VMware Horizon 8 2103
VMware have released a new version of VMware Horizon 8 (2103), and this release is for now general available from March 2021. 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.
HINT – If you are using Nvidia vGPU (on-prem) there is currently no driver support for Horizon 8 2103.
I have in this article also included the new features of Horizon Cloud service for 2103 IBM Cloud, AWS, Azure.
Lets dig into what is new.
What is new in VMware Horizon 8 (2103)
VMware Horizon 8 2103 provides the following new features and enhancements
- VMware Horizon Connection Server
- VMware Horizon Agent for Linux
- VMware Horizon Agent for Windows
- VMware Horizon GPO Bundle
- VMware Dynamic Environment Manager 2103
- VMware Unified Access Gateway 2103
- VMware Horizon Clients 2103 for Android, Linux, iOS, Mac, Windows, HTML Access
VMware Horizon Cloud services 2103
No Longer Supported Features in This Release
Horizon Agent 32-bit is no longer supported.
Ubuntu 16.04 is no longer a supported operating system for Horizon Agent for Linux.
Nonoperational Features in This Release
The following features are not operational until the corresponding functionality becomes available in the Horizon Control Plane:
- In Horizon Console, the Cloud Brokered option in the Add and Edit settings for RDS desktop pools from cloud-managed pods.
- In Horizon Console, the Cloud Brokered option in the Add and Edit settings for application pools from cloud-managed pods.
VMware Horizon Connection Server On-Premises
The VMware Horizon 8 version 2103 release includes many new features and enhancements.
Beginning with this release, version numbering is based on the year and the month of the release. For example, 2103 represents the year 2021 and the month of March.
- Cloud Pod Architecture
- Federation access groups for delegated administration of global entitlements and global sessions. See Understanding Federation Access Groups.
- Horizon Console changes for federation access group configuration and management. See Configuring Federation Access Groups and Managing Federation Access Groups.
- Federation access group property for global entitlements in Horizon Console and lmvutil. See Worksheet for Configuring a Global Entitlement, Creating a Global Entitlement, and Modifying a Global Entitlement.
- Predefined roles that can be applied to federation access groups. See Predefined Administrator Roles.
- Published Desktops and Applications
- Published applications support pen redirection.
- Virtual Desktops
- When creating an instant-clone desktop pool, you can specify a list of machine names or provide a naming pattern and the total number of machines. See Worksheet for Creating an Instant-Clone Desktop Pool.
- When you duplicate an instant-clone desktop pool that has a golden image virtual machine configured with NVIDIA Grid vGPU, the golden image virtual machine and its appropriate snapshot do not support the Suspend and Power Off power policies, and the duplicated pool inherits these power policies. When you duplicate a full-clone desktop pool that has the virtual machine template configured with NVIDIA Grid vGPU, the duplicated pool does not support the Suspend power policy. See Duplicate an Automated Desktop Pool.
- Horizon Console
- Global client restrictions settings include a warning for Horizon Client version 5.5.0. See Global Client Restriction Settings for Client Sessions.
- You can add user domains that do not have a formal trust relationship with the Connection Server domain. See Configuring Untrusted Domains.
- Event Database
- When you are configuring the event database, there are additional settings for the length of time the events are listed in the Horizon Console interface. See Configure the Event Database in Horizon Console.
- Security
- Connection Server logs now have a single consistent location on the server instance. See VMware Horizon Log Files.
VMware Horizon Agent 8 2103 for Linux
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- Updated operating system support for published desktops and applications
For more details, see Setting Up Linux Published Desktops and Applications for Multi-Session Use. You can create published desktop pools and published application pools based on farms of multi-session host machines running the following operating systems:- RHEL Workstation 7.8, 7.9, 8.1, 8.2, or 8.3
- Ubuntu 18.04 or 20.04.
- Updated operating system support for instant-clone desktop pools
For more details, see Create an Instant-Clone Floating Desktop Pool for Linux. You can create instant-clone desktop pools from virtual machines running the following operating systems:- Ubuntu 18.04/20.04
- RHEL Workstation 7.2 or later, and 8.x
- RHEL Server 7.8, 7.9, 8.2, and 8.3
- CentOS 7.8, 7.9, 8.2, and 8.3
- SLED/SLES 12.x/15.x
- Updated operating system support for published desktops and applications
VMware Horizon Agent 8 2103 for Windows
- VMware Integrated Printing includes vendor-defined paper sizes for UDP printers. See Configuring VMware Integrated Printing.
