Vmware Horizon 8 What’s New

Vmware Horizon 8 has introduced groundbreaking advancements to enhance the virtual desktop infrastructure experience. With its latest release, users can now enjoy seamless integration between virtual apps and desktops, resulting in increased productivity and efficiency. Gone are the days of struggling with complex setups and compatibility issues. Vmware Horizon 8 brings a user-friendly interface, improved performance, and enhanced security features to provide a superior virtual workspace for businesses of all sizes.

Vmware Horizon 8 offers a range of innovative features that revolutionize the way organizations manage and deliver virtual desktops and applications. With its robust infrastructure, businesses can ensure uninterrupted access to critical resources, even in the face of hardware failures or network disruptions. Additionally, Vmware Horizon 8 streamlines the deployment and management of virtual desktops, reducing IT overhead and empowering IT teams to focus on strategic initiatives. By leveraging the power of Vmware Horizon 8, companies can transform their virtual workspace experience and unlock new levels of productivity and collaboration.

Improved Performance and Scalability

Vmware Horizon 8 introduces several new features and enhancements that improve the performance and scalability of virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) deployments. One of the key improvements is the enhanced instant clone technology, which allows for faster provisioning and recomposing of desktops. The instant clone technology leverages VMware vSphere and vCenter Server technologies to create and deploy VM clones instantly, reducing the time and resources required for desktop provisioning.

In addition to instant clone technology, Vmware Horizon 8 also introduces new features such as Blast Extreme Adaptive Transport (BEAT), which improves the user experience by dynamically adjusting the compression and transport settings based on the network conditions. This ensures optimal performance and responsiveness, even in remote and branch office scenarios. The improved GPU virtualization capabilities in Horizon 8 also enable better graphics performance for virtual desktops, making it ideal for use cases that require graphic-intensive applications.

Furthermore, Horizon 8 introduces support for VMware vSphere 7, which brings significant improvements in scalability and performance. With vSphere 7, organizations can scale their VDI deployments to support more concurrent users and workloads, ensuring a smooth and responsive user experience. The integration between Horizon 8 and vSphere 7 also enables advanced features such as dynamic scaling, high availability, and efficient resource allocation, further enhancing the overall performance and scalability of the VDI environment.

Lastly, Horizon 8 introduces support for NVIDIA vGPU vMotion, allowing for live migration and load balancing of virtual desktops across the NVIDIA GPU-accelerated servers. This feature enables better resource utilization and improves overall performance by dynamically balancing the workload across the available GPU resources in the data center.

Enhanced User Experience

Vmware Horizon 8 offers several enhancements to improve the user experience and productivity. One of the key features is the integration with Microsoft Teams, which allows for seamless collaboration and communication within virtual desktops. Users can now easily access and use Microsoft Teams directly from their Horizon virtual desktops, eliminating the need for separate installations or switching between different applications.

Another notable enhancement is the support for URL Content Redirection, which redirects web content to the user's local browser, improving the performance and reducing the resource utilization on the virtual desktop. This feature enables users to have a seamless web browsing experience by offloading web content rendering to their local machine.

Furthermore, Horizon 8 introduces the Smart Policies feature, which allows administrators to dynamically control and optimize the user experience based on the user's location, device type, and network conditions. Smart Policies enable organizations to deliver a personalized and responsive user experience while ensuring compliance with security and performance requirements.

Additionally, the Horizon 8 client for Windows and macOS has been enhanced to provide a more intuitive and seamless user experience. The updated client includes features such as drag-and-drop file transfer, improved audio and video playback, and support for the latest operating systems.

Simplified Management and Administration

Vmware Horizon 8 introduces several new features and enhancements that simplify the management and administration of virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) environments. One of the key enhancements is the integration with Workspace ONE, VMware's unified endpoint management platform. The integration allows administrators to manage and secure both physical and virtual endpoints from a single console, streamlining the management and reducing the administrative overhead.

