It’s finally here, the day you’ve been waiting for, how to define a Horizon FLEX entitlement!

Hello, it’s Andy again. Today’s short video once again features a shiny me, but it’s thankfully very short: just over 90 seconds after you skip all the fancy bumpers we put at the front and back of it.

To recap, in part one I showed you how to build a Horizon FLEX compatible image. In part two, I showed you how to define acceptable use policy for groups of people. In today’s lesson, we’re going to take everything we’ve learned so far, sprinkle it with AD groups and build entitlements.

Entitlements are just the fancy way of saying that the people in accounting get access to a different image than the one you give the sales people, and those differing images can operate under different acceptable use polices.

The next section on the Horizon FLEX administrator’s console shows all the VM’s that are in use, what policies are being enforced, and even gives you the ability to tweak the settings for a specific user.

Machines in use

Bonus point! If you’re using VMware Mirage to manage your virtual images (and you really should) that information appears in the console too. Fantastic.

Next time, I think I might show you sometime I call my Russian Doll demo. It showcases why more people use VMware hypervisors than any other. It’s truly mind blowing.

Thanks and if you’d like to know more, or to download a free trial of Horizon FLEX, please click here.

Hello again, Andy here.

Last time I showed you how to build a Horizon FLEX image for mass sharing. This time, I’m going to show you the simple steps needed to ensure that image is securely used.

You’ll be happy to note that there’s significantly less of my shiny red face in this video.

The video concentrates on server controlled dynamic policies. At the time of writing there’s over half a dozen of them, but a customer was quick to correct me when I shared the video, saying  ‘we enforce over 50 policies with FLEX ‘. He is right of course, there are lots of policy decisions you burn into the image at creation time.

The full list of FLEX polices is huge and varies depending upon the client hypervisor (in other words, your mileage may vary). Using a combination of fixed image and dynamic server policy an administrator can specify over 70 distinct control points.

Processor

• Specify VM memory allocation
• Specify number of processors assigned to VM
• Specify number of cores per processor assigned to VM
• Specify the type of virtualization engine used
  • Automatic, binary, VT-x, AMD-V, VT-x/EPT, AMD-V/RVI
• Enable / disable acceleration for binary translation
• Virtualize CPU performance counters
• Specify process priorities
• Disable memory page trimming

Storage

• Map virtual disk to local volume
• Add virtual hard disk
  • IDE, SCSI, SATA (independent, persistent, non-persistent)
  • New, existing, physical
• Add virtual CD/DVD
  • ISO, physical (SATA, SCSI, IDE, legacy emulation)
• Add floppy drive
  • Image, physical
• Connect CD/DVD at power-on
• Share local folders with VM
• Map local folders as network drive
• Share local folders as read only

Network 

• Connect network at power-on
• Create bridge directly to physical network
  • Initially set by admin, user can edit
• Share host IP address
• Create private network to host
• Create custom virtual network
• Attach to specific LAN segment
• Custom throttle incoming network traffic
• Emulate incoming pipe size
  • Modem (28.8Kbps, 56Kbps)
  • ISDN (64Kbps, 128Kbps)
  • Leased line (192Kbps, 1.544Mbps, 45Mbps)
  • Cable (4Mbps, 10Mbps, 100Mbps)
• Enable VNC access

Hardware

• Turn USB support on or off
  • Except for keyboard and mouse
• Specify USB supported level
  • 1.0, 2.0, 3.0
• Automatically connect new USB devices
• Add specific USB controller
• Share Bluetooth devices with VM
• Connect soundcard on power-on
• Specify host sound card to use
• Connect printer at power on
• Auto-map host printers to VM
• Add specific printer
• Hardware accelerate 3D graphics
• Use host settings for monitor
  • Initially set by admin, user can edit
• Specify number of monitors to use
  • To a maximum of 10
• Specify screen resolution
• Use Retina Mode (mac only)
• Specify graphics card memory allocated to VM
• Use enhanced virtual keyboard
• Share battery info with VM
• Synchronize guest time with host
• Specify hardware compatibility level
• Add parallel port
  • Physical, file
• Add serial port
  • Physical, file, pipe
• Add generic SCSI device

User Experience           

• Go full screen on power on
  • Initially set by admin, user can edit
• Close application after powering off VM
• Enable drag & drop between host and VM
• Enable shared clipboard (cut & paste)
• Show borders in Unity mode
• Show badges in Unity mode
• Add custom colored borders in Unity mode
• Enable direct access to applications
• Auto-update embedded VMware Tools
  • Manual, auto, global

Recovery & Protection

• Revert to snapshot on power-off
• Auto-create snapshot on power-off
• Auto-create snapshots
  • Daily, hourly, every 30 mins
• Specify number of snapshot generations to keep
• Force local encryption password reset
• Specify VM expiration date
• Display custom message for expired VM’s
• Display custom message for soon expiring VM’s
• Specify policy server contact frequency
• Specify policy server contact grace period
• Remote kill of local VM

Next time, I’ll show you how to easily combine AD, images and policy to give your users the desktop you want them to have.

Thanks and if you’d like to know more, or to download a free trial of Horizon FLEX, please click here.

Hi, I’m Andy from VMware.

Today I’d like to show you something exciting from VMware that may not have made it on to your radar – remotely managed policies for Player Pro users!

Back in December we launched a new product called Horizon FLEX. The concept behind FLEX is simple, Player Pro  & Workstation are fantastic for you on your PC or Linux box, but can be a little bothersome for the person responsible for rolling out 500 copies of them to everyone in sales, or worse, to your senior exec team.

Horizon FLEX matches AD credentials against your library of managed virtual images, makes them available to valid users, and then enforces best practice use policies. It’s incredibly simple for your users to use, and gives you peace of mind that your containerized desktops are secure, licensed, and being used by only the right people.

Here’s a 2 minute video of me sweating under the studio lights that should give you a flavor for what Horizon FLEX can do for you.

Great – that’s the marketing fluff out of the way, but I know as seasoned Player Pro / Workstation users you’re more interested in how different this is from the process you already have in place. So here’s another 2 min video that demonstrates the various steps.

One of things I don’t make clear in the video is ‘why are there two passwords?’ This is our cunning plan to give you extra flexibility. The first password is used to encrypt the virtual machine image and needs to be given to the user in order for them to access the image. The second password is an IT-only security switch. Using this, you can remote into your users’ computer and change the VM settings that are normally out of their reach. It gives you the ability to fine tune the performance of a VM without having to open all the dangerous controls to users who probably won’t know the right way to use them.

Next time I’ll show you how to define that policy I mentioned.

Thanks for reading and if you’d like to know more, or to download a free trial of Horizon FLEX, please click here.