- You can use location-based printers for groups. A group consists of multiple users and a user can belong to many groups. Depending on the group type, you can nest groups and grant access to resources. See Configure Location-Based Printing.
- There can be only one session running on a physical Windows 10 agent.
- Media Optimization for Microsoft Teams supports the same Mac operating systems supported by Horizon Client. See Configuring Media Optimization for Microsoft Teams.
- You can run a console utility on Horizon Agent to see a list of redirected COM ports. See Configuring Serial Port Redirection.
- Blast improvements
- Client and Agent improvements to reach and sustain high frame rates
- Improved client overload detection and agent feedback loop
- Improved frame rate smoothness
VMware Horizon 8 2103 GPO Bundle
- The Configure dump count on program error and Configure dump type on program error group policy settings configure the number and size of dump files that can be created. See VMware View Common Configuration ADMX Template Settings.
- The Audio option for single session Windows 10 physical Remote Desktop machine specifies the audio device to use on a Horizon Windows 10 physical machine hosting the remote desktop session. See VMware View Agent Configuration ADMX Template Settings.
- The DPI Synchronization Per Monitor group policy setting adjusts the DPI settings in all monitors to match the client operating system’s DPI setting during a remote session.
- The Limit Tx Rate (KBps) group policy setting allows you to set the transmission rate for print jobs. See Configuring VMware Integrated Printing.
- The Allow H.264 Decoding group policy setting configures H.264 decoding for the VMware Blast protocol. General Settings for Client GPOs.
- The Allow H.264 high color accuracy group policy setting configures high-color accuracy mode for H.264 decoding. See General Settings for Client GPOs.
- The Hotkey combination to release input focus group policy setting is modified to include a new check box, Minimize the fullscreen virtual desktop after release input focus. See General Settings for Client GPOs.
VMware Dynamic Environment Manager 2103
- Elevated Tasks. VMware Dynamic Environment Manager 2006 expands on privilege elevation with the new elevated-tasks feature. Elevated tasks simplify elevation of an application at logon or logoff, or when another application starts or exits.
- ADMX-Based Computer Settings. You can now also use ADMX-based settings to apply computer policy registry settings.
- VMware Dynamic Environment Manager releases follow a new versioning format. VMware Dynamic Environment Manager is moving from a major-minor version-number model to a date-driven model represented by a year and month (yymm). This release is version 2006. The previous release was version 9.11. Product filenames and version numbers continue to contain the major-minor versioning. For 2006, the major-minor version is 10.0.
- VMware Dynamic Environment Manager Editions. Starting with version 2006, VMware Dynamic Environment Manager is available in both Standard and Enterprise editions. DEM Standard Edition assists VMware Horizon® Standard Edition and VMware Horizon® Advanced Edition customers with user profile management. DEM Enterprise Edition is the full-featured version of VMware Dynamic Environment Manager.
- Additional Windows Support.
- Windows 10 Version 2004 (May 2020 Update). See KB 57386 for the VMware Dynamic Environment Manager and Windows 10 Versions Support Matrix.
VMware Unified Access Gateway 2103
VMware Unified Access Gateway 2103 provides the following new features and enhancements:
- Unified Access Gateway can now be deployed in Google Cloud as a Compute Engine VM. This deployment option is in addition to the existing support for vSphere (vCenter/ESXi), Amazon AWS EC2, Microsoft Azure, and Microsoft Hyper-V VMs.
- Edge services on Unified Access Gateway are managed by a component called esmanager. If this process fails and restarts for any reason, then when it restarts, it will now automatically attempt to restore the session state of all existing client TLS sessions. This means that in most cases, users will not be impacted if this happens.
- Added support for Horizon client device certificate authentication prior to SAML passthrough authentication used when launching Horizon sessions through Unified Access Gateway from Workspace ONE Access.
- SAML authentication for Horizon access through Unified Access Gateway now supports encrypted SAML assertions when enabled in the SAML IdP configuration. Normally encrypted SAML assertions are not required as Unified Access Gateway only accepts TLS encrypted communication anyway, but this feature allows for additional encryption if the IdP requires it.
- For Unified Access Gateway forwarding of events to an external event management system, multiple Syslog server destinations can now be specified.
- Updates to swap space location and inactivity timer have been made to meet Microsoft Azure VM compliance requirements. The waagent process is now started every time Unified Access Gateway boots up on Azure. The waagent log file /opt/waagent/log/waagent.log is now used.
