5.2

Replacing the default certificate for View Transfer Server with a certificate that is signed by a CA would not
significantly affect the secure communications between View Transfer Server, View Connection Server, and
View clients.
In View 5.0.x and earlier versions, you did have to configure an SSL certificate for View Transfer Server.
If you are upgrading from View 5.0.x or earlier to View 5.1 or later, and you want to continue to use a
certificate that is signed by a CA on the upgraded version of View Transfer Server, you must back up the
certificate, upgrade View Transfer Server, and configure the signed certificate for the new View Transfer
Server version.
If you configured a self-signed certificate for the old View Transfer Server, or you do not intend to use an
existing CA-signed certificate on the upgraded server, you do not have to configure a certificate again.
During the upgrade, a valid, self-signed certificate is installed with View Transfer Server.
For more information, see the VMware Horizon View Upgrades document.
Setting View Administrator to Trust a vCenter Server or View
Composer Certificate
In the View Administrator dashboard, you can configure View to trust a vCenter Server or View Composer
certificate that is untrusted.
VMware strongly recommends that you configure vCenter Server and View Composer to use SSL
certificates that are signed by a CA. Alternatively, you can accept the thumbprint of the default certificate
for vCenter Server or View Composer.
Similarly, VMware recommends that you configure SAML 2.0 authenticators to use SSL certificates that are
signed by a CA. Alternatively, in the View Administrator dashboard you can configure View to trust an
untrusted SAML 2.0 server certificate by accepting the thumbprint of the default certificate.
Benefits of Using SSL Certificates Signed by a CA
A CA is a trusted entity that guarantees the identity of the certificate and its creator. When a certificate is
signed by a trusted CA, users no longer receive messages asking them to verify the certificate, and thin
client devices can connect without requiring additional configuration.
You can request an SSL server certificate that is specific to a Web domain such as www.mycorp.com, or you
can request a wildcard SSL server certificate that can be used throughout a domain such as *.mycorp.com. To
simplify administration, you might choose to request a wildcard certificate if you need to install the
certificate on multiple servers or in different subdomains. Typically, domain-specific certificates are used in
secure installations, and CAs usually guarantee more protection against losses for domain-specific
certificates than for wildcard certificates. If you use a wildcard certificate, you must ensure that the private
key is transferrable between servers.
When you replace the default certificate with your own certificate, clients use your certificate to authenticate
the server. If your certificate is signed by a CA, the certificate for the CA itself is typically embedded in the
browser or is located in a trusted database that the client can access. After a client accepts the certificate, it
responds by sending a secret key, which is encrypted with the public key contained in the certificate. The
secret key is used to encrypt traffic between the client and the server.
VMware Horizon View Installation
88 VMware, Inc.