This part of the lab is presented as a Hands-on Labs Interactive Simulation. This will allow you to experience steps which are too time-consuming or resource intensive to do live in the lab environment. In this simulation, you can use the software interface as if you are interacting with a live environment.

The orange boxes show where to click, and the left and right arrow keys can also be used to move through the simulation in either direction.

We begin at the SDDC Manager Dashboard:

1. Click ADD WORKLOAD DOMAIN
2. Select Configure VDI
   • The VDI Checklist screen reminds us of several prerequisites that need to be met when creating a VDI Workload Domain.
   • Under Windows Components, we are reminded that we need a Windows Server 2012 R2 Volume Licensing ISO which will be used to deploy the Windows Servers that will host the Horizon software components.  Also, an OVA template is needed for virtual desktop images that will be deployed.
3. Click the scroll bar down
   • Under Default Values, we are reminded to verify the customized values on the SDDC Manager SETTINGS page.  These default values allow us to customize the naming convention that will be used for the Horizon components and desktop VMs.
4. Click the scroll bar down
   • Under Network, we are reminded of the networking details that we will need to have on hand as we configure the new workload domain and enable access to the corporate network.
5. Click BEGIN
6. Click in the VDI Name box
7. Enter the name Desktops-01
8. Click the scroll bar down
   • There are a number of options you can select from when deploying Horizon.  
   • Deployment Type - we can chose to just reserve resources or to deploy dekstops.  We've chosen the default "Deploy Desktops"
   • Desktop Type - we can specify the type of desktops.  We've chosen the default "Instant Clones"
   • Assignment Type - we can choose between floating destkops or dedicated desktops.  We've chosen the default "Floating Desktops"
   • Desktop Access Type - By default, only users on the corporate network will be able to access the desktops.  Let's allow users to connect to the desktops from anywere.
9. Click Connect from Anywhere
10. Click NEXT
    • On the VDI Configuration screen we provide additional configuration to include the Active Directory Type.  We can use an existing Active Directory environment, or choose to deploy a new Active Directory instance.  Here we're going to deploy a new directory.
11. Click in the DNS Forwarding IP box
12. Enter the DNS Forwarding IP of 192.168.32.10
13. Click the scroll bar down
    • Next, we enter the administrator password that we will use for the Active Directory domain.
14. Enter the domain admin password VMware123!
15. Click in the Confirm Password box
16. Enter the domain admin password VMware123!
    • We leave the "SQL Type" at the default value of "New", which tells SDDC Manager to deploy a new MSSQL Server instance as part of the workload domain (using the Win 2012 R2 ISO that we will provide).
17. Click NEXT
    • You can optionally configure the VDI environment to use VMware App Volumes.  Let's do it.
18. Click Implement App Volumes
19. Click NEXT
    • Next, we enter the sizing information for our virtual desktops.  This is done by specifying a total number of desktops and then providing the sizing for each desktop in terms of CPU and memory.
20. Click in the Number of Virtual Desktops box
21. Enter the value 100
22. Click the scroll bar down
    • We'll leave the CPUs at the default of "1"
23. Click in box next to RAM / Desktop
24. Enter the value 4
25. Click NEXT
26. Next, we will select the servers from the Cloud Foundation free pool that will be assigned to the workload domain
27. Click the scroll bar down
    • Here we see a list of the available hosts.  We select the hosts by clicking the dropdown on the right and assigning it to the vCenter.
28. Click None to the right of server R1N10
29. Select VC1
    • We now see a warning guardrail letting us know that we need to select two additional servers to meet the minimum requirement of 3.
30. Click the scroll bar down
31. Click None to the right of server R1N4
32. Select VC1
33. Click the scroll bar down
34. Click None to the right of server R1N5
35. Select VC1
    • We have now selected 3 servers.  We are notified by the green text that we have met the minimum requirements.
36. Click the scroll bar down
    • With our three servers selected we're ready to proceed.
37. Click NEXT
    • Next we configure the network settings for the VDI environment. 
    • Reading the text will help us decide if we want to use an existing network configuration that has already been defined or to create a new network configuration.
38. Click the scroll bar to scroll down
    • The notes section outlines the requirements for the data center network connection.  The network must be routable, must be able to communicate with the management network, for an external Active Directory deployment a DHCP server must be accessible, and in cases where the desktops are accessible from outside the corporate network, the data center network must be routable to the DMZ.
