VMware have released a new version of VMware Horizon 7.7

I am very excited about this new release because now VMware is finally supporting physically workstations, so customers example can implement VMware Horizon on HPE Edgeline Engineering workstation I wrote about some weeks ago. I have been testing the new VMware Horizon client with m710x Intel Iris Pro graphics and AMD WX4100 and it is working out of the box, which is great.

There is also made some huge improvements on the VMware Horizon client for Chrome, Linux, Windows, UWP, Mac, HMTL5. I highly recommend you read my big overview so you can read why you should upgrade to latest release.

What is new in VMware Horizon 7.7

Compatibility Updates and New OS Support

• Windows Server 2019 is supported for desktop and RDSH server VMs.
• VMware vSphere 6.7 U1 and VMware vSAN 6.7 Update 1 are supported.
• Horizon 7 on VMware Cloud on AWS (SDDC Version 1.5) is supported and includes new features.
• Upgrades can now be performed on the Horizon 7 Cloud Connector virtual appliance. This appliance is used for integrating the Horizon Cloud Service with Horizon 7 on-premises and VMware Cloud on AWS deployments.
• VMware Virtualization Pack for Skype for Business can now be used in an IPv6 environment.
• Horizon Clients include support for recent OS releases, including macOS 10.14 (Mojave) and Android 9.1

Management Console Improvements

• Horizon Console (the new HTML5 console) additions:
  • You can now use the new Horizon Console to add manual desktop pools and View Composer linked-clone desktop pools, as well as attach, detach, edit, and delete persistent disks used for linked-clone desktops. Previously, performing these tasks required using the classic, Flash-based management console, Horizon Administrator.
  • On the Machines page, you can quickly identify when someone other than the assigned user is connected to a VM. Rather than having just one column called User, there are now two columns: a Connected User column and an Assigned User column. This feature is also available in Horizon Administrator.

• Horizon Administrator (the classic console, which requires Flash) enhancements:
  • The System Health dashboard now displays details about registered VMware Unified Access Gateway appliances, for version 3.4 and later.

• • The name of the Connection Server pod is now displayed in the title bar and on the browser tab.

• Help Desk Tool enhancement: Administrators can end an application process for an end user. The event database logs the action, including details such as the date and time, desktop or application name, pool name, and administrator’s name.

Scalability Enhancements

• You can use a single vCenter Server instance with multiple pods in a Cloud Pod Architecture environment.
• The number of servers an RDSH server farm can contain has increased from 200 to 500.
• vMotion support has been added for linked-clone desktop pools and automated desktop pools that contain full virtual machines.
• vMotion support has also been added for vGPU-enabled full-clone, instant-clone, and linked-clone VMs.

Security and Reliability Features and Improvements

• With the new clipboard audit feature, Horizon Agent records information about copy and paste activity between the client and agent in an event log on the agent machine.
• You can add a Virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM) device to instant-clone desktop pools and add or remove a vTPM during a push-image operation.
• TLS 1.0 is now disabled by default in all clients.

User Experience Enhancements

• Blast Extreme enhancements:
  • You can now use the Blast Extreme display protocol to access physical PCs and workstations. Some limitations apply.
  • Available for Windows clients, Blast Extreme HEVC (H.265) video coding support doubles the data compression ratio at the same quality, or improves quality at the same bit rate, as H.264, and adds 8K support.
    Requires an NVIDIA GRID environment with NVIDIA hardware encoders and client devices whose hardware supports HEVC for decoding.
• For Windows client devices:
  • When client-drive redirection is enabled, users can drag and drop files and folders between the client system and remote desktops and published applications.
    For example, users can drag multiple files and folders at the same time, or drag a single file into an open app to insert the text into the app, or drag a single file to Outlook to add it as an attachment.
  • The new VMware Virtual Print feature enables users to print to any printer available on their Windows client computers, similar to the ThinPrint virtual printing feature. But VMware Virtual Print supports client printer redirection, as well as location-based printing, and it persists printer settings that end users configure
• For RDSH published apps and desktops:
  • Administrators can specify whether users can open multiple, separate instances of the same application on different client devices, or initiate separate sessions to a desktop from different client devices. This feature is called multi-session mode. Requires Horizon Client 4.10.
  • On Windows clients, users can assign an RDSH-published application to a single monitor or a combination of monitors.
  • A new hybrid logon feature can now be used in conjunction with the unauthenticated user access feature. Unauthenticated access lets users access apps without logging in. Hybrid logon provides users with domain access to network resources such as file shares and printers without prompting for domain user credentials. Requires Horizon Client 4.10.

