Install a Replicated Instance of Omnissa Horizon Connection Server

To provide high availability and load balancing, you can install one or more additional instances of Horizon Connection Server that replicate an existing Horizon Connection Server instance. After a replica installation, the existing and newly installed instances of Horizon Connection Server are identical.

To see the max number of Horizon Connection Servers you can install in a single Horizon pod, see Configuration Maximums.

When you install a replicated instance, Omnissa Horizon 8 copies the Horizon LDAP configuration data from the existing Horizon Connection Server instance.

After the installation, identical Horizon LDAP configuration data is maintained on all Horizon Connection Server instances in the replicated group. When a change is made on one instance, the updated information is copied to the other instances.

If a replicated instance fails, the other instances in the group continue to operate. When the failed instance resumes activity, its configuration is updated with the changes that took place during the outage.

Note: Replication functionality is provided by Horizon LDAP, which uses the same replication technology as Microsoft Active Directory.

The replica server software cannot coexist on the same virtual or physical machine with any other Horizon 8 software component, including another Horizon Connection Server, Horizon Agent, or Omnissa Horizon Client.

By default, the Omnissa Horizon Web Client component is installed on the Horizon Connection Server host when you install Horizon Connection Server. This component configures the Horizon 8 user portal page to display a Horizon Web Client icon in addition to the Horizon Client icon. The additional icon allows users to select Horizon Web Client when they connect to their desktops.

Note: Horizon Web Client is available with Horizon 8 versions 2412 and later. For Horizon 8 versions 2406 and earlier, Horizon Web Client is called "HTML Access." This documentation page uses the name "Horizon Web Client" to refer to both Horizon Web Client and HTML Access.

For an overview of setting up Horizon Connection Server for Horizon Web Client, see the Horizon Web Client Guide document, located on the Horizon Client Documentation page.

Prerequisites

• Verify that at least one Horizon Connection Server instance is installed and configured on the network.

• To install the replicated instance, you must log in as a user with the Administrators role. You specify the account or group with the Administrators role when you install the first instance of Horizon Connection Server. The role can be assigned to the local Administrators group or a domain user or group. See Install Horizon Connection Server with a New Configuration.

• If the existing Horizon Connection Server instance is in a different domain than the replicated instance, the domain user must also have Administrator privileges on the Windows Server computer where the existing instance is installed.

• Verify that your installation satisfies the requirements described in Horizon Connection Server Requirements.

• Verify that the computers on which you install replicated Horizon Connection Server instances are connected over a high-performance LAN. See Network Requirements for Replicated Horizon Connection Server Instances.

• Prepare your environment for the installation. See Installation Prerequisites for Horizon Connection Server.

• Prepare a data recovery password. See Install Horizon Connection Server with a New Configuration.

• Familiarize yourself with the network ports that must be opened on the Windows Firewall for Horizon Connection Server instances. See Firewall Rules for Horizon Connection Server.

Procedure

1. Download the Horizon Connection Server installer file from the product download site at https://customerconnect.omnissa.com/downloads/#all_products.

   Look for the Omnissa Horizon download, which includes Horizon Connection Server.

   The installer filename is Omnissa-Horizon-Connection-Server-x86_64-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe, where xxxxxx is the build number and y.y.y is the version number.

2. To start the Horizon Connection Server installation program, double-click the installer file.

3. Accept the license terms.

4. Accept or change the destination folder.

5. Select the Horizon Replica Server installation option.

6. Select the Internet Protocol (IP) version, IPv4 or IPv6.

   You must install all Horizon 8 components with the same IP version.

7. Select whether to enable or disable FIPS mode.

   This option is available only if FIPS mode is enabled in Windows.

8. Make sure that Install Horizon Web Client is selected if you intend to allow users to connect to their desktops by using Horizon Web Client.

   If IPv4 is selected, this setting is selected by default. If IPv6 is selected, this setting is not displayed because Horizon Web Client is not supported in an IPv6 environment.

9. Enter the host name or IP address of the existing Horizon Connection Server instance you are replicating.

10. Type a data recovery password and, optionally, a password reminder.

11. Choose how to configure the Windows Firewall service.

    Option	Action
    Configure Windows Firewall automatically	Let the installer configure Windows Firewall to allow the required network connections.
    Do not configure Windows Firewall	Configure the Windows firewall rules manually. Select this option only if your organization uses its own predefined rules for configuring Windows Firewall.

12. Complete the installation wizard to finish installing the replicated instance.

13. Check for new patches on the Windows Server computer and run Windows Update as needed.

    Even if you fully patched the Windows Server computer before you installed Horizon Connection Server, the installation might have enabled operating system features for the first time. Additional patches might now be required.

Results

The Horizon 8 services are installed on the Windows server computer. When you look at the Windows Services list, all but one of the services contains the name Horizon. For the service that provides the Horizon LDAP services:

• For Horizon versions 2412 and earlier, the name of that service contains the string VDMDS.
• For Horizon versions 2503 and later, the name of that service is OmnissaHzeDS.

For example, for Horizon versions 2503 and later, the following Horizon 8 services are installed on the Windows server computer:

• Omnissa Horizon Blast Secure Gateway
• Omnissa Horizon Connection Server
• Omnissa Horizon CRL Prefetcher
• Omnissa Horizon Framework Manager
• Omnissa Horizon Log Collector
• Omnissa Horizon Message Bus
• Omnissa Horizon PCoIP Security Gateway
• Omnissa Horizon Script Host
• Omnissa Horizon Secure Gateway
• Omnissa Horizon Servlet Host
• OmnissaHzeDS, which provides Horizon LDAP services

For information about working with the installed Horizon 8 services, see the Horizon Administration guide's page Understanding Omnissa Horizon Services and its sub-pages.

If the Install Horizon Web Client setting was selected during the installation, the Horizon Web Client component is installed on the Windows Server computer. This component configures the Horizon Web Client icon in the Horizon user portal page and enables the Horizon Connection Server (Blast-In) rule in the Windows Firewall. This firewall rule allows Web browsers on client devices to connect to the Horizon Connection Server on TCP port 8443.

Note: Horizon Web Client is available with Horizon 8 versions 2412 and later. For Horizon 8 versions 2406 and earlier, Horizon Web Client is called "HTML Access." This documentation page uses the name "Horizon Web Client" to refer to both Horizon Web Client and HTML Access.

What to do next

Configure an SSL server certificate for the Horizon Connection Server instance. See Configuring TLS Certificates for Horizon 8 Servers.

You do not have to perform an initial Horizon 8 configuration on a replicated instance of Horizon Connection Server. The replicated instance inherits its configuration from the existing Horizon Connection Server instance.

However, you might have to configure client connection settings for this Horizon Connection Server instance, and you can tune Windows Server settings to support a large deployment. See Configuring Horizon Client Connections and Sizing Windows Server Settings to Support Your Deployment.

If you are reinstalling Horizon Connection Server and you have a data collector set configured to monitor performance data, stop the data collector set and start it again.