Lab - Deploy host pools and session hosts by using the Azure portal (AD DS)

Student lab manual

Lab dependencies

  • An Azure subscription you will be using in this lab.
  • A Microsoft account or a Microsoft Entra account with the Owner or Contributor role in the Azure subscription you will be using in this lab and with the Global Administrator role in the Microsoft Entra tenant associated with that Azure subscription.
  • The completed lab Prepare for deployment of Azure Virtual Desktop (AD DS)

Estimated Time

60 minutes

Lab scenario

You need to create and configure host pools and session hosts in an Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) environment.

Objectives

After completing this lab, you will be able to:

  • Implement an Azure Virtual Desktop environment in an AD DS domain
  • Validate an Azure Virtual Desktop environment in an AD DS domain

Lab files

  • None

Instructions

Exercise 1: Implement an Azure Virtual Desktop environment in an AD DS domain

The main tasks for this exercise are as follows:

  1. Prepare AD DS domain and the Azure subscription for deployment of an Azure Virtual Desktop host pool
  2. Deploy an Azure Virtual Desktop host pool
  3. Manage the Azure Virtual Desktop host pool session hosts
  4. Configure Azure Virtual Desktop application groups
  5. Configure Azure Virtual Desktop workspaces

Task 1: Prepare AD DS domain and the Azure subscription for deployment of an Azure Virtual Desktop host pool

  1. From your lab computer, start a web browser, navigate to the Azure portal, and sign in by providing credentials of a user account with the Owner role in the subscription you will be using in this lab.
  2. In the Azure portal, search for and select Virtual machines and, from the Virtual machines blade, select az140-dc-vm11.
  3. On the az140-dc-vm11 blade, select Connect, in the drop-down menu, select Bastion, on the Bastion tab of the az140-dc-vm11 | Connect blade, select Use Bastion.

  4. When prompted, provde the following credentials and select Connect:

    Setting Value
    User Name Student
    Password Pa55w.rd1234
  5. Within the Bastion session to az140-dc-vm11, start Windows PowerShell ISE as administrator.

  6. Within the Bastion session to az140-dc-vm11, from the Administrator: Windows PowerShell ISE console, run the following to create an organizational unit that will host the computer objects of the Azure Virtual Desktop hosts:

    New-ADOrganizationalUnit 'WVDInfra' -path 'DC=adatum,DC=com' -ProtectedFromAccidentalDeletion $false

  7. From the Administrator: Windows PowerShell ISE console, run the following to identify the user principal name of the aduser1 account:

    (Get-AzADUser -DisplayName 'aduser1').UserPrincipalName

    Note: Record the user principal name you identified in this step. You will need it later in this lab.

  8. From the Administrator: Windows PowerShell ISE console, run the following to register the Microsoft.DesktopVirtualization resource provider:

    Register-AzResourceProvider -ProviderNamespace Microsoft.DesktopVirtualization
  9. Within the Bastion session to az140-dc-vm11, start Microsoft Edge and navigate to the Azure portal. If prompted, sign in by using the Microsoft Entra credentials of the user account with the Owner role in the subscription you are using in this lab.
  10. Within the Bastion session to az140-dc-vm11, in the Azure portal, use the Search resources, services, and docs text box at the top of the Azure portal page to search for and navigate to Virtual networks and, on the Virtual networks blade, select az140-adds-vnet11.

  11. On the az140-adds-vnet11 blade, select Subnets, on the Subnets blade, select + Subnet, on the Add subnet blade, specify the following settings (leave all other settings with their default values) and click Save:

    Setting Value
    Name hp1-Subnet
    Starting address 10.0.1.0
    Size /24 (256 addresses)

Task 2: Deploy an Azure Virtual Desktop host pool

  1. Within the Bastion session to az140-dc-vm11, in the Microsoft Edge window displaying the Azure portal, search for and select Azure Virtual Desktop, on the Azure Virtual Desktop blade, select Host pools and, on the Azure Virtual Desktop | Host pools blade, select + Create.

