Create a Multi-Session Pool Group

Pool groups allow you to entitle desktops and applications to users, groups or both. You can create a multi-session pool group that includes pools from any provider, plus policies.

For information about how sessions are distributed in pool groups, refer to Understanding How Sessions are Distributed within a Pool Group.

Procedure

1. On the Home page, click the Pool Groups tile to navigate to the Pool Groups page.

2. Click Add to select Multi-Session pool group.

3. On the Add Multi-Session Pool Group page, add a unique pool group Name.

4. Add a Display Name and Description.

   Display Name is the name you want displayed to end users on Horizon clients. It cannot exceed 64 characters. If left blank, the pool name will be used by default.

5. Select a Pool Group type from Published desktop, Published application, and Published desktop and application.

   • For Published desktop, select one or more pools from the Select pools list and click Next.

   • For Published application and Published desktop and application, select one or more pools from the Select pools list and click Next.
     
     For the steps that follow, you must select at least one application from Installed Applications, App Volumes Applications, or Manual Applications for the Next button to enable.

     1. In the Installed Applications section, select the installed applications that you want to make available in the pool group and click Next.

        Notes:

        • Each pool in a pool group must have the same application version installed.
        • Installed applications must be in a pool, and the pool(s) must not be used in any of the existing pool groups. All installed applications from the pool(s) are displayed in the table.
        • Click the Rescan option at the top right of the table to initiate a rescan of pools for applications if required.
        • Installed Applications previously selected for a pool group that are subsequently found to be missing from all pools will be disabled. Installed applications missing from a subset of pools will remain enabled, but the console will indicate those applications along with the pools they are missing from. Take action to ensure the selected applications are installed on all VMs in all pools within the pool group.

     2. In the App Volumes Applications section, select the App Volumes applications that you want to make available as published applications in the pool group and click Next.

        The package marked current is delivered on demand to entitled users. Only applications with a current package are displayed. The checkbox next to Hide duplicates is enabled by default. Unchecking the box will display the duplicates.

     3. In the Manual Applications section, click Add to create a new manual application.

     4. In the Add Manual Application modal window, complete the form as follows and click Save.

        Add a Name for the application and optionally, click Browse to browse an Icon file and add an icon. Add an application Path, Version, and Publisher. Optionally, select a Parameter between All Pools and Custom, and add application parameters, and optionally add Start Folder.

     5. Select the manual applications you want to make available as published applications in the pool group and click Next.

        You can also Edit and Delete an application by clicking the three dots next to its name in the list.

     6. In the Application Attributes section, you can optionally specify application attributes for the selected applications.

6. In the Policies section for the default Client settings, select Default protocol for end-user sessions.

   You can slide the toggle to Allow users to select a protocol when they log in to a desktop.

7. Select Preferred client type to launch entitlements in Horizon Client or a Browser.

8. In the Brokering sub-section, select Scope to search for available desktops on Any site, or Restrict to One Site.

9. In the Site connection affinity field, select the default site that end users will connect to, from Nearest Site and Home Site.

   You can slide the Home site restriction toggle to restrict end users or user groups to access the entitlement only through the entitlement home site override, or through the user's home site if an override is not designated. If not selected, the nearest site will be used.

10. In the SSO sub-section, you can slide the toggle to enable SSO for the pool.

    You must have completed the prerequisites to configure one of the SSO types that Horizon Cloud supports on the Horizon Edge Gateway, and fulfilled all of the requirements for that SSO type. If the prerequisites required by the configured SSO type are not met, the end user will be prompted to enter their credentials.

11. In the Power Management section, select between Occupancy based and Non-occupancy based for Power management type. Occupancy based optimizes the power consumption based on pool occupancy load. Non-occupancy based optimizes the power consumption based on the number of unused VMs powered on relative to the total number of provisioned VMs.

    For information about how the Power Management and Occupancy based settings assist in optimizing VM load balancing in your multi-session pool group, see Understanding How Sessions are Distributed within a Pool Group.

12. For the Occupancy based option, select the threshold of virtual machine utilization for this entitlement at which a new virtual machine is spun up and drained respectively, from Optimized for performance, Balanced, and Optimized for cost in the Power management mode field.

    With an Optimized for performance selection, a new virtual machine is spun up more quickly, making capacity readily available for a possible enhanced user experience. With an Optimized for cost selection, the virtual machine will have a higher utilisation rate before spinning up a new virtual machine, which may help to minimise costs.

    Note: Optimization parameters determine when to power-on new VMs and when to power-off existing powered-on VMs. The number in parenthesis describes the high occupancy threshold. For example, in the following case of Optimized for performance (50), as soon as the VMs session occupancy reaches 50% the service start powering ON any spare powered-off VMs to ensure that existing users can keep using the VMs with optimal performance. You can optimize for cost, performance, or a combination of cost and performance. Samples are shown below:

    • Optimized for performance (50): Automatically powers on spare VMs when session occupancy reaches 50%, ensuring optimal performance for users.
    • Optimized for cost (80): Prioritizes cost efficiency, managing VM power states to minimize operational expenses.
    • Balanced (66): A balanced approach between performance and cost considerations.

