Azure Virtual Desktop extends the possibilities of End-User-Computing in the Microsoft Azure cloud. There are many ways to manage desktops and handle the application life cycle.

In the workshop, we will build an Azure Virtual Desktop environment with the needed resources, like Azure Files, golden master, host pools, and session hosts.

Using the "Golden Master" approach, we are configuring a Windows 11 multi-session VM to fit our needs regarding updates, applications, and optimization. To reuse the master later, we use PowerShell to grab an image from the master and deploy it later as a session host. In doing this, we must avoid some pitfalls to capture the image and not destroy the master.

To operate Azure Virtual Desktop, we can use PowerShell or free community tools to update the session hosts completely or run Windows updates every week.

After the deployment, we configure the logging of the environment: This includes diagnostic logging, custom logging with Azure Functions, creation of alerts, and finally, nice workbooks to show the state of our environment and resources.

To test our environment, we are doing some load tests: Logging on a bunch of users automatically and verifying that the environment scales up and down as expected. At the same time, we are using our Azure Monitor workbooks from before to monitor the environment.

After the workshop, you know :
How to use the golden master approach without destroying the master
- How to handle sysprep to avoid issues with Windows universal apps
- How to handle sysprep to avoid issues with Windows domain joined Windows 11 masters
- Image an AAD-joined master
- Optimize your Windows 10/11 operating system for AVD
Deploying session hosts
- Based on custom images
- Using Azure Disk Encryption (ADE) for the OS disk
- Deploy secure boot-enabled hosts
- Deploy images containing two partitions (C: and D:)
- Remove old certificates from the image to install Azure Monitor
Monitoring
- Configure Azure Monitor
- Configure the diagnostic logging
- Create advanced monitoring with Azure Function
- Work with the logs in Log Analytics
- Create workbooks and alerts
Debugging
- Debugging Azure Virtual Desktop hosts
- Get more insights into the diagnostic logging
- Run automated load tests to verify scaling and operation
- And much more hands-on experience

In the workshop, we will build an Azure Virtual Desktop environment with the needed resources, like Azure Files, golden master, host pools, and session hosts. The focus is on the deployment, handling Windows 10/11 multi-session, updating host pools, using Azure Monitor and creating custom monitoring with Azure function, and debugging of Azure Virtual Desktop.