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This page is deprecated and is superseded by the latest VMware Horizon Cloud Service Release Notes page.

Deprecation of this page means we intend to remove this deprecated page at a future date and automatically redirect its URL to the latest page's URL. This deprecation notice can span a few months to a year. This notice is to allow you sufficient time to plan and update your existing links or bookmarks before the redirect is implemented.

What's New February 3, 2022 (v2201, v2.1.x, v21.06, v21.3)

VMware Horizon Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure 2201 | pod manifest 3254.x | VMware Horizon Cloud Connector 2.1.x | VMware Horizon Universal Broker Plugin Installer 21.06 | VMware Horizon Agents Installer (HAI) 21.3.x | Unless otherwise noted in the documentation, this HAI version is built into manifest 3254.x. Running the Import VM wizard in a pod of 3254.x will install the agents from this HAI version. This HAI version is also supported for manual installation for imported VMs in pods of manifest 3254.x. For pods at earlier manifests, the Import VM from Marketplace wizard uses the HAI version that was built into their respective pod manifests.

Note: When downloading the latest binaries for the Horizon Cloud Connector and Horizon Universal Broker Plugin Installer from VMware Customer Connect, in the list of Product Downloads, look for the December 2021 release date. The versions of those binaries are located in the downloads pages with that date. For the latest HAI from the list of Product Downloads, look for the binary under the Horizon Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure November 2021 release date.

Note: If your existing Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure deployments use custom roles for the subscription's service principal (atypical case, usually the Contributor role is used), then before upgrading to this release's manifest, you might need to add these following two permissions to those custom roles prior to starting the upgrade process. An enhancement that makes the upgrade process run faster requires these permissions.

Microsoft.MarketplaceOrdering/offertypes/publishers/offers/plans/agreements/read
Microsoft.MarketplaceOrdering/offertypes/publishers/offers/plans/agreements/write

Below are this release's highlights provided by the Product Management Team. If any questions about these highlight bullets, contact horizoncloudservice@vmware.com. If you are a current customer that has existing cloud-connected pods in prior to this date, additional release items are described in the February 2022 section of the documentation topic About the Latest Horizon Cloud Release.

  • LDAPS can now be selected as the protocol when registering Active Directory. This feature is available when your tenant is explicitly enabled for it and the pods are on this release's manifest level. To request enablement, you must file a support request as described in VMware KB article 2006985.
  • Unified Access Gateway logs can now be sent to a syslog server.
  • Dynamic Environment Manager can now distinguish between internal and external users when connecting through Universal Broker.
  • Session data for users connecting through Universal Broker will now show breakdown of logon segments.
  • A notice will now be shown in the Horizon Universal Console to the administrator if the Unified Access Gateway is upgraded and there may be a need to update the configuration for RADIUS to address changes to the IP addresses.
  • When using Image Management Service (IMS) with Horizon pods, you can now select which pods the multi-pod images are copied to.
  • Windows Server 2019 is now a supported OS for Horizon pods.

What's New November 30, 2021 (v2111, v2.1.x, v21.06, v21.3)

Note: A critical vulnerability in Apache Log4j identified by CVE-2021-44228 has been addressed in this version. Review VMSA-2021-0028 for more details.

VMware Horizon Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure 2111 | pod manifest 3139.x | VMware Horizon Cloud Connector 2.1.x | VMware Horizon Universal Broker Plugin Installer 21.06 | VMware Horizon Agents Installer (HAI) 21.3.x | Unless otherwise noted in the documentation, this HAI version is built into manifest 3139.x. Running the Import VM wizard in a pod of 3139.x will install the agents from this HAI version. This HAI version is also supported for manual installation for imported VMs in pods of manifest 3139.x. For pods at earlier manifests, the Import VM from Marketplace wizard uses the HAI version that was built into their respective pod manifests.

Below are this release's highlights provided by the Product Management Team. If any questions about these highlight bullets, contact horizoncloudservice@vmware.com. If you are a current customer that has existing cloud-connected pods prior to this date, additional release items are described in the November 2021 section of the documentation topic About the Latest Horizon Cloud Release.

  • For existing provisioned VDI VMs, administrators can now adjust the VM type as needed (to supported alternate VM specifications).
  • Administrators can move individual VMs between assignments in the same pod. This feature is enabled for tenants by request.
  • For greenfield deployments of Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure, Universal Broker is enabled as the default.
  • Horizon Agent Update for Horizon Cloud pods on Microsoft Azure now supports remediating incomplete or failed agent updates in cases where the agent is stopped.
  • Administrators can now specify non-admin email addresses for receiving service alerts and notifications.
  • Multi-pod image management now supports use of multi-session Windows OSes with farms for Horizon Cloud pods on Microsoft Azure.
  • In Horizon on VMware Cloud on AWS, administrators can configure App Volume content replication between two or more VMware Cloud on AWS instances. Horizon Universal License is required. This feature is available as a beta preview.
  • If your Horizon Universal License includes SDDC components such as VMware vCenter, vSAN, and vSphere, you can retrieve these keys using the Horizon Universal Console. Note: Full enablement of this feature in the control plane for all tenants is pending and it will be fully enabled in the near future. These Release Notes will be updated at that time.
  • App Volumes now supports Dynamic Environment Manager with Windows 10 multi-session OS.
  • App packages will now be automatically detached as the last assigned user of that app logs off a Windows 10 multi-session system.

What's New October 12, 2021 (v2110, v2.0, v21.06, v21.2)

VMware Horizon Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure 2110 | pod manifest 3000.x | VMware Horizon Cloud Connector 2.0.x | VMware Horizon Universal Broker Plugin Installer 21.06 | VMware Horizon Agents Installer (HAI) 21.2.x | Unless otherwise noted in the documentation, this HAI version is built into manifest 3000.x. Running the Import VM wizard in a pod of 3000.x will install the agents from this HAI version. This HAI version is also supported for manual installation for imported VMs in pods of manifest 3000.x. For pods at earlier manifests, the Import VM from Marketplace wizard uses the HAI version that was built into their respective pod manifests.

Note: When downloading the latest binaries for the Horizon Cloud Connector, Horizon Universal Broker Plugin Installer, and HAI from VMware Customer Connect, look for the July 15, 2021 release date. The versions of the relevant binaries are located in the downloads pages with that date.

Below are this release's highlights provided by the Product Management Team. If you are a current customer that has existing cloud-connected pods prior to this date, additional release items are described in the October 2021 section of the documentation topic About the Latest Horizon Cloud Release.

