EBOOK
Introduction
Since Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) launched in 2019, it has rapidly gained popularity among enterprises, government, and educational institutions. Beyond the technological advantages that AVD brings to the table, there are a number of nuances that also make it the most cost-effective cloud-based virtual desktop solution.
A core component of the AVD service is the new Windows 11 EVD, a multi-session desktop-class Windows operating system. This OS is only available in Azure as part of the AVD service and cannot be used on-premises or in another cloud environment. Windows 10/11 Multi-Session can also be used on-premises using Azure Stack HCI. The cost advantage comes from the ability to consolidate many individual users onto a single VM, thereby reducing the cost of cloud infrastructure on a per-user basis to a fraction of what it would be in a one-to-one user-to-VM assignment.
Getting Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) up and running can be a very boring process. Nerdio automates just about every step you can think of. Once Nerdio Manager for Enterprise is installed—which will take 25 to 30 minutes, depending on how busy Azure is— setting up your initial AVD workspace together with a host pool and a couple of virtual machines to go with it only takes an additional 15 minutes, assuming you don’t already have an existing AVD deployment in place.
If you do have an existing AVD environment that you would like to continue using, onboarding it into Nerdio Manager for Enterprise will be even faster; 5-15 minutes depending on how many host pools you have together with the number of virtual machines that need to be “associated” with Nerdio Manager for Enterprise.
SAVE UP TO 75%
on Azure compute and storage using Nerdio Auto-Scaling
It’s automagic!
Nerdio’s auto-scaling feature will start, stop, reboot, build new VMs from scratch, completely remove machines when no longer needed, monitor and repair hosts when needed, and more—all fully automated. It will also put machines in drain mode when applicable, inform your users that something is about to happen (using your own text), and make sure all of your machines will get a unique name (which it can reuse) while also managing the underlying computer objects in Active Directory for you.
It can do all this for hosted shared environments, published applications, non-persistent pooled desktops, and for personal assigned, persistent desktops as well. You can give your users more flexibility or responsibility by letting them start, stop, and restart their own personally assigned virtual machines, re-image and re-size their personal desktops, and log off their sessions when desired.
Real Nerdio Manager for Enterprise customer monthly savings
What about licenses?
With AVD, licensing has been greatly simplified as well. If you purchase or already own any of the Microsoft 365 family licenses, chances are you are entitled to use the AVD service as well, at no additional costs. Windows 10/11 Multi-Session doesn’t need RDS-CAL Licenses, so you save money by not having to purchase those licenses.
This makes things simpler, but what about ongoing management, resource usage control, cost savings, and getting your entire IT team (or close to) to build, manage, and optimize Azure and (Windows) Virtual Desktop environments on a daily basis without them diving into the deep unknown?
Fully native, never proprietary
Unlike competitors, we do not install any proprietary elements or agents into a customer’s environment. Nerdio sits on top of the existing AVD service and does not stand in the way of a company’s Azure investment. If a company decides to remove Nerdio, its synced services and environment will continue to run, and all data and logs remain. As newer features and improvements are made in the native Azure service, Nerdio users benefit immediately—often via increased security, better monitoring, faster VMs, and more. All with the added value that Nerdio brings from a management and optimization perspective that makes native AVD the right option over proprietary VDI solutions.
Monitor and control costs
Nerdio uses AVD Insights to enable in-depth monitoring of AVD environments. This enables customers to custom-fit the metrics they need to see to keep cloud resources and costs in check rather than having to use pre-built monitoring dashboards that competitors use.
All actions in Nerdio Manager are logged and can be easily exported for further analysis if desired. Nerdio Manager records actions so companies can see and monitor all accounts and tasks happening across the Azure environment. Actionable dashboards show users, hosts, and applications utilization and performance, and alerting via Azure Monitor can be triggered on any combination of logged events.
By far the largest cost component of an Azure Virtual Desktop deployment is virtual machines (VMs), a.k.a. AVD hosts. On average, users will be accessing their desktops and applications around 40-50 hours per week. There is no reason to keep these machines running when they are not actively being used. Instead, we can use Nerdio Manager’s auto-scaling capability to automatically turn VMs on at the beginning of the day (or upon user login) and turn them off once they are no longer needed such as late nights and weekends. If users need to connect outside of standard business hours, they can still do so, and the system will automatically make a desktop available to the user without needing IT admin intervention. Implementing just this single, simple power management strategy can result in savings as high as 55-60%.
The only solution to manage all virtual desktops in Azure
Nerdio Manager is the only solution on the market that allows IT admins to seamlessly provision and manage AVD and Windows 365 side-by-side. This provides organizations unmatched flexibility for scaling and fine-tuning their cloud approaches for equipping employees with desktops, applications, and hardware.
Secure. Reliant. Feature-rich.
- Active/Active Host Pool Disaster Recovery: When enabled, Nerdio Manager will automatically distribute session-host VMs across two Azure regions. Users will be distributed across VMs in both regions as they log in, and FSLogix profiles will be automatically replicated.
- In case of an Azure region failure, users will continue accessing VMs in the available region, ensuring continuity of data and operations.
- Desktop Image Backup and Geographic Replication: Nerdio Manager’s built-in desktop image backup functionality allows users to back up images automatically. Users can geo-replicate desktop images through Nerdio’s integration with Azure Compute Gallery to keep desktop images in sync across multiple Azure regions.
- Support for FSLogix Cloud Cache: Nerdio Manager automatically enables and configures FSLogix Cloud Cache on disaster recovery-enabled host pools. Users’ profiles are asynchronously replicated across multiple storage locations, making them available during regional outages.
- Auto-Healing Capabilities: Session-host VMs are responsible for the delivery of users’ desktops and apps and must be available for users to be able to connect. Nerdio Manager’s auto-healing functionality automatically detects and repairs broken session hosts.