Upgrade VMware Horizon View to version 6 – Part2: Connection server

by robbeekmans · Published June 20, 2014 · Updated February 29, 2016

Upgrade VMware Horizon View to version 6 – Part2: Connection server

In my previous article I discussed the upgrade of the Composer to VMware Horizon View 6 coming from VMware Horizon View 5.x. This blog article will show you how to upgrade the Connection server from version 5.x to version 6.

Upgrading a VMware View environment is easy but requires certain steps to take in account. The first step was outlined in my previous blog and consisted of the Composer service. The next step in the upgrade is the Connection server, the broker. Each broker needs to be upgrade apart from each other. Make sure you stop the broker service on each broker before you start the upgrade. Check this each time before you upgrade the next server.

Architecture

Below is a picture of the architecture, the connection servers are shown in the front of the ESX hosts.

The connection servers are for most users the first component they get in touch with.

Upgrading the Connection server

First we will take a look at the prerequisites to upgrade the Connection server. There are more connection servers in general in an environment. For the external connection there are two or more connection servers in place most of the time. For the internal connection also two or more connection servers will be operational.

Prerequisites

Requirements for the Connection server with Horizon 6 are;

Microsoft Windows 2008R2 STD/ENT
Microsoft Windows 2008R2 SP1 STD/ENT
Microsoft Windows 2012 R2

Hardware requirements:

4GB Memory required, 10GB with 50 vm’s or more.. even more is better
4 CPUs are recommended, I’m sure not many connection servers are running with 4 CPUs

Browser requirements

Microsoft Internet Explorer 8, 9, 10 (desktop mode on Windows 8)
FireFox 6 and later

Upgrade

Again the upgrade process is so simple it hard to really write something about it.

Before you begin make sure you stop the Connection server service on every connection server.

Only stop the connection server service, not any other service.

Below are the screenshot of the upgrade, I’ll put comments at the screenshots of interest.

This step took a few minutes.

After you’re done the Connection server service is started again, you can now test the console. Try to log on and see the upgrade has succeeded. After you tested this, close the browser and stop the Connection server service again. You need to upgrade the replica servers also.

After upgrading all Connection servers you can start the services on all of them, the upgrade is done.

Next step is either the Security server or the agent and the client.

Most upgrades are done in one day outside office times so the order from here on is less important.
I would go for the agent and then do the client with the security server being last. That way you can deploy fast, test quickly and only have the external access to worry about in the end.
The next blog will discuss the installation of the agent.

Conclusion

Again upgrading is a fairly simple task, of course in my environment the certificates are in place already so no issues there. With an upgrade you should have your certificates in place already, with a new installation you need to make sure your environment is secured with certificates. That’s another blogpost.

Upgrade VMware Horizon View to version 6 – Part2: Connection server