Another notable feature is the Instant Clones Management Utility (ICM), which provides a command-line interface for managing instant clones in Horizon 8. This utility simplifies the management of instant clones by providing a set of commands to perform tasks such as provisioning, recomposing, and deleting instant clones.

Furthermore, Horizon 8 introduces the Session Collaboration feature, which enables users to collaborate and share their virtual desktop sessions with other users in real-time. This feature is particularly useful for scenarios that require real-time collaboration, such as training sessions, troubleshooting, and pair programming.

Enhanced Security and Compliance

Vmware Horizon 8 introduces several security enhancements to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) deployments. One of the key security features is the integration with VMware Carbon Black, which provides advanced threat detection and response capabilities. The integration allows administrators to monitor and protect virtual desktops from advanced threats in real-time, enhancing the overall security posture of the VDI environment.

In addition to Carbon Black integration, Horizon 8 introduces support for authentication with Microsoft Azure Active Directory (AAD), enabling organizations to leverage their existing Azure AD infrastructure for user authentication and access control. This integration simplifies the authentication process and provides a centralized identity management solution for virtual desktops.

Furthermore, Horizon 8 includes features such as dynamic environment manager and application entitlements, which allow administrators to dynamically control user access and entitlements based on various factors such as user role, location, and device type. These features ensure that users have access to the appropriate resources and applications based on their specific needs, while maintaining compliance with security and regulatory requirements.

New Features for Application Management

In addition to the improvements in virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), Vmware Horizon 8 also introduces new features and enhancements for application management. These features allow organizations to streamline the application deployment and management process, improving efficiency and reducing administrative overhead.

Application Pools

Horizon 8 introduces the concept of application pools, which allows administrators to group and manage applications together. Application pools provide a centralized and efficient way to manage and deliver applications to users, reducing the complexity and administrative overhead associated with individual application management.

With application pools, administrators can define access controls, entitlements, and resource assignments for a group of applications, making it easier to deploy and manage application sets for different user groups or departments. This simplifies the application management process and ensures that users have access to the required applications based on their roles and responsibilities.

Application pools can also be used to leverage features such as load balancing and high availability, ensuring that applications are delivered with the desired performance and availability. The ability to configure resource assignments and access controls at the application pool level further simplifies management and reduces administrative overhead.

Application Volume Management

Horizon 8 introduces the Application Volume Management feature, which simplifies the deployment and management of applications across virtual desktops. Application Volumes allow administrators to create and manage application containers that can be attached or detached dynamically to virtual desktops as needed.

This approach eliminates the need for full application installations on each virtual desktop, reducing the storage requirements and simplifying the application management process. Application Volumes can be easily updated or patched centrally, ensuring that all virtual desktops have access to the latest version of the applications.

Furthermore, the Application Volume Management feature integrates with VMware ThinApp, allowing administrators to virtualize applications and deliver them as self-contained units. This enables organizations to isolate applications from the underlying operating system, reducing compatibility issues and simplifying the application deployment process.

Application Updates and Patching

Horizon 8 introduces the Dynamic Environment Manager, which provides policy-based profile management and application configuration. This feature allows administrators to define policies and rules to manage user profiles and application configurations dynamically.

The Dynamic Environment Manager enables organizations to deliver a personalized and consistent user experience across virtual desktops, regardless of the user's device or location. It also simplifies the application updates and patching process by applying the necessary updates or configurations based on the defined policies, reducing the administrative overhead and ensuring compliance with organizational standards.

Additionally, Horizon 8 introduces the Application Entitlements feature, which allows administrators to control and manage user access to applications based on various factors such as user role, location, and device type. This ensures that users have access to the appropriate applications based on their specific needs, while maintaining compliance with security and regulatory requirements.

Improved Monitoring and Troubleshooting

Vmware Horizon 8 introduces new features and enhancements that improve the monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities of virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) deployments. These features enable administrators to proactively monitor the health and performance of the VDI environment, identify and resolve issues quickly, and optimize the overall performance and availability.

