Hey everyone! I'm working with a customer who has a Windows 11 VDI setup using VMware Horizon. Right now, they have a KMS server at their main site to activate desktops. They're planning to establish a secondary site with its own Horizon farm for disaster recovery (DR) scenarios. This site will also host a KMS server to handle activation.
The goal is to ensure that if something goes wrong at the primary site, users can log into the secondary site and access their desktops just like they would at the main site, including all their data and settings.
I'm wondering what the best method is for setting up KMS activation in this dual-site scenario. Do I just configure the VDI image to recognize both KMS servers, so it tries to activate from the first one it finds?
Also, can both KMS servers use the same Windows KMS host key for Windows 11 Enterprise, or do they need separate keys? Thanks for your insights!
3 Answers
For your dual-site KMS setup, using Active Directory Based Activation (ADBA) sounds like a good idea, but you should know that it's not officially supported by Horizon, so KMS is the safer bet.
I thought KMS was on its way out too, but apparently some people are still using it!
You're good to go using the same KMS Host Key on multiple KMS servers. Just ensure each server is properly licensed and you won't need individual keys for each KMS server.
If you went with Active Directory Based Activation, you'd get built-in resilience as long as you have multiple domain controllers set up. But again, since it's not supported by Horizon, KMS is the way to go.
Thanks for the info! Sounds like KMS is definitely the path to take in this case.
Yeah, I get that—ADBA could work, but if it's not supported, it's better to stick with KMS to avoid potential issues.