  2. On the Basics tab of the Create a host pool blade, specify the following settings and select Next : Virtual Machines > (leave other settings with their default values):

    Setting Value
    Subscription the name of the Azure subscription you are using in this lab
    Resource group create a new resource group called az140-21-RG
    Host pool name az140-21-hp1
    Location the name of the Azure region into which you deployed resources in the first exercise of this lab or a region close to it
    Validation environment No
    Preferred app group type Desktop
    Host pool type Pooled
    Load balancing algorithm Breadth-first
    Max session limit 12

    Note: If a user has both RemoteApp and Desktop apps published, the preferred app group type determines which of them will appear in their feed.

  3. On the Virtual machines tab of the Create a host pool blade, specify the following settings and select Next : Workspace > (leave other settings with their default values):

    Setting Value
    Add virtual machines Yes
    Resource group Defaulted to same as host pool
    Name prefix az140-21-p1
    Virtual machine type Azure virtual machine
    Virtual machine location the name of the Azure region into which you deployed resources in the previous lab
    Availability options No infrastructure redundancy required
    Security type Trusted launch virtual machines
    Image Windows 11 Enterprise multi-session + Microsoft 365 Apps, version 22H2
    Virtual machine size Standard DC2s_v3
    Number of VMs 2
    OS disk type Standard SSD
    OS disk size Default size (128GiB)
    Boot Diagnostics Enable with managed storage account (recommended)
    Virtual network az140-adds-vnet11
    Subnet hp1-Subnet (10.0.1.0/24)
    Network security group Basic
    Public inbound ports No
    Select which directory you would like to join Active Directory
    AD domain join UPN student@adatum.com
    Password Pa55w.rd1234
    Confirm password Pa55w.rd1234
    Specify domain or unit Yes
    Domain to join adatum.com
    Organizational Unit path OU=WVDInfra,DC=adatum,DC=com
    User name Student
    Password Pa55w.rd1234
    Confirm password Pa55w.rd1234

  4. On the Workspace tab of the Create a host pool blade, confirm the following setting and select Review + create:

    Setting Value
    Register desktop app group No

  5. On the Review + create tab of the Create a host pool blade, select Create.

    Note: Wait for the deployment to complete. This might take about 10-15 minutes.

Task 3: Manage the Azure Virtual Desktop host pool session hosts

  1. Within the Bastion session to az140-dc-vm11, in the web browser window displaying the Azure portal, search for and select Azure Virtual Desktop and, on the Azure Virtual Desktop blade, in the vertical menu bar, in the Manage section, select Host pools.
  2. On the Azure Virtual Desktop | Host pools blade, in the list of host pools, select az140-21-hp1.
  3. On the az140-21-hp1 blade, in the in the vertical menu bar, in the Manage section, select Session hosts and verify that the pool consists of two hosts.
  4. On the az140-21-hp1 | Session hosts blade, select + Add.
  5. On the Basics tab of the Add virtual machines to a host pool blade, review the preconfigured settings and select Next : Virtual Machines.

  6. On the Virtual Machines tab of the Add virtual machines to a host pool blade, specify the following settings and select Review + create (leave others with their default settings):

    Setting Value
    Resource group az140-21-RG
    Name prefix az140-21-p1
    Virtual machine location the name of the Azure region into which you deployed the first two session host VMs
    Availability options No infrastructure redundancy required
    Security type Trusted launch virtual machines
    Image Windows 11 Enterprise multi-session + Microsoft 365 Apps, version 22H2
    Number of VMs 1
    OS disk type Standard SSD
    OS disk size Default size (128GiB)
    Boot Diagnostics Enable with managed storage account (recommended)
    Virtual network az140-adds-vnet11
    Subnet hp1-Subnet (10.0.1.0/24)
    Network security group Basic
    Public inbound ports No
    Select which directory you would like to join Active Directory
    AD domain join UPN student@adatum.com
    Password Pa55w.rd1234
    Confirm password Pa55w.rd1234
    Specify domain or unit Yes
    Domain to join adatum.com
    Organizational Unit path OU=WVDInfra,DC=adatum,DC=com
    User name Student
    Password Pa55w.rd1234
    Confirm password Pa55w.rd1234

    Note: As you likely noticed, it’s possible to change the image and prefix of the VMs as you add session hosts to the existing pool. In general, this is not recommended unless you plan to replace all VMs in the pool.

  7. On the Review + create tab of the Add virtual machines to a host pool blade, select Create

    Note: Wait for the deployment to complete before you proceed to the next task. This might take about 10 minutes.

