You create pools, add pools to pool groups, and entitle users to pools and pool groups for Horizon Cloud on Google Cloud Platform (GCP) by using the GCP capacity type.
For general information about pools and pool groups in Horizon Cloud, see Creating or Editing a Pool and Creating or Editing a Pool Group.
Note: Horizon Cloud on Google Cloud Platform is currently available in Limited Availability (LA) mode only.
Note that the term base VM may also be referred to as Golden image in this and related documentation.
Prerequisites
Before creating a pool, ensure that the following requirements are in place:
- End-user identity provider: Verify that you have configured an identity provider for end-user identity. If using Microsoft Entra ID, verify that Entra ID Connect configuration is complete. See Identity and Access Management in Horizon Cloud.
- Machine identity provider: Verify the configuration is in place for a machine identity provider. If using your Active Directory domain for machine identity, ensure you have configured the Active Directory domain. See Setting up Your Active Directory Domain.
- Horizon Edge healthy: Ensure the Horizon Edge Gateway and UAG deployments are displaying healthy (green) states in the Horizon Universal Console at Capacity > Horizon Edges.
- Image available: Ensure the VDI or multi-session image is in Available status in the Horizon Universal Console at Images.
Create a Pool
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From the Horizon Universal Console, select Pools in the left menu.
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Click Add and then select your preferred provider type.
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Enter a unique Pool name and add a Description.
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Select a Pool type:
- Dedicated single-session — persistent VDI desktop experience where each desktop is mapped to a single user.
- Floating single-session — non-persistent VDI desktop experience where multiple users can use the desktop at different times and the desktop resets after each user session.
- Multi-session — RDSH session-based published desktops and applications.
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In the Site dropdown, select the Horizon Cloud site for this pool.
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In the Horizon Edge dropdown, select the GCP Horizon Edge that will broker sessions and provision VMs for this pool.
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In the Provider dropdown, select the GCP provider associated with the selected Horizon Edge. This field is auto-populated based on the edge selection.
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Review the Use Sole tenant nodes toggle:
- Enabled — pool VMs will be provisioned on dedicated sole-tenant hardware. Enable this only if you plan to run Windows 11 VMs.
- Disabled — pool VMs will be provisioned on standard shared GCP infrastructure.
Note: For Windows 11 licensing compliance, you must use GCP Sole-Tenant Nodes. Sole-Tenant Nodes ensure dedicated physical servers and help meet Microsoft licensing requirements for Windows 11 single-session desktops. The N-series node family is recommended for optimal performance and Windows 11 compatibility.
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If Use Sole tenant nodes is enabled, select the sole tenant node group to use for this pool. The node group must show a Ready status.
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In the Image dropdown, select the golden image. Only images in Available status are shown.
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In the Marker dropdown, select the image version marker. Defaults to the latest available version.
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Review the Do you have a valid license for the Windows OS? toggle. If your organization holds a valid Windows OS license, enable this toggle and confirm the checkbox.
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In the Machine type dropdown, select the GCP machine type for pool VMs.
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In the Disk type dropdown, select the disk type for pool VMs.
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In the Disk size field, enter the boot disk size in GB. The value must be equal to or greater than the size of the source image disk.
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In the Domain identity dropdown, select the Active Directory domain that pool VMs will join.
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In the Provisioning subsection, configure as needed:
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Select On demand or All at once provisioning.
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Enter the number of Maximum VMs for this pool.
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If On demand is selected, specify Minimum spare VMs and Maximum spare VMs.
Note: Spare VMs are VMs not currently in use that are powered on ready for new user sessions. The system will try to maintain spare VMs equal to (Minimum spare VMs + Maximum spare VMs) / 2.
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In the Properties subsection, configure as needed:
- VM name prefix — prefix to use for the pool's VMs.
- Reuse VM names — specifies to reuse VM names after VMs have been deleted.
- Time zone — not available for multi-session pools.
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Click Next to move to the Networks section.
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In the Networks section:
- In the Availability zone dropdown, select the GCP zone where pool VMs will be provisioned. Note: Availability zone will be disabled if you are using sole tenant nodes.
- In the Subnets dropdown, select the subnet filter and choose the subnets for this pool.
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(Optional) Configure the Unified Endpoint Manager.
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Click Save to save the newly created pool.
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You will be prompted to either add the pool to a pool group or select Finish:
- Select Finish to return to the Pools main page.
- Select Add To Pool Group to add this pool to a new or existing pool group. See Create a Single-Session Pool Group or Create a Multi-Session Pool Group.
Create a Pool Group and Entitle Users
Create a pool group for use with this pool and entitle users for that pool group. For related information, see the on-screen help and general information in the Creating or Editing a Pool Group section of this Horizon Cloud documentation.
Updating, Editing, and Reviewing Pool Details
From the Horizon Universal Console, select Pools in the left menu. A list of pools is shown with their current status. If a pool displays an error, click the Error link to view more information.
Warning — Shared VPC firewall rule cleanup on VPC removal: Horizon Cloud manages firewall rules on the Shared VPC host project only when the customer provides the optional permissions for firewall rule management on the Shared VPC project. If the customer does not provide these permissions, firewall rules must be manually created and managed by the customer.
When the optional permissions are provided, Horizon Cloud automatically creates and manages firewall rules on the Shared VPC host project. In this case, if you edit a pool to remove a VPC that belongs to a Shared VPC host project, the firewall rule Horizon Cloud created in that host project is not automatically deleted when the pool is later deleted, because the host project is no longer referenced by the pool at deletion time. You must manually delete that firewall rule in the host project. (Firewall rules in the service/provider project are cleaned up automatically on pool deletion.)
Note: Firewall rules are tracked per-VPC, not per-subnet. Removing one of several subnets that belong to the same Shared VPC does not orphan the firewall rule, as the VPC is still referenced via the remaining subnet. The rule is only orphaned when all subnets belonging to that Shared VPC are removed, i.e., the VPC itself is no longer referenced by the pool.
Recommendation: Avoid removing a Shared VPC from an existing template. Instead, create a new template with the new Shared VPC if such a scenario arises.
Moving Pools Online and Offline
You can take a pool offline when urgent maintenance is required. Select the specific pool(s) then from the menu select Take Offline. Use the Bring Online menu option to bring the pool(s) back online.
Editing and Deleting Pools
From the Horizon Universal Console, select Pools > click the Pool Name > click Overview to view Capacity, Sessions, General Settings, and Provisioning. You have the ability to Edit or Delete the pool from the Pool Details page.
Login Mode (Multi-Session Pools)
From the VMs Tab for a Multi-Session Pool, select one or more VMs and click Login Mode. The four login mode states are:
- Allow logins (Available) — allows new connections and reconnections.
- Prevent new logins only (Drain) — routes new connections to other VMs; allows reconnections.
- Prevent new logins (Drain) until restart — same as Drain until VM is restarted, then reverts to Allow Logins.
- Prevent new logins and reconnections (Disabled) — denies both new connections and reconnections.
Power Management
See Managing Power Options for Pools and Pool Groups.
Note: Hibernate functionality is not available for GCP VMs in this release.
Related Topics
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