RemoteApp is Designed to Scale in a Cost-Efficient Manner
We recently announced the release of the Cloudpager App Attach Storefront feature for Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) customers (read the press release here). This enables you to manage and deploy applications using our best-in-class Cloudpaging application container technology while still being able to assign applications natively within the App attach in Azure Virtual Desktop console.
When most people think about AVD, they think about virtual desktops because…why wouldn’t they? It’s right there in the name. What some folks don’t realize is AVD also includes the RemoteApp feature which allows you to publish applications via the RDWeb Storefront or full client applications such as the Windows App. When published applications in RemoteApp are launched, they run on a session host in Azure while presenting to the employees as if running natively on their local device.
Published applications running on session hosts using a server operating system is a capability organizations have had for decades. Frankly, this can be overlooked in terms of its power and efficiency. At the onset of the pandemic when organisations were moving en-masse to support remote workers, many attempted to scale up their Virtual Desktop Infrastructure but were unable to do so due to a lack of hardware stemming from supply chain constraints. This is where published applications via products like Microsoft RemoteApp showed tremendous value and saved the day.
Organizations could host applications on remote desktop session hosts and support 25+ employees per host, providing the scale required to support the remote work initiative. Compared to 1:1 virtual desktops or even multi session desktops in Azure, you will see the scale difference as you can support more users per server-based session host than with the alternative solutions.
Published applications still have a place in most enterprises. Our App Attach Storefront feature can be used to modernize how you publish applications in RemoteApp with greater agility and efficiency.
Why Leverage Cloudpaging Containers for RemoteApp?
Eliminate Disruption to the Employee Experience
Many organizations using RemoteApp attempt to install all or most of their organization’s application into their session host image. When installing applications into a single image in this manner, you inevitably encounter application conflicts. The traditional solution is creating another image and separate host pool to keep the conflicting applications apart. This requires more Azure resources increasing operating costs and requires greater operational overhead to maintain. The employee experience suffers with this approach as application updates and break-fixes must be applied via the image, requiring IT to re-provision employee machines –which yields disruptive state change/forced log offs.
Securely Run Applications on Multi-Session OS
If you currently have applications that only work on traditional 1:1 desktops but you would ideally like to present them in RemoteApp hosted on multi-session operating systems, Cloudpaging application containers are the best solution for you. Cloudpaging application containers can be used to get any application to work on a multi-session OS, as they are only presented to people entitled to use them. This ensures people on shared machines can run their applications without conflict.
Manage Cloudpaging Containers within App attach in Azure Virtual Desktop
When using Cloudpager App Attach Storefronts, you can dynamically deploy applications and application updates for RemoteApp by utilizing Cloudpaging containers. Our Cloudpaging technology enables virtually any Windows application to be virtualized and deployed across Windows OS, meaning you have no need to make changes to your images for application updates. To see the feature in action, check out the video below.
Conclusion
Adding Cloudpaging application containers into the mix with RemoteApp and App attach is a recipe for successfully streamlining application publishing and management in RemoteApp. Cloudpaging application containers can help you reduce the number of RDSH images by removing the need to install applications into your images. The containers always remove cleanly, making them perfect for performing application updates – including those for non-persistent and multi-session workloads.
If you’re interested in see the platform for yourself, request a demonstration from our Solutions Architects below:
