Section 5 – Configure and Manage User Environment Manager
Objective 5.1 – Install and Configure VMware User Environment Manager
- Install Application Profiler
Use Application Profiler in an environment that corresponds with the environment in which User Environment Manager is deployed.
When you use User Environment Manager on a terminal server (RDSH), install Application Profiler on the equivalent desktop OS.
Application Profiler supports the following Windows versions and editions:
- Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, and Ultimate x86 and x64 SP1
- Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard and Enterprise x64 SP1
- Windows Server 2012 Standard and Datacenter x64
- Windows 8.1 Professional and Enterprise x86 and x64 with Update
- Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard and Datacenter x64 with Update
- Windows 10 Version 1709 (Fall Creators Update) Professional and Enterprise x86 and x64
- Windows Server 2016 Standard and Datacenter x64
No specific hardware other than the system requirements of the installed applications is required for Application Profiler.
You install Application Profiler by running the VMware UEM Application Profiler 9.2 x64.msi or VMware UEM Application Profiler 9.2 x86.msi, depending on your operating system. This launches a setup wizard which guides you through the installation.
Prerequisites
- Verify that you have administrative privileges on the account where you will run the MSI file.
- Download and extract the MSI file package for your operating system.
- Ensure you installed User Environment Manager on a different machine from where you plan to install Application Profiler.
Procedure
- Run the MSI file that corresponds to your OS architecture, and click Next.
- Read and accept the End User License Agreement and click Next.
- Select the destination folder where you want to install the application and click Next.
VMware recommends you install Application Profiler in the default folder. - Click Install, and after the installation is complete, click Finish.
- Create and configure UEM Config Share
The User Environment Manager configuration share is a central share on a file server. It contains all the configuration files for personalization and application configuration management of User Environment Manager. FlexEngine reads configuration data from the User Environment Manager configuration share when a user logs in or logs out of the environment, or when the user opens or closes applications that are configured with DirectFlex.
Folder Structure
The User Environment Manager configuration share has a predefined structure. The first time when you start the Management Console, the General folder is automatically created in the configuration share. The General folder contains the Flex configuration files that you use to define settings for personalization and application configuration management.
The General folder also contains the mandatory FlexRepository folder. The Management Console creates the FlexRepository folder the first time you configure a user environment setting, such as a printer mapping. The FlexRepository folder contains all the configuration files for the user environment settings and condition sets.
Requirements
|
Requirement |
Description |
|
Networking |
To optimize login times, the computer where the user logs in should have a 1-Gbps connection to the configuration share. |
|
Storage |
Storage requirements might vary based on the specific deployment. A general guideline is to have at least 200 kB per application with a starting minimum size of 1 GB. |
|
NTFS security permission |
Caution: For security reasons, non-administrators must not have write permissions on the User Environment Manager configuration share. |
- Create and configure UEM User Share
The profile archives share stores the personal settings for users as FlexEngine creates a subfolder for each user. The share contains User Environment Manager profile archives, which are ZIP files. FlexEngine reads personal user settings from the profile archives share when a user logs in to the environment or launches a DirectFlex-enabled application. FlexEngine writes the modified settings when the user logs out, or closes a DirectFlex-enabled application.
In a typical deployment, profile archive backups and log files are stored on the same share, but you can configure different locations in the FlexEngine GPO.
You should use a share that is dedicated to the profile archives. A dedicated share improves performance, simplifies configuring the User Environment Manager SyncTool, and makes it easier to configure permissions for the Helpdesk Support Tool.
Note:
Do not use the Home drive share. Using this share can cause synchronization conflicts between Offline Files and the User Environment Manager SyncTool, and lets users delete their profile archives.
Folder Structure
The profile archives share has a one-on-one relation to the naming and folder structure of the User Environment Manager configuration share and the Management Console.
