Easy pease 😬 In onprem world we had Citrix Broker that do all the shit and fire up User VD just by clicking or set up time. Azure is not easy to go. Click here, copy that, set here, don't forget... Thank for your hard work to explain it 🙏
Citrix has been around for a long time, AVD for 2 years. Some of those features are not around when I made this video and they are built today AVD has come aVERY look long way in the last year
I understand this is meant to turn on/off specific VM's for a user as described in the video. How difficult would it be to make this app work to turn the VM on or off dynamically, depending on which user is signed in and runs the power app? In other words, in a personal pool environment, if I login as user X there could be a way to programmatically understand which VM is assigned to this user, and do the correct action on the proper VM automatically. That way you could have one set of flows and power app to automate an entire environment when personally pooled. I know that MS is releasing some functionality soon to enable a power on upon connect option for the pools that will solve this issue. However, the release that was scheduled at one time for December is now pushed to February. I'm hoping for a similar solution that we can build ourselves and use sooner.
1st this power app will allow the user to power on or off the VM 2nd NO, the power app in the configuration I showed is not sophisticated enough to understand who the user is and what VM they are assigned to...YOU can write it and share it with everyone 😬☺️ HOWEVER sounds like what you want is a feature that lets you “START VM ON CONNECT” this is almost ready for public preview...just wait a little longer ☺️
Or the way it is written...but you could write more custom code into it...however if you wait just a little longer...I will have a better solution for you ☺️
It would be nice if the PowerApp reads the status of the VM, displays it on the canvas and enable/Disable the appropriate button. I could not find an API to read the status of the VM. Is there?
Agreed, that would be nice…I think you can look at the allocated/deallocated state but, now that we have start VM on connect as a feature…using a power app for this may not be needed…
@@AzureAcademy Totally agree I watched that video, it is very helpful. Still users need a way to manually power off the VM after they finish working on it. Love your Channel :)
it is available, but you need a way to execute it...and put that into the hands of the user to make it VERY simple...if you know a better way to do this...please let me know, maybe I can make a video about that!
Hi Dean, great info. Is there any way to trigger the shutdown/deallocate when the session logs off OR to trigger a shutdown/deallocate after say a period of x seconds after a session has been logged off?
@@AzureAcademy Thanks again, found the setting here: docs.microsoft.com/en-us/fslogix/profile-container-configuration-reference#shutdownonuserlogoff. Looks like it will shutdown but wont deallocate so I will need to do a bit more digging
I have a user who usually leaves a process running on his VM so can't shut it down during a scheduled time. Is there a way to make sure the VM isn't running an activity before shutting it down. Love your solution but want add an extra icon to show the current state of the VM and also give the user the ability to reboot the VM if they have a problem accessing it. Again, great thought provoking video Dean. Thankyou.
Thanks, and I like the nice feature improvement idea Paul! As for the process that the user has running...if you what the process it, then you should be able to kill it. Additionally I would guess that the user had that process there because they wanted their VM online when they wanted it...so with this solution...they would be able to control that as they wanted and you could still help control cost by powering the VM down outside of normal business hours.
Cool stuff! Is there any possibility to automate the Flow creation for each VM? In my environment it‘s possible that each user can request a personal VM. After the purchase process i would like to see that this power app including flow is available for the user.
That is a good question...I am not sure if you can automate this fully because you have to setup the flows then build the power app. Perhaps an Azure Logic App or Azure Function could be used instead of the flow...
A pitty that a simple 'https trigger' is a Premium connector in Power Automate (Flow) because it will cost you $15/user/month OR $500/month/app to be able to use this.
@@AzureAcademy Maybe you can use Logic Apps instead of Power Automate but I'm not an expert in how that integrates with Power Apps. But you can also use IFTTT for example and even hook it up on Google assistant or Amazon Alexa and start your machines without lifting a finger ;)
Great Question. @Robert The purpose of the page file is to hold the overflow data from RAM. So "IF" you have right sized your VM for the apps and workloads your users are doing...then theoretically you don't need a page file. However it is generally recommended as a safety measure and by default should be 1.5x the amount of RAM you have. This Page file is also stored in the D:\ drive by default in Azure...which is temp storage, so it should not eat into your available disk space.
Azure Academy 95% of the time my 32gb off ram is sufficient but occasionally some user will open up something huge and run the box out of ram and it will crash with only the default 4gb of system managed page file.
Azure Academy set it on my nodes earlier today to have them ready for the rush tomorrow. Support is still trying to figure out our occasional non responsive node with a black screen.
Cool guide but I wonder how practical and feasible it is in the long run having to create two unique flows per user? What if they change VDI, quit etc? Seems like a potential admin nightmare :)
this is a specific use case to enable a VM to be powered on or off, if there are personal VMs, executive systems, Admin workstations etc. these would generally benefit from this. I am not sure exactly what you mean by "what if they change VDI" can you explain that further?
