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Shared Hosted Desktop Delivery

To provide shared hosted desktop access to end-users, session host servers can be used in shared hosted desktop pools. This section will provide detailed information on how shared hosted desktop can be delivered and managed in HyWorks Controller.

Creating a Shared Hosted Desktop Pool

There are two ways to deliver Shared Hosted desktop pool:

  • Existing Session Host Servers:

    • Configure existing session host server in HyWorks
    • Map these server to session teams
    • Create pool from session team

  • Provisioned Session Host Server:

    • HyWorks can deploy Session host server like dedicated desktops provisioning with the help of dedicated session providers.
    • Select Desktop Pool Type as Share Hosted Desktop and Provisioning type as Dynamic, then select session provider where source VM is deployed.
    • Select Pre-configured session host server image and fill all require details on deployment and customization tab.
    • All provisioned session host server(s) and associated team is managed by HyWorks.
    • Session Team will dynamically create SHD Pool so it is called as Managed Session Teams.
    • All cloned VMs added as a Shared Session Provider into created Session Team (Managed Teams).
    • This session team can not deleted because it is managed by SHD Pool.
    • On SHD Pool deletion, Managed session team and provisioned Shared Session Provider will get deleted automatically.
    • Managed Session Team name will be same as SHD Pool name.

HyWorks supports shared hosted desktop deliveries from a load balanced team of session host servers and creating a shared hosted desktop pool will require following configuration in HyWorks:

Prerequisites

  • Reachable Shared Session Provider i.e. HyWorks Session Host Server is configured

  • Authorization/Authentication Server is configured (If User based pool need to be created) and post pool creation for authenticating the user session

  • Registered Devices in HyWorks Controller (If Device based pool needs to be created): As shown in image below the devices are registered, renamed for better identification

Shared Hosted Desktop Pool Creation

Considering that all session host servers are configured session teams, follow the below listed steps to create a shared hosted desktop pool:

  1. Login to HyWorks Controller Management Console

  2. Go to Configuration > Workspace > Desktop Pools

  3. In Desktop Pools, click Add New Pool

  4. In General provide the following details:

    1. Name: logical name for Desktop Pool which will be used to identify Desktop Pool.

      Note

      1. Two desktop pools with same name cannot exist in HyWorks organization.
      2. Only following special characters are supported: _ SPACE () {} # @ : -

    2. Display Name: Provide display name for Desktop Pool which will be used to on client while accessing pool.

      Note

      Only following special characters are supported: _ SPACE () {} # @ : -

    3. Description: description if required

    4. Entitlement Type: Defines the type of the clients to be configured and given access of desktop session. A Desktop in HyWorks deployment can be associated with a device or a user and thus Desktop Pools in HyWorks can be of two types:

      1. Device Based: Desktop Pools in which Desktops are assigned to devices and thus any valid user login from the device always gets the session of same Desktop which is assigned to the device from where user is logging-in.

      2. User Based: Desktop Pools in which Desktops are assigned to users and thus a valid user logging-in from any device or location gets the session of same Desktop which is assigned to this user.

        Entitlement Type selection also enables the corresponding client type screen in Desktop Pool wizard, e.g. Selecting Entitlement Type as Device based will enable Devices screen, where as selecting Entitlement Type as User based will enable Users screen (For configuring users as clients) (Refer below image)

    5. Desktop Pool Type: Select as Shared Hosted Desktop.

    6. Provisioning:

      1. Set Provisioning: Dynamic for dynamically provisioning session host servers, this will enable option to select session provider on which source session host server image is available and new servers will be provisioned
        1. Select Session provider: Select dedicated provider for provisioning. Refer below image for more details:
      2. Set Provisioning as None, if manually created session team to be used and session host servers are already prepared. This will enable option to select Server Team
        1. Select Server Team: Select any of session server teams to create shared hosted desktop pool from

    7. Connection Profiles: Connection profiles dropdown field can be used to use specific connection profile for this pool.

      1. On specifying connection profile, desktop connection will be provided as per configured profile**

      2. On specifying connection profile as None, applicable connection profile will be derived as per Connection Profile fallback model. Refer Connection Profiles for details.

    8. Remote Desktop Connection Port:: Port number on which remote sessions will be made from client.

    9. Active/ Inactive Pools: A Desktop Pool can be made active/ inactive from Add/Edit Desktop Pool wizard. When user logs-in, only active pools are searched for assignments, inactive pools are ignored while providing Desktops to clients (devices or users).

    10. Maintenance Mode: Shared hosted desktop pool can be put into maintenance mode to avoid any access from users during some configuration period. However, maintenance mode is more significant for dedicated desktop pools.

  5. Click Next

  6. Configure Clients in Desktop Pool

    Client in Desktop Pools can either be a device or user and this is determined by Entitlement Type attribute in General Settings of Add Desktop Pool wizard.

    1. Device based: click Add Device and devices

    2. User based:(Recommended) click Add. Select multiple users, groups, OUs from configured authentication server.

    3. Click Next

  7. Configure Client Groups, to restrict shared hosted desktop access to only those users which are connecting from specific LAN or WAN or MAC. Refer section Client Groups section To enable restricted client groups access,

    1. Select access policy as From specific client groups only

    2. Select client groups and move to allowed list.

  8. Click Next

  9. On Advanced tab, configure Desktop Display Name on client.

  10. Click Next

  11. On Extended tab, configure Enable IP Address Filter to filter IP addresses on Session Host Servers if SHD has multiple IPs. which will enable to communicate with Desktop as well as session host agent. The tab will be enabled only when provisioning is set as dynamic.

  12. Click Next

  13. On Session Team tab, configure team and load balancing related settings. These settings are automatically applied to Session Team.

    • Team name: Logical name for Session Team which takes pool name automatically.

    • Load balancing type: Select Load Balancing Type for this team. Available options are Weighted Round Robin, Weighted Least Connection and Adaptive load balancing.

    • Max Session Allowed per Server: Max Session Allowed per Server, these settings add limits to each server from team.

    • Power Management Mode: Disabled - Power management and monitoring will be disabled, Monitor - Monitoring resources, Enforce - SHD power state will be managed , as per defined rules.

    • Limit session: Enable or disable restrict session of usage of CPU and RAM. No more sessions will be provided on reaching maximum limit.

  14. Click Next

  15. On summery tab, reverify all the configurations from different tabs.

  16. Click Finish

Important

One session host server team can be used only once in HyWorks deployment and hence only one shared hosted desktop pool created for one session host server team.

Managing Shared Hosted Desktop Pools

Viewing added desktop pools

View list of desktop pools from Configuration > Workspace > Desktop Pools. Page displays following information:

  • Pool Name and Display Name
  • Pool Type and Entitlement Type

  • Provider/Team Name and Type

  • Desktop Provisioning and Connection Profile

  • Assignment Life Span/ DVM Persistence

  • Desktops Ready

  • Desktops in Use

  • Free Desktops

  • Status

  • Active

Modifying Shared Hosted Desktop Pool

  1. Select shared hosted desktop pool

  2. Click Edit and updated required information

  3. Click Finish

Delete Shared Hosted Desktop Pool

Once shared hosted desktop pool is not in use, it can be deleted from HyWorks Controller.

  1. Selected shared hosted desktop pool

  2. Click Delete and confirm

Shared Hosted Desktop Session Management

Shared Hosted Desktop access details in User Sessions

Whenever a user connects to HyWorks and accesses any shared hosted desktops, it is reflected in User Sessions page, e.g. a user has initiated shared hosted desktop then Virtual Desktop Session column will show as checked.

Desktop Sessions Detailed View and Management

To view and manage shared hosted desktop session, go to Monitoring -> VDI Sessions section and it will provide following details:

Sr. No. Column Name Description
1 Username Displays the username of the logged in user
2 Device Name Displays the name of the device, if user has logged in from HyDesk or HyWorks Client, NA is user has logged in from HyLite
3 IP Address IP address of the machine from where the user has logged in. In case of HyLite, IP address information is shown as NA
4 Session Id Remote Session Id on Session Host Server
5 Pool Name Name of the desktop pool from where sessions are coming
6 Pool Display Name Display Name of the desktop pool shown to the end-users on logon
7 Desktop Name Name of session host server from which session has been provided
8 Desktop IP Address IP Address of session host server from which session has been provided
9 Connection Profile Connection profile as applied on this shared hosted desktop session
10 Status Status of the desktop session (Connected/ Disconnected/ Idle)
11 Remote Control If Remote Control is enabled for shared session hosts, button will be shown
  • Remove VDI Session

To remove shared hosted desktop session:

  1. Select VDI session

  2. Click Remove Session(s)

  3. In Confirm Action dialog, click on Remove button

  4. User's shared hosted desktop session will be removed from HyWorks as well as from respective session host server.

    a. All user's unsaved data will be lost.

Advance Configuration

Refer section for Advance Configuration for pool