Remote-access Guide

azure remote access solutions

by Rita McClure Published 2 years ago Updated 1 year ago
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What is Azure Remote Desktop Services? Azure Remote Desktop Services (RDS) is a VDI solution on Azure, which provides secure access to virtualized applications and desktops. RDS lets end users access their applications and desktops remotely on the cloud, via mobile and desktop devices.

Full Answer

What programs allow remote access?

The best remote desktop software right now

  1. RemotePC. RemotePC is a hugely-popular remote computer access application that’s suitable for both home and—in particular—for business users.
  2. Zoho Assist. Cloud-based Zoho Assist is one of our favorite remote access tools because it enables you to access almost any device.
  3. Splashtop. ...
  4. Parallels Access. ...
  5. LogMeIn Pro. ...
  6. Connectwise Control. ...
  7. TeamViewer. ...

More items...

How to setup remote access?

Unplug your router, and if you have a separate device, also unplug your modem. Wait a minute, then plug in the modem. Wait another minute, then plug in your router again. This process can help clear caches, prompt background firmware updates and may pull a new internet address from your internet service provider.

How to set up secure remote access?

  • Windows or Mac login when connecting remotely
  • Request permission to connect to the user’s computer
  • Automatically blank the remote screen when connected
  • Automatically lock remote computer when disconnected
  • Lock the remote computer’s keyboard and mouse while in session
  • Lock the streamer settings using Splashtop admin credentials

How to secure remote desktop access to Windows Azure instances?

  • Sign in to VMs created for the RD environment with an account that's part of the Azure AD DC Administrators group, such as contosoadmin.
  • To create and configure RDS, use the existing Remote Desktop environment deployment guide. ...
  • If you want to provide access using a web browser, set up the Remote Desktop web client for your users.

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How do I access my Azure VM remotely?

Connect to the virtual machineGo to the Azure portal to connect to a VM. ... Select the virtual machine from the list.At the beginning of the virtual machine page, select Connect.On the Connect to virtual machine page, select RDP, and then select the appropriate IP address and Port number.More items...•

What is RDP in Azure?

So when you need to connect to your Azure Virtual Machines to manage them, there are a range of security and connectivity issues. Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) is well-known and commonly used to access remote computers and servers.

How do I access Azure VM from outside?

Azure Bastion host. Arguably, the preferred way to access Azure VM from outside is the Azure Bastion host PaaS service. ... Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection. VPN connections have been around for decades now. ... Public IP Address. The final option, which isn't recommended is using public IP addresses.

What is Azure Bastion used for?

Azure Bastion is a fully managed service that provides more secure and seamless Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) and Secure Shell Protocol (SSH) access to virtual machines (VMs) without any exposure through public IP addresses.

What is the difference between RDS and RDP?

(Previously, RDS was called Terminal Server) All operations take place server-side, not on a user machine. Many people ask “What is the difference between RDP and RDS?” To tell the truth, there is no difference.

How do I set up an Azure RDP?

Connect to virtual machineOn the overview page for your virtual machine, select the Connect > RDP.In the Connect with RDP page, keep the default options to connect by IP address, over port 3389, and click Download RDP file.Open the downloaded RDP file and click Connect when prompted.More items...•

How do I connect to Azure VM without RDP?

Azure Bastion is a solution that we can use to access Azure VM securely without the use of public IP addresses or VPN connectivity. This is similar to using a jump-server to connect to resources in the remote network but instead of the traditional RDP method, it is using browser-based secure HTTP connectivity.

What is a VPN gateway in Azure?

Azure VPN Gateway connects your on-premises networks to Azure through Site-to-Site VPNs in a similar way that you set up and connect to a remote branch office. The connectivity is secure and uses the industry-standard protocols Internet Protocol Security (IPsec) and Internet Key Exchange (IKE).

Can Azure VM access internet without public IP?

you don't need a Public IP Address to have internet on your VM. Public IP is for inbound traffic only, not outbound. Outbound traffic is NATed to your VM. If you want to block internet outbound access, you have to change the NSG.

