Chapter 3: Designing for User Identities and Profiles

In this chapter, we will look at designing for user identities and profiles. This is important as a poor design can impact the user experience and, in turn, affect other components such as applications, as well as the overall functionality of Azure Virtual Desktop.

In this chapter, we'll cover the following topics:

• Selecting a licensing model for your Azure Virtual Desktop deployment
• Planning for user profiles
• Planning for Azure Virtual Desktop client deployment
• Summarizing the prerequisites for Azure Virtual Desktop

Selecting a licensing model for your Azure Virtual Desktop deployment

This section will introduce Azure Virtual Desktop licensing and the entitlements associated with it. You need to make sure that you are properly licensed.

Important Note

Before getting started, please note that the previously named Microsoft 365 for Business is now known as Microsoft 365 Business Premium. Users can use Azure Virtual Desktop from their non-Windows pro devices if they have a Microsoft 365 E3/F3/E5/Business/A3/Student user or a Windows 10 VDA per-user license.

The following table details the licenses and their eligibility for Azure Virtual Desktop:

The preceding table was taken from the Microsoft licensing page at: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/pricing/details/virtual-desktop/.

You will also need an Azure subscription to be able to deploy and manage your desktop virtualization environment. The following Azure components are key areas when you're looking...

Planning for user profiles

In this section, we will discuss user profiles and some of the considerations for Azure Virtual Desktop.

User profiles

A user profile comprises several data elements of a user. This can include desktop settings, persistent network connections, and application configuration settings. On the first login, Windows creates a (local) user profile from the default template. The user profile is tightly integrated within the Windows OS and is required for the user session to function correctly.

When comparing a remote user profile to a local profile, the key difference is that the remote profile allows the Windows OS to be replaced without impacting the user data. This means you can log into another session host and will still have the same settings that you did previously. Remote profiles are typically used in a pooled (non-persistent) desktop virtualization environment.

Microsoft has several products available for delivering remote user profiles, including...

Planning for Azure Virtual Desktop client deployment

The Windows Remote Desktop client can access Azure Virtual Desktop on devices within Windows 10, Windows 10 IoT Enterprise, and Windows 7.

In this example, we will deploy a Windows Remote Desktop client.

Important Note

The Windows Desktop client does not support Windows 8 or Windows 8.1.

Installing the Windows Desktop client

In this section, we will cover how to install and set up Windows Desktop Client:

1. Open the Remote Desktop Setup client and click Next:

Figure 3.7 – Remote Desktop Setup wizard

2. Select I accept the terms in the License Agreement and click Next:

Figure 3.8 – Licence agreement

3. After downloading the Remote Desktop client installer, when you run it, you will have two options:
   • Install just for you
   • Install for all users of this machine (requires admin rights):

Figure 3.9 – Installation...

Summarizing the prerequisites for Azure Virtual Desktop

The following table summarizes the prerequisites for deploying an Azure Virtual Desktop environment:

Summary

In this chapter, we covered the requirements for designing user identities and profiles. This included the licensing options available for Azure Virtual Desktop, the available storage solutions, and the recommended solutions, such as Azure Files, Azure Virtual Desktop client deployments, planning for user profiles, identity strategies, firewalls, and other network requirements.

In the next chapter, we will look at implementing and managing networking for Azure Virtual Desktop.

Questions

Here are a few questions to test your understanding of this chapter:

1. What is the recommended profile container technology for Azure Virtual Desktop?
   1. FSLogix Profile Containers
   2. User profile disks
   3. Local profiles
2. Is there a license you should apply to an Azure Virtual Desktop VM?
   1. Yes
   2. No
3. What types of storage can you use for Azure Virtual Desktop?
   1. Azure Files, Azure NetApp Files, and Storage Spaces Direct
   2. Local storage
4. When configuring an Azure Storage account for FSLogix, which two privileges do you need to assign administrators (storage admins)?
   1. Storage File Data SMB Share Contributor role, Full Control NTFS permissions
   2. Blob Data Contributor role, Modify NTFS permissions

Answers

1. A
2. A
3. A
4. A