Our DaaS offering just got an upgrade! Version 9 now available

Desktop as a Service provisioning and management just got even easier!  Read on to know the top enhancements and changes done in the latest release.

Security

• Admins can now remove the domain dropdown from HTML5 portal and Horizon Client.
• Users are now able to change the way VDI is displayed in Horizon Client.
• The account used for domain join operations within the DaaS VDI now supports a reduced set of permissions within the Active-Directory.
• A secondary account is now required for the LDAP connection to Active-Directory to ensure users don’t lose the access to the portal.

Management

• RDSH Farms can now be deployed via the new Farms section of the portal.
• Maintenance for RDSH farms can now be done on a per-VM basis instead of a per-Assignment basis allowing admins to redirect user logons to specific VMs during maintenance.
• A fully supported True SSO (Single-Sign On) has been added.
• Automatic update of VMware agents on VDI is now available.
• The option to display a maintenance message to end users when taking a pool offline has been removed.
• Console access to VDI is now available via the Horizon DaaS Admin portal.

Customer Interface

• The latest version of the VMware Horizon Client (v2106) is now supported by the VMware Horizon DaaS environment.
• Multiple stability issues have been resolved and bug fixes have been applied to improve performance and reliability.
• DaaS agents and Horizon Client have been updated resulting in quicker connection times into the VDI.

Planning to upgrade soon? Check out these FAQs.

How do I upgrade?

The upgrade from Horizon DaaS v8.0.1 to v9 comes in two steps – first the update in the portal  and second, through DaaS agents on the VDI.

The first step requires about a 30-45 minute outage for us to complete the upgrade of the Horizon DaaS portal. At this stage no changes are needed to be made to the VDI as they will simply reconnect to the new portal. Nothing changes from the end-user perspective.

Then for the second step, another outage is required in upgrading the VMware DaaS Agents on the VDI. If you are comfortable with remoting into the VDI to run the upgrade we are happy to share the instructions with you and even take snapshots in the backend to provide a quick restore point. Alternatively, we can book in an outage window to complete the upgrade on your behalf.

For both steps to get the process started you simply need to submit a ticket to support asking for us to book in the upgrade and what your preferred outage window is.

Do I need to make any changes to my end-users PCs/laptops?

The only thing you need to do is ensure that the end-users are running v5.2.0 of the VMware Horizon Client, older versions of the client may work with DaaS v9 but we can’t provide any guarantee that it will be stable or run correctly.

We recommend installing the latest available Horizon Client on all of the PCs/Laptops connecting to DaaS to ensure there will be no issues after the upgrade. 

Is there any cost involved in the upgrade?

This is the best part! There are no additional costs involved, all of the work to complete the upgrade is part of our regular support.

We’d be glad to help you with the upgrade! All you need to do is book in a time and we can handle the rest for you.