  • Horizon Universal Console now supports narrow scope permissions to desktop assignments and farms for the built-in predefined roles.
  • Administrators can now select to use either 8443 or 443 as the TCP port for Blast Extreme on the Unified Access Gateways which are deployed as part of the Horizon Cloud pod on Microsoft Azure.
  • Universal Broker now supports the ability to restrict the launching of virtual desktops, published desktops, and published applications to specific clients and versions and provide warning messages to clients.
  • Universal Broker and multi-cloud assignments now support brokering of desktops and apps on Google Cloud VMware Engine.
  • Universal Broker now supports the ability for end users to connect to their VDI desktops and published desktops using the RDP protocol from within the Horizon Client.
  • Horizon Cloud Connector adds support for Google Cloud VMware Engine and Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), enabling customers to deploy Horizon Enterprise with a federated architecture on these cloud platforms.

What's New September 7, 2021 (v2109, v2.0, v21.06, v21.2)

VMware Horizon Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure 2109 | pod manifest 3000.x | VMware Horizon Cloud Connector 2.0.x | VMware Horizon Universal Broker Plugin Installer 21.06 | VMware Horizon Agents Installer (HAI) 21.2.x | Unless otherwise noted in the documentation, this HAI version is built into manifest 3000.x. Running the Import VM wizard in a pod of 3000.x will install the agents from this HAI version. This HAI version is also supported for manual installation for imported VMs in pods of manifest 3000.x. For pods at earlier manifests, the Import VM from Marketplace wizard uses the HAI version that was built into their respective pod manifests.

Note: When downloading the latest binaries for the Horizon Cloud Connector, Horizon Universal Broker Plugin Installer, and HAI from VMware Customer Connect, look for the July 15, 2021 release date. The versions of the relevant binaries are located in the downloads pages with that date.

Below are this release's highlights provided by the Product Management Team. If you are a current customer that has existing cloud-connected pods prior to this date, additional release items are described in the September 2021 section of the documentation topic About the Latest Horizon Cloud Release.

  • Horizon Agent Update for Horizon Cloud pods on Microsoft Azure now supports targeting agent updates on the individual desktops within the assignment.
  • A new pod manifest version for Horizon Cloud pods in Microsoft Azure includes platform code improvements for performance and reliability.

What's New August 10, 2021 (v2108, v2.0, v21.06, v21.2)

VMware Horizon Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure 2108 | pod manifest 2955.x | VMware Horizon Cloud Connector 2.0.x | VMware Horizon Universal Broker Plugin Installer 21.06 | VMware Horizon Agents Installer (HAI) 21.2.x | Unless otherwise noted in the documentation, this HAI version is built into manifest 2955.x. Running the Import VM wizard in a pod of 2955.x will install the agents from this HAI version. This HAI version is also supported for manual installation for imported VMs in pods of manifest 2955.x. For pods at earlier manifests, the Import VM from Marketplace wizard uses the HAI version that was built into their respective pod manifests.

Note: When downloading the latest binaries for the Horizon Cloud Connector, Horizon Universal Broker Plugin Installer, and HAI from VMware Customer Connect, look for the July 15, 2021 release date. The versions of the relevant binaries are located in the downloads pages with that date.

If you are a current customer that has existing cloud-connected pods prior to this date, additional detail is provided in the August 2021 section of the documentation topic For Current Customers with Existing Cloud-Connected Pods - About the Latest Horizon Cloud Release.

  • Integration with the VMware Workspace ONE® Assist for Horizon® product enables Horizon Cloud administrators to launch remote support sessions directly from the Help Desk Tool from the Horizon Universal Console. With this feature, administrators can assist employees with virtual desktop sessions and issues, with remote view and control capabilities. Because Workspace ONE Assist for Horizon is part of the VMware Workspace ONE UEM product line, the documentation about Workspace ONE Assist for Horizon can be found within the document titled Workspace ONE Assist for Horizon and Horizon Cloud located within the set of Workspace ONE UEM Product Documentation.
  • For Horizon Cloud pods in Microsoft Azure, a change related to the set of operations that the service principal should be allowed to perform. Two additional operations are added to the set of operations that the service principal needs to use in your subscription, as described in Operations Required by Horizon Cloud in Your Microsoft Azure Subscriptions. These two additional operations are to support an upcoming feature by which the service can reduce the time it takes for a new pod deployment and for a pod upgrade by using pre-configured images in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace. When your service principal uses a custom role, that role will need the ability to perform these two additional operations.
  • A new pod manifest version for Horizon Cloud pods in Microsoft Azure includes platform code improvements for performance and reliability.

August 3, 2021 Update

  • Use of the Image Management Service (IMS) with Horizon pods deployed in VMware Cloud on AWS is not yet supported. This release notes page and the Managing Images from the Cloud guide will be updated when support for that use case becomes available.

What's New July 15, 2021 (v2106, v2.0, v21.06, v21.2.0)

VMware Horizon Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure 2106 | pod manifest 2915.x | VMware Horizon Cloud Connector 2.0.x | VMware Horizon Universal Broker Plugin Installer 21.06 | VMware Horizon Agents Installer (HAI) 21.2.0 | Unless otherwise noted in the documentation, this HAI version is built into manifest 2915.x. Running the Import VM wizard in a pod of 2915.x will install the agents from this HAI version. This HAI version is also supported for manual installation for imported VMs in pods of manifest 2915.x. For pods at earlier manifests, the Import VM from Marketplace wizard uses the HAI version that was built into their respective pod manifests.

Note: When downloading the latest binaries from VMware Customer Connect, look for the July 15, 2021 release date. The versions of the relevant binaries are located in the downloads pages with that date.

If you are a current customer that has existing cloud-connected pods prior to this date, additional detail is provided in the July 2021 section of the documentation topic For Current Customers with Existing Cloud-Connected Pods - About the Latest Horizon Cloud Release.

What's New June 29, 2021

  • The Limited Availability feature for emailing pod infrastructure monitoring alerts has been removed from the service. The documentation about that email feature has been removed from the Administration Guide.

