Comprehensive Enterprise Curriculum & Guided Hands-On Lab Framework
Course Overview & Delivery Format
This intensive boot camp is designed for experienced virtualization and cloud administrators transitioning to Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD). The course is approximately 95% hands-on and focuses on enterprise planning, host pool deployment, FSLogix user profile management, Azure Virtual Network (VNet) architecture, Entra ID authentication, Session Host scaling, disaster recovery, Azure CLI/Bicep automation, and production operations across nearly 100 guided enterprise labs.
Methodology: 95% Hands-On Enterprise Labs / 5% Instructor-Led Architecture Discussion
Target Audience: Cloud Administrators, VDI Engineers, Infrastructure Engineers, Systems Administrators, Azure/VDI Solutions Architects
Module 1: Enterprise Azure Virtual Desktop Architecture & Foundations
Module Focus: Establish a foundational understanding of Azure Virtual Desktop control plane architecture, host pool models, FSLogix profile storage integration, virtual networking, and identity management. Learn to build, optimize, and validate enterprise-ready pooled and personal host pools from the ground up.
Key Core Curriculum Topics
- AVD Control Plane Architecture: Microsoft-managed control plane (broker, gateway, web client) vs. customer-managed session hosts and Azure infrastructure resources.
- Identity Models & Authentication: Microsoft Entra ID Domain Services, Hybrid Entra ID Join, and Native Entra ID Join with Kerberos authentication for storage access.
- Virtual Networking Fabric: Azure VNets, Subnetting strategies, Azure Firewall integration, Network Security Groups (NSGs), Private Endpoints, and RDP Shortpath optimization.
- Storage Architecture & FSLogix: FSLogix Profile Containers, Azure NetApp Files (ANF), Azure Files Premium, and SMB/NFS share permissioning and performance tuning.
- Session Host Lifecycle Management: Azure Compute Gallery (ACG) image management, custom image creation, RDP Shortpath setup, and vGPU profile allocation.
- Host Pool Design Strategies: Pooled (Breadth-First / Depth-First) vs. Personal (Direct / Automatic) assignment models and user load management.
Guided Hands-On Enterprise Labs
- Lab 1.1 Bare-Metal AVD Infrastructure Setup: Provision core resource groups, Azure VNets, subnets, and configure Azure DNS settings for host pool deployment.
- Lab 1.2 Enterprise Licensing & Identity Integration: Configure Microsoft Entra ID, assign AVD user licenses, and enable Entra ID authentication on Azure subscription resources.
- Lab 1.3 Core Network & Security Rule Configuration: Deploy Network Security Groups (NSGs), configure outbound port rules (TCP/443), and establish RDP Shortpath UDP connectivity.
- Lab 1.4 Azure Files Premium Storage Provisioning: Deploy an Azure Storage Account, initialize Azure Files Premium SMB shares, and configure NTFS permissioning for user profiles.
- Lab 1.5 Active Directory Integration & Kerberos Setup: Join Azure Files storage to Active Directory / Entra ID Domain Services and configure Kerberos ticketing for seamless authentication.
- Lab 1.6 FSLogix Profile Container Deployment: Install and configure FSLogix agents on gold master VMs, set registry parameters, and direct VHDX profile locations to Azure Files.
- Lab 1.7 Enterprise Azure NetApp Files (ANF) Integration: Initialize Azure NetApp Files capacity pools, configure delegated subnets, and deploy high-performance SMB shares for FSLogix.
- Lab 1.8 Centralized Image Library & Azure Compute Gallery Setup: Establish an Azure Compute Gallery (ACG), create VM image definitions, and capture baseline golden OS images.
- Lab 1.9 Custom Windows 11 Enterprise Multi-Session Deployment: Provision a golden master Windows 11 Multi-Session VM, install enterprise software, and optimize OS performance parameters.
- Lab 1.10 Custom Windows 11 Personal VM Deployment & Optimization: Deploy dedicated single-session Windows 11 VMs for power users, attach virtual GPUs, and tune system parameters.
- Lab 1.11 FSLogix Cloud Cache & Multi-Region Profile Redundancy: Configure FSLogix Cloud Cache parameters to write user profiles concurrently to primary and secondary Azure storage locations.
- Lab 1.12 vGPU Profile Allocation & RDP Optimization: Pass through NVIDIA vGPU profiles to AVD session hosts and configure multimedia redirection (MMR) policies via GPO/Intune.
