End users start Horizon Client to log in to Horizon Connection Server. This server, which integrates with Windows Active Directory, provides access to remote desktops hosted on a VMware vSphere server, a physical PC, or a Microsoft RDS host. Horizon Client also provides access to published applications on a Microsoft RDS host.

Note: Horizon 7 supports Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) domain functional levels. For more information about supported AD DS domain functional levels, see the VMware Knowledge Base (KB) article http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2150351.

High-Level Example of a Horizon 7 Environment shows the relationship between the major components of a Horizon 7 deployment.

Figure 1. High-Level Example of a Horizon 7 Environment
A VMware View environment includes desktop sources, client end points, centralized management, and virtual desktops.