Pools offer administrators more flexibility when managing an extensive number of hosts, especially when they are implemented in large company infrastructures. The RAS Console provides you with the framework and tools needed to create a complete pool management foundation. To manage pools, in the RAS Console, navigate to Farm > <Site> > VDI and then click the Pools tab.

Hosts that belong to a pool (and other hosts and desktops) are managed on the VDI > Desktops tab, where you can perform all of the standard desktop management operations from the Tasks menu. The operations include Recreate, Delete, Upgrade all Agents, Assign, Unassign, Show sessions, Start, Stop, Restart, Suspend, Reset, and others. The Restart operation (graceful) has a 10 min timeout. If not completed during this time, the Reset operation (forced) will be used.

By default, the Desktops tab displays all of the desktop available in the Farm (you may need to scroll the list to see all available desktops). To see just the hosts that belong to a specific pool, select a pool in the Pools tab and click Tasks > Show hosts in Pool. This will switch you to the Desktops tab where the list will be automatically filtered to include only the VMs that belong to the selected pool.

To add a host pool:

1. In the RAS console, navigate to Farm > <Site> > VDIHost pools.

2. Click the Tasks drop-down list above the Host Pools list and then click Add (or click the plus-sign icon). This opens the Add VDI host pool wizard.

3. Select Enable Host pool in site to enable the host pool. Specify the name and the description for the new host pool.

4. Click Next.

5. On the Provisioning page, select whether this host pool will contain template-based or standalone hosts:

   • Template: Hosts will be created dynamically from a template. You will need to create or select an existing template in the next step or later. Choosing Template as the provisioning type ensures a homogeneous host pool, which is recommended to provide consistent user experience across the host pool.

   • Standalone: Select one or more hosts that already exist. You'll be able to do it in the next step or you can do it later. Prior to adding hosts to host pools, ensure that hosts are domain joined and have network access to the domain environment. Note that the Standalone provisioning is considered "unmanaged" as it lacks some of the functionality, such as Autoscaling.

6. Depending on the selection made on the Provisioning page (above), do one of the following

   • Standalone: Select one or more hosts from the list to be included in the host pool (you can also add hosts to the pool later).

   • Template: Select a template from the list or click Create new to create a new template and specify the template settings. Versions: If you selected an existing template, select one of its versions.

7. Click Next.

8. (Templates only) On the General settings page, specify the following options:

   • Template name: Choose and type a template name.

   • Maximum hosts: Specify the maximum number of hosts that can be created from this template.

   • Number of hosts deployed on wizard completion: The number of hosts to deploy once the template is created. Please keep in mind that this will take some time because the hosts will be created one at a time.

   • Host name: A pattern to use when naming new hosts.

9. Click Next.

10. (Templates only) On the Settings page, specify the following options:

    • Keep available buffer: The minimum number of hosts to always keep unassigned and session free for the template. As soon as the number of free and unassigned desktops drops below the setting value, it forces the template to create another host. The template uses its own settings for host creation including initial power state.

    • Host state after the preparation: Select the power state that should be applied to a host after it is prepared. Choose from Powered on, Powered off, or Suspended. Note that when the power state is set to Power off or Suspended, the number of running (fully ready and waiting for incoming connections) hosts is controlled by the Keep available buffer setting (see above). For example, let's say the Maximum hosts value is set at 200, the number of guest hosts deployed on wizard completion is 100, and the power state after preparation is Powered off. The result of such a configuration will be 100 clones deployed and powered off.

    • Delete unused hosts after: Select what to do with unused hosts to save resources. Choose whether to never delete them or specify the time period after which they should be deleted.

11. Click Next.

12. On the Host pool settings page, specify the following options:

    • On session: Select when an action triggers.

    • Perform action: Select an action.

    • After: Select how much time must pass before action triggers.

13. Click Next.

14. On the User profile page, you can select from Do not manage by RAS (user profiles will not be managed) or FSlogix. Microsoft FSLogix Profile Container allows to maintain user context in non-persistent environments, minimize sign-in times and provides native profile experience eliminating compatibility issues. For complete instructions, please see User profile.

15. Click Next.

16. (Standalone only) On the Optimization page, configure optimization as described in Optimization.

17. On the Summary page, review the template summary information. You can click the Back button to correct some of the information if needed.

18. Finally, click Finish to create the host pool and close the wizard.

Use the Wildcard input field at the bottom of the Pools tab to specify a wildcard to indicate which hosts should be available for users. If a VM name matches the wildcard, it will be available. If not, the users will not be able to use it. Use the asterisk operator (*) to specify a wildcard (e.g. ABC*, *ABC*).

A VDI pool can contain different types of members. These could be all available hosts, specific hosts, and hosts created from a template.

Adding a member to a host pool

To add a member to a pool:

1. Double-click a pool in the Host pools list.

2. Select the Members tab.

3. Click the plus (+) button and choose a member type from the following list:

   • All hosts in provider. All hosts that are located on a given Provider. After clicking this options, you'll be able to select a Provider.

     Note: Parallels does not recommend to use this type because there's a possibility that hosts with unsupported OS will be added (e.g. Linux, HALB etc). If you need to use this type, please do it carefully or use a wildcard with appropriate hosts names.

   • Host. A specific host located in the Farm. After clicking this options, you'll be able to select a host from the list.

   • Resource pool. A group of hosts that were natively configured in the hypervisor as a pool. Please note that a hypervisor may use a different term for pools (e.g. "resource pools"). After clicking this option, you'll be able to select a resource pool from the list, if any are available.

   • Template. Hosts that are automatically created from a template. After selecting this option, you'll be able to select a template. For more information about templates, refer to Templates.

4. After you click one of the above menu items, you will be presented with the list of the available hosts, hosts, or templates from which you can make your selection.

Removing a member from a host pool

To remove a member from a pool:

1. Double-click a pool in the Host pools list.

2. Select the Members tab.

3. Select the pool member that you wish to delete.

4. Click the minus (-) button.

When a member is removed from a host pool, it is deleted.

To delete a host pool:

Right-click it and then click Delete (or click the minus-sign icon, or Tasks > Delete).

You can enable and configure automatic updates for all VDI hosts in a host pool.

Schedule Agent auto-upgrade

To schedule Agent auto-upgrade:

1. Go to Farm > Site > VDI > Host pools > Properties > Auto-upgradee tab.

2. Clear the Inherit default settings options if you want to modify them for this host pool.

3. Select the Enable auto-upgrade maintenance window option. During the maintenance window, all hosts in the host pool will try to download Agent upgrades. The upgrades will be downloaded and installed as soon as all users log out of their hosts. New logons from users are prohibited (drain mode). If the users don't log off during a maintenance window, the upgrades won't be installed until the next window.

4. Specify the start date and time, duration, and recurrence settings for this event. To make this a one-time event, select Never in the Recur drop-down list.

5. (Optional) If you want to forcefully log off all users and download the upgrades at the end of a maintenance window, select the Force logoff of current sessions at the end of the maintenance window duration option.

6. (Optional) Configure a message that will be sent to users before or during a maintenance window. Click the Configure messages button and specify the message title, body, and the time period when it should be sent.

Cancel Agent auto-update

To cancel Agent auto-update:

1. Go to Farm > Site > VDI > Host pools.

2. Select Tasks > Cancel auto-upgrade maintenance window.