The Preferred App Group Type in Azure Virtual Desktop
Navigating the Changes in AVD’s Preferred App Group Type
Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) is a comprehensive desktop and app virtualization service hosted on Azure. A recent update has brought changes to the behavior of the preferred app group type, impacting how remote applications and desktops are published from the same host pool. This blog post will explore these changes, their implications, and the potential issues that may arise.
Microsoft communication to customers
Recently, Microsoft sent out a communication email to existing AVD customers, informing them that their host pool configuration needed to be set to either Desktop or RemoteApp as soon as possible to avoid unexpected or unsupported behavior. This led to a wave of complaints and concerns from customers and the MVP community.
Some MVPs were quoted as saying
This is definitely a huge step backwards!
Martin Therkelsen | Cloud Architect
RemoteApp or Desktop – What is the question?
Preferred app group type has been in AVD in the Azure portal since August 2022, but what does it mean exactly?
An Application Group (App group) is a logical grouping of applications available on session hosts within a host pool (collection of Virtual Machines). The application group controls whether a full desktop (Desktop) or specific applications (RemoteApp) from the host pool are accessible to users.
When you create an application group, it can be one of two things:
- Desktop: The full Windows Desktop.
- RemoteApp: Individual applications published from the host pool.
Users assigned to multiple RemoteApp groups within the same host pool see, and can access all the apps they are collectively assigned to.
To help prevent users from connecting to a desktop and RemoteApp application at the same time from application groups assigned to the same host pool, pooled host pools have the setting Preferred application group type.
Previously, host pools could be created without a preferred application group type set. In this scenario, if user1@mattchatt.co.za was assigned access to the RemoteApp group(s) with “Affinity_t…”, “Word 2016” as well as the Desktop app group from Host Pool A, user1 would be able to access all three, as can be seen in the screenshot below.
This configuration means that users could potentially connect to both the desktop and RemoteApp apps from the same host pool and end up with two different sessions. This, according to Microsoft, can cause issues for the user and other users, such as:
- Session hosts become overloaded
- Users get stuck when trying to sign in
- Connections to a remote session aren’t successful
- The remote session turns black
- Applications crash
The Recent Change by Microsoft
To prevent this scenario, set the preferred application group type for each host pool to either Desktop or RemoteApp.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-desktop/preferred-application-group-type
Microsoft has recently updated the preferred app group type setting within AVD host pools. Now, within a host pool, it can only be set to one type or the other—either Desktop or RemoteApp. Not “undefined” as mentioned in the email message to customers.
This change means that if you need to serve both desktops and apps, you must have two separate host pools, one for each type. This update aims to simplify management and improve the clarity of host pool configurations.
This is where the outrage from customers came in. The concern was that it appeared as if Microsoft were forcing customers to double up on the number of host pools and therefore VMs which would be very costly from an Infrastructure as a Service operational expenditure perspective.
The communication was not clear so allow me to explain it as I now understand it.
The preferred app group type in AVD is a setting that dictates whether a host pool is optimized for full desktops or RemoteApp applications.
If users are assigned to both a desktop and RemoteApp application group within the same host pool, they will only be able to access the applications specified by the host pool’s preferred application group type.
It doesn’t prevent different users from having access to different application group types from the same host pool, or a user from having access to the full desktop and RemoteApp applications from different host pools.
So in my example from above where user1@mattchatt.co.za is assigned access to the RemoteApp group(s) with “Affinity_t…”, “Word 2016” as well as the Desktop app group from Host Pool A. If Host Pool A has the preferred app group type set to Desktop (the default), then user1@mattchatt.co.za would now only see the desktop
Whereas, if the preferred app group type on Host Pool A was set to RemoteApp, then user1@mattchatt.co.za would see the remote apps (Affinity_t… and Word 2016) only.
To set the preferred application group type, see Set the preferred application group type for a pooled host pool in Azure Virtual Desktop.
Publishing RemoteApps and Desktops from the Same Host Pool
According to Microsoft Learn | Preferred App group type behavior, It is still possible to publish both remote apps and a desktop from the same host pool, but not to the same set of users. The preferred app group type will restrict users to the type set by an administrator.
To manage this, different user groups should be assigned to remote app and desktop application groups within the same host pool, with no overlap between the groups.
Why do you want to have a user with access to a desktop AND have the same user having access to remoteapps, when those apps are available from the desktop?
Tom Hickling (AVD AND W365)
Microsoft is in the process of enforcing the Desktop preferred application group on host pools that do not have a preferred application group type set. This enforcement is currently being rolled out to all Azure regions. This move is aimed at standardizing the deployment process and preventing any unexpected behavior due to misconfiguration.
Conclusion
The update to the preferred app group type in AVD represents Microsoft’s commitment to simplifying the virtual desktop infrastructure.
By understanding these changes and how to effectively publish applications, you can ensure a smooth and efficient virtual desktop experience for your users. As the enforcement of the Desktop preferred application group type rolls out, it is essential for administrators to review their AVD configurations to align with the new standards.
