VMware have released a new version of VMware Horizon 7.10, and this release is for now general available from 17th September 2019.

This is a major release, so I hope you like this article I put together.

VMware have made some huge improvements in this release, which customers/partners are going to benefit from.

VMware Horizon 7.10 is now supporting the new NVIDIA RTX GPU’s (RTX6000, RTX8000) HINT – If you are using Nvidia vGPU (on-prem) I highly recommend you upgrade to vGPU 9.1 and Horizon 7.10 and vSphere 6.7CU3.

I have in this article also included the new features of Horizon Cloud service for IBM Cloud, AWS, Azure.

Vmware Horizon 7.10 have a big update to Blast Extreme, it have a new Adaptive Codec, which replaces JPEG/PNG codec, I am excited to learn more about this and how this can benefits customers and hopefully RDanalyzer.com guys also gets this into their client so we can better understand what’s happening inside the protocol from a user perspective.

Vmware also have a new Codec switching which automatically switches codec based on screen content: I can see a big value for end users with this new feature and this will make experience even better with VMware Horizon.

VMware Horizon 7.10 is a Extended Service Branch (ESB) release, VMware Horizon 7.10 supports now VMware Skyline Log Assist for better logging and analysis.

VMware also made this great video of what’s new

 Now, lets dig into what’s new in this major release.

What is new in VMware Horizon 7.10

VMware Horizon 7.10 provides the following new features and enhancements

• VMware Horizon Connection Server On-Premises
• VMware Horizon Agent for Linux
• VMware Horizon Agent for Windows
• VMware Horizon GPO Bundle
• VMware Dynamic Environment Manager 9.9 (former VUEM)
• VMware Unified Access Gateway 3.7
• VMware AppVolume 2.18
• VMware vRealize Operations for Horizon 6.6
• VMware Horizon Clients 5.2 for Android, Chrome, Linux, iOS, Mac, Windows, UWP, HTML Access

VMware Horizon Cloud services:

• VMware Horizon Cloud Service 2.1 (Azure, AWS, On-prem)
• VMware Horizon Cloud Service on IBM Cloud 19.3

VMware Horizon Connection Server On-Premises

The VMware Horizon 7 version 7.10 release includes many new features and enhancements to Horizon Connection Server and Horizon Agent including continuing to build on the feature parity of Horizon Console, the HTML5-based web console that will eventually replace Horizon Administrator.

• Horizon Console (HTML5-based Web Interface) There are several enhancements to Horizon Console. These include:
  • Monitor the status of Horizon 7 components in the Horizon Console dashboard.
  • Monitor the Connection Server load in the Horizon Console dashboard.
  • Monitor gateway service components for a Connection Server in the Horizon Console dashboard.
  • Enhancements to role-based delegated administration including privileges and roles for custom roles in Horizon Console.
  • The Console Interaction and Direct Interaction privileges are automatically applied to new roles.
  • Configure users for hybrid logon.
  • Enable the Accept logon as current user setting to allow the Connection Server instance to accept the user identity and credential information that is passed when users select Log in as current user in the Options menu in Horizon Client.
  • Configure the send domain list setting to allow the Connection Server to send the list of domain names to the client before the user is authenticated.
  • Create an automated desktop pool of full virtual machines with floating user assignments.
  • Configure load balancing for RDS hosts.
  • The restart desktop and reset virtual machine options are removed for an instant-clone farm.
  • You can duplicate a published application pool.
  • To identify the Connection Server pod you are working with, you can view the pod name in the Horizon Console header and in the Web browser tab.
  • You can duplicate an instant-clone desktop pool, linked-clone desktop pool, or an automated desktop pool that contains full virtual machines.
  • Use enhanced log to file options for event reporting.
  • A 60 second warning and subsequent error timeout window alerts you to continue the session or log in again.
  • You can select multiple virtual machines and perform relevant operations on them.
• Cloud Pod Architecture
  • You can use the new -g option in the vdmexport command to export a Cloud Pod Architecture global LDIF configuration file. You can use the new -g option in the vdmimport command to import a Cloud Pod Architecture global LDIF configuration file. You use these options when you need to back up and restore a Cloud Pod Architecture environment. For more information, see the Horizon 7 Integration document.
• Virtual Desktops
  • You can use instant clones in an IPv6 environment.
  • The IcCleanup.cmd utility allows you to unprotect or delete some or all internal VMs, incluing those in specific groups and their snapshots.
• Troubleshooting
  • You can enable Horizon 7 administrator users to collect Connection Server logs for Skyline Collector Appliance.
• APIs
  • You can use RESTful APIs for monitoring Connection Server. For more information, see https://code.vmware.com.

