VMware Horizon 8: Deploy and Manage — Lesson 1: Horizon architecture, connection servers, agents, clients, protocols, unified access gateways, load balancing, Active Directory, DNS, certificates, and design prerequisites

Learning Objectives

• Break down the prerequisites, components, roles, and decision points involved in Horizon architecture, connection servers, agents, clients, protocols, unified access gateways, load balancing, Active Directory, DNS, certificates, and design prerequisites.
• Complete a controlled activity for Horizon architecture, connection servers, agents, clients, protocols, unified access gateways, load balancing, Active Directory, DNS, certificates, and design prerequisites and capture Horizon deployment architecture and dependency checklist.
• Challenge the result with a connection server certificate lacking the name used by external clients, then justify the corrective action.

Detailed Topics

• Horizon architecture
• Connection servers
• Agents
• Clients
• Protocols
• Unified access gateways
• Load balancing
• Active Directory
• DNS
• Certificates
• And design prerequisites
• Decision ownership, prerequisites, and acceptance evidence for Horizon architecture, connection servers, agents, clients, protocols, unified access gateways, load balancing, Active Directory, DNS, certificates, and design prerequisites
• Relevant access, security, capacity, dependency, performance, recovery, and support considerations

Instructor Demonstration

The instructor builds a representative scenario for Horizon architecture, connection servers, agents, clients, protocols, unified access gateways, load balancing, Active Directory, DNS, certificates, and design prerequisites, narrating each decision and showing how it contributes to a deployable Horizon 8 environment with secure access, managed desktop pools, reliable images, application delivery, user profiles, monitoring, and repeatable day-two administration. The demonstration records Horizon deployment architecture and dependency checklist so learners can compare design intent with observable behavior.

Hands-On Exercise

Build or execute Horizon architecture, connection servers, agents, clients, protocols, unified access gateways, load balancing, Active Directory, DNS, certificates, and design prerequisites for a defined scenario. Introduce the condition “a connection server certificate lacking the name used by external clients,” inspect the evidence, correct the cause without discarding the audit trail, and document the accepted state in Horizon deployment architecture and dependency checklist.

1. Record the starting state, assumptions, identities, topology, and expected outcome.
2. Execute the planned workflow and collect evidence at each material checkpoint.
3. Test one valid path, one boundary condition, and the stated failure scenario.
4. Document the correction, retest result, rollback option, and follow-up owner.

Scenario Analysis

• Clarify the service trigger, affected components and roles, prerequisites, and acceptable result for Horizon architecture, connection servers, agents, clients, protocols, unified access gateways, load balancing, Active Directory, DNS, certificates, and design prerequisites.
• Compare at least two implementation or correction choices and identify which evidence would distinguish them.
• Decide how Horizon deployment architecture and dependency checklist should be reviewed, approved, retained, and handed to the next owner.

Troubleshooting Guidance

When Horizon architecture, connection servers, agents, clients, protocols, unified access gateways, load balancing, Active Directory, DNS, certificates, and design prerequisites produces an unexpected result, reproduce the issue with the same scope, identity, workload, and time context. Inspect Horizon deployment architecture and dependency checklist, test whether “a connection server certificate lacking the name used by external clients” explains the evidence, apply the smallest reversible correction, and retest an unaffected path for regression.

Validation Checklist

• The requirement for Horizon architecture, connection servers, agents, clients, protocols, unified access gateways, load balancing, Active Directory, DNS, certificates, and design prerequisites is linked to an owner and observable acceptance condition.
• Horizon deployment architecture and dependency checklist contains enough detail for another practitioner to repeat the check.
• Normal operation, one boundary condition, and the identified failure path have been tested.
• Access, security, downstream impact, rollback, monitoring, and support ownership are recorded.

Lesson Outcome

Learners can apply Horizon architecture, connection servers, agents, clients, protocols, unified access gateways, load balancing, Active Directory, DNS, certificates, and design prerequisites, explain the decisions made, and defend the result with Horizon deployment architecture and dependency checklist.