You can create a published desktop pool based on either a manual farm or automated instant-clone farm of multi-session Linux host machines. Each published desktop can support multiple user sessions at the same time.

A published desktop pool and a published desktop have the following characteristics:

  • Only virtual machines running RHEL Workstation 7.9/8.x/9.x, Ubuntu 18.04/20.04/22.04, or Debian 10.x/11.x can support multi-session published desktop pools and single-session or multi-session application pools.
  • A published desktop pool is associated with a farm, which is a group of Linux host machines that have been enabled for multi-session mode. The farm can be an automated instant-clone farm or a manual farm.
  • Horizon 8 provides load balancing of the host machines in a farm by directing connection requests to the host that has the least number of active sessions.

Prerequisites

Create a farm of Linux host machines. See Create a Manual Farm of Linux Virtual Machines or Create an Automated Instant-Clone Farm of Linux Hosts.

Procedure

  1. In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Desktops. Then click Add.
    The pool configuration wizard appears. As you advance through the wizard, you can go directly back to any prior page by clicking the page name in the navigation pane.
  2. In the Type page of the wizard, select RDS Desktop Pool and then click Next.
  3. In the Desktop Pool ID page of the wizard, provide a pool ID, display name, and description.
    The pool ID is the unique name that identifies the pool in Horizon Console. The display name is the name of the published desktop pool that users see when they log in to Horizon Client. If you do not specify a display name, it will be the same as the pool ID.
    Click Next to proceed to the next page of the configuration wizard.
  4. In the Desktop Pool Settings page of the wizard, configure the required settings.
    Setting Description
    State
    • Enabled: After being created, the desktop pool is enabled and ready for immediate use.
    • Disabled: After being created, the desktop pool is not enabled and not available for use, and provisioning is stopped for the pool. This is an appropriate setting if you want to conduct post-deployment activities such as testing or other forms of baseline maintenance.

      When this state is in effect, remote desktops are unavailable for use.

    The default value is Enabled.
    Connection Server Restrictions

    You can restrict access to the desktop pool from certain Connection Servers by clicking Browse and selecting one or more Connection Servers. The default value is No Restrictions.

    If you intend to provide access to desktops through VMware Workspace ONE Access and you configure Connection Server restrictions, the VMware Workspace ONE Access application might display desktops to users when those desktops are actually restricted. VMware Workspace ONE Access users will be unable to start these desktops.
    Category Folder

    You can specify the name of the category folder that contains a Start menu shortcut for the desktop pool entitlement on Windows client devices. To configure this setting, click Browse. The default value is Disabled.
    Client Restrictions

    Select whether to restrict access to entitled desktop pools from certain client computers.

    You must add the names of the computers that are allowed to access the desktop pool in an Active Directory security group. You can select this security group when you add users or groups to the desktop pool entitlement.

    This setting is deactivated by default.
    Click Next to proceed to the next page of the configuration wizard.
  5. In the Select RDS Farms page of the wizard, select an existing farm or create a farm for this pool. Then click Next.
  6. In the Ready to Complete page of the wizard, review the settings and click Submit to create the published desktop pool.

What to do next

Entitle users to access the pool. See "Entitling Users and Groups" in Horizon 8 Administration on the VMware Horizon Documentation portal.