VMware Horizon 7 on VMware Cloud on AWS Enhancements

VMware Cloud on AWS allows you to create vSphere data centers on Amazon Web Services. These vSphere data centers include vCenter Server for managing your data center, vSAN for storage, and VMware NSX for networking. With Horizon 7 on VMware Cloud on AWS, you can scale Horizon 7 desktops and applications on an elastic cloud platform.

This release of Horizon 7 is compatible with VMware Cloud on AWS (SDDC Version 1.5) and includes the following enhancements:

• vSphere clusters: The minimum vSphere cluster size has been reduced to 3 nodes, and vSphere stretched clusters are now supported.
• Additional VMware components: VMware NSX-T network virtualization, as well as VMware vSAN datastore encryption, are supported.
• Horizon 7 Enterprise Edition components: VMware User Environment Manager, VMware App Volumes, and VMware Instant Clone Technology are all now supported.

VMware Horizon 7 for Linux Enhancements and Features

• Linux desktops are now supported on Horizon 7 on VMware Cloud on AWS.
• Single sign-on (SSO) is now supported on SLED/SLES 12.x desktops.
• Audio-in is now supported on SLED/SLES desktops .
• Instant-clone floating desktop pool support is now available on SLED/SLES desktops .
• When the session collaboration feature is enabled for a remote Linux desktop, you can invite other users to join an existing remote desktop session, or you can join a collaborative session when you receive an invitation from another user.
• Instant-clone Linux desktops are allowed to perform an offline domain join with Active Directory using Samba.

What is new in VMware Horizon 7.7 software components:

VMware Horizon 7 version 7.7 provides the following new features and enhancements

• Horizon Connection Server
• Horizon Agent for Linux
• Horizon Agent
• Horizon GPO Bundle
• Horizon Client
• Horizon 7 Cloud Connector
• VMware Cloud on AWS

Horizon Connection Server

• Horizon Administrator
  • To identify the Horizon 7 pod you are working with, Horizon Administrator displays the pod name in the Horizon Administrator header and in the Web browser tab.
  • You can monitor the system health of Unified Access Gateways version 3.4 or later from Horizon Administrator.
  • You can view the connected user when you verify user assignment for desktop pools.
• Horizon Console (HTML5-based Web Interface)
  • You can manage View Composer linked-clone desktop pools.
  • You can manage manual desktop pools.
  • You can manage persistent disks for linked-clone desktop pools in Horizon Console.
• Horizon Help Desk Tool
  • You can end an application process running on an RDS host for a specific user in the Horizon Help Desk Tool.
• Cloud Pod Architecture
  • When you create a global application entitlement, you can specify whether users can start multiple sessions of the same published application on different client devices. This feature is called multi-session mode.
  • When you create a shortcut for a global entitlement, you can configure up to four subfolders.
  • You can use a single vCenter Server instance with multiple pods in a Cloud Pod Architecture environment.
• Published Desktops and Applications
  • A farm can contain up to 500 RDS host servers.
  • For published applications, users can configure the multi-session mode to use multiple instances of the same published application on different client devices. For published desktop pools, users can initiate separate sessions from different client devices.
  • You can set the RDS host in the drain mode state or in the drain mode until restart state. Horizon Agent communicates the status of the RDS host to Connection Server. You can monitor the status of the RDS host in Horizon Administrator.
  • You can enable hybrid logon for after you create an unauthenticated access user. Enabling hybrid logon provides unauthenticated access users domain access to network resources such as fileshare or network printers without the need to enter credentials.
• vSphere Support
  • vSphere 6.7 U1 and vSAN 6.7 U1 are supported.
• Virtual Desktops
  • vMotion support for instant-clone desktop pools, linked-clone desktop pools, and automated desktop pools that contain full virtual machines.