VMware Horizon Agent for Linux

• Supported distributions
  • ​Horizon Agent for Linux now supports RHEL 8 as an operating system for Linux remote desktops. The following limitations apply to RHEL 8 desktops:
    • Horizon Agent only supports the X11 display server protocol. The Wayland display server protocol is not supported.
    • True SSO is not supported.
    • Smartcard SSO is not supported.
  • Starting with this release, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 12.04, and SLED 11 are no longer supported as operating systems for Linux remote desktops.
• New display driver
  • ​This release uses a new display driver for Linux remote desktops. In previous releases of Horizon Agent for Linux, the driver used vRAM from the ESXi host for rendering displays. The new driver in this release uses VM host memory instead for rendering displays.
• vSGA requirement
  • Due to enhancements from the new display driver for Linux remote desktops, this release no longer requires or supports vSGA.

VMware Horizon Agent for Windows

• Automatically install the RDS role on Server OS
• Support for Windows 10 1909 
• Remoting Protocols
  • The new Blast encoder improves on the Adaptive and H.264 encoders in desktop usage to provide crisp text and less bandwidth for video content. For pure video usage, the Switch encoder provides a mechanism to switch to H.264.
  • You can switch between encoders by setting a registry key EncoderSwitchEnabled to 1. By default this is disabled with the value of 0.
• Remote Experience
  • With the VMware Browser Redirection feature, when a user uses the Google Chrome browser in a remote desktop, the website is rendered in the client system instead of the agent system, and it is displayed over the remote browser’s viewport. The VMware Browser Redirection feature requires Horizon Client 5.2 for Windows on the client system.
  • For virtual desktops, the Real-Time Audio-Video feature can now redirect more than one audio and video device from the client system. This feature is not supported for published desktops or published applications. This feature requires Horizon Client 5.2 for Windows on the client system.
  • You can use group policy settings to map drive letters for the client drive redirection feature.
  • The Real-Time Audio-Video and Scanner Redirection features are now supported in nested mode. See VMware Knowledge Base article 67248.
  • You can specify staple and punch options for specified printers with the VMware Integrated Printing feature.
  • If you are installing the Virtualization Pack for Skype for Business component on a Windows 7 VM, verify that you have .Net 4.0 or later installed.
  • Smartcard redirection now works with WDEG.

VMware Horizon GPO Bundle

• The VMware Horizon Client Drive Redirection ADMX template file, vdm_agent_cdr.admx, contains the following new settings:
  • Configure drive letter mapping mode
  • Define drive letter mapping
• The VMware View Agent Configuration ADMX template file, vdm_agent.admx, contains the following new settings:
  • Disconnect Session Time Limit (VDI)
  • Enable automatic fallback after a whitelist violation
  • Enable Navigation URL list for VMware Browser Redirection
  • Enable VMware Browser Redirection
  • Enable URL list for VMware Browser Redirection
  • Idle Time Until Disconnect (VDI)
  • Show a page with error information before automatic fallback
• The Scanner Redirection ADMX template file, vdm_agent_scanner.admx, contains the following new settings:
  • Force the TWAIN Scanning Properties dialog
  • TWAIN Scanner Properties dialog location
• The VMware Horizon Client Configuration ADMX template file, vdm_client.admx, contains the following new settings:
  • Allow Blast connections to use operating system proxy settings
  • Automatically synchronize the keypad, scroll and caps lock keys
  • Enable cache for browser redirection
  • Enable WebRTC camera and microphone access for browser redirection
  • Hotkey combination to grab input focus
  • Hotkey combination to release input focus
  • Ignore certificate errors for browser redirection