What is the difference between RDP and Bastion?

Bastion provides secure RDP and SSH connectivity to all of the VMs in the virtual network in which it is provisioned. Using Azure Bastion protects your virtual machines from exposing RDP/SSH ports to the outside world, while still providing secure access using RDP/SSH.

What is Azure Sentinel?

Microsoft Sentinel is a cloud-native security information and event manager (SIEM) platform that uses built-in AI to help analyse large volumes of data across an enterprise—fast.

Is Bastion a jump box?

To limit the exposure of these management protocols a server was introduced, named Bastion Host also known as a Jump Box.

How do I enable RDP in Azure portal?

To enable the RDP port in an NSG, follow these steps:Sign in to the Azure portal.In Virtual Machines, select the VM that has the problem.In Settings, select Networking.In Inbound port rules, check whether the port for RDP is set correctly. The following is an example of the configuration: Priority: 300.

What is the difference between RDS and Wvd?

Typically, windows virtual Desktop (WVD) differs from remote desktop services (RDS) since WVD focuses on providing a central location for users to access various applications hosted by a central server. At the same time, RDS offers a platform where users can access a networked computer from a remote location.

What is AWS RDS equivalent in Azure?

Azure provides several different relational database services that are the equivalent of AWS' Relational Database Service (RDS). These include: SQL Database. Azure Database for MySQL.

How do remote desktop services work?

Remote Desktop is a client application that allows a “client” computer to connect to a “host” computer from a remote location. Users can then control and use the applications and files on the host device from anywhere.

What is a RADIUS certificate?

In RADIUS certificate authentication, the authentication request is forwarded to a RADIUS server that handles the actual certificate validation. This option is useful if you want to integrate with a certificate authentication infrastructure that you already have through RADIUS.

Can a syslog be routed over a site to site connection?

No. It can only be routed over a Site-to-Site connection.

Does Azure support P2S VPN?

Azure supports Windows, Mac, and Linux for P2S VPN.

Does VPN reestablish automatically?

By default, the client computer will not reestablish the VPN connection automatically.

Do you need a VPN for a resource manager?

Yes. For the Resource Manager deployment model , you must have a RouteBased VPN type for your gateway. For the classic deployment model, you need a dynamic gateway. We do not support Point-to-Site for static routing VPN gateways or PolicyBased VPN gateways.

Can Azure certificate be used for authentication?

Bypassing server identity validation is not recommended in general, but with Azure certificate authentication, the same certificate is being used for server validation in the VPN tunneling protocol (IKEv2/SSTP) and the EAP protocol.

Can a point to site client connect to a VNet?

Yes, Point-to-Site client connections to a virtual network gateway that is deployed in a VNet which is peered with other VNets may have access to other peered VNets. Point-to-Site clients will be able to connect to peered VNets as long as the peered VNets are using the UseRemoteGateway / AllowGatewayTransit features.

Requirements

Before you get started, we recommend you take a look at the overview for Azure Virtual Desktop for a more in-depth list of system requirements for running Azure Virtual Desktop.

Get started

Now that you're ready, let's take a look at how you can set up your Azure Virtual Desktop deployment. You have two options to set yourself up for success. You can either set up your deployment manually or automatically. The next two sections will describe the differences between these two methods.

Customize and manage Azure Virtual Desktop

Once you've set up Azure Virtual Desktop, you have lots of options to customize your deployment to meet your organization or customers' needs. These articles can help you get started:

Get to know your Azure Virtual Desktop deployment

Read the following articles to understand concepts essential to creating and managing Azure Virtual Desktop deployments:

Next steps

If you're ready to start setting up your deployment manually, head to the following tutorial.

What is Azure portal?

The Azure portal is your management hub for Azure Virtual Desktop. Configure network settings, add users, deploy desktop apps, and enable security with a few clicks. Set up automated scaling and manage your images efficiently with Azure Shared Image Gallery. Focus on your desktop apps and policies while Azure manages the rest.