Requirements
|
Requirement |
Description |
|
Networking requirements |
For best performance and to optimize login times, the computer where the end user logs in should have a 1-Gbps connection to the profile archives share. If an end user has limited bandwidth or has a laptop that is often offline, use the SyncTool. This tool improves connectivity to the profile archives share under these conditions. |
|
Storage |
Storage requirements might vary based on the specific deployment. A general guideline is to have at least 100 MB per user. |
|
NTFS security permissions |
Setting the following NTFS security permissions on the profile archives share automatically creates a folder for each user on first login and limits the user to their own folder.
The minimum share permissions for all users should be Change and Read. |
- Import and configure GPO ADMX templates
Before you can create ADMX-based settings, you must import the ADMX templates containing the policies that you want to configure.
Procedure
- Start the User Environment Manager Management Console.
- On the User Environment tab, select ADMX-based Settings.
- Click Manage Templates.
- Click Add Folder or Add File and import the ADMX templates.
You can import all ADMX files and the corresponding ADML files from a folder or import only specific templates. - Click Validate to analyze the templates and verify that they can be used to define ADMX-based settings.
What to do next
Remove the templates that contain only unsupported settings or policies.
Create settings definitions based on the ADMX templates you imported.
About this task
Note:
There is no noticeable difference in performance between having a single ADMX-based settings definition containing many policy settings and having many individual ADMX-based settings definitions that each contain a small set of policy settings.
Prerequisites
Import ADMX templates containing the policies you want to configure. See Import ADMX Templates.
Procedure
- Start the User Environment Manager Management Console.
- On the User Environment tab, select ADMX-based Settings.
- Click Create.
- Enter a name, label, and a tag for the settings definition.
- Click Select Categories.
- Select the categories you want to manage with this definition and click OK.
- Click Edit Policies and configure the necessary policies.
- Click Save.
Parent topic: Configure ADMX-Based Set
- Install Agent
You install User Environment Manager by running VMware User Environment Manager 9.2 x86.msi or VMware User Environment Manager 9.2 x64.msi based on your operating system. This launches a setup wizard which guides you through the installation.
Prerequisites
- Verify that you have a valid license file. If you install on VMware Horizon® 7, you do not need a separate license file.
- Verify that you have administrative privileges on the account where you will run the MSI file.
- Download and extract the MSI file package for your operating system.
Procedure
- Run the MSI that corresponds to your OS architecture, and click Next.
- Read and accept the End User License Agreement and click Next.
- Select the destination folder where you want to install the application and click Next.
VMware recommends you install User Environment Manager in the default folder. - Select an installation option for User Environment Manager.
|
Option |
Description |
|
Typical |
Install the User Environment Manager FlexEngine, Application Migration, and Self-Support tool. |
|
Custom |
Manually select components to install. |
|
Complete |
Install User Environment Manager FlexEngine, Application Migration, Self-Support tool, and Management Console. |
- Select the license file and click Next.
- Click Install, and after the installation is complete, click Finish.
Objective 5.2 – Manage VMware User Environment Manager
- Use or Create an application configuration
When you profile an application, Application Profiler monitors the changes that the application makes to the registry and the file system. It is important that the application saves its configuration during the analysis session.
About this task
Only .EXE files are supported for analysis. Some applications install shortcuts in the start menu that refer to an application document instead of to the executable file of the application. You can profile these applications by browsing to the executable and adding any additional arguments after the application path.
Usually, it is sufficient to modify a few of the settings of the profiled application. Many applications save their full configuration whenever a change is made. You might need to change more of the application features and settings, so that the corresponding files are written to disk. For example, you might change settings such as creating a signature in an email client or adding an entry to the custom dictionary in a word processor.
You cannot select applications for which an application template is provided in the User Environment Manager Management Console for analysis in Application Profiler. For such applications, you can create a Flex configuration file in the Management Console with the appropriate template.
To find the registry and file system definitions for a Flex configuration file, the actual configuration settings are not relevant. Only the locations where the settings are kept in the user profile are important. To create predefined settings, the actual configuration settings do matter, because they become part of the predefined settings archive.
