2V0-51.23 Practice Exam Questions with Answers VMware Horizon 8.x Professional Certification

The two options that are available for the administrator to make the shortcut available to all desktop pool users, while minimizing ongoing administrative effort, before updating the desktop pool golden image are:

• Copy the shortcut to c:\users\Public\Desktop. This option will place the shortcut in the public desktop folder, which is shared by all users who log on to the same computer. The public desktop folder is normally a hidden folder, so the administrator needs to enable the option to show hidden files and folders in File Explorer1. This option does not require any additional software or configuration, but it will only work for the existing desktops in the pool. If new desktops are added or refreshed, the shortcut will not be copied automatically.
• Configure a Shortcut with DEM (Dynamic Environment Manager). This option will use the DEM console to create a shortcut configuration that will apply the shortcut to the user’s desktop during logon2. The administrator needs to install and configure DEM on the Horizon environment, and create a configuration share and a profile archive share for storing the DEM settings3. This option requires more initial setup, but it will work for any desktop in the pool, regardless of whether it is new or refreshed. It also allows more flexibility and control over the shortcut properties and conditions.

The other options are not valid or feasible because:

• Copying the shortcut during user provisioning to a non-writeable App Volume will not work because App Volumes are used to deliver applications, not shortcuts. App Volumes are virtual disks that are attached to the virtual machines at runtime, and they contain application files, registry entries, and settings4. Copying a shortcut to an App Volume will not make it appear on the user’s desktop.
• Copying the shortcut to the Windows Default Domain Controller Policy will not work because this policy is used to configure settings for domain controllers, not desktops. The Default Domain Controller Policy is a Group Policy Object (GPO) that is linked to the Domain Controllers organizational unit (OU) in Active Directory, and it contains security settings that are applied to all domain controllers in the domain5. Copying a shortcut to this policy will not affect any desktops in the Horizon environment.
• Configuring a Shortcut with Horizon View Client will not work because Horizon View Client is used to connect to remote desktops and applications, not to create shortcuts. Horizon View Client is a software application that runs on various devices and platforms, and it allows users to access their virtual desktops and applications through a secure connection6. Configuring a shortcut with Horizon View Client will not make it appear on the user’s desktop.

References:

• How to make a desktop shortcut available for all users in Windows 101
• VMware Dynamic Environment Manager (DEM) 2306 – Carl Stalhood2
• VMware Tech Zone Antivirus Considerations in a VMware Horizon Environment: exclusions for Horizon View, App Volumes, User Environment Manager, ThinApp3
• App Volumes Overview
• Default Domain Controller Policy5
• VMware Horizon Clients Documentation6

Integrating a Linux OS-based desktop into Active Directory can be achieved using Winbind for domain joining and authentication, Windows Domain Join through tools like Samba, and System Security Services Daemon (SSSD) for LDAP authentication against Active Directory. These methods enable Linux desktops to participate in a Windows-centric environment, allowing for centralized authentication and management.

If the Horizon Console does not display the health status of configured Unified Access Gateways (UAGs), it could be due to improper firewall configuration blocking traffic on port 443, which is essential for secure communication. Additionally, a discrepancy between the system name in UAG and the name entered in the Horizon Console can also prevent the console from correctly retrieving and displaying the UAG's health status.

The default URL used to access the Horizon Console is https:// /admin, where is the fully qualified domain name of the Connection Server instance. This URL allows you to log in to Horizon Console by using a secure (TLS) connection. You can also use the IP address of the Connection Server instance instead of the FQDN, but this might result in blocked access or reduced security due to certificate mismatch. You cannot use https://localhost to connect from the Connection Server host, but you can use https://127.0.0.1 instead. The other options are not valid URLs for Horizon Console.  References: Log In to Horizon Console

JPEG/PNG - Still images.

H.264: Rapidly moving content and motion graphics such as streaming video, video editing, and gaming.

HEVC: Rapidly moving content on a low bandwidth resource.

Proprietary Blast codec: Low-motion graphics, high-quality graphics such as Photoshop, and AutoCAD.

To create an instant-clone desktop pool, you must first create a golden image virtual machine and take a snapshot of it in a powered-down state. This snapshot provides the base image for the clones. You cannot create an instant-clone desktop pool from a VM template or a powered-on VM. Therefore, the administrator must take a snapshot of the VM that is the golden image before creating the new desktop pool. References: Create an Instant-Clone Desktop Pool and Instant Clone Desktop Pools

In VMware Horizon, to designate a Home Site for a user, you would use the "Cloud Pod Architecture" feature, which allows you to set home sites and manage global entitlements across multiple pods and sites in a Horizon environment.

