13.1. Defining Pool-Based Plans¶
After you separate your desktops into pools, define the rules that control how the Connection Broker manages the user’s connection to the desktops in those pools. To perform this step, ask yourself the following questions.
What display protocols do I want to use to connect users to their desktops?
How do I want to manage the power state of each desktop, for example, should it be powered off when the user logs out?
How long can users remain assigned to a particular desktop? For example, if the user logs out, should they remain assigned to that desktop, or should another user be able to log in?
Important
The Leostream Connection Broker defines a pool-based plan as a set of rules that determine how the Connection Broker manages the connection to a desktop in a pool. This step describes three types of pool-based plans. 1) Protocol, 2) Power Control, and 3) Release. The Connection Broker also provides location-based plans for setting registry keys and attaching network printers to the remote desktop. See the Connection Broker Administrator’s Guide for information on using location-based plans.
13.1.1. Protocol Plans¶
Protocol plans determine the display protocol the Connection Broker uses to connect a user to their desktop. The Connection Broker provides one default protocol plan, which is shown on the Configuration > Protocol Plans page, shown in the following figure.
The Default Protocol Plan instructs the Connection Broker to connect to the remote desktops using Microsoft RDP. For this example, edit the Default protocol plan and use the Gateway drop-down menu in the RDP and RemoteFX section to indicate that the RDP connection should go through your Leostream Gateway, as shown in the following figure.
If needed, you can create a new Protocol Plan by clicking the Create Protocol Plan link. The Create Protocol Plan form is divided into sections based on the type of client device used to log into Leostream, for example, Leostream Connect or the Leostream Web client.
Note that your Connection Broker license determines which display protocols your Connection Broker can use.
In each section, indicate which protocol the Connection Broker should use to connect users to their desktops by selecting 1 from that protocol’s Priority drop-down menu. Then, use the Configuration file and Command line parameters to determine how that connection is launched. For example, for RDP, the Configuration file is a list of RDP-file parameters that determine if, for example, the connection is launched in full screen.
For a complete description of protocol plans, see “Building Pool-Based Plans” in the Connection Broker Administrator’s Guide.
13.1.2. Power Control Plans¶
Power control and release plans allow you to take actions on the user’s remote session based on different events, such as:
When the user disconnects from their desktop
When the user logs out of their desktop
When the desktop is released to its pool
When the user’s session has been idle for a specified length of time
The remote desktop must have an installed and running Leostream Agent to allow the Connection Broker to distinguish between user logout and disconnect and to perform actions based on idle time.
Power control plans define the power control action to take on a desktop. Available power control plans are shown on the Configuration > Power Control Plans page, shown in the following figure.
New Connection Broker installations contain one default power control plan, called Default, which leaves the virtual machine running at all times. You can edit the Default power control plan or create as many additional power control plans as needed for your deployment. To build a new power control plan:
Click the Create Power Control Plan link on the Configuration > Power Control Plans page. The Create Power Control Plan form, shown in the following figure, opens.
Enter a unique name for the plan in the Plan name edit field.
For each of the remaining sections:
From the Wait drop-down menu, select the time to wait before applying the power action.
From the then drop-down menu, select the power control action to apply. Selecting Do not change power state renders the setting in the Wait drop-down menu irrelevant, as no action is ever taken.
Click Save to store the changes or Cancel to return to the Configuration > Power Control Plans page without creating the plan.
13.1.3. Release Plans¶
Release plans determine how long a desktop remains assigned to a user. When the assignment is released, the desktop returns to its pool, making it available for other users. Available release plans are shown on the Configuration > Release Plans page, shown in the following figure.
Note
When a desktop is assigned to a user, the Connection Broker always offers that desktop to that user, regardless of where the user logs in, and to no other users. Desktops can be policy- assigned or hard-assigned. For a description of hard-assigned desktops, see the Connection Broker Administrator’s Guide.
New Connection Broker installations contain one default release plan. The default release plan is designed to keep the user assigned to their desktop until they log out. When the user logs out, the Connection Broker releases the desktop back to its pool. You can create as many additional release plans as needed for your deployment, using the Create Release Plan form shown in the following figure.
For example, to build a release plan that schedules a logout one hour after the user disconnects from their desktop and then deletes the virtual machine from your Virtuozzo Hybrid Infrastructure project:
Enter a unique name for the plan in the Plan name edit field.
To build the Release Plan for our example, in the When User Disconnects from Desktop section, select after 1 hour from the Forced Logout drop-down menu.
In the When Desktop is Released section, select Immediately from the Delete virtual machine from disk option.
Click Save.
In this release plan, the Connection Broker forcefully logs the user out an hour after they disconnect from their desktop. The logout event then triggers the When User Logs Out of Desktop section of the release plan, which releases the desktop back to its pool. The release action then triggers the When Desktop is Released section of the plan, which deletes the VM.
For more details on creating and using release plans, see the “Release Plans” section in Chapter 11 of the Connection Broker Administrator’s Guide.