We recommend that Carbon Black Cloud console administrators create specific policies to manage a Horizon golden image.

After a policy is applied to the golden image, all clones inherit this policy unless otherwise directed by membership in sensor groups.

For more information about sensor groups, see the VMware Carbon Black Cloud User Guide.

We recommend the following policy settings for a Horizon golden image.

  • Duplicate the Standard policy and make the following changes on the Sensor tab.
  • Run Background Scan – For optimal clone performance, run the background scan on the golden image. This pre-populates the sensor cache with the reputation of files that are currently on the system and improves clone performance. A background scan takes some time to complete, and not all users want to wait for the scan when creating a new image. For performance sensitive customers, the extra wait time might be worth it if the image is deployed at scale. Turn this setting OFF after the background scan is complete.
  • Auto-deregister VDI clone sensors that have been inactive for – Enable this setting to remove any instant clones that been inactive for the specified duration. Set the timeframe to remove inactive VMs.
    Note: VMware Carbon Black recommends setting an interval of at least 24 hours to ensure that sensors do not get de-registered during common maintenance windows from VMware Carbon Black or your environment.
Note: Previously, golden image sensors could be inadvertently uninstalled by auto-deregistration settings. This is no longer possible because the backend will not deregister any device that is the golden image for a clone.