In the exhibit's menu on the left, you should click on "Cloud Pod Architecture" to proceed with designating a Home Site for a user.

To access the settings and status of a pool in VMware Horizon, an administrator would navigate to the Inventory > Desktops section of the Horizon Console. By selecting a specific pool, the administrator can view detailed information in the Summary section, including Pool Settings and the status of the image used during the pool's deployment, providing insights into the pool's configuration and operational status.

Writable Volumes are user-specific virtual disks that store user-installed applications, data, and settings. App Volumes is a real-time application delivery system that uses Writable Volumes to deliver applications that are not multi-user aware. However, sometimes it might be necessary to prevent App Volumes from persisting specific data between sessions, such as temporary files, application updates, or registry keys. To do this, administrators can specify exclusions for Writable Volumes in a policy file called snapvol.cfg.

The snapvol.cfg file is a text file that contains policy settings for App Volumes. These settings determine which files and registry keys are captured or excluded by App Volumes. The snapvol.cfg file can be customized by administrators to suit different needs and scenarios. The snapvol.cfg file can be applied to both application packages and Writable Volumes.

To specify exclusions for Writable Volumes, administrators can use the following keywords in the snapvol.cfg file:

• exclude_uwv_file: This keyword excludes a file or folder path from being persisted on a Writable Volume. For example, exclude_uwv_file=\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++ excludes the folder location of Notepad++ from being overwritten during an update.
• exclude_uwv_reg: This keyword excludes a registry key or value from being persisted on a Writable Volume. For example, exclude_uwv_reg=\REGISTRY\MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Notepad++ excludes the registry location of Notepad++ from being overwritten during an update.

The snapvol.cfg file must be uploaded to the Writable Volume by using the Update Writable Volumes feature in App Volumes Manager. The exclusions will take effect after the user logs off and logs back in to the desktop.

The other options are not valid files for specifying exclusions for Writable Volumes:

• config.ini: This file is used to configure the App Volumes agent settings, such as the App Volumes Manager address, the logging level, and the SSL certificate validation.
• svservice.log: This file is used to record the App Volumes agent log messages, such as the agent status, the package attachment, and the error messages.
• json.cfg: This file does not exist in App Volumes.

References: Writable Volume Exclusions, Policy Files (snapvol.cfg) in App Volumes, and [VMware Horizon 8.x Professional Course]

Unified Access Gateway (UAG) is a secure gateway appliance that provides access to VMware Horizon based resources such as virtual desktops, RDSH-based applications, and physical Windows machines. UAG supports multiple authentication methods and protocols, such as SAML, OAuth, and RADIUS, to provide secure access to end users from any device and location. UAG also provides edge services such as load balancing, high availability, and firewall rules to optimize the performance and availability of Horizon based resources12. References := 1: VMware Horizon Architecture Planning: Unified Access Gateway 2: VMware Unified Access Gateway Administration Guide: Introduction to Unified Access Gateway

One of the benefits of using virtual machines is that they are independent of physical hardware. This means that they can run on any compatible host machine, regardless of the underlying hardware components. This also enables them to be migrated, moved, or copied easily from one host to another, without requiring any reconfiguration or installation. This enhances the flexibility and portability of virtual machines, as well as their availability and disaster recovery.

Another benefit of using virtual machines is that they are faster to provision than physical machines. This is because they can be created from templates or snapshots, which contain preconfigured operating systems and applications. This reduces the time and effort needed to install and configure software on each machine. Moreover, virtual machines can be cloned or duplicated quickly, allowing for rapid scaling and deployment of multiple identical instances.

References :=

• Virtual Machines Overview
• Creating and Provisioning Virtual Machines
• Migrating Virtual Machines

VMware Horizon's Dynamic Environment Manager (DEM) allows for the creation of Horizon Smart Policies with conditions that can be applied based on various criteria, including time of day. By utilizing DEM, an administrator can create policies that restrict certain actions, such as saving data to client devices, outside of specified business hours (5PM to 9AM in this case), thus achieving the desired control over user activities based on the time of day.

For instant-clone operations in Active Directory, the user account used by VMware Horizon needs specific permissions to manage computer objects effectively. These include the ability to create and delete child objects and computer objects, as well as read and write all properties of those objects. These permissions ensure that Horizon can create, modify, and clean up computer accounts associated with instant clones, facilitating seamless desktop provisioning and management.

To entitle users and groups to pools, you need to perform the following steps:

• During pool creation in the entitlement pane, click on add, search for users and groups in the Active Directory, continue and finish the pool creation. This option allows you to entitle users and groups to a desktop or application pool at the same time as you create the pool3.
• Navigate to Inventory > Desktops > check mark a pool > click on Add Entitlement. This option allows you to add entitlements to an existing desktop or application pool after you create the pool4.
• Navigate to Users and Groups > Entitlements > click on Entitlements > click on Add Entitlements, search for users and groups in the Users pane and add the desired desktop pool in the next pane Desktop Pools. This option allows you to review and manage the entitlements for users and groups from a single location5.

The other options are not required or valid for entitling users and groups to pools. Running the Active Directory entitlement script in the golden master is not necessary as Horizon 8 automatically synchronizes with Active Directory domains that are configured in Horizon Console6. Specifying the desired Active Directory OU for the VMs during pool creation does not automatically add the preconfigured associated user group to the Horizon entitlements as you still need to select the users or groups from the search results7. References := 3: VMware Horizon 8 Documentation: Add Entitlements During Pool Creation 4: VMware Horizon 8 Documentation: Add Entitlements After Pool Creation 5: VMware Horizon 8 Documentation: Review and Manage Entitlements 6: VMware Horizon 8 Documentation: Active Directory Requirements for Horizon Connection Server 7: VMware Horizon 8 Documentation: Create an Automated Desktop Pool

Windows golden image optimization is the process of reducing the size and improving the performance of the Windows OS image that is used as the base for the desktop pools. Some of the best practices for Windows golden image optimization are:

• Disable unnecessary services: Services that are not required for the desktop functionality or user experience should be disabled to reduce the resource consumption and potential security risks. For example, services such as Windows Search, Windows Defender, Windows Update, and Superfetch can be disabled for better performance and stability.
• Disable power options: Power options such as hibernation and sleep mode should be disabled to free up disk space and avoid potential issues with the desktop state. Hibernation can consume a large amount of disk space by creating a hiberfil.sys file that stores the system memory contents when the desktop is powered off. Sleep mode can cause problems with network connectivity and user sessions when the desktop is resumed from a low-power state.

Other best practices for Windows golden image optimization include:

• Activate Windows OS paging: Paging is a mechanism that allows the OS to use a portion of the disk as virtual memory when the physical memory is insufficient. Paging can improve the performance and stability of the desktops by preventing out-of-memory errors and reducing memory contention. However, paging can also increase disk I/O and wear, so it should be configured with caution and monitored regularly.
• Turn off automatic Windows maintenance (scheduled tasks): Automatic Windows maintenance is a feature that runs various tasks such as disk defragmentation, disk cleanup, security scanning, and system diagnostics in the background. These tasks can consume a lot of CPU, memory, and disk resources and interfere with the user experience and desktop performance. Therefore, it is recommended to turn off automatic Windows maintenance and run these tasks manually or on a scheduled basis when the desktops are not in use.
• Turn off automatic Windows Updates: Automatic Windows Updates is a feature that downloads and installs updates for the OS and other Microsoft products in the background. These updates can consume bandwidth, disk space, and CPU resources and cause compatibility issues with some applications or drivers. Therefore, it is recommended to turn off automatic Windows Updates and manage the updates manually or through a centralized tool such as VMware Update Manager or Microsoft WSUS. References: [Optimizing Your VMware Horizon View 7.x Golden Image] and [VMware Horizon 8.x Professional Course]

Horizon Connection Server instances keep their data in an AD LDS database, which is automatically synchronized between the Connection Server. AD LDS is a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) directory service that provides flexible support for directory-enabled applications, without the dependencies that are required for Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). AD LDS provides much of the same functionality as AD DS, but it does not require the deployment of domains or domain controllers. In a Horizon environment, each Connection Server instance has a copy of the AD LDS database and replicates changes to other Connection Server instances in the same pod. This ensures that the Connection Server instances have consistent and up-to-date information about the Horizon resources and user sessions12 References:

• Configuring Horizon Connection Server1
• Understanding VMware Horizon Services2

