To use View Composer, you must install the View Composer service. Horizon 7 uses View Composer to create and deploy linked-clone desktops in vCenter Server.

You can install the View Composer service on the Windows Server computer on which vCenter Server is installed or on a separate Windows Server computer. A standalone View Composer installation works with vCenter Server installed on a Windows Server computer and with the Linux-based vCenter Server Appliance.

The View Composer software cannot coexist on the same virtual or physical machine with any other Horizon 7 software component, including a replica server, security server, Connection Server, Horizon Agent, or Horizon Client.

For enhanced security, we recommend configuring cipher suites to remove known vulnerabilities. For instructions on how to set up a domain policy on cipher suites for Windows machines that run View Composer or Horizon Agent, see Disable Weak Ciphers in SSL/TLS.

Prerequisites

  • Verify that your installation satisfies the View Composer requirements described in View Composer Requirements.
  • Verify that no other Horizon 7 component, including Connection Server, security server, Horizon Agent, or Horizon Client, is installed on the machine on which you intend to install View Composer.
  • Verify that you have a license to install and use View Composer.
  • Verify that you have the DSN, domain administrator user name, and password that you provided in the ODBC Data Source Administrator wizard. You enter this information when you install the View Composer service.
  • If you plan to configure an SSL certificate signed by a CA for View Composer during the installation, verify that your certificate is imported in the Windows local computer certificate store. See Configuring TLS Certificates for Horizon 7 Servers.
  • Verify that no applications that run on the View Composer computer use Windows SSL libraries that require SSL version 2 (SSLv2) provided through the Microsoft Secure Channel (Schannel) security package. The View Composer installer disables SSLv2 on the Microsoft Schannel. Applications such as Tomcat, which uses Java SSL, or Apache, which uses OpenSSL, are not affected by this constraint.
  • To run the View Composer installer, you must be a user with administrator privileges on the system.

Procedure

  1. Download the View Composer installer file from the VMware product page at http://www.vmware.com/products/ to the Windows Server computer.
    The installer filename is VMware-viewcomposer-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe, where xxxxxx is the build number and y.y.y is the version number. This installer file installs the View Composer service on 64-bit Windows Server operating systems.
  2. To start the View Composer installation program, right-click the installer file and select Run as administrator.
  3. Accept the VMware license terms.
  4. Accept or change the destination folder.
  5. Type the DSN for the View Composer database that you provided in the Microsoft or Oracle ODBC Data Source Administrator wizard.
    For example: VMware View Composer
    Note: If you did not configure a DSN for the View Composer database, click ODBC DSN Setup to configure a name now.
  6. Type the domain administrator user name and password that you provided in the ODBC Data Source Administrator wizard.
    If you configured an Oracle database user with specific security permissions, specify this user name.
  7. Type a port number or accept the default value.
    View Connection Server uses this port to communicate with the View Composer service.
  8. Provide an SSL certificate.
    Option Action
    Create default SSL certificate Select this radio button to create a default SSL certificate for the View Composer service.

    After the installation, you can replace the default certificate with an SSL certificate signed by a CA.

    Use an existing SSL certificate Select this radio button if you installed a signed SSL certificate that you want to use for the View Composer service. Select an SSL certificate from the list.
  9. Click Install and Finish to complete the View Composer service installation.

Results

The VMware Horizon View Composer service starts.

View Composer uses the cryptographic cipher suites that are provided by the Windows Server operating system. You should follow your organization's guidelines for managing cipher suites on Windows Server systems. If your organization does not provide guidelines, VMware recommends that you disable weak cryptographic cipher suites on the View Composer server to enhance the security of your Horizon 7 environment. For information about managing cryptographic cipher suites, see your Microsoft documentation.

What to do next

If you have an older version of vCenter Server, see Enable TLSv1.0 on vCenter and ESXi Connections from View Composer.

If you manually set SQL Server database permissions and assigned them to a user, you can revoke the database administrator role from that user. For details, see the last step in the procedure in Set SQL Server Database Permissions by Manually Creating Database Roles.