Horizon Agent for Linux

• Single sign-on support on additional platforms
  Single sign-on (SSO) is now supported on the SLED/SLES 12.x SP1/SP2/SP3 desktops.
• Audio-in support on additional platforms
  Audio-in is now supported on SLED 11 SP4 x64 or SLED/SLES 12 SP3 x64 desktops​.
• Instant-clone floating desktop pool support on additional platforms
  Instant-clone floating desktop pool support is now available on SLED/SLES 11 and 12.x or later desktops​.
• Session Collaboration
  When the session collaboration feature is enabled for a remote Linux desktop, you can invite other users to join an existing remote desktop session or you can join a collaborative session when you receive an invitation from another user.
• Instant-clone offline domain join using Samba​
  Instant-cloned Linux desktops are allowed to perform an offline domain join with Active Directory using Samba. This feature is only supported on Ubuntu 14.04/16/04/18.04, RHEL 6.9/7.3, CentOS 6.9/7.3, and SLED 11 SPF4/12.

Horizon Agent

• Client drive redirection over VMware Virtual Channel (VVC) or BEAT side channel has improved when copying a large number of small files and also when indexing a folder that includes a large number of files.
• Horizon 7 version 7.7 supports VMware Virtualization Pack for Skype for Business in an IPv6 environment.
• When client drive redirection is enabled, you can drag and drop files and folders between the client system and remote desktops and published applications.
• The VMware Virtual Print feature enables users to print to any printer available on their Windows client computers. VMware Virtual Print supports client printer redirection, location-based printing, and persistent print setting.
• You can add a Virtual Trusted Platform Module (vTPM) device to instant clone desktop pools and add or remove a vTPM during a push-image operation.
• Windows Server 2019 is supported for RDS hosts and virtual desktops.
• The Virtual Printing feature is supported for published desktops and published applications that are deployed on RDS hosts that are physical machines.
• The clipboard audit feature is supported for all Horizon Client platforms. With the clipboard audit feature, Horizon Agent records information about copy and paste activity between the client and agent in an event log on the agent machine. To enable the clipboard audit feature, you configure the VMware Blast or PCoIP Configure clipboard auditgroup policy setting.
• Physical PCs and workstations with Windows 10 1803 or higher can be brokered through Horizon 7 via Blast Extreme protocol.

Horizon GPO Bundle

• You can configure group policy settings for the VMware Virtual Print Redirection feature.
• You can configure group policy settings to specify the direction of the drag and drop feature

Horizon 7 Cloud Connector

• You can upgrade the Horizon 7 Cloud Connector virtual appliance.
• VMware Horizon Cloud Service integrates with Horizon 7 using the Horizon 7 Cloud Connector for on-premises and VMware Cloud on AWS deployments. With this integration, Horizon Cloud Service provides a unified view into health status and connectivity metrics for all of your cloud-connected pods. For more information, see the Horizon Cloud Service documentation.

VMware Cloud on AWS

• Instant clones are supported on VMware Cloud on AWS. For a list of Horizon 7 features supported on VMware Cloud on AWS, see the VMware Knowledge Base article 58539.

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

VMware Horizon Client 4.10 – new features

VMware Horizon Client 4.10 for Android

What’s New in This Release

• Use published applications in multi-session mode
  When multi-session mode is enabled for a published application, you can use multiple sessions of the published application when you log on to the server from different client devices. For example, if you open a published application in multi-session mode on client A, and then open the same published application on client B, the published application remains open on client A and a new session of the published application opens on client B.
• Create a virtual smart card for smart card authentication
  You can create a virtual smart card to use when you log in to a server and connect to a remote desktop. With a virtual smart card, you do not need to connect a traditional smart card reader to the client device. One virtual smart card can hold multiple certificates.
• TLS v1.0 is disabled
  TLS v1.0 is no longer supported.