What's New June 16, 2021

  • TLS 1.2 and Horizon Cloud pods on Microsoft Azure:
    • For all new deployments of Horizon Cloud pods on Microsoft Azure, TLS 1.2 is set as the minimum TLS version for both the pod's storage accounts and the Azure PostgreSQL Service that is deployed as part of the service offering. Please note that these storage accounts and the Azure PostgreSQL Service are used only with the service components such as the pod manager instances and therefore should have no customer impact.
    • When an existing Horizon Cloud pod on Microsoft Azure is updated, TLS 1.2 is set as the minimum TLS version on that pod's configured Azure PostgreSQL Service.
    • For existing pods' storage accounts, their minimum TLS version will be configured as TLS 1.2 by the Horizon Cloud Service Operations team according to this general schedule: tenants in AP regions starting on or around June 24, 2021, tenants in EMEA regions starting on or around June 28, 2021, tenants in Americas regions starting on or around June 30, 2021. The audit event 'Fileshare name created/updated for pod podUUID." will indicate the change has occurred.
  • Changes related to the Public IP toggle used in the Import Virtual Machine - Marketplace wizard for Horizon Cloud pods on Microsoft Azure:
    • Previously, when the Public IP toggle was selected in the Import VM - Marketplace wizard, the workflow created a Basic SKU public IP assigned with the dynamic allocation method.
    • To provide for zone resiliency in Microsoft Azure, as of today's cloud plane refresh, instead of that Basic SKU public IP with the dynamic allocation method, this workflow creates a Standard SKU public IP with the static allocation method.
    • Because the Standard SKU public IP blocks inbound traffic by default, the workflow also now creates an NSG in the same resource group in which the imported VM is created. This NSG has an inbound rule that allows inbound connections for the RDP protocol, so that you can log in to the imported VM using RDP. As part of the workflow, the VM's NIC is attached to that NSG. By default, this NSG is named HCS-Imported-VM-NSG. This NSG will be created the first time that a VM is imported using the workflow in the console. This same NSG is used for subsequent runs of that workflow using the same pod. The NICs for the subsequently imported VMs are added to that NSG.
    • Please note: Because the Standard SKU IP addresses use static allocation, a Microsoft Azure subscription cost is incurred for that IP address irrespective of whether its associated VM is in stopped-deallocated state. With the previous Basic SKU IP address with the dynamic allocation method, there was no subscription cost when the associated VM was in stopped-deallocated state.
    • Please note: The Horizon Cloud product documentation's descriptions of the service-created NSGs is not yet updated with the information about this new NSG. That documentation update is planned and in progress.

What's New June 10, 2021

The documentation pages about DNS name reachability is updated for the following items. (For VMware employees' reference, the updates for the first two are in reference to VMware Problem Report 2779073). On those pages, look for the Updated date displayed as June 9, 2021. If you do not see that date, please clear your browser cache or use incognito or private browsing mode to ensure you are seeing the latest. Please note: This Release Notes page does not typically cover documentation updates. Because of the importance of DNS name reachability to the service's features, we are including this update here.

  • In the pages that describe the DNS requirements for a Horizon Cloud pod in Microsoft Azure and the DNS requirements for the Horizon Cloud Connector, the previously stated query-prod* DNS names are removed from the list of DNS names requiring reachability. Previously, the table rows for the Cloud Management Service's required DNS names included query-prod* DNS names. Reachability to those query-prod* DNS names is not required.
  • Also in the above referenced page for a Horizon Cloud pod in Microsoft Azure, the table row for the Cloud Management Service's required kinesis* DNS names is updated to state the pod's management subnet is the source. Previously, the table row stated the pod's tenant subnet.
  • Also in the above referenced pages, the DNS destination information for the Europe-3 (Germany) regional control plane (cloud-de.horizon.vmware.com) is added.

What's New May 20, 2021 (v2105, v1.10, v21.03, v21.1.1)

VMware Horizon Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure 2105 | pod manifest 2819.x | VMware Horizon Cloud Connector 1.10.x | VMware Horizon Universal Broker Plugin Installer 21.03 | VMware Horizon Agents Installer (HAI) 21.1.1 | Unless otherwise noted in the documentation, this HAI version is built into manifest 2819.x. Running the Import VM wizard in a pod of 2819.x will install the agents from this HAI version. This HAI version is also supported for manual installation for imported VMs in pods of manifest 2819.x. For pods at earlier manifests, the Import VM from Marketplace wizard uses the HAI version that was built into their respective pod manifests.

Note: When downloading the latest binaries from VMware Customer Connect, look for the March 25, 2021 release date. The versions of the relevant binaries are located in the downloads pages with that date.

If you are a current customer that has existing cloud-connected pods prior to this date, additional detail is provided in the May 2021 section of the documentation topic For Current Customers with Existing Cloud-Connected Pods - About the Latest Horizon Cloud Release.

  • Universal Broker with support for published desktops and applications is now available for Horizon pods on VMware SDDC. Specifically, this means that you can define multi-cloud assignments based on Horizon pods that are deployed on various VMware SDDCs, such as vSphere on-premises, VMware Cloud on AWS, and Azure VMware Solution (AVS). This pod type is the one built on Connection Server technology. Each such multi-cloud assignment can consist of multiples of such Horizon pods on VMware SDDC. At this time, all of the pods in a given multi-cloud assignment must be built on the same technology. Universal Broker enables unified brokering across hybrid and multi-cloud Horizon environments with support for both Horizon pods on VMware SDDC and Horizon Cloud pods on Microsoft Azure.
  • A new pod manifest version for Horizon Cloud pods in Microsoft Azure includes platform code improvements for performance and reliability.

What's New April 14, 2021 (v2104, v1.10, v21.03, v21.1.1)

VMware Horizon Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure 2104 | pod manifest 2790.x | VMware Horizon Cloud Connector 1.10.x | VMware Horizon Universal Broker Plugin Installer 21.03 | VMware Horizon Agents Installer (HAI) 21.1.1 | Unless otherwise noted in the documentation, this HAI version is built into manifest 2790.x. Running the Import VM wizard in a pod of 2790.x will install the agents from this HAI version. This HAI version is also supported for manual installation for imported VMs in pods of manifest 2790.x. For pods at earlier manifests, the Import VM from Marketplace wizard uses the HAI version that was built into their respective pod manifests.

Note: When downloading the latest binaries from VMware Customer Connect, look for the March 25, 2021 release date. The versions of the Horizon Cloud Connector and Universal Broker Plugin Installer are unchanged from their versions in the prior March 25, 2021 release date.

If you are a current customer that has existing cloud-connected pods prior to this date, additional detail is provided in the April 2021 section of the documentation topic For Current Customers with Existing Cloud-Connected Pods - About the Latest Horizon Cloud Release.

  • A new pod manifest version for Horizon Cloud pods in Microsoft Azure includes platform code improvements for performance and reliability, as well as the new HAI version.
  • A new HAI version includes a fix to resolve an intermittent issue related to the Cloud Monitoring Service receiving data from the Horizon agent (problem report 2742816).

What's New March 30, 2021

  • Horizon Infrastructure Monitoring, which delivers a global view and advanced insight into infrastructure status and health, is available for cloud-connected Horizon pods. This feature is in Limited Availability. For more information, please email the VMware Horizon Cloud Service team at horizoncloudservice@vmware.com.

What's New March 25, 2021 (v2103, v1.10, v21.03, v21.1)

VMware Horizon Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure 2103 | pod manifest 2747.x | VMware Horizon Cloud Connector 1.10.x | VMware Horizon Universal Broker Plugin Installer 21.03 | VMware Horizon Agents Installer (HAI) 21.1 | Unless otherwise noted in the documentation, this HAI version is built into manifest 2747.x. Running the Import VM wizard in a pod of 2747.x will install the agents from this HAI version. This HAI version is also supported for manual installation for imported VMs in pods of manifest 2747.x. For pods at earlier manifests, the Import VM from Marketplace wizard uses the HAI version that was built into their respective pod manifests.