39. Click Select Configuration
40. Select Custom Configuration
41. Click in the Configuration Name box
42. Enter the name Desktops-01-DC-Network
43. Click in the VLAN ID box
44. Enter the value 401
45. Click in the Subnet box
46. Enter the value 172.20.0.0
47. Click the scroll bar down
48. Click in the Subnet Mask box
49. Enter the value 255.255.248.0
50. Click the scroll bar down
51. Click in the Gateway box
52. Enter the value 172.20.0.1
53. Click in the Relay Agent box
54. Enter the value 172.20.0.11
55. Click in the START IP ADDRESS box.
56. Enter the value 172.20.0.1
57. Click in the END IP ADDRESS box.
58. Enter the value 172.20.0.10
59. Click on the CLICK TO ADD button
60. Click NEXT
    • We are now ready to specify the DMZ network configuration.
61. Click Select Configuration
62. Select Custom Configuration
63. Click the Configuration Name box
64. Enter Desktops01-DMZ-Network
65. Click the scroll bar down
66. Click in the VLAN ID box
67. Enter the value 402
68. Click in the Subnet box
69. Enter the value 172.20.8.0
70. Click in the Subnet Mask box
71. Enter the value 255.255.248.0
72. Click in the Gateway box
73. Enter the value 172.20.8.1
74. Click in the START IP ADDRESS box
75. Enter the value 172.20.8.1
76. Click in the END IP ADDRESS box
77. Enter the value 172.20.8.10
78. Click the scroll bar down
79. Click on the CLICK TO ADD button
80. Click NEXT
    • Here we see that we can choose a DHCP type.  An External DHCP server can be used if one already exists in the environment.  If not, a new Internal DHCP configuraton will be deployed using NSX Edge appliances.
81. Click in the Connection Servers Load Balancer box (under DNS Names)
82. Enter the DNS Name desktops.demo.vmware.com
83. Click in the App Volumes Load Balancer box (under DNS Names)
84. Enter the DNS Name appvolumes.demo.vmware.com
85. Click in the DMZ Load Balancer box (under DNS Names)
86. Enter the DNS Name cloudvdi.demo.vmware.com
87. Click the Remote Desktop Connection icon in the Windows taskbar.
    1. We must add these names and IPs as DNS records in our corporate DNS server.  We will establish a RDC session to our domain controller where we will create the records.
88. Click AD-DC-RDP.RDP selection.
89. Click New Host (A or AAAA)...
90. Enter the DNS Name desktops in the Name field
91. Click in the IP address box
92. Enter the value 192.168.32.55
93. Click Add Host
94. Click OK
95. Enter the DNS Name appvolumes
96. Click in the IP address box
97. Enter the value 192.168.32.54
98. Click Add Host
99. Click OK
100. Enter the DNS Name cloudvdi
101. Click in the IP address box
102. Enter the value 172.20.8.11
103. Click Add Host
104. Click OK
105. Click the Minimize button to hide the RDC window.
106. Click NEXT
     • Next, we will upload the Windows 2012 R1 ISO image and our virtual desktop OVA template.
     • Here we have already selected and uploaded the Windows ISO image
107. Click in the Windows License Key box
     • The windows license key is automatically entered for us
108. Click the scroll bar down
     • Next, we upload the OVA template
109. Click BROWSE
     • Here we see the "Win10_h72_instantclone.ova" template has been selected
110. Click Open
111. Click in the Enter password box
112. Enter the password VMware123!
113. Click in the Confirm Password box
114. Enter the password VMware123!
115. Click NEXT
     • We're now ready to review the configuration of our new VDI workload domain.
116. Click the scroll bar down
117. Click to expand the Physical Resources
118. Click the scroll bar down
     • Here we see the vCenter Server IP address along with the three hosts we have selected.  All three hosts are from the rack named LASSEN
119. Click to expand the Network Configuration Details
120. Click the scroll bar down
     • Here we see a summary of the Data Center and DMZ networks we defined.
121. Click the scroll bar down
     • Here we can review the DHCP and Load Balancer settings
122. Click the scroll bar down
     • Here we see the information about our Windows 2012 R2 ISO and OVA template that were uploaded.
123. Click to expand Component Configuration Details
124. Click to scroll down
     • Here we see a summary of the Horizon components that will be deployed, to include the number of each and the IP addresses that have been assigned.
     • We're now ready to proceed with deploying the VDI workload domain
125. Click FINISH
126. Click CONFIRM
     • The workflows to create the VDI workload domain are triggered.
