Lab - Deploy host pools and hosts by using Azure Resource Manager templates

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)
  • The completed lab Deploy host pools and session hosts by using the Azure portal (AD DS)

Estimated Time

45 minutes

Lab scenario

You need to automate deployment of Azure Virtual Desktop host pools and hosts by using Azure Resource Manager templates.

Objectives

After completing this lab, you will be able to:

  • Deploy Azure Virtual Desktop host pools and hosts by using Azure Resource Manager templates

Lab files

  • \\AZ-140\AllFiles\Labs\02\az140-23_azuredeployhp23.parameters.json
  • \\AZ-140\AllFiles\Labs\02\az140-23_azuremodifyhp23.parameters.json

Instructions

Exercise 1: Deploy Azure Virtual Desktop host pools and hosts by using Azure Resource Manager templates

The main tasks for this exercise are as follows:

  1. Prepare for deployment of an Azure Virtual Desktop host pool by using an Azure Resource Manager template
  2. Deploy an Azure Virtual Desktop host pool and hosts by using an Azure Resource Manager template
  3. Verify deployment of the Azure Virtual Desktop host pool and hosts
  4. Prepare for adding of hosts to the existing Azure Virtual Desktop host pool by using an Azure Resource Manager template
  5. Add hosts to the existing Azure Virtual Desktop host pool by using an Azure Resource Manager template
  6. Verify changes to the Azure Virtual Desktop host pool
  7. Manage personal desktop assignments in the Azure Virtual Desktop host pool

Task 1: Prepare for deployment of an Azure Virtual Desktop host pool by using an Azure Resource Manager template

  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 Connect via 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 identify the distinguished name of the organizational unit named WVDInfra that will host the computer objects of the Azure Virtual Desktop pool hosts:

    (Get-ADOrganizationalUnit -Filter "Name -eq 'WVDInfra'").distinguishedName

  7. Within the Bastion session to az140-dc-vm11, from the Administrator: Windows PowerShell ISE script pane, run the following to identify the user principal name attribute of the ADATUM\Student account that you will use to join the Azure Virtual Desktop hosts to the AD DS domain (student@adatum.com):

    (Get-ADUser -Filter "sAMAccountName -eq 'student'").userPrincipalName

  8. Within the Bastion session to az140-dc-vm11, from the Administrator: Windows PowerShell ISE script pane, run the following to identify the user principal name of the ADATUM\aduser7 and ADATUM\aduser8 accounts that you will use to test personal desktop assignments later in this lab:

    (Get-ADUser -Filter "sAMAccountName -eq 'aduser7'").userPrincipalName
(Get-ADUser -Filter "sAMAccountName -eq 'aduser8'").userPrincipalName

    Note: Record all user principal name values you identified and the distinguished name for the WVDInfra OU. You will need them later in this lab.

  9. Within the Bastion session to az140-dc-vm11, from the Administrator: Windows PowerShell ISE script pane, run the following to calculate the token expiration time necessary to perform a template-based deployment:

    $((get-date).ToUniversalTime().AddDays(1).ToString('yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss.fffffffZ'))

    Note: The value should resemble the format 2022-03-27T00:51:28.3008055Z. Record it since you will need it in the next task.

    Note: A registration token is required to authorize a host to join the pool. The value of token’s expiration date must be between one hour and one month from the current date and time.

  10. 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.
  11. 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.

  12. 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 hp2-Subnet
    Subnet address range 10.0.2.0/24
  13. 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 Network security groups and, on the Network security groups blade, select the only network security group.
  14. On the network security group blade, in the vertical menu on the left, in the Settings section, click Properties.

  15. On the Properties blade, click the Copy to clipboard icon on the right side of the Resource ID textbox.

    Note: The value should resemble the format /subscriptions/de8279a3-0675-40e6-91e2-5c3728792cb5/resourceGroups/az140-11-RG/providers/Microsoft.Network/networkSecurityGroups/az140-cl-vm11-nsg, although the subscription ID will differ. Record it since you will need it in the next task.

  16. You should now have six values recorded. A distinguished name, 3 user principal names, a DateTime value, and the resource ID. If you do not have 6 values recorded, read through this task again before proceeding.

Task 2: Deploy an Azure Virtual Desktop host pool and hosts by using an Azure Resource Manager template

  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. From your lab computer, in the same web browser window, open another web browser tab and navigate to the GitHub Azure RDS templates repository page ARM Template to Create and provision new Azure Virtual Desktop hostpool.
  3. On the ARM Template to Create and provision new Azure Virtual Desktop hostpool page, select Deploy to Azure. This will automatically redirect the browser to the Custom deployment blade in the Azure portal.
  4. On the Custom deployment blade, select Edit parameters.
  5. On the Edit parameters blade, select Load file, in the Open dialog box, select \\AZ-140\AllFiles\Labs\02\az140-23_azuredeployhp23.parameters.json, select Open, and then select Save.