If you are a current customer that has existing cloud-connected pods prior to this date, additional detail is provided in the March 2021 section of the documentation topic For Current Customers with Existing Cloud-Connected Pods - About the Latest Horizon Cloud Release.

  • Horizon Cloud Administration Console is now Horizon Universal Console.
  • Universal Broker and multi-cloud assignments are now available for existing deployments of Horizon Cloud pods on Microsoft Azure. Previously, only new deployments of Horizon Cloud pods had the option to use Universal Broker. Specifically, this means that you can define multi-cloud assignments based on existing Horizon Cloud pods that are deployed into Microsoft Azure using the pod deployment wizard. This pod type is the one built on Horizon Cloud pod-manager technology. At this time, all of the pods in a given multi-cloud assignment must be built on the same technology. Universal Broker provides a single URL for end-users to access virtual desktops and apps, whether on-premises or in the cloud, as well as multi-cloud assignments that enable you to create dedicated and floating virtual desktop assignments that span multiple pods and sites.
  • Universal Broker and multi-cloud assignments now support Horizon pods on Azure VMware Solutions (AVS), enabling unified brokering of multi-cloud assignments across hybrid and multi-cloud deployments, supporting both Horizon pods and Horizon Cloud pods on Microsoft Azure.
  • App Volumes for Horizon Cloud pods on Microsoft Azure now supports Windows 10 Enterprise multi-session, allowing multiple users to each login into individual sessions with their own app assignments. App Volumes and MSIX app attach formats can be delivered to a session simultaneously, and the App Volumes agent will use the correct mode of virtualization for each format respectively.
  • Multi-cloud virtual desktop assignments for Horizon Cloud pods on Microsoft Azure now support multiple tenant subnets from either the pod’s VNet or from multiple connected, peered VNets. (Feature debuted on February 23, 2021)
  • Image Management Service for Horizon Cloud pods on Microsoft Azure is in Limited Availability. For more information and to request access to this feature, please email the VMware Horizon Cloud Service team at horizoncloudservice@vmware.com.
  • Administrators can now generate Agent DCT logs from within the console for virtual desktop assignments and Farms on Horizon Cloud pods on Microsoft Azure. This feature is in Limited Availability. For more information, please email the VMware Horizon Cloud Service team at horizoncloudservice@vmware.com.

What's New March 16, 2021

  • The feature to enable emails for pod infrastructure alerts that is within the Horizon Infrastructure Monitoring limited availability feature is now turned off by default, and will be enabled only on a per-request basis.

What's New March 9, 2021

  • The login screen for logging in to the administrative console is updated to say 'Welcome to VMware Horizon'.
  • The Welcome email that is sent when a new customer record is created in the cloud plane is also updated with minor improvements.
  • The AllowSSHInbound rule in the transient jumpbox's Network Security Group (NSG) for Horizon Cloud pods in Microsoft Azure is updated to set the management subnet as that rule's Source and Destination values. Prior to this change, that rule had Source=Any and Destination=Any.

What's New February 23, 2021

  • Support for multiple tenant subnets is now extended to VDI multi-cloud assignments in Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pods.

What's New January 7, 2021 (v2101, v1.9, v2101, v20.4)

VMware Horizon Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure 2101 | pod manifest 2632.x | VMware Horizon Cloud Connector 1.9.x | VMware Horizon Universal Broker Plugin Installer 2101 | VMware Horizon Agents Installer (HAI) 20.4 | Unless otherwise noted in the documentation, this HAI version is built into manifest 2632.x. Running the Import VM wizard in a pod of 2632.x will install the agents from this HAI version. This HAI version is also supported for manual installation for imported VMs in pods of manifest 2632.x. For pods at earlier manifests, the Import VM from Marketplace wizard uses the HAI version that was built into their respective pod manifests.

If you are a current customer that has existing cloud-connected pods prior to this date, additional detail is provided in the January 2021 section of the documentation topic For Current Customers with Existing Cloud-Connected Pods - About the Latest Horizon Cloud Release.

  • Horizon Cloud Connector automatic update feature now has a simpler configuration for the network details. You only need to provide an unassigned static IP address for the new appliance for upgrade.
  • Horizon Cloud Connector now enables more secure access methods when troubleshooting the Horizon Cloud Connector appliance. SSH access for the appliance's root user is inactive and a new custom user (ccadmin) is now available for SSH access, including support for using an SSH public key instead of password credentials.
  • Horizon Agent Update for Horizon Cloud pods on Microsoft Azure now supports the ability to rollback the dedicated desktop to a previous usable state in the event that the agent update fails and a configurable failure threshold that provides a fail-fast mechanism that will stop the update process and skip any remaining desktops. A pod must be running manifest 2632.0 or later to take advantage of this feature.
  • Universal Broker now supports integration with Workspace ONE Hub Services and Workspace ONE Access Cloud. When integrated, the desktop and remote application assignments that are brokered using Universal Broker will synch automatically to the Workspace ONE Intelligent Hub catalog and be made available through the Hub portal from a web browser for your end users to view and launch. (Feature debuted on November 4, 2020)
  • Horizon Infrastructure Monitoring, which delivers a global view and advanced insight into infrastructure status and health, is available for Horizon Cloud pods on Microsoft Azure. This feature is in Limited Availability. For more information, please email the VMware Horizon Cloud Service team at horizoncloudservice@vmware.com. (Feature debuted on November 24, 2020)
  • Horizon Cloud Administration Console now supports exported reports, previously called offline reports, which allow for reports to be generated in the background and, once completed, to be downloaded by the administrator. Additional reports such as admin and user activity are now supported as an exported report. (Feature debuted on November 24, 2020)

What's New December 15, 2020

  • Universal Broker now supports having different FQDNS for the pod's external and internal gateway. The option to use the same FQDN for the pod's external and internal gateway continues to be supported.
  • Universal Broker now provides the ability to identify end users who are connecting to the Universal Broker for their desktops and apps as either being on the internal network (corporate network) or external network. This new feature allows administrators to apply two-factor authentication policies based on whether the end user is located on the internal (corporate network) or external network.
  • Along with the above added support, the console has been updated to support specifying different FQDNs in both the console's pod deployment wizard used to automatically deploy a pod into your Microsoft Azure subscription and in the Edit Pod wizard.

What's New December 9, 2020

  • Horizon Cloud administrators can now create App Volumes app packages a lot faster than before. Multiple admins can simultaneously create App Volumes Application packages by leveraging a single pool of Capture virtual machines. The lifecycle of the Capture virtual machines is managed better by the system. Spare capacity is powered on only at the time of packaging, and is powered off immediately after packaging completes. Many usability enhancements have been made, including improved notifications in the Administration Console, audit event logs, and better indication of any error states that occur during the application packaging process.

What's New November 30, 2020

  • The integration of Universal Broker with Workspace ONE Hub Services and Workspace ONE Access Cloud that debuted on November 4, 2020 is now supported when your existing Workspace ONE Access tenant has a domain in the pattern *.vmwareidentity.com.

