Book Image

Mastering Azure Virtual Desktop

By : Ryan Mangan
Book Image

Mastering Azure Virtual Desktop

By: Ryan Mangan

Overview of this book

Azure Virtual Desktop is a cloud desktop virtualization platform that securely delivers virtual desktops and remote apps. Mastering Azure Virtual Desktop will guide you through designing, implementing, configuring, and maintaining an Azure Virtual Desktop environment effectively. This book can also be used as an exam preparation guide to help you sit the Microsoft AZ-140 exam. You’ll start with an introduction to the essentials of Azure Virtual Desktop. Next, you’ll get to grips with planning an Azure Virtual Desktop architecture before learning how to implement an Azure Virtual Desktop environment. Moving ahead, you’ll learn how to manage and control access as well as configure security controls on your Azure Virtual Desktop environment. As you progress, you’ll understand how to manage user environments and configure MSIX app attach and other Azure Virtual Desktop features to enhance the user experience. You’ll also learn about the Azure Active Directory (AD) join and getting started feature. Finally, you’ll discover how to monitor and maintain an Azure Virtual Desktop environment to help you support your users and diagnose issues when they occur. By the end of this Microsoft Azure book, you’ll have covered all the essential topics you need to know to design and manage Azure Virtual Desktop and prepare for the AZ-140 exam.
Table of Contents (29 chapters)
1
Section 1: Introduction
3
Section 2: Planning an Azure Virtual Desktop Architecture
8
Section 3: Implementing an Azure Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
13
Section 4: Managing Access and Security
16
Section 5: Managing User Environments and Apps
21
Section 6: Monitoring and Maintaining an Azure Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

Managing Azure Virtual Desktop performance

Azure Virtual Desktop provides you with options to load balance users on your VM host pools. Host pools are collections of VMs with the same configuration assigned to multiple users.

You can configure session load balancing to occur as users sign in to session hosts, also known as breadth mode. Breadth mode essentially means that users are sequentially allocated across the host pool for your workload. You also have the option to configure your VMs for depth mode load balancing to save costs, where users are fully allocated on one VM before moving to the next. In addition, Azure Virtual Desktop provides the tools and the capability to automatically provision additional VMs when incoming demand exceeds a specified threshold.

Multi-session Windows 10/11

Azure Virtual Desktop enables and headlines Windows 11 and 10 Enterprise multi-session since they are the only Windows operating systems (client-based) that enable multiple concurrent users on a single Windows 11/10 VM.

Azure Virtual Desktop also provides a familiar experience with broader application support than the traditional Windows Server-based remote desktop solutions.

What licenses do I need?

Azure Virtual Desktop is available at no additional cost if you have an eligible Microsoft 365 license. However, it is important to note that you pay for the Microsoft Azure resources that are consumed by Azure Virtual Desktop:

  • You must have a Windows or Microsoft 365 license to be able to use Windows 11 Enterprise and Windows 10 Enterprise desktops and apps (eligible).
  • You must have a Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (RDS) Client Access License (CAL) for Windows Server Remote Desktop Services desktops and apps (eligible).