Horizon View Nubbie Question

[voelk01]

Sorry for such a basic question guys, but brand new to Horizon View and have not gone through the training classes yet.

We run a current vSphere environment licensed under Essentials Plus. We are running three ESXi hosts that contain a vCenter server - all running version 5.5. We recently worked with our hardware/software partner to go to a VDI environment. Based on their recommendation, we purchased two additional "physical servers" and the VMware Horizon View bundle licensing.

I thought that the two new "physical servers" we purchased would be basic ESXi hosts, that would be added to our current vSphere environment - BUT isn't the Essential Plus licensing model limit you to run only three ESXi hosts at one time?

I know that the VMware Horizon View bundle licensing contains a license key for VMware vSphere Desktop licensing.  Will that license key allow be to add the two new "physical servers" to my current vSphere environment as hosts?

Many thanks in advance,

voelk01

[abhilashhb · Accepted solution]

Hi voelk01,

Welcome to the community.

Yes Enterprise plus licensing limits you to add just three hosts to vCenter server. But if you are buying a Horizon view bundle you will also get a vCenter standard desktop license.

FAQ says this

Q. I have spare vSphere Enterprise Plus licenses. Can I use them for desktop virtualization?

A. Yes, customers with spare vSphere licenses from past purchases can use it to host a VDI environment.

Desktop licenses covered by this provision, however, may not be managed by the same instance of vCenter which is being used to manage non-desktop OS virtual machines.

So you may need to deploy another vCenter to manage the two new hosts.

The best thing to do would be to write/talk to VMware regarding this. They will clarify all your doubts regarding the licensing.

[Linjo]

Abilash is correct, you need to deploy another vCenter, even without the licensing issues its recommended to have a separate vCenter for your View-desktops since the requirements will be different etc.

In your case I would recommend to run the new vCenter as a virtual machine on your current cluster since this will provide you with increased availability and flexibility.

Good luck and do not hesitate to post any additional questions.

// Linjo

[JihemmeT]

One thing you have to keep in mind is that View infrastructure is a special vSphere case : it is dedicated to desktops, so have special conditions of run, etc. Datastores, network and even version have to be different.

Version here is the most important constraint : you can be able to upgrade vSphere environment for your servers BUT the new vSphere version could not be validated for View, so upgrade is impossible or dangerous. This is easier to upgrade a solution when you only consider one constraint at a time.

Now your license bundle, if you purchased the "bundle" edition, grants you access to a vCenter and as many ESXi you need, so don't even bother. License grants you access to Distributed vSwitch, I really recommend you use them, even use Cisco Nexus 1000v if you can, it works like a charm.

Important note : you can host this vCenter on your "server vSphere solution", it is not mandatory at all to host it on View vSphere solution.

[voelk01]

Thanks for all the responses guy.  I think all of your responses are slowing lifting the fog from my thoughts. If I am following all of you, to summarize:

-Install ESXI software on new "physical servers" and configure

-In current vSphere environment, spin up a new VM and install vCenter server

-Have the new vCenter server manage all the new "VIEW" ESXI hosts and utilize Distributed vSwitch

[abhilashhb]

Yes that's absolutely right. Good luck with it. Let us know if you have any doubts in building it

If you found any answer useful, consider awarding points by choosing correct/helpful answers

[cyphil]

I would like to further this discusion. My case is similar, but would like to run VDI workloads on existing Essentials Plus that runs non-Desktop workloads. (All about minimizing cost)

I would like to purchase Horizon View Add-on (e.g. 10 concurrent users) instead of bundle, since the vSphere (Esn Plus) is already there.

Just wonder the vCenter Essentials included in Essentials Plus Kit can 1. techncially / 2. license wise manage the View Add-on workloads. Any expert can advise on this, THANKS!