- Lab 1.13 Host Pool Creation & Session Host Provisioning: Provision a multi-session Pooled Host Pool using Azure Compute Gallery images and join hosts to the management domain.
- Lab 1.14 Breadth-First vs. Depth-First Load Balancing Setup: Configure host pool load-balancing algorithms, set maximum session limits, and evaluate user distribution across hosts.
- Lab 1.15 Multi-Session Host Pool Expansion: Add additional session host VMs to an active host pool using Azure Resource Manager (ARM) templates and custom extensions.
- Lab 1.16 Session Host Health Diagnostics & Drain Mode Operations: Analyze session host health, simulate host degradation, and set hosts to Drain Mode using Azure Portal and CLI.
- Lab 1.17 Storage Benchmarking & Profile IOPS Diagnostics: Execute disk benchmarking utilities against Azure Files Premium and Azure NetApp Files to establish profile load latency baselines.
- Lab 1.18 AVD Network & Gateway Troubleshooting: Diagnose intentional RDP connectivity failures, NSG blocking rules, and DNS resolution issues using Azure Network Watcher and CLI.
- Lab 1.19 Azure CLI & PowerShell Command-Line Mastery: Master essential Azure CLI and PowerShell commands (`Az.DesktopVirtualization`) for headless management and batch host operations.
- Lab 1.20 Architecture Validation & Comprehensive Review: Perform an operational health check on Host Pools, FSLogix shares, ACG images, and network pathways prior to migration workflows.
Module 2: Legacy VDI & On-Premises Workload Migration to Azure Virtual Desktop
Module Focus: Discover, analyze, and plan the systematic migration of legacy Citrix, VMware Horizon, and RDS workloads to Azure Virtual Desktop. Master automated discovery tools, Azure Migrate for VDI, golden image conversion pipelines, MSIX App Attach packaging, and profile conversion workflows.
Key Core Curriculum Topics
- Automated VDI Discovery & Sizing: Inventorying legacy Citrix/VMware environments, user persona profiling, concurrency analysis, and Azure target sizing.
- Application Virtualization & Masking: MSIX App Attach, App Attach dynamic attachment, FSLogix Application Masking, and legacy app delivery.
- Profile Migration Methodologies: Converting legacy Roaming Profiles and Citrix UPM to FSLogix Profile Containers without data loss.
- Migration Execution Models: Staged wave-based migration, warm profile staging, and near-zero downtime desktop cutovers.
- Driver & Agent Remediation: Stripping legacy hypervisor/VDI agents, injecting Azure VM extensions, and applying Windows 11 Multi-Session optimizations.
- Cutover Validation & Rollback: Change control execution, user acceptance testing (UAT), rollback strategies, and post-migration validation.
Guided Hands-On Enterprise Labs
- Lab 2.1 Automated On-Premises VDI Infrastructure Discovery: Deploy Azure Migrate appliance to catalog on-premises VMware/Citrix host infrastructures, user session counts, and compute baselines.
- Lab 2.2 User Persona Mapping & Migration Wave Planning: Analyze user resource usage, department groupings, and application interdependencies to structure multi-stage migration waves.
- Lab 2.3 Deploying & Configuring Azure Migrate for VDI: Initialize Azure Migrate project, configure replication appliances, and establish secure endpoints to target Azure subscriptions.
- Lab 2.4 Golden Master Image Conversion (VMware/Citrix to Azure): Export on-premises VHD/VMDK master images, strip legacy hypervisor tools, and convert to Azure-compatible OS images.
- Lab 2.5 Image Upload & Custom Azure Compute Gallery Cataloging: Upload converted golden OS disk images to Azure Blob storage and register generalized images into Azure Compute Gallery.
- Lab 2.6 Application Packaging with MSIX App Attach: Package Win32 and legacy applications into MSIX format using the MSIX Packaging Tool and generate VHDX/CIM expansion disks.
- Lab 2.7 App Attach Integration & Dynamic Volume Assignment: Stage and expand MSIX App Attach packages in Azure Virtual Desktop host pools and assign application groups to users.
- Lab 2.8 FSLogix Application Masking Deployment: Rule-create FSLogix Application Masking configurations to hide installed software from unauthorized user groups on shared session hosts.
- Lab 2.9 Converting Legacy Citrix UPM Profiles to FSLogix Containers: Execute automated profile conversion scripts to transform Citrix User Profile Management (UPM) data into FSLogix VHDX containers.
- Lab 2.10 Migrating Roaming User Profiles & Folder Redirection: Migrate legacy Windows Roaming Profiles and redirected folders to centralized FSLogix storage using AzCopy and Robocopy.