VMware Horizon Client 4.10 for Chrome

What’s New in This Release

• Display remote desktops and published applications in full-screen mode
  You can display a remote desktop or published application in full-screen mode.
• Use published applications in multi-session mode
  When multi-session mode is enabled for a published application, you can use multiple sessions of the published application when you log on to the server from different client devices. For example, if you open a published application in multi-session mode on client A, and then open the same published application on client B, the published application remains open on client A and a new session of the published application opens on client B.

VMware Horizon Client 4.10 for iOS

What’s New in This Release

• Windows 10 Continuum support
  A remote desktop can adjust its user interface between desktop mode and tablet mode automatically when your iPad or iPhone is disconnected or reconnected to a Bluetooth or dock keyboard.
• Use published applications in multi-session mode
  When multi-session mode is enabled for a published application, you can use multiple sessions of the published application when you log on to the server from different client devices. For example, if you open a published application in multi-session mode on client A, and then open the same published application on client B, the published application remains open on client A and a new session of the published application opens on client B.
• TLS v1.0 is disabled
  TLS v1.0 is no longer supported.

VMware Horizon Client 4.10 for Linux

What’s New in This Release

• Support for Windows Server 2019
  Microsoft Windows Server 2019 is now supported as a RDS-hosted server for remote desktop and published application sessions.
• Support for PIV Smart Card  
  PIV smart card authentication and redirection support is now available.
• TLS 1.0 support discontinued
  Support of TLS 1.0 has been discontinued beginning with this release.
• Serial port redirection for RDS-hosted desktops in nested mode
  The serial port redirection feature is now supported in published applications that are launched from Horizon Client inside RDS-hosted desktops (nested sessions). Horizon Agent 7.7 and Horizon Client 4.10 or later must be installed in the RDS-hosted desktops. The number of concurrent users is limited in a nested mode scenario.
• Support for virtual printing on physical RDS host machine
  Virtual printing is now supported on published desktops and published applications that are deployed on RDS hosts that are physical machines.
• Multi-session mode support
  You can use multiple instances of the same published application on different client devices when the multi-session mode is enabled for a published application.
• Logging copy and paste activity 
  You can enable the clipboard audit feature in Horizon Client to record information about clipboard data that is copied from the Horizon Agent machine to the Linux client machine. This feature requires Horizon Agent 7.7.
• Support for Workspace ONE Mode
  Beginning with Horizon 7 version 7.2, a Horizon administrator can enable Workspace ONE mode for a Connection Server instance. If you connect to a Workspace ONE mode enabled server in Horizon Client for Linux, you are redirected to the Workspace ONE portal to launch your entitled desktops and applications.

VMware Horizon Client 4.10 for Mac

What’s New in This Release

• macOS Mojave (10.14) support
  You can install Horizon Client for Mac on a macOS Mojave (10.14) system.
• Show category folders for published applications in the Applications folder
  When Horizon Client for Mac is configured to run published applications from the Applications folder, you can enable the Allow automatic shortcuts from the server setting to make category folders configured for published applications appear in the Applications folder.
• Use published applications in multi-session mode
  When multi-session mode is enabled for a published application, you can use multiple sessions of the published application when you log on to the server from different client devices. For example, if you open a published application in multi-session mode on client A, and then open the same published application on client B, the published application remains open on client A and a new session of the published application opens on client B.
• TLS v1.0 is disabled
  TLS v1.0 is no longer supported.
• Collect support data
  You can collect support data to help VMware troubleshoot problems with Horizon Client for Mac. To use this feature, select VMware Horizon Client > About VMware Horizon Client and click Collect Support Data. Horizon Client saves log files in a ZIP file in the Desktop folder.
• Use ActivClient middleware with smart card redirection
  You can install ActivClient 7.x middleware on Windows 10 virtual desktops and ActivClient 6.2.x middleware on Windows 7 virtual desktops.
• Share Linux remote desktops
  You can now use the Session Collaboration feature to share Linux remote desktops.
• Support for Virtual Printing on physical RDS host machines
  The Virtual Printing feature is now supported for published desktops and published applications that are deployed on RDS hosts that are physical machines. This feature requires Horizon Agent 7.7.