What is Azure Virtual Desktop?

"Azure Virtual Desktop provides more flexibility for the agency, more availability in case of disaster recovery, and security capabilities like encryption all the way down to the kernel, that we couldn't get from other solutions."

What certifications does Azure Virtual Desktop have?

Take advantage of Azure Virtual Desktop compliance certifications including ISO 27001, 27018, and 27701, plus PCI, FedRAMP High for Commercial, HIPAA, and more.

How to reduce infrastructure costs?

Reduce infrastructure costs by right-sizing virtual machines (VMs) and shutting them down when not in use. Increase utilization of VMs with Windows 10 and Windows 11 multi-session. Avoid upfront costs and align operational expenses to business usage.

Can Azure Virtual Desktop be used with Microsoft 365?

There are no additional license costs— Azure Virtual Desktop can be used with your existing eligible Microsoft 365 or Windows per-user license. Reduce infrastructure costs by right-sizing virtual machines (VMs) and shutting them down when not in use. Increase utilization of VMs with Windows 10 multi-session.

Is Azure Virtual Desktop available for streaming?

Access to Azure Virtual Desktop is now available for remote app streaming with monthly per-user pricing—and for a limited time, try it at no charge.

What port is Azure Bastion?

With Azure Bastion, you can connect to your virtual machines in your virtual network over SSL, port 443, directly in Azure Portal. This enables clientless RDP/SSH connectivity so that you can connect from anywhere – any device and any platform, and without any additional agent running inside your virtual machines.

Can you RDP to a VM from Azure?

You can connect to a VM directly from the Azure portal. When using Azure Bastion, VMs don't require a client, agent, or additional software.

Can Azure Bastion be deployed per virtual network?

Read this article to create an Azure Bastion. Once you provision Azure Bastion service in your virtual network, the seamless RDP/SSH experience is available to all your VMs in the same virtual network. This deployment is per virtual network, not per subscription/account or virtual machine.

What is Azure Remote App?

Azure Remote App is nothing but an azure service which lets you run your existing on premise applications in Microsoft cloud. In a nutshell, it empowers and gives peace of mind to application administrators to host their enterprise on-premise applications on azure and leverage existing capabilities of azure infrastructure e.g. agility and scalability. In a layman’s terms – your application is hosted on some other machine running in the cloud and you access it using remote desktop services (RDP), this sounds simpler J. We will see more details of azure remote apps in the sections below

How to create a remote app in Azure?

In new azure portal, browse to the resource group which we created and click add. Filter results by typing ‘RemoteApp’ in the filter box. Select Remote App Template and hit create. It will redirect you to old azure portal.

How to publish an app on Azure?

In the azure portal, browse to the publishing tab in created remote app. You will see few buttons on the bottom bar e.g. Publish, Edit and Unpublish. Click on publish button. You will see two options

How does remote app save data?

Remote App saves the user’s identity and customizations across devices and sessions in per user per collection disk which is known as user profile disk. Users can save their data in the documents folder which appears to be a local drive. User’s personal settings are also persisted when connecting to RemoteApp. Total available size of UPD is 50GB, to store user and application data. If for any reason you being Remote App administrator need data of any particular user, the best way is to raise a ticket with azure team and it will provide the link to vhd (accessible for 10 hours) which you can download.

Why does Azure use DNS?

Whenever we create a virtual machine using azure portal, you might have observed that it asks for DNS name which typically is cloud service name and storage account, one might ask why azure does it? Well it’s because of the way it is designed, cloud service can be thought of just a container having public endpoint within which your virtual machine will be hosted and storage account can be thought as a container of your virtual machine’s disk. In a nutshell, azure hosted virtual machine comprises of three entities.

When to enable device redirection?

Most of the device redirections are enabled by default when you connect to remote app except drive and USB c ports. You will need to enable these redirections explicitly with few PowerShell scripts. You can read more about it here .

