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Configure the Azure Virtual Desktop load-balancing method

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Configuring the load-balancing method for a host pool allows you to adjust the Azure Virtual Desktop environment to better suit your needs.

Note

This does not apply to a persistent desktop host pool because users always have a 1:1 mapping to a session host within the host pool.

Prerequisites

This article assumes you've followed the instructions in Set up the Azure Virtual Desktop PowerShell module to download and install the PowerShell module and sign in to your Azure account.

Configure breadth-first load balancing

Breadth-first load balancing is the default configuration for new non-persistent host pools. Breadth-first load balancing distributes new user sessions across all available session hosts in the host pool. When configuring breadth-first load balancing, you may set a maximum session limit per session host in the host pool.

To configure a host pool to perform breadth-first load balancing without adjusting the maximum session limit, run the following PowerShell cmdlet:

Update-AzWvdHostPool -ResourceGroupName <resourcegroupname> -Name <hostpoolname> -LoadBalancerType 'BreadthFirst'

After that, to make sure you've set the breadth-first load balancing method, run the following cmdlet:

Get-AzWvdHostPool -ResourceGroupName <resourcegroupname> -Name <hostpoolname> | format-list Name, LoadBalancerType

Name             : hostpoolname
LoadBalancerType : BreadthFirst

To configure a host pool to perform breadth-first load balancing and to use a new maximum session limit, run the following PowerShell cmdlet:

Update-AzWvdHostPool -ResourceGroupName <resourcegroupname> -Name <hostpoolname> -LoadBalancerType 'BreadthFirst' -MaxSessionLimit ###

Configure depth-first load balancing

Depth-first load balancing distributes new user sessions to an available session host with the highest number of connections but has not reached its maximum session limit threshold.

Important

When configuring depth-first load balancing, you must set a maximum session limit per session host in the host pool.

To configure a host pool to perform depth-first load balancing, run the following PowerShell cmdlet:

Update-AzWvdHostPool -ResourceGroupName <resourcegroupname> -Name <hostpoolname> -LoadBalancerType 'DepthFirst' -MaxSessionLimit ###

Note

The depth-first load balancing algorithm distributes sessions to session hosts based on the maximum session host limit (-MaxSessionLimit). This parameter's default value is 999999, which is also the highest possible number you can set this variable to. This parameter is required when you use the depth-first load balancing algorithm. For the best possible user experience, make sure to change the maximum session host limit parameter to a number that best suits your environment.

To make sure the setting has updated, run this cmdlet:

Get-AzWvdHostPool -ResourceGroupName <resourcegroupname> -Name <hostpoolname> | format-list Name, LoadBalancerType, MaxSessionLimit

Name             : hostpoolname
LoadBalancerType : DepthFirst
MaxSessionLimit  : 6

Configure load balancing with the Azure portal

You can also configure load balancing with the Azure portal.

To configure load balancing:

  1. Sign into the Azure portal at https://portal.azure.com.
  2. Search for and select Azure Virtual Desktop under Services.
  3. In the Azure Virtual Desktop page, select Host pools.
  4. Select the name of the host pool you want to edit.
  5. Select Properties.
  6. Enter the Max session limit into the field and select the load balancing algorithm you want for this host pool in the drop-down menu.
  7. Select Save. This applies the new load balancing settings.