VMware Horizon Client 4.10 for Windows

What’s New in This Release

• Use published applications in multi-session mode
  When multi-session mode is enabled for a published application, you can use multiple sessions of the published application when you log on to the server from different client devices. For example, if you open a published application in multi-session mode on client A, and then open the same published application on client B, the published application remains open on client A and a new session of the published application opens on client B.
• TLS v1.0 is disabled
  TLS v1.0 is no longer supported.
• Clipboard audit feature enhancements
  With the clipboard audit feature, Horizon Agent records information about copy and paste activity in an event log on the agent machine. A Horizon administrator can now configure the clipboard audit feature to record information only about data that is copied from the client machine to the agent machine, only about data that is copied from the agent machine to the client machine, or about data that is copied in both directions. This feature requires Horizon Agent 7.7.
• Select specific monitors to display published applications
  If you have three or more monitors, you can select the monitors on which to display published applications.
• Geolocation redirection feature enhancements
  You can now use the geolocation redirection feature with Google Chrome. To use this feature, a Horizon administrator must enable the VMware Horizon Geolocation Redirection Chrome Plugin on the agent machine.
• VMware Virtual Print Redirection feature
  With the VMware Virtual Print Redirection feature, you can print to a virtual printer or USB printer that is attached to the client system from a remote desktop or published application. This feature requires Horizon Agent 7.7.
• Drag and drop files and folders
  You can drag and drop files and folders between the client system and Windows remote desktops and published applications. This feature requires Horizon Agent 7.7.
• Share Linux remote desktops
  You can now use the Session Collaboration feature to share Linux remote desktops.
• Support for Virtual Printing on physical RDS host machines
  The Virtual Printing feature is now supported for published desktops and published applications that are deployed on RDS hosts that are physical machines. This feature requires Horizon Agent 7.7.
• Allow High Efficiency Video Decoding (HEVC) with VMware Blast
  When you allow HEVC for VMware Blast sessions, performance and image quality are improved if the client machine has a GPU that supports HEVC decoding.

VMware Horizon Client for Windows 10 UWP

What’s New in This Release

• Use published applications in multi-session mode
  When multi-session mode is enabled for a published application, you can use multiple sessions of the published application when you log on to the server from different client devices. For example, if you open a published application in multi-session mode on client A, and then open the same published application on client B, the published application remains open on client A and a new session of the published application opens on client B.
• TLSv1.0 is disabled
  TLS v1.0 is no longer supported.
• VMware Blast selects the optimal transport automatically
  In this release, Horizon Client senses current network conditions and chooses one or more transports to provide the best user experience automatically. In previous Horizon Client versions, you had to select a network condition option to provide the best user experience with VMware Blast.

VMware Horizon HTML Access 4.10

What’s New in This Release

• Full-Screen mode support
  You can now display a remote desktop or published application in full-screen mode.
• Support for multi-session mode
  When multi-session mode is enabled for a published application, you can use multiple sessions of the same published application when you log on to the server from different client devices.
• Enhanced copy and paste feature
  If you are using a Chrome or Firefox browser, you can now copy and paste directly from your local client system to a remote desktop or published application. Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, or Safari browser users must continue to use the Copy & Paste window.

Source

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Horizon-7/7.7/rn/horizon-77-view-release-notes.html#horizon-gpo-new-features

https://blogs.vmware.com/euc/2018/12/whats-new-horizon-7-7.html

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Horizon-7/7.7/rn/horizon-77-view-release-notes.html#horizon-gpo-new-features

HPE Edgeline Engineering Workstation with AMD and Citrix Cloud