127. Click OK
     • We can monitor the progress of the workflows by navigating to the Workflow tasks screen under STATUS
128. Click STATUS
129. Click the scroll bar to scroll down
     • In the Workflow Tasks section
130. Click VIEW DETAILS
     • Here we see the two workflows used to create the VDI environment.  The "VI Resource Pool - VDI-Desktops-01" workflow will create the vSphere cluster backing the virtual desktop infrastructure workload domain.  The "VDI Resource Pool  - Desktops-01" will deploy the horizon software components, configure the Desktop Pool, and instantiate the remote desktops. 
131. Click to expand the VDI Resource Pool - VDI-Desktops workflow
132. Click the scroll bar down
     • Here we see a description of the workflow along with the number of sub-tasks, 64 in this example.
133. Click View Sub Tasks
134. Click the scroll bar down
135. Click the scroll bar in the subtasks window to scroll throw the subtasks (10 clicks)
     • Here we can scroll through the list of sub tasks to get an idea about the steps the SDDC Manger will perform as it creates the VDI workload domain.
136. Click the scroll bar on the far right to scroll back to the top of the page
137. Click Workflows to return to the Workflow summary page
138. Click to expand the VI Resource Pool - VDI-Desktops-01 workflow
139. Click the scroll bar on the far right to scroll down
     • Here we see the second workflow, which is comprised of 53 sub tasks.
140. Click View Sub Tasks
141. Click the scroll bar on the far right to scroll down 
     • Here again, we can scroll through the list of individual subtasks.
142. Click the scroll bar in the subtasks window to scroll down and review the list of sub tasks in the VDI Resource Pool - Desktops workflow (8 clicks)
143. Click the scroll bar on the far right to scroll back to the top of the page
144. Click Workflows to return to the Workflow summary page
145. Click to expand VI Resource Pool - VDI-Desktops-01.  We see that all 53 sub tasks were successful.
146. Click the scroll bar to scroll down.
147. Click to expand VDI Resource Pool - VDI-Desktops-01.  We see that this workflow was also successful.
     • In a live environment it would take approximately 3 hours for both workflows to complete.  For the purposes of this demonstration we are picking up at the completion of these workflows as they both show a status of SUCCESSFUL.
     • With the workflows finished, let's return to the SDDC Manager Dashboard and review the VDI Workload Domain that was just created.
148. Click DASHBOARD 
149. Click VIEW DETAILS next to Workload Domains
     • Here we see the new VDI workload domain named Desktops-01.
150. Click Desktops-01
     • On the GENERAL INFO tab we see a summary of the new VDI Workload Domain, to include the type, owner and assigned capacity, as well as the vSphere Cluster information, number of hosts assigned and physical rack it has been deployed on.
151. Click the scroll bar to scroll down
152. Click the scroll bar to scroll back to the top of the page
153. Click VDI INFO
     • The VDI INFO page shows additional details about the VDI Workload Domain to include:  the desktop persistence type, security type, Active Directory settings, database settings, the component configuration, number of desktops and their size, network settings and the Windows 2012 and OVA settings used to create the domain.
154. Click the scroll bar to scroll down
     • Here we see the components that were deployed along with the quantity and IP addresses that were assigned
155. Click the scroll bar to scroll down
     • Here we see the number of desktops, the size of the desktops, along with the network configuration for the DMZ and external network connections.
156. Click the scroll bar to scroll down
     • Finally, we see the Windows ISO and OVA Image that were used for the VDI workload domain
     • Next, let's look at the VDI Workload Domain from the vSphere Web Client.
157. Click the tab to open a new browser window
158. Click the vSphere Web Client tab
     • Here we see the vSphere cluster that is backing our VDI workload domain.  We see the vCenter Server instance along with three hosts that were allocated to the Desktops VDI Workload Domain and and the virtual desktops that were created.
159. Click the scroll bar next to the cluster to scroll down through the list of desktops  (4 times)
     • In scrolling through the list of VMs we can see all the virtual machines configured inside the Desktops VDI Workload Domain. This includes the three NSX Controllers, the DHCP Relay, and the 100 virtual Desktops.
     • Next, lets look inside the Management workload domain to view the vCenter Server, NSX Manager and Horizon components that were deployed in the management domain as part of the VDI workload domain.
