VMware Horizon View iAPP VDI + HTML5
Greetings! This is my first post and I am not an F5 guru but I am wondering if anyone has gotten all the ports working for VMware Horizon View and the latest iApp for Horizon View. I am specifically wondering if anyone has gotten HTML5 to the desktop working in their environment. We have 4 brokers all running View 5.2. Accessing the individual servers works fine using HTML5. When trying to add 8443 it appears like it will work but it looks like it failing on the connection to the Broker after Authentication. From a Network trace it appears we connect on 443 (authentication) to one broker and then when we try to connect to 8443 (HTML 5 access to the desktop) it fails. If I disable 3 of the 4 pool members it works every time. If I enable 2 of the 4 pool members if fails 50% of the time.... Any advice? Thanks!Inside Look - PCoIP Proxy for VMware Horizon View
I sit down with F5 Solution Architect Paul Pindell to get an inside look at BIG-IP's native support for VMware's PCoIP protocol. He reviews the architecture, business value and gives a great demo on how to configure BIG-IP. BIG-IP APM offers full proxy support for PC-over-IP (PCoIP), a leading virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) protocol. F5 is the first to provide this functionality which allows organizations to simplify their VMware Horizon View architectures. Combining PCoIP proxy with the power of the BIG-IP platform delivers hardened security and increased scalability for end-user computing. In addition to PCoIP, F5 supports a number of other VDI solutions, giving customers flexibility in designing and deploying their network infrastructure. ps Related: F5 Friday: Simple, Scalable and Secure PCoIP for VMware Horizon View Solutions for VMware applications F5's YouTube Channel In 5 Minutes or Less Series (24 videos – over 2 hours of In 5 Fun) Inside Look Series Life@F5 Series Technorati Tags: vdi,PCoIP,VMware,Access,Applications,Infrastructure,Performance,Security,Virtualization,silva,video,inside look,big-ip,apm Connect with Peter: Connect with F5:Multi-Stores Citrix environment BIG-IP APM
Introduction In this article we are going to discuss a use case, where we have multiple stores URIs hosted at the same Citrix StoreFront. Following Citrix deployment guide , we end up with the below policy configurations, The created Form Based Single Sign-On look like the below, Note, Make sure to validate the strart URI and form action if any customization done at store front side. Additional configurations In order to adjust the configurations to match our multi-store setup, we will follow the below, As a start we will need to replicate the SSO settings to match the number of hosted stores, below example for additional two stores (StoreB, StoreC) StoreB StoreC Then we create an iRule similar to the below and attach it to XML HTTPS virtual server created by the iapp. when ACCESS_ACL_ALLOWED { switch -glob -- [string tolower [HTTP::uri]] { /citrix/storea/explicitauth/login* { WEBSSO::select Citrix_storea_sso_form_based } /citrix/storeb/explicitauth/login* { WEBSSO::select Citrix_storeb_sso_form_based } /citrix/storec/explicitauth/login* { WEBSSO::select Citrix_storec_sso_form_based } } } At the end, we remove the SSO settings under the access policy to allow our iRule to control the SSO selection. References Citrix XenApp or XenDesktop deployment guide
Change Webtop Remote Desktop Icon
I have an access policy for VMware VDI and I can't seem to change the icons for my webtop/remote desktop links. The default icon is "terminal_service.png" located in /var/sam/www/webtop/public/images/full_wt I have changed this to an icon with the same dimensions (32px) in Access Policy>Customization>Basic>Remote Desktop and General>Branding>Remote Desktops but still the old icon is dispayed. Any ideas?VMware Horizon and F5 iAPP Deployments Backed by Ansible Automation
The Intro: A little over a year ago I knew barely anything about automation, zero about ansible, and didn't even think it would be something so tied to my life like it is now. I spend all my moments trying to think about how I can make Automation easier in my life, and being in Business Development I spend a lot of time testing F5 solutions and integrations between vendors (specifically between F5 and VMware as well as F5 and RedHat Ansible). I figured why not bring them a little closer together? It takes forever to build Labs and setup environments, and with automation I can do this in mere minutes compared to the hours it use to take (we are talking fresh builds, clean environments). I plan on sharing more about more of my VMware and Ansible automation integrations down the chain (like Horizon labs that can be built from scratch and ready to test in 30 minutes