You can upgrade Horizon Agent on a Linux virtual machine by installing the latest version of Horizon Agent.

Note: For general guidelines on upgrading desktop pools, see "Upgrading Published and Virtual Desktops" in the Horizon 8 Installation and Upgrade document, which is available in the VMware Horizon Documentation portal.

When upgrading Horizon Agent on RHEL 8.x, you can choose between the following installer formats:

  • The .tar.gz installer package, which is not digitally signed. The existing Horizon Agent feature configuration and virtual machine deployment mode are not automatically preserved. To keep the existing configuration, you must include the appropriate feature parameters when running the installer.
  • The .rpm installer package, which is digitally signed. The existing Horizon Agent feature configuration and virtual machine deployment mode are automatically preserved.

When upgrading Horizon Agent on a Linux distribution other than RHEL 8.x, you must use the .tar.gz installer package. To keep your existing feature configuration, you must include the appropriate feature parameters when running the installer.

In addition, you can choose between two types of virtual machine deployment.

Unmanaged Virtual Machine Deployment

  • This type of upgrade is available for existing unmanaged virtual machines.
  • The Horizon Agent installer registers the virtual machine to Horizon Connection Server which requires broker admin information.
  • The Desktop Pool Creation wizard uses Other Sources in the Machine Source page to select the registered virtual machine.

Managed Virtual Machine Deployment

  • This type of upgrade is available for unmanaged or managed virtual machines.
  • The Horizon Agent installer does not communicate with Horizon Connection Server.
  • The Desktop Pool Creation wizard uses vCenter virtual machines in the Machine Source page to select the virtual machines through vCenter.
  • The deployment supports the following functions:
    • Remote Machine Power Policy
    • Allow users to reset their machines

You can use the following methods to upgrade an unmanaged virtual machine:

  • Retain the unmanaged virtual machine deployment while upgrading to the latest version of Horizon Agent. This upgrade scenario does not require any configuration modifications in Horizon Connection Server.
  • Upgrade from an unmanaged virtual machine deployment to a managed virtual machine deployment that uses the latest version of Horizon Agent. This upgrade scenario requires the creation of a new desktop pool based on the virtual machine.
Note: To ensure the best possible performance, upgrade to a managed virtual machine deployment. The Horizon Agent upgrade does not support conversion of a managed virtual machine deployment to an unmanaged virtual machine deployment.

Prerequisites

  • Verify that the VMwareBlastServer process is not running. To stop this process, use one of the following methods:
    • Ensure that the user logs out of the machine and no desktop session is active.
    • Restart the virtual machine.
  • If you plan to upgrade Horizon Agent using the tarball installer, review the optional parameters for the install_viewagent.sh setup script. See Command-line Options for Installing Horizon Agent for Linux.

Procedure

  • Upgrade Horizon Agent for Linux using the unsigned tarball installer.
    Note: For a RHEL 8.x machine, you also have the option to install Horizon Agent using a digitally signed installer. See the procedure described later in this article.
    1. (RHEL 8.x) If your existing Horizon Agent version was installed using a digitally signed RPM installer, uninstall the agent software as described in Uninstall Horizon Agent From a Linux Virtual Machine.
    2. Download the latest tarball installer for Horizon Agent for Linux from the VMware download site at https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/downloads.
      Navigate to the download page for the current release of VMware Horizon and then to the download page for VMware Horizon for 64-bit Linux.

      Download the Horizon Agent installer tarball with filename VMware-horizonagent-linux-x86_64-YYMM-y.y.y-xxxxxxx.tar.gz, where YYMM is the marketing version number, y.y.y is the internal version number, and xxxxxxx is the build number.

    3. Unpack the tarball for your Linux distribution.
      For example: 
      tar -xzvf VMware-horizonagent-linux-x86_64-YYMM-y.y.y-xxxxxxx.tar.gz
    4. To support certain features, verify that have installed the required drivers as follows.
    5. Navigate to the tarball folder and run the install_viewagent.sh script according to one of the following upgrade scenarios. Also, include the command-line parameters for any optional features that you want to install, such as USB Redirection.
      For a detailed list of the optional parameters available for the install_viewagent.sh script, see Command-line Options for Installing Horizon Agent for Linux.
      Option Description
      Upgrade an unmanaged virtual machine deployment and retain the unmanaged virtual machine deployment 
      sudo ./install_viewagent.sh -A yes -M no

      This upgrade scenario does not require the creation of a new desktop pool. You can reuse the existing desktop pool based on the virtual machine.

      Note: To ensure the best possible performance, refrain from deploying an unmanaged virtual machine and deploy a managed virtual machine instead.
      Upgrade an unmanaged virtual machine deployment and change it to managed virtual machine deployment 
      sudo ./install_viewagent.sh -A yes -M yes
      Note: In Horizon Agent, delete the existing desktop pool from the unmanaged virtual machine deployment and create a new desktop pool for the managed virtual machine deployment. For more info, see Create a Manual Linux Desktop Pool.
      Upgrade a managed virtual machine deployment 
      sudo ./install_viewagent.sh -A yes -M yes
      Note: After upgrading Horizon Agent, you can reuse the existing desktop pool based on the virtual machines.
    6. Restart the Linux machine for the changes to take effect.
  • (RHEL 8.x) Upgrade Horizon Agent for Linux using the digitally signed RPM installer.
    Note: If you are upgrading Horizon Agent on a machine running a Linux distribution other than RHEL 8.x, do not use these instructions. Instead, use the procedure described earlier in this article.
    1. If your existing Horizon Agent version was installed using an unsigned tarball installer, uninstall the agent software as described in Uninstall Horizon Agent From a Linux Virtual Machine.
    2. Download the Horizon Agent for Linux RPM installer from the VMware download site at https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/downloads.
      Navigate to the download page for the current release of VMware Horizon and then to the download page for VMware Horizon for 64-bit Linux.

      Download the Horizon Agent RPM package with filename VMware-horizonagent-linux-YYMM-y.y.y-xxxxxxx.el8.x86_64.rpm, where YYMM is the marketing version number, y.y.y is the internal version number, and xxxxxxx is the build number.

    3. Navigate to the folder of the downloaded RPM package and run the installer in upgrade mode.
      For example: 
      sudo rpm -Uvh VMware-horizonagent-linux-YYMM-y.y.y-xxxxxxx.el8.x86_64.rpm
      Allow the upgrade to proceed without interruption. The RPM package upgrades Horizon Agent to the current version and preserves the existing Horizon Agent configuration.
    4. Restart the Linux machine for the changes to take effect.
    5. To support certain features, verify that have installed the required drivers as follows.
    6. To add more optional features to the Horizon Agent configuration or modify the configuration, run the ViewSetup.sh script as described in Command-line Options for Installing Horizon Agent for Linux.
      For example, to add both the Real-Time Audio-Video feature and USB Redirection feature: 
      sudo /usr/lib/vmware/viewagent/bin/viewSetup.sh -U yes -a yes --webcam