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Getting Started with AVD in ControlUp
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ControlUp ships with built-in support for Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD), Microsoft’s cloud-based VDI service. In this article, we will explain the benefits of using our new AVD integration and how you can monitor and manage your AVD environment from Solve
Features in a Nutshell
Integrating AVD into to our Real-Time DX offering brings you many advantages, such as
- Real-Monitoring of your AVD host pools, session hosts, workspace or application groups
- Large Set of new AVD metrics for creating triggers and script actions
- Extended cost overview of your AVD resources
- AVD Management actions and script actions
- Advanced Load Balancer to handle a large amount of Azure API requests
- Automate your AVD session host that run FSLogix
Prerequisites
- ControlUp version 8.8 or higher
- The Azure subscription under which your AVD environment is deployed must be connected to ControlUp. Read the instructions how to add an Azure subscription to ControlUp here
- In addition to the standard Azure roles, make sure the service principal is granted the Desktop Virtualization Contributor
In order to fully utilize the AVD monitoring capabilities, we strongly advise installing the ControlUp Agent on AVD session hosts. This will enable you to utilize all agent features, including creating triggers and script actions that require a non-REST API approach.
How To Access AVD Data
Unlike other ControlUp extensions such as VMware Horizon or Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, Microsoft Azure Virtual Desktop does not come with a dedicated extension. The main advantage is that you don't have to worry about adding additional credentials to ControlUp. You can use the Service Principal that you already use to connect your Azure subscription to ControlUp.
Solve
In Solve, you can filter AVD machines by using the Topology view. Under the Machines dropdown, you can find a new entry AVD. In this example, you can see that we have 31 AVD session hosts in 75 resource groups connected to the Monitor.
If you click a session host, you will find an overview that shows you more detailed information about the selected session host
To get more information on a host pool, navigate to the specific host pool in the topology view:
This open a dashboard that shows detailed host pool information
Real-Time DX Console
In the console, focus on the resource group under which your sessions host are located. To access your AVD session hosts, simply double-click on AVD Machines which will further drill you down to the AVD machines in this resource group.
AVD Metrics
The AVD integration comes with dozens of new metrics which you can find here.
AVD Presets
The Real-Time DX console includes pre-built presets specifically designed for AVD columns. Like other presets, AVD presets include a set of AVD metrics that are designed to help you obtain customized information about your AVD environment.
- AVD Machines
- AVD Machines No Agent
- AVD Remote Apps
- AVD User Sessions
Built-In AVD Actions
You can enable or disable drain mode for a session host by right-clicking the Session Host > AVD Management