Windows 10 Multi-Session
WVD hosts can be Windows 10 Enterprise, Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows Server 2012R2, 2016, or 2019. However, a major benefit of Hosted Virtual Desktop is the availability of the Windows 10 Enterprise Multi-Session Operating System.
This OS support allows for multiple users to log into a single Windows 10 VM. The multi-session capability promotes significant cost savings compared to other VDI solutions. In standard VDI solutions, single users are assigned a dedicated virtual machine. Whereas when using Windows 10 multi-session with WVD, multiple users are assigned to a pool of desktops, thus sharing resources (and costs).
Image Maintenance
Microsoft Azure VDI deployments are always based on some form of VM image, whether it is a standard Azure marketplace image or a “golden image” created by an IT Team to cater to company needs.
When it comes to “golden images” there is a lot of administrative effort and many moving parts that go into the creation, maintenance, and distribution of these images while keeping track of all changes; it can be a hectic and time-consuming task for businesses of any size.
This is where Microsoft Azure Shared Image Gallery and Azure DevOps come into play to provide an automated and uncomplicated way to build, maintain, support, and replicate these “golden images.” The shared image gallery helps overcome several obstacles, involved with management and distribution of images across the globe while offering version management in one place. Some of the benefits include:
Ease of administration
Version and grouping of images for different environments such as (Dev, Test, and Production)
Replication of golden image across different Azure regions so that the same version of global image could be deployed in all regions of Azure
High Availability of the Images
Premium storage and replicas for faster WVD and Scale set deployments
Whereas Azure Image Builder via Azure DevOps solves the problem of creating golden images in an automated and repeatable way, some of the benefits of Azure Image builder include:
Automated Installation of desired applications, such as Office 365, Microsoft Teams, Google Chrome, and line of business and custom apps.
An automated way of installing updates for software and operating system.
An automated way of the configuration of software and operating system (firewall, antivirus behavior)
The repeatable process with repeatable results
Change tracking
Automatic image publishing and replication to the shared image gallery
Regards,
Caleb