In 2022 I published an article in our Xpirit Magazine #13 about Azure Virtual Desktop. In this post I will give you a summary of the article.

What is Azure Virtual Desktop?

Azure Virtual Desktop is Microsoft’s desktop and app virtualization Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) service that runs on Microsoft Azure. Azure Virtual Desktop allows for multi-session virtual machines with scalability on Azure and enables organizations to centrally provide users with a personalized Windows desktop experience, while also providing the flexibility to support a variety of devices and operating systems. It is a Platform as a Service (PaaS) solution that provides a complete desktop and app virtualization solution for Windows.

Be sure to read the glossary item about Azure Virtual Desktop for more information.

What can you used Azure Virtual Desktop for?

Traditional

Azure Virtual Desktop is the cloud version of Remote Desktop Services (RDS), a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure service. A Virtual Desktop Infrastructure service is commonly used for a fully working business desktop with all the required applications for your business. This means that it can create a fully working workplace for your employees or contractors in the cloud without having to invest in physical hardware that is capable of running everything locally.

Niche

Since Azure Virtual Desktop can also host and present an application to end-users and give them a seamless user experience (you experience the application as if it runs locally on your machine), this will mean that you, as a business, can distribute your application online with the scalability and flexibility of the Azure cloud and the control of your application. Although you could use this as an extension of your full desktop experience, this is also the basis for a niche use case.

What we mean with a niche use case for Azure Virtual Desktop is that your organization can provide centrally managed applications to your end-users, even though your application might not be fully cloud-native (yet). This use case could help organizations move to the Microsoft Azure cloud.

Our customers and Azure Virtual Desktop

Some customers have an application that is not cloud-native (yet), some customers want control over the installation and configuration of their application, and some want to not burden their customers with application configuration or setup. We have encountered these different reasons at our customers, and we have helped tackle them with Azure Virtual Desktop. The applications are still being improved to be cloud-native, but while the development and improvements are performed, we can move to the cloud quicker while adding scalability and flexibility in the Microsoft Azure cloud

Kongsberg Digital

Kongsberg Digital have innovative maritime simulation solutions which are available both online and offline. Kongsberg Digital Maritime simulations are part of the K-SIM product line. One part of the K-SIM product line is the K-SIM Instructor, where instructors and trainers can create simulation exercises for students to execute and perform. The K-SIM Instructor application is a Windows desktop application for instructors to use locally. The installation and use of the K-SIM Instructor application requires other K-SIM tools, models, and area charts. These requirements add complexity for the instructors.

Azure Virtual Desktop helps Kongsberg Digital Maritime to take ownership of the installation and configuration part of the K-SIM Instructor application and the end users don’t need to install anything on their machines. The K-SIM Instructor application also has strict compatibility requirements with the simulator engine for the students to execute and perform the simulations in the K-SIM Connect cloud environment. Since Kongsberg Digital Maritime is in control over the complete installation and configuration of both the K-SIM Instructor application and the simulator engine versions, the compatibility requirements are centrally managed and guaranteed compatible.

Azure Virtual Desktop as a cloud accelerator

Azure Virtual Desktop is a quick and straightforward way to start your cloud journey by providing a solution for your traditional desktop applications. It is low maintenance, deployable using Infrastructure as Code, and has no or low requirements of client systems to start working. While using the Azure Virtual Desktop service, you will improve your organization’s knowledge and experience what the Microsoft Azure cloud can offer your organization.

The time-to-market is very fast while adding many other cloud benefits at the same time.

What services do you need for Azure Virtual Desktop

Azure Virtual Desktop is a service that handles the management layer for providing a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure service. The Azure Virtual Desktop service consists of a few main areas:

• Workspaces - Workspaces are a logical group of one or more application groups.
• Application Groups - Within Application Groups, the applications and desktopsare configured, including user and group assignment. The Application Groups are logical groups of installed software on the sessions hosts within the host pool(s)
• Host Pools - The Host Pools are one or more pools of session hosts providing the computing power for the application groups.
• Scaling plans - Scaling plans are used for ramping hosts up or down based on session usage and peak- and off-peak hours.

An Azure Virtual Desktop host pool requires either a Virtual Machine service or Virtual Machine Scale Set service to provide the computing power on which the applications are installed and running. These services require a Windows Image, which you can build yourself or use an available images from the Microsoft Azure cloud.

The identity provider for Azure Virtual Desktop can be either Azure Active Directory or a traditional Active Directory Domain Services domain.

To make sure the user experiences their profile the same on all hosts, we are using FSLogix profile containers, which are stored on an Azure file share. FSLogix enhances and enables user profiles in Windows remote computing environments and is able to supply profile containers, office containers, and application masking.

Can I try it myself?

Yes, you can! We have set up a GitHub Repository for you to deploy Azure Virtual Desktop with Bicep. Our Azure Virtual Desktop GitHub repository contains all the bicep files you need to run an Azure Virtual Desktop in the cloud with a default app.