or less). But I wanted to start out with something that I get a lot of questions about:is it possible to automate iApp Deployments? Specifically the VMware Horizon iApp? The answer is YOU CAN NOW! grant you this like all automation is a work in progress. My suggestion is if you have a use case you want to build using what I have started with I encourage it!! TAKE, FORK and Expand!!!! The Code: All of the code I am using is completely accessible via the F5 DevCentral Git Repository and feel free to use it! What does it do? Well, if you are an F5 Guru then you might think it looks similar to how our AS3 code works, if you aren't a Guru its basically taking one set of variables and sending off a single command to the F5 to build the Application (I tell it the things that make it work, and how I want it deployed and it does all the work for me). Keep in mind this isn't using F5 AS3 code, it just mimics the same methods bytaking a JSON declaration of how I want things to be and the F5 does all of the imperative commands for me. --- - name: Build JSON payload ansible.builtin.template: src=f5.horizon.{{deployment_type |lower }}.j2 dest=/tmp/f5.horizon.json - name: Deploy F5 Horizon iApp f5networks.f5_modules.bigip_iapp_service: #Using Collections if not use - bigip_iapp_service: name: "VMware-Horizon" template: "{{iapp_template_name}}" parameters: "{{ lookup('template', '/tmp/f5.horizon.json') }}" provider: server: "{{f5_ip}}" user: "{{f5_user}}" password: "{{f5_pass}}" validate_certs: no delegate_to: localhost All of this code can be found at - https://github.com/f5devcentral/f5-bd-horizon-iapp-deploy/ Deployments: Using the F5 iApp for Horizon provided many options of deployment but they were all categorized into 3 buckets F5 APM with VMware Horizon - Where the F5 acts as the Gateway for all VMware Horizon Connections (Proxying PCoIP/Blast) F5 LTM with VMware Horizon - Internal Connections to an environment from a LAN and being able to secure and load balance Connection Servers F5 LTM with VMware Unified Access Gateway - Using the F5 to load balance the VMware Unified Access Gateways (UAGs) and letting the UAGs proxy the connections. The deployments offer the ability to utilize pre-imported certificates, set the Virtual IP, add additional Connection Servers, Create the iRule for internal connections (origin header check) and much more. All of this is dependent on your deployment and the way you need it setup. The current code doesn't import in the iApp Template nor the certificates, this could be done with other code but currently is not part of this code. All three of these deployment models are considered and part of the code and how its deployed is based on the variables file "{{code_directory}}/vars/horizon_iapp_vars.yml" as shown below. Keep in mind this is using clear text (i.e. username/password for AD) for some variables you can add other ways of securing your passwords like an Ansible VAULT. #F5 Authentication f5_ip: 192.168.1.10 f5_user: admin f5_pass: "my_password" f5_admin_port: 443 #All Deployment Types deployment_type: "apm" #option can be APM, LTM or UAG #iApp Variables iapp_vip_address: "172.16.192.100" iapp_template_name: "f5.vmware_view.v1.5.9" #SSL Info iapp_ssl_cert: "/Common/Wildcard-2022" # If want to use F5 Default Cert for Testing use "/Common/default.crt" iapp_ssl_key: "/Common/Wildcard-2022" # If want to use F5 Default Cert for Testing use "/Common/default.key" iapp_ssl_chain: "/#do_not_use#" #Horizon Info iapp_horizon_fqdn: "horizon.mycorp.com" iapp_horizon_netbios: "My-Corp" iapp_horizon_domainname: "My-Corp.com" iapp_horizon_nat_addresss: "" #enter NAT address or leave empty for none # LTM Deployment Type iapp_irule_origin: - "/Common/Horizon-Origin-Header" # APM and LTM Deployment Types iapp_horizon_connection_servers: - { ip: "192.168.1.50", port: "443" } # to add Connection Servers just add additional line - { ip: "192.168.1.51", port: "443" } #APM Deployment Type iapp_active_directory_username: "my_ad_user" iapp_active_directory_password: "my_ad_password" iapp_active_directory_password_encrypted: "no" # This is still being validated but requires the encrypted password from the BIG-IP iapp_active_directory_servers: - { name: "ad_server_1.mycorp.com", ip: "192.168.1.20" } # to add Active Directory Servers just add additional lines - { name: "ad_server_2.mycorp.com", ip: "192.168.1.21" } # UAG Deployment Type iapp_horizon_uag_servers: - { ip: "192.168.199.50", port: "443" } # to add UAG Servers Just add additional lines - { ip: "192.168.199.51", port: "443" } How do the Variables integrate with the Templates? The templates are JSON based code which Ansible will inject the variables into them depending on the deployment method called. This makes it easier to templates to specific