5.2

Table Of Contents
Using local datastores is most likely to work well if the View desktops in your environment are stateless. For
example, you might use local datastores if you deploy stateless kiosks or classroom and training stations.
If you intend to take advantage of the benefits of local storage, you must carefully consider the following
limitations:
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You cannot use VMotion, VMware High Availability (HA), or vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler
(DRS).
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You cannot use the View Composer rebalance operation to load-balance virtual machines across a resource
pool.
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You cannot store a View Composer replica and linked clones on separate datastores, and, in fact, VMware
recommends storing them on the same volume.
If you manage local disk usage by controlling the number of virtual machines and their disk growth, and if
you use floating assignments and perform regular refresh and delete operations, you can successfully deploy
linked clones to local datastores.
For more information, see the chapter about creating desktop pools in the
VMware Horizon ViewAdministration document.
Application Provisioning
With Horizon View, you have several options regarding application provisioning: You can use traditional
application provisioning techniques, you can distribute application packages created with
VMware ThinApp, or you can deploy applications as part of a View Composer base image.
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Deploying Applications and System Updates with View Composer on page 30
Because linked-clone desktop pools share a base image, you can quickly deploy updates and patches by
updating the parent virtual machine.
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Managing VMware ThinApp Applications in View Administrator on page 31
VMware ThinApp™ lets you package an application into a single file that runs in a virtualized application
sandbox. This strategy results in flexible, conflict-free application provisioning.
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Using Existing Processes for Application Provisioning on page 31
With Horizon View, you can continue to use the application provisioning techniques that your company
currently uses. Two additional considerations include managing server CPU usage and storage I/O and
determining whether users are permitted to install applications.
Deploying Applications and System Updates with View Composer
Because linked-clone desktop pools share a base image, you can quickly deploy updates and patches by
updating the parent virtual machine.
The recompose feature allows you to make changes to the parent virtual machine, take a snapshot of the new
state, and push the new version of the image to all, or a subset of, users and desktops. You can use this feature
for the following tasks:
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Applying operating system and software patches and upgrades
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Applying service packs
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Adding applications
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Adding virtual devices
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Changing other virtual machine settings, such as available memory
VMware Horizon View Architecture Planning
30 VMware, Inc.