Planning the Horizon Mirage Deployment

Planning the Horizon Mirage Deployment

The Horizon Mirage components support a range of operating systems. Software, hardware, and database requirements apply to each component. The Horizon Mirage system and clients use default communication ports and protocols.

Before you start to deploy Horizon Mirage, verify that operating system and other requirements are satisfied.

Operating System Requirements

Horizon Mirage client

Windows XP Professional with SP2 or SP3, 32-bit.

Windows Vista Business or Enterprise, 32-bit and 64-bit.

Windows 7 Professional or Enterprise, 32-bit and 64-bit.

Windows XP Fast User Switching mode must be turned off if the computer is not aAD domain member. Go to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/279765.

Horizon Mirage server

Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard or Enterprise Edition, 64-bit.

Windows Server 2012 Standard Edition, 64-bit.

Domain membership required.

Horizon Mirage Management server

Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard or Enterprise Edition, 64-bit.

Windows Server 2012 Standard Edition, 64-bit.

Domain membership required.

Horizon Mirage Management console

Same as Horizon Mirage client.

Horizon Mirage reference machine

Windows XP Professional with SP2 or SP3, 32-bit.

Windows 7 Professional or Enterprise, 32-bit and 64-bit.

Hardware Requirements

Horizon Mirage client

Client systems:

Enterprise-class laptops and desktops

Virtual machines compatible with Windows XP SP2 or later, Windows

Vista or Windows 7

Minimum RAM: 512MB for Windows XP, 1GB for Windows Vista and

Windows 7

Client installation and normal operation: At least 5GB of free space

Horizon Mirage server node (up to 1500 clients)

Minimum RAM: 16GB.

Minimum CPU: 2 x Quad-Core Processor, 2.26GHz Intel core speed or equivalent.

Minimum System Drive capacity: 146GB, including a 100 GB allocation for the Horizon Mirage network cache.

NOTE

Horizon Mirage SIS storage is not included. See Horizon Mirage Storage.

2 x Gigabit Ethernet Port.

NOTE It is a good practice to separate client network and storage network access to dedicated ports.

Horizon Mirage storage n Standalone Horizon Mirage server:

Direct Attached Storage (DAS).

Storage Area Network (SAN) connected through iSCSI or Fiber Channel

(FC). Network Attached Storage (NAS) connected through iSCSI, Fiber Channel (FC), or CIFS network share.

Horizon Mirage server cluster: Network Attached Storage (NAS) connected using a CIFS network share.

Alternate Data Streams: NAS through CIFS share must support Alternate Data Streams.

Storage Capacity: Consumed capacity varies, depending on file duplication level across CVDs, base layers, and the number of snapshots stored, but VMware estimates that on average each user requires 15 GB of data center storage.

Enabling Compression: For DAS, SAN (FC, iSCSI) and Windows-based NAS (CIFS shares), you can sometimes realize up to 40% in storage savings by enabling the built-in Windows NTFS compression on your Mirage Storage folder. For NAS systems that are not NTFS, you need to leverage their own compression options.

NOTE Apply this change only when Horizon Mirage services are stopped. It is also advisable to do this before the directory is heavily populated.

Horizon Mirage Management console

Minimum RAM: 512MB.

Network connectivity to the Horizon Mirage Management Server.

Minimum screen resolution: 1280 x 1024