Download articleIn this post I’ll show how to deploy a minimal Windows Server 2016 Remote Desktop Services farm in Azure in 20 minutes using Azure Resource Manager template. Such farm will be enough to provide Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) for 5 to 100 end-users. It was designed as a single-tenant solution, then can be quickly deployed in Azure with minimal effort for every customer. My ARM template includes:
- One VM with Active Directory Domain Controller and DNS roles
- One VM with RD Connection Broker and RD Licensing Server (per-user licensing through SPLA)
- One VM with RD Gateway and RD Web
- Specified number of RD Session Hosts.
My ARM template is based on RDS 2016 Base template from GitHub. I recommend you to watch this video from Ignite to understand the details. The resulting farm isn’t protected from DC, CB or GW failures, but it is much cheaper then Full-HA deployment with a pair of Connection Brokers with Azure SQL Database, a pair of Gateways with a Load Balancer and a highly available AD environment. If you need an RDS farm for 100+ end-users, I recommend you to modify my template and add high availability for the core components, add Azure Backup capabilities and Azure SMT for centralized management. But I assume that such large RDS farms are rare among CSP partners, and those capabilities can be added manually instead of creating a super-complex ARM template.
Login to the Azure Portal and click “More Services” in the left pane. Choose “Template” menu in the list and then click “Add” to create a new Azure Resource Manager Template.
Specify the template name and description:
Then copy the following text and paste it to the template:
{ "$schema": "https://schema.management.azure.com/schemas/2015-01-01/deploymentTemplate.json#", "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0", "parameters": { "gwdnsLabelPrefix": { "type": "string", "metadata": { "description": "Unique gateway public DNS prefix. The fqdn will look something like 'prefix.region.cloudapp.azure.com'. Up to 62 chars, digits or dashes, lowercase, should start with a letter." } }, "adDomainName": { "type": "string", "metadata": { "description": "The name of the AD domain." }, "defaultValue": "contoso.com" }, "adminUsername": { "type": "string", "metadata": { "description": "The name of the domain admin. Can't be 'administrator' or 'user'." }, "defaultValue": "rdsadmin" }, "adminPassword": { "type": "securestring", "metadata": { "description": "The password for the administrator account of the new VM and the domain" } }, "numberOfRdshInstances": { "type": "int", "defaultValue": 1, "metadata": { "description": "Initial number of RD Session Hosts" } }, "rdshVmSize": { "type": "string", "allowedValues": [ "Standard_A2m_V2", "Standard_A4m_V2", "Standard_A8m_V2", "Standard_D11_V2", "Standard_D12_V2", "Standard_D13_V2", "Standard_D14_V2", "Standard_D15_V2" ], "metadata": { "description": "The size of the RD Session Host VMs" }, "defaultValue": "Standard_D11_V2" } }, "variables": { "adAssetLocation": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Azure/AzureStack-QuickStart-Templates/master/ad-non-ha", "gwpublicIPAddressName": "gwpip", "imageSKU": "2016-Datacenter", "adVMSize": "Basic_A1", "adVnetName": "[concat('ADVNET',resourceGroup().name)]", "adSubnetName": "[concat('ADStaticSubnet',resourceGroup().name)]", "vnetID": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks', variables('adVnetName'))]", "staticSubnetID": "[concat(variables('vnetID'),'/subnets/', variables('adSubnetName'))]", "adTemplateURL": "[concat(variables('adAssetLocation'),'/adVmTemplate.json')]", "adStorageName": "[tolower(concat('adsa',uniqueString(resourceGroup().id)))]", "adVmDeployment": "CreateAdVms", "adVmDeploymentId": "[concat('Microsoft.Resources/deployments/', variables('adVmDeployment'))]", "deployPrimaryAdTemplateURL": "[concat(variables('adAssetLocation'),'/deployPrimaryAD.json')]", "deployPrimaryAd": "DeployPrimaryAd", "deployPrimaryAdID": "[concat('Microsoft.Resources/deployments/', variables('deployPrimaryAd'))]", "adPDCVMName": "DC1", "vnetwithDNSTemplateURL": "[concat(variables('adAssetLocation'),'/vnet-with-dns-server.json')]", "updateVNetDNS1": "updateVNetDNS", "updateVNetDNS1ID": "[concat('Microsoft.Resources/deployments/', variables('updateVNetDNS1'))]", "nicTemplateURL": "[concat(variables('adAssetLocation'),'/nic.json')]", "publicLBName": "[concat('ADPLB',resourceGroup().name)]", "publicIPAddressID": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Network/publicIPAddresses',variables('publicIPAddressName'))]", "lbFE": "ADLBFE", "rdpNAT": "ADRDPNAT", "publiclbID": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Network/loadBalancers',variables('publicLBName'))]", "publiclbFEConfigID": "[concat(variables('publiclbID'),'/frontendIPConfigurations/',variables('lbFE'))]", "rdpPort": 3389, "adRDPNATRuleID": "[concat(variables('publiclbID'),'/inboundNatRules/',variables('rdpNAT'))]", "adNICName": "[concat('ADNic',resourceGroup().name)]", "lbBE": "ADLBBE", "publicBEAddressPoolID": "[concat(variables('publiclbID'),'/backendAddressPools/',variables('lbBE'))]", "gwLBName": "[concat('GWPLB',resourceGroup().name)]", "publicIPAddressName": "[tolower(concat('adpip',uniqueString(resourceGroup().Id)))]", "gwIPAddressID": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Network/publicIPAddresses',variables('gwpublicIPAddressName'))]", "gwlbFE": "GWLBFE", "gwlbID": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Network/loadBalancers',variables('gwLBName'))]", "gwlbFEConfigID": "[concat(variables('gwlbID'),'/frontendIPConfigurations/',variables('gwlbFE'))]", "gwlbBE": "GWLBBE", "gwBEAddressPoolID": "[concat(variables('gwlbID'),'/backendAddressPools/',variables('gwlbBE'))]", "dnsLabelPrefix": "[tolower(concat('adns', resourceGroup().name))]", "storageAccountName": "[tolower(concat('rdsa',uniqueString(resourceGroup().id)))]", "storageAccountType": "Standard_LRS", "uniqueStorageAccountContainerName": "[tolower(concat('sc', uniqueString(resourceGroup().id)))]", "imagePublisher": "MicrosoftWindowsServer", "imageOffer": "WindowsServer", "vnetAddressRange": "10.0.0.0/16", "subnetAddressRange": "10.0.0.0/24", "dnsServerPrivateIp": "10.0.0.4", "subnet-id": "[concat(resourceId('Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks', variables('adVnetName')),'/subnets/', variables('adSubnetName'))]", "assetLocation": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Azure/azure-QuickStart-Templates/master/rds-deployment/", "nsgName": "RDSNsg", "nsgID": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Network/networkSecurityGroups',variables('nsgName'))]", "subnets": [ { "name": "[variables('adSubnetName')]", "properties": { "addressPrefix": "[variables('subnetAddressRange')]", "networkSecurityGroup": { "id": "[variables('nsgID')]" } } } ] }, "resources": [ { "name": "[variables('nsgName')]", "type": "Microsoft.Network/networkSecurityGroups", "location": "[resourceGroup().location]", "apiVersion": "2015-06-15", "properties": { "securityRules": [ { "name": "rule1", "properties": { "protocol": "*", "sourcePortRange": "*", "destinationPortRange": "*", "sourceAddressPrefix": "*", "destinationAddressPrefix": "*", "access": "Allow", "priority": 101, "direction": "Inbound" } } ] } }, { "name": "[variables('adVnetName')]", "type": "Microsoft.Network/virtualNetworks", "location": "[resourceGroup().location]", "apiVersion": "2015-06-15", "dependsOn": [ "[variables('nsgID')]" ], "properties": { "addressSpace": { "addressPrefixes": [ "[variables('vnetAddressRange')]" ] }, "subnets": [ { "name": "[variables('adSubnetName')]", "properties": { "addressPrefix": "[variables('subnetAddressRange')]", "networkSecurityGroup": { "id": "[variables('nsgID')]" } } } ] } }, { "name": "[variables('publicIPAddressName')]", "type": "Microsoft.Network/publicIPAddresses", "location": "[resourceGroup().location]", "apiVersion": "2015-06-15", "dependsOn": [ "[variables('vnetID')]" ], "properties": { "publicIPAllocationMethod": "Dynamic", "dnsSettings": { "domainNameLabel": "[variables('dnsLabelPrefix')]" } } }, { "name": "[variables('gwpublicIPAddressName')]", "type": "Microsoft.Network/publicIPAddresses", "location": "[resourceGroup().location]", "apiVersion": "2015-06-15", "dependsOn": [ "[variables('deployPrimaryAdID')]" ], "properties": { "publicIPAllocationMethod": "Static", "dnsSettings": { "domainNameLabel": "[parameters('gwdnsLabelPrefix')]" } } }, { "apiVersion": "2015-06-15", "type": "Microsoft.Compute/availabilitySets", "name": "gw-availabilityset", "location": "[resourceGroup().location]" }, { "apiVersion": "2015-06-15", "type": "Microsoft.Compute/availabilitySets", "name": "cb-availabilityset", "location": "[resourceGroup().location]" }, { "apiVersion": "2015-06-15", "type": "Microsoft.Compute/availabilitySets", "name": "rdsh-availabilityset", "location": "[resourceGroup().location]" }, { "name": "[variables('publiclbName')]", "type": "Microsoft.Network/loadBalancers", "apiVersion": "2015-06-15", "location": "[resourceGroup().location]", "dependsOn": [ "[variables('publicIPAddressID')]" ], "properties": { "frontendIPConfigurations": [ { "name": "[variables('lbFE')]", "properties": { "publicIPAddress": { "id": "[variables('publicIPAddressID')]" } } } ], "backendAddressPools": [ { "name": "[variables('lbBE')]" } ], "inboundNatRules": [ { "name": "[variables('rdpNAT')]", "properties": { "frontendIPConfiguration": { "id": "[variables('publiclbFEConfigID')]" }, "protocol": "tcp", "frontendPort": "[variables('rdpPort')]", "backendPort": 3389, "enableFloatingIP": false } } ] } }, { "name": "[variables('gwlbName')]", "type": "Microsoft.Network/loadBalancers", "apiVersion": "2015-06-15", "location": "[resourceGroup().location]", "dependsOn": [ "[variables('gwIPAddressID')]" ], "properties": { "frontendIPConfigurations": [ { "name": "[variables('gwlbFE')]", "properties": { "publicIPAddress": { "id": "[variables('gwIPAddressID')]" } } } ], "backendAddressPools": [ { "name": "[variables('gwlbBE')]" } ], "loadBalancingRules": [ { "name": "LBRule01", "properties": { "frontendIPConfiguration": { "id": "[variables('gwlbFEConfigID')]" }, "backendAddressPool": { "id": "[variables('gwBEAddressPoolID')]" }, "protocol": "Tcp", "frontendPort": 443, "backendPort": 443, "enableFloatingIP": false, "idleTimeoutInMinutes": 5, "loadDistribution": "SourceIPProtocol", "probe": { "id": "[concat(variables('gwlbID'),'/probes/tcpProbe')]" } } }, { "name": "LBRule02", "properties": { "frontendIPConfiguration": { "id": "[variables('gwlbFEConfigID')]" }, "backendAddressPool": { "id": "[variables('gwBEAddressPoolID')]" }, "protocol": "Udp", "frontendPort": 3391, "backendPort": 3391, "enableFloatingIP": false, "idleTimeoutInMinutes": 5, "loadDistribution": "SourceIPProtocol", "probe": { "id": "[concat(variables('gwlbID'),'/probes/tcpProbe')]" } } } ], "probes": [ { "name": "tcpProbe", "properties": { "protocol": "Tcp", "port": 443, "intervalInSeconds": 5, "numberOfProbes": 2 } }, { "name": "tcpProbe01", "properties": { "protocol": "Tcp", "port": 3391, "intervalInSeconds": 5, "numberOfProbes": 2 } } ], "inboundNatRules": [ { "name": "rdp", "properties": { "frontendIPConfiguration": { "id": "[variables('gwlbFEConfigID')]" }, "protocol": "tcp", "frontendPort": 3389, "backendPort": 3389, "enableFloatingIP": false } } ] } }, { "name": "[variables('adVmDeployment')]", "type": "Microsoft.Resources/deployments", "apiVersion": "2016-02-01", "dependsOn": [ "[variables('publiclbID')]" ], "properties": { "mode": "Incremental", "templateLink": { "uri": "[variables('adTemplateURL')]", "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0" }, "parameters": { "adminUsername": { "value": "[parameters('adminUsername')]" }, "adminPassword": { "value": "[parameters('adminPassword')]" }, "adRDPNATRuleID": { "value": "[variables('adRDPNATRuleID')]" }, "storageAccount": { "value": "[variables('adStorageName')]" }, "subnetResourceId": { "value": "[variables('staticSubnetID')]" }, "primaryAdIpAddress": { "value": "[variables('dnsServerPrivateIp')]" }, "storageAccountType": { "value": "[variables('storageAccountType')]" }, "vmName": { "value": "[variables('adPDCVMName')]" }, "vmSize": { "value": "[variables('adVMSize')]" }, "adDNicName": { "value": "[variables('adNICName')]" } } } }, { "name": "[variables('deployPrimaryAd')]", "type": "Microsoft.Resources/deployments", "apiVersion": "2016-02-01", "dependsOn": [ "[variables('adVmDeploymentID')]" ], "properties": { "mode": "Incremental", "templateLink": { "uri": "[variables('deployPrimaryAdTemplateURL')]", "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0" }, "parameters": { "primaryADName": { "value": "[variables('adPDCVMName')]" }, "domainName": { "value": "[parameters('adDomainName')]" }, "adminUsername": { "value": "[parameters('adminUsername')]" }, "adminPassword": { "value": "[parameters('adminPassword')]" }, "assetLocation": { "value": "[variables('adAssetLocation')]" } } } }, { "name": "[variables('updateVNetDNS1')]", "type": "Microsoft.Resources/deployments", "apiVersion": "2016-02-01", "dependsOn": [ "[variables('deployPrimaryAdID')]" ], "properties": { "mode": "Incremental", "templateLink": { "uri": "[variables('vnetwithDNSTemplateURL')]", "contentVersion": "1.0.0.0" }, "parameters": { "virtualNetworkName": { "value": "[variables('adVnetName')]" }, "virtualNetworkAddressRange": { "value": "[variables('vnetAddressRange')]" }, "subnets": { "value": "[variables('subnets')]" }, "dnsServerAddress": { "value": [ "[variables('dnsServerPrivateIp')]" ] } } } }, { "apiVersion": "2015-06-15", "type": "Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts", "name": "[variables('storageAccountName')]", "location": "[resourceGroup().location]", "properties": { "accountType": "[variables('storageAccountType')]" } }, { "apiVersion": "2015-06-15", "type": "Microsoft.Network/networkInterfaces", "name": "gw-nic", "location": "[resourceGroup().location]", "dependsOn": [ "[variables('gwlbID')]", "[variables('adVmDeploymentID')]" ], "properties": { "ipConfigurations": [ { "name": "ipconfig", "properties": { "privateIPAllocationMethod": "Dynamic", "subnet": { "id": "[variables('subnet-id')]" }, "loadBalancerBackendAddressPools": [ { "id": "[variables('gwBEAddressPoolID')]" } ], "loadBalancerInboundNatRules": [ { "id": "[concat(variables('gwlbID'),'/inboundNatRules/rdp')]" } ] } } ], "dnsSettings": { "dnsServers": [ "[variables('dnsServerPrivateIp')]" ] } } }, { "apiVersion": "2015-06-15", "type": "Microsoft.Network/networkInterfaces", "name": "cb-nic", "location": "[resourceGroup().location]", "dependsOn": [ "[variables('publiclbID')]", "[variables('adVmDeploymentID')]" ], "properties": { "ipConfigurations": [ { "name": "ipconfig", "properties": { "privateIPAllocationMethod": "Dynamic", "subnet": { "id": "[variables('subnet-id')]" } } } ], "dnsSettings": { "dnsServers": [ "[variables('dnsServerPrivateIp')]" ] } } }, { "apiVersion": "2015-06-15", "type": "Microsoft.Network/networkInterfaces", "name": "[concat('rdsh-', copyindex(), '-nic')]", "location": "[resourceGroup().location]", "copy": { "name": "rdsh-nic-loop", "count": "[parameters('numberOfRdshInstances')]" }, "dependsOn": [ "[variables('publiclbID')]", "[variables('adVmDeploymentID')]" ], "properties": { "ipConfigurations": [ { "name": "ipconfig", "properties": { "privateIPAllocationMethod": "Dynamic", "subnet": { "id": "[variables('subnet-id')]" } } } ], "dnsSettings": { "dnsServers": [ "[variables('dnsServerPrivateIp')]" ] } } }, { "apiVersion": "2015-06-15", "type": "Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines", "name": "GW1", "location": "[resourceGroup().location]", "dependsOn": [ "[variables('deployPrimaryAdID')]", "[concat('Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/', variables('storageAccountName'))]", "Microsoft.Network/networkInterfaces/gw-nic" ], "properties": { "hardwareProfile": { "vmSize": "Standard_A2" }, "availabilitySet": { "id": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Compute/availabilitySets', 'gw-availabilityset')]" }, "osProfile": { "computerName": "GW1", "adminUsername": "[parameters('adminUsername')]", "adminPassword": "[parameters('adminPassword')]" }, "storageProfile": { "imageReference": { "publisher": "[variables('imagePublisher')]", "offer": "[variables('imageOffer')]", "sku": "[variables('imageSKU')]", "version": "latest" }, "osDisk": { "name": "osdisk", "vhd": { "uri": "[concat(reference(concat('Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/', variables('storageAccountName')),providers('Microsoft.Storage', 'storageAccounts').apiVersions[0]).primaryEndpoints.blob,variables('uniqueStorageAccountContainerName'),'/','gw-vm-os-disk.vhd')]" }, "caching": "ReadWrite", "createOption": "FromImage" } }, "networkProfile": { "networkInterfaces": [ { "id": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Network/networkInterfaces','gw-nic')]" } ] } }, "resources": [ { "apiVersion": "2015-06-15", "type": "Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/extensions", "name": "GW1/gateway", "location": "[resourceGroup().location]", "dependsOn": [ "[resourceId('Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines', 'GW1')]" ], "properties": { "publisher": "Microsoft.Powershell", "type": "DSC", "typeHandlerVersion": "2.11", "autoUpgradeMinorVersion": true, "settings": { "modulesUrl": "[concat(variables('assetLocation'),'/Configuration.zip')]", "configurationFunction": "Configuration.ps1Gateway", "Properties": { "DomainName": "[parameters('adDomainName')]", "AdminCreds": { "UserName": "[parameters('adminUsername')]", "Password": "PrivateSettingsRef:AdminPassword" } } }, "protectedSettings": { "Items": { "AdminPassword": "[parameters('adminPassword')]" } } } } ] }, { "apiVersion": "2015-06-15", "type": "Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines", "name": "[concat('RDSH', copyindex())]", "location": "[resourceGroup().location]", "copy": { "name": "rdsh-vm-loop", "count": "[parameters('numberOfRdshInstances')]" }, "dependsOn": [ "[variables('deployPrimaryAdID')]", "[concat('Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/', variables('storageAccountName'))]", "[concat('Microsoft.Network/networkInterfaces/', 'rdsh-', copyindex(), '-nic')]" ], "properties": { "hardwareProfile": { "vmSize": "[parameters('rdshVmSize')]" }, "availabilitySet": { "id": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Compute/availabilitySets', 'rdsh-availabilityset')]" }, "osProfile": { "computerName": "[concat('RDSH', copyIndex())]", "adminUsername": "[parameters('adminUsername')]", "adminPassword": "[parameters('adminPassword')]" }, "storageProfile": { "imageReference": { "publisher": "[variables('imagePublisher')]", "offer": "[variables('imageOffer')]", "sku": "[variables('imageSKU')]", "version": "latest" }, "osDisk": { "name": "osdisk", "vhd": { "uri": "[concat(reference(concat('Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/', variables('storageAccountName')),providers('Microsoft.Storage', 'storageAccounts').apiVersions[0]).primaryEndpoints.blob,variables('uniqueStorageAccountContainerName'),'/','rdsh-',copyindex(),'-os-disk.vhd')]" }, "caching": "ReadWrite", "createOption": "FromImage" } }, "networkProfile": { "networkInterfaces": [ { "id": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Network/networkInterfaces',concat('rdsh-', copyindex(), '-nic'))]" } ] } }, "resources": [ { "apiVersion": "2015-06-15", "type": "Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/extensions", "name": "[concat('RDSH', copyindex(),'/sessionhost')]", "location": "[resourceGroup().location]", "dependsOn": [ "[resourceId('Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines', concat('RDSH', copyindex()))]" ], "properties": { "publisher": "Microsoft.Powershell", "type": "DSC", "typeHandlerVersion": "2.11", "autoUpgradeMinorVersion": true, "settings": { "ModulesUrl": "[concat(variables('assetLocation'),'/Configuration.zip')]", "ConfigurationFunction": "Configuration.ps1SessionHost", "Properties": { "DomainName": "[parameters('adDomainName')]", "AdminCreds": { "UserName": "[parameters('adminUsername')]", "Password": "PrivateSettingsRef:AdminPassword" } } }, "protectedSettings": { "Items": { "AdminPassword": "[parameters('adminPassword')]" } } } } ] }, { "apiVersion": "2015-06-15", "type": "Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines", "name": "CB1", "location": "[resourceGroup().location]", "dependsOn": [ "[variables('deployPrimaryAdID')]", "[concat('Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/', variables('storageAccountName'))]", "Microsoft.Network/networkInterfaces/cb-nic", "rdsh-vm-loop" ], "properties": { "hardwareProfile": { "vmSize": "Standard_A2" }, "availabilitySet": { "id": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Compute/availabilitySets', 'cb-availabilityset')]" }, "osProfile": { "computerName": "CB1", "adminUsername": "[parameters('adminUsername')]", "adminPassword": "[parameters('adminPassword')]" }, "storageProfile": { "imageReference": { "publisher": "[variables('imagePublisher')]", "offer": "[variables('imageOffer')]", "sku": "[variables('imageSKU')]", "version": "latest" }, "osDisk": { "name": "osdisk", "vhd": { "uri": "[concat(reference(concat('Microsoft.Storage/storageAccounts/', variables('storageAccountName')),providers('Microsoft.Storage', 'storageAccounts').apiVersions[0]).primaryEndpoints.blob,variables('uniqueStorageAccountContainerName'),'/','cb-vm-os-disk.vhd')]" }, "caching": "ReadWrite", "createOption": "FromImage" } }, "networkProfile": { "networkInterfaces": [ { "id": "[resourceId('Microsoft.Network/networkInterfaces','cb-nic')]" } ] } } }, { "type": "Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/extensions", "name": "CB1/rdsdeployment", "apiVersion": "2015-06-15", "location": "[resourceGroup().location]", "dependsOn": [ "[resourceId('Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines', 'CB1')]", "Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/GW1/extensions/gateway", "rdsh-vm-loop" ], "properties": { "autoUpgradeMinorVersion": true, "protectedSettings": { "Items": { "adminPassword": "[parameters('adminPassword')]" } }, "publisher": "Microsoft.Powershell", "settings": { "modulesUrl": "[concat(variables('assetLocation'),'/Configuration.zip')]", "configurationFunction": "Configuration.ps1RDSDeployment", "Properties": { "adminCreds": { "UserName": "[parameters('adminUsername')]", "Password": "PrivateSettingsRef:adminPassword" }, "connectionBroker": "[concat('CB1.',parameters('adDomainName'))]", "domainName": "[parameters('adDomainName')]", "externalfqdn": "[reference(variables('gwpublicIPAddressName')).dnsSettings.fqdn]", "numberOfRdshInstances": "[parameters('numberOfRdshInstances')]", "sessionHostNamingPrefix": "RDSH", "webAccessServer": "[concat('GW1.',parameters('adDomainName'))]" } }, "type": "DSC", "typeHandlerVersion": "2.11" } } ] }
Then save the template, open it and click “Deploy”:
Create a new Resource Group, specify the Region and provide some parameters:
- Unique RD Gateway public DNS prefix
- Active Directory Domain Name
- Domain Admin username and password
- Number of RD Session Hosts and their size. Agree with Terms and Conditions and click “Purchase”.
In 20-30 minutes you’ll have a ready-to-use RDS 2016 farm, accessible via specified Gwdns Label Prefix + Region URL. In my case it is https://kotlyarenkodaas.northeurope.cloudapp.azure.com/RDWeb.
Manual steps after the deployment:
- Configure SSL certificates
- Create Session Host collections
- Install required applications for end-users
- Configure User Profile Disks
- Optional: Implement auto-scaling of RD Session Hosts
- Optional: Configure backup using Azure Backup.
That’s all for today. Have fun with RDS 2016 and ARM!
