Questions[vmware-horizon-view](server)

I have been looking for this all day but can not find an answer anywhere. We have vmware 7 with vmware horizon 7.

We have over 100 vm's running all the time. For 40 of those the users are not assigned but 40 users are assigned to a pool of vm's. So when they login they get assigned a random vm.

I was wondering if there is a way to shut down the vm's, and let them auto start when a user logs into horizon. So we don't have those 40 running taking resources all the time and only be on when needed.

I know there is a way because i use shadow online pc myself, and those get shut down and boot when i login. I just cant find a way how to do this.

Thanks in advance.

I'm trying to find a fix for a keyboard issue when connecting to a Linux desktop using VMWare Horizon View. The issue seems to be known, and was described in 2012 on VMWare's knowledge base, available on archive.org. I have to add that I don't know much about how XKB works, so digging into this has been a learning experience.

The workarounds listed on the VMWware KB aren't satisfactory. I can confirm the description given, that there's an additional unwanted Control_L character when I hit AltGr. When I press AltGr+7 I expect a {, but instead I get an escape character 0x1b. This is what it looks like when running xev and hitting AltGr+7 (ISO_Level3_Shift is the expected keypress when hitting AltGr).

KeyPress event, serial 37, synthetic NO, window 0x3000001,
    root 0x521, subw 0x0, time 2444939915, (157,43), root:(388,257),
    state 0x0, keycode 37 (keysym 0xffe3, Control_L), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyPress event, serial 37, synthetic NO, window 0x3000001,
    root 0x521, subw 0x0, time 2444939920, (157,43), root:(388,257),
    state 0x4, keycode 108 (keysym 0xfe03, ISO_Level3_Shift), same_screen YES,
    XKeysymToKeycode returns keycode: 92
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XmbLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyPress event, serial 37, synthetic NO, window 0x3000001,
    root 0x521, subw 0x0, time 2444944595, (157,43), root:(388,257),
    state 0x84, keycode 16 (keysym 0x7b, braceleft), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 1 bytes: (1b) "
mbLookupString gives 1 bytes: (1b) "
FilterEvent returns: False

KeyRelease event, serial 37, synthetic NO, window 0x3000001,
    root 0x521, subw 0x0, time 2444944763, (157,43), root:(388,257),
    state 0x84, keycode 16 (keysym 0x7b, braceleft), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 1 bytes: (1b) "
FilterEvent returns: False

KeyRelease event, serial 37, synthetic NO, window 0x3000001,
    root 0x521, subw 0x0, time 2444951582, (157,43), root:(388,257),
    state 0x84, keycode 37 (keysym 0xffe3, Control_L), same_screen YES,
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

KeyRelease event, serial 37, synthetic NO, window 0x3000001,
    root 0x521, subw 0x0, time 2444951586, (157,43), root:(388,257),
    state 0x80, keycode 108 (keysym 0xfe03, ISO_Level3_Shift), same_screen YES,
    XKeysymToKeycode returns keycode: 92
    XLookupString gives 0 bytes: 
    XFilterEvent returns: False

There's a suggestion on the VMWare KB to press AltGr, and then press and release the left Ctrl to trigger a KeyRelease event for Control_L, after which I can press 7 and get the output I'm looking for: XLookupString/XmbLookupString in that case return 7b, which is { as expected.

So after confirming the problem, I've looked into workarounds in Linux. I ran xkbcomp to get the live keymap definition by running:

xkbcomp $DISPLAY out.xkb

After looking at the generated out.xkb, I figured it might be possible to redefine my keymappings to expect Control_L in addition to the other keys. So to select some relevant parts, my out.xkb contained:

xkb_types "complete" {
...
  type "FOUR_LEVEL" {
    modifiers= Shift+LevelThree;
    map[Shift]= Level2;
    map[LevelThree]= Level3;
    map[Shift+LevelThree]= Level4;
  };
};
...
xkb_symbols "pc+no+inet(evdev)" {
...
  key <AE07> {
    type= "FOUR_LEVEL",
    symbols[Group1]= [    7,    slash,    braceleft,    division ]
  };
...
}

The braceleft in the above definition is what I'm trying to get to work right now. My idea was to simply redefine FOUR_LEVEL to expect Control_L in the appropriate cases, like this:

  type "FOUR_LEVEL" {
    modifiers= Shift+LevelThree+LControl;
    map[Shift]= Level2;
    map[LevelThree+LControl]= Level3;
    map[Shift+LevelThree+LControl]= Level4;
  };

I created a mapping with this setup, and then I tried to compile and load my modified file:

xkbcomp ctrl-hack.xkb
xkbcomp ctrl-hack.xkm $DISPLAY

Unfortunately, my changes don't seem to work as I had hoped. I don't get any errors, but I still get the 0x1b instead of { character when I hit AltGr+7. What could be going wrong?

