VMware Horizon 6 with View: What's new..??

Hi All .

Today, I just got time to begin surfing into VMware Horizon View 6.0 -released last June-. I began with its Release Notes which can be found here.

I write this post to summarize both Pros and Cons of this new release. I'll keep up posting about it once I finished testing it.

PROs:

• One of the most important is that Windows 2012 is now supported on many features in View 6.0. Windows 2008 R2 and 2012 R2 are now supported as OSs for Conneciton, Security and Composer Servers (Windows 2012 R2 Std. only). RDS servers to be managed with View 6.0 are supported up to Windows 2012 R2. For Single-user desktop (normal virtual desktop) only Windows 2008 R2 SP1 is supported. Also, AD Domain Services is supported on any Domain Functional Level up to Windows 2012 R2 Level.
• Another important one that Windows 8 & 8.1 are now supported. I still remember when I lost a customer that wanted a VDI solution to support Windows 8.1 and I said "Sorry I can't ". Windows 8 & 8.1 can be used as OSs for virtual desktops and Virtual Disk Reclamation feature is now supported on Windows 8 & 8.1, but only if vSphere 5.5 is used as Infrastructure.
• Persona Management is now can be used on Windows 8.1 or 2008 R2 Sp1 desktops. For standalone desktops, Persona Management is available as .exe file to be installed.
• Remote Experience Agent -that includes HTML Access, Unity Touch, Real-Time Audio-Video, and Windows 7 Multimedia Redirection- is now integrated in View 6.0 Agent. No need for installing two components as in View 5.3.
• More Integration with VMware vSAN product for further improvement in performance of View 6.0 with vSAN. vSphere 5.5U1 is required.
• More Integration with Cloud Architecture, giving a support for 20k Virtual Desktops in 4 Pods.
• View 6.0. is widely supprted on wide range of vSphere and vCenter editions as shown below:

CONs:

• For Single-user desktop (normal virtual desktop), Windows 2012 and 2012 R2 aren't supported.
• Although Windows 8 & 8.1 are fully supported on this version, many issues still occur while using View 6.0 with Windows 8 or 8.1. Check Know Issues Section.
• Local Mode feature is now deprecated in this version and I don't know why. VMware stated reason was that there's no need for Local Mode feature while VMware Fusion and Player Plus which integrate with VMware Horizon Mirage and give same features of checking out/in virtual desktops and works offline on a virtual desktop locally. I didn't test Horizon Mirage before and hence can't give a confirmation or deny about it but I tested Horizon View Local Mode and it was awesome. It really facilitate operations for remote users with their virtual desktops. VMware also stated that customers with View 5.3 and using Local Mode will still have technical support till 2017 at least (Good notice from VMware ).
• Many Issues with None workaround. Check Know Issues Section.

I hope you find this summary useful. I'm working now on testing it in my lab and will keep you updated with any new news .

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