You create a virtual machine in vCenter Server for each remote desktop that is deployed in a Horizon 8 environment. You must install your Linux distribution on the virtual machine.

Prerequisites

  • Verify that your deployment meets the requirements for supporting Linux desktops. See System Requirements for Horizon Agent for Linux.
  • Familiarize yourself with the steps for creating virtual machines in vCenter Server and installing guest operating systems. For more information see the Windows Desktops and Applications in Horizon document.
  • Familiarize yourself with the video memory (vRAM) settings requirements for the monitors you plan to use with the virtual machine. See System Requirements for Horizon Agent for Linux.

Procedure

  1. In vSphere Client, create a virtual machine.
  2. Configure custom configuration options.
    1. Right-click the virtual machine and click Edit Settings.
    2. Specify the number of vCPUs and the vMemory size. For the required settings, refer to the following guidelines.
      • If you are preparing the virtual machine for deployment as a single-session virtual desktop pool, follow the guidelines in the installation guide for your Linux distribution.

        For example, Ubuntu 18.04 specifies configuring 2048 MB for vMemory and 2 vCPUs.

      • If you are preparing the virtual machine to serve as a multi-session host for a published desktop or application pool, specify at least 8 vCPUs and 40 GB of vMemory.
        Important: A minimum of 8 vCPUs and 40 GB of vMemory is required to support up to 50 user sessions per published desktop or published application.
  3. Power on the virtual machine and install the required Linux distribution. Note the following considerations for instant-clone desktop pools and multi-session hosts.

    Horizon Agent for Linux only supports instant-clone desktop pools created from virtual machines running the following operating systems:

    • Ubuntu 18.04/20.04/22.04
    • RHEL 7.x and 8.x
    • CentOS 7.8 and 7.9
    • SLED/SLES 12.x/15.x

    Only virtual machines running RHEL Workstation 7.8 or later, RHEL Workstation 8.1 or later, or Ubuntu 18.04/20.04/22.04 can support multi-session published desktop pools and single-session or multi-session application pools.

  4. Configure the desktop environment to use for the specific Linux distribution.
    See the Desktop Environment section in System Requirements for Horizon Agent for Linux for additional information.
  5. Ensure that the system hostname is resolvable to 127.0.0.1.