By Marilyn Basanta, Technical Solutions Architect, End-User Computing, VMware
Stop by the VMware booth at VMworld San Francisco to learn about the VMware Horizon View Configuration Tool, vCT 1.0.
The Horizon View Configuration Tool automates Horizon View 5.2 installation and deployment. It removes the complexities and manual steps required for setting up a basic Horizon View deployment.
The vCT ships as a virtual appliance with all the required VMware components to set up your Horizon View environment. You provide the Windows Server 2008 R2 ISO, an ESX host, a few parameters, and your licenses, and then the tool will provision your environment dynamically and automatically.
Using the vCT web UI, you will be guided through required fields to customize your deployment.
Figure 1: vCT UI Home Page
Figure 2: vCT Deployment Screen
Figure 3: vCT Deployment Screen – Configuring vCenter Server Appliance
The vCT deploys the following components:
- Virtual machine with Active Directory Domain Controller configured (or you may integrate with the existing DC in your environment)
- Virtual machine with Horizon View installed
- Virtual machine with Horizon View Composer installed
- vCenter Server Appliance virtual machine deployed and configured
For each of these Windows-based components, the tool dynamically deploys a virtual machine, installs Windows Server 2008 R2, and then installs and configures the Horizon View components.
Once the deployment is complete, you will be able to navigate directly to your Horizon View administrative console, and your environment will be ready for VDI.
The vCT was originally created to support the VMware Rapid Desktop Program, now part of the vFast Track Program.
The vCT 1.0 is available to all VMware Desktop Competency Partners and members of the vFast Track or the Rapid Desktop Program. To learn more about vCT, send in feature requests, or to find out how you can take advantage of using this tool, contact: [email protected].