VMware Dynamic Environment Manager 9.9

VMware Dynamic Environment Manager (formerly known as VMware User Environment Manager) Whats new in DEM 9.9

• Product Rename. For 9.9 and later, the product name is VMware Dynamic Environment Manager.
• Active Directory Attribute Condition. This is a new condition that checks if a specified Active Directory attribute matches the specified criterion.

VMware Unified Access Gateway 3.7

VMware Unified Access Gateway 3.7 provides the following new features and enhancements:

• Syslog consolidation for all the edge services
• Supports Extra Large Unified Access Gateway deployment with 8 CPU cores and 32 GB RAM
• Support for uploading SEG SSL certificate from Admin UI
• Supports dynamic fetch of the JWT signing public key with HTTPS GET
• Improvements in the use of Horizon RADIUS support with Windows SSO for multi-domain environments

VMware AppVolume 2.18

VMware App Volumes 2.18 release includes the following new features, updates, and bug fixes.

• Centralized Job Management – Administrators can use the Jobs tab under Activity in the App Volumes Manager UI to fine-tune large deployments. For more information about sizing large deployments, see knowledge base article 67354.
• Support for Windows Server 2019
• Support for IPv6
• Security updates
• Support for rolling upgrade of App Volumes Manager servers from App Volumes 2.18 to later versions.

What is New to Extended Service Branch (ESB)

App Volumes 2.18 is an ESB release. For more information about ESB, see the knowledge base article Horizon Extended Service Branch (ESB) (66766).

• Profile-only template for Writable Volumes – The App Volumes agent has a new dual-write capability to ensure support of AppStacks while retaining only the files related to the user’s profile. The profile-only template feature also provides the ability to specify folders within the profile to be excluded. This ability gives administrators additional controls to reduce files persisted to a user’s Writable Volume.
• Support for Microsoft OneDrive For Business – Improved support for Office 365 on non-persistent desktops by using Writable Volumes to persist OneDrive’s local files across login sessions.
• Support for Box Drive – latest version of Box Drive is supported using Writable Volumes to persist credentials and file cache.
• Support of App Volumes on VMware Cloud on AWS
• Support for Microsoft Windows 10, version 1809 and 1903
• Support for App Volumes Manager on Windows Server 2019.
• Support for SQL server 2014 Enterprise SP3 64-bit. NOTE: SQL Server 2008 is no longer supported. For this release, customers must upgrade to a supported version of SQL Server.
• Administrators can view a list of all the App Volumes Managers of their instance from within the App Volumes Manager console.
• App Volumes Manager secure registration is automatically activated for new installations and any environment with one App Volumes Manager. Customers upgrading to the latest version of App Volumes are encouraged to activate the new registration feature.
• App Volumes Manager can now communicate to SQL Server using TLS 1.2 protocol.
• App Volumes API reference documentation is available on VMWare {code}.

VMware vRealize Operations for Horizon 6.6

• vRealize Operations Manager 6.7, 7.0, and 7.5 support: You can now use vRealize Operations for Horizon with versions 6.7 to 7.5 of vRealize Operations Manager. Important: vRealize Operations for Horizon 6.6 is only compatible with vRealize Operations Manager 7.0 with the security patch installed. See KB 59651 for more information.
• Horizon 7.6 through 7.9 support: vRealize Operations for Horizon now supports Horizon 7.3 to 7.9.
• App Volumes 2.14 and 2.15 support: vRealize Operations for Horizon now supports App Volumes 2.14 and 2.15.