Is Azure a cloud service?

Being a popular cloud services provider, Microsoft Azure keeps adding variety of new services to its existing offerings making sure cloud becomes your platform of choice for your existing business scenarios and applications.

How to restrict access to Azure infrastructure?

You can restrict access to infrastructure and platform services management in Azure by using multi-factor authentication, X.509 management certificates, and firewall rules. The Azure portal and SMAPI require Transport Layer Security (TLS). However, services and applications that you deploy into Azure require you to take protection measures that are appropriate based on your application. These mechanisms can frequently be enabled more easily through a standardized hardened workstation configuration.

How does Azure work?

Azure subscribers may manage their cloud environments from multiple devices, including management workstations, developer PCs, and even privileged end-user devices that have task-specific permissions. In some cases, administrative functions are performed through web-based consoles such as the Azure portal. In other cases, there may be direct connections to Azure from on-premises systems over Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), Terminal Services, client application protocols, or (programmatically) the Azure Service Management API (SMAPI). Additionally, client endpoints can be either domain joined or isolated and unmanaged, such as tablets or smartphones.

What is Azure cloud service?

Azure cloud services configuration is performed through either the Azure portal or SMAPI, via the Windows PowerShell command-line interface or a custom-built application that takes advantage of these RESTful interfaces. Services using these mechanisms include Azure Active Directory (Azure AD), Azure Storage, Azure Websites, and Azure Virtual Network, and others.

Why provision Azure management certificate on RD gateway?

Provision an Azure management certificate on the RD Gateway so that it is the only host allowed to access the Azure portal.

What is RD gateway?

To centralize all administrative access and simplify monitoring and logging, you can deploy a dedicated Remote Desktop Gateway (RD Gateway) server in your on-premises network, connected to your Azure environment.

Why are lower level user accounts used?

Even with tight controls on primary administrator accounts, lower-level user accounts can be used to exploit weaknesses in one’s security strategy. Lack of appropriate security training can also lead to breaches through accidental disclosure or exposure of account information.

Can you use Azure logon restrictions?

You can use Azure logon restrictions to constrain source IP addresses for accessing administrative tools and audit access requests. To help Azure identify management clients (workstations and/or applications), you can configure both SMAPI (via customer-developed tools such as Windows PowerShell cmdlets) and the Azure portal to require client-side management certificates to be installed, in addition to TLS/SSL certificates. We also recommend that administrator access require multi-factor authentication.

Reimagine Security in the Remote Workplace

Learn how to provide a secure online work environment for your remote employees.

Strengthen your security with an integrated solution

Join us to learn how Microsoft’s end-to-end security solutions can help you provide greater visibility and control over your digital environment.

Azure Virtual Desktop (formerly known as Windows Virtual Desktop)

Set up Azure Virtual Desktop (formerly Windows Virtual Desktop) in minutes to enable secure remote work. Provide the familiarity and compatibility of Windows 11 with the new scalable multi-session experience for your end users and save costs by using existing eligible Windows licenses.

Maximize your Azure revenue

Use Azure Virtual Desktop to optimize costs and provide other Azure services.

Get the Advanced Specialization

Gain expertise and the ability to deliver the Azure Immersion Workshop to customers and access to AMMP benefits for Azure Virtual Desktop deployments.

Onboard to AMMP for Azure Virtual Desktop deployment benefits

Azure Migration and Modernization Program (AMMP) provides assessment, POC, project milestone payments, Azure credits, and technical skilling for all 3 control planes. Partners can choose which control planes to enable in AMMP by meeting the criteria for the Advanced Specialization or for Citrix and VMware partners.

Become an Azure Immersion Workshop delivery partner

Help your customers develop their skills and uncover business growth opportunities by hosting one-day workshops on specific Azure products and workflows.

