October 15, 2025

Horizon Pods - Install the Universal Broker Plugin on the Connection Server

Before a Horizon pod can participate in multi-cloud assignments brokered by Universal Broker, you must install the required Universal Broker Plugin on each Connection Server instance in that pod. The Universal Broker Plugin supports communication between the brokering service and the Connection Server instances within a pod.

Note: Installation of the Universal Broker Plugin is only required for Horizon pods based on Horizon Connection Server technology. Horizon Cloud pods in Microsoft Azure do not require the Universal Broker Plugin.

When installing the Universal Broker Plugin, observe the following considerations:

You must run a version of the Universal Broker Plugin installer EXE that is compatible with your Connection Server version, because code inside each installer EXE contains a flag that determines whether the installer EXE will run on a particular version of Connection Server.

For the relationship between the Horizon YYMM versioning and the numerical style versioning, see KB 2143853.

Universal Broker Plugin installer versions for Connection Server versions and their download locations in Customer Connect

The Universal Broker Plugin installers are downloaded from Customer Connect. Each URL in the table below takes you to a download page where the Universal Broker Plugin resides at the bottom of that page.

When you load one of these URLs in your browser, scroll to the bottom to see the Universal Broker Plugin entry and its version number. You click on the Download Now button to download that version. When you click Download Now, if you are not already logged in with your Customer Connect credentials, the login UI will display first.

When your Connection Server is running version:	This Universal Broker Plugin installer EXE will run on that Connection Server:	Location in Customer Connect - scroll to the bottom of the downloads page to see the Universal Broker Plugin
2503 (8.15)	24.12	https://customerconnect.omnissa.com/downloads/details?downloadGroup=HCS-CC-250&productId=1585&rPId=118981
2412 (8.14)	24.12	https://customerconnect.omnissa.com/downloads/details?downloadGroup=HCS-CC-250&productId=1585&rPId=118981
2406 (8.13)	22.01 - same as for 2206 (8.6)	Versions 22.01 and earlier are no longer generally available for download. To obtain 22.01 and earlier versions, customers with active support agreements can contact Omnissa Support.
2312 (8.12)	22.01 - same as for 2206 (8.6)
2309 (8.11)	22.01 - same as for 2206 (8.6)
2306 (8.10)	22.01 - same as for 2206 (8.6)
2303 (8.9)	22.01 - same as for 2206 (8.6)
2212 (8.8)	22.01 - same as for 2206 (8.6)
2209 (8.7)	22.01 - same as for 2206 (8.6)
2206 (8.6)	22.01
2111 (8.4)	21.06
2106 (8.3)	21.06 - same as for 2111 (8.4)
2103 (8.2)	21.03
2012 (8.1)	21.01

If a pod has multiple Connection Server instances, you must install the Universal Broker Plugin on each Connection Server instance.
You must install the same version of the plug-in on all Connection Server instances within participating pods. For example, if you upgrade the plug-in to a later version on one Connection Server instance, you must upgrade the plug-in to that same version on every other Connection Server instance within the pod.
If you add a new Connection Server instance to a participating pod, you must install the plug-in on the new Connection Server instance.
Any existing plug-in installation is lost during a Connection Server upgrade. If you upgrade your Horizon deployment, you must reinstall the plug-in immediately after upgrading each Connection Server instance to the later version.

For example, if you upgrade your Connection Server instances to version 8.2 (2103), you must then install version 21.03 of the plug-in on those Connection Server instances.
During the plug-in installation, the installer restarts the Connection Server service. At that time, the system logs out all administration console sessions on the Connection Server.
Currently, the Universal Broker Plugin supports IPv4 only.
When working with the LDAP configuration in a Connection Server instance that has the Universal Broker Plugin installed, observe the following guidelines:
- In addition to making a backup copy of the LDAP configuration, take a virtual-machine snapshot of the current Connection Server instance. If you use the backup to restore the LDAP configuration to an earlier state, you can use the snapshot to populate the restored LDAP configuration with the information required by the Universal Broker Plugin to function.
- When restoring the LDAP configuration to an earlier state, only use LDAP backups made after the plug-in was installed on the Connection Server.
- If you restore the LDAP configuration to a state earlier than the Universal Broker Plugin installation, certain information required by the plug-in will be missing in the restored LDAP configuration. Therefore, the plug-in will not function.

