VCAP-DTA Section 7 – Configure and Optimize View Endpoints

Objective 7.1 – Perform View Client Installations

• Perform manual installation for desktop clients – I don’t think I’m stretching it by saying that I don’t think you’ll be asked to install the client to an Android or iOS device during the exam (after all, how can the moderators check that?). That then takes us to Mac, Linux and Windows. Again, as the EULA says you can’t install a virtual Mac, seems unlikely that will appear. That leaves Linux and Windows and as there aren’t typically that many Linux users around, I’d expect to just have to deploy the client on Windows. To install the Windows client manually, you typically go to the Connection Server from a web browser from the device you want to install the client on, and the browser should detect if you have the client or not. As the download link redirects you to vmware.com, it’s likely the installation files will have been staged in advance to save time.

• Once the client has been downloaded, run the client executable and click next to continue.
  • Accept the EULA and click Next.
  • Choose which client features you want, by default both USB Redirection and Login as current User are checked (the exam may ask you to disable some of these features).
  • Optionally enter the DNS name or IP address of the View Connection Server you want to connect to. Click Next.
  • Select single sign on behaviour, such as Show in Connection Dialog and Set Default Option to Login as Current User.
  • Click Next, choose where to place shortcuts (if required).
  • Click Next and click Install to complete.

• Configure silent installation options for desktop clients – To install the Windows client silently, execute the command line below, noting ADDLOCAL=CORE is mandatory!VMware-viewclient-y.y.y–xxxxxx.exe /s /v”/qn REBOOT=ReallySuppress VDM_SERVER=cs1.companydomain.com ADDLOCAL=Core,TSSO,USB”
•  Configure options for various clients – I’m not really sure what more can be added here. The View Client is generally a fairly simple beast, so really all I can think you may be asked to perform is to disable certificate checking (Options | Configure SSL). There is also a View Client ADM template you can import and use, and various settings can be configured here if you want to lock things down. There’s a good chance you’ll be asked to check something on the exam, so worth knowing what it’s capabilities are. The template settings guide is here, some example settings are shown below:-
  • Connect all USB devices to the desktop on launch (useful when the user has a couple of USB printers, scanners or smart card readers)
  • Server URL – Issues a default View Connection Server URL for the View Client
  • Certificate verification mode – Configures SSL certificate checking as noted above
  • Enable multi-media acceleration – Enables MMR on the client
• There aren’t that many admin template options to configure, so hopefully any exam question on this topic won’t hold you back too long. Just remember that some settings are for RDP only, so again watch out for sly tricks from the exam people!

Objective 7.2 – Upgrade View Clients

Again I’d expect that you’ll probably only be asked to play around with Windows View Clients, as other platforms in my experience make up the minority of users. Also, setting up non Windows platforms in a lab environment is probably a bit of a pain for VMware Education. As such, we’ll just focus on the Windows Client upgrades.

• Upgrade clients to support View server component upgrades  – Typically the back end components are upgraded first, so Connection and Security Servers, vCenter/ESXi if appropriate and the View Agent in the virtual desktop. Once that has been done, the focus changes to the end user’s View Client. This process is very quick and is simply a case of downloading the new client (either from the View Portal or elsewhere, I’m guessing it will be pre-staged for you) and running the installer. As we’ve all done client installers before and there are no gotchas here, I’m not going to document it blow by blow.
• Identify which clients are supported by VMware or OEMs – Again another pretty straight forward skill being tested. The rule of thumb here is that if the client is a “fat” device (so Windows, Linux or Mac desktop or iOS/Android mobile device) then the administrator can upgrade the client by using the appropriate installation mechanism (Windows Installer, RPM, iTunes etc.). If the client is a thin or zero client, updates to the client will generally come from the manufacturer in the form of firmware updates. I’m not entirely sure how this skill can be effectively tested in a practical environment, but there you go.
• Identify which clients are administrator or user downloadable – The View Portal is the place for end users to get the View Client and these links will usually send the end user to vmware.com to download the latest and greatest. So again, “fat” clients are generally user upgradable with appropriate permissions (administrator on Windows, for example) and thin clients where updates are performed by firmware updates are something only an administrator would do.
• Perform View Local Mode Client upgrade – Upgrading the View Client with Local Mode option is more or less the same as upgrading the regular View Client with a couple of exceptions. Firstly, you need to ensure the user has checked in their desktop before upgrading the client. If the end user has a View Client version 4.6.0 or earlier, they must check in their desktop first, remove the old client and then install the 5.2 client fresh once the back end desktop infrastructure has been upgraded.