To provide high availability and load balancing, you can install one or more additional instances of Connection Server that replicate an existing Connection Server instance. After a replica installation, the existing and newly installed instances of Connection Server are identical.
When you install a replicated instance, Horizon 7 copies the View LDAP configuration data from the existing Connection Server instance.
After the installation, identical View LDAP configuration data is maintained on all Connection Server instances in the replicated group. When a change is made on one instance, the updated information is copied to the other instances.
If a replicated instance fails, the other instances in the group continue to operate. When the failed instance resumes activity, its configuration is updated with the changes that took place during the outage.
The replica server software cannot coexist on the same virtual or physical machine with any other Horizon 7 software component, including a security server, Connection Server, View Composer, Horizon Agent, or Horizon Client.
By default, the HTML Access component is installed on the Connection Server host when you install Connection Server. This component configures the Horizon 7 user portal page to display an HTML Access icon in addition to the Horizon Client icon. The additional icon allows users to select HTML Access when they connect to their desktops.
For an overview of setting up Connection Server for HTML Access, see the VMware Horizon HTML Access Installation and Setup Guide document, located on the Horizon Client Documentation page.
Prerequisites
- Verify that at least one Connection Server instance is installed and configured on the network.
- To install the replicated instance, you must log in as a user with the Administrators role. You specify the account or group with the Administrators role when you install the first instance of Connection Server. The role can be assigned to the local Administrators group or a domain user or group. See Install Horizon Connection Server with a New Configuration.
- If the existing Connection Server instance is in a different domain than the replicated instance, the domain user must also have Administrator privileges on the Windows Server computer where the existing instance is installed.
- If you use MIT Kerberos authentication to log in to a Windows Server 2008 R2 computer on which you are installing Connection Server, install the Microsoft hotfix that is described in KB 978116 at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/978116.
- Verify that your installation satisfies the requirements described in Horizon Connection Server Requirements.
- Verify that the computers on which you install replicated Connection Server instances are connected over a high-performance LAN. See Network Requirements for Replicated Horizon Connection Server Instances.
- Prepare your environment for the installation. See Installation Prerequisites for Horizon Connection Server.
- If you install a replicated Connection Server instance that is Horizon 7 5.1 or later, and the existing Connection Server instance you are replicating is Horizon 7 5.0.x or earlier, prepare a data recovery password. See Install Horizon Connection Server with a New Configuration.
- Familiarize yourself with the network ports that must be opened on the Windows Firewall for Connection Server instances. See Firewall Rules for Horizon Connection Server.
- If you plan to pair a security server with this Connection Server instance, verify that Windows Firewall with Advanced Security is set to on in the active profiles. It is recommended that you turn this setting to on for all profiles. By default, IPsec rules govern connections between security server and Connection Server and require Windows Firewall with Advanced Security to be enabled.
- If your network topology includes a back-end firewall between a security server and the Connection Server instance, you must configure the firewall to support IPsec. See Configuring a Back-End Firewall to Support IPsec.
Procedure
Results
The Horizon 7 services are installed on the Windows Server computer:
- VMware Horizon Connection Server
- VMware Horizon View Framework Component
- VMware Horizon View Message Bus Component
- VMware Horizon View Script Host
- VMware Horizon View Security Gateway Component
- VMware Horizon View PCoIP Secure Gateway
- VMware Horizon View Blast Secure Gateway
- VMware Horizon View Web Component
- VMware VDMDS, which provides View LDAP directory services
For information about these services, see the Horizon 7 Administration document.
If the Install HTML Access setting was selected during the installation, the HTML Access component is installed on the Windows Server computer. This component configures the HTML Access icon in the Horizon 7 user portal page and enables the VMware Horizon View Connection Server (Blast-In) rule in the Windows Firewall. This firewall rule allows Web browsers on client devices to connect to the Connection Server on TCP port 8443.
What to do next
Configure an SSL server certificate for the Connection Server instance. See Configuring TLS Certificates for Horizon 7 Servers.
You do not have to perform an initial Horizon 7 configuration on a replicated instance of Connection Server. The replicated instance inherits its configuration from the existing Connection Server instance.
However, you might have to configure client connection settings for this Connection Server instance, and you can tune Windows Server settings to support a large deployment. See Configuring Horizon Client Connections and Sizing Windows Server Settings to Support Your Deployment.
If you are reinstalling Connection Server and you have a data collector set configured to monitor performance data, stop the data collector set and start it again.