Task 4: Configure Azure Virtual Desktop application groups

  1. Within the Bastion session to az140-dc-vm11, in the web browser window displaying the Azure portal, search for and select Azure Virtual Desktop and, on the Azure Virtual Desktop blade, select Application groups.
  2. On the Azure Virtual Desktop | Application groups blade, note the existing, auto-generated az140-21-hp1-DAG desktop application group, and select it.
  3. On the az140-21-hp1-DAG blade, select Assignments.
  4. On the az140-21-hp1-DAG | Assignments blade, select + Add.
  5. On the Select Microsoft Entra users or user groups blade, select Groups, select az140-wvd-pooled and click Select.
  6. Navigate back to the Azure Virtual Desktop | Application groups blade, select + Create.

  7. On the Basics tab of the Create an application group blade, specify the following settings and select Next : Applications >:

    Setting Value
    Subscription the name of the Azure subscription you are using in this lab
    Resource group az140-21-RG
    Host pool az140-21-hp1
    Application group type Remote App
    Application group name az140-21-hp1-Office365-RAG
  8. On the Applications tab of the Create an application group blade, select + Add applications.

  9. On the Add application blade, specify the following settings and select Review + add, then select Add:

    Setting Value
    Application source Start menu
    Application Word
    Description Microsoft Word
    Require command line No
  10. Back on the Applications tab of the Create an application group blade, select + Add applications.

  11. On the Add application blade, specify the following settings and select Review + add, then select Add:

    Setting Value
    Application source Start menu
    Application Excel
    Description Microsoft Excel
    Require command line No
  12. Back on the Applications tab of the Create an application group blade, select + Add applications.

  13. On the Add application blade, specify the following settings and select Review + add, then select Add:

    Setting Value
    Application source Start menu
    Application PowerPoint
    Description Microsoft PowerPoint
    Require command line No
  14. Back on the Applications tab of the Create an application group blade, select Next : Assignments >.
  15. On the Assignments tab of the Create an application group blade, select + Add Microsoft Entra users or user groups.
  16. On the Select Microsoft Entra users or user groups blade, select Groups, then select az140-wvd-remote-app and click Select.
  17. Back on the Assignments tab of the Create an application group blade, select Next : Workspace >.

  18. On the Workspace tab of the Create a workspace blade, specify the following setting and select Review + create:

    Setting Value
    Register application group No

  19. On the Review + create tab of the Create an application group blade, select Create.

    Note: Wait for the Application Group to be created. This should take less than 1 minute.

    Note: Next you will create an application group based on file path as the application source.

  20. Within the Bastion session to az140-dc-vm11, search for and select Azure Virtual Desktop and, on the Azure Virtual Desktop blade, select Application groups.
  21. On the Azure Virtual Desktop | Application groups blade, select + Create.

  22. On the Basics tab of the Create an application group blade, specify the following settings and select Next : Applications >:

    Setting Value
    Subscription the name of the Azure subscription you are using in this lab
    Resource group az140-21-RG
    Host pool az140-21-hp1
    Application group type RemoteApp
    Application group name az140-21-hp1-Utilities-RAG
  23. On the Applications tab of the Create an application group blade, select + Add applications.

  24. On the Add application blade, on the Basics tab, specify the following settings and select Next:

    Setting Value
    Application source File path
    Application path C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe
    Application identifier Command Prompt
    Display name Command Prompt
    Description Windows Command Prompt
    Require command line No

  25. On the Icon tab, specify the following settings and select Review + add, then select Add:

    Setting Value
    Icon path C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe
    Icon index 0
  26. Back on the Applications tab of the Create an application group blade, select Next : Assignments >.
  27. On the Assignments tab of the Create an application group blade, select + Add Microsoft Entra users or user groups.
  28. On the Select Microsoft Entra users or user groups blade, select groups, select az140-wvd-remote-app and az140-wvd-admins and click Select.
  29. Back on the Assignments tab of the Create an application group blade, select Next : Workspace >.

  30. On the Workspace tab of the Create a workspace blade, specify the following setting and select Review + create:

    Setting Value
    Register application group No
  31. On the Review + create tab of the Create an application group blade, select Create.