- Lab 2.11 Cold Migration Execution: Single-Session Windows Workloads: Execute full cold migration of dedicated physical/virtual desktops to AVD Personal Host Pools and rebind identity credentials.
- Lab 2.12 Staged Migration Execution: Multi-Session Shared Desktops: Deploy multi-session host pools in Azure, sync user data, and shift user groups from legacy Citrix XenApp/RDS to AVD.
- Lab 2.13 Legacy Agent Cleanup & Azure VM Extension Injection: Uninstall legacy VDI agents (Citrix VDA, VMware Horizon Agent) and automatically inject Azure AVD Agent and Geneva monitoring extensions.
- Lab 2.14 Network Re-IP & DNS Cutover Automation: Execute scripted operations to update client DNS records, gateway mappings, and internal routing during migration cutover.
- Lab 2.15 Session Host Performance Tuning & Multi-Session Optimization: Apply Virtual Desktop Optimization Tool (VDOT) scripts to disable unneeded Windows services, telemetry, and background tasks.
- Lab 2.16 Automated Migration Wave Execution: Execute a multi-user migration wave using scripted ARM templates and PowerShell pipelines while monitoring migration velocity.
- Lab 2.17 Warm Staged Profile Synchronization: Configure continuous background delta synchronization for large user profiles prior to final maintenance cutover windows.
- Lab 2.18 Rollback Plan Execution & Legacy VDI Fallback Simulation: Simulate a critical migration issue during cutover and execute rapid fallback procedures back to legacy on-premises VDI.
- Lab 2.19 Post-Migration User Acceptance Testing (UAT): Run automated verification scripts to validate desktop responsiveness, application launches, printing, and profile loading times.
- Lab 2.20 Migration Gate Review & Production Readiness Sign-Off: Audit overall migration logs, storage metrics, and performance reports against SLAs before advancing to production operations.
Module 3: Enterprise Storage, FSLogix, High Availability & Disaster Recovery
Module Focus: Design, deploy, and maintain highly available storage, profile management, and multi-region cluster infrastructure in Azure Virtual Desktop. Master FSLogix Cloud Cache, Azure NetApp Files cross-region replication, Host Pool HA, site-level disaster recovery, and active-active multi-region deployments.
Key Core Curriculum Topics
- High Availability Storage Architecture: Azure Files Premium zone-redundancy (ZRS), Azure NetApp Files replication, and SMB multichannel performance tuning.
- FSLogix Cloud Cache Engineering: Multi-destination profile replication, local CCD caching mechanisms, lock file resolution, and disaster recovery failover.
- Multi-Region AVD Disaster Recovery: Active-Active and Active-Passive host pool topologies, Entra ID multi-region resilience, and Traffic Manager/Front Door routing.
- Backup & Recovery Pipelines: Azure Backup for AVD session hosts, snapshot automation, and granular FSLogix profile container restoration.
- Session Host Health & Resilience: Automated host replacement, unhealthy host remediation, and drain mode automation during infrastructure incidents.
- Performance Benchmarking & Optimization: Storage latency monitoring, IOPS throttling mitigation, and session density optimization under high load.
Guided Hands-On Enterprise Labs
- Lab 3.1 Azure Files Premium Zone-Redundant Storage (ZRS) Setup: Configure Zone-Redundant Storage (ZRS) accounts and SMB Multichannel for high-throughput FSLogix profile delivery.
- Lab 3.2 FSLogix Cloud Cache Multi-Region Replication Setup: Deploy Cloud Cache registry configurations to mirror profile VHDXs concurrently across primary and secondary Azure regions.
- Lab 3.3 Active-Passive Multi-Region Host Pool Deployment: Provision secondary standby host pools in an alternate Azure paired region and configure ARM deployment templates.
- Lab 3.4 Cross-Region Azure NetApp Files (ANF) Storage Replication: Establish ANF volume replication between primary and DR regions with automated mirror status monitoring.
- Lab 3.5 Simulated Storage Outage & Cloud Cache Failover: Simulate primary storage endpoint loss and observe seamless FSLogix Cloud Cache failover to secondary storage without user disconnection.
- Lab 3.6 Regional Azure Outage Simulation & DR Host Pool Failover: Simulate full Azure region unavailability and redirect users to DR host pools using automated DNS and feed updates.
- Lab 3.7 Azure Backup Integration for AVD Session Hosts: Configure Azure Backup policies for personal desktop VMs and establish recovery point objectives (RPOs) and recovery time objectives (RTOs).
- Lab 3.8 FSLogix Container Snapshot & Granular File Restore: Perform point-in-time restores of damaged FSLogix VHDX containers and extract individual files without re-deploying profiles.
- Lab 3.9 Automated Unhealthy Host Remediation: Deploy Azure Automation runbooks to detect unresponsive session hosts, place them in drain mode, and re-image them automatically.
- Lab 3.10 Active-Active Multi-Region Host Pool Load Balancing: Configure Azure Traffic Manager and Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB) to distribute users to nearest regional host pools.
- Lab 3.11 Storage IOPS Throttling Diagnostics & Capacity Scaling: Simulate morning boot storm profile load, analyze storage throttling metrics, and dynamically scale ANF service levels.
- Lab 3.12 Entra ID Kerberos Cross-Region Authentication Resilience: Configure redundant domain controller access and Entra ID Kerberos endpoints in DR regions to maintain logon availability.
- Lab 3.13 Host Drain Operations & Zero-Downtime Maintenance: Execute rolling session host drains to prepare host pools for infrastructure maintenance without disrupting active user sessions.
- Lab 3.14 RDP Shortpath UDP Performance & Failover Testing: Test RDP Shortpath over public networks and ExpressRoute/VPN, evaluating automatic fallback to TCP/Reverse Connect.
- Lab 3.15 FSLogix VHDX Disk Compaction Automation: Deploy automated PowerShell runbooks to shrink fragmented FSLogix VHDX profile containers and recover unused storage capacity.
- Lab 3.16 Automated DR Failover Scripting: Develop PowerShell and Azure CLI scripts to trigger end-to-end disaster recovery cutover with single-command execution.
- Lab 3.17 FSLogix Cloud Cache Re-Synchronization & Failback: Simulate primary region recovery and execute Cloud Cache background re-synchronization and controlled operational failback.
- Lab 3.18 Multi-Tenant & Multi-Subscription DR Architecture Validation: Verify storage permissioning, cross-subscription key access, and identity synchronization during enterprise failover testing.
- Lab 3.19 Bare-Metal Environment Disaster Recovery Challenge: Simulate complete loss of primary AVD infrastructure and restore entire environment from Bicep templates and backup profiles.
- Lab 3.20 High Availability & Storage Operational Review: Conduct a comprehensive resilience audit of host pools, Cloud Cache storage, and DR runbooks prior to security hardening.
Module 4: Enterprise Security, Automation & Production Operations
Module Focus: Secure, automate, and manage Azure Virtual Desktop environments at enterprise scale. Master Azure RBAC, Conditional Access, Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), Session Watermarking, Screen Capture Protection, Bicep/Terraform infrastructure as code, Azure Autoscale, and Azure Monitor observability.
Key Core Curriculum Topics
- Identity & Access Control: Azure RBAC roles (Desktop Virtualization Admin, Virtual Machine User), Conditional Access, MFA, and FIDO2 passwordless auth.
- Session Security & Compliance: Watermarking, Screen Capture Protection, RDP property policies, clipboard redirection restrictions, and Key Vault integration.
- Automation & Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Bicep templates, Terraform AVD modules, Azure PowerShell SDK, and Azure CLI deployment pipelines.
- Cost Optimization & Autoscale: Azure Autoscale scaling plans (peak/off-peak schedules, depth/breadth load balancing, reserve capacity optimization).
- Enterprise Observability & Insights: Azure Monitor for AVD, Log Analytics workspace query writing (KQL), Syslog/Event log collection, and workbook alerts.
- Automated Patching & Image Maintenance: Azure Image Builder pipelines, automated session host re-imaging, and rolling host pool patching windows.
Guided Hands-On Enterprise Labs
- Lab 4.1 Granular Azure RBAC & Identity Role Assignment: Assign fine-grained RBAC roles across AVD Host Pools, Application Groups, and Storage Accounts for administrative isolation.
- Lab 4.2 Conditional Access & Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) Setup: Enforce Entra ID Conditional Access policies requiring MFA and compliant device posture for AVD connection requests.
- Lab 4.3 Session Security Hardening: Watermarking & Screen Capture Protection: Configure RDP administrative templates to apply dynamic user watermarking and block screen capture tools on endpoints.
- Lab 4.4 Data Loss Prevention (DLP) & Device Redirection Policies: Disable clipboard sharing, drive redirection, and USB passthrough via Intune configuration profiles and GPO policies.
