A remote desktop experience to employees is often delivered through Remote Desktop Services [RDS]. However, as an on-premises solution, RDS does not realize the full value of modernization or the benefits of a cloud VDI.
Windows Virtual Desktop not only supports Windows Server but also provides Windows 10 enterprise multi-session, combining the Windows 10 experience with the ability to run multiple concurrent user sessions. It allows you to get an optimized experience for Microsoft 365 Apps including Microsoft Teams and enhanced security for users, company apps, and data. With WVD you can easily enable remote work, save on infrastructure, and reduce the total cost of ownership [TCO]. Windows Virtual Desktop also helps bring other benefits to your business, including simplified IT management, security capabilities that help keep your users, data, organization safe and protection against outages with integrated Azure Site Recovery and Azure Backup technologies.
If you have RDS you can consider either moving to an infrastructure as a service [IaaS] approach with Azure or migrate directly to Windows Virtual Desktop. WVD on Azure allows you to migrate your existing virtual workloads to Azure and focus on what`s really important to you, the perceived end user experience. The migration process involves several steps.
Step 1: Environment Assessment
During the migration, you will need permissions to work with storage and networking components, and of course VMs. You can ensure you have configured your Azure subscription, resource group, project name, and geography within the Azure Portal. With Azure Migrate: Server Migration as the migration tool you can easily start the discovery process and gather a lot of information about your current infrastructure. It is highly recommended that you do this at least once for each RD Session Host server before you migrate it.
Step 2: Server migration
After you have verified that the test migration works as expected, you can migrate the on-premises RD Session Host servers. By default, Azure Migrate shuts down the on-premises VM and runs an on-demand replication to synchronize any VM changes that occurred since the last replication occurred. You can use the Stop migration option to stop replication for the on-premises machine and remove the machine from the Replicating servers count in Azure Migrate.
Step 3: Windows Virtual Desktop deployment and infrastructure configuration
Once you have migrated to Windows Virtual Desktop, you should investigate the usage and the Windows Virtual Desktop health of your environment to rescale your session host servers as needed. It is also good to monitor that health on an on-going basis. Security is an important part of Windows Virtual Desktop. Now is the right time to consider adding Conditional Access to your deployment. Windows Virtual Desktop can also be leveraged by your administrators by providing secure access to a central management [jump host] server. It is important to plan continuous autoscaling and updates to the session host VMs as part of your host pool. Azure Advisor provides you with information about your Windows Virtual Desktop environment and guides you to best practices you might have missed during your deployment.
Step 4: RDS deployment cleanup
After you have successfully migrated your RDS deployment to Windows Virtual Desktop, it is advised to also clean up your RDS deployment. It’s important to investigate, plan, and execute this cleanup thoroughly to make sure no components or configurations are left behind. This step involves removing the VMs of your RDS deployment [such as RD Connection Broker, RD Web Access, and RD Gateway], various DNS records and the corresponding AD computer objects.
The migration from RDS to WVD is designed to be as seamless as possible and gives you the following benefits:
- Windows 10 Enterprise multiple session capabilities.
- Free Windows 7 Extended Security Updates till 2023.
- WVD comes as a Platform-as-a-Service [PaaS] meaning, it is Microsoft which runs the show completely without the need of end-user involvement.
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This article refers to the MyCloudIT Gen 2 platform, which was launched in 2015. Look for MyCloudIT Gen 3 to be launched in early 2021.
This guide will give you a basic definition of the terms that you will need to know before creating an RDS deployment.
RDS Deployment name [Basic and Standard RDS & Remote App deployments]: A friendly unique name given by the customer to the deployment, it is used to name the resource group in the Azure subscription where the RDS deployment will be created and contained. It must follow certain naming conventions dictated by Azure and must be unique among the subscription.
Server name [Standalone Virtual Machine deployments]: A friendly unique name given by the customer to the deployment, it is used to name both the virtual machine and the resource group where it will be created in. It must follow certain naming conventions dictated by Azure and must be unique among the subscription.
Public DNS name: A unique identification string used for naming and addressing purposes that defines the administrative autonomy and authority of the deployment within the Internet.
RD Session Host: A Remote Desktop Session Host server is the server that hosts Windows-Based programs or the full Windows desktop for Remote Desktop Services clients. Users can connect to an RD Session Host server to run programs, to save files, and to use network resources on that server. Users can access an RD Session Host server by using Remote Desktop or by using Remote Apps.
Gateway Server: Remote Desktop Gateway [RD Gateway], formerly TS Gateway, enables authorized remote users to connect to resources on an internal corporate network, from any Internet-connected device.
Web Server: Remote Desktop Web Access [RD Web Access], formerly TS Web Access, enables users to access RemoteApp and Desktop Connection through the Start menu on a computer that is running Windows 7 or through a Web browser. RemoteApp and Desktop Connection provides a customized view of RemoteApp programs and virtual desktops to users.
AD Domain Controller: A Domain Controller is a server that runs a version of the Windows Server operating system and has Active Directory Domain Services installed. When you install Windows Server on a computer, you can choose to configure a specific server role for that computer. When you want to create a new forest, a new domain, or an additional domain controller in an existing domain, you configure the server with the role of domain controller by installing AD DS.
DNS Server: Domain Name System [DNS] is the name resolution protocol for TCP/IP networks, such as the Internet. Client computers query a DNS server to resolve memorable, alphanumeric DNS names to the IP addresses that computers use to communicate with each other.
File Server: In computing, a file server is a computer attached to a network that has the primary purpose of providing a location for shared disk access. A file server is not intended to perform computational tasks, and does not run programs on behalf of its clients. It is designed primarily to enable the storage and retrieval of data while the computation is carried out by the workstations.
RD Connection Broker: Remote Desktop Connection Broker [RD Connection Broker], formerly TS Session Broker, supports session load balancing and session reconnection in a load-balanced RD Session Host server farm. RD Connection Broker is also used to provide users access to RemoteApp programs and virtual desktops through RemoteApp and Desktop Connection.
RD License Server: Remote Desktop Licensing [RD Licensing], formerly TS Licensing, manages the Remote Desktop Services client access licenses [RDS CALs] that are required for each device or user to connect to an RD Session Host server. You use RD Licensing to install, issue, and track the availability of RDS CALs on a Remote Desktop license server.
Remote App Collection: Remote App Collection is a Session Host or group of Session Host with applications installed, published, and available for users to stream to their local devices.
Remote Desktop Collection: Remote Desktop Collection is a Session Host or group of Session Hosts with Applications installed so users access Applications from within streaming desktop experience from their local devices.