In this step in the workflow of onboarding a Horizon pod to Horizon Cloud, you use the Horizon Cloud Connector configuration portal to specify details that the Horizon Cloud Connector uses to pair with the Horizon pod's Connection Server. Completing these steps successfully results in that pod connected to your Horizon Cloud tenant environment.

Important: To ensure the proper functioning of the Horizon subscription license and other cloud-hosted services for a pod, you must pair only one Horizon Cloud Connector appliance with that pod. The pairing of more than one appliance with a pod is allowed only under special circumstances such as appliance updates and troubleshooting procedures.

For an illustration of how the Horizon pod, Horizon Cloud, and Horizon Cloud Connector relate to each other in the pairing process, see the diagram shown in Connect Horizon Cloud Service with an Existing Horizon Pod to Use Horizon Subscription Licenses or Cloud-Hosted Services or Both.

Note: If you encounter connectivity issues with the Horizon Cloud Connector configuration portal, see the troubleshooting information in VMware Knowledge Base (KB) article 79859.

Prerequisites

Verify that you have completed the required preparation steps:

Also, verify that:

  • The primary node (Horizon Cloud Connector 2.0 and later) or virtual appliance (Horizon Cloud Connector 1.10 and earlier) is powered on.
  • You have the URL for displaying the browser-based Horizon Cloud Connector configuration portal. This URL is based on the IP address of the virtual appliance, such as https://IP-address/ where IP-address is the appliance's IP address. Alternatively, if you have mapped a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) to the Horizon Cloud Connector virtual appliance's IP address in your DNS server, the configuration portal's URL is that FQDN.

Verify that you have fulfilled all the items described in Horizon Pod and Horizon Cloud Connector - Preparing to Onboard to Control Plane Services, especially:

Procedure

  1. Get the URL for launching the web-based configuration portal.
    • (Horizon pods on premises or in VMware Cloud on AWS) Get the URL from the appliance's blue console screen.

      Blue console of the Horizon Cloud Connector as it appears in the vSphere Client.

    • (Horizon pods in Azure VMware Solution) Get the URL by navigating to the appliance VM in the Azure portal VM Properties and noting the IP address or FQDN of the appliance VM. Construct the URL as follows: https://IP-address or https://FQDN/
  2. Using a browser, navigate to the URL that you obtained in the previous step.
    Important: In this step, the Horizon Cloud Connector makes a connection to Horizon Cloud to display the login screen, which will be used to authenticate your My VMware account credentials with the cloud control plane. This connection is outbound HTTPS using port 443. If you do not see a login screen, verify that you have met the DNS, ports, and protocols requirements.
    The login screen for logging in to the Horizon Cloud Connector configuration portal appears.
  3. In the login screen, enter the My VMware account credentials and click Login.
    The following screenshot is an example of the login screen with the credentials entered before clicking Login.
    Example of the login screen filled in with the appropriate My VMware account credentials.

    When the Terms of Service message appears, click Accept to continue.

    The configuration portal displays the first step of the pod onboarding wizard. The following screenshot illustrates this step before any fields are filled in.
    Screenshot that illustrates the first step of the pod onboarding workflow.

    Note: At this point, the system detects whether the Horizon Cloud Connector environment is configured improperly. If this is the case, a message appears prompting you to proceed with the cleanup tasks required to correct the configuration.
  4. In the Connect to Horizon Connection Server field, enter the FQDN of the pod's Connection Server instance to which you are pairing the Horizon Cloud Connector.
    As you type in the field, the Connect button appears.
    Screenshot that is a sample illustration of the Connect to Horizon Connection Server field with en typed into that field and the Connect and Reset buttons to the right of the field.

  5. When you have typed in the FQDN, click Connect.

    Screenshot that is a sample illustration of the Connect to Horizon Connection Server field with enwin.com text typed into that field and the Connect button is now a green color, and we show the cursor hovering over that Connect button.

    The Horizon Cloud Connector attempts to communicate with the specified Connection Server and retrieve its certificate information. This process can take a few minutes. When communication is established, the page displays the retrieved certificate information.

    If the Connection Server does not have a valid Root CA certificate, a warning message appears saying that the certificate cannot be automatically validated and you must confirm its validity by clicking the check box. The following screenshot is an example of this situation.


    Screenshot that is a sample illustration of the wizard's step after entering data into the Connect to Horizon Connection Server field and an orange triangle appears if the server certificate cannot be automatically validated. A green arrow points from that orange triangle to the message about how the system cannot automatically validate the server certificate. The screenshot also shows what the UI displays about the certificate and a check box for you to check that you have verified the displayed certificate, with a green arrow pointing to that check box.

    If you see this message, verify that the displayed certificate information is accurate and click the check box so you can proceed to the next step.
    Note: If the Connection Server has a valid Root CA certificate, the wizard automatically validates the information and you can proceed to the next step.
    The following screenshot illustrates the screen after clicking the check box.
    Screenshot that is a sample illustration that depicts how the UI changes when you check that check box to indicate that you have verified the displayed certificate, with a green arrow pointing to that check box. The orange triangle changes to a green circle with a white checkmark inside of it. This screenshot has a second green arrow to point out the relationship between checking the check box and that green circle with the white checkmark inside of it that will appear.

  6. In the credentials section, type the Active Directory domain name associated with this Connection Server.
  7. After the domain name, type the SAM type of account name for an Active Directory user in that domain and its associated password and click Connect.
    • Type in the SAM type of user name, without the domain name portion. Do not type in a UPN (User Principal Name). Even though the UI field accepts UPN format and fails to reject it, subsequent onboarding tasks will fail if a UPN form is entered here.
    • This administrator account must have the Horizon predefined Administrators role with root access for the pod. For more information about the requirements of the administrator account, see Horizon Pod and Horizon Cloud Connector - Preparing to Onboard to Control Plane Services.

