Create a Global URL Content Redirection Setting Horizon 8

If you have a Cloud Pod Architecture environment, you can create a global URL content redirection setting that redirects specific URLs to open on a remote desktop or published application in any pod in the pod federation.

A global URL content redirection setting is visible across the pod federation. When you create a global URL content redirection setting, you can redirect URLs to global resources, such as global desktop entitlements and global application entitlements.

You can configure any number of protocols, including HTTP, HTTPS, mailto, and callto. The callto protocol is not supported for redirection with the Chrome browser.

As a best practice, configure the same redirection settings for the HTTP and HTTPS protocols. That way, if a user types a partial URL into Internet Explorer, such as mycompany.com, and that site redirects from HTTP to HTTPS automatically, the URL Content Redirection feature works as expected. In this example, if you set a rule for HTTPS, but do not set the same redirection setting for HTTP, the partial URL that the user types is not redirected.

For complete information about configuring and managing a Cloud Pod Architecture environment, see the Cloud Pod Architecture in Horizon 8 document.

VMware recommends that you do not create more than one setting for URL content redirection.

To create a local URL content redirection setting, see Create a Local URL Content Redirection Setting in Horizon 8.

Prerequisites

• Become familiar with vdmutil command-line interface options and requirements and verify that you have sufficient privileges to run the vdmutil command. See Using the vdmutil Command-Line Utility on a Connection Server Instance in Horizon 8.
• Become familiar with the syntax for URLs in URL content redirection settings. See Syntax for the --agentURLPattern Option in Horizon 8.

Procedure

1. Log in to any Connection Server instance in the pod federation.
2. Run the vdmutil command with the --createURLSetting option to create the URL content redirection setting.

   vdmutil --createURLSetting --urlSettingName url-filtering --urlRedirectionScope GLOBAL
   [--description value] [--urlScheme value] [--entitledApplication value | --entitledDesktop
   value] [--agentURLPattern value]

   Option	Description
   --urlSettingName	Unique name for the URL content redirection setting. The name must be url-filtering.
   --urlRedirectionScope	Scope of the URL content redirection setting. Specify GLOBAL to make the setting visible across the pod federation.
   --description	Description of the URL content redirection setting. The description can contain between 1 and 1024 characters.
   --urlScheme	Protocol to which the URL content redirection setting applies, for example, http, https, mailto, or callto.
   --entitledApplication	Display name of a global application entitlement to use to open the specified URLs.
   --entitledDesktop	Display name of a global desktop entitlement to use to open the specified URLs, for example, GE-1.
   --agentURLPattern	A quoted string that specifies the URL that should be opened on the remote desktop or published application.

3. (Optional) Run the vdmutil command with the --updateURLSetting option to add more protocols, URLs, and global resources to the URL content redirection setting that you created.

   vdmutil --updateURLSetting --urlSettingName url-filtering --urlRedirectionScope GLOBAL
   [--description value][--urlScheme value][--entitledApplication value | --entitledDesktop
   value] [--agentURLPattern value]

   The options are the same as for the vdmutil command with the --createURLSetting option.

Example: Configuring a Global URL Content Redirection Setting

The following example creates a global URL content redirection setting called url-filtering that redirects all client URLs that include the text http://google.* to the global application entitlement called GAE1.

vdmutil --createURLSetting --urlSettingName url-filtering --urlRedirectionScope GLOBAL 
--urlScheme http --entitledApplication GAE1 --agentURLPattern "http://google.*" --authAs johndoe 
--authDomain mydomain --authPassword secret

The following example updates the url-filtering setting to also redirect all URLs that contain the text https://google.* to the global application entitlement called GAE1.

vdmutil --updateURLSetting --urlSettingName url-filtering --urlRedirectionScope GLOBAL 
--urlScheme https --entitledApplication GAE1 --agentURLPattern "https://google.*" -authAs johndoe 
--authDomain mydomain --authPassword secret

The following example updates the url-filtering setting to redirect all URLs that contain the text "mailto://.*.mycompany.com" to the global application entitlement called GA2.

vdmutil --updateURLSetting --urlSettingName url-filtering --urlRedirectionScope GLOBAL
--urlScheme mailto --entitledApplication GAE2 --agentURLPattern "mailto://.*.mycompany.com" 
--authAs johndoe --authDomain mydomain --authPassword secret

What to do next

Assign the URL content redirection setting to a user or group. See Assign a URL Content Redirection Setting to a User or Group in Horizon 8.