Using Front Door as a redirect for Windows Virtual Desktops

Question

I'm trying to find a way to use a friendly URL like https://wvd.domainname.com and have it direct users to https://client.wvd.microsoft.com/arm/webclient/

There have been write ups on how to do this with Function Apps and Front Doors a few years ago but it looks like some things have changed and some options aren't available anymore and when I've tried it myself it fails.

Answer 1

Yes, it is possible to use a friendly URL like https://wvd.domainname.com to redirect users to https://client.wvd.microsoft.com/arm/webclient/. There are several ways to achieve this, but one common approach is to use Azure Front Door with a custom domain name and a routing rule.

Here are the general steps you would need to follow:

1. Create an Azure Front Door instance and configure it with a backend pool pointing to https://client.wvd.microsoft.com/arm/webclient/.
2. Add a custom domain name like https://wvd.domainname.com to the Front Door instance.
3. Create a routing rule in the Front Door instance to forward requests for https://wvd.domainname.com to the backend pool for https://client.wvd.microsoft.com/arm/webclient/.

To create the routing rule, you would need to specify a host name like wvd.domainname.com in the Front Door configuration and configure it to route traffic to the backend pool for https://client.wvd.microsoft.com/arm/webclient/. You can also configure other settings like load balancing algorithms, SSL settings, and caching policies.

Here is an example JSON configuration for a Front Door routing rule that forwards requests for https://wvd.domainname.com to the backend pool for https://client.wvd.microsoft.com/arm/webclient/:

{
  "name": "WVD_Routing_Rule",
  "frontendEndpoints": [
    {
      "name": "wvdfrontend",
      "hostName": "wvd.domainname.com",
      "sessionAffinityEnabledState": "Disabled",
      "sessionAffinityTtlSeconds": 0,
      "webApplicationFirewallPolicyLink": null,
      "customHttpsConfiguration": null
    }
  ],
  "backendPools": [
    {
      "name": "wvdbackendpool",
      "loadBalancingSettings": {
        "name": "wvdlbs",
        "sampleSize": 4,
        "successfulSamplesRequired": 2,
        "additionalLatencyMilliseconds": 0
      },
      "backend": [
        {
          "address": "https://client.wvd.microsoft.com/arm/webclient/",
          "httpPort": 80,
          "httpsPort": 443,
          "priority": 1,
          "weight": 1
        }
      ],
      "healthProbeSettings": null
    }
  ],
  "routingRules": [
    {
      "name": "WVD_Routing_Rule",
      "frontendEndpoints": [
        {
          "id": "/subscriptions/<subscriptionId>/resourceGroups/<resourceGroupName>/providers/Microsoft.Network/frontDoors/<frontDoorName>/frontendEndpoints/wvdfrontend",
          "name": "wvdfrontend"
        }
      ],
      "acceptedProtocols": [
        "Https"
      ],
      "patternsToMatch": [
        "/",
        "/{**path}"
      ],
      "routeConfiguration": {
        "name": "WVD_Route_Configuration",
        "priority": 1,
        "backendPoolReferences": [
          {
            "id": "/subscriptions/<subscriptionId>/resourceGroups/<resourceGroupName>/providers/Microsoft.Network/frontDoors/<frontDoorName>/backendPools/wvdbackendpool",
            "name": "wvdbackendpool"
          }
        ]
      },
      "enabledState": "Enabled"
    }
  ]
}

This configuration specifies a custom domain name wvd.domainname.com in the frontendEndpoints section, a backend pool with one endpoint pointing to https://client.wvd.microsoft.com/arm/webclient/ in