H3C Workspace Cloud Desktop
User Profile Roaming Configuration Guide (Office Scenario)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Document version: 5W100-20230822

 

Contents

Overview·· 1

Benefits· 1

Usage guidelines· 1

Restrictions and guidelines· 1

Procedure· 2

Configuration guide· 2

Configuring a remote file server 2

Configuring UPM policies· 10

Verifying the configuration· 15

Related documentation· 18

 

Overview

A user profile is a collection of working environment settings and files that the system needs to load when a user logs on to a computer. As users' private data, the storage and restoration of user profiles are very important. In the current cloud computing environment, user profiles are stored on system disk drive C of cloud desktops. The data is at great risk in the following cases:

·     The user profiles are lost when a cloud desktop fails.

·     The user profiles are reset without saving on a cloud desktop with restoration mode enable.

·     By default, most desktop, document, and download data on the Windows system is stored on the C drive, which can easily lead to the C drive being filled up and affecting user usage.

·     When users need to use the same user profile on multiple cloud desktops, the user profiles saved on the system disk cannot meet their needs.

·     If users use randomly assigned cloud desktops in a dynamic desktop pool and then exit the desktops, the desktops might be used by other users. In this case, the user profiles are not synchronized.

To solve the problems above, Workspace cloud desktop provides the user profile management (UPM) feature, which roams user profiles to the remote storage server instead of storing them locally. The user profiles are reloaded when the user logs in to any cloud desktop. When the user logs out, any changes to the roaming user profiles are synchronized to the remote server. This provides a more secure way to store user profiles.

Benefits

·     In a dynamic desktop pool, the possibility for users to log in to a cloud desktop is random. After user profiles are configured, users have the same user experience no matter which desktop they log in to.

·     The UPM feature protects user data from being affected by improper operations.

·     Users can access their data from anywhere in the network in a more reliable manner.

·     Backing up data is easier since most user data is stored in the same location.

Usage guidelines

This document takes the E1013P11 version as an example to introduce how to configure user profile roaming. For other versions, configure them based on an actual situation.

Restrictions and guidelines

When using the user profile roaming feature, pay attention to the following restrictions and guidelines:

·     This feature is available only for policy groups in VDI, IDV, VOI, and vAPP types in office scenarios.

·     Only Windows cloud desktops used by local users or domain users support the user profile roaming feature.

·     The user profiles used by different OS cloud desktops of the same user are different. On a remote server, the user profiles for Windows 7 and Windows 10 cloud desktops are named in the format of username.V2 and username.V6, respectively.

·     When using the same operating system to create remote server user profile directories in different architecture scenarios, you can use the same directory for the user profile.

·     The roaming feature is available only for data stored in the user folder of drive C.

·     By default, file roaming feature synchronizes all folders in the User > Login domain account directory except the files named appdata/local and appdata/locallow.

·     To avoid data confusion, do not authorize custom data policies to users with the same name but different user types.

Procedure

1.     Configuring a remote file server: The roaming of a user profile relies on remote file-sharing servers.

2.     Configuring and applying a policy group: After the configuration of a shared server is complete, configure UPM policies on the Workspace Space Console.

3.     Verifying the configuration: Verify the feature after the configuration is complete.

Configuration guide

Configuring a remote file server

Creating a remote file server

A remote file server provides storage space for user profiles. In a lab environment, any Windows Server VM can be a remote server, while in the actual environment, many factors such as HA need to be considered. This document uses a lab environment as an example. To configure a remote file server:

1.     On the Workspace Space Console, create a Windows Server 2012 R2 server by creating a new VM. On the newly created server, perform operations such as installing an OS, configuring the IP, adding a domain (only for domain users), and turning off the firewall.

Figure 1 Configuring the IP address

 

Figure 2 Turning off the firewall

 

Configuring a shared folder

Create a folder on the server and share the folder among Everyone users by using one of the following methods:

Setting the folder properties

1.     Right-click the folder to share, and then select Share with > Specific people. In the dialog box that opens, select the Everyone user.

Figure 3 Creating a shared folder

 

2.     Right click the shared folder to view its properties, and obtain its network path.

Figure 4 Viewing the sharing path in Properties

 

Configuring folder sharing on Server Manager

3.     Click the  icon on the taskbar to open Server Manager. From the left menu bar, select File and Storage Services > Shares to open the sharing page, right-click in the empty area, and then select New Share.

Figure 5 Selecting File and Storage Services

 

Figure 6 Selecting New Share

 

4.     Select the SMB Share - Quick file share profile, and then click Next. On the Share Location window that opens, select Type a custom path, click Browser to open the directory to select the shared directory created in the file server, and then click Next.

Figure 7 Selecting a file share profile

 

Figure 8 Configuring the share location

 

Figure 9 Selecting the share directory

 

Figure 10 Setting of a share location completed

 

5.     Keep the default settings for the Share Name settings, and then click Next. On the Other Settings window that opens, select Enable access-based enumeration, and then click Next.

Figure 11 Configuring other settings

 

6.     On the Permissions window that opens, click Customize permissions, and then click Add. In the dialog box that opens, add a user, user group, or OU. This section uses the domain user group named domain user as an example.

Figure 12 Customizing permissions

 

Figure 13 Adding a permission

 

7.     Click Select a principal to search the target group in the domain.

Figure 14 Selecting a principal

 

8.     Click Show basic/advanced permissions to see the detailed permissions. The shared folder in the current file server does not have any permission configuration, which is automatically set by the domain server. You just need to share it with the administrator. The configuration of the file server is completed.

Configuring UPM policies

After configuring a remote file server, you need to configure UPM policies on the Workspace Space Console. Policies are sent to cloud desktops over the network. User data from shared servers is synchronized to cloud desktops when users log in, and cloud desktop data is synchronized to remote servers when users log out or restart the cloud desktop, so as to realize roaming storage of user profiles.

 

NOTE: Custom data policies only apply to application objects of user types, and cannot be used simultaneously with optimization tool profile customization.

 

To configure a UPM policy on the Workspace Space Console:

1.     From the left navigation pane, select Policies > Policy Groups, and then click Create. On the page that opens, configure the basic information of the policy group.

Figure 15 Creating a policy group

 

Figure 16 Configuring basic information

 

2.     Click Next to enter the VDI policy configuration page. Click the Data Management tab, enable the Enable User Data Roaming toggle, and configure policy parameters as needed. For parameter description, see Table 1.

Figure 17 File storage (local)

 

Figure 18 File storage (remote)

 

Figure 19 File configuration

 

Figure 20 Advanced Settings

 

Figure 21 Third-party software data sync

 

Table 1 Description

Parameter	Description
Storage Type	Specify the storage location for user profiles. Options include Local and Remote. ·     If you select Local, user profiles will be saved in the local roaming directory of the cloud desktop. ·     If you select Remote, you must enter the administrator username and password of the remote storage server. Then, user profiles will be saved in the remote server. Configure the remote storage server before you save the user profiles.
Roaming Directory	·     If you specify the storage type as Local, enter the local roaming directory path set in the user's cloud desktop. For example, C:\HomeFolder.Make sure that the entered roaming directory actually exists on the user endpoint or cloud desktop. Otherwise, the Windows Resource Manager (explorer.exe) might crash. ·     If you specify the storage path as Remote, enter the shared path on the remote server used to synchronize user profiles (it cannot be a subdirectory of the shared path). User profiles for different operating systems are saved separately. For example, the user profiles for Windows 7 and Windows 10 cloud desktops are saved in folders whose names are suffixed with .V2 and .V6, respectively.
Excluded File	Exclude files in the default synchronization directory.
Excluded Folders	Exclude file folders in the default synchronization directory.
File Sync	Synchronize all user profiles and specific files in the directory.
Directory Sync	Synchronize all user profiles and specific directories in the directory.
File Size Limit per User	Local user profiles (excluding excluded files) of a user will not be synchronized to the storage server if the total size of the user profiles exceeds this limit.
Size Limit per File	Set whether to limit the size of the user profiles. With this feature enabled, user profiles that exceed this limit will not be synchronized to the roaming directory.
Notification Upon File Limit Crossing	Configure whether to notify users when the total size of the user local user profiles (excluding excluded files) exceeds the limit. With this feature enabled, the system sends the notification to the user desktops by the following specified parameters: ·     Notification Interval: Configure the interval for sending the notification messages. ·     Notification Content: Enter the content of the notification messages sent to users.
Administrators' Access Rights to Configuration	Configure whether to allow the users named Administrator to access the roaming user profile path.
Roaming Profile File for Chrome	Configure whether to allow Chrome profile files to roam. With this feature enabled, the roaming profiles for Chrome are saved in the %APPDATA%\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\profile.pb file.
Third-party Software Data Sync	Synchronize configuration files of the third-party software products (IE for example) to the roaming directory. If the synchronization is required, add the software directories of the third-party software products,.for example, C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer.

 

3.     Click Next. On the page that opens, select users as application objects. Then, click Next until the creation of the policy group is complete.

Figure 22 Authorizing users

 

Verifying the configuration

The following procedure uses user login to a cloud desktop in a dynamic desktop pool as an example.

1.     Access the desktop in the dynamic desktop pool with the authorized user account above..

Figure 23 Login to a cloud desktop in a dynamic desktop pool

 

2.     Create a file on the desktop for verification.

Figure 24 Creating a file

 

3.     Use this account to log in the dynamic desktop pool to other cloud desktops. The file roaming succeeds if the newly created file can still be seen.

Figure 25 File roaming succeeded

 

Related documentation

Table 2 Related documentation

Document	Obtaining method
H3C Workspace Cloud Desktop Management Software User Manual	https://www.h3c.com/en/Support/Resource_Center/EN/Cloud_Computing/Catalog/H3C_Workspace/H3C_Workspace/