Horizon Console

Horizon Console is a web-based management interface that provides a centralized and intuitive way to manage and monitor Horizon deployments. The Console allows administrators to perform various tasks such as provisioning, monitoring, troubleshooting, and reporting, from a single interface.

With Horizon Console, administrators can easily monitor the health and performance of the VDI environment, including user sessions, connection servers, and infrastructure components. The Console provides real-time insights and alerts, allowing administrators to identify and resolve issues quickly, ensuring a smooth and responsive user experience.

Furthermore, Horizon Console includes advanced reporting and analytics capabilities, allowing administrators to generate custom reports and analyze the performance and usage trends. This enables organizations to optimize resource utilization, plan capacity, and ensure compliance with service level agreements (SLAs).

vRealize Operations for Horizon

Vmware Horizon 8 integrates with vRealize Operations, VMware's comprehensive monitoring and analytics platform, to provide advanced performance monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities for VDI environments. vRealize Operations for Horizon enables administrators to monitor the health, availability, and performance of virtual desktops, applications, and infrastructure components in real-time.

The integration with vRealize Operations allows administrators to proactively identify performance bottlenecks, plan capacity, and troubleshoot issues before they impact the end-user experience. The platform provides advanced analytics and reporting capabilities, offering insights into resource utilization, user behavior, and infrastructure performance, helping administrators optimize the VDI environment.

Additionally, vRealize Operations for Horizon provides predictive analytics and trend analysis, enabling administrators to forecast resource requirements, plan upgrades, and ensure scalability. The platform also integrates with VMware's ecosystem of management and automation tools, allowing administrators to automate repetitive tasks, streamline operations, and enhance overall efficiency.

Instant Clone Analytics

Horizon 8 introduces the Instant Clone Analytics feature, which provides insights into the performance and resource usage of instant clones. Instant Clone Analytics enables administrators to monitor and analyze key metrics such as CPU, memory, and disk utilization, allowing them to optimize resource allocation and plan capacity.

The feature provides real-time visibility into the health and performance of instant clones, helping administrators identify resource-intensive applications or users and take appropriate actions to ensure a balanced and responsive VDI environment. This data-driven approach to monitoring and troubleshooting enhances the overall performance and scalability of VDI deployments.

Improved Cloud Integration

Vmware Horizon 8 offers improved cloud integration capabilities, allowing organizations to leverage the benefits of cloud infrastructure while maintaining a seamless and consistent user experience. The cloud integration features in Horizon 8 enable organizations to extend their VDI deployments to public and private clouds, enabling flexible and scalable infrastructure options.

Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure

Horizon 8 introduces the Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure feature, which enables organizations to deploy and manage Horizon virtual desktops and applications on Microsoft Azure infrastructure. This allows organizations to leverage the scalability and flexibility of Azure while benefiting from the rich features and capabilities of Horizon 8.

With Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure, organizations can rapidly deploy virtual desktops and applications on Azure infrastructure, providing a consistent and secure user experience across devices and locations. The integration with Azure AD enables seamless user authentication and access control, simplifying the management and enhancing the security of virtual desktops.

The Horizon Cloud on Microsoft Azure feature also provides advanced automation and orchestration capabilities, allowing administrators to streamline operations and scale the VDI environment efficiently. The feature integrates with Azure services such as Azure Virtual WAN, Azure Active Directory, and Azure Monitor, enabling organizations to leverage the full potential of the Azure ecosystem.

Horizon on VMware Cloud on AWS

Horizon 8 integrates with VMware Cloud on AWS, combining the benefits of VMware's enterprise-grade virtualization platform with the scalability and versatility of AWS infrastructure. This integration enables organizations to extend their existing VDI deployments to the AWS cloud, providing flexible and cost-effective infrastructure options.