160. Click to expand the vcenter-1.lassen.demo.vmware.com
161. Click to expand the vRack-Datacenter Data Center
162. Click the scroll bar down
163. Click to expand the vRack-Cluster Cluster
164. Click the scroll bar down
     • Here we see the Horizon infrastructure components that were deployed in the management workload domain.  These include the Active Directory servers, App Volumes servers, Horizon Connection Servers, DHCP servers, as well as the NSX Edge Services Gateway VMs that are acting as DHCP relays and load balancers.
165. Click the scroll bar down
166. Click the Home Icon
167. Click Networking and Security
     •  Here we are able to review the NSX configuration for our VDI workload domain
168. Click Installation
     • Here we see the NSX Manager instances and corresponding controller clusters for both our management domain and our new VDI domain
     • Now let's review the distributed firewall settings that have been enabled for us as part of our new VDI workload domain
169. Click Firewall
170. Click the 192.168.32.74 (Role: Unknown) dropdown
171. Select the 192.168.32.24 NSX Manager that corresponds to the VDI Workload Domain
     • Here we see the VDI Microsegmentation rules that are in place.  Note that by default, Cloud Foundation deploys VDIs with microsegementation enabled.
172. Click to expand VDI Microsegmentation (Rule 1 - 136)
     • We see 136 rules in place to achieve microsegmentation for our virtual desktops
173. Click Service Definitions
     •  We see that service definitions are ready to be used in our environment, including Distributed Load Balancer.
174. Click Service Composer
     •  We see that a variety of Service Groups have been created to define all of the possible connections in our VDI environment.  These Service Groups are used in conjunction with the microsegmentation rules.
175. Click the scroll bar down
     • We see the remaining Service Groups that were automatically created.
176. Click NSX Edges
     • Here we see the NSX Edge Service Gateways that have been deployed in the Management Domain.  Note that edge-6 is running as a DHCP relay for the VDI domain.
177. Click edge-6
178. Click the Manage tab
179. Click the DHCP tab
     • We see that there are DHCP pools automatically created to service our virtual desktops.
180. Click the Back icon
     • Let's switch to the NSX Manager Instance for our VDI Workload Domain
181. Click the 192.168.32.24 NSX Manager in the dropdown
182. Select 192.168.32.74 (Role: Unknown)
     • We see there is a single Edge Services Gateway deployed inside the VDI Workload Domain.  This Edge is also acting as a DHCP Releay
183. Click edge-1
184. Click Manage
185. Click DHCP
186. Click Relay
     • Here we see that an NSX Edge has been connected to the VDI network segment and is configured to relay DHCP requests to the DHCP server on the Management Workload Domain.
     • Next, we will connect to the Horizon console to view the VDI environment inside Horizon.
187. Click the Firefox icon in the system tray
188. Enter administrator for the User name
189. Enter VMware123! for the Password
190. Click Log In
     •  We are logged into the Horizon console
191. Click Catalog
192. Click Desktop Pools
     • Here we see the desktop pool "pl-2-1" which was created for us during by SDDC Manager as part of the deployment.
193. Click the pl-2-1 pool
     •  Here we see a summary of the pool
194. Click the scroll bar down
     •   We observe that the desktop pool has been created using the uploaded OVA and is configured with basic settings that allow the desktop pool to be ready for users.
195. Click the scroll bar down
     • The vsanDatastore associated with the new VDI Workload Domain is set as the target datastore for desktops.
196. Click Monitoring
197. Click Events
     •  We see that the Horizon environment has been automatically configured to log to the Events database.
198. Click View Configuration
199. Click Servers
     •  We see that a new vCenter Server was deployed as part of the Create VDI Workload Domain workflow.  This vCenter Server has the View Storage Accelerator automatically enabled.
200. Click Security Servers
     • There are no security servers pictured as the Create VDI Workload Domain Workflow provisioned Unified Access Gateways for secure remote access to our virtual desktop environment.
201. Click Connection Servers
     • Here we see that there are a pair of Horizon Connection Servers configured for our environment.  These Connection Servers are fronted by a NSX Edge Load Balancer which was automatically configured during the Create VDI Workload Domain workflow.
202. Click Instant Clone Domain Admins
     • An Active Directory Domain account has been configured for use by Instant Clones.
203. Click Global Settings
     • Horizon Global Settings have been automatically configured with a standard set of values.
204. Click the scroll bar down
205. Click Cloud Pod Architecture
     • A Horizon Cloud Pod Architecture pod has been created for us.  Future Horizon Workload Domains can be joined to create a full Cloud Pod Federation.

This concludes our simulation on how to create a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Workload Domain in VMware Cloud Foundation.

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