What is Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD)

Before we understand what AVD (Azure Virtual Desktop) is let us understand a what VDI is...VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure)is a Desktop/Server OS Virtual Machine hosted on a hypervisor.

                                                                                                                                                                   

Windows Admin Centre

Admin Centre is another handy tool for Administrator which is basically a combination of multiple tools. You can use such single tool instead of multiple tools. This needs installation and setup.

Admin Centre has to compoments:

1)Gateway:The Gateway manages servers through remote PowerShell and Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) over Windows Remote Management (WINRM).

2)WebConsole: The Web server component observes HTTPS requests and serves the user interface to the web browser on the management station. This is not a full install of Internet Information Services (IIS), but a mini Web server for this specific purpose.

How to download/export Azure Active Directory Users and groups.

As an Azure Administrator you may have to download Users list or Groups in your Azure Active Directory. In this article let us see how to export AAD users amd groups to csv and downlaod them.

Azure Resource ID

In this article let us understand what is Azure Resource ID and where do we find it.

All the resources in Azure i.e., Azure Resource Manager Resources are assinged with an identifer called as ResourceID. You can carryout operations by using the Resourceid as well.

Remote Desktop Connection Manager

While mstsc is a tool which you can use to connect to servers, you need to open connection for each server you connect and enter credentials every time which is tedious. Remote Desktop Connection Manager is handy tool to connect to multiple servers with same credentials and you can save Server connection details.

Remote Desktop Connection Manager to be downloded as it is not preinstalled on your sytems. 

Here is the link to downlaod it Remote Desktop Connection Manager Download Link..

Post-Installation Configuration of Windows Server.

In our last article here  we understood how to install Windows Operating Systems. Now let us look at the tasks that need post OS installation. These tasks will remain same irespective of which Windows Server OS you using. Below are the list of tasks that needs to be done as part of post installation configuration. This list vary from organization to organization.

1. Install VM Tools (applies if the server is virtual machine)/If the server is physical udpate the Drivers and firmware
2. Configure Satic IP Address
3. Change System name and join it to Domain.
4. Enable RDP and provide access to required parties.
5. Update the OS to the latest patch level.
6. a)Install Antivirus b)update it to latest defination. (which antivirus to be used varies from org to org).
7. Perform Security hardening.
8. Add the Server to patching list.
9. Configure Monitoring and test it.
10. Add Server to Backup (If need)
11. Update the CMDC/Iventory full detail of the Server.

Note:Incase you are using VM templates to deploy steps 1,6a,7, are not needed as templetes will have these preloaded.

Installing Windows Server 2019

We did learn about various Windows Operating Systems and their editions in our earlier article here now let us see how to install a Windows 2019 GUI Server Datacenter Edition.

You can see the minimum resource requirements for the  installation of 2019 here, we are going to deploy 2019 Server with 2GB RAM, 2 CPU, 30 GB disk on a XenServer OS installation steps remain same irrespective of whether you install on a Hypervisor (Vmware Esxi, Hyper-v, XenServer) or on a physical system.

To create a Virtual Machine on Xenserver login XenCenter, Right-Click the host on which you would like to deploy the 2019 VM and select New VM as shown below.