- Added support for Horizon Chromebook clients using SAML authentication.
- Updates to Photon OS package versions and Java versions.
Supported versions of Windows 10 on Horizon Agent Including All VDI Clones (Full Clones, Instant Clones, and Linked Clones on Horizon 8 2103)
- Windows 10 20H2 SAC (Pro,Education,Enterprise)
- Windows 10 2004 SAC (Pro,Education,Enterprise)
- Windows 10 1909 SAC (Pro,Education,Enterprise)
- Windows 10 1903 SAC and earlier (Pro,Education,Enterprise)
- Windows 10 LTSC 2019 (Enterprise)
- Windows 10 1607 LTSB (Enterprise)
For more additional information please read this knowledge article
VMware Horizon Client 2103 – new features
VMware Horizon Client 2103 for Android
What’s New in This Release
- Camera rotation in DeX Dual mode
When you use a camera with Horizon Client in DeX Dual mode, the camera display in the remote session rotates when you rotate the device. Previously, the camera display did not change. - Pen redirection enhancements
Previously, when you used a pen in remote desktops and published applications, the pen behaved in the same way as finger touch. Now, if you use the VMware Blast display protocol, Windows drawing app features, such as the ability to draw variable line thicknesses according to pen pressure and tilt, are supported. See Input Devices, Keyboards, and Keyboard Settings.
VMware Horizon Client 2103 for iOS
What’s New in This Release
- Pen redirection enhancements
Previously, when you used a pen in remote desktops and published applications, the pen behaved in the same way as finger touch. Now, if you use the VMware Blast display protocol, Windows drawing app features, such as the ability to draw variable line thicknesses according to pen pressure and tilt, are supported. See External Keyboards and Other Input Devices. - Keep the screen alive
You can configure the Keep Screen Alive setting in Horizon Client to keep Horizon Client in the foreground, regardless of the iOS Auto-Lock setting interval. See Keep the Screen Alive.
VMware Horizon Client 2103 for Mac
What’s New in This Release
- USB redirection changes in the Horizon Client user interface
A new USB setting is added to the Horizon Client settings to configure USB redirection for remote desktops and published applications.The USB setting for published applications is removed from the Horizon Client settings user interface. See Use USB Devices. - Media Optimization for Microsoft Teams support
Media Optimization for Microsoft Teams redirects audio calls, video calls, and viewing desktop shares for a seamless experience between the client system and the remote session without negatively affecting the virtual infrastructure and overloading the network. See Configuring Media Optimization for Microsoft Teams. - User interface changes for Section 508 compliance
Keyboard navigation enhancements are implemented for Section 508 compliance. - DPI synchronization for published applications
The DPI Synchronization feature is now supported for published applications. You can enable high-resolution mode and display scaling for published applications in the Horizon Client user interface. See Using a High-Resolution Mac with Retina Display and Allow Display Scaling.
VMware Horizon Client 2103 for Linux
What’s New in This Release
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- HEVC 4:4:4 decoding with Intel GPUs
The Blast protocol supports High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) 4:4:4 on client systems equipped with Gen 10 (Ice Lake) or later Intel CPUs. See Configure VMware Blast Options. - Updated system requirements for multimedia redirection
For more details, see System Requirements for Multimedia Redirection (MMR). To ensure smooth video playback with the multimedia redirection feature, you must install one of the following library sets:- GStreamer core library and gstreamer-libav 1.0
- GStreamer core library and fluendo 1.0
- Improvements to keyboard input source language synchronization
New enhancements deliver more reliable synchronization between the keyboard input source language on the client system and the language used in the remote desktop. See Keyboard Input Source Language Synchronization.Horizon Client for Linux 2103 includes the following new features:
- HEVC 4:4:4 decoding with Intel GPUs
VMware Horizon Client 2103 for Windows
What’s New in This Release
- Font enhancement
When printing from a remote desktop or published application, the amount of data that is transmitted between the client computer and the remote desktop or published application is reduced if you use a font that is missing on the client computer. - Use DCT to query and delete dump files
You can use the Data Collection Tool (DCT) to query the dump settings, dump count, and dump type for configured processes. You can also delete dumps for all, or specific, features. See Using DCT to Collect Logs for Remote Desktop Features and Components. - Group policy settings for H.264 decoding
The Allow H.264 Decoding group policy setting configures H.264 decoding for the VMware Blast protocol. The Allow H.264 high color accuracy group policy setting configures high-color accuracy mode for H.264 decoding. See General Settings for Client GPOs. - 32-bit Core Remote Experience component for 64-bit machines removed
You can no longer install the 32-bit Core Remote Experience component for 64-bit machines. The associated installation options are removed. - Hotkey combination to release input focus group policy enhancement
The Hotkey combination to release input focus group policy setting is modified to include a new check box, Minimize the fullscreen virtual desktop after release input focus. See General Settings for Client GPOs.
