VDM_SERVER - Multiple from Command Line?

[peterc2609]

I can specify one server name and get it to appear at install time via command line, but is there a way to specify multiple VDM Servers?

[sjesse]

Why, what are you trying to do. You can't have a horizon agent connected to more then one horizon install at a time, and if there is multiple connection servers, they should be replicas so you only need to specify one.

[peterc2609]

Hi

Thanks for replying. 

So in an enterprise deployment, we need to deploy the client pre-configured. There are two different endpoints that users 'can' connect to.

The command line I'm using via Intune for silent deployment includes the switch VDM_SERVER=server1.xxx.xxx. This works fine and 'Server1' is available for users to connect to when they open the application for the first time. The users can also add an additional server manually...

What I want to achieve is having both 'server1' and 'server2' available for the users when they open the application so they can connect to whichever they want... 

I've tried VDM_SERVER=server1.xxx.xxx,server2.xxx.xxx but this just doesn't work, so I'm trying to find the way to do this?

[sjesse]

Yeah I don't think its possible, if you must have two different deployment, maybe look at setting up horizon cloud pod architectures so you have one endpoint but you can direct users to the different installs through that system

[Jon_Holloway]

There's an article here that describes an approach for preconfiguring more than one Connection Server by manipulating the preferences file for Horizon Client for Windows at C:\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\VMware\VMware Horizon View Client\prefs.txt..  The caveat is that if the format/fields in that file change the script may stop working, since this is not something we document as a supported process.

-Jon

[jmacdaddy]

On our Intune deployments, we struggled with creating a custom pref.txt and gave up.  Instead we deploy the client with no broker defined and then use Intune to deploy two Horizon icons to the users' desktops with the different server urls defined in the switches of the shortcuts.  So one Horizon icon might be Horizon -  Main VDI and the other Horizon - DR VDI.   The MAIN VDI icon would have as its target:  "C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Horizon View Client\vmware-view.exe" -ServerURL MAINVDI.myorg.com and so on.

Here is a tutorial on creating shortcuts with Intune that has worked for us:

https://tech.nicolonsky.ch/intune-create-desktop-shortcut/

Here is a link to an article that describes the Horizon Client command line switches that you would use in the Shortcut (-ServerURL is what your are after):

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Horizon-Client-for-Windows/2203/horizon-client-windows-installatio...

If you have already defined the default broker on some PCs and need to clear it with Intune, here is a link with some info on pushing registry changes (you want to clear the value in HKLM\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\VMware, Inc.\VMware VDM\Client\ServerURL):

https://kwetiaw-goreng.github.io/Push-Registry-Value-Using-PowerShell-And-Intune/

[baochen1]

It supports multiple servers address in the latest version. You could check the usage by /help

[vasquezu]

Hey there, 

You probably already figured this out but ill add this in case someone else needs it. If you want to add multiple addresses, then they should be seperated by ;

So it would look like this:

VDM_SERVER='server1.xxx.xxx;server2.xxx.xxx;server3.xxx.xxx'