Supported versions of Windows 10 on Horizon Agent Including All VDI Clones (Full Clones, Instant Clones, and Linked Clones on Horizon 7)

• Windows 10 1607 LTSB (Enterprise)
• Windows 10 1703 CBB, Semi-Annual (Enterprise, Professional, Education)
• Windows 10 1803
• Windows 10 1809
• Windows 10 1903
• Windows 10 1909

For more additional information please read this knowledge article

VMware Horizon Client 5.2 – new features

VMware Horizon Client 5.2 for Android

What’s New in This Release

• Android 10 (Q) support You can install Horizon Client for Android on an Android 10 (Q) device.
• Dark mode support You can use Horizon Client for Android in dark mode on Android 10 (Q) and later devices.
• Use the Google Admin console to configure Horizon Client application settings You can use the Google Admin console to configure application settings on enrolled Chromebook devices, including display scaling, screen resolution, and multiple-monitor mode. For more information, see Using the Google Admin Console to Configure Enrolled Chromebook Devices.
• Use Workspace ONE UEM to configure Horizon Client application settings If you use Workspace ONE UEM to deliver Horizon Client to Android for Work device users, you can use Workspace ONE UEM to configure application settings, including display scaling, screen resolution, and multiple-monitor mode. For more information, see Configure Workspace ONE UEM to Deliver Horizon Client to Android Devices.

VMware Horizon Client 5.2 for Chrome

What’s New in This Release

• There are no new features in this release

VMware Horizon Client 5.2 for iOS

What’s New in This Release

• Configure camera settings in Workspace ONE UEM When you use Workspace ONE UEM to to deliver Horizon Client to iOS device users, you can configure the camera position and video quality. See Configure Workspace ONE UEM to Deliver Horizon Client to iOS Devices.

VMware Horizon Client 5.2 for Mac

What’s New in This Release

• Faster reconnect on an Apple laptop Horizon Client for Mac now reconnects more quickly when you reopen your laptop’s lid.
• Improved 3Dconnexion SpaceMouse performance Performance is improved when using the 3DConnexion SpaceMouse with the USB redirection feature and the VMware Blast display protocol.
• Increased display device performance and decreased CPU use The Lightweight Protocol Client replaces the vmware-remotemks process, increases display device performance, and decreases CPU use.
• Display resolution and display scaling customization for remote desktops You can use Horizon Client to customize the display resolution and display scaling for a remote desktop. See Customize the the Display Resolution and Display Scaling for a Remote Desktop.
• High Efficiency Video Decoding (HEVC) and proxy server support with VMware Blast With HEVC decoding, performance and image quality are improved if the client machine has a GPU that supports HEVC decoding. If your environment includes an SSL proxy server, you can specify whether to allow VMware Blast connections through the proxy server. See Configure VMware Blast Options.
• Certificate checking with an SSL proxy server You can allow certificate checking for secondary connections through an SSL proxy server. This feature applies to Blast Secure Gateway and secure tunnel connections. See Setting the Certificate Checking Mode in Horizon Client.

VMware Horizon Client 5.2 for Linux

What’s New in This Release

• Updated support for RHEL distributions This release includes updated support for the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 64-bit distributions:
  • RHEL 8 is now supported, with the following limitations:
    • Horizon Client supports only the X11 display server protocol with RHEL 8. The Wayland display server protocol is not supported.
    • The Skype for Business Virtualization feature is not supported on RHEL 8 desktops.
  • RHEL 7.7 is now validated and supported. RHEL 7.7 supersedes and replaces RHEL 7.6 as a supported distribution for Horizon Client.
  • RHEL 6.x is no longer supported, due to the distribution’s lack of support for GTK 3.
• Support for GTK 3 This release supports the GTK 3 toolkit and library, for enhanced graphical display and capabilities.
• Minimized mode for Horizon Client You can now specify configuration options for starting Horizon Client in minimized mode. When this mode is enabled, the Horizon Client window remains minimized and hidden in the background while the user-specified remote desktop or published application starts. To enable minimized mode, use the –launchMinimized command-line option or the launchMinimized URI query parameter.
• High Efficiency Video Decoding (HEVC) and proxy server support with VMware Blast With HEVC decoding, performance and image quality are improved if the client machine has a GPU that supports HEVC decoding. If your environment includes an SSL proxy server, you can specify whether to allow VMware Blast connections through the proxy server. You can also use the view.allowEnableHEVC configuration key to control the client user’s ability to change the HEVC setting.
• Dropped support for view.defaultAppSize and –appSize= Due to support for Seamless Windows, you can no longer use the view.defaultAppSize configuration key or the –appSize= command-line option to set the default window size for published applications.
• Dropped support for view.disableMaximizedApp and –disableMaximizedApp Due to support for Seamless Windows, you can no longer use the view.disableMaximizedApp configuration key or the –disableMaximizedApp command-line option to prevent published applications from starting in full-screen mode.

