By Jessica Chapin, Technical Writer and Editor, End-User Computing, VMware
With significant contributions from Aaron Black, Product Manager, End-User Computing, VMware
Many hands make light work, or so the saying goes. When the bulk of the workload is placed on one person, tasks take longer to complete, and the entire line of production slows down. The lesson of this proverb can be easily applied to the business world. We each know an overworked employee who needs a little extra help. When it comes to virtual desktop infrastructure, that help comes in the form of automation and delegation.
HvRO Eases Delegation and Automation
Efficiency is crucial in any VDI environment. Task delegation and automation are critical for efficient management of large-scale environments. This is where Horizon vRealize Orchestrator Plug-In (HvRO) comes in handy. This powerhouse plug-in can ease the workload of IT administrators by delegating certain VDI tasks to different levels of users, such as the help desk or end users. Other tasks can be automated through pre-packaged or custom workflows.
HvRO allows interaction between Horizon 6, which delivers published apps and virtual desktops in View, and vRealize Orchestrator, which simplifies automation of IT tasks. Rather than requiring admins to manage desktops and applications exclusively through View Administrator, desktop management tasks can be delegated to the end user. If an end user has a problem with their desktop, such as they installed an app that they did not need, they can recycle or refresh their desktop without having to call the help desk.
HvRO comes with several out-of-the-box workflows. The workflows are designed to perform tasks that would otherwise be done through View Administrator. These tasks include desktop pool modification, managing desktops, managing hosted apps, refreshing desktops, managing sessions, and provisioning desktops, among others. Task delegation is available through a service catalog, as illustrated in the preceding screenshot.
New Features
In the latest release of HvRO, version 1.2.0, there are several new features.
- Unified provisioning – Provisioning from vRealize Automation with the Horizon vRealize Orchestrator Plug-In now supports creation of virtual machines to be managed by either View or vRealize Automation.
- Unified management – View virtual desktops and pools can now be managed through vRealize Automation for pool-level functions and Day 2 management by using action buttons such as Manage Assignment, Manage Session, and Recompose.
- Support for Horizon Air desktop pools – Administrators can perform allocation and entitlement actions against Horizon Air desktops or provide self-service through vRealize Automation.
- Ability to add and remove users from global entitlements in a Cloud Pod Architecture.
- New Recompose workflow – Delegated administrators can perform Recompose operations using vRealize Automation or vRealize Orchestrator against one or more View Composer linked-clone desktop pools.
- New workflow for using vRealize Automation IAAS blueprints to provision machines and then add the machines to manual desktop pools in View.
- Support for vRealize Automation 6.2.1, in addition to vCloud Automation Center 6.1.1.
- Support for vRealize Orchestrator 6.0 and 6.0.1, in addition to vCenter Orchestrator 5.5.2.
- Support for VMware Horizon 6 version 6.1, in addition to Horizon 6 version 6.0.1.
- Support for VMware vSphere 6.0, in addition to VMware vSphere 5.5 Update 1 and Update 2.
- Support for VMware Horizon Air 6.2.
System Requirements
To use the latest version of Horizon vRealize Orchestrator Plug-In, you will need the following products:
- VMware Horizon 6 version 6.0.1 or 6.1
- vCenter Orchestrator 5.5.2 or vRealize Orchestrator 6.0 or 6.0.1
- vCloud Automation Center 6.1.1 or vRealize Automation 6.2.1
- vSphere 6.0 or vSphere 5.5 Update 1 or Update 2
- VMware Horizon Air Desktops 6.2 (optional)
Documentation
For more information on Horizon vRealize Orchestrator Plug-In, see Using the VMware Horizon vRealize Orchestrator Plug-In. Aaron Black has a great video on Getting Started with Horizon vRealize Orchestrator Plug-In.
Download Horizon vRealize Orchestrator Plug-in today!