Task 5: Configure Azure Virtual Desktop workspaces

  1. Within the Bastion session to az140-dc-vm11, in the Microsoft Edge window displaying the Azure portal, search for and select Azure Virtual Desktop and, on the Azure Virtual Desktop blade, select Workspaces.
  2. On the Azure Virtual Desktop | Workspaces blade, select + Create.

  3. On the Basics tab of the Create a workspace blade, specify the following settings and select Next : Application groups >:

    Setting Value
    Subscription the name of the Azure subscription you are using in this lab
    Resource group az140-21-RG
    Workspace name az140-21-ws1
    Friendly name az140-21-ws1
    Location the name of the Azure region into which you deployed resources in the first exercise of this lab or a region close to it

  4. On the Application groups tab of the Create a workspace blade, specify the following settings:

    Setting Value
    Register application groups Yes
  5. On the Workspace tab of the Create a workspace blade, select + Register application groups.
  6. On the Add application groups blade, select the plus sign next to the az140-21-hp1-DAG, az140-21-hp1-Office365-RAG, and az140-21-hp1-Utilities-RAG entries and click Select.
  7. Back on the Application groups tab of the Create a workspace blade, select Review + create.
  8. On the Review + create tab of the Create a workspace blade, select Create.

Exercise 2: Validate Azure Virtual Desktop environment

The main tasks for this exercise are as follows:

  1. Install Microsoft Remote Desktop client (MSRDC) on a Windows 10 computer
  2. Subscribe to a Azure Virtual Desktop workspace
  3. Test Azure Virtual Desktop apps

Task 1: Install Microsoft Remote Desktop client (MSRDC) on a Windows 10 computer

  1. Within the Bastion session to az140-dc-vm11, in the browser window displaying the Azure portal, search for and select Virtual machines and, on the Virtual machines blade, select the az140-cl-vm11 entry.
  2. On the az140-cl-vm11 blade, scroll down to the Operations section and select Run Command.

  3. On the az140-cl-vm11 | Run command blade, select EnableRemotePS and select Run.

    Note: Wait for the command to complete before you proceed to the next step. This might take about 1 minute. You may get red text errors addressing the Public profile being used and not the Domain profile, if so, you can ignore and go to the next step.

  4. Within the Bastion session to az140-dc-vm11, from the Administrator: Windows PowerShell ISE script pane, run the following to add all members of the ADATUM\az140-wvd-users to the local Remote Desktop Users group on the Azure VM az140-cl-vm11 running Windows 10 which you deployed in the lab Prepare for deployment of Azure Virtual Desktop (AD DS).

    $computerName = 'az140-cl-vm11'
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $computerName -ScriptBlock {Add-LocalGroupMember -Group 'Remote Desktop Users' -Member 'ADATUM\az140-wvd-users'}
  5. Switch to your lab computer, from the lab computer, in the browser window displaying the Azure portal, search for and select Virtual machines and, on the Virtual machines blade, select the az140-cl-vm11 entry.
  6. On the az140-cl-vm11 blade, select Connect, in the drop-down menu, select Connect via Bastion.

  7. When prompted, provde the following credentials and select Connect:

    Setting Value
    User Name Student@adatum.com
    Password Pa55w.rd1234

    Note The initial sign-in may take 5-10 minutes to complete.

  8. Within the Bastion session to az140-cl-vm11, start Microsoft Edge and navigate to Windows Desktop client download page and, when prompted, select Run to start its installation. On the Installation Scope page of the Remote Desktop Setup wizard, select the option Install for all users of this machine and click Install. If prompted by User Account Control for administrative credentials, authenticate by using the ADATUM\Student username with Pa55w.rd1234 as its password.
  9. Once the installation completes, ensure that the Launch Remote Desktop when setup exits checkbox is selected and click Finish to start the Remote Desktop client.

Task 2: Subscribe to a Azure Virtual Desktop workspace

  1. In the Remote Desktop client window, select Subscribe and, when prompted, sign in with the aduser1 credentials, by providing its userPrincipalName attribute that you identified earlier in this lab and the password you set when creating this account.

    Note: Alternatively, in the Remote Desktop client window, select Subscribe with URL, in the Subscribe to a Workspace pane, in the Email or Workspace URL, type https://client.wvd.microsoft.com/api/arm/feeddiscovery, select Next, and, once prompted, sign in with the aduser1 credentials (using its userPrincipalName attribute as the user name and the password you set when creating this account).

