Upgrading VMware Horizon view to version 6 – Part1: Composer
Upgrading a VMware Horizon View environment starts with the Composer, it’s the first component you need to upgrade. Before you start upgrading the composer you need to make sure you disable provisioning of the desktop pools and switch of refresh of the desktops. Make sure you read the compatibility matrix before upgrading for Composer might be co-hosted on a vCenter server.
- Upgrading the Composer;
- Upgrading the Connection server;
- Installing the agent;
- Upgrading the client (actually it was a new install);
- Upgrading the security server;
- Installing a RDS host
- Publish applications.
Architecture
Upgrading the composer
Why not a new install you might wonder, I had a 5.3 environment running and I thought that many customers out there will be at that point. I get the question a lot on how much time and effort it takes to upgrade environments. A new installation is easier and has less impact, so I chose to write about the upgrade.
Still this upgrade was done is a lab environment with a nearly clean database, so to compare this with a live environment would be a bit too much I know but at least you will see the steps it requires and be able to make a plan for your own environment.
Prerequisites
- Microsoft Windows 2008R2 STD/ENT
- Microsoft Windows 2008R2 SP1 STD/ENT
- Microsoft Windows 2012 R2
- 4GB Memory required, 8GB with 50 vm’s or more.
- 40GB Disk space minimum, 60GB recommended
- Microsoft SQL server 2008 Express R2 SP2
- Microsoft SQL server 2008 R2 SP2 STD/ENT
- Microsoft SQL server 2012 R2 STD/ENT
Upgrade process
The wizard will fill in the ODBC entry and the username if it find the entry. You need to enter the password to connect to the database.
You have the option to create a new SSL certificate but likely you will have a certificate operational already assuming you come from 5.x where certificates were needed also.
Click on Use an Existing SSL Certificate and pick the one you’re using now, I forgot to take a screenshot there so you have to believe me on my word that you can pick the correct one there.
Nothing else left than to install the software, actually we do an upgrade but that’s not visual anywhere.
After the upgrade you will notice in the services overview that the composer service is renamed to Horizon view composer.