The VMware Workspace ONE and VMware Horizon 7 Enterprise Edition On-premises Reference Architecture is now available and is a must read for anyone considering, designing, or undertaking a VMware Workspace ONE or VMware Horizon 7–based project. This reference architecture provides guidance, an example architecture, best practices, and detailed configuration information for deploying all products in an integrated manner.
- VMware Workspace ONE is an intelligence-driven digital workspace platform that simply and securely delivers and manages any app on any device by integrating access control, application management, and multi-platform endpoint management. It combines identity and mobility management to provide frictionless and secure access to all the apps and data that employees need to work, wherever, whenever, and from whatever device they choose.
- VMware Horizon 7 is the leading platform for Windows desktop and application virtualization, delivering virtual desktops, published Windows applications, shared desktop sessions from Windows Server instances using Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (RDS), and ThinApp-packaged applications. Horizon 7 supports both Windows- and Linux-based desktops.
The VMware Workspace ONE and VMware Horizon 7 Enterprise Edition On-premises Reference Architecture guide illustrates how Workspace ONE, including Horizon 7, can deliver a modern digital workspace that meets key business requirements and common use cases for the increasingly mobile workplace. This reference architecture uses a modular approach to building services by integrating the components of Workspace ONE, including Horizon 7 Enterprise Edition, when deployed on-premises.
This guide documents both high- and low-level design for deployment and highlights integration points. It gives design guidance on how to architect and design all the products or components in Workspace ONE Enterprise, including VMware AirWatch, VMware Identity Manager, Horizon 7, vRealize Operations for Horizon, App Volumes, User Environment Manager, and Unified Access Gateway.
For each of the individual product components, the guide gives an explanation and instruction that covers how to scale, ensure availability, provide disaster recovery, and deploy across multiple sites, which includes data replication, load balancing, and database failover cluster instance (FCI) setup.
Reference Architecture Design Methodology
To ensure a successful Workspace ONE deployment, it is important to follow proper design methodology.
Design begins by defining business requirements and drivers, which can be mapped to use cases that can be adapted to most scenarios. You can then align and map those uses cases to a set of integrated services provided by Workspace ONE.
A Workspace ONE design uses a number of components to provide the services that address the identified use cases. Before you can assemble and integrate these components to form a service that you deliver to end users, you must first design and build the components or products, according to best practices, in a modular and scalable manner to allow for change, growth, and integration into the existing environment. Only then can you bring the parts together to deliver the integrated services to satisfy the use cases, business requirements, and the user experience.
Service Definitions
Service definitions are the blueprints that help you understand how to address the identified use cases. The service, for a use case, defines the unique requirements and identifies the technology or feature combinations that satisfy those unique requirements. The detail required to build out the products and components comes later, after the services are defined and the required components are understood.
The sample services defined in the reference architecture are modular to allow you to adapt the services to your particular use cases. In some cases, that might mean adding additional components, while in others it might be possible to remove some that are not required.
You can also combine multiple services to address more complex use cases. For example, you could combine a Workspace ONE service with a Horizon 7 service and a recovery service.
Summary
This reference architecture has undergone testing and validation with regards to component design and build, service build, integration, and user workflow to ensure that all objectives are met, that use cases are delivered properly, and that real-world implementation is achievable.
Go read the VMware Workspace ONE and VMware Horizon 7 Enterprise Edition On-premises Reference Architecture guide now to get started planning your digital workspace using Workspace ONE. Make sure you also have a look at the various appendices, which include lots of tips, tricks, and procedures.