Application Profiler monitors the application you selected and all of the child processes started by that application. Monitoring stops when the main application and all child processes are stopped. For some applications, one or more of those child processes continue to run even when you exit the main application. In that case, you must manually stop the analysis by clicking the Stop Analysis button in the Analyzing Application dialog. Stopping the analysis only affects the monitoring by Application Profiler and does not stop the child processes.
Procedure
- Start Application Profiler and click Start Session.
- Browse to and select the application to be profiled or select an application from the All Programs tree.
You can optionally enter command-line arguments after the application path in the Application text box and specify the application start folder in the Start in text box. Put quotes around the path if necessary. If you select a shortcut from the All Programs tree, all settings are read from the shortcut. - Click OK.
The Analyzing Application window appears and the application starts. - Make the necessary changes to the application configuration and exit the application.
The main Application Profiler user interface appears, with the analysis results.
- (Optional) Adjust the generated settings by modifying the Application Profiler options or making manual changes in the editor.
- Click Save and select one of the options and a location for the Flex configuration file.
Results
You successfully profiled an application.
- Modify an application configuration
The generated Application Profiler Flex configuration file can be edited, similar to the editor in the User Environment Manager Management Console.
Section headers and folder tokens can be inserted, by clicking the Section and Folder Token buttons on the Program Analysis tab. You can also type a [ character in the editor to display a drop-down menu from which you can select a section header. You can also type a < character in the editor to display a drop-down menu from which you can select a folder token.
If you select the Browse Local Profile check box on the Settings tab, file system and registry paths are auto-completed based on the actual contents of the user profile.
For full information about the Flex configuration files format, see the VMware User Environment Manager Administration guide.
- Create custom condition sets
Condition sets can contain one or more predefined conditions and can be imported from or exported to different User Environment Manager environments.
You can access the condition sets on the Condition Sets tab in the User Environment Manager Management Console and use them to create certain condition configurations for reuse.
If you are putting the same combination of conditions on multiple items, you must create a condition set and reference that condition set from those items. If you have to change the conditions afterwards, you only have to modify the condition set, instead of going through all individual items.
- Create triggered task
Select tasks that are triggered when certain actions are performed in the user environment.
About this task
With triggers, a user can unplug a laptop, move it to another location, plug it in again, and maintain their current session while making use of more appropriate infrastructure resources. Triggers also provide a seamless experience for users who log in to the same virtual desktop session from different devices.
When running in a remote session, the following special environment variables are available for use in custom commands or messages:
- %CURRENT_CLIENTIP%
The endpoint IP address. - %PREVIOUS_CLIENTIP%
The previous endpoint IP address. This variable only exists for the Reconnect session trigger and if the user is connecting from a different client. - %CURRENT_CLIENTNAME%
The endpoint name.
Procedure
- Start the User Environment Manager Management Console.
- Open the User Environment tab.
- Select Triggered Tasks and click Create.
- Enter a name for the settings definition.
- Configure the triggered task settings.
|
Option |
Description |
|
Trigger |
Select the event that is used to trigger this task.
|
|
Only applies if (endpoint) IP has changed |
(Optional) If Unlock workstation or Reconnect session is selected, this additional setting controls whether the task is performed always, or only if the IP address for Unlock workstation and endpoint IP address for Reconnect session changed since the session was disconnected. This option can be used to perform tasks when the user network location has changed. |
|
Action |
|
|
Show message |
Controls whether a message is displayed when the selected action is performed. |
|
Caption |
Specifies the caption of the message dialog box. Can contain environment variables. |
|
Message |
Specifies the message text. Can consist of multiple lines and can contain environment variables. |
|
Close automatically after |
(Optional) If this setting is configured, the message will automatically disappear after the specified number of seconds, otherwise the message remains on the screen until the user closes it. |
|
Also allow user to dismiss message |
(Optional) If Close automatically after is configured, this setting controls whether the user can close the message before the timeout has expired. |
- Click Save.