VMware Horizon Community
mcarmo
Contributor
Contributor

HorizonView migrate from 6.2.4 to 7.7.7

Good morning,

Can anyone help me about a migration that I have to do, please?

Here is the scenario:

- Horizon View 6.2.4 (View Agent equals of the Connection Servers)
- vSphere vCenter 6.0 Update 3
- vSphere ESXi   6.0 Update 1b

One infrastructure VDI:

Primary

4 x Connections Servers
1 x Composer
   
Secondary


6 x Connections Servers
1 x Composer
   
Horizon Cloud Pod active
   
Type of pools:
- Full Machines: automatic + manual
- Linked Clones: dedicated + floating

My questions are:

- Besides upgrading first the composer, do I need to upgrade all connection servers together?

- Can I upgrade one connection server at the time and maintain the provision of the pools with the other ones (still in the old version)?

- Do I need to upgrade immediately the Windows Agents after the upgrade of one or all connection server?

Thanks!

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BenFB
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

I would first recommend upgrading vCenter to the latest 6.0 U3h. U1b is technically supported (review the below KB article from the interop matrix to ensure TLS is configured correctly) but was released over 2 years ago. Once that is complete upgrade ESXi to the latest Express Patch 19 (10719132).

VMware Product Interoperability Matrices

Unable to verify vCenter certificate in VMware View Administrator (2144967)

It's supported to upgrade from 6.2.4 directly to 7.7.0.

VMware Product Interoperability Matrices (Upgrade path)

You should upgrade composer and then immediately upgrading all of the connection servers in the pod. This can be done one at a time to keep the environment up and servicing connections. You will need to disable provisioning during the upgrade to avoid any composer/ad lds changes that could get out of sync. Then immediately repeat on the other pod (There have been some reports of CPA issues until both sides are running 7.7.0). Finally work through upgrading the Horizon Agents. As long as they are at least 6.2 they should continue to function but should be upgraded ASAP.

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mcarmo
Contributor
Contributor

Good morning BenFB,

first of all, thanks for your reply!

Some questions:

- After disabling the connection server on View, will the current sessions "switch" to other one without losing connection?

- To upgrade the composer server or install a new one, and use the same DB (that resides in a SQL Server) do I need to migrate the RSA Key Container and import it on the new composer server? Or is it optional?

Best Regards!

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vJoeG
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hi Mcarmo,

Once a client connects to a virtual desktop or application it no longer relies on the connection server. So disabling it for the upgrade won't affect running sessions. Only new sessions will use an active connection server so you'll be just fine.

As for the composer upgrade and using the existing database I would recommend migrating the RSA container as well. See here

Migrate the RSA Key Container to the New View Composer Service

Keep us posted on your progress.

Regards

Joe

------------------
Joe Graziano
Senior Solution Engineer - EUC Federal
VCP7-DTM, VCP6-DM, VCP6-DCV
vExpert, vExpertPro
jgraziano@vmware.com
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BenFB
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

That's only true if tunneling is disabled on the connection servers. It's enabled by default.

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vJoeG
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Good point BenFB yes if tunneling is enabled then the connection server is acting as a proxy and any sessions being served up through it will disconnect.

In that case, you might want to schedule maintenance (if possible) and either gracefully push users to log off or wait until the connection server has no more connections.

------------------
Joe Graziano
Senior Solution Engineer - EUC Federal
VCP7-DTM, VCP6-DM, VCP6-DCV
vExpert, vExpertPro
jgraziano@vmware.com
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drtvmware
Contributor
Contributor

Have different scenario, we are using Citrix XenApp 7.15 LTSR on Citrix HyperVisor.

In process of moving hypervisor and published apps to Horizon.

We are only publishing apps and licensed for Horizon App Standard.

Already setup Cluster running 6.7 of 2 Host for now.

Can we use same cluster for Horizon with same vCenter Server 6.7?

It means setup Connection server?

RDSH pool vm's for publishing apps

Do we need Composer ?

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BenFB
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

You only need Composer if you are doing linked clones.

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mcarmo
Contributor
Contributor

Hello Guys!

First of all thanks for the reply messages!

vJoeG, "Good point BenFB yes if tunneling is enabled then the connection server is acting as a proxy and any sessions being served up through it will disconnect."

Are you referring to the option HTTP(S)" Secure Tunnel ?

pastedImage_1.png

If not, which option are you refering?

Best Regards!

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vJoeG
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Yes, that is the setting we were referring to. If that is enabled then you will lose the session when that Connection server is disabled for maintenance/upgrade.

------------------
Joe Graziano
Senior Solution Engineer - EUC Federal
VCP7-DTM, VCP6-DM, VCP6-DCV
vExpert, vExpertPro
jgraziano@vmware.com
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BenFB
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

Users will not be disconnected if the connection server is disabled. Only if the server is reboot or the Horizon services are stopped.

Disable or Enable Horizon Connection Server

When you disable a Connection Server instance, users who are currently logged in to desktops and applications are not affected.

Your Horizon 7 deployment determines how users are affected by disabling an instance.

  • If this is a single, standalone Connection Server instance, users cannot log in to their desktops or applications. They cannot connect to Connection Server.
  • If this is a replicated Connection Server instance, your network topology determines whether users can be routed to another replicated instance. If users can access another instance, they can log in to their desktops and applications.
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