VMware Horizon Client 5.2 for Windows

What’s New in This Release

• Log in as current user feature supported in one-way trust domains You can use the Log in as current user feature to log in to a Connection Server instance in a domain that is configured to have a one-way trust with the Horizon Client domain without being prompted to reauthenticate.
• Real-Time Audio-Video and scanner redirection supported in nested mode The Real-Time Audio-Video and scanner redirection features are now supported in nested mode. See VMware Knowledge Base (KB) article 67248, “VMware Horizon Guidelines for Nested Mode.”
• Increased display device performance and decreased CPU use The Lightweight Protocol Client replaces the vmware-remotemks process, increases display device performance, and decreases CPU use.
• Improved 3Dconnexion SpaceMouse performance Performance is improved when using the 3DConnexion SpaceMouse with the USB redirection feature and the VMware Blast display protocol.
• Display resolution and display scaling customization for remote desktops You can use Horizon Client to customize the display resolution and display scaling for a remote desktop. See Customize the the Display Resolution and Display Scaling for a Remote Desktop.
• Keyboard shortcuts for input focus You can use the Hotkey combination to grab input focus and Hotkey combination to release input focus group policy settings to configure keyboard shortcuts for input focus. You can use the Automatic input focus in a virtual desktop window group policy setting to send input to the remote desktop automatically when a user brings the remote desktop to the front. These features are useful for users who cannot use mouse clicks to grab and release a remote desktop. See General Settings for Client GPOs.
• Lock key synchronization An administrator can synchronize the toggle states of the Num Lock, Scroll Lock, and Caps Lock keys from the client computer to a remote desktop by using the Automatically synchronize the keypad, scroll and caps lock keys group policy setting. See General Settings for Client GPOs. A user can synchronize the toggle states of the Num Lock, Scroll Lock, and Caps Lock keys in the Horizon Client user interface. See Configure Lock Key Synchronization.
• Certificate checking with an SSL proxy server You can allow certificate checking for secondary connections through an SSL proxy server. This feature applies to Blast Secure Gateway and secure tunnel connections. See Setting the Certificate Checking Mode in Horizon Client. See Setting the Certificate Checking Mode in Horizon Client.
• VMware Blast connections with an SSL proxy server You can specify whether to allow VMware Blast connections through an SSL proxy server. See Configure VMware Blast Options.
• Drive letter mapping in the client drive redirection feature An administrator can map drive letters by using the Configure drive letter mapping mode and Define drive letter mapping agent group policy settings. This feature requires Horizon Agent 7.10. See Client Drive Redirection Policy Settings.
• Browser Redirection support Horizon Client supports the Browser Redirection feature, which is introduced with Horizon Agent 7.10. With Browser Redirection, when a user uses the Google Chrome browser in a remote desktop, the website is rendered in the client system instead of the agent system, and it is displayed over the remote browser’s viewport. See Configuring Browser Redirection.
• Multiple webcam and microphone redirection with Real-Time Audio-Video When you connect to a virtual desktop, the Real-Time Audio-Video feature redirects all the webcams and microphones connected to the client computer to the virtual desktop. This feature requires Horizon Agent 7.10. This feature does not work with published desktops or published applications. See Using Multiple Devices with the Real-Time Audio-Video Feature.

