AVD : Deploy your first Host Pool.

Hi Folks,

If you were looking for a desktop and app virtualization service that runs on the cloud you can say Hello to Azure Virtual Desktop which is our subject today.

Features

With AVD you will be able to :

Set up a multi-session Windows 11 or Windows 10 deployment that delivers a full Windows experience with scalability
Present Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise and optimize it to run in multi-user virtual scenarios
Provide Windows 7 virtual desktops with free Extended Security Updates
Bring your existing Remote Desktop Services (RDS) and Windows Server desktops and apps to any computer
Virtualize both desktops and apps
Manage desktops and apps from different Windows and Windows Server operating systems with a unified management experience

Prerequisites

An Azure account with an active subscription : I will use my MCT active subscription
An identity provider : I will use the easiest scenario which is Azure Active Directory
A supported operating system : I will try Windows 11
Appropriate licenses : I do have an E3 license
Network connectivity : I will reuse my Vnet / Subnet from my previous demo
A Remote Desktop client : Download and install the latest Remote Desktop Client

Deployment

Ready To deploy our host pool but wait what is an host pool ?

Host pools are a collection of one or more identical virtual machines (VMs), also known as “session hosts,” within Azure Virtual Desktop environments. Each host pool can contain an app group that users can interact with as they would on a physical desktop.

To deploy an Host pool search for Azure Virtual Desktop and click on the service .

You could also directly go to the host pools blade but i wanted to show you the overall blade .

Once selected you can create a brand new host pool.

To validate deployment you should

Select an active subscription
Select a resource group or create a new one
Give a name for the host pool
Define a location ( Metadata will be stored in the associated Geography )
For the purpose of the demo no need to have a validation environment
Select a host pool type (Pooled means it will shared between users , Personal means that it will be dedicated to one user . )
Select a loadbalancer Algorithm
Define the max session limit and click Next Virtual Machines

At this stage you could create an empty host pool and create virtual machines later but for this demo we will deploy new VMs and we start by checking Yes to Add Virtual machines option.

We stay as simple as possible in the option that we define then go to Next Workspace

We create a new workspace

The validation passed so now we can deploy by clicking on Create

The deployment is in progress

Few minutes later All resources are deployed

If we select our brand new ost pool we can the virtual machines that we deployed are available

Now what we need to do is go to the application group select the one created with the deployment .

Then go to assigments add a new one and select a user with the required license

Awsome now the host pool is configured and we have an account ready for testing

In the remote desktop client we hit the subscribe button and add the required Microsoft 365 credentials

We can see the Workspace and the application group assigned

Since there is no SSO available for AAD authentication we will need to authenticate again after double clicking on the desktop icon

Once the right credentials are provided you are logged in and ready to have fun

You can also use the Web client using this link https://rdweb.wvd.microsoft.com/arm/webclient then authenticate and voila :

Summary

Alright folks i hope you enjoyed this demo and learn something new today .

Feel free to comment share and ask questions i would like to have more feedbacks to improve my posts .Advice are also very welcome.

Coming up Next ?

The brand new scaling plan (preview) feature to save cost and probably another cost killer for Azure Virtual Desktop : The Start VM on connect feature.

Thanks all and take care !