Overview of Servers

In addition to creating and managing AVD host pools to create user desktops, Nerdio Manager also allows you to create server VMs that can be used as domain controllers, file servers, application servers, etc. in your Azure environment.

Create a Server

You can create a server at the Account level.

To create a server:

1. At the Account level, navigate to Servers.

2. Select Add server.

   

3. Enter the following information:

   • Server Name: Type the server's name.

   • Network: From the drop-down list, select the network to which the server connects.

     Note: The server is created in the Azure region associated with the network.

   • Server OS: From the drop-down list, select the desired operating system.

   • VM Size: From the drop-down list, select the size.

   • OS Disk: From the drop-down list, select the disk.

     Note: Premium SSD v2 disks are available to be used as data disks. Premium SSD v2 disks allow administrators to customize the capacity, performance (IOPS), and throughput. Please see this Microsoft article for region availability, limitations, and pricing.

   • Custom OS Disk Size (GiB): Type the custom size for the disk.

     Note: The disk that is provisioned and thus the cost is based on the standard disk sizes available in Azure. For example, if you enter a custom size of 200 GiB, you are billed for the 256 GiB provisioned. The custom size is typically used if you want to provision a 4TiB OS disk. Enter 4095 GiB and the system provisions a 4096 TiB disk.

   • Resource Group: From the drop-down list, select the resource group to contain the network interface cards of the VM.

   • Enable Proximity placement group: Select this option to have the VMs placed in a Proximity group that are located physically close to each other in an Azure data center.

     Note: This ensures the lowest possible network latency amongst the VMs.

   • Use Trusted Launch: Toggle on this option to enable Trusted Launch.

     Note: Azure offers Trusted Launch as a seamless way to improve the security of Generation 2 VMs. Trusted Launch protects against advanced and persistent attack techniques. Trusted Launch is composed of several coordinated infrastructure technologies that can be enabled independently. Each technology provides another layer of defense against sophisticated threats. See this Microsoft document for more information. In addition, the selected Server OS must be Gen2.

   • Join to AD: or Entra ID: Deselecting this means the VM is not joined to AD during the creation process.

   • Assign VM Admin Login role: For Entra ID, from the drop-down list, select one or more users/groups who will be able to connect to this VM and manage it.

     Note: To sign in to the new VM as administrator, an Entra ID user must be assigned the VM Admin Login role.

   • Use Availability zones: Select this option, and from the drop-down list, select the desired zone.

     Note: This implements high availability for this server by guarding against data center failures in the Azure region of the server.

   • Enable Azure Hybrid Benefit (AHB): Select this option to enable Azure hybrid benefit.

     Note: AHB allows you to use your on-premises Software Assurance-enabled Windows Server and SQL Server licenses on Azure. Enable this option if you qualify for AHB.

   • Install all Servers enabled certificates: Select this option to install all servers certificates.

     Note: See Overview of Certificate Management for details.

   • Provide custom credentials for a local administrator user: Toggle this option on to provide custom credentials for local admins.

   • Purchase Reserved Instance: Toggle this option on to purchase a Reserved Instance that matches the server being added.

     • Name: Type an appropriate name for the Reservation.

     • Term: Select the term of the Reservation.

       Note: Longer terms offer more savings, but at a higher lifetime cost.

     • Billing Plan: Select the billing plan.

       • Auto renew: Select this option to automatically purchase a new reservation on the expiration date.

4. When you have entered all the desired information, select OK.

   The server creation task starts. You can view the task's progress in the Servers Tasks window.

Manage Schedules for Server Tasks

Nerdio Manager supports the ability to configure schedules for many of the server tasks discussed below. The schedule can contain one or multiple entries, as shown in these examples:

• You can create a schedule to power off a server today at 18:00.

• You can create a schedule to restart servers Monday and Thursday at 23:00 and have it recur every week.

See Manage Schedules for Tasks for details about creating a schedule.

Manage Servers

Nerdio Manager allows you to perform various server management tasks.

To manage servers:

1. At the Account level, navigate to Servers.

2. Locate the server you wish to work with.

3. For powered off servers , from the action menu, select a task:

   

   • Start: Start the server.

   • Add disk: Add a disk to the VM. You are presented with options for disk size and whether to create a corresponding volume in Windows. This operation reboots the VM.

     

   • Resize VM: Change the VM's size/SKU.

   • Delete VM: Delete the VM.

   • Manage IP: Select a VNet and specify an (internal) IP address for the VM.

   • Auto-scale: Enable auto-scale for the VM. See Auto-scale Settings for Servers for details.

   • Deploy apps: Deploy applications. See Unified Application Management: Manage Applications for details.

   • Run script: Run a script on the VM. See Overview of Scripted Actions for details.

   • Script history: View script execution history.

   • Change password: Create a new local user account that is a member of Local Administrator security group. The existing Local Administrator accounts are not changed.

4. For powered on servers , from the action menu, select a task:

   

   • Generate RDP file: Create an RDP file for the server.

   • Restart: Restart the VM.

   • Stop: Stop the VM.

Bulk Actions on Servers

Nerdio Manager allows you to perform bulk actions on servers.

To perform bulk actions on servers:

1. At the Account level, navigate to Servers.

2. Select the servers you wish to perform bulk actions on.

3. Once you have selected all the desired servers, at the bottom of the table select Select bulk action, and then select any of the relevant actions that apply to the servers.