Azure Academy I meant if the user for example gets a new VM assigned to him by help desk the flow would have to be adjusted. Just seems like a lot maintenance to keep the flows setup and working when you have more than just a few VMs. But it is a nice feature that you can allow your users in IT to have :)
Hi , Nice Video Dean as always . For a pooled WVD , suppose we have given access to 5 people to ON/ OFF VM . In the email / Teams notification is it possible to add a comment - XYZ person started the WVD.
you mean to notify the group that the VM was started...I think so but I haven't tested this. Also you generally have IT managing pooled systems rather than users, because a user stopping a VM would potentially impact the other users on the VM without them knowing/understanding what happened....but you may have a good use case for this 😉
Azure Academy - In a host pool , i have given only machine . My plan is to use start / stop script to shutdown the machine at specific time and if anyone in the team needs VM he can start the machine with the app. But take an example , from 10 members i started the machine , so rest of teams needs to get an email Ketan powered on the VM.
I am thinking that could work by creating an email distribution list with the 10 members. then in the email Body you would type out a template like...VM was started by then you have to find a way...if it is possible at all...to insert your users name
@@AzureAcademy I tried but in flow when I select send an email (v1 ) or (v2 ) . We don't have any option to select from field. If you can guide me for the option it will be helpful . Thanks in advance :)
Please, sir, don't start with those click baity titles. I really enjoy this channel for the great educational content that you put out, and I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say this. What is the point of a title like this? And what is next, a thumbnail with an over the top (and dumb looking) surprise face? Don't make me stop watching your videos please :)
Thanks for the feedback Victor! I appreciate your investment of time into watching my videos and I do hope that they are a help to you and the rest of our community. To your comments: 1. I don't feel the title was click bait. When customers deal with shutting down their VMs to save $$$ the only option they have to power it back on is manual or the Scaling Tool...which not all customers use because of requirements of their workloads like personal VMs. There are several use cases for this as I pointed out in the video. The use of Power Apps is not limited to WVD either, you can do this for ANY Azure VM, where an app owner needs the control but you don't want to give them access. 2. The thumbnail was not a surprise face...I don't see that at all. Those are the icons for WVD, Session Hosts and Power Apps. I have been told that my thumbnails tend to be overly complicated, so I was trying to simplify I respect your opinion as one of my viewers and you can certainly disagree with my comments, and I do appreciate the feedback so I can always continue to improve The Azure Academy for everyone.
@@AzureAcademy that is fair enough, thanks for taking the time to explain. The comment about the face was something I jokingly said about what would be next (i.e. in the next video, not on this one). It was a reference to an annoying think people do these days with their videos, usually along with arrows and stuff to turn the whole thing really into a click bait. Didn't really expect that you'd be doing that though, so just take that last bit as a joke! Anyways, thanks a lot and keep it up with the great content!
+Victor TH-cam is a tough market. I don’t believe a catchy title is the same thing as click bait. Click bait is when I say “watch this video and I will pay you $1000.00”. And then you watch and I don’t give you the money. A catchy title grabs your attention and makes you want to watch…same thing with the thumbnail
+Victor I don’t make the rules…and on TH-cam you need to get someone to click on the video with the title and thumbnail…then deliver what the thumbnail promises…
Great stuff Dean - better job than I did😂😂
Thanks 👍@Tom But even more thanks to you for putting it out in the community in the first place 😎
Easy pease 😬
In onprem world we had Citrix Broker that do all the shit and fire up User VD just by clicking or set up time. Azure is not easy to go. Click here, copy that, set here, don't forget...
Thank for your hard work to explain it 🙏
Citrix has been around for a long time, AVD for 2 years. Some of those features are not around when I made this video and they are built today
AVD has come aVERY look long way in the last year
I think using FLOW and Power App will be very useful.
Thank you for your fresh ideas and videos. :-)
You are welcome! let me know what else you are interested in.
I had a similar approach - creating a custom powerapps custom connector (almost the same steps as creating a Power Automate flow).
Very cool! Let me know if you have other ideas that we can make into videos!
I understand this is meant to turn on/off specific VM's for a user as described in the video. How difficult would it be to make this app work to turn the VM on or off dynamically, depending on which user is signed in and runs the power app? In other words, in a personal pool environment, if I login as user X there could be a way to programmatically understand which VM is assigned to this user, and do the correct action on the proper VM automatically. That way you could have one set of flows and power app to automate an entire environment when personally pooled.
I know that MS is releasing some functionality soon to enable a power on upon connect option for the pools that will solve this issue. However, the release that was scheduled at one time for December is now pushed to February. I'm hoping for a similar solution that we can build ourselves and use sooner.