13. Add Minimum VMs for the minimum percentage of VMs to keep powered on relative to the total VMs in a pool group at any point in time.

    This setting applies to each pool group in the entitlement unless a power management schedule is specified.

14. For Power off protect time, add the number of minutes (from 1 to 60).

    A VM is protected from powering off after powering on due to a headroom error. The default is 30.

15. For Non-occupancy based, specify a threshold for Unused VMs, which is the minimum number of VMs to be kept powered on relative to the total VMs in a pool group at any point in time.

    An unused VM is a VM which is provisioned and powered on but without a user logged in. This setting applies to each pool group in the entitlement unless a power management schedule is specified.

16. For Power off protect time, add the number of minutes (from 1 to 60).

    A VM is protected from powering off after powering on due to a headroom error. The default is 30.

17. You can also add a Power management schedule by clicking Add Schedule and adding information.

18. Complete the Load Balancing section based on the option descriptions that follow.

    Note: The following settings can help you achieve a desired balance of power consumption and performance in your environment.

    Option	Description
    Time between consecutive session allocation	This setting causes new user sessions to be spread out to limit the number of sessions assigned to a VM within the configured time period. For example, if this setting is 20 seconds and a user is assigned to VM1 within the last 20 seconds, the next user is assigned to VM2.
    CPU usage	Threshold value for the CPU usage in percentage. You can set a value from 0 to 100. The recommended value is 90, which is also the default value.
    Memory usage	Threshold value for the memory in percentage. You can set a value from 0 to 100. The recommended value is 90, which is also the default value.
    Disk queue length	Threshold of the average number of both read and write requests that were re-queued for the selected disk during the sample interval. You can set the value to any positive integer. By default, this setting is not considered for load balancing. The default value is 0.
    Disk read latency	Threshold of the average time of read of data from the disk in milliseconds. You can set the value to any positive integer. By default, this setting is not considered for load balancing. The default value is 0.
    Disk write latency	Threshold of the average time of write of data to the disk in milliseconds. You can set the value to any positive integer. By default, this setting is not considered for load balancing. The default value is 0.
    Host load index	Aggregate threshold value at which a VM is considered full and is not assigned any new sessions. You can enter a value between 0 and 100. The default value is 90. The value is calculated by comparing CPU, memory, and disk usage to the respective threshold values. The resource with the highest usage compared to its threshold is weighted the greatest.

19. Enable rolling maintenance in the Rolling Maintenance section to provide an automated refresh for multi-session VMs to maintain availability. This will clear out cached resources or memory leaks which helps avoid end-user sessions issues.

20. Select Maintenance type between Scheduled and Session.

    Rolling maintenance triggers a virtual machine refresh. With scheduled, the refresh is triggered daily or weekly according to the parameters you enter. With session, the refresh is triggered when the number of sessions you can enter have been logged on. In both cases, the refresh won't happen until the end user is logged off.

21. Select the Recurrence from the dropdown from Daily and Weekly for the frequency with which the virtual machine refresh should be scheduled.

22. Select the appropriate Time zone for the scheduled hour setting.

23. Add the Scheduled hour of the day for the virtual machine refresh to be scheduled.

24. Add a number for Concurrent quiescing VMs per pool for the number of virtual machines that can be concurrently down for maintenance.

    During this process, virtual machines will be providing service, but will not be used for any new sessions.

25. Select VM action from Restart and Rebuild for virtual machines needing maintenance.

    With Restart, the affected virtual machines are rebooted. With Rebuild, the affected virtual machines are deleted then re-provisioned using the latest image.

26. In the Timeout Handling section, determine when a disconnected session is logged off in the Logoff disconnected sessions field. Select from Never, Immediate or Logoff After. The default for Logoff disconnected sessions is Never. If you select Logoff After, specify the timeout after which disconnected sessions gets logged off. The default value for Logoff After is 120 minutes. When a disconnected session is logged off, the session is lost. Enter the maximum number of minutes for the session in theMaximum session lifetime field. The default value for Maximum session lifetime is 10080 minutes. In the Idle session timeout, enter the amount of time the user can have an idle session before the system forces a disconnect. The default value for Idle session timeout is 10080 minutes.

    Select between Never and Timeout After for Empty application session timeout. The default for Empty application session timeout is Never. If a user is running an application session and there are no applications running in that session, then that session is considered empty. If you select Timeout After, add time in minutes after which the empty session is timed out. The default value for Timeout After is 1 minute. In the When timeout occurs field, select between Logoff and Disconnect. The default for When timeout occurs is Logoff where the session will log off without disconnecting. The Empty application session timeout setting is applicable if you select Published application or Published desktop and application sessions, and not for Published desktops.

27. Click Save.

28. Click ENTITLE POOL GROUP to entitle this pool group to users or user groups now, or click FINISH to entitle it later.