    The following screenshot illustrates this area of the screen.


    Screenshot that is a sample illustration of the wizard's Horizon Credentials area of the UI with some values typed into the fields and a green arrow pointing to the Connect button.

    Note: At this point, the system detects whether the specified Connection Server instance is already paired with another instance of the Horizon Cloud Connector. If this is the case, the page displays a message asking whether you want to perform a New Install action that deletes the existing pairing and pairs this Connection Server with the new Horizon Cloud Connector instance. If the new Horizon Cloud Connector instance is at a later version than the existing instance, you also have the option to perform an Upgrade action that copies the existing appliance configuration into the new Horizon Cloud Connector instance, as described in Manually Update the Horizon Cloud Connector Virtual Appliance.

    Click the appropriate action button in the message to continue pairing the pod using the next steps of this procedure.

    Step 2 of the wizard appears.
  8. In this wizard step, provide details about the pod.
    The following screenshot is an example of this step filled in.
    Screenshot that is a sample illustration of the wizard's step Setup 2 of 3 UI and showing sample values typed into the fields to illustrate that the Save button is available after the fields have values in them.

    These details are used in the cloud management plane to associate the paired Connection Server instance and Horizon Cloud Connector with your Horizon Cloud tenant environment. As an example, the specified name, location, and description will be visible in the administrative console so that you can identify this pod from your other pods that are connected to the control plane.
    Option Description
    Name Enter a friendly name to identify this pod in your Horizon Cloud tenant environment.
    Data Center Location Select an existing location or click New to specify a new one to use for this pod. In the cloud-based administrative console, your pods are grouped and displayed according to the locations you specify.

    In the City Name text box, start typing the name of a city. The system automatically displays world city names in its backend geography lookup table that match your entered characters, and you can choose a city from that list.

    Note: You must select a city from the system's autocomplete list. Currently, due to a known issue, the location names are not localized.
    Description Optional: Enter a description for this pod.
  9. Proceed to the next wizard step by clicking Save.
    The wizard's configuring step appears. The system checks the connection to the specified Connection Server instance and completes the final configuration steps. The following screenshot is an example of this step.

    Screenshot that is a sample illustration of the wizard's Setup 3 of 3 Configuring step and progress swirl as the system checks connections to the Connection Servers in this Horizon pod. The UI will display a green circle with a white checkmark inside it when the system has checked the connection to the Connection Server.

    When the system determines that the pod is successfully connected to the Horizon Cloud control plane, a congratulations screen appears with some guidance text and action buttons for post-configuration management tasks. The screen also shows the health status of activated cloud-hosted services. A gray dash icon indicates that the service is deactivated and therefore has no health status to display.

    The following screenshot is an example of the congratulations screen.


    Screenshot that is a sample illustration of the Horizon Cloud Connector's configuration portal when the steps described in this documentation page are all successfully completed. In this UI, green circles with white arrows inside them indicate those services are currently active and healthy. Gray circles with white dashes inside them indicate those services are currently inactive.

    Note: You might see components that always appear in a deactivated state. Such components are planned for use in a future service release.
    When the Connection Server is Located in a vSphere Infrastructure, the Horizon Cloud Connector vCenter Server Details Window Appears Automatically
    When the Horizon Cloud Connector and its paired Connection Server are installed into a vSphere infrastructure of a VMware SDDC or on-premises, the Horizon Cloud Connector vCenter Server Details window automatically opens in front of the congratulations screen.

    When the Horizon Cloud Connector and Connection Server are installed natively into a public cloud infrastructure — as in the federated deployment type — this feature does not apply.

    The entered values are intended to support the automated updates of the Horizon Cloud Connector virtual appliance.

    To close this window, you must enter vCenter Server and network details as described in the article Automated Updates of the Horizon Cloud Connector Virtual Appliance in the Administration Guide. The configuration of these details is mandatory, even though the automated update feature is an optional capability that is enabled on a per-pod basis.

    If you close the Horizon Cloud Connector vCenter Server Details window without entering the mandatory details, you will encounter persistent warning messages until you click the Configure vCenter Server and Network Details button and enter the details.

    The following screenshot shows an example of the window as it initially appears.


    vCenter Server Details window

Results

When you reach this point, the pairing workflow is complete. At this point, VMware activates the subscription license, typically within 30 minutes after you paired the pod with the cloud control plane. When VMware has activated the subscription license, a message appears in your pod's web-based management console that indicates your pod is using the subscription type of license. The following screenshot is a sample illustration.

Attention: If four hours pass and you still do not see the Connected to License Service message in your pod's web-based management console's licensing area, contact your VMware representative.

Screenshot of the Horizon Pod Administration Console and the Connected to License Service message that is displayed there.

What to do next

From this point, the pod is successfully paired with Horizon Cloud. For details about those Horizon Cloud Connector administrative and maintenance tasks that are typically done from this point on, see the topic Typical Administrative and Maintenance Tasks You Perform on the Horizon Cloud Connector After the Horizon Pod is Paired with Horizon Cloud in the Administration Guide.

(Horizon Cloud Connector 2.0 and later) To support service-level fault tolerance, deploy a worker node. See Horizon Cloud Connector 2.0 and Later - Add a Worker Node to a Horizon Cloud Connector Cluster.