Everything Azure for MSP's - June 2021

This page is open for comments and contribution for items related to the November 2020 Everything Azure for MSP's.

The Everything Azure for MSP's webinar is held monthly on the last Wednesday of every month at 2:00p CT.  Be sure to block that recurring time on your calendar.  

Join us in July where we will discuss for all of the new announcements from Inspire and by Nerdio.  We will also cover the latest features and updates in Nerdio Manager for MSP.

Everything Azure for MSP - June 2021 Recording

PowerShell for multi user registration

Add-RdsAccount -DeploymentUrl "https://rdbroker.wvd.microsoft.com"

#Requires RDS Owner privileges
New-RdsRoleAssignment -RoleDefinitionName 'RDS Owner' -TenantName <tenantnamehere> -SignInName user@domain.com

Import-Module AzureAD
Import-Module -Name Microsoft.RDInfra.RDPowershell

$tenant = Get-RdsTenant
$pool ="poolname"
$user = "user@domain.com"
$AppGroup = Get-RdsAppGroup -TenantName $tenant.TenantName -HostPoolName $pool

Add-RdsAppGroupUser -TenantName $tenant.TenantName -HostPoolName $pool -AppGroupName $AppGroup.AppGroupName -UserPrincipalName $user

Webinar Q&A – June 2021

• Where do I go to link Azure resources again?
  • In NMM, Settings, specifically the "Azure Environment" and "Integrations" subpages, will allow you to link and unlink resources.
• Can I assign three or more desktops? Is the limit two?
  • Yes, you can assign three or more desktops as needed.
• When you power off and set as image, will that update the hosts in the pool?
  • No, Power off and set as image will not update the existing hosts.  Only new hosts or hosts that have had the update applied via the drop down menu for each host or the dropdown menu on the template for updating all hosts in a pool.  
• Are there any applications you would recommend not installing on a template to avoid sysprep errors?
  • Any application that needs to be installed user or host specific.  An example would be RMM or AV applications where there is a command and control center to manage licensing.  The host specific information is going to be stripped on the image and will cause a conflict when sysprep is run on the temp VM.  These type of applications should be managed with group policy or startup scripts that can run on the actual pool hosts.
• What did you mean by “Lean” Image?
  • I believe partners should focus on keeping as little as possible on the desktop image to simplify application and OS updates.  This can be accomplished by using technologies like RemoteApp and MSIX App Attach.  This allows updates to only impact their intended source and minimalizes downtime due to updates and upgrades.
    • https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-desktop/what-is-app-attach 
• Can I assign multiple Global Images to different Accounts?
  • Yes! https://help.nerdio.net/hc/en-us/articles/360058957551-Overview-of-Global-Images 
• Can you provide a fluid example of Scripted Actions and Hosts?
  
  • Lets use the example of installing AV on Hosts.  As you know from this article we recommend leaving AV and RMM of desktop images...so how would a partner accomplish installing it on new hosts??
    • Scripted Actions FTW!!   With a script new hosts can have AV and RMM silently installed upon creation and even removed when deallocated.
• To be clear, the scripts are applied when the VM is initiated right?
  • Scripts can be applied to static images and/or new hosts upon provisioning and even deprovisioning. 
    • https://help.nerdio.net/hc/en-us/articles/360060124552-Overview-of-Scripted-Actions 
• Are there any changes coming with Windows 11 to any aspect of this that you are aware of at the moment?
  • Because AVD and those hosts come directly from the Azure Marketplace, as Microsoft comes out with new releases they will make those available for use (i.e. considerations for multi-session use in AVD).  NMM has no dependency on the image outside of it at some point has to originate from the Azure Marketplace.  Speed and performance increases have certainly become evident with local Windows 11 versions.  We believe OS efficiencies will translate to AVD as well for end user performance gains in AVD pools.