  6. Back on the Custom deployment blade, specify the following settings (leave others with their existing values):

    Setting Value
    Subscription the name of the Azure subscription you are using in this lab
    Resource Group create a new resource group called az140-23-RG
    Region the name of the Azure region into which you deployed Azure VMs hosting AD DS domain controllers in the lab Prepare for deployment of Azure Virtual Desktop (AD DS)
    Location the name of the same Azure region as the one set as the value of the Region parameters
    Workspace location the name of the same Azure region as the one set as the value of the Region parameters
    Workspace Resource Group none, since, if null, its value will be automatically set to match the deployment target resource group
    All Application Group Reference none, since there are no existing application groups in the target workspace (there is no workspace)
    Vm location the name of the same Azure region as the one set as the value of the Location parameters
    Create Network Security Group false
    Network Security Group Id the value of the resourceID parameter of the existing network security group you identified in the previous task
    Token Expiration Time the value of the token expiration time you calculated in the previous task

    Note: The deployment provisions a pool with personal desktop assignment type.

  7. On the Custom deployment blade, select Review + create and select Create.

    Note: Wait for the deployment to complete before you proceed to the next task. This might take about 15 minutes.

Task 3: Verify deployment of the Azure Virtual Desktop host pool and hosts

  1. From your lab computer, in the web browser 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 the entry az140-23-hp2 representing the newly deployed pool.
  2. On the az140-23-hp2 blade, in the vertical menu on the left side, in the Manage section, click Session hosts.
  3. On the az140-23-hp2 | Session hosts blade, verify that the deployment consists of two hosts.
  4. On the az140-23-hp2 | Session hosts blade, in the vertical menu on the left side, in the Manage section, click Application groups.
  5. On the az140-23-hp2 | Application groups blade, verify that the deployment includes the Default Desktop application group named az140-23-hp2-DAG.

Task 4: Prepare for adding of hosts to the existing Azure Virtual Desktop host pool by using an Azure Resource Manager template

  1. From your lab computer, switch to the Bastion session to az140-dc-vm11.

  2. Within the Bastion session to az140-dc-vm11, from the Administrator: Windows PowerShell ISE console, run the following to generate the token necessary to join new hosts to the pool you provisioned earlier in this exercise:

    $registrationInfo = New-AzWvdRegistrationInfo -ResourceGroupName 'az140-23-RG' -HostPoolName 'az140-23-hp2' -ExpirationTime $((get-date).ToUniversalTime().AddDays(1).ToString('yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss.fffffffZ'))

  3. Within the Bastion session to az140-dc-vm11, from the Administrator: Windows PowerShell ISE console, run the following to retrieve the value of the token and paste it into Clipboard:

    $registrationInfo.Token | clip

    Note: Record the value copied into Clipboard (for example, by launching Notepad and pressing the Ctrl+V key combination to paste the content of the Clipboard into Notepad) the content of the since you will need it in the next task. Make sure to that the value you are using includes a single line of text, without any line breaks.

    Note: A registration token is required to authorize a host to join the pool. The value of token’s expiration date must be between one hour and one month from the current date and time.

Task 5: Add hosts to the existing Azure Virtual Desktop host pool by using an Azure Resource Manager template

  1. From your lab computer, in the same web browser window, open another web browser tab and navigate to the GitHub Azure RDS templates repository page ARM Template to Add sessionhosts to an existing Azure Virtual Desktop hostpool.
  2. On the ARM Template to Add sessionhosts to an existing Azure Virtual Desktop hostpool page, select Deploy to Azure. This will automatically redirect the browser to the Custom deployment blade in the Azure portal.
  3. On the Custom deployment blade, select Edit parameters.
  4. On the Edit parameters blade, select Load file, in the Open dialog box, select \\AZ-140\AllFiles\Labs\02\az140-23_azuremodifyhp23.parameters.json, select Open, and then select Save.

  5. Back on the Custom deployment blade, specify the following settings (leave others with their existing values):

    Setting Value
    Subscription the name of the Azure subscription you are using in this lab
    Resource Group az140-23-RG
    Hostpool Token the value of the token you generated in the previous task
    Hostpool Location the name of the Azure region into which you deployed the hostpool earlier in this lab
    Vm location the name of the same Azure region as the one set as the value of the Hostpool Location parameters
    Create Network Security Group false
    Network Security Group Id the value of the resourceID parameter of the existing network security group you identified in the previous task

  6. On the Custom deployment blade, select Review + create and select Create.

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

Task 6: Verify changes to the Azure Virtual Desktop host pool

  1. From your lab computer, in the web browser displaying the Azure portal, search for and select Virtual machines and, on the Virtual machines blade, note that the list includes an additional virtual machine named az140-23-p2-2.
  2. From your lab computer, switch to the Bastion session to az140-dc-vm11.

  3. Within the Bastion session to az140-dc-vm11, from the Administrator: Windows PowerShell ISE console, run the following to verify that the third host was successfully joined to the adatum.com AD DS domain:

    Get-ADComputer -Filter "sAMAccountName -eq 'az140-23-p2-2$'"
  4. Switch back to your lab computer, in the web browser 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 the entry az140-23-hp2 representing the newly modified pool.
  5. On the az140-23-hp2 blade, review the Essentials section and verify that the Host pool type is set to Personal with the Assignment type set to Automatic.
  6. On the az140-23-hp2 blade, in the vertical menu on the left side, in the Manage section, click Session hosts.
  7. On the az140-23-hp2 | Session hosts blade, verify that the deployment consists of three hosts.

