Use Existing Active Directory Computer Accounts for Linked Clones

When you create or edit a desktop pool or an automated farm, you can configure View Composer to use existing computer accounts in Active Directory for newly provisioned linked clones.

By default, View Composer generates a new Active Directory computer account for each linked clone that it provisions. The Allow reuse of pre-existing computer accounts option lets you control the computer accounts that are created in Active Directory by ensuring that View Composer uses existing AD computer accounts.

With this option enabled, when a linked clone is provisioned, View Composer checks if an existing AD computer account name matches the linked clone machine name. If a match exists, View Composer uses the existing AD computer account. If View Composer does not find a matching AD computer account name, View Composer generates a new AD computer account for the linked clone.

You can set the Allow reuse of pre-existing computer accounts option when you create or edit a desktop pool or an automated farm. If you edit a pool or a farm and set this option, the setting affects linked-clone machines that are provisioned in the future. Linked clones that are already provisioned are not affected.

When you set the Allow reuse of pre-existing computer accounts option, you can limit the Active Directory permissions assigned to the View Composer user account that generates the desktop pool or farm. Only the following Active Directory permissions are required:

• List Contents
• Read All Properties
• Read Permissions
• Reset Password

You can only limit the Active Directory permissions if you are sure that all machines you intend to provision have existing computer accounts allocated in Active Directory. View Composer generates a new AD computer account if no matching name is found. Additional permissions such as Create Computer Objects are required to create new computer accounts. For a complete list of permissions required for the View Composer user account, see the Horizon 7 Administration document.

This option cannot be disabled if View Composer is currently using at least one existing AD computer account.

The following procedure applies to linked-clone desktop pools. The steps are similar for automated farms.

Prerequisites

Verify that the existing computer accounts are located in the Active Directory container that you specify with the Active Directory container setting. If the existing accounts are located in a different container, provisioning fails for linked clones with those account names, and an error message states that the existing computer accounts already exist in Active Directory.

For example, if you select the Allow reuse of pre-existing computer accounts option and specify that the Active Directory container is the default value, CN=Computers, and the existing computer accounts are located in OU=mydesktops, provisioning fails for those accounts.

Procedure

1. In Active Directory, create the computer accounts to use for the linked-clone machines.
   For example: machine1, machine2, machine3
   The computer account names must use consecutive integers so that they match the names that are generated during machine provisioning in View.
2. In View Administrator, create a pool by using the Add Desktop Pool wizard or edit the pool in the Edit dialog box.
3. On the Provisioning Settings page or tab, select Use a naming pattern.
4. In the Naming Pattern text box, type a machine name that matches the Active Directory computer account name.
   For example: machine
   View appends unique numbers to the pattern to provide a unique name for each machine.
   For example: machine1, machine2, machine3
5. On the Guest Customization page or tab, select the Allow reuse of pre-existing computer accounts option.