1st this power app will allow the user to power on or off the VM
2nd NO, the power app in the configuration I showed is not sophisticated enough to understand who the user is and what VM they are assigned to...YOU can write it and share it with everyone 😬☺️
HOWEVER sounds like what you want is a feature that lets you
“START VM ON CONNECT” this is almost ready for public preview...just wait a little longer ☺️
Low code combined with WVD > maximise automation capability
👍
Auto-shutdown is a great feature in WVD, however it would be super awesome if there is also "auto-start" feature similar to Azure DevTest Labs.
Oh you just wait...soon I will have a video on exactly that 😳
@@AzureAcademy I guess that us something will be Start VM on Connect for Personal Hostpool.
Yes...yes it is ☺️
Any way to display Starting/Started/Stopping/Stopped in the PowerApp?
Or the way it is written...but you could write more custom code into it...however if you wait just a little longer...I will have a better solution for you
☺️
In Azure VMs recently they added Automation Tasks for Power OFF/ON, is it a good option for VM ON/OFF, and btw that configuration is very simple.
Yes that is a native option I would recommend you use today unless you want to put that ability into the hands of your users
It would be nice if the PowerApp reads the status of the VM, displays it on the canvas and enable/Disable the appropriate button. I could not find an API to read the status of the VM. Is there?
Agreed, that would be nice…I think you can look at the allocated/deallocated state
but, now that we have start VM on connect as a feature…using a power app for this may not be needed…
@@AzureAcademy Totally agree I watched that video, it is very helpful. Still users need a way to manually power off the VM after they finish working on it. Love your Channel :)
Thanks Mohammad! Check out my 2 minute tutorial, and let me know if you have request for new topics! - th-cam.com/video/Kr8wfAEkmEw/w-d-xo.html
Why not turn on the VM when the recourse is actually called? Why having another app if a potential trigger is already available?
it is available, but you need a way to execute it...and put that into the hands of the user to make it VERY simple...if you know a better way to do this...please let me know, maybe I can make a video about that!
Hi Dean, great info. Is there any way to trigger the shutdown/deallocate when the session logs off OR to trigger a shutdown/deallocate after say a period of x seconds after a session has been logged off?
There are ways...one I would look at is FSLogix. There is a setting which is great for personal pools to shutdown after user logs off
☺️
@@AzureAcademy Thanks again, found the setting here: docs.microsoft.com/en-us/fslogix/profile-container-configuration-reference#shutdownonuserlogoff. Looks like it will shutdown but wont deallocate so I will need to do a bit more digging
Sounds good
I have a user who usually leaves a process running on his VM so can't shut it down during a scheduled time. Is there a way to make sure the VM isn't running an activity before shutting it down.
Love your solution but want add an extra icon to show the current state of the VM and also give the user the ability to reboot the VM if they have a problem accessing it.
Again, great thought provoking video Dean. Thankyou.
Thanks, and I like the nice feature improvement idea Paul! As for the process that the user has running...if you what the process it, then you should be able to kill it. Additionally I would guess that the user had that process there because they wanted their VM online when they wanted it...so with this solution...they would be able to control that as they wanted and you could still help control cost by powering the VM down outside of normal business hours.
Would it not be more secure to use a certificate instead of a secret.
technically the cert if more secure because the cert needs to be present on the VM as well to make it work
Can it interact with event grid to notify when the vm is ready?
I haven't specifically tried event hub, but you can do a webhook...or have the event hub monitor the API
you may want to run a series on AKS
We just started our K8Series - th-cam.com/video/Wmp6ZZjKZ8I/w-d-xo.html More to come for sure!
@@AzureAcademy Great to see you are already covering open mesh launched recently. Kudos for the effort!!
Happy to help...let me know if you have other ideas as well!
Cool stuff! Is there any possibility to automate the Flow creation for each VM? In my environment it‘s possible that each user can request a personal VM. After the purchase process i would like to see that this power app including flow is available for the user.
That is a good question...I am not sure if you can automate this fully because you have to setup the flows then build the power app. Perhaps an Azure Logic App or Azure Function could be used instead of the flow...
Hi Azure Academy, Is this going to work for Pooled Random Desktops ?
Yes...this would work for ANY Azure VMs. Just put in the correct API information for the VM you want to target
A pitty that a simple 'https trigger' is a Premium connector in Power Automate (Flow) because it will cost you $15/user/month OR $500/month/app to be able to use this.
understood...if you have another recommendation to do this I would love to hear it and pitch it back to Tom as well
@@AzureAcademy Maybe you can use Logic Apps instead of Power Automate but I'm not an expert in how that integrates with Power Apps. But you can also use IFTTT for example and even hook it up on Google assistant or Amazon Alexa and start your machines without lifting a finger ;)
LOL...I love it @Emanuel! Awesome idea!
Whole different topic but any recommendations on size of the page file on shared WVD hosts?
Great Question. @Robert
The purpose of the page file is to hold the overflow data from RAM.
So "IF" you have right sized your VM for the apps and workloads your users are doing...then theoretically you don't need a page file.
However it is generally recommended as a safety measure and by default should be 1.5x the amount of RAM you have.
This Page file is also stored in the D:\ drive by default in Azure...which is temp storage, so it should not eat into your available disk space.
Azure Academy 95% of the time my 32gb off ram is sufficient but occasionally some user will open up something huge and run the box out of ram and it will crash with only the default 4gb of system managed page file.
the recommended page file would be 32GB x 1.5 = 48GB
Azure Academy set it on my nodes earlier today to have them ready for the rush tomorrow.
Support is still trying to figure out our occasional non responsive node with a black screen.
make sure you have the latest WVD Agent on your VM...and your clients are up to date as well
Cool guide but I wonder how practical and feasible it is in the long run having to create two unique flows per user? What if they change VDI, quit etc? Seems like a potential admin nightmare :)
this is a specific use case to enable a VM to be powered on or off, if there are personal VMs, executive systems, Admin workstations etc. these would generally benefit from this. I am not sure exactly what you mean by "what if they change VDI" can you explain that further?
Azure Academy I meant if the user for example gets a new VM assigned to him by help desk the flow would have to be adjusted. Just seems like a lot maintenance to keep the flows setup and working when you have more than just a few VMs. But it is a nice feature that you can allow your users in IT to have :)
I agree...wouldn't it be great it there was a part of the WVD service that did all of that for you...stay tuned!
@@AzureAcademy oh exciting!
👍
Hi , Nice Video Dean as always . For a pooled WVD , suppose we have given access to 5 people to ON/ OFF VM . In the email / Teams notification is it possible to add a comment - XYZ person started the WVD.
you mean to notify the group that the VM was started...I think so but I haven't tested this. Also you generally have IT managing pooled systems rather than users, because a user stopping a VM would potentially impact the other users on the VM without them knowing/understanding what happened....but you may have a good use case for this 😉
Azure Academy - In a host pool , i have given only machine . My plan is to use start / stop script to shutdown the machine at specific time and if anyone in the team needs VM he can start the machine with the app.
But take an example , from 10 members i started the machine , so rest of teams needs to get an email Ketan powered on the VM.
I am thinking that could work by creating an email distribution list with the 10 members. then in the email Body you would type out a template like...VM was started by then you have to find a way...if it is possible at all...to insert your users name
@@AzureAcademy I tried but in flow when I select send an email (v1 ) or (v2 ) . We don't have any option to select from field. If you can guide me for the option it will be helpful . Thanks in advance :)
in FLOW I am not sure if this option exists...but that is HOW it could be done. perhaps you need another option like TEAMS or a webhook
Please, sir, don't start with those click baity titles. I really enjoy this channel for the great educational content that you put out, and I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say this. What is the point of a title like this? And what is next, a thumbnail with an over the top (and dumb looking) surprise face? Don't make me stop watching your videos please :)
Thanks for the feedback Victor! I appreciate your investment of time into watching my videos and I do hope that they are a help to you and the rest of our community. To your comments:
1. I don't feel the title was click bait. When customers deal with shutting down their VMs to save $$$ the only option they have to power it back on is manual or the Scaling Tool...which not all customers use because of requirements of their workloads like personal VMs. There are several use cases for this as I pointed out in the video. The use of Power Apps is not limited to WVD either, you can do this for ANY Azure VM, where an app owner needs the control but you don't want to give them access.
2. The thumbnail was not a surprise face...I don't see that at all. Those are the icons for WVD, Session Hosts and Power Apps.
I have been told that my thumbnails tend to be overly complicated, so I was trying to simplify
I respect your opinion as one of my viewers and you can certainly disagree with my comments, and I do appreciate the feedback so I can always continue to improve The Azure Academy for everyone.
@@AzureAcademy that is fair enough, thanks for taking the time to explain. The comment about the face was something I jokingly said about what would be next (i.e. in the next video, not on this one). It was a reference to an annoying think people do these days with their videos, usually along with arrows and stuff to turn the whole thing really into a click bait. Didn't really expect that you'd be doing that though, so just take that last bit as a joke!
Anyways, thanks a lot and keep it up with the great content!
thanks Victor! What other videos can we make for you?
+Victor TH-cam is a tough market. I don’t believe a catchy title is the same thing as click bait. Click bait is when I say “watch this video and I will pay you $1000.00”. And then you watch and I don’t give you the money. A catchy title grabs your attention and makes you want to watch…same thing with the thumbnail
+Victor I don’t make the rules…and on TH-cam you need to get someone to click on the video with the title and thumbnail…then deliver what the thumbnail promises…