- Lab 4.5 Azure Key Vault Integration for Secure Secrets Management: Store domain join credentials, local admin secrets, and storage account keys in Azure Key Vault with automated retrieval.
- Lab 4.6 Declarative Infrastructure as Code (IaC) with Bicep: Write modular Bicep templates to deploy complete AVD environments including VNets, Host Pools, App Groups, and Workspaces.
- Lab 4.7 Terraform AVD Provisioning & State Management: Deploy multi-session host pools using Terraform AzureRM providers and manage cloud state files securely in Azure Blob.
- Lab 4.8 Automated Image Creation via Azure Image Builder (AIB): Configure Azure Image Builder pipelines to automatically build, patch, and publish updated golden images to Azure Compute Gallery.
- Lab 4.9 AVD Autoscale Scaling Plan Configuration: Deploy native Azure Autoscale scaling plans to automatically start and stop session host VMs based on peak user demand schedules.
- Lab 4.10 Advanced Cost Optimization & Reserved Instances: Combine Autoscale scheduling with Azure Reserved Instances and Savings Plans to achieve up to 70% infrastructure cost reduction.
- Lab 4.11 Centralized Log Analytics & Diagnostic Setting Setup: Forward AVD administrative, connection, host state, and checkpoint telemetry to Azure Log Analytics workspaces.
- Lab 4.12 Custom KQL Query Writing for Performance & User Sessions: Write Kusto Query Language (KQL) queries to analyze user logon duration, connection errors, and VM performance bottlenecks.
- Lab 4.13 Azure Monitor for AVD Dashboard & Alerting Setup: Configure built-in Azure Monitor AVD workbooks and set automated alert rules for host CPU saturation and connection failures.
- Lab 4.14 Defender for Cloud Integration & Endpoint Protection: Deploy Microsoft Defender for Endpoint onto session host VMs and configure real-time threat protection and vulnerability scans.
- Lab 4.15 Automated Rolling Host Patching Pipeline: Execute automated PowerShell scripts to deploy updated golden images to host pools, replacing hosts in rolling waves without downtime.
- Lab 4.16 Microsoft Teams Optimization & Media Redirection Setup: Configure Microsoft Teams audio/video redirection on multi-session hosts for low-latency peer-to-peer calling.
- Lab 4.17 Universal Print Integration & Cloud Printing Configuration: Deploy Microsoft Universal Print and configure cloud-based printer redirection across enterprise session hosts.
- Lab 4.18 Security Compliance Audit & Regulatory Baseline Check: Audit AVD infrastructure against CIS Microsoft Azure Foundations Benchmark and Microsoft Cloud Security Benchmark.
- Lab 4.19 Automated Event-Driven Operational Scripting: Deploy Event Grid and Azure Functions to trigger automated corrective actions upon host failures or security alerts.
- Lab 4.20 Security & Operations Capstone Readiness Review: Audit RBAC permissions, Conditional Access compliance, Autoscale rules, and log collection prior to the final capstone.
Module 5: Enterprise AVD Migration Capstone Project
Module Focus: Apply all knowledge acquired throughout the boot camp to plan, execute, and validate a full-scale, end-to-end enterprise migration. Work in simulated engineering teams to transition a multi-region datacenter environment from legacy VDI (Citrix/VMware) to Azure Virtual Desktop under realistic cutover conditions.
Key Core Curriculum Topics
- End-to-End Migration Orchestration: Runbook design, migration wave sequencing, maintenance window planning, and cross-functional team allocation.
- Multi-Tier Workload Transition: Migrating core identity, database backends, application servers, and desktop pools to Azure Virtual Desktop.
- Cutover Execution & Live User Migration: Profile cutover, app attach delivery, network DNS updates, and real-time user session redirection.
- Post-Cutover Optimization & Handover: Autoscale enablement, backup onboarding, DR validation, cost optimization, and operational sign-off.
- Executive Reporting & Metrics: Performance benchmarking against on-premises baselines, ROI analysis, and executive post-mortem delivery.
Guided Hands-On Enterprise Labs
- Lab 5.1 Migration Runbook & Operational Maintenance Planning: Develop a master migration runbook detailing hour-by-hour cutover steps, rollback criteria, staff roles, and communication plans.
- Lab 5.2 Change Control & Pre-Migration Infrastructure State Backup: Document enterprise change tickets and capture full system state backups and database snapshots across legacy VDI environments.
- Lab 5.3 Core Virtual Network & Security Pre-Provisioning: Deploy target Azure VNets, subnets, Network Security Groups, Azure Firewall rules, and ExpressRoute circuits prior to VM migration.