What's New November 24, 2020

  • The Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pod now supports Horizon Infrastructure Monitoring which delivers a global and advanced insight into infrastructure status and health. The Horizon Infrastructure Monitoring feature is in Limited Availability. For more information, please email the VMware Horizon Cloud Service team at horizoncloudservice@vmware.com.
  • Scheduled generation of some of the reports in the administrative console is now available. A new Schedules tab is added to the console's Reports page and you can schedule generation of the Session, VDI Applications Usage, and User Usage reports to occur at a specific time and on a recurring basis.

What's New November 4, 2020

  • A control plane regional instance in the United Kingdom is now available. The documentation is updated with the relevant DNS names.
  • Universal Broker now supports integration with Workspace ONE Hub Services and Workspace ONE Access Cloud. When integrated, the virtual desktop and remote app assignments that are brokered using Universal Broker can now be synched automatically to the Workspace ONE Intelligent Hub catalog and made available within the Hub catalog on web browser for your end users to view and launch. Note: This new feature is not yet supported when your existing Workspace ONE Access tenant has a domain in the pattern *.vmwareidentity.com. The team is working on adding that support.

What's New October 28, 2020

  • The administrative console has been updated in these areas: the Sessions Report has new fields related to client version and session duration and Monitoring > Dashboard > Session tab provides more data about session duration.

What's New October 13, 2020 (v2010, v1.8, v2010, v20.3)

VMware Horizon Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure 2010 | pod manifest 2474.x | VMware Horizon Cloud Connector 1.8.x | VMware Horizon Universal Broker Plugin Installer 2010 | VMware Horizon Agents Installer (HAI) 20.3 | Unless otherwise noted in the documentation, this HAI version is built into manifest 2474.x. Running the Import VM wizard in a pod of 2474.x will install the agents from this HAI version. This HAI version is also supported for manual installation for imported VMs in pods of manifest 2474.x. For pods at earlier manifests, the Import VM from Marketplace wizard uses the HAI version that was built into their respective pod manifests.

If you are a current customer that has existing cloud-connected pods prior to this date, additional detail is provided in the October 2020 section of the documentation topic For Current Customers with Existing Cloud-Connected Pods - About the Latest Horizon Cloud Release.

  • Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pods now support the ability to define Azure Resource Tags on the pod components and Azure resource groups during a pod deployment. (Feature debuted in the cloud plane on October 8, 2020)
  • Horizon Cloud Connector now supports Horizon on Azure VMware Solutions (AVS) along with the ability to select a deployment profile to either enable with subscription license support only or with Horizon Cloud features.
  • Horizon Cloud administrators can now centrally manage their Microsoft Azure subscription information from the Resources tab located within the Capacity Page, allowing administrators to change, modify and update their Microsoft Azure subscription information for Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pods. (Feature debuted on September 9, 2020)
  • Horizon Cloud Administration Console now includes a Licenses page that provides information about your Horizon Universal License, such as the total number of seats included in the license, the type of licenses such as Named or Concurrent, and the start date which the license became active. (Feature debuted on September 1, 2020)
  • Horizon Cloud Administration Console now supports offline reports which allows for reports to be generated in the background and, once completed, to be downloaded by the administrator. The Session, VDI Application Usage, and User Usage reports have been updated to contain the complete set of data instead of just the last 2,000 records. (Feature debuted on August 11, 2020)

What's New October 8, 2020

  • Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pods now support the ability to define Azure Resource Tags on deployer-created Azure resource groups during a pod deployment. For details, see the description for the Azure Resource Tags field in the documentation topic Specify Pod Configuration Information for the Horizon Cloud Pod You Are Deploying Into Microsoft Azure.
  • The administrative console has some look-and-feel enhancements in various locations, such as the pod Summary tab, the Reports page, the General Settings page, the Imported VMs page, and the header bar's Search interface for searching for users and VMs.

What's New September 9, 2020

What's New September 8, 2020

  • The Horizon Cloud Connector has been added to the VMware Product Interoperability Matrices tool. With that tool, you can look up the interoperability of different versions of Horizon Cloud Connector and Horizon software. Links in this Release Notes document that previously pointed to KB 77564 have been updated to point to that VMware Product Interoperability Matrices tool.

What's New September 1, 2020

  • You can now log into your Horizon Cloud tenant using Workspace ONE when you have integrated your Horizon Cloud environment with your Workspace ONE environment. For details, see the About Authentication to a Horizon Cloud Tenant Environment topic in the Administration manual.
  • You can now view licensing information for your environment using the new Settings > Licenses option in the console. For details, see the Licenses Page topic in the Administration manual.

What's New August 11, 2020

  • These items are provided new as of August 11, 2020, aligned with the August 11, 2020 releases of Horizon and the Horizon Clients and Horizon HTML Access. You can read about the latest clients as described in their various documentation pages, linked from the Horizon Client Documentation page and about the latest Horizon from its Horizon Documentation page:
    • Support is now available for using the 2006 version of the Horizon Clients and Horizon HTML Access with the desktops and remote applications brokered by pods in Microsoft Azure. The VMware Product Interoperability Matrices reflect the support matrix of Horizon Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure versions and that 2006 version.
    • Support is now available for using the latest behavior of the Horizon remote experience feature for Media Optimization for Microsoft Teams. As described in this linked Horizon 2006 documentation topic Configuring Media Optimization for Microsoft Teams, this feature provides for Teams media processing to take place on the client machine instead of in the virtual desktop. See that linked Horizon documentation topic for more information. For pods in Microsoft Azure, use of this feature requires pod manifest 2298.0 or later and Horizon Agents Installer version of 20.2 or later, along with using the latest 2006 version of the Horizon Clients. As described in the previous section, running the Import VM wizard and selecting a pod at the manifest 2298.0 or later level will install the agents from that HAI 20.2 version.
    • Support is now available for using the Horizon Cloud Connector 1.7 with a Horizon pod running the 2006 version of the Horizon software. With this support, you can cloud-connect a pod running the Horizon 2006 version using Horizon Cloud Connector 1.7.
    • There is a new Export function for Sessions, VDI Applications Usage, and User Usage reports that allows you to export all of your report data. Previously exports were limited to 2,000 records. For details, see the Reports Page topic in the Administration manual. 

What's New August 2020

A Horizon Cloud control-plane regional instance in Japan is now available. The documentation is updated with the relevant DNS names.

What's New July 9, 2020 (v3.1, v1.7, v20.3, v20.2)

VMware Horizon Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure 3.1 | pod manifest 2298.x | VMware Horizon Cloud Connector 1.7.x | VMware Horizon Universal Broker plugin installer 20.3 | VMware Horizon Agents Installer (HAI) 20.2 | This HAI version is built into manifest 2298.x. Running the Import VM wizard in a pod of 2298.x will install the agents from this HAI version. This HAI version is also supported for manual installation for imported VMs in pods of manifest 2298.x. For pods at earlier manifests, the Import VM from Marketplace wizard uses the HAI version that was available when their respective pod manifests were built.

