Comparison of Horizon Connection Server Installation and Configuration between Horizon 8 2006 and Horizon 7.x
VMware Horizon 8 2006 is the first major release of VMware's hosted desktop and application solution since 2016. You may be thinking what the 2006 stands for, well VMware's new product versioning feature a YYMM format on their release cycle. With Horizon 8, the release was delayed a couple of months but the product name remains the same.
Building on top of the solid foundation of Horizon 7, the latest version provides many enhancements to improve the management and operations of your VMware VDI solution.
This blog is part of a mini-series of articles to get you started with Horizon 8 2006, so make sure to keep checking back regularly for new content.
So with what, let's compare the initial installation of the Horizon Connection Server between Horizon 8 2006 and the previous version Horizon 7 7.12.
NOTE: This is for a greenfield installation and not an upgrade or additional Horizon Connection Servers to an existing Horizon pod.
1. So we start off with the running the installation for the first Horizon Connection Server deployment. The first screen for both versions is the Welcome page. The most obvious change that you can see is that with Horizon 8 2006, VMware has changed the branding colours to make it look lighter and modern.
2. The VMware End User License Agreement page remains the same
3. Again, there is no change to Destination folder selection page.
4. On the Installation Options page, there is one major difference between the two versions; with Horizon 8 2006, VMware is no longer providing the Security Server feature.
The Horizon 7 Security Server was a Windows-based solution to provide authentication to the Horizon environment for external users. Most organisations prefer to use VMware Unified Access Gateway for this, as it is a hardened Linux appliance and provides a higher level of security compared to the Security Server.
VMware Unified Access Gateway will now be the only solution to provide secure access for external users to Horizon resources in the organisation.
5. The Data Recovery page remains the same.
6. The Firewall Configuration page also remains unchanged.
7. There is no change to the Initial Horizon Administrator page.
8. Again, no change to User Experience Improvement Program page.
9. On the Ready to Install the Program page, with Horizon 8 2006, there are new options to select for your deployment:
General - selected by default, when conducting a Horizon 8 2006 on-premises installation or when installing on a platform not listed in the options
AWS - select this option when installing Horizon 8 2006 onto VMC on AWS
Dell EMC - select this option when installing Horizon 8 2006 onto VMC on Dell EMC
Azure - select this option when installing Horizon 8 2006 on Azure or on Azure VMware Solution (AVS)
Google Cloud - select this option when installing Horizon 8 2006 on Google Cloud or on Google VMware Cloud Engine (GCVE)
Oracle Cloud - select this option when installing Horizon 8 2006 on Oracle Cloud or on Oracle VMware Cloud Solution (OCVS)
NOTE: These options only appear for the first Connection Server installation in the pod and not for replica installations.
10. There is no change on the final screen of the installation.
This concludes showing the difference in the installation of the Horizon Connection Server between Horizon 8 2006 and Horizon 7. Be sure to check back on further blogs on the Horizon 8 2006 configuration and use-cases.
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