Virtual Machine vs Virtual Windows Desktop

Question

I opened an Azure account many, many years ago and it has been dormant. At the time, a virtual machine was either a Windows or a Linux server, is that correct?

Now, there is Virtual Windows Desktop. Is that simply the virtual Windows Server presenting a familiar desktop UI?

Then, there is Virtual Windows Desktop Multi-User Sessions? Is that multiple virtual windows desktop clients connected to a virtual windows server? Or, is that somehow a desktop that is supporting multiple users working concurrently?

Answer 1

@giancarlo Apologies for the delay in response and all the inconvenience caused because of the issue.

Microsoft Azure offers hundreds of VM options tailored to suit various requirements like RAM, storage, the purpose of use like low-cost option, general computing, data protection, running heavy-memory applications (SAP for example), high performance, storage and more. Azure Virtual Machines (VM) is one of several types of on-demand, scalable computing resources that Azure offers. Typically, you choose a VM when you need more control over the computing environment than the other choices offer. This article gives you information about what you should consider before you create a VM, how you create it, and how you manage it.

An Azure VM gives you the flexibility of virtualization without having to buy and maintain the physical hardware that runs it. However, you still need to maintain the VM by performing tasks, such as configuring, patching, and installing the software that runs on it.

You can refer to this doc for more info.

Windows Virtual Desktop is a cloud-based platform service, a part of virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) that uses a set of Microsoft technologies on Azure cloud for virtualizing and managing desktops and applications.

It offers multi-session Windows 10, optimizations for Office 365 ProPlus and support for RDS environments. Other built-in key features include profile management in containers with FSLogix, Terminal Services Session Broker (keeps tracks of sessions on a server) and control plane. It also allows running the single session Windows 7 with free security updates till January 2023.

WVD brings the best profile management solution in a virtual environment with virtualized GPU (vGPU) to run high-end graphics, complex and demanding design applications all coming with tight multi-layered security system.

To sum up, WVD is a combination of all the different Azure virtual machines and goes even beyond bringing some unique features for the first time in the journey of virtualization. The kind of VM a business needs will depend on its specific requirement and available budget. A good virtual desktop infrastructure provider or a Desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) vendor should bring the tailor-made solution after understanding a company’s goal and business requirements with an easy step-up/down or pay-as-you-use offer.

You can refer to this doc for more info.

Hope it helps!!!

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Answer 2

Some info can be found here.
https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/virtual-desktop/

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