Working with Images on Horizon 8

Images can be added, cloned, edited, and/or deleted on Horizon 8 Edge. Each step has its own prerequisites that must be followed to ensure success. After your images are added, they can be published or re-published. For related information, see Publish and Republish Images on Horizon 8.

Adding an Image

Before adding images, confirm that the following prerequisites have been met.

Prerequisites

• Ensure that your Horizon 8 Edge is in a Ready state.
• At least one vCenter instance must be added and configured to your Horizon 8 Edge. It must also be accessible by the resident connection servers on the Horizon 8 Edge.
• Confirm that softwareupdate.omnissa.com:443 is resolvable and reachable from the Horizon 8 Edge subnets using the 443 port over TCP protocol for downloading agent-related software used in the system image-creation.
• Only the following Operating Systems for vSphere templates/snapshots are supported: Windows 10, Windows-11 and Windows Server-2022 – all without encryption/VTPM.

Procedure

1. From the Horizon Universal Console, select Images in the left menu.

2. On the Images page, select Add > Horizon 8.

3. Under the General Information section, uniquely name the image in the Image Name field, optionally enter a description and add markers, and then Next.

   Note: The resulting image copies residing on the vCenter have the actual VM names in the form of imagename-version-providerinstanceID where the image name is provided by the user (for example, W10FIN) while the version is 1.0.0, and the provider instance ID is alphanumeric. A sample name could be W10FIN-1-0-0-64dca4f6b4ec280a750c04df. This naming helps in identifying a particular image copy with that provider instance.

4. Add an Image Description.

5. Under Markers, ensure you add at least one so it is available for desktop/server pool creation.

6. Under Image Source, select a source option tile for Horizon 8.

7. Select Horizon Edge and Corresponding vCenter.

8. Choose the VM Type of either Template or Snapshot that has a minimum of 20-30 GB storage space in the C:\ drive, as it is needed for the Horizon Agent installation. This source template/snapshot should be devoid of vTPM as already called out in known limitations.

9. Select the Virtual Machine.

10. Then Add the Credentials for the VM you selected. This should match with the existing selected credentials used to login to the template/snapshot VM. Be aware that any mismatched credentials can cause the publish to fail.

Cloning an Image Version

Cloning an image version creates an incremented version of the image which you can then publish as a regular version. When you have published these cloned images successfully to your chosen targets, you can use the published clones to create pool. For example, W10FIN-1.0.0 is cloned to the next version W10FIN-2.0.0.

Prerequisites

• Ensure the source image version is in a Published state.
• Confirm that the selected version is either Available or Partially Available.

Procedure

1. From the Horizon Universal Console, select Images in the left menu.
2. On the Images page, click an image link to view the list of image versions.
3. Select an image version and click Published > Copy as Image Version.
4. In the General Information section, select Major to upgrade the image and then click Next. You can have up to 99 versions of a major upgrade image. For example, for a major or minor upgrade on software, input a marker name to create pools in the Horizon Connection Server using the Image name and Marker name.
5. Click Save.

Note: You can customize the cloned version after it has been added. Publish it to convert it to an image. The cloned image versions (at the time of the cloning) will not have the Horizon Agent installed as they are created from a customized internal source VM (that is maintained as a pristine image without any add-ins) rather than a published image VM. Once the cloned version is created, the choice of installing an agent on it during publishing is independent of a parent version. It is recommended to install the Horizon Agent unless you have already manually installed it.

Editing an Image Version

You can edit markers for an image version that is in an Available or Partially Available state. When the pools/farms need to be refreshed with the current version being edited, the marker on the earlier image version corresponding to the pools/farms will also need to be updated in this image version.

Prerequisites

• Ensure the image is imported and published.
• Confirm that the selected version is either Available or Partially Available.

Procedure

1. From the Horizon Universal Console, select Images in the left menu.
2. On the Images page, click an image link in Available state to list the image versions.
3. On the Image Version page select an Image Version and click Edit.
4. On the Edit Version page Add or Edit the Description.
5. Also, Add or Edit the existing Markers or add a new Marker.
   If you add existing markers of an earlier image version to the current edited version, all associated Pools with those existing markers would be updated subsequently to the current version being edited. Markers associated with Pools cannot be deleted.

• For associated Instant-Clone Desktop Pools & Farms, maintenance is scheduled immediately following the marker movement. Machines with active user sessions will wait for the user to log off before going into maintenance.
• For associated Full-Clone Desktop Pools, only the Image metadata is updated, hence only the newly provisioned Machines of the Pool will be provisioned from the updated version. Existing machines of the pool need to be rebuilt.
• Use an image version with the latest agent version while moving the marker from an earlier image version.

6. Click Save.

Deleting an Image Version

You can delete an image version during image management, if necessary.

Prerequisites

• The Horizon 8 Edge Gateway is connected and ready. This ensures that connection Server cleanup and vCenter cleanup of image resources can be completed successfully.
• Ensure that no pools or farms are using the selected image version before deleting it.
• The image is in one of the following states: Partially Available, Available, Added/Imported, or Failed.

Procedure

1. From the Horizon Universal Console, select Images in the left menu.
2. Click the name of the image that contains the version you want to delete.
3. Select the version to delete.
4. Click Delete.
5. In Delete Image Version, click Delete to start the deletion process.

This action deletes the image version from all associated sites. If the deleted version is the only version of the image, the parent image is also deleted.

Note: You cannot delete an image version if it is associated with a pool.