Ubuntu OVA for Horizon

Ubuntu OVA for Horizon is a pre-packaged OVA built on Ubuntu that automates the configuration needed for a Linux Desktop Template to be used in a VMware Horizon 7.1 environment. Ubuntu Desktop is the perfect Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) alternative to Windows for VDI Admins who are looking to move away from a Windows-centric desktop delivery:

OVA Overview

Base image is Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS
VMware HW v11 (requires ESXi 6.0 U2+)
Default username/password is viewadmin/viewadmin
The VM includes 2 scripts: horizon-optimizer.sh which configures the VM to Best Practices per Horizon 7 Documentation, and linux-agent-installer.sh which assists in the Horizon View Agent installation.
Additional system tweaks and applications may be necessary for your needs.
Due to licensing limitations, the Horizon Agent is currently not built into the OVA. It must be downloaded manually after booting and running the optimization script.
The OVA has been tested with Windows 2003, 2008, 2012, and comparable Samba Domains.

User permissions to deploy OVA/OVF
Optimization script requires VM to have network access
VM must be able to resolve https://raw.githubusercontent.com
Domain Admin privileges (if joining to the domain)
vSphere 6.0 U2, or later
vSphere 6.5 or later
ESXi 6.0 U2 or later
Horizon Connection Server 7.1 or later
Horizon Client 4.4 or later
Comprehensive list of System Requirements for Horizon 7 for Linux here

Download the pre-packaged OVA and deploy to your datacenter
Boot up the VM
Open a console to the VM and login as:
```
viewadmin/viewadmin
```
Internet access is required to run the optimization script:
```
 sudo dhclient
```

Update the system by typing:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Invoke the optimization script by typing:
```
su root –c ./horizon-optimizer.sh
```
Enter the root password
```
(viewadmin)
```
Follow the prompts

Once complete, you can manually install the VMware Horizon Agent following the official instructions here, or you can download the Horizon Agent, and invoke the horizon-linux-installer.sh script by typing:

su root –c ./linux-agent-installer.sh

Proceed to building your Linux Desktop Pools

Features

Built from Ubuntu’s mini.iso for a minimal footprint
Configures your Timezone
Updates admin (viewadmin) and root passwords
Configures DNS Servers
Disables automatic updates (except for security updates)
Sets default run level to 5
Sets FQDN in /etc/hosts
Installs Horizon Agent dependencies
Installs Winbind
Configures krb5.conf
Configures smb.conf
New user home directory config
Optimizes login screen for VDI
Removes guest login
Installs Drivers & Media codecs
Domain Join is optional and occurs using Winbind. Other domain-join methods require manual configuration
Winbind default domain flag is optional (required for SSO)
Utilizes MATE DE (fork from GNOME 2)
OVA RAM configured for 2GB per best practice
OVA CPU configured for 2vCPU per best practice
OVA vRAM configured to 128 MB per best practice
SVGA properties configured to best practice
LTS Upgrade notifications disabled

Limitations

Support for 1 Domain Controller
Support for 2D desktops only

Key Considerations

Your Active Directory may have different encryption type requirements. These can be modified in krb5.conf
After rebooting, you can run the command wbinfo –g to see your AD groups. This also confirms you are joined to the domain
This script defaults the Winbind Separator to “+” in smb.conf. You can change it depending on your needs. More info here.
Using Winbind means each clone must re-join the domain after creation. You can create a local script on each clone to perform this, but it would require domain admin credentials in plaintext. In a production environment, it is recommended to remotely join your clones to the domain using PowerCLI or SSH.
Consider deleting the scripts from /home/viewadmin/ prior to creating your clones

Troubleshooting

Domain Join
Joining the domain can fail for many reasons.

If the VM failed to join the domain during the script, attempt manually joining again after the reboot.

kinit username@DOMAIN.COM

klist

(to verify you received a ticket)

net ads join -U username%password

net ads testjoin

(should say “Join is OK” if it worked)

If you consistently get the error This operation is only allowed for the PDC of the domain try

realm join -U username@DOMAIN.COM domaincontroller@domain.com

Verify your hosts, KRB5 and SMB configuration files reflect the correct addresses and IP addresses.
Verify there is no time drift between the Ubuntu VM and the DCs. You may need to reconfigure NTP.
As a last resort, adding the DC FQDN to /etc/hosts can help nudge the domain join along

Agent Status

If your Horizon Agent status is Unreachable or Waiting for Agent, review the official troubleshooting guide here.

Additionally, some environments may require you to add the Connection Server IP/FQDN to the /etc/hosts file. This usually indicates an environmental DNS issue.

v1.1.0

MATE Only Release
Increased vRAM to 128 MB instead of Automatic
Removed Audio Device
Updated default network device to VMXNET3
Updated repository for open-vm-tools to Ubuntu repo
Added Horizon 7.1 Agent Dependencies
Updated Dependency packages for Ubuntu 16.04 on Horizon 7.1
Agent installer script updated with Horizon 7.1 links
Updated Media Codec packages for Ubuntu 16.04
Updated MATE packages to Xenial
More reliable domain join
Password update optional
Timezone update optional
Option to change hostname
Desktop addons optional
Added retry attempts for failed wgets of smb and krb5 configuration files
Renamed ‘horizon-linux-installer.sh’ to ‘linux-agent-installer.sh