deployments because we don't hard code specific values that aren't necessary or are part of the default deployments. Advanced Deployments would require modification of the JSON code to apply specialized settings that aren't apart of the default. If you want to see more about the templates for each operation (APM/LTM/UAG) check out the JSON Code at the link below: https://github.com/f5devcentral/f5-bd-horizon-iapp-deploy/tree/main/roles/ansible-deploy-iapp/templates The Results: Within seconds I can deploy, configure and make changes to my deployments or even change my deployment type. Could I do this in the GUI? Absolutely but the point is to Automate ALL THE THINGS, and being able to integrate this with solutions like Lab in a box (built from scratch including the F5) saves massive amounts of time. Example of a VMware Horizon iApp Deployment with F5 APM done in ~12 Seconds [root@Elysium f5-bd-horizon-iapp-deploy]# time ansible-playbook horizon_iapp_deploy.yaml PLAY [localhost] ******************************************************************************************************************************************************************** TASK [bypass-variables : ansible.builtin.stat] ************************************************************************************************************************************** ok: [localhost] TASK [bypass-variables : ansible.builtin.include_vars] ****************************************************************************************************************************** ok: [localhost] TASK [create-irule : Create F5 iRule] *********************************************************************************************************************************************** skipping: [localhost] TASK [ansible-deploy-iapp : Build JSON payload] ************************************************************************************************************************************* ok: [localhost] TASK [ansible-deploy-iapp : Deploy F5 Horizon iApp] ********************************************************************************************************************************* changed: [localhost] PLAY RECAP ************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** localhost : ok=4 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=1 rescued=0 ignored=0 real 0m11.954s user 0m6.114s sys 0m0.542s Links: All of this code can be found at - https://github.com/f5devcentral/f5-bd-horizon-iapp-deploy/
Multiple remote desktop (VMware View and RDP) on APM webtop
Hello, We use the F5 APM to present an portalaccess that present an RDP remote desktop to connect users to their RDP session for entreprise user's that need to do home office. We have now an new VDI VMware environement that going to replace the RDP environnement. So my question is : Can we present on the webtop portal both RDP remote desktop and VMware View remote desktop ? I trying to do that but if I present the RDP remote dektop the second VMware view desktop doesn't appear on my webtop ?? but if I present only the VMware view remote desktop it's appear on my webtop ?? Let my know if my question is not clear...my English is very bad. Thank you guys Regards,
F5 VMware VDI-VIEW without webtop
Hello, We are trying to deploy vdi-view on F5 using LTM and APM with the iAPP and it works as expected with AD authentication only. The problem is when we are using DUO for 2FA. When you launch the connection to the VDI desktop from the webtop directly it works as expected for both HTML5 and the client. The problem is when you try to launch it directly from the VDI Horizon client the authentication does not work. Is there a way to eliminate the Webtop from the equation and authenticate on the connection servers directly. In other words we would like no to have the webtop but the users to only be able to connect using the VDI Horizon client.
RSA SecurID pin reset vmware view horizon
hi, we have deployed apm as a full proxy for Vmware VDI infrastructure. We are using APM for authentication with AD + SecurID. Everything works great except the RSA Securid pin reset. when a user is asked to reset the pin, he gets the window to accept (no/yes), then nothing...just a window freezing. any hint ? thanks. om
Remove the Select Client popup from VMware Horizon iApp
Due to security controls, we must have all users use web based HTML (BLAST) access to VDI sessions. The iApp works great, except when you launch a desktop it show a popup to requesting the user select a client (either VMware Horizon or HTML5 Client). I have gone though the iApp template () and cannot find any reference to the popup. I have looked through the APM policy, session-policy and Webtops to see if it there, but I can't seem to find it. Any ideas how to disable this popup?
