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azure virtual desktop FSLogix

testuser7 271 Reputation points
2022-03-25T14:56:31.71+00:00

Hello,

Does Azure Virtual Desktop of type PERSONAL POOL require FSlogix based user-container.

Since this is personal pool, if any user is assigned any session-host he will ALWAYS get the same session-host.
So I am wondering, why would AVD attach a Azure File-share based user-container to such session-host

Appreciate your help !!!

Thanks.

Azure Virtual Desktop
Azure Virtual Desktop
A Microsoft desktop and app virtualization service that runs on Azure. Previously known as Windows Virtual Desktop.
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  1. testuser7 271 Reputation points
    2022-03-30T13:30:35.88+00:00

    Hi @Alan Kinane I wanted thank you before closing this thread.
    You helped me clarifying a lot around this aspect of AVD

    1 person found this answer helpful.
  2. Alan Kinane 16,811 Reputation points MVP
    2022-03-25T16:32:55.34+00:00

    Personal host pools can have persistent or non-persistent desktops. So yes, you can optionally assign a user to a particular session host so that they always have the same VM within the pool but you don't have to do this in which case there would be a non-persistent desktop.

    Either way, there are advantages of having a centralised file share for the user profiles such as backup and recovery scenarios. You can backup the Azure Files shares containing all user profiles or else you may need to backup each personal VM containing the profile for every user. This adds management overhead and cost.

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  3. testuser7 271 Reputation points
    2022-03-25T18:18:29.847+00:00

    Great help @Alan Kinane
    As you nicely clarified, it is always good to have Azure-file-share to store user-profile even for persistent, fixed assigned VM from PERSONAL POOL

    So while spinning up the AVD-instance, if the OS Image that I chose has baked FSlogix agent in it then I believe that AVD instance will use FSlogix.
    If I have decided that all my users will get their own dedicated VM assignment, then probably I can live without installing this agent in my gold-image.
    Of course now I have to worry about backup and recovery scenarios.

    However, if I am creating a SHARED-POOL and miss to install this agent on the OS, then what would be the outcome ?
    Would my session-host be operable ?
    If yes, where would AVD store my profile ?

    Thanks.

  4. testuser7 271 Reputation points
    2022-03-28T11:50:51.563+00:00

    Thanks @Alan Kinane
    Agree that now with windows 11, FSlogix is part of the OS
    All we have to do is to configure it through registry and capture the new image to use with our AVD infra.

    So if I do not configure it, you said it will always us "local user profiles"
    Can you elaborate this term as I am trying to connect the dots here.
    Do we have to mount a data-disk on the session-host for "local user profiles" ? OR do we use "ephemeral-OS disk" ? OR do we use the unused space of the OS-disk ?
    Are we talking about stateless session-hosts ?

    Thanks

  5. testuser7 271 Reputation points
    2022-03-28T15:50:56.05+00:00

    Thanks @Alan Kinane . I did some digging about Ephemeral Disk and looks like it could be a good option for us in one of our stateless session-host use-case.
    Let's keep it aside for time being.

    If I use "Managed OS-disk" and count on "local user profiles" then as we know, C:\users folder (OS disk). will be used by AVD to store my profile.
    But technically I can create and use any folder under C:\ drive to store my files.
    As long as I am using the PERSISTENT session-host, I will always get the same VM and the same managed-disk will be found attached to it every time.

    So all my folders created under C:\ drive will be intact.
    So do you find any issue OR shall I always restrict the user to use **C:\users ** folder.

    Thanks.