After importing an image into the catalog or creating an image version, you must publish the image version to your cloud-connected pods. Publishing an image version makes it available for use in pool assignments. You use the Horizon Universal Console to perform these steps.

Important: Images are only published to pods that are within the same pod-type family. The two families are: Horizon pods that run on Horizon Connection Server software and Horizon Cloud pods that are based on Horizon Cloud pod-manager technology. Images from Horizon pods running Connection Server are only published to the same such pods, and images from pod-manager-based pods in Microsoft Azure are only published to those same such pods. Images from Horizon pods can be either VDI or RDSH, but images from Horizon Cloud pods must be VDI desktop images.
Warning:

The following warnings apply to Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure deployments:

  • After you publish an image sourced from a pod on Microsoft Azure and it is in its sealed state in Horizon Cloud, do not use the Microsoft Azure Portal to perform actions on that image VM or copies of it. Using the Microsoft Azure Portal to perform direct actions on a VM that is in the published state in Horizon Cloud is unsupported and will cause unexpected behavior. Always use the Horizon Universal Console to perform actions on sealed images.
  • If you want to publish an image version that was deployed on a higher version Microsoft Azure pod and see the error "Cannot publish because the destination pods lower-version-pod-name belong to a lower version compared to the source pod," perform one of the following workarounds.
    • Deselect Install Horizon Agent during publication.
    • Import an image to the lowest pod version .
    • Deselect the pods lower-version-pod-name under the Destination section.

Prerequisites

  • For the Horizon pods that you are using with IMS, set up the participating vCenter Server instances. See Cloud-Connected Horizon Pods - Configure the vCenter Server Instances for Use with Horizon Image Management Service.
  • Ensure that all pods on Microsoft Azure are healthy and online and that there is sufficient quota in all regions for your Microsoft Azure subscription.
  • Import the image. For the Horizon pods, see Import an Image from vCenter into the Image Catalog. For pods on Microsoft Azure, see Create a Golden Image by Automated Import of a Base VM from the Microsoft Azure Marketplace into the Image Catalog.
  • In order for an image to be assignable, it must have at least one marker on it. You can add markers to the image during the creation or import process.
  • Ensure that there are no pending Windows updates on the parent image or template of the image version that you want to publish. If there are Windows updates pending, the publication of the image fails.
  • If you are publishing an image from an imported VM, you must remove any custom script extension from that VM before you attempt to publish it.
  • If the Horizon pod is version 2103 or later and you want to use a 32-bit image, then you must manually pre-install the 32-bit Horizon Agent into the image before importing the image into the catalog. If the pod is version 2103 or later, the 32-bit image must already have a 32-bit Horizon Agent installed in it before you import that image into the catalog. After importing that 32-bit image, then in the Publish workflow, you must deselect the Install Horizon Agent option so that the publish workflow will skip installation of the agent.

Procedure

  1. In the console, select Inventory > Images - Multi-Pod.
    The console displays all the images registered in the image catalog.
  2. Click the name of the image containing the version that you want to publish.
    The details page for the image appears, listing all its versions.
  3. On the image details page, select the version that you want to publish. Click the more ( ... ) button and select Publish from the menu.
    Note: You can only publish an image with the status Deployment Complete.

    Selecting Publish command for version 1.0
    The Publish Image dialog box appears.
  4. Specify the options for the published image version.
    For the Horizon Connection Server pod type, specify options as shown in the following table.
    Option Description
    Clone Type Select from the following options:
    • Full Clone
    • Instant Clone
    Image Type Select from the following options:
    • VDI
    • Session Desktop
    • Remote Application
    Install Horizon Agent Deselect this option to publish the image without installing Horizon Agent.

    If the Horizon pod is version 2103 or later and this is a 32-bit image, then you must already have installed the 32-bit Horizon Agent on it. In that situation, you must not select this Install the Horizon Agent option. Otherwise, a failure will occur.

    Note: Only deselect this option if you installed the agent on the image before you imported it. In this case, you are responsible for confirming that the correct agent version was installed.
    Important:

    For images moved from the Imported VMs page, this option is not available because you should have already installed the correct version of the agent.
    Horizon Agent Features (Optional) To specify the availability of each Horizon Agent feature, turn on or turn off the toggle for each feature.

    If you have multiple versions of the Horizon Agent, there is a column for each version showing the options available for that version. The header of each column also indicates the number of pods using that Horizon Agent version. Placing your pointer on the header shows the names and locations of the pods.