The following headline features are available as of this date. If you are a current customer that has existing cloud-connected pods prior to this date, additional detail is provided in the July 2020 section of the documentation topic For Current Customers with Existing Cloud-Connected Pods - About the Latest Horizon Cloud Release.

  • The Horizon Cloud Administration Console now supports both single sign-on (SSO) and multi-factor authentication, providing enhanced security for administrators accessing the console. Authentication is enabled using VMware Cloud Services federated identity management. The federated identity management feature is in Limited Availability. For more information, please email the VMware Horizon Cloud Service team at horizoncloudservice@vmware.com.
  • Universal Broker is now available for greenfield deployments of Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pods. Universal Broker enables unified brokering of multi-cloud assignments across hybrid and multi-cloud Horizon environments with support for both Horizon 7 and Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure. To learn more, visit vmware.com/go/Horizon-UB.
  • Horizon Cloud administrators can now create multi-cloud assignments with greenfield deployments of Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pods using Universal Broker. Multi-cloud assignments provide administrators with the ability to create both dedicated and floating desktops that span across multiple pods and sites. 
  • App Volumes with Simplified Application Management is now available for Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pods. App Volumes provides the ability to decouple application package management from assignment management, along with full lifecycle management of an application to meet the dynamic needs of end users.
  • Use of App Volumes with Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise multi-session in your Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pods — both for Microsoft's MSIX app attach and for App Volumes VHDs — is now Tech Preview. For more details about this tech preview, see App Volumes Applications - Overview and Prerequisites in the Administration Guide.
  • Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pods now support multiple tenant subnets from either the pod’s VNet or from multiple, connected, peered VNets for both desktop assignments and farms. 
  • RDSH farms now support advanced session load balancing, which provides the ability to load balance sessions using dynamic performance metrics from the session hosts in the Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pods.
  • Additional Microsoft Azure VM sizes are now available for use with internal and external Unified Access Gateways for Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pods. 
  • Administrators can now cancel both desktop and farm expansion tasks that are in a queued or running state, with support for automatic desktop assignment and farm resizing for Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pods.
  • Horizon Cloud Connector 1.7 is released and available for download from the Horizon Cloud Connector area within the Horizon Cloud Service downloads page at my.vmware.com.
  • You can now schedule your Horizon Cloud Connector automatic updates using the Horizon Cloud Administration Console.
  • Collecting support log bundles is now much easier through the Horizon Cloud Administration Console and the Cloud Connector setup interface.
  • License sync warnings are much more accessible displayed as color-coded banners at the top of the Horizon Cloud Administration Console dashboard. The banner will change color and description based on severity.
  • More descriptive connectivity error messages in the Horizon Cloud Administration Console event logs. These messages enable administrators to self-diagnose and provide a link to a corresponding KB article that offers remediation recommendations.
  • As of this release, the high availability (HA) feature is now supported for Horizon Cloud pods deployed in Microsoft Azure Government (US Gov Virginia, US Gov Arizona, US Gov Texas). If you have an pre-existing pod in Microsoft Azure Government for which you want this feature, please contact your VMware representative for that enablement.

What's New June 9, 2020

The Horizon Cloud control-plane regional names that appear in the Welcome to Horizon Service email are updated to USA, Europe, Australia, USA-2, Europe-2, and Australia-2. Welcome emails sent as of June 9, 2020 reflect these new names.

What's New May 27, 2020

  • The Horizon Cloud login screen has an additional method for authenticating to your Horizon Cloud tenant environment and the Administration Console. You can now use the new VMWARE CLOUD LOGIN button to authenticate using VMware Cloud Services.
  • Use of VMware Cloud Services federated identity management with your Horizon Cloud tenant is now in Limited Availability. Note: This federated identity management feature is currently certified for use only when the Horizon Cloud tenant's cloud-connected pods are all pods in Microsoft Azure. For more information, please email the VMware Horizon Cloud Service team at horizoncloudservice@vmware.com.

What's New May 26, 2020 (v1.6.1)

Version 1.6.1 of VMware Horizon Cloud Connector is now available in VMware Downloads. This update provides stability fixes. Note: If you deploy the prior version appliance 1.6.0 in your environment, a message will display during the Horizon Cloud Connector deployment process that version 1.6.1 is available for download. The message displays after you log in to the Web-based configuration user interface. Although you can proceed with 1.6.0, downloading and deploying the latest 1.6.1 version is recommended to obtain the benefits of the latest fixes. In VMware Downloads, the 1.6.1 version is located at https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/details?downloadGroup=HCS-CC-161&productId=716&rPId=46538.

What's New May 12, 2020

To avoid a Microsoft Azure issue, use of the Microsoft Azure Load Balancer Basic SKU for a pod's gateway configurations is discontinued. The Standard SKU will be used by default for both external and internal gateway configurations. The Load Balancer Type selection field is removed from the New Pod wizard's and Edit Pod wizard's Gateway Settings step. Note: Existing pods that already have gateway configurations in place with the Basic Microsoft Azure Load Balancer are not touched by this change. The VMware team is working on a plan for those pods.

What's New May 6, 2020 (v20.1)

  • Version 20.1 of VMware Horizon Agents Installer (HAI) is now available in VMware Downloads. One can manually install Horizon Agents Installer 20.1 into a base VM that resides in a pod of manifest 1976.0.
  • When running the Import VM workflow in pods of manifests 1976.1 and 1976.2, the HAI version 20.1 will be installed by default in the resulting VM.
  • For pods of manifest 1976.0, running the Import VM workflow in those pods, the HAI version 19.4 will continue to be installed by default in the resulting VM because the 19.4 version was the one available when manifest 1976.0 was made available. After you convert the VM to an image, the Administration Console's Images page will display a blue dot on the image indicating that the newer 20.1 version is available. You can then use the Image page's Update Agent action to update the image's agent version to 20.1. See Actions You Can Perform on Assignable Images in the Horizon Cloud documentation.

What's New April 21, 2020

The VMware Horizon Service Team has re-enabled the following pod features because Microsoft has resolved the Microsoft Azure networking issue described in What's New March 18, 2020. The pod architecture that uses the Azure PostgreSQL Service and provides for the high availability (HA) option, as well as the ability to deploy the external gateway into a separate VNet and into a separate Microsoft Azure subscription are re-enabled for use. Those features' related user interface toggles and fields are available in the Administration Console. Also a new pod deployed after this date will include the Azure PostgreSQL Service and the pod Azure load balancer in its architecture by default.