With Horizon on VMware Cloud on AWS, organizations can rapidly deploy and scale virtual desktops and applications on AWS infrastructure, leveraging the global reach of AWS data centers. The integration allows organizations to take advantage of AWS services such as Elastic Load Balancing, Amazon RDS, and Amazon S3, enhancing the performance and availability of virtual desktops.

The integration with VMware Cloud on AWS also provides advanced disaster recovery capabilities, enabling organizations to replicate and protect their VDI environment in the cloud. This ensures business continuity and minimizes downtime in the event of a data center outage or disaster.

Conclusion

What's New in Vmware Horizon 8

Vmware Horizon 8 brings a host of new features and enhancements to further enhance virtualized desktop and application delivery. With an emphasis on performance, security, and user experience, the latest version offers the following updates:

• Instant Clones: Improved speed and efficiency of deploying virtual desktops.
• True SSO: Seamless and secure authentication for Horizon 8 environments.
• Expanded GPU support: Enhanced graphical performance for demanding applications.
• Windows 10 updates: Compatibility with the latest Microsoft operating systems.
• HTML5 Browser-based console: Simplified management and control of Horizon 8.
• Delegated administration: Granular control and delegation of administrative tasks.

These updates enable organizations to deliver a robust, secure, and user-friendly virtual desktop infrastructure. Enhanced performance and reduced deployment times, along with simplified management and improved security, make Vmware Horizon 8 the ideal choice for businesses looking to optimize their remote work environments.

Frequently Asked Questions

The following are some frequently asked questions regarding the new features and updates in Vmware Horizon 8:

1. What are the new features introduced in Vmware Horizon 8?

With the release of Vmware Horizon 8, several new features have been introduced. These include:

- Instant Clone Technology: This feature allows for rapid deployment of virtual desktops and applications.

- Multi-Cloud Flexibility: Vmware Horizon 8 provides seamless integration with various cloud platforms, allowing organizations to choose the best option for their needs.

- Enhanced Security Measures: Horizon 8 includes advanced security features such as Just-in-Time (JIT) provisioning and dynamic application security.

2. How does Instant Clone Technology benefit organizations?

Instant Clone Technology in Vmware Horizon 8 offers several benefits for organizations, including:

- Improved Efficiency: Instant Clone allows for the quick creation of identical virtual machines, reducing the time required for deploying and scaling desktops and applications.

- Lower Storage Requirements: With Instant Clone, multiple virtual machines can share a single virtual disk, resulting in significant storage savings.

3. What is the significance of Multi-Cloud Flexibility in Vmware Horizon 8?

Multi-Cloud Flexibility in Vmware Horizon 8 offers organizations the flexibility to choose and leverage multiple cloud platforms, including VMware Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). This allows organizations to optimize their resources, scale their infrastructure, and take advantage of the unique features offered by different cloud providers.

4. How does Horizon 8 enhance security for virtual desktops and applications?

Vmware Horizon 8 introduces several security enhancements to protect virtual desktops and applications, including:

- Just-in-Time (JIT) Provisioning: This security measure ensures that virtual desktops and applications are provisioned only when needed, reducing the attack surface.

- Dynamic Application Security: Horizon 8 offers intelligent application security that dynamically adapts to user behavior and defends against potential threats.

5. Can existing Vmware Horizon users upgrade to Horizon 8?

Absolutely! Existing Vmware Horizon users can upgrade to Vmware Horizon 8 to benefit from the new features and enhancements. The upgrade process is typically smooth and seamless, with the option to perform an in-place upgrade or migrate to new infrastructure.

In conclusion, VMware Horizon 8 brings several exciting new features and enhancements that empower businesses and improve user experience.

With the new Instant Clone Smart Provisioning, businesses can quickly deploy and manage virtual desktops, saving time and resources. The integration with Microsoft Endpoint Manager enables seamless management and security across devices. The enhanced Blast Extreme protocol offers better performance and reliability for remote desktops and applications. Additionally, the improved monitoring and troubleshooting capabilities provide IT administrators with better insights and control over their virtual infrastructure.