This article describes the different deployment architectures used by Horizon pods. Before onboarding a Horizon pod to Horizon Cloud, you must first identify its deployment architecture, which in turn determines the steps you must perform to deploy the Horizon Cloud Connector appliance into that architecture.

Horizon pods can be deployed using one of the following deployment architectures: on-premises, all-in-SDDC, or federated.

On-premises Deployment Architecture


Diagram of on-premises deployment architecture for Horizon Cloud Connector

When a Horizon pod is deployed on premises, the pod components are deployed as follows:

These pod components: Are deployed into:
  • Horizon Connection Server
  • Unified Access Gateway
  • App Volumes Manager
  • Virtual machines (VMs) for virtual desktops, published desktops, and published applications
 The vSphere infrastructure of the on-premises VMware SDDC
Note: When onboarding an on-premises pod to Horizon Cloud, you must deploy Horizon Cloud Connector into the vSphere infrastructure of the on-premises VMware SDDC.

All-in-SDDC Deployment Architecture


Diagram of All-in-SDDC deployment architecture for Horizon Cloud Connector

When a Horizon pod is deployed into a cloud environment using all-in-SDDC architecture, the pod components are deployed as follows:

These pod components: Are deployed into:
  • Horizon Connection Server
  • Unified Access Gateway
  • App Volumes Manager
  • VMs for virtual desktops, published desktops, and published applications
 The vSphere infrastructure of the VMware SDDC within the cloud environment
Note: When onboarding an all-in-SDDC pod to Horizon Cloud, you must deploy Horizon Cloud Connector into the vSphere infrastructure of the VMware SDDC.

For example, consider an all-in-SDDC pod deployed into VMware Cloud on AWS. In this case:

  • All pod components reside within the vSphere infrastructure of VMware Cloud on AWS.
  • You must deploy Horizon Cloud Connector into the vSphere infrastructure of VMware Cloud on AWS

Federated Deployment Architecture


Diagram of federated deployment architecture for Horizon Cloud Connector

When a Horizon pod is deployed into a cloud environment using federated architecture, the pod components are deployed as follows:

These pod components: Are deployed into:
VMs for virtual desktops, published desktops, and published applications The vSphere infrastructure of the VMware SDDC within the cloud environment
  • Horizon Connection Server
  • Unified Access Gateway
  • App Volumes Manager
 The native cloud infrastructure, outside the VMware SDDC
Note: When onboarding a federated pod to Horizon Cloud, you must deploy Horizon Cloud Connector into the native cloud infrastructure outside the VMware SDDC.

For example, consider a federated pod deployed into Google Cloud VMware Engine (GCVE). In this case:

  • VMs for virtual desktops, published desktops, and published applications reside within the vSphere infrastructure of GCVE.
  • Horizon Connection Server, Unified Access Gateway, and App Volumes Manager all reside in the native Google Cloud Platform (GCP) infrastructure, outside GCVE.
  • You must deploy Horizon Cloud Connector into the native GCP infrastructure, outside GCVE.