Lab 19: Update a server farm

Objective and Tasks

In this exercise, you will update an existing RDSH server farm using a pre-built golden image VM.

  1. Update and prepare the golden image.
  2. Update the Server Farm.
  3. Monitor update progress.
  4. Validate desktop launch after updating the pool.
Expand or collapse content Task 1: Update and prepare the golden image

Updating a server farm is normally done to push some update into the farm clones. In an automated server farm, you update the golden image VM with those changes and then use the Schedule Push Image wizard in Horizon to update the farm to use that updated golden image VM snapshot.

  1. Open the vCenter server admin console.
    • On your ControlCenter desktop, open the a new tab in the Google Chrome browser.
    • Click the bookmark on the bookmark bar for vcenter-01
  2. Login in the vCenter admin console.
  3. Locate the golden image VM in the vCenter inventory.
    • Browse to and select the VM RDSH-Golden.
    • Confirm that the Power Status is Powered off (in the Virtual Machine Details pane).
  4. If the VM is Powered On, then shut it down.
    • From the Actions top menu, select Shutdown Guest OS (red square).
    • Click YES to confirm the Guest Shut Down.

Normally, you would power on the golden image VM, make any necessary updates (such as Windows updates, application updates, installs, etc.), and then shutdown Windows. For the purposes of this lab, you will skip that step.

  1. Take a new snapshot of the golden image. This snapshot will be used for publishing changes to the pool.
    • Select the Snapshots tab.
    • Click on TAKE SNAPSHOT.
    • In the Name field, enter My_Update.
    • Optionally enter a Description.
    • Note that the two check box options will be clear and you cannot select them. This is expected as the VM is powered off.
    • Click CREATE.
  2. Confirm that the Snapshot was created.
    • You should now see a new entry (My_Update) displayed in the Snapshot tree for the VM.

Best practice is to minimize the number and levels of snapshots that a golden image VM has. Too many can slow down the publishing process of the image.

Expand or collapse content Task 2: Update the Server Farm

Use the Horizon admin console to update a server farm to use the golden image VM and the new snapshot you created.

  1. Open the Horizon admin console for horizon-01a.
    • On your ControlCenter desktop, open the Google Chrome browser.
    • Click the bookmark on the bookmark bar for horizon-01a
    • This will connect you to the Horizon administrator console at https://Horizon-01a.omnissatraining.com
  2. Login to the Horizon admin console.
    • Username: administrator
    • Password: Pa$$w0rd
    • Domain: OmnissaTraining
  3. Locate and select the server farm that you want to update.
    • In the Horizon admin console navigate to Inventory > Farms
    • Select the farm with the ID RDSH-Farm
  4. Start the server farm maintenance wizard.
    • On the menu bar, click on MAINTAIN and select Schedule.
  5. On the Maintenance screen:
    • Under Maintenance Mode > Schedule select Immediate.
    • Click NEXT.

There are few options on the screen that are worth noting, even though you will not use them in this lab.

  • You can use Start at to delay the image publishing process to a specific time.
  • Use the Recurring schedule option to schedule a regular refresh of your server farm.
  • Use Publish Secondary Image schedule option to perform just the image publishing process. This leaves the individual clones using the initial image, and you have to perform a secondary operation to update clones to use your newly published image.
  1. On the Image screen:
    • Uncheck the Use Current Golden Image check box.
    • Under SNAPSHOT DETAILS, select the radio button next to the entry My_Update.
    • Click NEXT.

There are other options available on this screen that are not used in this lab but are worthwhile taking note of.

  • You can change the VM Compute Profile Settings to change the CPU and RAM allocated to clones.
  1. On the Schedule Maintenance Setting screen:
    • Select the option to Force users to logoff.
    • Click NEXT.
  2. On the Ready to Complete screen:
    • Review the selected options.
    • Click FINISH to start the update process.

Consider when you will perform a farm update and how you will inform users. Plan updates during maintenance windows, as sessions will get logged out as RDSH servers are refreshed.

Expand or collapse content Task 3: Monitor update progress

In this task you will monitor the server farm update process.

  1. Verify the pool status from Horizon admin console.
    • Navigate to Inventory > Farms
    • Select the pool with ID RDSH-Farm
  2. Monitor the image publishing in the Horizon admin console.
    • Review the image publishing status in the vCenter Server section of the RDSH Farm details.
    • You will see that the State is Publishing.
    • You can refresh the page using the circular arrow in the top-right.

Wait for the image publishing to complete before progressing to the next step.

  1. View the clones status in the Horizon admin console.
    • Select Inventory > Farms > RDSH-Farm
    • Click on the RDS Hosts tab.
    • In the Image column you will see this now contains RDSH Golden - My_Update.
    • If the Pending Image column has an entry, the update process is still underway.
    • Scroll to the right and check the Status. Once the clones are updated, this should display Available.
Expand or collapse content Task 4: Validate application launch after updating the farm

You should always test access and behavior of published applications after updating an RDSH farm.

  1. Launch the Omnissa Horizon Client.
    • From the ControlCenter desktop, double click the Omnissa Horizon Client Icon

Depending on which other labs you have already completed, you may have to add a new server entry to the client for your new Horizon 8 pod. If you have already added it to the Horizon Client, just double-click the tile to connect.

  1. Add a new Horizon 8 Pod to the Client

In this lab, you will use the Connection Server FQDN. In a production deployment of a pod with multiple Connection Servers the load balancer virtual IP address or name would be used instead of an individual Connection Server address.

  1. Login and authenticate with an assigned user from the Horizon-Students group.
    • Username: Student1
    • Password : Pa$$w0rd
    • Click Login.
  2. Launch a published application.
    • Click on either Google Chrome or Notepad to launch the application.
    • Confirm that the application launches as expected.
  3. Close the Horizon session.
    • Close the applications you launched.
    • Close the Horizon Client.

This concludes this lab.

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