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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is Anyware Manager Enterprise?

Anyware Manager Enterprise adds management capabilities to the Anyware solution in the form of a Software as a Service (SaaS) web application and REST API set. Both the web app and API support multitenancy with granular resource-based access controls (RBAC) permissions, so the solution is appropriate for enterprises, managed service providers (MSPs), and System Integrators (SI). Anyware Manager Enterprise adds two main areas of functionality to the existing Anyware solution components:

Automation of lifecycle tasks for creating and managing virtual desktops. Typical tasks include image management, provisioning, configuration, power management, user assignment, brokering, and decommissioning. These tasks are highly automated and initiated via step to step workflows in the web app or end points within the API.

Operational feedback including near real time information on both user sessions and virtual machine hosts. The feedback data set will start with state information – examples include power state and extended attributes of the virtual machines and session details for user sessions.  In coming releases, the feedback will be augmented by telemetry from the managed devices and user sessions, including network information like Round Trip Time (RTT) and packet loss as well as machine information such as CPU and memory utilization.

Does Anyware Manager Enterprise come as both on-premises and SaaS version?
  • Anyware Manager Enterprise is a Software as a Service (SaaS) offering only, hosted by HP.
  • Note that support for physical workstation management and connections will be added this fall.
What are the advantages of using Anyware Manager Enterprise over other provisioning solutions?

Provisioning is typically an infrastructure level task activity. For example, hypervisors and public clouds both offer user interface processes and API endpoints to complete that task. However, creation and management of virtual machines for the purpose of hosting virtual desktops (also known as digital workspaces) require more tasks, including configuration of the virtual machine to support end user sessions, user assignment to one or more target virtual desktops, and securely brokering connections from the end user device to the target virtual desktop.

For those reasons, Anyware Manager Enterprise is more comparable to traditional Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Solutions (VDI) such as Citrix Desktops and Applications or Omnissa Horizon for private data centers or Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop / Windows 365 and AWS Workspaces for public clouds. When compared to those solutions, Anyware Manager Enterprise has the following advantages:

  • Deployment flexibility – in addition to supporting both virtual desktops and physical workstations, Anyware also supports the widest group of both clients and target hosts. On the host virtual desktop side, Anyware supports Windows, Linux, and MacOS while on the client side Anyware supports Windows, Linux, MacOS, iOS, Android, thin clients, and trusted zero clients. As Anyware Manager Enterprise matures, we will continue to augment the available options so that we can let customers and partners drive the choice of deployment environments best suited for their use case.

  • End to end solutions – HP offers products for all the elements of a secure remote access solution. As noted above, Anyware offers a wide area of client applications for popular device environments. HP also offers Trusted Zero Clients that “lock down” the client device so that it can only access remote desktops, thereby reducing the attack surface for malware and increasing the overall security of the solution.  Anyware Manager Enterprise also manages the protocol components and host agents that complete the end user experience. With the automation of typical workflows, it reduces the amount of time needed to construct and then manage remote access environments.

How is it different from the Anyware Manager?

Anyware Manager Enterprise extends the management capabilities of the existing Anyware Manager to cover more lifecycle tasks and increases the amount of operational information provided to admins. In addition, wit utilizes the new HP-hosted Cloud Gateways. Cloud Gateways eliminate the need for customer hosted network components, reduce the network firewall footprint by making all traffic outbound from the hosts and clients, and create greater resiliency by implanting automation session failover if a Session Gateway goes down.

What are the prerequisites for setting up Anyware Manager Enterprise?

For version 1, the customer must have one of the two environments: 

Windows 365 Enterprise – licenses must be acquired separately via authorized Microsoft partners and Anware Standard and Professional licenses should be acquired via standard HP channels. 

VMware vSphere version 7.x. This environment also requires credentials for accessing vSphere (username and password), a join account for Microsoft Active Directory or Entra, and a Windows host server (minimum 2 CPU and 8 GB RAM) for hosting the Anyware Conductor service.  

For both environments, customers must provide at least one image for creating virtual desktop machine instances in their environment (customers can use the Azure Windows 365 default device image library to meet this requirement if they choose).   

What environments are supported by Anyware Manager Enterprise?
  • Windows 365 Enterprise 
  • vSphere version 7.x 
  • Physical workstations
Do you plan to support more environments in the upcoming versions?

Yes, we do. Anyware supports a number of target infrastructure environments, and we will continue to add popular environments with future releases. Please contact the Product Management team with requests for specific environments so that we can track interest. 

What kind of technical expertise will I require for setting up Anyware Manager Enterprise?

Anyware Manager Enterprise aspires to reduce the technical knowledge required to support remote access solutions. However, general knowledge of the technology a customer users to manage user identities (Example, Entra and Active Directory) and the current infrastructure environment is helpful. In addition, application installation, configuration, and patch management is not in scope for Anyware Manager Enterprise, so tools and knowledge required to maintain those elements will need to be provided by the customer. 

What subscription do I need for Anyware Manager Enterprise?

Anyware Manager Standard and Professional subscriptions both include Anyware Manager Enterprise as a licensed component.  

Can I reuse my Anyware Manager license?

Yes, you can.

How does Anyware Manager Enterprise licensing work?

Anyware Manager Enterprise stores the appropriate license entitlement for each customer (total number of licenses for Standard or Professional) and then checks for availability when a user starts a session. Additional licensing, including current Anyware license servers is not required. Microsoft Azure independently verifies Windows 365 license entitlements when users are assigned to a Cloud PC. 

Do I require a connector?

Anyware Manager Enterprise does not require an Anyware connector as the Cloud Gateways perform the tasks that a connector normally does.