What's New April 14, 2020

  • Horizon Universal Broker support is added for accounts in Horizon Cloud control-plane regions Europe-2 (EU_CENTRAL_1) and Australia-2 (AP_SOUTHEAST_2).
  • Running the automated Import VM from Marketplace wizard when your pod is configured for proxy-based authentication is now supported. The previous limitations that prevented use of the automated Import VM from Marketplace wizard when you have a proxy configured for the pod are addressed.
  • Support for deploying a pod into the Microsoft Azure Germany cloud environment is discontinued. Microsoft has added regions in Germany to their set of standard global regions and discontinued use of their separate Azure Germany cloud environment. As a result, you now can choose one of those German regions in the pod deployment wizard's Pod Configuration step, instead of using a subscription in their original Microsoft Cloud Germany environment. For additional information about using Microsoft Azure Germany, see the Microsoft Azure documentation topic Welcome to Azure Germany.
  • The pod deployer now uses the Azure StorageV2 account type by default. Previously the deployer used the Azure StorageV1 account type. Ensure that your Microsoft Azure Policies do not restrict or deny the creation of content requiring the Azure StorageV2 account type.

What's New March 18, 2020

The VMware Horizon Service Team has temporarily turned off the following pod features in order to mitigate a Microsoft Azure networking issue that results in pod deployment failures. The pod architecture that uses the Azure PostgreSQL Service and provides for the high availability (HA) option, as well as the ability to deploy the external gateway into a separate VNet and into a separate Microsoft Azure subscription are all temporarily turned off. As a result, you will no longer see those features' related user interface toggles and fields. Also a pod deployed after that date will have a single pod manager VM, and the pod will not include the Azure PostgreSQL Service or a pod Azure load balancer in its architecture. See VMware Knowledge Base Article 78263 for details.

What's New March 17, 2020 (v3.0, v1.6, v20.1, v20.1)

VMware Horizon® Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure 3.0 | pod manifest 1976.x | VMware Horizon Cloud Connector 1.6.x | VMware Horizon Universal Broker plugin installer 20.1 | VMware Horizon Agents Installer (HAI) 20.1 | This HAI version is built into manifest 1976.0 and running the Import VM wizard in pod at this level will install the agents from this HAI version. This HAI version is also supported for manual installation for imported VMs in pods of manifest 1976.0 and later. For pods at earlier manifests, the Import VM from Marketplace wizard uses the HAI version that was available when their respective pod manifests were built.

The following headline features are available as of this date. If you are a current customer that has existing cloud-connected pods prior to this date, additional detail is provided in the March 2020 section of the documentation topic For Current Customers with Existing Cloud-Connected Pods - About the Latest Horizon Cloud Release.

  • The Horizon Control Plane is now available and running in Microsoft Azure with instances located in the US, Europe, and Australia regions with support for both Horizon 7 (On-Premises & VMware Cloud on AWS) and Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pods.
  • The Dashboard Sessions tab now shows the total number of provisioned and utilized sessions for each assignment and farm when a pod is selected. The User Usage report now includes CPU and memory consumption details per end-user for easy analysis of the ongoing consumption pattern of a user for both Horizon 7 (On-Premises & VMware Cloud on AWS) and Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pods.
  • Improvements to the Horizon Cloud Help Desk help to protect personal and sensitive end-user information when looking up user-specific information in the Horizon Cloud Help Desk for both Horizon 7 (On-Premises & VMware Cloud on AWS) and Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pods.
  • Simplified proxy configuration for the Horizon Cloud Connector to minimize configuration issues and errors as well as an onboarding diagnostic tool that identifies and remediates errors when onboarding Horizon 7 On-Premises and VMware Cloud on AWS pods.
  • Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure now supports extended Windows Virtual Desktop features for Windows 10 Enterprise multi-session farms and Microsoft FSLogix, and Tech Preview support for Windows 7 virtual desktops with Extended Security Updates. For more information, visit vmware.com/go/HorizonWVD
  • RDSH farms now support per-VM maintenance through the new User Login Mode, which can be set to drain the VM and route connections to other available VMs within the RDSH farm for Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pods.
  • Improved detection of Microsoft Sysprep-related issues and improved error reporting that provides administrators with clear and actionable error messages along with links to VMware KBs for Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pods.
  • External Gateways now support deployments into existing customer-created Microsoft Azure Resource Groups to provide granular, narrow-scope permissions within the Microsoft Azure subscription for Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pods.
  • The Image Management Service is now available for Horizon 7 On-Premises pods. Key improvements from the early access version include the ability to delete unused image versions and to download and use the OS Optimization Tool (beta). Please note that OVA file import is no longer available.

What's New January 14, 2020 (v19.4)

VMware Horizon Universal Broker plugin installer 19.4

  • Horizon Universal Broker is now in Initial Availability for Horizon 7 pods (on-premises and VMware Cloud on AWS) that are connected to the Horizon Cloud Service and allows for unified brokering across hybrid multi-cloud Horizon environments. To support this Initial Availability release, the following information is provided at this time:
    • The Administration Guide is updated with relevant details of the Horizon Universal Broker's system requirements, how to configure it, and its role in multi-cloud assignments. See About Horizon Universal Broker, System Requirements for Multi-Cloud Assignments using Horizon Universal Broker, and High-Level Steps for Setting Up Horizon Cloud Multi-Cloud Assignments (MCA) for Your Horizon Cloud Tenant. Also use the hypertext links that are within those topics and in the left-hand navigation to learn about how Horizon Universal Broker works with multi-cloud assignments.
    • Installer for the Horizon Universal Broker plugin, a required component for using Horizon Universal Broker with cloud-connected Horizon 7 pods. This component is supported for use only with version 7.11 of Horizon 7 Connection Server and version 1.5 of Horizon Cloud Connector. To obtain this installer, after you log in to my.vmware.com with your My VMware credentials, first navigate to Products A - Z > VMware Horizon Service. Then locate the Horizon Cloud Connector product downloads group and click Go To Downloads. The Horizon Universal Broker plugin installer will be listed along with the Horizon Cloud Connector download. (The direct link to the Horizon Cloud Connector downloads group at https://my.vmware.com/group/vmware/details?downloadGroup=HCS-CC-150&productId=716&rPId=40180 usually works. However, because sometimes after you log in with your credentials the web site context gets lost and locates you at the home page, you might have to navigate to the download using the aforementioned steps.)
    • The Deployment Guide is updated to mention a known limitation related to using Horizon Universal Broker with Horizon 7 Cloud Connector version 1.5. The limitation is that Horizon Universal Broker client on the connector appliance only consumes proxy settings for the Horizon 7 Cloud Connector 1.5 when those proxy settings are specified at the time of first deployment of the connector appliance (when deploying the appliance's OVF template). If you later update the proxy configuration settings on the appliance after the initial deployment, the Horizon Universal Broker client on the connector appliance does not consume the new settings. Additionally, a Horizon 7 Cloud Connector 1.5 known issue exists where the no-host proxy setting that you specify during the OVF template deployment is not saved to the configuration file in the deployed appliance. However, when you configure the no-host proxy configuration in the Horizon 7 Cloud Connector appliance post-deployment of the appliance, the Horizon Universal Broker will not consume that no-host proxy setting because of the known limitation where post-deployment updates of proxy settings are not consumed by the Horizon Universal Broker client.

