your virtual desktop. All of those components provide a silent installation methods which not involved any wizard interactions. The silent installation itself could be included in scripts and achieve a good level of automation building a Horizon View environment. Let’s take a look how the silent installation should be initiated for each of the components.
Horizon View Connection Server (Standard)
Following the manual View Connection Server installation you can find what inputs you need. Let’s summarize:
- Choose where to install the View Connection Server
- Choose server type – Standard, Replica, Security, Transfer
- Choose recovery password and reminder
- Choose firewall configuration type
- Choose a admin group
- Choose if you want to participate in User Experience Improvement Program
Here are the parameters which you should add in your silent installation command:
- Installation directory – INSTALLDIR
- Server Type – VDM_SERVER_INSTANCE_TYPE
- Recovery password – VDM_SERVER_RECOVERY_PWD
- Recovery password reminder – VDM_SERVER_RECOVERY_PWD_REMINDER
- Firewall choice – FWCHOICE
- Admin Group – VDM_INITIAL_ADMIN_SID – you must specify SID. By default it will add the local administrator group, but you can change it with any other from your domain.
As you may notice you do not have a switch to configure the UEIP, so you will have to do that after the silent installation or leave it by default (On).
The final command should look something like this:
VMware-viewconnectionserver-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe /s /v"/qn VDM_SERVER_INSTANCE_TYPE=1 VDM_INITIAL_ADMIN_SID=S-1-5-32-544 INSTALLDIR=""C:\View"" FWCHOICE=1 VDM_SERVER_RECOVERY_PWD=TheVirtualist.org VDM_SERVER_RECOVERY_PWD_REMINDER=""BestVMblog"""
Horizon View Connection Server (Replica)
Following the manual View Replica installation you can find what inputs you need. Let’s summarize again:
- Choose where to install the View Replica Server
- Choose server type – Standard, Replica, Security, Transfer
- Type a server name or IP address of a server from the View block or pod
- Choose firewall configuration type
Here are the parameters which you should add in your silent installation command:
- Installation directory – INSTALLDIR
- Server Type – VDM_SERVER_INSTANCE_TYPE
- Existing server name and port- ADAM_PRIMARY_NAME, ADAM_PRIMARY_PORT
- Firewall choice – FWCHOICE
Example:
VMware-viewconnectionserver-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe /s /v"/qn VDM_SERVER_INSTANCE_TYPE=2 INSTALLDIR=""C:\View"" FWCHOICE=1 ADAM_PRIMARY_NAME=connection1.vlab.local
Horizon View Security Server
Following the manual View Security Server installation you can find what inputs you need. Let’s summarize again:
- Choose where to install the View Security Server
- Choose server type – Standard, Replica, Security, Transfer
- Type a server name or IP address of the connection server which will be paired with
- Type pairing password
- Type external URL/Port
- Type PCoIP URL/Port
- Blast External URL/Port
- Choose firewall configuration type
Here are the parameters which you should add in your silent installation command:
- Installation directory – INSTALLDIR
- Server Type – VDM_SERVER_INSTANCE_TYPE
- Existing server name – VDM_SERVER_NAME
- Paring password – VDM_SERVER_SS_PWD
- External URL/Port – VDM_SERVER_SS_EXTURL
- External PCoIP URL/Port – VDM_SERVER_SS_PCOIP_IPADDR / VDM_SERVER_SS_PCOIP_TCPPORT / VDM_SERVER_SS_PCOIP_UDPPORT
- Blast External URL/Port – VDM_SERVER_SS_BSG_EXTURL
- Firewall choice – FWCHOICE
Example:
VMware-viewconnectionserver-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe /s /v"/qn VDM_SERVER_INSTANCE_TYPE=3 INSTALLDIR=""C:\View"" VDM_SERVER_NAME=connection2.vlab.local VDM_SERVER_SS_EXTURL=https://viewsec.vlab.local:443 VDM_SERVER_SS_PCOIP_IPADDR=10.20.30.40 VDM_SERVER_SS_PCOIP_TCPPORT=4172 VDM_SERVER_SS_PCOIP_UDPPORT=4172 VDM_SERVER_SS_BSG_EXTURL=https://viewsec.vlab.local:8443 VDM_SERVER_SS_PWD=vmware1!"
