Enable and Use the Horizon Universal Broker for Horizon 8 Edges

The Horizon Universal Broker is a cloud-based service that enables the brokering of desktops that span multiple sites regardless of the infrastructure they are running on. The service also makes intelligent brokering decisions based on the geographic sites of users and resources. The Universal Broker allows you to create hybrid pool groups comprised of Horizon 8 pools and other pool types that have been created in Horizon Cloud.

The Horizon Universal Broker in Horizon Cloud support for Horizon 8 Edges is currently available as a Limited Availability (LA) feature only.

Within this Limited Availability (LA) feature is the ability to broker to Horizon 8 pools with Azure pool types that have been created in Horizon Cloud, providing hybrid pool group support for containing Horizon 8 and Azure provider-type pools within the same pool group or separately in a singular provider-based pool group.

This Limited Availability (LA) feature is available for Horizon 8 automated desktop pools on vSphere only.

Note: Only the Windows Horizon Client is supported during Limited Availability (LA).

For Horizon 8 Edges, you can enable the Horizon Universal Broker in Horizon Cloud to connect Horizon 8 environments to a single, unified brokering service. This lets users access desktops and apps across on-prem or cloud environments through the Universal Broker.

For related information about minimum network requirements for Horizon 8 Edges when using Horizon Universal Broker in Horizon Cloud, see Port and Protocol Requirements for Deploying Horizon 8 Edge.

For related information about prerequisite Horizon Universal Broker configurations to establish in your Horizon 8 environment, see the following content:

• Horizon 8 Edges must be connected to the Horizon Control Plane using the Horizon Edge Gateway to be used with Universal Broker, see Connecting the Horizon Deployment to the Horizon Control Plane in Horizon 8 product documentation.

• Horizon 8 Edges must have a Horizon JWT Authenticator configured. The JWT authenticator can be configured manually in Horizon 8 by using the instructions at Configure a JWT Authenticator in Horizon Console. You can also configure the Connection Server - Horizon JWT Authenticator setting in the Horizon Universal Console when enabling and using the Universal Broker option for a new or existing Horizon 8 Edge in Horizon Cloud. For information about configuring the JWT in the Horizon Unified Access Gateway (UAG), see the below section titled Configure JWT Settings in the Horizon Unified Access Gateway.

• This procedure requires that you have properly configured your Horizon Cloud deployment prerequisites, including domain and identity and access settings. See Requirements Checklist for Deploying a Horizon 8 Edge and Configuring Your Identity Provider in Horizon Cloud documentation.

For more information, see Unlocking Simplicity: Universal Broker Support for Horizon 8 in the Omnissa Horizon Control Plane in Omnissa Communities.

Minimum Requirements

The minimum versions of the following components are required for this Horizon Cloud feature:

• Horizon 8 Connection Server 2506

• Horizon Client for Windows 2506

Configure JWT Settings in the Horizon Unified Access Gateway

To support brokering requests by the Horizon Unified Access Gateway (UAG) as you work with the Horizon Universal Broker in Horizon Cloud, you must configure the JWT authenticator in the UAG application. The following procedure enables the UAG to pull the needed JWT authenticator from the cloud and then validate the JWT token from the cloud.

1. Open the Horizon Unified Access Gateway application and navigate to the UAG Administrator UI.
2. Click JWT Settings.
3. Add a JWT authenticator by clicking Issuer > portal > Dynamic Public key URL.
4. Enter the public key URL, for example "https://cloud-sg.horizon.omnissa.com/portal/.well-known/openid-configuration". For reference, the public key refresh interval can be 3600.

For related information about configuring the JWT, see the Unified Access Gateway product documentation and Configure a JWT Authenticator in Horizon Console.

Enable the Universal Broker in Horizon Cloud

While some prerequisite configuration steps are performed in your Horizon 8 Admin Console and some are performed in your Horizon Cloud service account, the enablement step itself is performed in Horizon Cloud using an existing Horizon 8 provider-based Horizon Edge.

1. From the Horizon Universal Console in Horizon Cloud, click Capacity > Horizon Edges.

2. Select the name of the existing Horizon 8 provider type Edge for which to enable the Universal Broker feature to open the Details page for that Edge.

3. Click the Features tab on the resultant details page to display the Universal Broker enablement content, as shown below.

   

4. Confirm that you meet the four listed prerequisites. If any of the listed prerequisites have not been met, follow the on-screen help before continuing.

   Note: All four listed prerequisites must be met before you toggle the Brokering option.

5. Switch the Brokering toggle option from Not Enabled to Enabled.

Create a Hybrid Pool Group to Accomodate Universal Broker Provisioning

To learn about about creating or editing pools and pool groups to support the enabled Universal Broker provisioning, see the following pages in the Horizon Cloud product documentation:

• Configure Horizon 8 pools as Cloud Managed (see section below)
• Create or Edit a Pool Group
• Entitling Desktops and Applications to End Users
• Pool Group Details in Horizon Cloud

For example, you can create a floating desktop pool group that contains a Horizon 8 provider type pool and an Azure provider type pool.

Configure a Horizon 8 Pool as Cloud Managed

When you are creating or editing a desktop pool in a cloud-connected Horizon 8 Edge and you want to make it suitable for use with Universal Broker, you must configure required settings on the pool using the Horizon 8 Admin Console. On-premises pools are synched to the cloud.

This section describes the elements that make a desktop pool suitable for use with Universal Broker.

1. In your Horizon 8 application, log in to the Horizon Console for any Connection Server instance in the target Horizon 8 Edge.

2. Click Inventory > Desktops.

3. Click Add to open the Add Pool wizard or select a pool and click Edit.

4. Respond to prompts in the wizard and set the following required seetings to configure the pool as suitable for a multi-cloud assignment:

   • Type section: Select Automated Desktop Pool.
   • vCenter Server section: Select Instant Clone or Full Virtual Machines.
   • User Assignment section: Select Floating or Dedicated.

   When you select Dedicated, also select Enable automatic assignment.

   Do not configure any manual assignments of machines to users.

   • Desktop Pool Settings section: Select Cloud Managed. Universal Broker only recognizes desktop pools marked as Cloud Managed.

   Note: You cannot use Horizon Console to delete or deactivate a desktop pool configured as Cloud Managed.

   • Remote Display Settings section: Select the default display protocol for the desktop pool.

5. To configure additional settings for the pool, continue to follow the prompts in the wizard.

Connect to Horizon 8 Desktops through Universal Broker

End users can connect to desktops using the Universal Broker after entitlement, see Launch a Desktop with Horizon Client.

Configured pool groups are displayed to the end users in Horizon Client. End users can launch their desktops and will be routed to the appropriate pool based on configured policy.

End users can connect their Horizon Client to the common Horizon Cloud URL (cloud.omnissahorizon.com) or they can use Custom URLs, see Configuring Client Settings for instructions to configure Custom URLs.

Universal Broker and Horizon Cloud Workflows and Use Cases

For a detailed set of use cases, and additional overview enablement and workflow information, see Omnissa Horizon Universal Broker: Unifying Resource Delivery for the Modern Enterprise in the Omnissa Community Forum.