- Lab 5.4 Enterprise FSLogix Storage & Share Pre-Provisioning: Initialize Azure Files Premium and Azure NetApp Files shares, configure Active Directory Kerberos auth, and pre-create user directories.
- Lab 5.5 Executing Wave 1: Core Identity & Active Directory Migration: Migrate domain controllers, DNS services, and identity sync components to Azure infrastructure, validating Entra ID Connect sync.
- Lab 5.6 Core Identity Integrity & Kerberos Authentication Verification: Run automated test scripts to confirm Active Directory replication, Kerberos ticket issuing, and DNS resolution across Azure subnets.
- Lab 5.7 Executing Wave 2: Backend Database & Business App Servers: Migrate SQL Server clusters and application backend servers to Azure VMs using Azure Migrate, minimizing database downtime.
- Lab 5.8 Database Consistency & Service Connection Verification: Perform DBCC integrity checks, verify transaction logs, and confirm application server connectivity to Azure database backends.
- Lab 5.9 Executing Wave 3: Desktop Host Pool & Image Deployment: Deploy Windows 11 Enterprise Multi-Session host pools across Azure availability zones using automated Bicep templates.
- Lab 5.10 Application Virtualization & MSIX App Attach Rollout: Stage App Attach packages across new host pools, applying FSLogix App Masking rules for secure application delivery.
- Lab 5.11 Executing Wave 4: FSLogix Profile Cutover & Sync: Execute final delta profile synchronization from legacy Citrix UPM/Roaming Profiles into FSLogix VHDX profile containers.
- Lab 5.12 End-to-End User Desktop Connectivity Validation: Perform synthetic logon tests across multi-session and personal host pools, confirming desktop launch times under 15 seconds.
- Lab 5.13 Legacy VDI Decommissioning & Resource Reclaim: Disable access to legacy Citrix/VMware infrastructure, unmount local storage arrays, and document asset decommissioning.
- Lab 5.14 Azure Autoscale & Cost Management Activation: Enable Autoscale scaling plans across all production host pools, setting aggressive off-peak power-off policies for cost control.
- Lab 5.15 Automated Backup Onboarding & Snapshot Configuration: Enroll newly deployed session hosts and FSLogix storage accounts into Azure Backup vault schedules with 30-day retention.
- Lab 5.16 Disaster Recovery Failover & Regional Resilience Testing: Simulate primary Azure region impairment and execute automated failover to secondary DR region host pools and storage.
- Lab 5.17 Post-Migration System Benchmarking & Performance Tuning: Compare post-migration user logon times, app launch latency, and frame rates against original legacy VDI baselines.
- Lab 5.18 Security Posture Audit & Compliance Sign-Off: Execute automated security scans against session hosts, validating Conditional Access policies, watermarking, and RBAC rules.
- Lab 5.19 Draft Executive Migration Summary & Cost Post-Mortem Report: Compile executive report highlighting project downtime metrics, ROI achievements, user performance gains, and storage efficiency.
- Lab 5.20 Capstone Sign-Off & Official Production Go-Live: Present migration metrics and operational readiness documentation to project stakeholders and complete official production cutover!
Bootcamp Key Takeaways & Enterprise Competencies
- Architecture & Deployment: Design, build, and maintain production-grade, highly available Azure Virtual Desktop host pools integrated with enterprise storage (Azure Files Premium, Azure NetApp Files), Entra ID authentication, and custom Azure Compute Gallery OS images.
- Workload Migration & Application Delivery: Execute end-to-end migrations of complex legacy VDI (Citrix, VMware, RDS) environments to AVD with minimal downtime using Azure Migrate, profile conversion pipelines, and modern MSIX App Attach application delivery.
- Automation & Infrastructure as Code: Leverage Azure CLI, PowerShell (`Az.DesktopVirtualization`), Bicep, Terraform, and Azure Image Builder to automate host pool provisioning, image maintenance, and daily operations declaratively.
- Resilience & Disaster Recovery: Implement robust high availability and disaster recovery topologies using FSLogix Cloud Cache multi-region replication, Azure NetApp Files volume mirroring, active-active host pools, and automated failover runbooks.
- Operational Excellence & Cost Optimization: Enforce strict security baselines (Conditional Access, RBAC, Watermarking, Screen Capture Protection), optimize cloud spend using native Azure Autoscale and Reserved Instances, and manage observability via Log Analytics and Azure Monitor.
