Horizon 7.4 released

VMware Horizon 7.4 has just been released and has some interesting new features and enhancements that are summarised below:

Connection Server Enhancements

Cloud Pod Architecture (CPA)

• A feature missing previously that has limited some cloud pod implementations is that 1-Way AD trusts are now supported for use with the CPA enabling more flexible access for users.
• Flexibility of connecting to Pods that have been updated to a newer version than the Pod you are connected to is now possible – removing the need to get everything upgraded in a big bang in environments with multiple CPA’s.
• Session Collaboration supported for CPSA Global Desktop Entitlements.

Published Desktops and Applications

• NVidia vGPU can now be used with RDSH Instant Clones – for customers who have moved to the use of Instant Clones across their environments this was pretty limiting previously and necessitated using Linked-Clone desktop pools and forfeiting the benefits Instant Clones offer.
• An addition to the ‘Empty Session timeout’ setting for published applications under Farm settings now allows an immediate timeout to be set enabling user sessions to be logged off once the last application window is closed – previously some environments had to endure lots of unused sessions being open until the previous minimum timeout of 1 min had expired.

Horizon Agent for Linux Enhancements

Ubuntu 14.04 and 16.04 only features

• Instant clone desktops can now be created with 7.4 using the Horizon 7 agent for linux.
• PowerBroker Identity Services open (PBISO) can be used for AD authentication on Linux desktops.

Other Linux enhancements

• 3Dconnexion mouse support is now available in the Horizon 7 Agent for Linux.
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3 and SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP3 are now supported.

Horizon Agent Enhancements

Session Collaboration

• Session Collaboration is now a supported feature of the Horizon 7 agent

Fingerprint Scanner Redirection

• It is now possible to redirect biometric devices plugged into a Windows client OS end-point serial port into a Horizon 7 VDI desktop using the Device Bridge BAS Plugin (BAS – Biometric Authentication System) for the purposes of authentication.

URL Content Redirection for Secure Boot VM’s

• URL Content redirection is now possible even from machines that have secure boot enabled.

URL Content Redirection in Chrome Browser

• It is now possible to also redirect content in the Chrome Browser

Updated Horizon GPO Templates

Vdm_agent.admx updates

• Session Collaboration settings added
• Device Bridge BAS settings added

Vdm_blast.admx updates

• Clipboard redirection sizes can now be specified to limit the memory reservation to be used for clipboard redirection.
• H.265 High Colour Accuracy increased by setting the YUV 4:4:4 colourspace instead of the 4:2:0 colourspace.

pcoip.admx updates

• Clipboard redirection sizes can now be specified to limit the memory reservation to be used for clipboard redirection.