Access groups are a way of organizing and delegating the administration of machines, desktop pools, application pools, and farms in Horizon. By default, all these objects reside in the root access group, which appears as / or Root (/) in Horizon Console. A high-level administrator can create sub-access groups under the root access group and assign different permissions to different administrators for each access group. For example, a high-level administrator can create an access group called RDS Farms and assign the Inventory Administrators role to a junior-level administrator for that access group. This way, the junior-level administrator can see and manage all the RDS farms that are in the RDS Farms access group, but not the ones that are in other access groups or the root access group. Therefore, to correct the issue of a junior-level administrator not being able to see all RDS farms, a high-level administrator needs to make changes to the access groups and the permissions associated with them. References: Understanding Permissions and Access Groups and [VMware Horizon 8.x Professional Course]

C:\Users\Waqas Shahid\Desktop\Mudassir\Untitled.jpg

• SAML -> Connects the client to Workspace ONE Access
• Certificate Authority -> Issues certificates for vrm and Enrollment Server
• Connection Server -> Connects vrm to Active Directory
• Enrollment Server -> Connects Workspace ONE Access to vrm

You can find more information about the Simple True 5SO Architecture in the VMware Horizon 8.x Professional source documents or study guide1. This architecture is a simplified version of the True SSO Architecture, which allows users to log in to their virtual desktops and applications without entering credentials multiple times. The Simple True 5SO Architecture uses Workspace ONE Access as the identity provider, which authenticates users with SAML and issues SAML assertions. The Enrollment Server then uses the SAML assertions to request short-lived certificates from the Certificate Authority, which are used to authenticate users to the Connection Server. The Connection Server then connects users to their virtual desktops and applications through vrm, which is integrated with Active Directory2.

References:

• VMware Horizon 8.x Professional
• Simple True SSO Architecture

One of the possible reasons that the administrator is not seeing the printers within his Horizon Desktop session is that printing is disabled in the Horizon Desktop Pool. Printing is a feature that allows users to print from a remote desktop to any local or network printer available on their client device. Printing can be enabled or disabled for each desktop pool by using the VMware Integrated Printing feature.

VMware Integrated Printing is a feature that supports client printer redirection, location-based printing, and persistent print settings. Client printer redirection enables users to print from a remote desktop to any local or network printer available on their client device. Location-based printing enables users to print to network printers that are physically near their client device. Persistent print settings enable users to retain their print settings across sessions.

To enable or disable printing for a desktop pool, the administrator needs to follow these steps:

• In Horizon Console, select Inventory > Desktops.
• Select the desktop pool and click Edit.
• In the Edit Desktop Pool dialog box, select the VMware Integrated Printing tab.
• Select or clear the Enable VMware Integrated Printing check box.
• Click OK.

If printing is disabled for a desktop pool, users will not see any printers within their Horizon Desktop session, even if they have installed the VMware Integrated Printing feature in the Horizon Agent and the Horizon Client. Therefore, to resolve this issue, the administrator needs to enable printing for the desktop pool by selecting the Enable VMware Integrated Printing check box.

The other options are not likely to be the reason that the administrator is not seeing the printers within his Horizon Desktop session:

• Port TCP 9427 is disabled: This port is used by the VMware Integrated Printing feature for communication between the Horizon Agent and the Horizon Client. If this port is disabled, users might experience printing errors or delays, but they should still see the printers within their Horizon Desktop session.
• The VMware Integrated Printing feature is not installed in the Horizon Client: This feature is installed by default in the Horizon Client for Windows, Mac, Linux, Chrome, and HTML Access. If this feature is not installed in the Horizon Client, users might not be able to print from their remote desktops, but they should still see the printers within their Horizon Desktop session.
• Port TCP 32111 is disabled: This port is used by ThinPrint for communication between the Horizon Agent and the ThinPrint Client. ThinPrint is a legacy printing feature that has been replaced by VMware Integrated Printing. If this port is disabled, users might experience printing errors or delays with ThinPrint, but they should still see the printers within their Horizon Desktop session if they use VMware Integrated Printing.

References: Configuring VMware Integrated Printing, Enable or Disable Printing for a Desktop Pool, and [VMware Horizon 8.x Professional Course]

Thin Clients and Zero Clients have the lowest cost of ownership and are easier to manage due to their minimalistic design, which lacks a full operating system, resulting in fewer components that require updates. These clients are designed for remote desktop services like VMware Horizon, where the computing work is done on the server side, making firmware updates and monitoring simpler and more centralized.

An Automated Desktop Pool using Dedicated Full Clone Virtual Machines best meets the requirements because it ensures end-users always receive the same desktop VM, supports backups with VMware's image-based backup tools, and allows for cloning via the vSphere API on a weekly basis. Full clones are standalone VMs that don't depend on a parent VM after being created, making them suitable for image-based backups and consistent user experience.