Horizon View Composer server is optional and it is required only if we are planning to use linked clones in the environment.
In previous post, we discussed the Upgrade order, Product interoperability, Database compatibility and upgrade process for Horizon Client. Since we are discussing how to upgrade to Horizon 7.12 release, and I already have linked clones and View Composer in my lab environment, I will have to upgrade the Composer server.
We will discuss View composer upgrade process along with system requirement for View Composer in this post. So to begin with, let’s look at system requirement for View composer server.
View Composer OS Requirements
View Composer can be installed on physical server or virtual machine and it requires 64-bit operating system platform. Supported 64-bit operating system for View composer server are as follows:
| Operating System | Version | Edition |
|---|---|---|
| Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 | 64-bit | Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter |
| Windows Server 2012 R2 | 64-bit | Standard, Datacenter |
| Windows Server 2016 | 64-bit | Standard, Datacenter |
| Windows Server 2019 | 64-bit | Standard, Datacenter |
As discussed in previous post, Windows Server 2008 R2 EOS and EOL was on 14th Jan 2020. So you should upgrade to at least Windows Server 2012 R2 operating system. In my lab environment, I am already running View composer 7.7 on Windows server 2012 R2 Standard. So in my setup, I just need to upgrade View composer server to 7.12 release.
View Composer Hardware Requirements
| H/W Component | Required | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | 1.4 GHz or faster (Intel-64/AMD-64 processor with 2 CPUs ) | 2 GHz or faster, 4 CPUs |
| Networking | One or more 10/100 Mbps NICs | 1 Gbps |
| Memory | RAM 4 GB or higher | 8 GB or higher RAM if 50 or more remote desktops |
| Disk space | 40 GB | 60 GB |
I am already running the required configuration for View Composer Server 7.12 as in image below. That saves some extra efforts on my part. 🙂
Database Requirements for View Composer
View Composer requires an SQL database to store the linked clone related data. Since I am upgrading existing Horizon environment, existing database instance can be used during upgrade process provided that version of database server instance is supported.
In my setup, I am already running SQL Server 2017, so that should be ok to continue.
View Composer installer automatically upgrades the required database schema, so I do not need to perform that manually.
Manually it can be done through command line using sviconfig cmdlet as shown Below
net stop svid
sviconfig -operation=databaseupgrade -dsnname=ViewComposerDB
-username=viewadmin
net start svid
Security-Related Requirements
- View Composer requires a TLS certificate that is signed by a Certificate Authority.
- Certificates for vCenter Server, View Composer, and Horizon 7 servers must include certificate revocation lists.
- On View Composer, do not run applications that use Windows SSL libraries which requires SSL v2. The View Composer installer disables SSLv2 on the Microsoft Secure channel. SSL v3, TLS v1.0, and RC 4 are also disabled by default.
Well I am using self signed certificates since this is a lab environment. And I am OK with getting certificate warnings too 🙂
Now that we have View Composer server system requirements covered, it is time for the action. I mean upgrade the View Composer server :).
Note:
- During upgrade process, Horizon 7 does not support View Composer provisioning and maintenance operations.
- Provisioning and recompose operations are not supported during the transitional period if you have any Horizon 7 servers that are still running with previous version.
- You can perform these operations only when all instances of Horizon Connection Server and View Composer have been upgraded to 7.12 release.
Upgrading View Composer
- I have already downloaded required components. So, I’ll go ahead and launch the installer.
- On Installer Welcome screen I Clicked on Next to proceed with upgrade.
- Accepted the license agreement and clicked Next.
- If required, change installation folder. I’ll continue with default as current View Composer 7.7 is installed on default path only. So I just went ahead with defaults.
- Installer automatically identified existing system DSN along with user name. So I just typed the password and continued further.
- Verified the port, anyway I was using default only and I used existing SSL certificate to proceed with upgrade.
- Just a click on Install to proceed
- That started the installation of Composer server. So wait and watch.
- And finally, finishing touch to complete the process.
- Installation requires the reboot to complete the process. So went ahead with reboot.
- Once the server was back, I wanted to confirm the successful deployment of View Composer Server. So checked under, installed programs and it was listed there correctly.
- Another check I performed to verify that it is successfully updated in current Horizon admin console. And it was updated here as well and with healthy status.
Thats it. View Composer server 7.7 is upgraded to Horizon View 7.12 successfully.
Now that I have composer server upgraded, next I will need to upgrade my Connection Server that is still running with 7.7 version.
Let’s do that in next post i.e. upgrading Connection Server.