vCenter Operations for View 1.5 – Part 2: Install and configure Horizon View Adapter for vCenter Operations 5.7

In Part 1 of this series we have deployed an configured vCenter Operations 5.7 which is required for vCenter Operations for View 1.5. In Part 2 I will show how to install the View Adapter, View Connection Server Broker Agent and Desktop Agent. The Desktop Agent is only needed if you use View 5.0 or 5.1. In Horizon View 5.2 the Operations Desktop Agent is included in the View Agent installation package.
Install Horizon View Adapter 1.5
The View adapter is a seperate pak file which can be downloaded here. After downloading the pak file go to https://<UI VM IP Address>/admin and log in with your credentials.
Go to Update and browser to the pak file location. Then click Update and accept the EULA.
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During the Update you will see a similar screen
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When the View Adapter Update is completed the following will appear
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In your web browser navigate to https://<UI VM IP Address>/vcops-custom/. This is the custom Dashboard site which is used for the View Adapter.
Under AdminSupportInfo you can see the new View Adapter.
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Create a new Horizon View Adapter Instance in vCenter Operation
To create a View Adapter Instance navigate to EnvironmentConfigurationAdapter Instances and select from the Collector dropdown menu vCenter Operations Standard Server
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As Adapter Kind choose V4V Adapter and click on the Add.. symbol.
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Give the Instance a name (eg. vCops-View), select a Metric Set and if this is the first time you create an Instance, add Credentials. Credentials are used for pairing between the broker agent and the Instance.
There are 2 Metric Sets, FULL and REDUCED. The FULL Set collects all metrics that are available for the monitored environment and the REDUCED Set collects only a limited set of metrics to save disk space on the Analytics VM.
 
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To Add Credentials click Add…, fill in the Instance Name and choose a Server Key (pairing password)
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Now you have created a new Horizon View Adapter Instance.
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Install the Horizon View Broker Agent
The Horizon View broker agent is the connection between the Horizon View adapter and the agent components on the Horizon View desktops. The broker agent collects the Horizon View inventory for the adapter, collects events from the database, and configures the desktop agents when used in Horizon View 5.2 environments.
You install the Horizon View broker agent on one of the Horizon View Connection Server machines within a pod or a cluster.
Only one broker agent must be installed in each Horizon View pod or cluster.
Do not install the Horizon View broker agent on Horizon View Security Server machines.
After you installed the broker agent on one of the Connection Servers you get the View Broker Configuration Wizard
Enter the IP of the Analytics VM and click Pair…
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Enter the pairing password you defined in the View Adapter Instance
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After clicking OK you should see that everything was SUCCEEDED.
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If you were using an older version of vCenter Operations for View you can migrate it by selecting the check box.
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The broker is also collecting information from the View Event Database, therefor you have to provide the Event DB credentials and select Validate…
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If the credentials are ok you should get SUCCEEDED
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If you want to monitor only a specific View Pool enter the Pool name here and click Next…
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By clicking Finish the Broker Agent configuration is finished.
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After clicking finish the Agent settings dialog will come up where you can check all the settings
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Install Horizon View Desktop Agent 1.5
For View 5.0 and 5.1 you have to install the View Desktop Agent in addition to the View Agent to get the metrics from the virtual desktop. In Horizon View 5.2 the vCenter Operations Manager Agent is included in the View Agent installation package.
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In addition to deploying the V4V desktop agent for a View 5.0 or 5.1 desktop you have to configure a GPO to point the V4V desktop agent to the vCenter Operations Analytics VM. This GPO template can be found under C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware View\Server\extras\GroupPolicyFiles\v4v_desktopagent.adm.
When you log in to https://<UI VM IP Address>/vcops-custom/ you will see the new View Dashboards and metrics. It will take a while before you can see any data (metrics).
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In Part 3 I will give a short conclusion why View customers should use vCenter Operations for View.
 
Part 1: Deploy and configure vCenter Operations 5.7
Part 2: Install and configure Horizon View Adapter for vCenter Operations 5.7
Part 3: Conclusion: Why should a customer use vCenter Operations for View
Part 4: Upgrade to vCenter Operations 5.7.2 and vC Ops for View 1.5.1

9 Responses

  1. forbsy says:

    Great post. When I enter my Event DB username and DB password, and then click validate, I get an error message stating, ‘An Event database has not been configured for this View environment’. That’s odd because the View Events DB has been configured and operational for a long time.
    I jumped into the View Administrator UI to confirm, and the Events DB is indeed configured and happily displaying Events logging.
    Why am I not able to validate the Events DB for the broker agent settings?

    • Thanks for your comment, appreciate it! Can you send or post me your EventDB settings? Are you using SQL or ORACLE? If SQL do you use SQL Express?
      Which View and Operations for View version do you use?

      • forbsy says:

        Hi. I’m using SQL 2008R2. It’s configured to accept connections over port 1433. View is 5.2, vCOPS Enterprise is 5.7.2, vCOPS for View is 1.5.

        • Hm. Interessting. Are you using Windows or SQL authentication for the EventDB. According to View 5.2 Install Guide only SQL authentication is supported. Extract from Install Guide: “Use SQL Server Authentication for this user. Do not use the Integrated Windows Authentication security model method of authentication.” Maybe the broker agent will also only use SQL authentication.

  2. forbsy says:

    Problem resolved itself. We rebooted the View Connection servers and suddenly the validation worked. Thanks for responding.

  3. K says:

    FYI, maybe i missed it in this article (i searched a couple of times), but there is also a GPO required for the desktop agent to actually do anything.
    The GPO administrative template for vCenter Operations Manager for Horizon View is called
    v4v_desktopagent.adm, and is located in the C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware
    View\Server\extras\GroupPolicyFiles directory on the View server on which you installed the broker
    agent
    http://pubs.vmware.com/vcops-view-15/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vcops-view-15-installation-guide.pdf

    • Hi,
      oh I missed that, but it is only needed if your are using Horizon View 5.0 or 5.1 where you hav to install the V4V desktop agent. With View 5.2 the v4v agent is included in the View 5.2 agent.
      But thanks for pointing me to that. Will update my post with this information.
      Best regards,
      Fred

  1. 26. December 2014

    […] and reused for 1.5.1. For the installation of the 1.5.1 broker agent follow the instructions from Part 2 of this […]

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