After administrators perform the required configuration tasks, delegated administrators and end users can run the advanced desktop allocation workflows to accomplish various desktop and pool management goals.

For end users, the action items mentioned in the following scenarios appear when the user clicks a desktop item on the user's Item Details tab in vRealize Automation. These desktop management actions can include start (the virtual machine), log out, reboot, shut down, recycle, and, for linked-clone desktops, users can also use a refresh action, to revert the machine back to the state it was in when the user first acquired the machine.

For delegated administrators, the action items mentioned in the following scenarios appear when the delegated administrator clicks a desktop pool item on the Item Details tab. These pool management actions can include drop pool (delete the pool), manage assignment (of the desktop), manage entitlement (to the desktop pool), manage session, and, for linked-clone pools, recompose.

Advanced Desktop Allocation Workflow Scenario: The Delegated Administrator Wants to Provision a Machine for an End User and Add It to a Pool

  1. Delegated administrators can run the Advanced Desktop Allocation workflow from vRealize Orchestrator, vRealize Automation, or the vSphere Web Client. When the workflow runs, the workflow calls the vcac-desktop-callback-bl (business logic) workflow.
  2. The workflow checks whether a machine already exists and whether the specified user is already entitled to the machine.
    • If the machine exists and the user is already entitled to the pool and assigned to the machine, the workflow takes no action but reports success.
    • If the machine already exists and the user is already assigned to it, but the user is not entitled to the pool, the workflow entitles the user to the pool.
    • If the machine does not already exist, the workflow runs two times. The first time the workflow runs, the machine is created, and the user is assigned to it. The second time the workflow runs, the user is entitled to the pool.
  3. Primary administrators and delegated administrators can monitor the progress of the workflow in Orchestrator or in vRealize Automation.
    • In Orchestrator, the administrator can navigate to Horizon > CoreModules > Business Logic and select the vcac-desktop-callback-bl workflow.
    • In vRealize Automation, tenant administrators and delegated administrators can see a request get created on the Requests tab. Tenant administrators can also go to Infrastructure > Machines > Managed Machines and watch the machine get added to the list. The status goes from InitializingRequest to CloneMachine to MachineProvisioned, to On.
    • In Horizon Administrator, the machine appears in the list of machines that belong to the specified desktop pool. The status goes from Waiting for Agent to Available. An entitlement for the user appears in the list of entitlements.
  4. After the workflow succeeds, the end user can log in to vRealize Automation, go to the Items tab, and click Machines to see the machine. Because vRealize Automation provisioned the machine, the machine appears in the Machines panel rather than in the Horizon panel.

Self-Service Advanced Desktop Allocation Workflow Scenarios

Besides being able to perform the actions described in the following scenarios, for desktop items, users can also click the item to go to the Item Details tab and check the status of the Horizon desktop. Users can then find out whether the machine is currently connected, powered on, in an error state, or undergoing a recompose operation.

Scenario 1: The End User Has a Machine Item Listed Under Machines Rather than Horizon

For the first scenario, the delegated administrator has run the Advanced Desktop Allocation workflow to create and provision a machine in vRealize Automation and assign it to an end user. The end user has an item for the machine on the Items tab in vRealize Automation. The machine is listed only in the Machines panel, and the user wants the item to also appear in the Horizon panel, so that the user can access the desktop management action buttons.

  1. The end user goes to the Catalog tab in vRealize Automation and runs the Self-Service Advanced Desktop Allocation workflow, selecting vRealize Automation Center as the machine provider.
  2. Because the machine already exists and is allocated to the user, the workflow reports success and places an item for the machine on the end user's Horizon panel.
  3. The machine now appears on the user's Horizon panel, and the user can access action buttons such as Start, Recycle, and Logoff.

Scenario 2: The End User Has a Horizon Desktop but Wants to Manage It in vRealize Automation

For the second scenario, the end user has a machine that was provisioned and assigned to the user in Horizon Administrator. Therefore, no items appear in the user's Items tab in vRealize Automation. The end user wants to create an Items tab machine item in the Horizon panel, so that the user can access the desktop management action buttons.

  1. The end user goes to the Catalog tab in vRealize Automation and runs the Self-Service Advanced Desktop Allocation workflow, selecting Horizon View as the machine provider.
  2. Because the machine already exists in a Horizon desktop pool and is allocated to the user, the workflow reports success and places an item for the machine on the end user's Horizon panel.
  3. The end user can go to the Horizon panel and access action buttons such as Start, Recycle, and Logoff.

Scenario 3: Then End User Wants a Machine and Wants to Manage It in vRealize Automation

For the third scenario, no machine has been created for the end user, either in vRealize Automation or in Horizon Administrator. The end user wants to have a machine created, provisioned, assigned, and entitled to the user. The end user also wants to create an Items tab machine item in the Horizon panel, in order to access the desktop management action buttons.

  1. The end user goes to the Catalog tab in vRealize Automation and runs the Self-Service Advanced Desktop Allocation workflow, selecting vRealize Automation Center as the machine provider.
  2. Because no machine already exists, the machine is created, provisioned, added to the specified pool, and allocated to the user. The user gets entitled to the pool. The workflow reports success. However, the workflow places an item for the machine on the end user's Machines panel.
  3. Primary administrators can monitor the progress of the workflow in Orchestrator or in vRealize Automation. End users can monitor requests in vRealize Automation.
    • In Orchestrator, the administrator can view the logs of the workflow run.
    • In vRealize Automation, delegated administrators, tenant administrators, and end users can see a request get created on the Requests tab. Tenant administrators can also go to Infrastructure > Machines > Managed Machines and watch the machine get added to the list. The status goes from InitializingRequest to CloneMachine to MachineProvisioned, to On.
    • In Horizon Administrator, the machine appears in the list of machines that belong to the specified desktop pool. The status goes from Waiting for Agent to Available. An entitlement for the user appears in the list of entitlements.
  4. The machine also appears on the user's Horizon panel, and the user can access action buttons such as Start, Recycle, and Logoff.