Setting Up for Linux Desktops
Table Of Contents
- Setting Up Horizon 7 for Linux Desktops
- Contents
- Setting Up Horizon 7 for Linux Desktops
- Features and System Requirements
- Preparing a Linux Virtual Machine for Desktop Deployment
- Setting Up Active Directory Integration for Linux Desktops
- Setting Up Graphics for Linux Desktops
- Installing Horizon Agent
- Configuration Options for Linux Desktops
- Create and Manage Linux Desktop Pools
- Bulk Deployment of Horizon 7 for Manual Desktop Pools
- Overview of Bulk Deployment of Linux Desktops
- Overview of Bulk Upgrade of Linux Desktops
- Create a Virtual Machine Template for Cloning Linux Desktop Machines
- Input File for the Sample PowerCLI Scripts to Deploy Linux Desktops
- Sample Script to Clone Linux Virtual Machines
- Sample Script to Join Cloned Virtual Machines to AD Domain
- Sample Script to Join Cloned Virtual Machines to AD Domain Using SSH
- Sample Script to Upload Configuration Files to Linux Virtual Machines
- Sample Script to Upload Configuration Files to Linux Virtual Machines Using SSH
- Sample Script to Upgrade Horizon Agent on Linux Desktop Machines
- Sample Script to Upgrade Horizon Agent on Linux Virtual Machines Using SSH
- Sample Script to Perform Operations on Linux Virtual Machines
- Troubleshooting Linux Desktops
- Collect Diagnostic Information for Horizon 7 for Linux Machine
- Troubleshooting Copy and Paste between Remote Desktop and Client Host
- Configuring the Linux Firewall to Allow Incoming TCP Connections
- View Agent Fails to Disconnect on an iPad Pro Horizon Client
- SLES 12 SP1 Desktop does not Auto Refresh after Drag and Drop
- SSO Fails to Connect to a PowerOff Agent
- Unreachable VM After Creating a Manual Desktop Pool for Linux
USB Redirection and Client Drive Redirection (CDR) features are sensitive to network conditions. If the
network condition is bad, such as limited bandwidth with time delay and packet loss, the user experience
becomes poor. In such condition, the end user might experience one of the following.
n
Copying remote files can be slow. In this situation, transmit smaller sized files instead.
n
USB device does not appear in the remote Linux desktop.
n
USB data does not transfer completely. For example, if you copy a large file, you might get a file
smaller in size than the original file.
VHCI Driver for USB Redirection
The USB redirection feature is supported beginning with Horizon 7 version 7.1 for Linux desktops. The
feature has a dependency on the USB Virtual Host Controller Interface (VHCI) kernel driver. You must
patch the VHCI driver to support USB 3.0.
The Horizon for Linux installer includes the VHCI driver binary for the default kernel of the supported
Linux distributions. The installer installs the VHCI driver when the USB redirection feature is selected.
Table 1‑8 lists the default kernel versions that the Horizon for Linux installer installs.
Table 1‑8. Default Kernel Versions
Linux Distribution Default Kernel Version
RHEL/CentOS 6.9 2.6.32-696.el6.x86_64
SUSE 12 SP2 4.4.21-69-default
RHEL/CentOS 7.3 3.10.0-514.el7.x86_64
Ubuntu 14.04 3.13.0-24-generic
Ubuntu 16.04 4.4.0-21-generic
If your Linux system uses a kernel version that is different from the default versions included with the
Horizon for Linux installer, you must download the USB VHCI source code from
https://sourceforge.net/projects/usb-vhci/files/linux%20kernel%20module/. You must then compile the
VHCI driver source code and install the resulting binary on your Linux system.
Note The VHCI driver installation must be done before the installation of Horizon for Linux.
After you download the latest version of the USB VHCI driver source code, use the commands in
Table 1‑9 to compile and install it on your Linux system. For example, if you unpack the installation file,
VMware-horizonagent-linux-x86_64-<version>-<build-number>.tar.gz, under
the /install_tmp/ directory, the full-path_to_patch-file is /install_tmp/VMware-
horizonagent-linux-x86_64-<version>-<buildnumber>/resources/vhci/patch/vhci.patch
and the patch command to use is
# patch -p1 < /install_tmp/VMware-horizonagent-linux-x86_64-<version>-<build-
number>/resources/vhci/patch/vhci.patch
Setting Up Horizon 7 for Linux Desktops
VMware, Inc. 18