Create a Manual Desktop Pool

You can create a manual desktop pool that provisions desktops from vSphere virtual machines or registered machines that include non-vSphere virtual machines and physical computers.

Prerequisites

Prepare the machines to deliver remote desktop access. In a manual pool, you must prepare each machine individually. Horizon Agent must be installed and running on each machine.
To prepare vSphere virtual machines managed by vCenter Server, see Creating and Preparing Virtual Machines for Cloning.
To prepare non-vSphere virtual machines or physical computers, see Managing Unmanaged and Registered Machines.
Gather the configuration information that you must provide to create the pool. See Worksheet for Creating a Manual Desktop Pool.

Procedure

In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Desktops.
Click Add.
Select Manual Desktop Pool.

Choose virtual machines managed by vCenter Server or other virtual machines that are not managed by vCenter Server and click Next.

Option	Description
vCenter virtual machines	vSphere virtual machines that are managed by vCenter Server. Select the vCenter Server on which the virtual machines reside.
Other Sources	Physical computers or virtual machines that are not managed by vCenter Server.

Follow the prompts in the wizard to create the pool.
Use the configuration information that you gathered in the worksheet. You can go directly back to any wizard page that you completed by clicking the page name in the navigation panel.
When you select the vSphere virtual machines for inclusion into the manual desktop pool, Horizon 8 ensures that a spare machine is powered on so that users can connect to it. The spare machine is powered on regardless of which power policy is in effect for the desktop pool.

Results

In Horizon Console, you can view the machines as they are added to the pool by selecting Inventory > Desktops.

What to do next

Entitle users to access the pool. See "Entitling Users and Groups" in the Horizon 8 Administration document.