VMware Horizon Client 5.2 for Windows 10 UWP

What’s New in This Release

• Real-Time Audio-Video support With the Real-Time Audio-Video feature, you can use the local client system’s webcam or microphone in a remote desktop or published application. See Using the Real-Time Audio-Video Feature for Webcams and Microphones.

VMware Horizon Client 5.2 for HTML Access

What’s New in This Release

HTML Access makes it easy to access your remote desktops (Windows and Linux) and published applications from an HTML5-based browser. No need to install any software.

• VMware Workspace ONE Web browser support HTML Access is now supported with the latest version of the VMware Workspace ONE Web browser available in the Apple App Store (for iOS devices) or Google Play Store (for Android devices).
• More accessible user interface The HTML Access user interface is enhanced to improve accessibility. For example, input elements have labels that can be read by a screen reader.

Whats new in VMware Horizon Cloud services:

• VMware Horizon Cloud Service on IBM Cloud 19.3
• VMware Horizon Cloud Service 2.1 (Azure, AWS, On-prem)

VMware Horizon Cloud Service on IBM Cloud 19.3

New Features in 19.3

This release includes enhancements in two areas:

• New look and feel for the Administration Console login screen and user interface.
• Improvements to backend processes to improve availability and reduce downtime.

Changes to Horizon Agent Installer (HAI)

• The Dynamic Environment Manager Agent (formerly known as User Environment Manager Agent) is now included in the Horizon Agent Installer.
• The DaaS Agent has now been incorporated into the Horizon Agent.Note: The service for the old DaaS Agent still appears in the Windows Services list. Do not start this service, since doing so would cause the VM to malfunction and not be usable in your environment.

VMware Horizon Cloud Service 2.1

New Components in 2.1

• VMware Horizon Cloud Service
• VMware Horizon Cloud Service on Microsoft Azure Version 2.1
• VMware Horizon Agents Installer Version 19.3
• VMware Horizon 7 Cloud Connector Version 1.4

What’s New in This Release

This September 2019 release is the debut of these headline features. If you are someone who has previous experience with Horizon Cloud features and workflows prior to this release, additional detail is provided in For Current Customers – About this Release.

• Enhanced administrator auditing and logging now available in the Horizon Cloud Administration Console with expanded reporting of the administrator activity and related events. This includes the capability to filter for reporting purposes and the ability to download logs.
• Enhanced monitoring of VM health and associated sessions in real-time. You will be able to navigate to details on consumption and performance related metrics to gather more actionable details making it easier to identify, categorize and troubleshoot issues with VMs and user sessions.
• Improved usability and optimization of the Unified Dashboard interactive map view, including more accurate reflection of the pod location and zoom functionality.
• Enhanced alerting now available for Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pods that encounter an error during pod upgrade and require customer action in order to resolve.
• Gateways now support the creation and editing of the two-factor authentication settings post-pod deployment along with ability to delete gateways for Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure.
• Support for defining Microsoft Azure resource tags when creating a new dedicated or floating desktop assignment or a new farm for Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure.
• Support for high availability of the Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pod managers utilizing the Microsoft Azure Database for PostgreSQL service. Existing pods can be enabled by editing the pod via the Capacity page.
• To increase resiliency of the Horizon Agent pairing process for Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure, both the automated image import from the Azure Marketplace and the steps for manually building a master VM have changed. The agent status will remain ‘Not Paired’ until you either convert the VM to an image or reset agent pairing on the VM.

Source

VMware Horizon 7.10

VMware Horizon Cloud Services 2.1

VMware Horizon Cloud Service on IBM Cloud 19.3

Other highly recommended blogpost

Andrew Morgan – VMware Horizon 7.10 REST documentation

Overview of VMware Horizon 7.10 by Cynthia Heyer Carroll