Join the Azure Virtual Desktop partner forum

As a valued partner of Microsoft and Azure Virtual Desktop, you will get to hear from us and the partner community on product updates, offers and hear from other partners on how to improve and accelerate your Azure Virtual Desktop journey.

Resources

For additional resources like product decks, technical assets, adoption kits and more, click here.

What is Azure cloud?

Azure is a public cloud service platform that supports a broad selection of operating systems, programming languages, frameworks, tools, databases, and devices. It can run Linux containers with Docker integration; build apps with JavaScript, Python, .NET, PHP, Java, and Node.js; build back-ends for iOS, Android, and Windows devices.

What is Azure Monitor?

Azure Monitor offers visualization, query, routing, alerting, auto scale, and automation on data both from the Azure subscription ( Activity Log) and each individual Azure resource ( Resource Logs ). You can use Azure Monitor to alert you on security-related events that are generated in Azure logs.

How to send traffic between Azure Virtual Networks?

To send network traffic between your Azure Virtual Network and your on-premises site, you must create a VPN gateway for your Azure Virtual Network. A VPN gateway is a type of virtual network gateway that sends encrypted traffic across a public connection. You can also use VPN gateways to send traffic between Azure Virtual Networks over the Azure network fabric.

What is data encryption at rest?

For many organizations, data encryption at rest is a mandatory step towards data privacy, compliance, and data sovereignty. There are three Azure storage security features that provide encryption of data that is “at rest”:

What is routing behavior in Azure?

The ability to control routing behavior on your Azure Virtual Networks is a critical network security and access control capability. For example, if you want to make sure that all traffic to and from your Azure Virtual Network goes through that virtual security appliance, you need to be able to control and customize routing behavior. You can do this by configuring User-Defined Routes in Azure.

What is Azure Storage Analytics?

Azure Storage Analytics performs logging and provides metrics data for a storage account. You can use this data to trace requests, analyze usage trends, and diagnose issues with your storage account. Storage Analytics logs detailed information about successful and failed requests to a storage service. This information can be used to monitor individual requests and to diagnose issues with a storage service. Requests are logged on a best-effort basis. The following types of authenticated requests are logged:

What is Azure Resource Manager?

Azure Resource Manager enables you to work with the resources in your solution as a group. You can deploy, update, or delete all the resources for your solution in a single, coordinated operation. You use an Azure Resource Manager template for deployment and that template can work for different environments such as testing, staging, and production. Resource Manager provides security, auditing, and tagging features to help you manage your resources after deployment.

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About Point-To-Site Vpn

Scenario 1 - Users Need Access to Resources in Azure only

  • In this scenario, the remote users only need to access to resources that are in Azure. At a high level, the following steps are needed to enable users to connect to Azure resources securely: 1. Create a virtual network gateway (if one does not exist). 2. Configure point-to-site VPN on the gateway. 2.1. For certificate authentication, follow this li...
See more on docs.microsoft.com

Scenario 2 - Users Need Access to Resources in Azure and/or On-Prem Resources

  • In this scenario, the remote users need to access to resources that are in Azure and in the on premises data center(s). At a high level, the following steps are needed to enable users to connect to Azure resources securely: 1. Create a virtual network gateway (if one does not exist). 2. Configure point-to-site VPN on the gateway (see Scenario 1). 3. Configure a site-to-site tunnel o…
See more on docs.microsoft.com

FAQ For Native Azure Certificate Authentication

  • How many VPN client endpoints can I have in my point-to-site configuration?
    It depends on the gateway SKU. For more information on the number of connections supported, see Gateway SKUs.
  • What client operating systems can I use with point-to-site?
    The following client operating systems are supported: 1. Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit only) 2. Windows 8.1 (32-bit and 64-bit) 3. Windows Server 2012 (64-bit only) 4. Windows Server 2012 R2 (64-bit only) 5. Windows Server 2016 (64-bit only) 6. Windows Server 2019 (64-bit only) 7. Windo…
See more on docs.microsoft.com

Next Steps

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