VMware Horizon Client 2103 for HTML Access
What’s New in This Release
- User interface changes for Section 508 compliance
Screen reader enhancements, and usability enhancements for people who have visibility disabilities, are implemented for Section 508 compliance. - USB redirection support
You can redirect certain USB devices from the local system to a remote desktop. See Use USB Devices in a Remote Desktop. To configure the USB redirection feature for remote desktops, see Configuring USB Redirection for Chrome and HTML Access Clients.
Whats new in VMware Horizon Cloud services:
- VMware Horizon Cloud Service on IBM Cloud 20.2.
- VMware Horizon Cloud Service 3.1 (Azure, AWS, On-prem)
VMware Horizon Cloud Service on IBM Cloud 20.2.0
- RDSH Farms now support per VM maintenance by setting the User Login Mode which will route connections to other available VMs in the RDSH Farm.
- The Domain Join Account now supports a reduced set of Active Directory permissions when configuring “Write All Properties” on an Organizational Unit (OU).
- The Domain Join Account now supports a reduced set of Active Directory permissions when configuring “Write All Properties” on an Organizational Unit (OU).
- Administrators can now configure the display name behavior for all assigned dedicated desktops by displaying the assignment name when end-users connect with the Horizon Client.
- The tenant administrator can now use Instant-Clone technology to create and refresh Tenant Application Farms and deliver Session and Application Pools using rapid provisioning.
- Added Horizon DaaS platform support for vCenter/vSphere 6.7 P02.
What’s New for Horizon Cloud Service
- The Horizon Cloud Administration Console now supports both single sign-on (SSO) and multi-factor authentication, providing enhanced security for administrators accessing the console. Authentication is enabled using VMware Cloud Services federated identity management. The federated identity management feature is in Limited Availability.
What’s New for Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure
- Universal Broker is now available for greenfield deployments of Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pods. Universal Broker enables unified brokering of multi-cloud assignments across hybrid and multi-cloud Horizon environments with support for both Horizon 7 and Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure. To learn more, visit vmware.com/go/Horizon-UB.
- Horizon Cloud administrators can now create multi-cloud assignments with greenfield deployments of Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pods using Universal Broker. Multi-cloud assignments provide administrators with the ability to create both dedicated and floating desktops that span across multiple pods and sites.
- App Volumes with Simplified Application Management is now available for Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pods. App Volumes provides the ability to decouple application package management from assignment management, along with full lifecycle management of an application to meet the dynamic needs of end users.
- Use of App Volumes with Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise multi-session in your Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pods — both for Microsoft’s MSIX app attach and for App Volumes VHDs — is now Tech Preview. For more details about this tech preview, see App Volumes Applications – Overview and Prerequisites in the Administration Guide.
- Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pods now support multiple tenant subnets from either the pod’s VNet or from multiple, connected, peered VNets for both desktop assignments and farms.
- RDSH farms now support advanced session load balancing, which provides the ability to load balance sessions using dynamic performance metrics from the session hosts in the Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pods.
- Additional Microsoft Azure VM sizes are now available for use with internal and external Unified Access Gateways for Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pods.
- Administrators can now cancel both desktop and farm expansion tasks that are in a queued or running state, with support for automatic desktop assignment and farm resizing for Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure pods.
What’s New for Cloud-Connected Horizon Pods
- Horizon Cloud Connector 1.7 is released and available for download from the Horizon Cloud Connector area within the Horizon Cloud Service downloads page at my.vmware.com.
- You can now schedule your Horizon Cloud Connector automatic updates using the Horizon Cloud Administration Console.
- Collecting support log bundles is now much easier through the Horizon Cloud Administration Console and the Cloud Connector setup interface.
- License sync warnings are much more accessible displayed as color-coded banners at the top of the Horizon Cloud Administration Console dashboard. The banner will change color and description based on severity.
- More descriptive connectivity error messages in the Horizon Cloud Administration Console event logs. These messages enable administrators to self-diagnose and provide a link to a corresponding KB article that offers remediation recommendations.
