Suvarna Garge (Editor)

VMware Horizon View

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Original author(s)
  
VMware

Development status
  
Active

Developer(s)
  
VMware

Type
  
Desktop virtualization

Stable release
  
7.0 / March 22, 2016 (2016-03-22)

Operating system
  
Windows, GNU/Linux, Mac OS X

VMware View is a commercial desktop-virtualization product developed by VMware, Inc. Its first two releases (2.0.0 and 2.1.0) sold under the name VMware VDM, but with the 3.0.0 release in 2008 VMware Inc. changed the name to "VMware View". "VMware View" became "Horizon View" with the launch of Horizon 6 in April 2014.

VMware View provides remote-desktop capabilities to users using VMware's virtualization technology. A client desktop operating-system - typically Microsoft Windows 7, Vista or XP - runs within a virtual environment on a server. The VMware View product has a number of components which are required to provide the virtual desktops, including:

  • VMware vSphere for Desktops (includes ESXi, VMware's hypervisor)
  • VMware vCenter Server (management of virtualization environment)
  • View Composer (advanced View management, with automation and cloning)
  • View Manager (administration of the View Environment)
  • View Client (communication between View and the desktop OS)
  • VMware ThinApp (application virtualization)
  • View Persona Management (user profile management)
  • vShield Endpoint (offloaded desktop antivirus)

    • Although VMware licenses vSphere hypervisor per physical CPU-socket, it licenses VMware View per concurrent desktop. The bundled hypervisor, vSphere for Desktops, is functionally equivalent to vSphere Enterprise Plus.

    VMware View has two licensing options, Enterprise and Premier. Enterprise comes with vSphere for Desktops, vCenter Server, and View Manager, and has an MSRP of $150 per concurrent desktop. View Composer, Persona Management, vShield Endpoint, and ThinApp are included in the Premier edition at an MSRP of $250 per concurrent desktop.

    In order to transport a view of the desktop to users, keyboard, video, mouse and other interactions travel over a LAN connection. VMware View supports both the Microsoft-developed RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol) and the Teradici-licensed PCoIP (PC-over-IP) protocol.

    Users establish client connections to VMware View sessions by running a VMware View Client on a local host. The product supports most versions of Windows, along with Mac OS X. Specific embedded clients are also supported for a large number of thin clients, for a list of supported clients refer to the VMware website.

    An open-source product called "VMware View Open Client" can connect from a Linux or Mac OS X desktop to remote Windows desktops managed by VMware View. The client uses rdesktop under-the-hood to connect to the host. The VMware View Open Client was abandoned in 2013.

    An HTML5 Client for VMware View is available to enable access to VMware View desktops directly from within any HTML5-compatible web browser such as Safari, Chrome, Internet Explorer and Firefox (for Windows, Linux, Mac and Chrome OS devices, such as Chromebooks).

    Ubuntu 12.10 can login to VMware View desktops directly from the login screen.

    VMware View/Horizon

    Version release history:

    VMware View 3.1.3 (May 5, 2009)

    VMware View 4 (November 9, 2009)

  • VMware View 4.0.2 (September 15, 2010)
  • VMware View 4.5 (September 9, 2010)
  • VMware View 4.6 (February 24, 2011)
  • VMware View 4.6.1 (March 15, 2012)
  • VMware View 4.6.2 (December 11, 2012)
  • VMware View 4.6.3 (March 7, 2013)

    • VMware View 5.0 (September 8, 2011)

  • VMware View 5.0.1 (March 15, 2012)
  • VMware View 5.1 (May 16, 2012)
  • VMware View 5.1.1 (August 16, 2012)
  • VMware View 5.1.2 (December 13, 2012)
  • VMware View 5.1.3 (March 14, 2013)
  • VMware View 5.2 (October 4, 2012)
  • VMware View 5.3 (November 21, 2013)
  • VMware View 5.3.1 (March 11, 2014)
  • VMware View 5.3.2 (June 24, 2014)
  • VMware View 5.3.3 (November 25, 2014)
  • VMware View 5.3.4 (March 17, 2015)
  • VMware View 5.3.5 (September 10, 2015)
  • VMware View 5.3.6 (March 1, 2016)

    • VMware Horizon 6.0 (June 19, 2014)

  • VMware Horizon 6.0.1 (September 9, 2014)
  • VMware Horizon 6.0.2 (December 9, 2014)
  • VMware Horizon 6.1 (March 12, 2015)
  • VMware Horizon 6.1.1 (June 4, 2015)
  • VMware Horizon 6.2 (September 3, 2015)
  • VMware Horizon 6.2.1 (December 8, 2015)
  • VMware Horizon 6.2.2 (February 4, 2016)
  • VMware Horizon 6.2.3 (July 21, 2016)

    • VMware Horizon 7.0 (March 22, 2016)

  • VMware Horizon 7.0.1 (June 16, 2016)
  • VMware Horizon 7.0.2 (September 15, 2016)
  • VMware Horizon 7.0.3 (December 8, 2016)
  • VMware Horizon 7.1 (March 16, 2017)

    • References

    VMware Horizon View Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA