Hey Edward, no problem, it's good to get feedbacks, and it's great at the same time to see the development team to be so proactive in trying to commit into code the community's feature requests and bugs found, they are doing an incredible job! So keep them coming :-)
A. Storage
1. Edward: Thank you for those commands. It gives me better idea about the mapping. If we add more vmdk files and run through the provided script, will they be all for data only?
Marcello: yes
2. Edward: Will it be the correct assumption that the allocated db, index, redolog, log file systems have been optimized and fixed size, and only data store will be added? If db, index, log file systems is close to full, does it mean to be the right time to set up another data VM?
Marcello: yes, and eventually moving accounts to another one too if overallocation was done initially and new data-va creation got delayed enough.
3. Edward: Thank you for the important hint. Since last Friday, we started testing the NFS method and got the following problem below. When adding NFS space, I got "Error occurred: directory does not exist or is not writable: /opt/zimbra/storeXX zmvolume failed at ./mount-nfs-store.pl line49." I did test that the NFS can be mounted by root user and read/write without problem. I also reinstalled the lab environment more than 3 times and still got the same error. Is it a known bug or I should open a SR for it?
Marcello: I saw this issue before, it's always due to NFS server permission settings. This error might be misleading. I'll update engineering on prettifying this error, thanks Edward.
B. Active directory
3.Edward: I tested it many times and got the same answer from other thread. I've even reinstalled the lab environment several times and it's still not working. Finally I found the root cause. The https://CONNECTOR/hc/admin or https://CONNECTOR:8443/hc/admin does NOT work on WindowsXP/IE8. However, it works on Windows7/IE8, Windows7/IE9 or WindowsXP/FireFox. We still have more than 60% desktops or laptops on WindowsXP. Unfortunately my 3 machines are WindowsXP with IE8 only. That's why I can't get in. The interesting thing is WindowsXP/IE8 works fine with configurator, workspace user, workspace admin web interfaces. I don't think it is mentioned in VMware document.
Marcello: is it XP SP3? If not that might be it. We support IE 8 and XP sp3, so if confirmed I'll open a bug.
4. Edward: Through my testing, if sAMAccountName search method is chosen, you don't have to put @full-domain-name for the username. If userPrincipalName is being used, @full-domain-name must be added to distinguish which domain user is logging in. It seems to make sense now.
5. Edward: I understand AD/LDAP topic is very wide. My expectation is that it should be something similar to when you add a Windows server to domain, only domain name and a username with domain admin privilege are required. We don't need know the full LDAP path of the specific user. If you can talk to the developer, please forward the request.
Marcello: I'll see what I can do here, thanks for the feedback Edward.
6. Edward: Thanks. After I use Windows7/IE8 or IE9, I can see the setting and sync successfully. Yes, please add the topic into the manual.
Marcello: I already filed a Feature request, to get manual sync with one-click.
C. Policy & Quota
1. Edward: The only available choices are 1 month, 3 months, 6 months and 12 months. Because it is a pull-down menu, nowhere to specify any time shorter or other option. It doesn't seem to be a documentation issue. Would you please let developer know about this?
Marcello: Good one Edward, opened a feature request.
2. Edward: Thank you. So the command will change all existing files bound to the CoS, right? I think it is the same important factor as "Trashed file lifetime value". Please consider to add it to admin GUI.
Marcello: Exactly. And as said having it in the GUI is already filed as feature request.
3. Edward: If the idea of Horizon Data works, I believe a lot of companies will consider to use it for file server function or at least user's home directory. If it is the case, we need to consider the existing data for terminated employee. The direct manager needs to have access to that user's data. IT person needs to have a way to reassign the owner & quota for the existing data. Currently I believe resetting user's AD password and share data with manager or teammate. Is any other better way to handle it?
Marcello: I agree, opened a feature request for this one too. We had something filed already, but I coulnd't find it right away. And yes, for the moment that's the only option, at least until now. Future releases are addressing this in some other manner, stay tuned as I cannot disclose more.
4. Edward: I went through the manual "Horizon Workspace Backup Data Best Practices" from the link above. It seems to be very high level of steps for backup & restore and it also mentioned "Postgres database". Since the vApp is a product from VMware, there should be a tool or utility to handle all required components. I suggest to have a more detail step-by-step procedure for customer to follow.
Marcello: The in-app tool for backing up is something we are actually delegating to the vsphere environment, as Horizon is a vApp for this very reason. Delegating the task to tools customers already use for the rest of their environment. What I'll do though is indeed asking to improve with further details our current backup/restore document.
D. Entitlement
1. How does the licensed entitlement count? By users in AD or in the imported list in Horizon Data? or by the users entitled to use Data function?
2. Edward: The link you provided seems to be in VMware internal website. The external link is http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2042975 . Yes, I read through. My question is the "Named user". Does it mean all observed users through AD sync? or entitled to use Data function? I will meet the sales rep this week to find out more too.
Marcello: Let me inquiry internally on this. At the same time, should you get some better info from the sales rep, please report back here as well, thanks tons Edward!