Alternatively, I see that some other characters (like € and $) seem to work despite also requiring the AltGr modifier, and receiving an additional unexpected Control_L. But testing while manually pressing Control_L, I see that € works both with and without Control_L being pressed, so there seems to be some fallback definition for this symbol that isn't explicit in the xkbcomp output. I haven't figured out how this works yet. Is it possible to define similar fallbacks for the symbols I'm missing? Perhaps some sort of inheritance from console keyboard configuration, for instance? This would probably come from the same place as the 0x1b character that I receive when pressing Ctrl-AltGr-7. I can't find it in the XKB-config, so it has to be defined somewhere else.

could use a pointer on this one.

We have UEV setup in a VMWare Horizon 7 environment. Settings Storage Location is on a FreeBSD based NAS that is bound to AD. We have a situation where ONE user's settings for PuTTY do not upload to the settings storage location. Saved settings apply without issue. I can modify the pkgx elsewhere, copy it to their settings storage location, and they get the changes. However, if they make a change to PuTTY settings it never attempts to push the settings up to the settings storage location on the NAS. No error in the logs, no success in the logs. It just doesn't happen.

What's even weirder is that I've seen a change they have made get uploaded ONCE.

Individual steps and puzzle pieces I've sorted out so far.

User can read data from Settings Storage Location -CONFIRMED

User can apply data from Settings Storage Location - CONFIRMED

Local changes made are detected - Probably confirmed: Local settings generates a "Current" and "Initial" folder with timestamps around login, but not later.

Local changes made are uploaded - Does not happen.

User can write to Settings Storage Location - Confirmed

Any ideas for further diagnostic steps would be great. I know they can read\write from the Settings Storage location. The UEV template works fine for other users for PuTTY, and other UEV templates work fine for this user. Oh, and I know they are writing registry keys in the directory the template is monitoring, because a manual registry export shows those keys being modified.

Also should note that because of the security requirements, I do not have a way to interact directly with their VDI session while this user is logged in. I can view event logs, and I can shadow them and watch their screen, but I have no method to enter admin credentials during their session.

I have a host server in datacenter connected directly to Internet. I also can use up to 2 public IP addresses (3 or more is hard to obtain but possible). I have no firewall in front of this host, and I'd like to protect Management traffic from outside world if possible. The purpose of this server is to run test deployment of VMWare Horizon.

How I try to deploy ESXi on the host server and vSphere as a VM inside this host server. My plan was to assign first public IP to ESXi, then create virtual network inside the ESXi, and put some software router with DHCP server to that network, so all VMs will be in that network (will obtain private IPs via DHCP), and that router will supply internet to private network and I can do some dNAT on that router to reach specific VM ports from outside.

Ok, as I set up ESXi 7.0 with 1st public IP, I set up vSphere appliance as VM attached to private network. I added that ESXi to the vSphere.

But the problem is, I can not even do the upgrade on ESXi via vSphere update manager - since ESXi try to reach update manager and its IP is private one. vSphere also used to disconnect ESXi host (appears problem to be the same nature). I suspect this scheme won't be robust so I'd like to redo the project and implement this setup a bit differently.

Here is what I can do:

1. Assign second of my public IP to vSphere so both ESXi and vSphere can "see" each other. I'll need to get 3rd IP to assign it to router, too.
2. Can change ESXi IP to private one (taken from private subnet discussed above), so the only public IP will be the one assigned to router. Risky but may work (or not).

Please advise how to do that better way!

When I try to open "Horizon 7 Administrator" (URL is https://View-Connection-Server.Corp.local/admin/#) Chrome opens to a blank page. I am trying from the Horizon Connection Server itself, so this is not a firewall issue (plus the Windows Firewall is off as of now). I am thinking this is an SSL cert issue, but am not sure how to troubleshoot it or fix it.

• Host OS is Windows Server 2016
• Horizon 7 Connection Server version is 7.6.0

Here are some log snippets from C:\ProgramData\VMware\VDM\logs:

2020-01-19T12:54:50.490-07:00 WARN  (10EC-11F4) <Thread-2> [bp] Item enqueued on "Outbound JMS Forwarder" but there are no workers available to process it. Busy workers = 0, queue length = 8677
2020-01-19T12:54:54.394-07:00 ERROR (10EC-13A0) <SwiftMQ-ConnectorPool-1> [JMSTunnelSSLSocketFactory] Certificate thumbprint verification failed, no matching thumbprint. Presented identity: router/view
2020-01-19T12:54:54.394-07:00 ERROR (10EC-13A0) <SwiftMQ-ConnectorPool-1> [JMSTunnelSSLSocketFactory] General error occurred: Unexpected certificate: router/view
2020-01-19T12:54:54.427-07:00 ERROR (10EC-13B8) <SwiftMQ-ConnectorPool-3> [JMSTunnelSSLSocketFactory] Certificate thumbprint verification failed, no matching thumbprint. Presented identity: router/view
2020-01-19T12:54:54.427-07:00 ERROR (10EC-13B8) <SwiftMQ-ConnectorPool-3> [JMSTunnelSSLSocketFactory] General error occurred: Unexpected certificate: router/view
2020-01-19T12:54:54.722-07:00 ERROR (10EC-13BC) <SwiftMQ-ConnectorPool-4> [JMSTunnelSSLSocketFactory] Certificate thumbprint verification failed, no matching thumbprint. Presented identity: router/view
2020-01-19T12:54:54.722-07:00 ERROR (10EC-13BC) <SwiftMQ-ConnectorPool-4> [JMSTunnelSSLSocketFactory] General error occurred: Unexpected certificate: router/view
2020-01-19T12:54:54.751-07:00 ERROR (10EC-13A0) <SwiftMQ-ConnectorPool-1> [JMSTunnelSSLSocketFactory] Certificate thumbprint verification failed, no matching thumbprint. Presented identity: router/view
2020-01-19T12:54:54.751-07:00 ERROR (10EC-13A0) <SwiftMQ-ConnectorPool-1> [JMSTunnelSSLSocketFactory] General error occurred: Unexpected certificate: router/view
2020-01-19T12:54:55.471-07:00 ERROR (10EC-13E8) <SwiftMQ-ConnectorPool-7> [JMSTunnelSSLSocketFactory] Certificate thumbprint verification failed, no matching thumbprint. Presented identity: router/view
2020-01-19T12:54:55.471-07:00 ERROR (10EC-13E8) <SwiftMQ-ConnectorPool-7> [JMSTunnelSSLSocketFactory] General error occurred: Unexpected certificate: router/view
2020-01-19T12:54:59.456-07:00 ERROR (10EC-13C4) <SwiftMQ-ConnectorPool-5> [JMSTunnelSSLSocketFactory] Certificate thumbprint verification failed, no matching thumbprint. Presented identity: router/view
2020-01-19T12:54:59.456-07:00 ERROR (10EC-13C4) <SwiftMQ-ConnectorPool-5> [JMSTunnelSSLSocketFactory] General error occurred: Unexpected certificate: router/view
2020-01-19T12:54:59.508-07:00 ERROR (10EC-13A0) <SwiftMQ-ConnectorPool-1> [JMSTunnelSSLSocketFactory] Certificate thumbprint verification failed, no matching thumbprint. Presented identity: router/view
2020-01-19T12:54:59.508-07:00 ERROR (10EC-13A0) <SwiftMQ-ConnectorPool-1> [JMSTunnelSSLSocketFactory] General error occurred: Unexpected certificate: router/view
2020-01-19T12:54:59.772-07:00 ERROR (10EC-13B4) <SwiftMQ-ConnectorPool-2> [JMSTunnelSSLSocketFactory] Certificate thumbprint verification failed, no matching thumbprint. Presented identity: router/view
2020-01-19T12:54:59.772-07:00 ERROR (10EC-13B4) <SwiftMQ-ConnectorPool-2> [JMSTunnelSSLSocketFactory] General error occurred: Unexpected certificate: router/view
2020-01-19T12:54:59.810-07:00 ERROR (10EC-13C4) <SwiftMQ-ConnectorPool-5> [JMSTunnelSSLSocketFactory] Certificate thumbprint verification failed, no matching thumbprint. Presented identity: router/view
2020-01-19T12:54:59.810-07:00 ERROR (10EC-13C4) <SwiftMQ-ConnectorPool-5> [JMSTunnelSSLSocketFactory] General error occurred: Unexpected certificate: router/view
2020-01-19T12:55:00.453-07:00 WARN  (10EC-11F4) <Thread-2> [bp] Item enqueued on "Outbound JMS Forwarder" but there are no workers available to process it. Busy workers = 0, queue length = 8678
2020-01-19T12:55:00.590-07:00 ERROR (10EC-13BC) <SwiftMQ-ConnectorPool-4> [JMSTunnelSSLSocketFactory] Certificate thumbprint verification failed, no matching thumbprint. Presented identity: router/view
2020-01-19T12:55:00.590-07:00 ERROR (10EC-13BC) <SwiftMQ-ConnectorPool-4> [JMSTunnelSSLSocketFactory] General error occurred: Unexpected certificate: router/view