After downloading the correct version of the Universal Broker Plugin for your Connection Server version, use the following procedures to install the plug-in on the Connection Server instances within your pod.

Installing

To install the Universal Broker Plugin silently on a bulk deployment of Connection Server instances, use the following command. Replace X.X.X with the version number and yyyyyyyy with the build number of the installer that you downloaded. Replace with the TCP port that the plug-in uses to listen for and accept incoming requests from the Universal Broker client.
```
horizon-universal-broker-plugin-X.X.X-yyyyyyyy-x64.exe /s /v"LISTENPORT=<portNumber> /qn"
```
To install the Universal Broker Plugin on an individual Connection Server instance, perform the numbered steps outlined later in this topic.

Prerequisites

Before running the Universal Broker Plugin installer on a Connection Server instance, verify that:

The Connection Server instance is running a supported version of Horizon 8.
You have both Horizon administrator and local administrator privileges on the Connection Server. The installer only runs when initiated by an administrator with both of these privileges.
You have a version of the Universal Broker Plugin installer that is compatible to run and install Universal Broker Plugin into your specific Connection Server version, as described previously in this page.

Procedure

If needed, place the downloaded plug-in installer file on the Connection Server.
Run the .exe installer file.
At the Welcome screen of the installer wizard, click Next.
Accept the End-User License Agreement, and click Next.
At the Configuration screen, specify the required port information.
1. Enter the TCP port number that the Universal Broker Plugin will use to listen for and accept incoming requests from the Universal Broker client.
  
  Note: The installer validates that the specified port is available. If the port already has a process running on it, a warning message appears and the installation is stopped. To resume the installation, you must specify an available TCP port.
2. Select Configure Windows firewall exception automatically if you want the installer to configure the firewall exception required to allow incoming connections through the specified port. Deselect this option if you want to configure the firewall exception manually.
  
  Note: The Windows firewall exception is mandatory for Universal Broker, whether you instruct the installer to configure it or you configure it yourself.
3. Click Next.
Follow the prompts in the remaining screens of the wizard to finish installing the Universal Broker Plugin on the Connection Server.

Uninstalling

Important: If, at a later time, you want to uninstall the Universal Broker Plugin or the Connection Server instance, follow this order of uninstallation:

First, uninstall the Universal Broker Plugin.
Next, uninstall the Connection Server software.

If you uninstall Connection Server first, a system error results and you will not be able to uninstall the Universal Broker Plugin.

Note: If you want to change the port that the Universal Broker Plugin uses to listen for incoming requests from the Universal Broker client, do the following:

In the LDAP configuration for the Connection Server, change the value of the pae-RCXServerPort property to the new port number.
Restart the Connection Server.
If needed, update the corresponding Windows firewall exception to allow incoming traffic through the new port.

The new port configuration takes effect after the Connection Server and the Universal Broker Plugin complete their restart sequences.

When Upgrading a Horizon Connection Server that already has Universal Broker Plugin Installed

When you have a Horizon Connection Server running a version earlier than version 2412 and that Horizon Connection Server already has a pre-24.12 version of Universal Broker Plugin installed and you want to upgrade that Horizon Connection Server to version 2412 or later, you must adhere to this sequence on that Horizon Connection Server for installing Horizon Universal Broker Plugin 24.12 or later:

Uninstall the existing installed Horizon Universal Broker Plugin.
Upgrade the Horizon Connection Server to 2412 or later.
Then install the latest Horizon Universal Broker Plugin (version 24.12 or later).

Note: You only have to upgrade the Universal Broker Plugin when you upgrade your Horizon Connection Server to version 2412 or later. If you're running Horizon Connection Server of versions earlier than version 2412 and you have a pre-24.12 Universal Broker Plugin already installed in the Horizon Connection Server, your existing compatible Horizon Universal Broker Plugin of version earlier than 24.12 will continue to work.

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