Tips and tricks
Direct Connect, a good way to test PCoIP with View without any servers…
If you’re like me and very often need to do testing in your home lab, you might not always have the time or the hardware to be able to setup a full VMware View environment. Well, the good news is that it might be possible, if you’re an existing VMware customer, to ask for a tool called View Agent Direct Connection Plugin.
This tool is not released to the public yet, might not be ready for general consumption but if you’re interested, you should definitely reach out to your VMware point of contact.
It’s a very useful tool if you quickly want to connect something like a T310 (HP zero Client) or a P25 ( Dell/Wyse Zero-Client) or an NC240 (Samsung Zero-Client).
Andre Leibovici explains in details what the tool is all about in this post: http://myvirtualcloud.net/?p=4125
I wanted to share with you the general installation steps.
First thing you will need is a Windows desktop 32 or 64 bit VM running on ESX. XP SP3 or later is supported (event Windows 8 is supported, if anyone cares).
The Virtual Machine should have the latest VMTools installed and at least 128MB of video memory. If you need help setting up the video memory, you can refer to VMware KB 103566. Also make sure you verify that you have the correct graphic drivers (also mentioned in article)
Firewall in Windows has to be on, (Control Panel -> Windows Firewall) or do it by command line: Netsh Firewall Show Config.
Next step is to install the View Agent, use the current released version (5.2), get the proper one for your system, 32 or 64 bit, from here: VMware View Agent download. After agent installation, you will need to reboot the Virtual Desktop.
The next step is where you would have needed to reach out to your VMware point of contact and get your hands on the View Agent Direct-Connection, again here, either in 32 or 64 bit, right one for your Virtual Desktop system. Install the Agent with all the default settings, you don’t need to reboot after install.
If you’ve done all the steps listed above and you didn’t get any errors, all that’s left to do is open a VMware View client and point it to the IP address or FQDN of that Virtual Desktop and you’ll be logged in!
Hi,
Can you share that?
Sorry for the late reply. This is not yet available to the general public, you have to be an ISP and work through the VMware partner program to obtain the bits. I’ve heard that VMware might make this available in the near future, keep you posted.
Hello, I want test VMWARE View Agent Direct-Connection but I can’t find this. Can you tell me a link to download this.
Thanks
Sorry for the late reply. This is not yet available to the general public, you have to be an ISP and work through the VMware partner program to obtain the bits. I’ve heard that VMware might make this available in the near future, keep you posted.
How did you get around the registering with connection server?
Sorry for the late reply, this blog fell off the face of the earth for a while, getting back to regular post starting now.
You don’t have to register with Connection Server. If you’re getting asked to do this it’s because you’re running the VM on Workstation or Fusion. You need to run the VM on ESXi
Thanks – I will look into that, I am actually running on a KVM but I guess it has todo with the vmware tools…
Whats settings are necesary on the P25 to make this connection. We have it working on the desktop view client but not the P25.
Apologize for not responding sooner, I left on PTO and forgot to check my blog when I came back. Did you get it working?
If you enter the FQDN of the VM you are trying to connect to, it should work. For example, if your VM that has the Direct Connect agent installed is called Machine1 and the domain is abc.local, did you try entering machine.abc.local as the View Connection Server name in your P25?
Let me know.
Hi ,
Thanks for your sharing. I have downloaded horizon View Agent(VA) /Direct Connection (VADC)7.0 and client (VC)5.4. Following your steps or some other instructions, but it does not works.
When client/VC connects the agent/VA, the VM desktop logs off, and the VC loses the connection soon.
I think the reason be in PCoIP. If right, how to set it within VA?
Did you make sure you have set the video memory on the Virtual Machine to at least 128 megs?
One of the requirements for View Direct Connect is video memory. It’s mentioned in the documentation or release notes…