Horizon 6.0 introduced some new default storage policies for vSAN. These policies are not automatically applied to existing virtual machine desktops created on vSAN by Horizon 7 5.3.x after the desktop pool is upgraded.

In addition, when you upgrade from Horizon 7 5.3.x, the Use VMware Virtual SAN pool setting will not automatically be enabled, even if the pool is on a vSAN datastore. You have the following upgrade options:

  • If you continue to use VMware vSphere 5.5 Update 1, after upgrading, continue to use the default storage policies that were used with Horizon 7 5.3.x. If you choose this option, edit the pool settings so that Use VMware Virtual SAN is enabled.
  • Use the procedure described in this topic so that the desktop pool uses the new default storage policies. This procedure involves rebalancing the desktop pool to a non-vSAN datastore and then upgrading and rebalancing back to the vSAN datastore.
Important: The tasks outlined in this procedure describe upgrading from a Horizon 7 5.3.x desktop pool using a vSAN datastore on a VMware vSphere 5.5 Update 1 cluster. Upgrading from vSAN datastore on a VMware vSphere 5.5 or earlier cluster (a Tech Preview feature) is not supported.

Also, because this procedure involves recomposing the desktop pool, any changes that end users have made to the operating system disk will be lost.

Prerequisites

  • Verify that all virtual machines in the pool are VMware vSphere 5.5 Update 1 or later virtual machines. VMware recommends that you upgrade to VMware vSphere 6.0 or later because the vSAN feature available with vSphere 6.0 and later releases contains many performance improvements over the feature that was available with vSphere 5.5 Update 1. With vSphere 6.0 this feature also has broader HCL (hardware compatibility) support.

    For information about upgrades, see Upgrade ESXi Hosts and Their Virtual Machines and see the VMware vSphere Upgrade Guide. For information about vSAN requirements and upgrades, see the Administering VMware vSAN document.

  • In vCenter Server, verify that the following privileges are added to the Composer role: 
    Profile-Driven Storage: All
Folder: Create Folder & Delete Folder
Host: Configuration: Advanced settings

Procedure

  1. Edit the pool settings of the desktop pool to change the datastore from a vSAN datastore to a non-vSAN datastore, and use the Rebalance command.
    For instructions on editing server settings and using the Rebalance command, click the Help button in View Administrator.
  2. Upgrade the desktop pool to the latest version, as described in Upgrade View Composer Desktop Pools.
    This process includes installing the latest version of Horizon Agent on the parent virtual machine and taking a snapshot.
  3. Recompose the pool on the non-vSAN datastore using the snapshot of the parent virtual machine you just created.
    For instructions on recomposing pools, click the Help button in View Administrator.
  4. Edit the pool settings of the newly upgraded desktop pool to change the datastore from a non-vSAN datastore to a vSAN datastore, and use the Rebalance command.

What to do next

If you upgraded your virtual machines to VMware vSphere 6.0, to upgrade to using vSAN 2 rather than vSAN 1, see Upgrade from vSAN Disk Format Version 1.