Register a Source Virtual Machine with the Horizon FLEX Policy Server

You must register a source virtual machine with the Horizon FLEX Policy Server as a Horizon FLEX image before you can distribute the virtual machine to end users.

Prerequisites

• Compress the source virtual machine files in a TAR (.tar) archive file. See Compress a Source Virtual Machine Package.
• Verify that your Horizon FLEX virtual machine packages download directory is set up properly. See Create a Download Folder for Horizon FLEX Virtual Machine Packages and Configure the IIS SSL Server Certificate for the Horizon FLEX Server.
• Verify that restrictions are already set in the source virtual machine's configuration (.vmx) file. If you select a virtual machine that does not have restrictions set, the Horizon FLEX Policy Server rejects the .vmx file as invalid. For information about setting restrictions in a virtual machine, see Create a Source Virtual Machine in Fusion Pro.

Procedure

1. If the source virtual machine is on a Mac, perform these steps.
   1. Find the virtual machine package (.vmwarevm) file for the virtual machine, right-click the file name, and select Show Package Content.
   2. Copy the virtual machine configuration (.vmx) file to a location that is accessible to the Horizon FLEX server.
2. Start the Horizon FLEX Admin Console.
   1. In a Web browser, enter https://WebManagerServer:port/rvm.
      • WebManagerServer is the DNS name or IP address of the host where the Mirage Web Manager is installed.
      • port is the port number with which the Horizon FLEX Admin Console can be accessed. When the Mirage Web Manager is installed, if you deploy the Horizon FLEX Admin Console and the Horizon FLEX Policy Server on different ports, port is the port number specified for the VMware Horizon FLEX Web Management option. Otherwise, port is the port number specified for the VMware Mirage Web Management option.
   2. Enter the user name and password of a domain account that has access to Mirage.
   3. Click Login.
3. Click Images in the left navigation panel.
4. Click the New (+) button.
5. Click Select next to the Select Image File text box and browse to the virtual machine configuration (.vmx) file for the source virtual machine.
6. Type a user-friendly name for the Horizon FLEX virtual machine file in the Image Name text box.
   For example: Windows 7 VM
7. (Optional) Type a description of the Horizon FLEX virtual machine in the Description text box.
8. (Optional) Click the Change button next to Icon and upload an icon for the Horizon FLEX virtual machine.
   Uploaded icons must be PNG ( .png) files.
9. (Optional) In the Image URL text box type the fully qualified path of the TAR file that contains the source virtual machine package.
   End users will download the Horizon FLEX virtual machine from this URL. The URL format is http://server:port/download_directory/filename.tar, where server is the hostname or IP address of the server where you stored the TAR file, port is the port number on the server, download_folder is the name of the Horizon FLEX virtual machine download folder that contains the TAR file, and filename.tar is the name of the TAR file that contains the source virtual machine package. The URL can start with either http or https.
   For example: https://flexserver.demo.local:7443/flexdownloads/windows7vm.tar
10. (Optional) Type text in the Disclaimer (Optional) text box.
    If you do not specify any text, the Horizon FLEX Client does not display disclaimer text when a user downloads the Horizon FLEX virtual machine.
11. Click OK to register the source virtual machine as a Horizon FLEX image.
12. (Optional) Type the image URL in a Web browser to verify the URL.
    For example: https://flexserver.demo.local:7443/flexdownloads/windows7vm.tar
    You should be prompted to save the file. If you receive a permissions error, you might need to adjust the NTFS permissions for the download folder.

What to do next

Add policies to the Horizon FLEX image. See Configure a General Policy for a Horizon FLEX Image.