How to use Resource Pooling (Computer Grouping or Pooled Groups)

The ability to group resources or use resource pooling enables faster and more scalable deployments. For example, you can add many users to an Active Directory (AD) group and publish a desktop or multiple RemoteApp applications to all of them at one time. Or you can add many computers to an AD group and publish one or more users (or groups of users) to that entire group of computers (Desktops and RemoteApp applications) at one time.

Resource Pooling requires TruGrid Sentry version 4.0 or later

How to configure Resource Pooling

TRUGRID ONBOARDING: Make sure that you have followed the proper TruGrid onboarding steps and have a functional TruGrid environment.

CREATE USER GROUP (optional): If you want to publish to a group of users, you can create a new Active Directory security group containing users (example "MyOffice-Users"), or use an existing security group containing users. Add this user group to the TG-USERS group

CREATE MACHINE GROUP: Create an Active Directory security group containing computers that you want to pool. For example, suppose you want to publish a group of 10 Windows RDS Servers to 100 users. You can add these computers to a group called "MyOffice". Add this computer group to the TG-COMPUTERS group. It is recommended that all 10 Windows RDS Servers added to the "MyOffice" group be identical.

CONFIGURE ASSIGNMENTS: Go to TruGrid Portal -> Desktop Assignments page and assign MyOffice to MyOffice-Users. You can repeat this step under TruGrid Portal -> App Assignments page to publish RemoteApp applications from the MyOffice to MyOffice-Users

TEST CONFIGURATION: Find a user that's in the "MyOffice-Users" group. Login to TruGrid Connector (Windows, Mac, or Web). You will see a computer icon labeled MyOffice. Click the computer icon labeled MyOffice and you will be randomly connected to any of the 10 Windows RDS servers inside the "MyOffice" security group. This load-balancing is currently done in a round-robin fashion. See below for more information on how Load Balancing works with TruGrid Resource Pooling.



How Load Balancing works with TruGrid Resource Pooling (Windows RDS Hosts)
Suppose you have a user USER01 that needs to connect to a pool of RDS servers in a group (pool) called “MyOffice”. The very first time the user connects, he / she will be randomly connected to one of the servers in the “MyOffice”. The next user USER02 and subsequent users will be connected in a round-robin fashion to the remaining servers in the “MyOffice” pool.

However, once a user USER01 is first assigned to a server (example SERVER01), the system will always assign that user to SERVER01 for all future logins for all desktops and apps, provided SERVER01 is online.

In the event that SERVER01 is offline and SERVER02 and SERVER03 are online (for example), the system will randomly assign USER01 (based on round-robin between online servers) to SERVER02 or SERVER03 (let's assume SERVER03). From that point on, USER01 is always assigned to SERVER03 for all apps and future logins.

When SERVER01 is back online or a new system SERVER04 is added to the pool, these servers are treated as new, and users are added to them in round-robin fashion with existing servers (see below diagram for how loads are then balanced out over time)



The system currently does NOT check user load on servers in order to determine user assignments.


Important Notes
If you wish to use TruGrid to connect to an RDS server that is already part of an RDS Farm, please disable the BROKER SERVICE on that server first
Pooled resources do not affect Role Management and Active Directory Federation assignments. Such roles can only be assigned to individual users and not groups.
Resource Pooling works on all TruGrid Connectors - Web, Desktop, and Mobile


Known Issues and Recommendations
If you add a new user into a user group, you must perform an AD Refresh to recognize the new user in TruGrid.
If you are using a Mac, make sure to uninstall your current Web launcher (as opposed to the desktop application - scroll to bottom of article for web launcher) and reinstall the latest version. There is no auto-update currently in place for the Mac web launcher as there is for desktop connector applications. This application will show in your Mac application folder as "TG.Mac.Connector".

Updated on: 10/07/2024