Horizon View Transfer Server
Following the manual View Transfer installation you can find what inputs you need. Let’s summarize again:
- Choose where to install the View Replica Server
- Choose server type – Standard, Replica, Security, Transfer
- Type network domain
- Type server name
- Type administrator’s e-mail address
- Choose firewall configuration type
Here are the parameters which you should add in your silent installation command:
- Installation directory – INSTALLDIR
- Server Type – VDM_SERVER_INSTANCE_TYPE
- Server Domain – SERVERDOMAIN
- Server name – SERVERNAME
- Admin’s e-mail – SERVERADMIN
- Firewall choice – FWCHOICE
Example:
VMware-viewconnectionserver-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe /s /v"/qn VDM_SERVER_INSTANCE_TYPE=4 INSTALLDIR=""C:\View"" SERVERDOMAIN=vlab.local SERVERNAME=transfer02.vlab.local SERVERADMIN=admin@vlab.local FWCHOICE=1"
Horizon View Agent
Following the manual View Agent installation you can find what inputs you need. Let’s summarize:
- Choose where the agent to be install
- If not a managed by View vCenter server or physical machine you need to provide connection server name or IP address and credentials for agent registration
- Select agent’s features
Here are the parameters which you should add in your silent installation command:
- Installation directory – INSTALLDIR
- VM type – VDM_VC_MANAGED_AGENT
- Connection server details – VDM_SERVER_NAME, VDM_SERVER_USERNAME, VDM_SERVER_PASSWORD
Features details:
- View Composer Agent – SVIAgent
- Virtual Printing – ThinPrint
- Virtual Printing with PCoIP – ThinPrintPCoIP
- PCoIP Protocol – PCoIP
- USB Redirection – USB
- View Persona Management – VPA
- Smart Card authentication – SmartCard
Example for non-managed agent installation:
VMware-viewagent-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe /s /v"/qn VDM_VC_MANAGED_AGENT=0 VDM_SERVER_NAME=connection1.vlab.local VDM_SERVER_USERNAME=viewadmin.vlab.local VDM_SERVER_PASSWORD=TheVirtualist ADDLOCAL=Core,ThinPrint,USB"
Example for managed agent installation:
VMware-viewagent-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe /s /v"/qn VDM_VC_MANAGED_AGENT=1 ADDLOCAL=Core,PCoIP,SVIAgent,ThinPrint,USB"
Horizon View Client
The options which you have during the View Client installation are:
- Installation directory
- Type a host name or IP address of a preferred view connection server
- What kind of shortcuts do you need
- Features
Here are the parameters which you should add in your silent installation command:
- Installation Directory – INSTALLDIR
- Connection server – VDM_SERVER
- Shortcuts – DESKTOP_SHORTCUT, QUICKLAUNCH_SHORTCUT, STARTMENU_SHORTCUT
Features details:
- Virtual Printing – ThinPrint
- Single Sign-on (SSO) – TSSO
- USB Redirection – USB
Example:
VMware-viewclient-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe /s /v"/qn REBOOT=ReallySuppress VDM_SERVER=connection1.vlab.local ADDLOCAL=Core,TSSO,USB DESKTOP_SHORTCUT=1"
References:
VMware Horizon View Installation
Nikolay Nikolov
Latest posts by Nikolay Nikolov (see all)
- Build a vRealize Orchestrator 7 (vRO) Cluster - February 13, 2017
- VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 – Install and Configure - November 16, 2016
- Nutanix Upgrade fails at 93% - August 18, 2016
