Windows Server - RDS Azure

Question

Hi All,

Need some advice on below please

We have RDS license manager and RDS host session in On-Premises. Now we wanted to add RDS session host in Azure environment, can we use same RDS license manager which is in on-premises or should we provision a new one in Azure.

Kindly clarify

Answer 1

Hi @karthik palani

the direct answer to your question is yes - as long as the network connectivity exists between your on-premises RDS and the Azure VNet that you are putting the RDS host in, and the connectivity and latency between the networks is low then it shouldn't be a problem.

However, you haven't specified whether the Apps and Services that your users will connect to from the RDS environment are located on-premises on in Azure. If these are primarily in Azure, I would suggest looking at Azure Virtual Desktop as an option. The article here gives details of how you can achieve this using Azure Migrate assessment:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-adoption-framework/migrate/azure-best-practices/contoso-migration-rds-to-wvd

Thanks

Michael Durkan

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Answer 2

As you mentioned in your post, you just wanted to host RDS Session Host in Azure and your license manager will be on premises, this is possible. You need to ensure the sure you have site to site vpn and RDS session host and RDS license manager are connected.

for more details: refer the following.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2008-r2-and-2008/cc770585(v=ws.11)
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/remote/remote-desktop-services/rds-client-access-license#license-your-rds-deployment-with-client-access-licenses-cals
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/remote/remote-desktop-services/rds-scale-rdsh-farm

Since you are planning to migrate Remote Desktop Services to Azure, I recommend you to consider Azure Virtual Desktop. By using Azure Virtual Desktop, you can manage and scale your vitual desktop infrastructure quickly.

Refer: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cloud-adoption-framework/migrate/azure-best-practices/contoso-migration-rds-to-wvd

Hope this helps