Many organizations rely on geo-replicated Azure storage as part of their disaster Recovery strategy.  However, not all storage in Azure supports geo-redundant storage (GRS) or geo-zone-redundant storage (GZRS).  This video reviews a new feature that supports geo-replicated storage for Azure standard file shares with large file support enabled, along with a demonstration of how to enable the new feature. Links Zero to Hero with Azure Virtual Desktop https://www.udemy.com/course/zero-to-hero-with-windows-virtual-desktop/?referralCode=B2FE49E6FCEE7A7EA8D4 Hybrid Identity with Windows A ..read more

Azure Virtual Desktop offers feature-rich options for hosting desktops in the cloud.  Recently, a new preview feature was announced to control the direction of clipboard copy and paste actions.  We can now control the direction and data types that can be transferred via clipboard from the local client to the session host and/or from the remote session host to the local client.  This video reviews the requirements for clipboard transfer direction and outlines the steps to configure the feature. Links Zero to Hero with Azure Virtual Desktop https://www.udemy.com/course/zero-to-he ..read more

FSLogix is the go-to solution for managing profiles in AVD and many other VDI environments.  Configuring FSLogix is relatively simple, but there is one configuration setting that’s often overlooked and can cause performance problems that impact the end users.  This video goes over configuring antivirus exclusions for FSLogix with the goal of increasing stability and performance with FSLogix. Links Zero to Hero with Azure Virtual Desktop https://www.udemy.com/course/zero-to-hero-with-windows-virtual-desktop/?referralCode=B2FE49E6FCEE7A7EA8D4 Hybrid Identity with Windows AD and Azure ..read more

Entra ID Conditional Access Policies are an excellent option for managing Multifactor Authentication, but there is more to it than MFA.  This video follows a previous video on using Conditional Access policies to require MFA when accessing AVD.  We expand on the concepts of the previous video by configuring the policy for different conditions, such as hybrid Entra ID joined devices and logging in from a known public IP.  After that, we create a policy to block access from specific devices and logins from outside the country. Links Zero to Hero with Azure Virtual Desktop https ..read more

Enabling multi-factor authentication is one of the first steps any organization should take to secure the environment.  But, not all applications are created equally.  You may need to provide different requirements based on who logs in and to a given application.  This video demonstrates how to configure a conditional access policy in Entra ID that applies to users logging into Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD).  This video shows how to use the what-if tool to determine how the policy is applied at a user’s login.  After that, we look at report-only mode to determine when th ..read more

We can view Entra ID log data from the portal, but that is only available for 30 days.  We may want to store important log data like sign in activity and risky user actions for more than 30 days.  Or we may need to send that data to other systems for future analysis and storage.  This video goes over how to send Entra ID logs to Log Analytics.  It starts with setting up a new Log Analytics workspace, then configuring logging to the workspace.  Finally, we run queries in Log Analytics to verify logging is enabled. Links Zero to Hero with Azure Virtual Desktop https://w ..read more

You deployed AVD Insights and are collecting data, now what?  This video is a guide to reviewing and searching the AVD insights workbooks available in Azure Virtual Desktop.  We start with AVD Insights at Scale to get an aggregated view of data across your host pools.  Then we review Session Host data in Insights at the host pool level.  Finally, we look at an example of how to search for data related to a specific user. Links Zero to Hero with Azure Virtual Desktop https://www.udemy.com/course/zero-to-hero-with-windows-virtual-desktop/?referralCode=B2FE49E6FCEE7A7EA8D4 Hy ..read more

The legacy Microsoft Monitor Agent (MMA) for Log Analytics retires in August of 2024.  Many have already deployed the MMA agent to collect data for AVD insights.  This video goes over two options to move an Azure Virtual Desktop host pool from the MMA client to the new Azure Monitor Agent (AMA). Links Zero to Hero with Azure Virtual Desktop https://www.udemy.com/course/zero-to-hero-with-windows-virtual-desktop/?referralCode=B2FE49E6FCEE7A7EA8D4 Hybrid Identity with Windows AD and Azure AD https://www.udemy.com/course/hybrid-identity-and-azure-active-directory/?referralCode=7F62C4C6F ..read more

Monitoring is important for any infrastructure, including AVD.  Microsoft provides a tool for managing AVD called AVD Insights.  This tool uses Log Analytics to store performance and event information sent from the host pool, workspace and session host VM’s.  This video reviews how to configure AVD Insights using the Azure Monitoring Agent (AMA). Links: Zero to Hero with Azure Virtual Desktop https://www.udemy.com/course/zero-to-hero-with-windows-virtual-desktop/?referralCode=B2FE49E6FCEE7A7EA8D4 Hybrid Identity with Windows AD and Azure AD https://www.udemy.com/course/hybrid-i ..read more

Microsoft recently announced the availability of Azure Premium SSD V2 disks.  These are a great and economical option for high-performance workloads in Azure.  This video starts with a description of the problem Premium SSD V2 disk solve, then we compare the price and configuration with Premium SSD Disks.  We also review how to deploy a VM with a Premium SSD V2 disk and how to create one to attach to an existing VM. Links Zero to Hero with Azure Virtual Desktop https://www.udemy.com/course/zero-to-hero-with-windows-virtual-desktop/?referralCode=B2FE49E6FCEE7A7EA8D4 Hybrid Ident ..read more