Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop, an Azure-based virtual desktop platform and application platform, has unique capabilities like Windows 10 corporate multi-session. Multiple users can connect simultaneously to a remote Windows 10 virtual desktop. This provides a familiar user experience, with maximum program compatibility and no RDSCAL licensing. Extended support for Windows 7 allows you to run legacy programs securely and efficiently in a cloud environment.
What is Azure Virtual Desktop?
Azure Virtual Desktop was previously known under the name Windows Virtual Desktop. Windows Virtual Desktop was officially launched in September 2019 after a period of public beta. Microsoft changed the name of Windows Virtual Desktop to Azure Virtual Desktop in June 2021.
Setting up a virtual desktop environment was considered difficult and time-consuming. To make desktop virtualization successful, domain controllers, brokers and database servers, as well as session host machines and other critical components, had to be set up and maintained by administrators. As a result of the pandemic, companies are using cloud resources to unlock new features and increase agility. Azure Virtual Desktop is a solid platform for cloud VDI using Windows desktop hosts and Windows servers.
What is Azure Virtual Desktop?
Azure Virtual Desktop (DaaS) is a desktop as-a-service (DaaS), which allows users to use the Azure public clouds to run virtual apps or desktop services. Administrators can deploy the solution via the Azure portal and provide resources for users using the Azure Active Directory. Azure Virtual Desktop is a DaaS solution that provides a complete solution using Azure virtual machines, templates and cloud services. This allows you to manage a wide variety of use cases.
Benefits of working with AVD
Although it may seem difficult to set up a Windows Virtual PC within Azure, it allows your staff the ability to work on any device just like they would on their office desktop. Windows Virtual Desktop allows you to provide a safe and productive environment in a constantly changing world.
Here are five benefits that Windows Virtual Desktop can offer:
1. Remote work can be done securely and productively from any device
Windows Virtual Desktop allows you to virtualize Windows 10 and Windows Server desktops on any device connected to the internet.
Microsoft 365 Apps and Microsoft Teams seamlessly integrate with end users to give them the desktop experience they want. This makes it easier for them to be more productive.
2. Licenses and infrastructure are low-cost
Use valid Windows or Microsoft 365 licenses to use Windows Virtual Desktop. You only pay for what you use.
Windows 10’s multi-session capability allows multiple users to make the most of virtual machines.
3. Prevent outages to stay productive
Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery are built-in technologies that will keep your team running during disruptions.
Azure Service Health provides assistance and customised alerts that can help you reduce downtime and prepare to perform planned maintenance.
4. Simplify IT administration
Windows Virtual Desktop manages the virtual desktop infrastructure, so you can focus on users, programs, and operating system images, rather than hardware inventory or maintenance.
Get your users up to speed quickly and securely. You can also automate your processes with unlimited scale and full automation that you can control according to your company’s needs.
5. Protect the app and user data
Azure Active Directory Conditional Access makes it easy to apply the right access rules to people or devices.
Reverse connections and security options like Azure Firewall, Azure Sentinel and Azure Security Center can help to reduce risks and keep virtual desktops safe.
6. WVD Management Control Plane
Microsoft’s Windows Virtual Desktop Service is a PaaS service that is very similar to Windows Server Remote Desktop Services. Diageo manages its own desktop virtual machines (VMs), customers, and data while Microsoft manages the infrastructure, brokering, and other components.
Azure Virtual Desktop Environment:
AVD allows users to access their remote desktops and RemoteApps securely and easily. This section will provide more information about the overall structure of the AVD environment.
1. Tenants
The AVD tenant is the primary interface to manage your AVD environment. Each AVD tenant needs to be linked to an Azure Active Directory account which contains the users who can log in to the environment. The Azure Virtual Desktop tenant allows you to create host pools for your users’ workloads.
2. Host pools
Azure Virtual Desktop agents create a host pool. This is a group of Azure virtual machines that register to be session hosts for Azure Virtual Desktop. All session host virtual machines in a pool should be derived using the same image to ensure consistency.
There are two types:
Personal, each session host tied with a specific user.
Session hosts are able to accept connections from any user who is granted access to an app group in the host pool.
By adding additional attributes to the host pool, you can modify the load-balancing behaviour of the host pool, the number and duration of each session host, and what the user can do for session hosts in that host pool when they sign in to their AVD session. You can manage which resources are available to users through app groups.
3. App groups
An app group is a collection of programs loaded on the session hosts by the host pool. There are two types of app groups.
RemoteApps can be accessed by users and published to the app group via RemoteAp