  2. Verify that the Remote Desktop page displays the SessionDesktop included in the auto-generated az140-21-hp1-DAG desktop application group published to the workspace and associated with the user account aduser1 via its group membership.

    Note: This is expected, because the Preferred app group type of the host pool is currently set to Desktop.

Task 3: Test Azure Virtual Desktop apps

  1. Within the Bastion session to az140-cl-vm11, in the Remote Desktop client window, in the list of applications, double-click SessionDesktop and verify that it launches a Remote Desktop session.

    Note: Initially, it might take a few minutes for the application to start, but subsequently, the application startup should be much faster.

    Note: If you are presented with the Welcome to Microsoft Teams sign-in prompt, close it.

  2. Within the Session Desktop session, right-click Start, select Run, in the Open text box of the Run dialog box, type cmd and select OK.
  3. Within the Session Desktop session, at the Command Prompt, type hostname and press the Enter key to display the name of the computer on which the Remote Desktop session is running.
  4. Verify that the displayed name is either az140-21-p1-0, az140-21-p1-1 or az140-21-p1-2.

  5. At the Command Prompt, type logoff and press the Enter key to log off from the Session Desktop.

    Note: Next, you will modify the Preferred app group type by setting it to RemoteApp.

  6. From your lab computer, switch to the Bastion session to az140-dc-vm11.
  7. Within the Bastion session to az140-dc-vm11, in the web browser window displaying the Azure portal, search for and select Azure Virtual Desktop and, on the Azure Virtual Desktop blade, in the vertical menu bar, in the Manage section, select Host pools.
  8. On the Azure Virtual Desktop | Host pools blade, in the list of host pools, select az140-21-hp1.
  9. On the az140-21-hp1 blade, in the in the vertical menu bar, in the Settings section, select Properties, in the Preferred app group type, select Remote App, and then select Save.
  10. From your lab computer, switch to the Bastion session to az140-cl-vm11.
  11. Within the Bastion session to az140-cl-vm11, in the Remote Desktop client window, select the ellipsis symbol in the upper right corner and, in the drop-down menu, select Refresh.

  12. Verify that the Remote Desktop page displays individual apps included in the two application groups you created and published to the workspace, which are also associated with the user account aduser1 via its group membership.

    Note: This is expected, because the Preferred app group type of the host pool is now set to RemoteApp.

  13. Within the Bastion session to az140-cl-vm11, in the Remote Desktop client window, in the list of applications, double-click Command Prompt and verify that it launches a Command Prompt window. When prompted to authenticate, type the password you set when creating the aduser1 user account, select the checkbox Remember me, and select OK.

  14. At the Command Prompt, type hostname and press the Enter key to display the name of the computer on which the Command Prompt is running.

    Note: Verify that the displayed name is az140-21-p1-0, az140-21-p1-1 or az140-21-p1-2, rather than az140-cl-vm11.

  15. At the Command Prompt, type logoff and press the Enter key to log off from the current Remote App session.

Exercise 3: Stop and deallocate Azure VMs provisioned in the lab

The main tasks for this exercise are as follows:

  1. Stop and deallocate Azure VMs provisioned in the lab

Note: In this exercise, you will deallocate the Azure VMs provisioned in this lab to minimize the corresponding compute charges

Task 1: Deallocate Azure VMs provisioned in the lab

  1. Switch to the lab computer and, in the web browser window displaying the Azure portal, open the PowerShell shell session within the Cloud Shell pane.

  2. From the PowerShell session in the Cloud Shell pane, run the following to list all Azure VMs created in this lab:

    Get-AzVM -ResourceGroup 'az140-21-RG'

  3. From the PowerShell session in the Cloud Shell pane, run the following to stop and deallocate all Azure VMs you created in this lab:

    Get-AzVM -ResourceGroup 'az140-21-RG' | Stop-AzVM -NoWait -Force

    Note: The command executes asynchronously (as determined by the -NoWait parameter), so while you will be able to run another PowerShell command immediately afterwards within the same PowerShell session, it will take a few minutes before the Azure VMs are actually stopped and deallocated.