What's New December 13, 2019 (v2.2, v1.5, v19.4)

VMware Horizon® Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure 2.2 | pod manifest 1763.x | VMware Horizon Cloud Connector 1.5.x | VMware Horizon Universal Broker plugin installer 1.0 | VMware Horizon Agents Installer (HAI) 19.4 | Unless otherwise noted in the documentation, this HAI version is built into manifest 1763.x. Running the Import VM wizard in a pod of 1763.x will install the agents from this HAI version. This HAI version is also supported for manual installation for imported VMs in pods of manifest 1763.x. For pods at earlier manifests, the Import VM from Marketplace wizard uses the HAI version that was built into their respective pod manifests.

The following headline features are available as of this date. If you are a current customer that has existing cloud-connected pods prior to this date, additional detail is provided in the December 2019 section of the documentation topic For Current Customers with Existing Cloud-Connected Pods - About the Latest Horizon Cloud Release.

  • Enhancements to a number of existing pre-defined reports. The Desktop Sessions report is renamed Sessions and now contains information about application sessions in addition to desktop sessions. The Session duration is further broken down into Total Session Duration and Session Idle Duration. VDI Applications Sessions is renamed to VDI Applications Usage. User Usage Report now contains pod type and pool related details in addition to information about idle time and total session duration.
  • User Visibility within Horizon provides administrators with visibility into issues affecting their users and helps them identify users who have high resource consumption, from across their deployments, in real-time. Administrators can:
    • Understand how many users are impacted in specific pods and pools
    • Understand the kinds of issues affecting their end users
    • Drill down into session related details of affected users
    • Identify users contributing to heavy consumption of resources
  • External Gateways can now be deployed into a separate Microsoft Azure VNet or a separate Microsoft Azure subscription to support advanced deployment configurations of Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure.
  • Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure extending Microsoft Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD) is now Tech Preview with support for Windows 10 Enterprise multi-session, Windows 7 with Extended Security Updates and FSLogix. For information on how to sign up, please visit vmware.com/go/HCTechPreview
  • Support for SSD disk types for VDI and RDSH Farms and customized OS disk sizes is now available for Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure.
  • Enhanced customer post-pod-onboarding experience when onboarding Horizon pods. The Congratulations screen now guides administrators to launch the Horizon Cloud Administration Console which is used to perform post-onboarding actions such as adding additional administrators (using their My VMware accounts) and enabling or deactivating use of the Cloud Monitoring Service (CMS) with the newly onboarded pod.
  • New visual display of the health status of the Horizon Cloud Connector and its sub-components. This display appears in the Horizon Cloud Connector onboarding user interface after pod onboarding with the cloud plane is completed.

What's New November 2019 (v19.3.1)

Horizon Agent Installer (HAI) 19.3.1 has been released. HAI 19.3.1 addresses a defect in 19.3.0 Agents that manifests itself during Agent Auto Upgrade from 18.x Agents.

  • The issue only impacts VMs that are upgraded via AAU from 18.x Agents (18.2.x, 18.4).
  • The problem does not exist for 19.3.0 Agents installed/upgraded via the interactive/manual installer, nor does it exist for VMs upgraded via AAU from HAI 19.x.
  • There is no functional difference between 19.3.0 and 19.3.1. The fix only impacts the upgrade path from 18.x agents, so if you are already running 19.3.0 Agents it is not necessary to upgrade to 19.3.1.

What's New September 17, 2019 (v2.1, v1.4, v19.3)

VMware Horizon® Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure 2.1 | pod manifest 1600.x | VMware Horizon Cloud Connector 1.4.x | VMware Horizon Agents Installer (HAI) 19.3 | Unless otherwise noted in the documentation, this HAI version is built into manifest 1600.x. Running the Import VM wizard in a pod of 1600.x will install the agents from this HAI version. This HAI version is also supported for manual installation for imported VMs in pods of manifest 1600.x. For pods at earlier manifests, the Import VM from Marketplace wizard uses the HAI version that was built into their respective pod manifests.

The following headline features are available as of this date. If you are a current customer that has existing cloud-connected pods prior to this date, additional detail is provided in the September 2019 section of the documentation topic For Current Customers with Existing Cloud-Connected Pods - About the Latest Horizon Cloud Release.

  • Enhanced administrator auditing and logging now available in the Horizon Cloud Administration Console with expanded reporting of the administrator activity and related events. This includes the capability to filter for reporting purposes and the ability to download logs.
  • Enhanced monitoring of VM health and associated sessions in real-time. You will be able to navigate to details on consumption and performance related metrics to gather more actionable details making it easier to identify, categorize and troubleshoot issues with VMs and user sessions.
  • Improved usability and optimization of the Unified Dashboard interactive map view, including more accurate reflection of the pod location and zoom functionality.
  • Enhanced alerting now available for Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pods that encounter an error during pod upgrade and require customer action in order to resolve.
  • Gateways now support the creation and editing of the two-factor authentication settings post-pod deployment along with ability to delete gateways for Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure.
  • Support for defining Microsoft Azure resource tags when creating a new dedicated or floating desktop assignment or a new farm for Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure.
  • Support for high availability of the Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pod managers utilizing the Microsoft Azure Database for PostgreSQL service. Existing pods can be enabled by editing the pod via the Capacity page.
    • In this release, the pod HA feature is not supported for pods deployed in the following Microsoft Azure cloud environments:
      • Microsoft Azure in China
      • Microsoft Azure Germany
      • Microsoft Azure Government (US Gov Virginia, US Gov Arizona, US Gov Texas)
    • The VMware team is working on adding support for the HA feature for pods in those above listed cloud environments.
    • If you have an existing pod in Microsoft Azure in China, Microsoft Azure Germany, or Microsoft Azure Government that you want to upgrade to this release's manifest version, please contact your VMware representative for assistance.
  • To increase resiliency of the Horizon Agent pairing process for Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure, both the automated image import from the Azure Marketplace and the steps for manually building a base VM have changed. The agent status will remain 'Not Paired' until you either convert the VM to an image or reset agent pairing on the VM.

Earlier release notes files

Release notes files for releases of earlier than Horizon Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure 2.1, Horizon Cloud Connector 1.4, and Horizon Agents Installer 19.3 are no longer relevant. Horizon Cloud pods that were deployed at manifests earlier than 1600.x are expected to have been updated to 1600.x or later. Correspondingly, the agents used in the updated pods are expected to update to the version that interoperates with that pod manifest. Horizon Cloud Connector 1.4 and earlier versions are no longer supported for use. New deployments of Horizon Cloud Connector are only supported using versions N, N-1, N-2, where N is the latest Horizon Cloud Connector version.
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