Automate management of host pools, session hosts, and user sessions by using PowerShell and Azure CLI

In a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) environment, managing host pools, session hosts, and user sessions can be a time-consuming task. However, with the help of PowerShell and Azure CLI, you can automate these management tasks to simplify and streamline your operations.

PowerShell and Azure CLI provide robust command-line tools that allow you to interact with and manage Azure Virtual Desktop resources programmatically. These tools enable you to automate various management tasks, such as creating and deleting host pools, adding and removing session hosts, and managing user sessions.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure that you have the following prerequisites in place:

1. An Azure subscription with the necessary permissions to manage Azure Virtual Desktop resources.
2. PowerShell version 7.x or later installed on your machine. You can download PowerShell from the official Microsoft website.
3. Azure CLI version 2.26.0 or later installed on your machine. You can download Azure CLI from the official Microsoft website.

Automating host pool management

Host pools are a key component of Azure Virtual Desktop. They act as a logical grouping of session hosts that users connect to. With PowerShell and Azure CLI, you can automate host pool management tasks, such as creating and deleting host pools, updating properties, and adding/removing session hosts.

To automate host pool management using PowerShell, you can utilize the Az.DesktopVirtualization module. This module provides cmdlets for managing host pools, session hosts, and user sessions in Azure Virtual Desktop.

To create a host pool using PowerShell, you can use the following script:

$resourceGroupName = "ResourceGroupName"
$hostPoolName = "HostPoolName"
$location = "Location"
$workspaceName = "WorkspaceName"
$vmTemplateName = "VMTemplateName"
$diskImageURI = "DiskImageURI"

New-AzWvdHostPool `
-ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName `
-Name $hostPoolName `
-Location $location `
-WorkspaceName $workspaceName `
-vmTemplateName $vmTemplateName `
-DiskImageUri $diskImageURI

Similarly, you can use the Get-AzWvdHostPool cmdlet to retrieve information about the host pool, and Remove-AzWvdHostPool to delete a host pool.

Automating session host management

Session hosts are the virtual machines that provide the desktop and app resources to users in a host pool. PowerShell and Azure CLI allow you to automate session host management tasks, such as adding and removing session hosts from a host pool.

To add a session host to a host pool using Azure CLI, you can use the following command:

az desktopvirtualization session-host create --resource-group "ResourceGroupName" --host-pool-name "HostPoolName" --name "SessionHostName" --vm-template-name "VMTemplatename" --disk-image-uri "DiskImageURI" --location "Location"

To remove a session host from a host pool using Azure CLI, you can use the following command:

az desktopvirtualization session-host delete --resource-group "ResourceGroupName" --host-pool-name "HostPoolName" --name "SessionHostName"

Automating user session management

User sessions represent user connections to session hosts in a host pool. PowerShell and Azure CLI allow you to automate user session management tasks, such as querying user sessions, disconnecting or logging off user sessions, and sending messages to user sessions.

To disconnect a user session using PowerShell, you can use the following script:

$resourceGroupName = "ResourceGroupName"
$hostPoolName = "HostPoolName"
$userSessionId = "UserSessionId"

To log off a user session using Azure CLI, you can use the following command:

az desktopvirtualization user-session logoff --resource-group "ResourceGroupName" --host-pool-name "HostPoolName" --session-host-name "SessionHostName" --user-session-id "UserSessionId"

Summary

PowerShell and Azure CLI provide powerful tools to automate the management of host pools, session hosts, and user sessions in Azure Virtual Desktop. By leveraging these tools, you can simplify and streamline your operations, saving time and effort.

In this article, we explored how you can use PowerShell and Azure CLI to automate various management tasks, such as creating and deleting host pools, adding and removing session hosts, and managing user sessions. By combining these automation capabilities with your existing infrastructure and deployment processes, you can enhance the efficiency and scalability of your Azure Virtual Desktop environment.