VMware Horizon Session Recording

VMware had released Horizon version 2106 with the added newly anticipated feature "Horizon Session Recording". Last time it was a Fling version with no support and we see alot of customers are interested to have this productize. Finally, customers can use this in their production environment with official support from VMware.

However, do take note, for now, is only supported on Windows 10 1909 guest operating system and above. RDSH environment is not supported yet.

Here are the prerequisites requirement for the recording agent (means your virtual desktop)

Minimum virtual desktop resource requirement:-

vCPU : 2
Memory : 2 GB
Free Disk Space: 5GB
Note: This is really depending on the type of application the users are running during the recording session and also the framerate changes. It is advisable to monitor it from start or during testing so that you will get a rough idea on how to manage this.

Horizon version: 2106
Windows 10 version: 1909 x64 or later
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.1
VMware BLAST

Desktop Recording Server resource requirement:-

vCPU: 4
Memory: 8GB
Free Disk Space: 20GB
Note: This is really depending on the type of application the users are running during the recording session and also the framerate changes. It is advisable to monitor it from start or during testing so that you will get a rough idea on how to manage this.
Windows Server 2016 or later
Member of a domain for group extraction.

Desktop Recording Server installation procedures

Recording Server: Click Next

Recording Server: Default installation location. Click Next.

Recording Server: Click Install

Recording Server: Click Finish

Login to the Recording Server Console to validate installation. Use the URL, default username and password given earlier.

Recording Server Console: Login

Recording Server Console: Login Success

Lets Configure the LDAP integration. By default, it uses Secure LDAP (LDAPS) protocol on port 636. Make sure that rules is open on your firewall.

Do not change the Advance settings. Leave it by default. Unless you have specific parameters to change. Click the test button to check your connectivity to your LDAP. Save your configuration after the test is successful.

To further test this, you can add your group of users to the Recording Criteria section. Add the domain security group

Search your domain security group and add it.

And you are done for the basic setup for Horizon's Recording Server.

Next will go over with the Recording Agent installation on the golden image.

Key in the recording server address, username and password. Also check the box to mark it as a template because you are installing the Recording Agent in the golden image. Register it.

Trust the default certificate thumbprint.

Install it.

Click Finish and you are done with the Recording Agent. Shutdown your golden image, take a snapshot and publish your desktop pool.

When you logon to the virtual desktop, the users will get a prompt that the session is being recorded. Users will need to click ok to proceed to continue login to Windows.