Setting Up for Linux Desktops

PowerCLI SSH
No need to install additional tools.
n
For Ubuntu, you need to install the SSH server with the command
sudo apt-get install openssh-server. For RHEL and CentOS,
openssh-server is installed by default but you need to ensure that the
rewall seings allow ssh.
n
Need to download the SSH client applications pscp.exe and
plink.exe and put them in the same folder as the PowerCLI scripts.
Uploading les and command execution
are slower.
Uploading les and command execution are faster.
Need to supply the ESXi host's
administrator credentials.
No need to supply the ESXi host's administrator credentials.
Cannot handle special characters in the
administrator's password when running
the script to install Horizon Agent or the
AD user's password when running the
script to join the domain.
Can handle special characters in the administrator's password when
running the script to install Horizon Agent or the AD user's password
when running the script to join the domain.
N Both PowerCLI-based and SSH-based scripts can handle special characters in the passwords for the
vCenter Server administrator and the Linux administrator. PowerCLI-based scripts can also handle special
characters in the ESXi host administrator's password. In all these cases, an escape character is not necessary.
For more information about vSphere PowerCLI, see
hps://www.vmware.com/support/developer/PowerCLI.
The process of bulk deploying a pool of Linux desktops involves the following steps:
1 Create a virtual machine template and install Horizon Agent on the virtual machine.
See “Create a Virtual Machine Template for Cloning Linux Desktop Machines,” on page 67.
2 Create a guest customization specication.
See "Create a Customization Specication for Linux in the vSphere Web Client" in the vSphere Virtual
Machine Administration document. When you create the specication, make sure that you specify the
following seings correctly.
Setting Value
Target Virtual Machine OS Linux
Computer Name Use the virtual machine name.
Domain Specify the domain of the View environment.
Network Seings Use standard network seings.
Primary DNS Specify a valid address.
N For more information on Guest OS Customization Support Matrix, see
hp://partnerweb.vmware.com/programs/guestOS/guest-os-customization-matrix.pdf.
3 Clone virtual machines.
See “Sample Script to Clone Linux Virtual Machines,” on page 69.
4 Join the cloned VMs to the Active Directory (AD) domain if you are using the winbind solution. You
can run the domain join command with example scripts below or use option RunOnceScript
in /etc/vmware/viewagent-custom.conf, congured in the template virtual machine.
See “Sample Script to Join Cloned Virtual Machines to AD Domain,” on page 73 or “Sample Script to
Join Cloned Virtual Machines to AD Domain Using SSH,” on page 76.
5 Update conguration options in virtual machines.
Setting Up Horizon 7 for Linux Desktops
66 VMware, Inc.