Adding a VDI Host

Preparing a VDI Host Server for Parallels RAS

Before adding a VDI Host to Parallels RAS, you need to determine where the RAS VDI Agent software will be installed. RAS VDI Agent is a service application through which Parallels RAS communicates with a VDI Host server. Depending on the hypervisor type, the RAS VDI Agent can be installed on one of the following:

• The host server on which the hypervisor is running (Microsoft Hyper-V only).
• A supported Windows Server OS running on a physical box or in a virtual machine. For supported Windows Server versions, see Software Requirements > RAS VDI Agent .
• A preconfigured Linux-based virtual appliance (provided by Parallels). The appliance can be deployed on any hypervisor on your network.

Important: The hypervisor software, the RAS VDI Agent, guest VMs, and the RAS Publishing Agent must all be deployed in the same subnet.

The following table contains the RAS VDI Agent installation information for each supported hypervisor type:

In the table above, select the hypervisor type that you are using and see where the RAS VDI Agent can be installed. Depending on the available choices, do one of the following:

• Agent runs on the VDI Host . This option is only available if you are using Microsoft Hyper-V. You don't need to do anything special and can proceed to Searching for VDI Hosts or Manually Adding a VDI Host subsections below.
• Agent runs on a Windows Server (VM or HW) . Make sure you have a physical box or virtual machine with a Windows Server OS installed and ready. You will need to specify its FQDN or IP address when adding a VDI Host server to the farm.
• Agent Runs on Appliance . If this is your choice, you need to download and deploy a virtual appliance as described in the Deploying a Virtual Appliance subsection below.

Please note that if both a Windows Server host and a virtual appliance can be used with your hypervisor type, you can choose one or the other according to your preferences.

Deploying a Virtual Appliance

To download and install a virtual appliance:

1. Visit https://www.parallels.com/products/ras/download/links/

   Please note that you have to be signed in to Parallels My Account to access the download page at the link above.

2. On the download page, scroll down to the "VDI Agent Appliances" section and click the VDI Agent Appliance OVA or the VDI Agent Appliance VMDK link to download the appliance. See the table above for the appliance type (OVA or VMDK) compatible with the hypervisor that you are using.
3. After downloading the virtual appliance, you need to deploy it on a hypervisor. For the information about deploying a virtual appliance, please refer to your hypervisor documentation.

You can now add the VDI Host server to the Parallels RAS farm. You can search your network for available VDI Hosts or you can add a specific VDI Host to the farm manually. The following subsections describe how to do it.

Searching for VDI Hosts

To search for available VDI hosts on your network:

1. In the RAS console, navigate to Farm / Site / VDI Hosts .
2. On the Virtual Desktop Hosts tab page, click Tasks > Find .
3. The Find Virtual Desktop Hosts dialog opens and begins to search for VDI hosts. If no VDI hosts are found, you can add a host manually (jump to the Manually Adding a VDI Host subsection below).
4. If at least one suitable VDI host is found, it will be displayed in the dialog. You can select the Show all hosts option to display all available hosts, including the hosts that don't meet the minimum system requirements. To refresh the list, click Refresh .
5. Click OK to add the VDI host to the Parallels RAS farm.

Manually Adding a VDI Host

To add a VDI host manually:

1. In the Tasks drop-down menu, click Add to launch the Add VDI Server wizard.
2. Select the hypervisor type that your VDI host is running and specify the host's FQDN or IP address.
3. Select the Add Firewall Rules option to automatically configure the firewall on the server.
4. If applicable, select the VDI Agent Service is running on Appliance option.
5. If the VDI Agent field is enabled, specify the FQDN or IP address of the server where the RAS VDI Agent is (or will be) installed. This can be either a virtual appliance (if you use one) or a Windows Server host (physical box or virtual machine).
6. Click Next .

The wizard will advance to the VDI Agent Information dialog and will try to connect to the VDI Agent that you specified in the VDI Agent field in the previous step. If the agent is not installed, do the following:

1. Click Install to push install the agent on the specified server.
2. In the Installing RAS VDI Agent dialog, select the appropriate OS in the OS drop-down list. If the agent is to be installed in a virtual appliance, select "RAS Appliance".
3. Click Install to install the agent. When prompted, enter the server (or virtual appliance) administrator credentials.
4. Click Done . If the automatic installation of the RAS VDI Agent fails, refer to the Installing RAS VDI Agent Manually section .

Once the RAS VDI Agent is installed, do the following:

1. In the VDI Agent Information dialog, click Add to add the VDI Host to the Parallels RAS farm.

   Note: If your VDI Host server is running Nutanix Acropolis or KVM and you see a warning message that Nutanix Acropolis (or KVM) was not found, ignore it and continue.

2. In the Host Properties dialog that opens, click the Credentials tab.
3. Type the VDI Host administrator credentials and click the Check Credentials button.
4. Click OK to close the Host Properties dialog.
5. In the main Parallels RAS Console window, click Apply to apply the changes to Parallels RAS.