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  • Learning the Basics of VMware Horizon 7.12 – Part 12 – Using Update Manager with Instant Clones and Creating Additional Machines

    June 16, 2020

    Blog, VMware

    [Updated 4-Sep-2021]

    Shortly after learning VMware Horizon, I used Update Manager to apply VMware updates to my cluster. I was shocked when my hosts would never enter Maintenance Mode. I asked a question on Twitter about this issue, and a friend directed me to look at https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2144808.

    That KB article explains the process to follow on how to use Update Manager with Instant Clones. Unfortunately, my Update Manager shows no updates of any kind to ESXi 6.7U3 since 27-Apr-2020. Even though there are no updates to apply, I’ll still walk through the process for you because it isn’t that hard.

    Using Update Manager

    From the vSphere HTML Client, from the toolbar, click Menu, then click VMs and Templates, as shown in Figure 1.

    Figure 1
    Figure 1

    To see all the Instant Clone Parent VMs, expand all the Instant Clone folders, as shown in Figure 2.

    Figure 2
    Figure 2

    Switch to Hosts and Clusters view. From the toolbar, click Menu, then click Hosts and Clusters, as shown in Figure 3. You can also click the Hosts and Clusters icon, as shown in Figure 4.

    Figure 3
    Figure 3
    Figure 4
    Figure 4

    Select the host that you want to put into Maintenance Mode. Look up Annotations in the host’s Summary tab, Custom Attributes, and see that InstantClone.Maintenance is set to 0, as shown in Figure 5.

    Figure 5
    Figure 5

    Click Edit, as shown in Figure 6.

    Figure 6
    Figure 6

     Change InstantClone.Maintenance to 1, and click OK, as shown in Figure 7.

    Figure 7
    Figure 7

    Repeat for every Host in the cluster.

    After a brief amount of time, less than 10 seconds in my lab, all the Parent VMs are deleted, as shown in Figures 8 and 9.

    Figure 8
    Figure 8
    Figure 9
    Figure 9

    The InstantClone.Maintenance value is changed to 2, as shown in Figure 10.

    Figure 10
    Figure 10

    You can now put the Host into Maintenance Mode, as shown in Figure 11, or let Update Manager handle putting each Host in and out of Maintenance Mode  (my preference, but I have no updates).

    Figure 11
    Figure 11

    Click OK, as shown in Figure 12.

    Figure 12
    Figure 12

    The Host is placed in Maintenance Mode, as shown in Figure 13.

    Figure 13
    Figure 13

    When Update Manager is complete, all Hosts should be out of Maintenance Mode. As Figure 14 shows, the value for InstantClone.Maintenance is still set to 2.

    Figure 14
    Figure 14

    For each host, edit the InstantClone.Maintenance value and set it to 0, as shown in Figure 15.

    Figure 15
    Figure 15

    As new provisioning happens, parent VMs and then instant clones are created again.

    Figure 16 shows that even though the hosts are out of Maintenance Mode and the InstantClone.Maintenance value is no longer 1 or 2; the original Parent VMs did not recreate.

    Figure 16
    Figure 16

    As you can tell, updating a host or all the hosts in a cluster with or without Update Manager is not that hard.

    Creating Additional Machines

    Since vCenter (or some VMware internal process) deleted the Parent VMs, now is a good time to create additional machines.

    Back in Chapter 10, when we tested accessing published resources, we only had one Windows 10 virtual desktop and one Server 2019 RDS server. Let’s go through creating two additional Windows 10 machines and one additional Server 2019 RDS machine.

    Back on the Connection Server, log in to the Connection Server console.

    In the left frame, under Inventory, click Desktops, as shown in Figure 17.

    Figure 17
    Figure 17

    Select the VDI Pool and click Edit, as shown in Figure 18.

    Figure 18
    Figure 18

    Click Provisioning Settings, as shown in Figure 19.

    Figure 19
    Figure 19

    Change the Max Number of Machines to 3 and click OK, as shown in Figure 20.

    Figure 20
    Figure 20

    After a few seconds, Figure 21 shows the Parent VMs created.

    Figure 21
    Figure 21

    After a brief interval, you will see the two additional Windows 10 VDI machines in vCenter, as shown in Figure 22.

    Figure 22
    Figure 22

    Click on the VDI Pool, as shown in Figure 23.

    Figure 23
    Figure 23

    Click on Machines, then Machines (Instant Clone Details), as shown in Figure 24, and then Figures 25 and 26 show Machine details.

    Figure 24
    Figure 24
    Figure 25
    Figure 25
    Figure 26
    Figure 26

    Now to add the additional RDS server.

    In the left frame, under Inventory, click Farms, as shown in Figure 27.

    Figure 27
    Figure 27

    Select the RDS Farm and click Edit, as shown in Figure 28.

    Figure 28
    Figure 28

    Click Provisioning Settings, as shown in Figure 29.

    Figure 29
    Figure 29

    Change the Max Number of Machines to 2 and click OK, as shown in Figure 30.

    Figure 30
    Figure 30

    After a few seconds, you will see the additional Parent VMs and the additional RDS Server show in vCenter, as shown in Figure 31.

    Figure 31
    Figure 31

    Click on the RDS Farm, as shown in Figure 32.

    Figure 32
    Figure 32

    Click on RDS Hosts, as shown in Figure 33.

    Figure 33
    Figure 33

    Figure 34 shows details on the RDS Hosts.

    Figure 34
    Figure 34

    There are now additional machines if you wish to go back through Chapter 10 Accessing Resources and verify that each test user can access a Windows 10 virtual desktop.

    ControlUp

    With additional Instant Clone machines available, the desktop pool machines add to the ControlUp console.

    In the ControlUp console, click the Home tab and click Add Machines, as shown in Figure 35.

    Figure 35
    Figure 35

    Click Search, select the updated desktop pool machines, and click Add, as shown in Figure 36.

    Figure 36
    Figure 36

    Click OK, as shown in Figure 37.

    Figure 37
    Figure 37

    The machines are added to the console, as shown in Figure 38.

    Figure 38
    Figure 38

    If you want, move the machines to your Horizon folder.

    Note: The machines are automatically placed in the selected folder if you select the Horizon folder before clicking Add Machines.

    Figure 39 shows the updated machines with a Ready status, which means ControlUp is now getting detailed monitoring data. We will use the desktop pool machines in Part 14.

    Figure 39
    Figure 39

    Up next: Dynamic Environment Manager







    About Carl Webster

    Carl Webster is an independent consultant specializing in Citrix, Active Directory, and technical documentation. Carl (aka “Webster”) serves the broader Citrix community by writing articles (see CarlWebster.com) and by being the most active person in the Citrix Zone on Experts Exchange. Webster has a long history in the IT industry beginning with mainframes in 1977, PCs and application development in 1986, and network engineering in 2001. He has worked with Citrix products since 1990 with the premiere of their first product – the MULTIUSER OS/2.

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