    Caution: If you have multiple versions of the Horizon Agent, you must confirm that the version installed on the image is not higher than the lowest version shown here. If the installed version is higher than the lowest shown here, uninstall it manually to prevent a failed agent installation.

    For information about Horizon Agent features, see the VMware Horizon Documentation.
    Select Destination Select to choose target pods for replication. If this option is not selected, the image is published to all of the Horizon pods which are configured for use with IMS in your tenant.

    When you select this option, the system displays a list of available pods. Select the check box next to each pod to select it. The source pod for the image is selected by default and cannot be deselected.
    Datastore and Network Select a Host or Cluster, Resource Pool, Datastore, and Network. For the Network option, only the vSphere standard virtual switch network is supported.
    For pods in Microsoft Azure, specify options as shown in the following table.
    Option Description
    Optimise Windows Image Select to optimize the Windows image. This option deactivates physical desktop features for more efficient VM performance and capacity utilization, and helps avoid Microsoft Windows Sysprep issues. For more information, see Deciding to Optimize the Windows Image When Using the Import Virtual Machine from Marketplace Wizard.
    Remove Windows Store Apps Select to remove Windows Store applications, also known as AppX packages, deactivate automatic application and Windows Store updates and downloads. This improves performance and helps avoid Microsoft Windows Sysprep issues. For more information, see Using the Remove Windows Store Apps Option When Using the Import Desktop Wizard.
    Select Destination Select to choose target pods for replication. If this option is not selected, the image is published to all pods on Microsoft Azure.

    When you select this option, the system displays a list of available pods. Select the check box next to each pod to select it. The source pod for the image is selected by default and cannot be deselected.
    Company Name Name to appear as the default for the desktops created from this image.
    Time Zone Time zone where the company is located.
    Install NSX Agent Select this option to install NSX agent on the image.

    This option only appears if the capability for installing the NSX agent in Image Management is activated in your environment.

    Note:

    Before selecting this option, ensure that all relevant NSX components are installed and configured. Enable NSX Cloud networking and security features for assignments associated with this pod. For more information, see VMware NSX Cloud and Horizon Cloud Pods in Microsoft Azure This option can only be used if NSX Cloud version 3.1.1 or later is installed on the pod's virtual network. For NSX Cloud versions earlier than 3.1.1, configure the Microsoft Azure private DNS for NSX Cloud gateways as described in https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/81158 or the image publish will fail.
    Install Horizon Agent Deselect this option to publish the image without installing Horizon Agent.

    If the Horizon pod is version 2103 or later and this is a 32-bit image, then you must already have installed the 32-bit Horizon Agent on it. In that situation, you must not select this Install the Horizon Agent option. Otherwise, a failure will occur.

    Attention: Only deselect this option if you installed the agent on the image before you imported it. In this case, you are responsible for confirming that the correct agent version was installed.
    Note: For images moved from the Imported VMs page, this option is not available because you should have already installed the correct version of the agent.
    Datastore and Network Select a Host or Cluster, Resource Pool, Datastore, and Network. For the Network option, only the vSphere standard virtual switch network is supported.
  5. Click Submit.
    The publication process begins. During this operation, Horizon Image Management Service replicates and places a copy of the image version in the content library of each cloud-connected pod.
    Note: Images are published to pods that are of the same type of resource capacity. For example, images from Horizon pod deployments are only published to Horizon pod deployments, and images from Microsoft Azure are only published to pods in your Microsoft Azure cloud capacity.
    The image version shows the in-progress ( Cycling arrow icon representing operation that is in progress) status while the publishing operation is underway.
  6. To monitor the publication progress, click the version number on the image details page.
    The version details page appears.

Results

The Image Copies section shows the status of the image version as it is replicated to each pod. During the replication process, the version copy shows the in-progress (Cycling arrow icon representing operation that is in progress) status. When the replication is complete, the status changes to Available.

  • For Horizon pod deployments, the source pod from which you originally imported the image shows two version copies. The Deployment Complete copy represents the source image that was replicated to the pod's content library. The Available copy represents the published image version that you can use for assignments.
  • For pods in Microsoft Azure, there is only one copy. The status of this copy is Deployment Complete before you publish it and then becomes Available after you publish it.
Note: You cannot make changes to a published image version.

The replication process might fail on some or all pods due to environmental issues such as pod going offline.

  • Failure on some pods and success on others results in a status of Partially Available.
  • Failure on all pods results in a status of Failed.

If an image version has a status of Partially Available or Failed, you can republish it after you have corrected any environmental issues that caused the failure on a particular pod. See Republish an Image Version Using the Horizon Universal Console.

What to do next