You can use the silent installation feature of the Microsoft Windows Installer (MSI) to install a replicated instance of Horizon Connection Server on several Windows computers. In a silent installation, you use the command line and do not have to respond to wizard prompts.
With silent installation, you can efficiently deploy Omnissa Horizon 8 components in a large enterprise.
Prerequisites
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Verify that at least one Horizon Connection Server instance is installed and configured on the network.
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To install the replicated instance, you must log in as a user with credentials to access the Administrators account. You specify the Administrators account when you install the first instance of Horizon Connection Server. The account can be the local Administrators group or a domain user or group account. See Install Horizon Connection Server with a New Configuration.
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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.
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Verify that your installation satisfies the requirements described in Horizon Connection Server Requirements.
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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.
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Prepare your environment for the installation. See Installation Prerequisites for Horizon Connection Server.
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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.
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Familiarize yourself with the MSI installer command-line options. See Microsoft Windows Installer Command-Line Options.
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Familiarize yourself with the silent installation properties available with a replica installation of Horizon Connection Server. See Silent Installation Properties for a Replicated Instance of Horizon Connection Server.
Procedure
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Download the Horizon Connection Server installer file from the product download site at https://customerconnect.omnissa.com/downloads/#all_products.
Look for the 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. -
Open a command prompt on the Windows Server computer.
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Type the installation command on one line.
For example:
Omnissa-Horizon-Connection-Server-y.y.y-xxxxxx.exe /s /v"/qn VDM_SERVER_INSTANCE_TYPE=2 ADAM_PRIMARY_NAME=cs1.companydomain.com VDM_INITIAL_ADMIN_SID=S-1-5-32-544"Important: When you perform a silent installation, the full command line, including the data recovery password, is logged in the installer's
vminst.logfile. After the installation is complete, either delete this log file or change the data recovery password by using Omnissa Horizon Console. -
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 services are installed on the Windows Server computer:
- Horizon Connection Server
- Horizon Framework Component
- Horizon Message Bus Component
- Horizon Script Host
- Horizon Security Gateway Component
- Horizon PCoIP Secure Gateway
- Blast Secure Gateway
- Horizon Web Component
- OmnissaVDMDS, which provides Horizon LDAP services
For information about these services, see Understanding Horizon Services in the Horizon 8 Administration document.
If the Install Horizon Web Client setting was selected during the installation, the Omnissa 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 Omnissa Horizon Client Connections and Sizing Windows Server Settings to Support Your Deployment.
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