Install Horizon Agent on a Linux Machine

This documentation page describes how to install Horizon Agent on a Linux machine. Installing Horizon Agent allows you to deploy the machine as a remote desktop.

Prerequisites

• Verify that the Linux machine is prepared for desktop use. See Prepare a Linux Machine for Remote Desktop Deployment.

• If you plan to install Horizon Agent using the tarball installer, review the optional parameters for the install_viewagent.sh setup script. See Command-line Options for Installing Horizon Agent for Linux.

• If you plan to install Horizon Agent on a virtual machine, open a Terminal window. You can run the Horizon Agent installation commands from the Terminal.

• If you plan to install Horizon Agent on a physical host machine, open a Secure Shell (SSH) connection to the machine. SSH is the recommended method for running Horizon Agent installation commands on a physical machine. In addition, stop the X server and Gnome Display Manager as described in Prepare a Physical Linux Machine for Desktop Deployment.

Horizon Agent Installer

The Horizon Agent installer is available in two different formats:

• The .tar.gz installer package supports installation on all Linux distributions. This installer is not digitally signed. The .tar.gz file contains a .tar file, and that .tar file is the file that contains all of the installer scripts, like install_viewagent.sh.
• The .rpm installer package supports installation on RHEL 8.x and 9.x machines. This installer is digitally signed.

If you are upgrading Horizon Agent from an existing version, see the instructions in Upgrade Horizon Agent on a Linux Machine.

CAUTION:

If you plan to use NVIDIA GRID vGPU, you must configure 3D graphics features on the Linux virtual machine before you install Horizon Agent. If you install Horizon Agent first, required parameters in the xorg.conf file are overwritten, and the 3D graphics features do not work.

See Setting Up Graphics for Linux Virtual Machines. Install Horizon Agent after the 3D graphics configuration is completed.

For a 2D graphics configuration, you can install Horizon Agent after you complete the steps in Prepare a Linux Machine for Remote Desktop Deployment.

Install Horizon Agent Using the Unsigned Tarball Installer

Note: For a RHEL 8.x machine, you also have the option to install Horizon Agent using a digitally signed installer. See the procedure described later in this article.

1. Download the Horizon Agent for Linux installer package (.tar.gz file) from Omnissa Customer Connect.

   Navigate to the download page for the current release of Horizon 8 and then to the download page for Horizon for 64-bit Linux.

   The Horizon Agent for Linux .tar.gz filename has the pattern horizonagent-linux-x86_64-YYMM-y.y.y-xxxxxxx.tar.gz, where YYMM is the marketing version number, y.y.y is the internal version number, and xxxxxxx is the build number.

2. Unpack the downloaded .tar.gz file for your Linux distribution into a directory that you've identified for the purpose of installing the Horizon Agent for Linux. The following example uses the name horizonagent-linux.tar.gz to refer to the tar.gz file that you downloaded in the previous step.

   Note: In the command below, remember to substitute the name of the file that you actually downloaded in the previous step.

   tar -xvzf horizonagent-linux.tar.gz
   

3. To support certain features, install the required drivers as follows.

   • To support the USB Redirection feature, install the VHCI driver as described in the "VHCI Driver for USB Redirection" section of System Requirements for Horizon Agent for Linux.

   • To support the Real-Time Audio-Video feature, complete the procedure described in Install the V4L2Loopback Driver on a Linux Machine.

4. After you have completed Step 1 to unpack the .tar.gz file into a directory, then navigate to that directory where you unpacked the .tar.gz file and locate the install_viewagent.sh file in that location. That install_viewagent.sh is the script file to install the agent software.

5. Run that install_viewagent.sh script as a superuser. Include the command-line parameters for any optional features that you want to install.

   For more information, see Command-line Options for Installing Horizon Agent for Linux.

   For example, to install Horizon Agent with automatic acceptance of the General Terms and with both the Real-Time Audio-Video feature and USB Redirection feature added:

   sudo ./install_viewagent.sh -A yes -U yes -a yes --webcam
   

   Note:

   If you are installing Horizon Agent on a physical machine, you must include the -M no parameter to specify unmanaged mode as described in Prepare a Physical Linux Machine for Desktop Deployment.

6. Type Yes to accept the General Terms if you run install_viewagent.sh without specifying the -A parameter.

   The installer does not run unless you accept the General Terms.

7. Allow the installation to proceed without interruption.

8. Restart the Linux machine for the changes to take effect.

9. Verify that the viewagent service is started by running the following command.

   sudo service viewagent status
   

RHEL 8.x or 9.x Install Horizon Agent Using the Digitally Signed RPM Installer

Note: If you are installing Horizon Agent on a machine running a Linux distribution other than RHEL 8.x or 9.x, do not use these instructions. Instead, use the procedure described earlier in this article.

1. Download the Horizon Agent for Linux installer package from Omnissa Customer Connect.

   Navigate to the download page for the current release of Horizon and then to the download page for Horizon for 64-bit Linux.

   The Horizon Agent RPM package's name has the pattern horizonagent-linux-YYMM-y.y.y-xxxxxxx.el.x86_64.rpm, where YYMM is the marketing version number, y.y.y is the internal version number, and xxxxxxx is the build number.

2. Navigate to the folder of the downloaded RPM package and run the installer. The following example uses the name agent-installer.el.x86_64.rpm to refer to the installer.

   sudo rpm -ivh agent-installer.el.x86_64.rpm
   

3. Allow the installation to proceed without interruption.

   Note: The RPM package automatically installs Horizon Agent with the default feature options. After the installation, you can add features to the Horizon Agent configuration by running the viewSetup.sh script.

4. Restart the Linux machine for the changes to take effect.

5. To support certain features, install the required drivers as follows.

   • To support the USB Redirection feature, install the VHCI driver as described in the "VHCI Driver for USB Redirection" section of System Requirements for Horizon Agent for Linux.
   • To support the Real-Time Audio-Video feature, complete the procedure described in Install the V4L2Loopback Driver on a Linux Machine.

6. To add more optional features to the Horizon Agent configuration or modify the configuration, run the viewSetup.sh script as described in Command-line Options for Installing Horizon Agent for Linux.

   For example, to add both the Real-Time Audio-Video feature and USB Redirection feature:

   sudo /usr/lib/omnissa/viewagent/bin/viewSetup.sh -U yes -a yes --webcam 
   

   Note:

   If you are installing Horizon Agent on a physical machine, you must include the -M no parameter to specify unmanaged mode as described in Prepare a Physical Linux Machine for Desktop Deployment.

7. After installation, verify that the viewagent service is started by running the following command.

   sudo service viewagent status