After creating a Linux virtual machine (VM) that you plan to use as the golden image for an instant-clone desktop pool, you must configure the machine environment.

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

  • Ubuntu 20.04/22.04
  • Debian 10.x/11.x/12.x
  • RHEL 7.9/8.x/9.x
  • Rocky Linux 8.x/9.x
  • CentOS 7.9
  • SLED/SLES 15.x
Note: For Linux desktops, vGPU graphics capabilities are only supported on instant-clone pools created from machines running the following distributions:
  • Ubuntu 20.04/22.04
  • Debian 10.x
  • RHEL 7.9/8.x/9.x
  • Rocky Linux 8.x/9.x
  • CentOS 7.9
Note: The VMware Horizon 8 compute profile feature significantly improves golden image management and reduces the number of golden images required to create desktop pools for different requirements.

Prerequisites

  • Verify that the system disk contains a single volume.
  • Verify that the virtual machine does not contain an independent disk. However, the golden image virtual machine can contain multiple disks.

    An independent disk is excluded when you take a snapshot of the virtual machine. Clones are based on a snapshot and therefore will not contain the independent disk.

  • Turn off the hibernation option to reduce the size of each clone's virtual disk.
  • In vSphere Client, deactivate the vApp Options setting on the golden image virtual machine.
  • Turn off the HotPlug capability on removable devices. See KB 1012225.

Procedure

  1. Create a Linux virtual machine (VM) and perform a fresh installation of an operating system that supports the creation of instant-clone desktop pools. See the list of supported operating systems earlier on this page.
    For more information, see Create a Virtual Machine and Install Linux.
    Important: Always use a VM equipped with a freshly installed Linux operating system as the golden image VM of an instant-clone desktop pool. Do not use an already cloned system as the golden image VM.
  2. Complete the preparation steps described in Prepare a Linux Machine for Remote Desktop Deployment.
  3. Install Horizon Agent for Linux on the Linux VM. See Install Horizon Agent on a Linux Machine.
  4. Integrate your Linux VM with Active Directory. The golden image must belong to the same Active Directory domain as the domain that the desktop machines will join.
    Samba supports offline domain join with Active Directory for instant-cloned desktops running any Linux distribution supported by Horizon Agent. However, VMware recommends using SSSD Authentication for desktops running newer distributions and Samba only for desktops running older distributions, as described in the following note.
    Note:
    • VMware recommends using the SSSD Authentication method (instead of Samba) for desktops running the following Linux distributions.
      • Ubuntu 20.04/22.04
      • Debian 11.x/12.x
      • RHEL 8.x/9.x
      • Rocky Linux 8.x/9.x
      • SLED/SLES 15.x
    • VMware recommends using the Samba method for desktops running the following Linux distributions.
      • Debian 10.x
      • RHEL/CentOS 7.9
  5. If your DHCP server does not broadcast to a DNS server, specify a DNS server for your Linux system.

    A new virtual network adapter is added when a new instant-cloned VM is created. Any setting in the network adapter, such as the DNS server, in the VM template is lost when the new network adapter is added to the instant-cloned VM. PBIS requires a valid DNS server and the FQDN mapping in the /etc/hosts is not acceptable. To avoid losing the DNS Server setting when the new network adapter is added to the cloned VM, you must specify a DNS server on your Linux system.

    Note: For best results, use NetworkManager instead of WICD for network management. WICD might produce problems when used with instant-cloned SLED/SLES 15.x VMs.
  6. (Optional) If you want to add an NFS mount in the /etc/fstab file of the Linux golden image, use one of the following methods.
    • Add a 'soft' flag in /etc/fstab, such as: 
      10.111.222.333:/share 	/home/nfsmount	nfs	rsize=8192,wsize=8192,timeo=14,soft,intr,tcp
    • If you do not want to use the 'soft' flag in /etc/fstab, you cannot configure the /etc/fstab in the Linux golden image. You can write a power-off script to configure the /etc/fstab file, and then specify this power-off script for the ClonePrep tool. For more information, see the Horizon 8 Administration document.
  7. Shut down the Linux VM and create a golden image by creating a snapshot of your powered off Linux VM using vSphere Client.
    For more information, see "Take a Snapshot in the VMware Host Client" in vSphere Single Host Management - VMware Host Client, available from VMware vSphere Documentation.