Task 7: Manage personal desktop assignments in the Azure Virtual Desktop host pool

  1. On your lab computer, in the web browser displaying the Azure portal, on the az140-23-hp2 | Session hosts blade, in the vertical menu on the left side, in the Manage section, select Application groups.
  2. On the az140-23-hp2 | Application groups blade, in the list of application groups select az140-23-hp2-DAG.
  3. On the az140-23-hp2-DAG blade, in the vertical menu on the left, select Assignments.
  4. On the az140-23-hp2-DAG | Assignments blade, select + Add.

  5. On the Select Microsoft Entra users or user groups blade, select Groups, and then select az140-wvd-personal and click Select.

    Note: Now let’s review the experience of a user connecting to the Azure Virtual Desktop host pool.

  6. From your 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.
  7. On the az140-cl-vm11 blade, select Connect, in the drop-down menu, select Connect via Bastion.

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

    Setting Value
    User Name Student@adatum.com
    Password Pa55w.rd1234
  9. Within the Bastion session to az140-cl-vm11, click Start and, in the Start menu, select the Remote Desktop client app.
  10. In the Remote Desktop window, click the ellipsis icon in the upper right corner, in the dropdown menu, click Unsubscribe, and, when prompted for confirmation, click Continue.
  11. Within the Bastion session to az140-cl-vm11, in the Remote Desktop window, on the Let’s get started page, click Subscribe.

  12. In the Remote Desktop client window, select Subscribe and, when prompted, sign in with the aduser7 credentials, by providing its userPrincipalName and the password you set when creating this user 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 aduser7 credentials (using its userPrincipalName attribute as the user name and the password you set when creating this account).

  13. On the Remote Desktop page, double-click the SessionDesktop icon, when prompted for credentials, type the same password again, select the Remember me checkbox, and click OK.
  14. Verify that aduser7 successfully signed in via Remote Desktop to a host.

  15. Within the Remote Desktop session to one of the hosts as aduser7, right-click Start, in the right-click menu, select Shut down or sign out and, in the cascading menu, click Sign out.

    Note: Now let’s switch the personal desktop assignment from the direct mode to automatic.

  16. Switch to your lab computer, to the web browser displaying the Azure portal, on the az140-23-hp2-DAG | Assignments blade, in the informational bar directly above the list of assignments, click the Assign VM link. This will redirect you to the az140-23-hp2 | Session hosts blade.

  17. On the az140-23-hp2 | Session hosts blade, verify that one of the hosts has aduser7 listed in the Assigned User column.

    Note: This is expected since the host pool is configured for automatic assignment.

  18. On your lab computer, in the web browser window displaying the Azure portal, open the PowerShell shell session within the Cloud Shell pane.

  19. From the PowerShell session in the Cloud Shell pane, run the following to switch to the direct assignment mode:

     Update-AzWvdHostPool -ResourceGroupName 'az140-23-RG' -Name 'az140-23-hp2' -PersonalDesktopAssignmentType Direct
  20. On your lab computer, in the web browser window displaying the Azure portal, navigate to the az140-23-hp2 host pool blade, review the Essentials section and verify that the Host pool type is set to Personal with the Assignment type set to Direct.
  21. Switch back to the Bastion session to az140-cl-vm11, in the Remote Desktop window, click the ellipsis icon in the upper right corner, in the dropdown menu, click Unsubscribe, and, when prompted for confirmation, click Continue.
  22. Within the Bastion session to az140-cl-vm11, in the Remote Desktop window, on the Let’s get started page, click Subscribe.
  23. When prompted to sign in, on the Pick an account pane, click Use another account, and, when prompted, sign in by using the user principal name of the aduser8 user account with the password you set when creating this account.

  24. On the Remote Desktop page, double-click the SessionDesktop icon, verify that you receive an error message stating We couldn’t connect because there are currently no available resources. Try again later or contact tech support for help if this keeps happening, and click OK.

    Note: This is expected since the host pool is configured for direct assignment and aduser8 has not been assigned a host.

  25. Switch to your lab computer, to the web browser displaying the Azure portal and, on the az140-23-hp2 | Session hosts blade, select the (Assign) link in the Assigned User column next to one of the two remaining unassigned hosts.
  26. On the Assign a user, select aduser8, click Select and, when prompted for confirmation, click OK.
  27. Switch back to the Bastion session to az140-cl-vm11, in the Remote Desktop window, double-click the SessionDesktop icon, when prompted for the password, type the password you set when creating this user account, click OK, and verify that you can successfully sign in to the assigned host.
  28. Within the Session Desktop to the assigned host for aduser8, right-click Start, in the right-click menu, select Shut down or sign out and, in the cascading menu, click Sign out.
  29. Within the Bastion session to az140-cl-vm11, right-click Start, in the right-click menu, select Shut down or sign out and, in the cascading menu, click Sign out, and then click Close.

Exercise 2: 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 'az140-23-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 'az140-23-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.