In this post, I'll be sharing steps as how to install the Horizon View agent on RHEL 8.5 and also challenges that one might come across if working on Linux Agent machine for the first time.
The instruction shared in this blog is specific to RHEL 8.5 and it may vary for CentOS / Suse and Ubuntu.
For other distribution of Linux, I would highly recommend to go through "Setting Up Linux Desktops in Horizon"
NOTE: For Lab purpose, you can download the RHEL Trial version valid for 60 days from Redhat Website
Preparing Virtual machine:
1.Create a Virtual Machine on the vCenter and install RHEL 8.5.
2.VMware Tools is pre-installed on RHEL.
NOTE: If you upgrade the Linux kernel after installing VMware Tools, VMware Tools might stop running. To resolve the problem, refer to VMware KB article 2050592.
3.Map the Linux machine's host name to 127.0.0.1 in the /etc/hosts file.
NOTE: If you change the Linux machine's host name after installing Horizon Agent, you must map the new host name to 127.0.0.1 in the /etc/hosts file. Otherwise, the old host name continues to be used.
4.Make sure the RHEL Virtual Machine is registered else it will not allow to run update.
To Register the RHEL VM:
subscription-manager register
NOTE: Even after registration, if you are getting the message “subscription has expired add or renew subscription to continue receiving software” run below command in sequence as root user.
subscription-manager remove --all
subscription-manager unregister
subscription-manager clean
subscription-manager register
subscription-manager refresh
subscription-manager attach --auto
5.Update latest packages
yum update
To prepare the virtual machine for use in an automated instant-clone farm, in vSphere Client, disable the vApp Options setting on the virtual machine.
6.(RHEL and CentOS only) disable virbr0
virsh net-destroy default
virsh net-undefine default
service libvirtd restart
NOTE: Incase if you encounter an issue stating “virsh” command not found, you need to install the virt module by running below command
“yum module install virt”
7.To prepare a virtual machine for use as a multi-session host in a farm, install the required software packages.
For RHEL Workstation 8.x/7.x:
sudo yum install http://mirror.centos.org/centos/7/os/x86_64/Packages/cpptest-1.1.1-9.el7.x86_64.rpm
Installing Agent:
1.Download Horizon View Agent for Linux from https://customerconnect.vmware.com/downloads/
2.Install Dependency Packages for Horizon Agent. If not install, it will show below error during RPM installation.
NOTE: For other Linux distribution refer to VMware Document.
Mandatory Dependency packages:
yum install libappindicator-gtk3
3.Run rpm -ivh VMware-horizonagent-linux-xxxxx-xxxxxx.xx.x86_64.rpm
4.To check the status of the View agent run service viewagent status
4.Add the RHEL virtual machine to the manual desktop pool and add the entitlement.
5.Connect to the RHEL VDI VM using Horizon Client.